Title: Five Times She Came Back and the One Time She Never Did
Ship: Spock/Uhura
Author/Beta: jlneveloff/slwmtiondaylite
Rating: PG
Words: 1002 not including header
Warnings: …well, angsty....you know...some character death, that kind of thing _
Disclaimer: Star Trek and associated characters created by Gene Roddenberry CBS Studios/Paramount…whoever else is involved. I own nothing at all. …which makes me all kinds of sad, 'cause I really wanna borrow Spock for a while.
Summary: For the first few days she was gone, Spock hardly noticed. It wasn't until the fourth day that her absence began to seep into his consciousness.
A/N: This was my submission to Star Trek Ship Wars Prompt #2: Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone" over at st_respect at livejournal.
1.
For the first few days she was gone, Spock hardly noticed.
He continued about his normal routine with no problem. He was used to spending his days working on his current project without any interruption. He woke alone in his quarters, ate breakfast, exercised, and then worked to perfect the Kobyashi Maru with the occasional break to obtain nourishment.
It wasn't until the fourth day that her absence began to seep into his consciousness. The silence in his office and lab became almost unbearable. Cadet Uhura would engage him in a series of conversation he had found to be intellectually stimulating while she helped him grade exams or set up experiments. Initially, he had found the conversations distracting as his past assistants had always worked in silence. But he had grown to at least tolerate her attempts at conversation and even, at times, initiated them himself.
He found his reaction to her absence to be disturbingly illogical. She was merely a student, a brilliant and impressive student, but still, a student. She had been the first assistant that was able hold her own against him in academic banter.
He grew to despise summers.
2.
Contrary to popular belief and gossip, which was prevalent in Starfleet, Spock and Uhura did not begin the personal and subsequent romantic portion of their relationship when she was his student or his teaching assistant. Rather, it had taken place afterwards.
Her final year at the academy was not spent as his assistant. She had requested an internship to help decipher a new alien language that had been discovered. It was an amazing opportunity for her and Spock could not deny her this. He had earnestly written her a letter of recommendation highlighting her skills and intellectual prowess.
Three months into the semester, the sound of a knock at his front door brought him out of his meditative state. Curious, he opened the door to reveal Uhura, dressed in civvies.
"Cadet Uhura? Is there a problem?" he asked.
"It's only been three months, and you've gone through four assistants," she stated.
Momentarily surprised by her opening line, he took a second to answer. "They were unable to perform at the level which I require."
"You miss me," she had said, a smile on her face.
"To miss someone implies an emotional attachment," he replied, noticeably avoiding her gaze.
"It's okay. I miss you, too."
He stepped aside to allow her entry to his quarters.
And while she was still technically a student, she wasn't his student any longer.
3.
After the 'incident' with Nero and the Narada and the genocide of his people, Spock had briefly entertained the idea of leaving and joining the rest of the Vulcans to help rebuild their race.
The heartrending expression on Uhura's face when he told her the news would haunt him forever. She had been understanding, almost infuriatingly so. He had wanted her to fight it, to demand that he stay. It was his logic that demanded he leave.
It was his emotions that demanded he stay.
The look on her face when he showed up unexpectedly to her quarters to announce his change of plans made his whole world.
4.
It was their first major argument – or discussion as Spock would have preferred to call it. Like most couples, Spock and Uhura had their share of problems that required compromise on both sides, but those disagreements had been small squabbles over inconsequential matters.
He had never been solely at fault for an argument until now.
He had discovered that the Vulcan woman he had been betrothed to as a child, T'Pring, somehow managed to survive the destruction of their home planet. She had contacted him and wished to see him immediately.
He had kept it from her.
"You didn't think to tell me?" Uhura had asked with shock evident in her voice.
"I did not see how it concerned you," he replied.
She had not been home when he returned.
Several days later, she had shown back up at his door, remorse plainly written on her face. She apologized for her reaction, telling him that she should have been more understanding of Vulcan culture, given that she was the xeno-linguist in the relationship.
He told her that her concern was not needed and that he was at fault for not divulging the information in the first place.
That night, he performed a mind-meld with her for the first time, pouring all his emotions into it so that she would never again doubt the depth of his feelings for her.
5.
Two years, nine months, and five days into the five year mission, Starfleet requested Uhura's expertise on a top secret assignment and as such she was gone from the ship for long stretches of time with a few all-to-brief periods of shore leave. During her leave, Spock would meet with her at the closest starbase. He likened her absence to the days of summer at the academy, only this time, he noticed immediately.
On the day of her return, he asked her to bond with him so as they would never have to be apart again no matter how much distance was between them.
"Is that like marriage?" she asked.
"That is an apt comparison, Nyota, but it is also much more so," he replied. He explained the Vulcan marriage ritual of bonding.
Parted from me, but never parted.
She eagerly agreed.
+1.
It was a routine mission. Or at least it was supposed to be. But something had gone horribly wrong this time.
It was four years, ten months and fourteen days into their five year mission and Spock distantly heard the battle wage around him as he defied the Captain's orders to retreat and the instinct to save himself as he waited, eyes scouring the horizon for a sign - any sign - of his ashayam.
He felt the bond of two years snap in an instant and he knew.
She wasn't coming back this time.