Touched.

Nyota

Nyota Uhura was not a woman who gave up. She was persistent, dedicated and a perfectionist. She did not like to fail. So she sat in the language lab booth listening to the incredible complex language of the Boarua. Cadet Uhura had the best grasp on this language of anyone in her year, she understood it quiet well and she could read the language but she could not speak it. So she immersed herself in the sounds, she tried to speak the words failed and repeated and failed, and persisted and failed. One night Commander Spock had come to stand silently at her shoulder. After listening to her attempts with his head cocked slightly to one side he said, "Boarua is difficult for humans..."

"Tell me something I don't know" thought Uhura.

"because of it requires specific breathing patterns to produce the sounds fluidly. Instruction at the academy is aimed at aural and reading proficiency not oral proficiency."

He had gone on to explain that few people were able to develop the physical capacity to speak Boarua, but, he was aware that she was a singer and that was a good start. There were some exercises Uhura could do to improve her breath control and strengthen muscles in the abdomen and throat. He explained and demonstrated. And she copied, and practiced and practiced and practiced. She practiced in the shower, she practiced while walking on the beach, and she practiced in bed, until Galia threw a pillow at her and called her "obsessed".

"I just don't like to fail" said Uhura.

"You don't like to fail Commander Lean and Gorgeous" said Galia, teasingly.

Uhura threw the pillow back, "That's not it at all." replied Uhura, "Language is my area of interest and I don't give up."

"I'm sure it is an area of interest," drawled Galia, "Nothing to do with Commander Sex-on-Legs paying individual attention to you, coaching you, demonstrating techniques to you," Galia drawled out the word techniques in a highly suggestive manner.

"Quite right, nothing at all," even to herself Nyota sounded snippy, "He likes to encourage interested students. He is a dedicated and highly professional teacher .."

"With a gorgeous body and deep deep eyes and that you-can-not-touch-me air' sighted Galia, dreamily.

Both women lay on their beds and sighed.

"You have been hot for him since first year," declared Galia.

"No, it's not like that," and for the first time Uhura sounded thoughtful, "I admired him and I still do, but he is off limits so there it is. I do want to be noticed by him, he is going to be first officer on the Enterprise and I want to be on the Enterprise. His opinion will carry weight and I need him to know that I am capable and dedicated and professional through and through."

Uhura rolled onto her side and looked across at Galia, "Seriously, it is my area of expertise and I just can not let this language beat me."

Galia pulled a face.

Uhura propped herself up on one elbow, "If there was a bug in one of your programs and you could not find it, would you shrug and give up?"

"No way girl, I'd track it down or die in the attempt," said Galia.

"Exactly my point," said Uhura, "You are as obsessed as me. I rest my case."

Uhura started the vocal exercises again and Galia pressed the pillow over her head in despair.

Three days later Uhura was in the language lab slogging it out with spoken Boaruan again. She had been working all afternoon and had not noticed as the room became dark. Now it was late and the lab was in semi darkness lit only by the computer screens. Uhura was growing more and more excited. She had done it! She could hear it in her tapes, she was speaking Boauan. She pressed her hands to her ears to hold the muffs tighter and cut out all sound as she listened. She repeated the phrase. YES! She'd done it she'd done it.

"Congratulations cadet." Uhura stood quickly and swung around when she hear the unexpected voice. Spock raised a quizzical eyebrow.

"I did it!" she almost shouted, she was elated.

"Indeed" he replied.
Uhura drew a deep breath and spoke a sentence in fluent Boauan.

Commander Spock head tipped slightly as he listened, "Admirable," he said.

He raised his hand. Uhura reacted naturally, thoughtlessly, crowing with delight she reach up and slapped her palm against his in a high five. She froze. "Never never touch a Vulcan, especially not on the face or hands," basics, every first year cadet knows this. She froze, stared into his wide eyes. She was touching him! Raw longing slammed through her swept along by her elation. Then she looked at her hand in dawning horror and snatched it away. She saw he had been reaching for the hanging overhead light switch. Too late! The damage was done..

His eyes had widened, his face blanched to a greenish white, he appeared to rock slightly. His hand culched the hanging cord and pulled reflexively. His sat back on the desk suddenly as if his knees had given way. He looked like he was in shock. He was breathing hard. What had she done? Was he injured?

"Sir? Commander? I'm so sorry, please, please is there anything I can do?" She reached toward him and he recoiled back as if her hand was a snake... She snatched her hand back.

"Fool," she thought, "don't you learn, unprofessional impulsive thoughtless fool."

He appeared calmer. "Cadet," his voice was little more than a whisper, "Dismissed".

She started to back away,

"Sir are you?"

"I said dismissed," his voice actually sounded angry.

Uhura could see her vision of serving on the Enterprise fading away. She snatched up her bag from next to his legs. Oh no! She actually brushed against him in her haste and felt him jump like he and received an electric shock. "Fool, fool, fool," she chanted in her mind as she fled from the room. She wanted to run, hide and lick her wounds but she was also concerned, and wondered if she should leave him alone. Once outside she turned and looked through the door's glass upper pane. Her breath caught in her throat and then she flooded with heat. She saw him under the single light, still leaning against the desk his head tipped back, his eyes shut and month sightly open and an intense expression on his face she had only seen in her fantasies. He seemed to tremble slightly. He might have been in pain but Nyota guessed this was how he would look in the throes of passion. As she watched he ran one long fingered hand up stroking over his face and across his scalp from front to back, the fingers combing through his hair leaving it tousled. "Like he would look in bed," she thought. She knew that vision of Spock would haunt her dreams. She fled.