In her defense, she had no idea that Vulcans had such a reaction to chocolate. It wasn't as if there was anything in the textbook for interspecies ethics, nor did she remember anything in her individual reading that she wouldn't admit to, even to Gaila. It was for purely intellectual reasons, since she was planning to do her thesis on pre-Surakian Vulcan culture but Gaila would tease her mercilessly for the supposed crush she had on their Vulcan instructor. It was best just to keep these things to herself. So through her extensive reading on Vulcans, she could say with authority that there was nothing about Vulcans and chocolate.

Nothing. There was nothing into Vulcan: An Ethnography by Dr. Amanda Grayson, nor anything in An Introduction to Vulcan and Vulcan Culture, nor even Vulcan: Its Culture and History, the only four books that Starfleet's library had on Vulcans. Of course, everyone knew that Vulcans were a notoriously private race, thus it was nothing short of remarkable that there was even any information about them. Frankly, Nyota was surprised that there was an ethnography and kept an eye out for any new scholarship by Amanda Grayson, despite the fact that the ethnography itself was close to thirty years old and her latest journal article was fifteen years old. Nyota wondered what had caused Amanda Greyson to stop publishing and spent a significant amount of her afternoon looking for any information about Dr. Greyson. All she could find was that Dr. Greyson eventually married a Vulcan ambassador to Earth after working as a translator and then moved to Vulcan, which prompted her ethnography. After that, other than the one journal article, there was nothing.

Even as a fluent speaker of Vulcan, Nyota there was surprisingly little information that wasn't diplomatically nor militaristically based. There were books that told the basic history of Vulcan, the teachings of Surak, some poetry, but nothing, nothing about the Vulcan reaction to chocolate.

She was trying to do a good thing, bringing them both hot chocolate from the nearby café that they both enjoy. They were planning to spend the afternoon grading papers and Nyota thought that it would be a nice way to make the time go by. The class had been trying for both her and Spock; while there had been a few students who were curious, intelligent and serious, there were also students who could barely tell a Romulan from an Orion, despite the class being Introduction to Interspecies Cultures and Ethics. It was going to be a massive headache to read these essays and Nyota thought hot chocolate would at least make the time passable. She walked across the campus, admiring the lights and decorations that the last remaining students had put up in order to bring some holiday cheer to an otherwise dreary campus.

The campus for the most part was deserted. There were a few students still on campus for various reasons, from working on research projects to not wanting or unable to make it home for the holidays. Nyota herself was leaving for Cairo tomorrow, where her parents were currently vacationing. She would meet them there before going back to their home in New Addis Abada, where her four sisters and brother would all convene for the holidays, as well as her assorted nieces and nephews. There was a rumor that her brother, Ayo, was bringing home someone, but no one could tell for certain if this was for certain or just a rumor to mess with their mother, Amara. Nyota was all packed, ready to go and was looking forward to getting this grading over with.

Of course, it would be nice to spend some time with Spock—Professor Spock—before the holidays began. Should she say something about the holidays, ask him what he planned to do? Was it too familiar? They could easily discuss academic subjects, everything from Vulcan phenomenology to his work on the Kobiashi Maru but as she walked across campus she realized she knew relatively little about her advisor, especially compared to her other professors. She knew, for example, that Professor Campbell had two sons, one who loved basketball and who often came to watch athletic tournaments on campus. She knew that Campbell had trouble conceiving her two sons, and both pregnancies had been difficult. Professor Reinhart had met her husband as a cadet in Starfleet, while he was an officer. She knew that Reinhart loved romance novels and read them during her lunch break to unwind after her classes on interspace conflict. But Professor Spock? She knew he was a genius in programming, that he was a leading expert on the Vulcan language, that he found her research "fascinating" and would often send her articles pertaining to her research interests. She knew he held the rank of commander, and had served on the Farragut before his teaching. She knew he liked chess. Other than that, there was nothing she knew about Professor Spock. Did he enjoy music? What about reading? Did he truly read all those articles that he sent her, and did he really think of her when he read them? Did he read them sitting in a chair, or did he prefer reading in bed?

She shook her head. These thoughts were ridiculous. Professors Reinhart and Campbell were female, and she had known them for years, which explained why she knew more about them than her Vulcan professor, whom she had only known for two. Vulcans were notoriously private individuals and as a male, Professor Spock was less likely to divulge information to a female student. More importantly, there was no reason for her to know his reading preferences and she needed to find another line of thinking now before she reached his office, blushing like crazy.

It was crazy to think this way. She was quite sure that he wouldn't even bat an eyelash even if she were to strip naked in front of him.

With a sigh and a shake of her head, she walked up the steps of the linguistics building, opening the door and walked to his office, two cups of hot chocolate in hand and a class worth's of grading in her bag.