Chapter One:
Uhura walked quickly through the halls, focused more on reaching her quarters than the newness of the ship, or the greetings of her crew mates. She was frustrated and confused, and a little hurt besides. She heard someone call her name as they passed, but she did little more than quirk her head in recognition. She reached her door, entered her code, and nearly collapsed into the enfolding darkness.
Sensing her presence, the ship's computer adjusted the lights and air, and continued the Haydn Symphony she had been listening to earlier. She lay on her bed for a moment, and then sighed.
"Computer, discontinue aural ambiance."
The music faded, and stopped entirely.
She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. Today in general hadn't been that stressful; in fact it was supposed to be fun. It had been the Enterprise's christening and resulting soirée, and indeed when she had left there was still a considerable amount of activity going on throughout the ship.
What was bothering her was the change that had come over Spock - gradual, nearly imperceptible - that had Uhura feeling left behind. He was spending more and more time with Kirk, both on and off bridge. Although she tried to tell herself this was natural behavior for a first mate and his captain, there was something else about it that didn't sit right with her.
What was so infuriating was that she couldn't figure it out, and that was leading her to believe these were just her own feelings. It was common, she told herself, for jealousy to occur when one's significant other spent time with his buddies.
But since when was Kirk a 'buddy'?
"Computer, continue aural ambiance."
Letting her mind spiral down these dark, answerless questions was useless. As Haydn once again filled her room, she closed her eyes and sighed, and tried to focus on the soothing music.
It hadn't been playing long when something else caught her attention; beeps from the buttons on her keypad, and the negative blaring honk that resulted from an incorrect code. Frowning, Uhura looked towards her door.
"Computer, discontinue aural ambiance."
Over the repeated beeps and honks, she heard someone grumbling, but the voice was too low to discern. Uhura stood and walked over to the door, and just before she reached it, the person on the other side speak a little louder:
"Dammit, how the hell am I supposed to keep all of these codes straight?"
Uhura pushed the inner keypad and the door slid open. Just as she had suspected, McCoy was standing there looking about as confused and frustrated as she felt.
He glanced up, then stammered. "Oh, Uhura, I ..." He looked about the hallway, then back at the scrawled note he was holding. He turned it around.
"Let me guess, it was a '9' instead of a '6'?"
"Something like that." He studied his note a little longer, then glanced back at her. For a moment, neither spoke or moved.
"Did you enjoy the, uh, party?" McCoy said, somewhat stilted.
"Well, yes, I ....yeah." She nodded slightly. "You?"
"It was nice, sure. It's easy to enjoy events like this when no one sprained anything."
They both chuckled nervously, and then the awkward silence resumed.
Uhura cleared her throat. "I should be getting to bed. I have a ... rather painful headache."
"Oh, I can fix that ..."
"No no no, thanks, but ... no." Uhura answered quickly, remembering Kirk and his slight 'reaction'. "I think all I need is sleep."
"Oh ... okay." McCoy replied. Uhura tried not to smile; he looked rather crestfallen.
"Good luck finding your room." She said before easing back into her room and closing the door. She thought she heard him mumble something on the other side, but she couldn't be sure.
She turned and leaned back against the door, and caught herself smiling. It didn't solve her issues concerning Spock and Kirk, but it did help take her mind from it, if only for a moment.