Fourteen Days
-x-
Jim Kirk slept for fourteen days, and then decided that naptime was over and woke up, because the world would be a very boring place without Jim Kirk in it. Or at least that is the version Uhura tells the world over and over again, from one interview to another.
What she doesn't tell them, though, is what exactly happened on those fourteen days leading to Kirk's awakening. And that, as in most cases, was actually the most important part.
-x-
It began, as one might've guessed, on the first day. Once the dust had settled and no starship captain was in immediate danger of staying dead for the rest of all eternity, they allowed themselves a moment to just stay still and breathe. That moment lasted for as long as it took for the severely damaged lady Enterprise to idly "float" to dock, as the appropriately stressed out chief engineering officer put it. So, approximately 43 minutes.
Then there was the whole Khan-business to deal with. Spock, as the acting captain, and Uhura, who was appointed as first officer (the whole of the senior staff was so exhausted that they were going draw lot on the position, until she volunteered), beamed down to London to attend a very tiring emergency board meeting. As a conclusion, it was generally agreed that no important decisions could be made until they heard Captain Kirk's side of the story. Afterwards, they were both so irritated that Scotty refused to beam them up until they had sorted things over. Upon his suggestion, they went out for some sandwiches.
-x-
The second day passed in a blur of damage reporting and officializing documents. 95% of the still alive and kicking Enterprise crew was relieved of duty in record time and told to stop by the trauma center on their way out. At the end of the evening there were only the most enthusiastic engineering personnel and the senior staff still on board.
And of course Kirk, sleeping soundly in his biobed at the intensive care unit.
The doctor more or less insisted that they keep him on the ship even while it was going through repairs. Some convincing and less-convincing arguments were made as to why exactly, but in the end everyone agreed it was for the best. After all, in case anything went wrong, the captain would've killed (no kidding) to die on his ship rather than in a nameless hospital bed. It was the very least he deserved, Uhura decided.
-x-
The third day was best described as "nothing in particular". Uhura started the morning by curling out of Spock's arms at 0600 hours and flipping open the federation news channel. As expected, the aftermath was still on the top of the list. San Francisco's cleaning and rebuilding was well underway, Fleet Command was proposing new legislation to fill the loopholes that had enabled admiral Marcus to gain so much power, and Khan was being held knocked out cold until some kind of a decision was reached upon his fate. They were playing the waiting game―waiting for things to get done, waiting for orders, waiting for some resemblance of normalcy.
But mostly, they were waiting for Kirk.
-x-
That night Uhura stirred to the feeling of something missing. Sure enough, the warmth of her boyfriend's body lingered on the sheets but the Vulcan himself was nowhere to be seen. She found him sitting besides the captain in the sickbay, lost in a meditative trance. She stood at the doorway watching them for quite a while before dropping by at the nurse's office (telling them to please wake the commander up at 0630) and heading back to bed.
-x-
Something big was unveiling and she didn't really know what to expect. The uncertainty of it made her snappish and thus prone to using the sharp tongue that had made her infamous within the academy student body. Mr. Chekov in particular seemed honestly scared of her. She would've felt bad about it, if it wasn't so ridiculous (and adorable) when the Russian ensign would duck behind lieutenant Sulu whenever she walked by.
Dr. McCoy by contrast had no trouble taking her retorts. Instead, the CMO's eyes would visibly light up every time she marched into his domain, demanding either for updates on the captain's condition or for her boyfriend to get out and do his job. Spock, rather sardonically (or as sardonically as a Vulcan could get), thought he got a kick out of having someone new to verbally duel with. She didn't blame him, really. Kirk's mental absence was affecting them all, one way or other. She just wished she knew the true reason why it was affecting Spock and, by extension, herself.
-x-
On the seventh day complications arose. Kirk's body was doing its damnest to fight back the serum, resulting in a high fever and these strange fits that made him shake like a ragdoll on a rollercoaster. It was absolutely frightening. Uhura had never seen the doctor as pale and high-strung as he was while swapping Kirk's blood for the third time that day. Around 1900 the symptoms had more or less toned down and Spock and Uhura were promptly kicked out of the sickbay and told to find someone else to bother. (They were also promised that they would be informed immediately if the captain's status changed).
Feeling like they deserved a break, Uhura suggested they beam down for the night. Spock turned her down, and she was feeling just about irritated enough to go on without him. On her way to the transporter room she ran into Carol, who had just beamed up after a stressful day of negations that had nothing to do with her and all to do with her deceased father. Feeling sorry for the sulking blonde, she dragged her along to Nairobi for some food, music and well-deserved sleep. It was great fun after all they had been through, but even in Carol's surprisingly pleasant company her mind kept wandering back to Spock and the sleeping captain.
-x-
She returned to the Enterprise on the eleventh day, fully rested and in high spirits. At the time of her arrival Spock was down at the dock, discussing the ship's repair-schedule with Mr. Scott, and the doctor was paying a short visit to his daughter, which meant that she found the sickbay mostly empty. Kirk was sleeping peacefully like a babe and the sight of it was enough to bring a smile on her face.
A while into her visit, Nurse Joyce came by with a cup of latte (she vaguely wondered if it was alarming that the nurse knew how she liked her coffee―it must've been the result of too much time spent at Kirk's bedside) and some idle chit-chat to further calm her mind. Uhura learned that on the previous day the captain had actually awoken (if one could even say so) for a few seconds, only to mumble something that had sounded suspiciously like the commander's name and the word "grapes", before falling back to his slumber. Apparently, this event had been far too much for the poor doctor to handle, and he had broken out simultaneously in tears and laughter.
She kind of wished she had been there, if only to witness Spock's (no doubt) baffled expression.
-x-
The Vulcan arrived in his quarters at 2100 hours and Uhura greeted him with a smile and a kiss. His response was somehow feeble as he hurried off to check on the captain, and finally something clicked in the communications officer's mind.
-x-
All her life, Uhura had thought of herself as a very ordinary person. She did not think of the term as an insult, but rather a quality that further highlighted her exceptional success in the linguistic department. All that she had achieved had been through hard work and motivation alone.
Being ordinary, most often, meant being rational. She had never been especially outgoing or "wild" and not even the years spent in the presence of her deceased Orion best friend slash dorm mate had changed that. Her only serious romantic relationship had been with Spock, and she was perfectly okay with the knowledge that in the long run dating him would most likely lead to the Vulcan equivalent of marriage. Being with Spock was comfortable and nothing she could think of would ever change that. She didn't need the kind of fairytale romance or a love that was like a great, passionate adventure, as long as she had him by her side.
Or that's what she thought up until the moment she realized her boyfriend was most certainly in love with Captain Jim Kirk.
-x-
The revelation itself was so surprisingly unsurprising that it sent her into a slight panic attack, during which all she could think of was "am I an idiot or what". Even after she had managed to calm herself, the brooding sense of "I should've seen this coming" remained as the foremost emotion, above the startlingly absent feelings of anger and betrayal. No, she wasn't mad at Spock―after all, she knew for sure he still loved her, even if she didn't know how that was possible. Rather, she was mad at herself for being dull, and besides that she only felt, well, okay. Because somehow, when she thought about the captain, who had almost died for them all because that was what 'Spock would've done', and then though of Spock, who would sit by the captain's bedside for hours on end, it all made sense.
She thought about herself too, and remembered the countless times she had adamantly insisted against everything that Jim Kirk was the biggest douchebag in the whole Federation, and finally, after years of knowing the man, admitted to herself that she kind of found him charming beyond all belief. A long withstanding good-natured rivalry had raised Kirk among the people she most admired and, more importantly, most sorely needed, as she now realized. The absence Kirk's funny retorts and challenging ideas on whatever topic discussed on the ship was like a phantom ache in her body.
So, apparently they had both fallen for the same guy―how weird was that.
Except that she didn't think it was weird at all, and maybe that meant she wasn't quite as ordinary as she'd always thought.
-x-
Thinking about her life and choices took up the whole of the twelfth day, and so on the morning of the thirteenth she stalked Spock down to the new and improved mess hall and confronted him over a slice of butter toast (hers) and a bowl of gespar (his).
"So, you're in love with him," she said after a while, cutting the chase.
"I don't understand what you're talking about," he replied and promptly bailed out of the mess. Spock always made a sport of avoiding the truth, she mused and finished her toast.
Later that day he burst into her quarters, appearing agitated like never before―and that was something, because Uhura was an expert on reading Spock's mood. He paced, like was his habit (one he was fairly fond of denying), and after a long-stretched silence finally opened his mouth.
"You are not… incorrect in your observation," he confessed.
Uhura grinned brightly and Spock sagged (almost visibly) from relief and then they had a talk that was more serious than anything they'd ever discussed before, which was saying a lot because Vulcans never claimed to be the masters of fun, relaxed conversation. In the end though, everything went better than either of them had expected. Vulcans were strictly monogamous (or so they said) and Uhura's parents and grandparents alike would most likely have fits, but as they'd both come to learn, rules were made to be broken.
And yes―they could both agree on who to blame for that particular piece of wisdom.
-x-
Jim Kirk slept for fourteen days under the care of his ship and the good old doctor, and then woke up to the greeting of his first officer and communications officer and the rest of the senior staff patiently waiting in the hallway just outside the ICU.
What he didn't know then, was that during those fourteen days of him being dead to the world his fate had been more or less decided and all he had to do was to accept it. Unfortunately though, accepting something predefined had never been his strongest suite―but that is a whole another story.
end
A/N: so uh, I know I'm a year late with this and I know that this tweaks the facts a bit (for example they actually did move Kirk to a hospital in San Francisco while he was unconscious) but disregard that! I just wanted to tell a story that a) addressed the noticeable change within Kirk's and Spock's relationship and b) didn't ignore its effects on Uhura. And then my mind kind of went "…polyamory" and there was nothing I could do about it.
I wanna do a continuation piece to this in Kirk's POV (which I pretty much hinted at on the last line) but eeeeeven though I've already started writing one, I'm not actually promising I'll get it done soon.
Well, let me know what you think! Thanks for reading. :)