A/N: Firstly Spock is a very hard character to write, mainly because he is supposed to display no emotion or have the usual human interpretation of emotion, but he's also emotionally inclined due to this recent take on Star Trek TOS. As a very long standing Star Trek fan, I have a different idea of who Uhura is, though I'm not sure exactly of her personality during the movie because she didn't have a primary role. Nevertheless I remember Uhura of The Original Series as a passionate woman, silently smirking who was always bold and charming. Her relationship with Spock I felt was uncanny and I had a hard time understanding it, but I have finally come to grips with it
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Chapter One
Enmity
She was outstandingly punctual, brilliant and passionate about her career. She was also confident, charming, gorgeous and fully aware of her physical endowment. In the second semester of her first year she was enrolled into four upper division courses taken only by seniors and juniors. Three of them were language classes, one was an advanced course in super string theory and the other upper division six dimensional calculus.
She was only a first year entering her second semester and already she had finished most of the requirements for her specialty in xenolinguistics. Many of her Professors suggested she enter into pure research but Uhura was fixated on the stars and the stars only.
She was going to be a legendary interpreter, the best in Starfleet history.
It was only a matter of time.
She smoothed out her uniform and pushed her hair back into a perfect ponytail. Her reputation and appearance were important to her-they were a sign of her professionalism and dedication to her work. She wanted to appear as mature as she was intelligent to her professors.
She would later need their further support to apply onboard a Starfleet vessel.
"Gaila, wake up. First day of classes," Uhura tried to stir her roommate from sleep, but the green skinned Orion grumbled and pushed her hand away.
"Not now. Sleeping, it's not even thirty minutes before class. Leave me be, Uhura."
Uhura rolled her eyes and grabbed her bag, shoving in her PADDs and communicator. True, it was an hour and thirty minutes before class but Uhura liked having a daily schedule that began early and ended late. Being able to predict her day was as essential to her as breathing and eating, it was an everlasting acknowledgement of her control.
Besides, how can you start the day without a big breakfast?
Spock started his day early, before the sun even suggested it would be present in the sky.
He meditated for an hour, breathing in and out, listening to the sound of his blood, raising the temperature in the room to the familiar temperament of his home planet. The sweltering heat made him feel at home and content. It relaxed his muscles, cleared his mind and allowed him to focus. Thoughts of his world-of the red sky and desert plant life, of the indifferent faces and the taunts of curious Vulcan boys. The culmination of the worries of yesterday smoothing out with the weight of his self induced calm.
He had questioned how he would understand these humans and their expressive emotions. He had questioned how he would be able to communicate with peers who were so easily upset by obvious truths. He had questioned, in a moment of illogical frustration, why he could not fit in with humans or Vulcans.
By the times he opened his eyes his worries were overcome with calm and logic. He would take notice and inquire if these humans expressed a strange emotion, and he would learn from their reactions the proper response. To communicate with his peers he would still convey his logic but he would study the euphemisms and polite mannerisms humans illogically employed to quell emotional tension. His last question was illogical and cleansed from his mind as irrelevant.
After this he exercised for an hour to compliment his prior cleansing of his mind. It was only logical that his body's cleansing would follow his mind's. It was a quick but demanding workout that ended in a significant amount of sweat and exhaustion. Spock ended this with a thirty minute shower.
He then dressed, groomed and made Vulcan tea and steamed vegetables for breakfast. While eating he optimized his time correcting essays and reviewing requests from several academic committees. By the time he was finished with his morning he still had one hour, thirty minutes and twenty four seconds before his first class.
This rigid schedule pleased him. It was a testament to his ability to multitask and plan efficiently. The logic of his schedule and life were undeniable, and it was gratifying to know he was fueled by the science of logic and logic alone. It was his own proof to the extent of his Vulcan ability.
Spock entered his classroom, preparing to set up for his classes appropriately but was greeted by an anomaly quite foreign to his current routine-an extremely early student. A student he assured himself he had never before seen.
Dark mahogany with a gorgeous slim face, slim brown eyes and long jet black hair pushed back into an impeccable ponytail. She was dressed in a neat uniform and skirt with black stockings and pumps. One hand was in her lap, the other was browsing busily over a PADD.
"Cadet," Spock called and the girl turned her eloquent long neck to see him.
She stood, consenting to proper protocol and held out her hand decisively.
"Commander Spock, I am Cadet Uhura, recently transferred into this class and three others that you are currently teaching," She said resolutely.
Spock shook her hand with some hesitation. He found no logic in this skin to skin contact, no meaning conveyed or garnered from this interaction. However he had found that humans took much respect from this simple action. It was only logical that he follow their customs if he was to live so closely among them. He immediately withdrew his hand when he deemed it proper and joined it with his other behind his back.
She pulled forth a PADD from the registrar, pushing it forward into his hands with an authoritative nature that suggested she was used to getting her way.
Spock looked over the PADD, scrolling down the display carefully-noting the high remarks from several other professors and her entry scores. Her aptitude test was phenomenal in human standards. Her xenolinguistic skills undeniable. But she was obviously making an error.
Spock handed her back the PADD and placed his hands behind his back.
"You have decided to transfer into my class without conversing with me on the plausibility of this action. I do not believe you have acted entirely logically. Furthermore you are already two weeks late in three of my hardest classes, I doubt you will be able to keep up with the current workload and make up for the previous workload without compromising your work. I do not recommend entering into this class. There are several other less challenging classes that will permit you during this time such as-"
"No."
Spock stopped. His eyebrows pulled slightly upwards. Was this once again an emotional reaction that spurred her sudden response? She was exhibiting the usual signs of aggravation-twisted brow, thinned lips-yes, Spock knew from experience the signs of human frustration. Many of his students directed this very same expression every time he administered a test or explained his grading system.
"Please explain. Are you refusing to enroll in another class?"
"Yes."
"For what reason?"
"I petitioned into this class, not an easy feat Commander Spock. If I did not believe I could handle the work I would not have petitioned."
"I have found that first year students frequently make mistakes concerning their courses. I do not believe that you may have fully assessed what you have done. As such it is logical that I suggest you reconsider entering my classes and-"
"No. This is the only Advanced Vulcan Language and History course. I will not. And I can assure you Commander that I will do very well in your class."
"You cannot assure me without proper evidence, which you cannot supply as you have not been in this class. Your assurance is therefore irrelevant. Your current anger is also unfounded. I am merely trying to state the error of your logic in taking three extremely hard courses during your first year.
Despite your obvious intelligence you may suffer from human arrogance, and this is obviously hindering you from assessing the amount of work you will receive from all of your combined classes. However, as you are adamant about staying I will give you two weeks to make up the assignments you have missed, but also with the expectation that you shall not falter with the current workload. Does this sound logical to you?"
Cadet Uhura seemed extremely tense, but a strange emotion made her jaws tighten and her eyes darken.
"Yes. Very logical." She gave him a final glare and sat back down.
They spent an hour in complete silence until students finally began to enter the room.
And that was how he met Nyota Uhura.
Three weeks later Uhura was ahead in all of her classes, much to Spock's dismay.
After his last class he stopped her before she left, waiting for the classroom to become empty before standing up.
"Cadet Uhura, you have completed your assignments and they are exemplary. I intend to give them back to you tomorrow morning. First I believe I may need to apologize. I believe I may have offended you when we first conversed." He stated sincerely.
Uhura looked at his smooth indifferent face for any sign of emotion but there was nothing. The first time they met she had been unsure of herself and intimidated. The idea that she would not be able to handle the combined workload had never crossed her mind until he stated this with such sincere simplicity that Uhura began to doubt herself. The fact that his harsh words were not initiated with malevolence made her struggle to cope with her burgeoning doubt worse. He was simply stating the facts, bruising her usually intact ego.
But she understood his Vulcan ways at least somewhat now.
"You were correct when you said the workload would be difficult to manage and it was. I haven't been able to sleep properly in two weeks, let alone speak to anyone extensively. And as for our first discussion. Well, when we first talked I was just arrogant as usual. I'm not used to professors suggesting that I have limits and you made me doubt myself. I reacted by resenting you to make myself feel better. My reaction was childish and purely emotional. I didn't understand at the time that you didn't mean to be so harsh. So no, there's no need to apologize. I'm the one who's sorry."
She gave him a wide smile then and shrugged.
"Is there anything else, Commander Spock?"
He stared at this emotional creature, half between confusion and slight curiosity. Female humans changed their moods significantly more than their male counterparts. However this human female seemed to possess either a composed calm or a spontaneous burst of happiness or anger. At one moment she was the epitome of a passionate human female and the next moment she was an agreeable, logical Vulcan female.
The extremes of her personality were fascinating.
"No. That will be all, Cadet Uhura."
"Goodbye, Commander Spock."
"…Goodbye, Cadet Uhura."
She nodded and left a confused Vulcan behind.
He was quite sure that this new Cadet was going to bring with her a change in his usual routine of exact logic.
In the next three weeks Uhura found herself staring involuntarily at Commander Spock in a way she knew was inappropriate.
His lean figure was impossibly elegant when he was teaching, or walking, or standing. It didn't matter what he did, somehow his shoulders remained square and his body precise and directed towards its destination with elegant ease.
His hair was jet black, perfect and very strangely arranged. Uhura found herself chuckling at the smooth roundness and wondering why it was a customary hairstyle for Vulcan males.
His face was emotionless and blank but it was brilliantly arranged.
The long nose, the thin lips and angular features. The slim cat eyes of deep dark black, staring like burning coals beneath diagonal eyebrows and a wide brow. He was handsome, exotically handsome.
And a genius even for a Vulcan. After their encounter she had researched his background. He was only half Vulcan to her surprise, a very rare finding indeed. Perhaps his heritage explained why he decided to come to the Academy, since he was accepted into the Science Academy on Vulcan but declined. That was another surprise. She herself could not find the logic in his choice-a life in Starfleet in comparison to a life at an institute founded on pure science. His genius would foster there without bounds, but in Starfleet he would find limitations based on bureaucracy and the emotions of illogical beings.
He was an enigma, a brilliant puzzle with subtle clues of a complex character beneath his stoic face. She was extremely interested in learning more about this unique professor.
Unfortunately her sudden interests in him opened her eyes to his obvious attractiveness, which she had not noticed entirely upon their first meeting.
"Cadet Uhura, your assignment from last week on Romulan syntax throughout recorded history."
Spock handed her back her assignment. It was covered in red lines of correction covering the PADD and an elegant A+. Grammar and word choice suggestions were pointed out along the borders. Uhura flipped through the seventy eight page essay and read his commentary, particularly intrigued.
He was the only Professor she knew who always made a point to correct her in some miniscule way. It was annoying to other students, but for Uhura it was his way of expressing his interest in her academic progression. Especially since he made nothing but concise and thought provoking commentary.
"It was a very intriguing essay. I found your ideas on the changes in Romulan modality to be very enlightening. I never considered the tone variations before, they are quite subtle."
Uhura looked at him surprised. His face and voice were unemotional, but something about his speech pattern suggested enthusiasm. She blushed slightly at his show of interest in her essay. She had spent a great deal of time researching and listening to Romulan speech patterns.
"It only came to me after your lecture on the complexities of Romulan phonology."
"Most fascinating. We should later continue this discussion but first I must ask you. From your acceleration in this class and current course load I suspect that you are interested in the field of xenolinguistics?"
"Yes, Commander."
"Have you considered conducting research here? The communications lab is in need of more apt assistants and I believe from your current display of aptitude that you would benefit greatly in an environment centering around your developing talent."
"Are you offering me a job in the communications lab?"
"Yes. It is only logical as it will benefit us both. I am conducting my own research and I require an assistant with an agreeable competence in the field of xenolinguistics and communication. Will you accept this offer?'
"Yes! Of course!" Uhura's eyes widened in excitement.
What do you think? Please R&R.