Most of the characters in this story belong to Paramount and whoever else has current legal ownership of all things Star Trek at the moment. No infringement on any corporate, business, or individual's rights is intended in any way. This story is not being written for profit, just for enjoyment.
Changes
She glanced up at the Sick Bay chronometer and heaved another long sigh. She had now been at his side for the past 5 days, 21 hours, and 21 minutes without one single change in his condition. The surgery to repair his hemorrhaging spleen had been a success, but he still remained in a Vulcan healing trance while his body repaired the other injuries that he had sustained in his hand-to-hand battle with Harrison. As was her habit now, every few minutes she would scan the sensors monitoring his condition again hoping for some change for the better in the readings. Unfortunately his vital signs had continued to remain the same since his surgery….extremely low readings which even though she knew was typical of a Vulcan within a healing trance, still worried her. She tried to gain solace in the fact that his readings had stabilized and not gone any lower.
Sulu, who was still acting Captain, had granted her medical leave on a technicality so she could stay with him in sick bay and not have to stand her watch on the bridge. She knew that Spock would have stern words to say to both Sulu and herself about this later. Only a skeleton of the command crew had remained on board since yesterday, and by tomorrow evening they too would be granted shore leave on Earth pending desk assignments while repairs were being completed to the ship. Damage to the Enterprise had been severe enough to immediately pull the ship from the active duty roster for at least 60 days while the Enterprise was docked at space port Solaris. Depending upon the analysis by the Star Fleet Headquarters' engineering department, the complete restoration of the Enterprise could possibly take up to one Earth year to complete. Most of her shipmates who had left the ship already were now helping with the clean up in San Francisco which was expected to take many months.
Her fingers ghosted over his pale olive forehead. She then leaned down and kissed him tenderly on the spot that her fingers had touched. Yes, a change for the better would be most welcome about now. For some reason she couldn't explain, her mind began to focus on the word 'change'.
There had been so many changes in their lives since Vulcan had been destroyed. Most of those changes had not been good. But a few of the changes had actually been for the better. In order to distract herself from Spock's injuries, she began to focus on the good changes that had occurred since that fateful day not that long ago on which Spock's mother had been killed and his home planet had been turned into a black hole.
At the top of this 'good' change list of hers was the change in her and Spock's relationship. Since the colony of New Vulcan had been established, Spock had become even closer to her, sharing with her many more stories of his childhood and of his home world and his emotions associated with them. Since they had begun dating back on Earth, Spock had only allowed her brief glimpses into the 'soft' side that she had always suspected was buried deep beneath the surface. Now those glimpses had turned into longer and longer looks with each shared memory.
And since New Vulcan had been established, Spock had actually begun to act more like a boyfriend to her in public when they were off duty. The first time he held her hand in line on the mess deck, the muscles in her cheeks were actually sore the next day from smiling non-stop for over an hour while they ate dinner. Hand holding was a small step in the evolution of a human relationship, but when said hand holding involved a particular Vulcan in front of other crewmembers, it was big news indeed.
Unfortunately for them, the progress in their relationship had been brought to a abrupt halt during the hellish past 19 days. First she had almost lost Spock in that volcano. She had been furious with him for putting the Prime Directive above his own life. But at that moment in her life she had painfully and quite clearly understood why her mother had begged her not to become involved with a fellow officer. Nyota now knew that if Spock had died in that volcano, she wasn't at all sure if she could have even gone on living without him, let alone continue as communications officer for the Enterprise.
Then came the attack on Star Fleet headquarters, the death of Admiral Pike, and finally the pursuit and capture of John Harrison. She and everyone else on board the Enterprise had been running on sheer adrenaline for weeks now and she finally admitted to herself that being under such intense stress for so long was starting to catch up with her. She was exhausted, both physically and emotionally.
In between the recent disasters and in the silence of her own mind, she had begun to think seriously about accepting a teaching position on Earth after her 5 year tour was up aboard the Enterprise instead of re-enlisting. She had yet to discuss the matter with Spock, but after the madness that was John Harrison, it appeared that she and Spock would have ample opportunity to discuss the matter at length on Earth during their shore leave. And she had also made up her mind that she and Spock were also going to have a long talk about their future together once he had recovered.
She thought back to the change in the relationship between Spock and his father after the death of Amanda. It seemed now that the two of them had finally accepted each other as they were without any conditions or regrets. It was like a huge emotional burden had been lifted from Spock's shoulders and she was so happy and grateful for the emotional and physical relief this change in their relationship had given Spock.
She suddenly recalled one of her many quiet, private talks aboard the Enterprise with Spock's father, Sarek before he left for New Vulcan. In this particular conversation, Sarek had surprised her by calmly and politely asking her for grandchildren. She had almost been embarrassed at first to even speak of having children with his son, but Sarek was so sincere and respectful in his request that she knew in her heart that giving Sarek grandchildren was something that she definitely wanted to do. She had told Sarek that if Spock would have her, she would be honored to bear his children. Sarek then told her quite firmly but gently that she was incorrect in her assessment of her and Spock's relationship, and that the honor would be all Spock's. Completely taken aback by Sarek's comment, she politely thanked him, not knowing what else to say to him at the time.
In the almost silence of Spock's semi private room, she heard Chekov quietly approach, bringing her as she suspected by the smell, her evening meal. Between Scotty, Sulu, and Chekov, Uhura it seemed never lacked for food and the accompanying encouragement to eat during the past five days.
She had also been touched by the outpouring of friendship and love from all of her shipmates in the past four days. For the first two days after Spock's surgery it seemed that there was almost a constant flow of visitors into Sick Bay and at all hours. Most of the visitors offered both encouragement and support and had offered up prayers for Spock's recovery. And every one of them had offered their respect for both of them. The crew was very much aware of what both she and Spock had done in the battle on board the garbage scowl when they had captured Harrison.
"Nyota" Chekov started with a grin "I brought you your berry favorite din-nor." He pulled up a rolling table and set two covered dishes on the table beside her.
Nyota had adopted Chekov back at the Academy and had started introducing him to everyone as her little brother during his first year at the Academy. Chekov had claimed that her friendship was the only reason that he had been able to handle the stress and his course load during that critical first year. "Ndugu kidogo" she began as she stood up and gave him a hug. "Thank you."
Chekov smiled broadly at her. He loved her nickname for him, even though he couldn't pronounce it. "My pleasure, starshaya sestra" he quickly responded. "Hikaru and I have volunteered to stay here wid you on zee Enterprise until Mes-ter Spock fully recovers." He said in his heavy Russian accent.
She smiled sadly at him "Dr. Matheson will be staying me." She responded "So you and Sulu need to get to shore leave. And that's an order, mister." She softened her tone. "We will be fine here. The doctor thinks it will only be a few more days before Spock wakes up, and that's why he and Dr. McCoy didn't find it necessary to move him to Headquarters' hospital."
"We will see how he is by tomorrow e-ve-ning." Chekov responded with a frown. "Zen we will decide if we will leave the ship."
She smiled at him knowing that he was just being protective of her. She then thought about just how much Chekov had changed in the short time they had served together on board the Enterprise. Not only had he completely overcome his shyness, but he had become a respected member of the command staff on board at the ripe old age of 17. Uhura had been so proud to have hosted his 18th birthday party just 9 short months ago.
Chekov quietly sat down to eat dinner with her and they quickly began to have a very animated conversation. She always enjoyed her time with him. He really was like a little brother to her and she quietly squealed in delight when he mentioned that he actually had a date on Earth next week with one of his former classmates.
"Don't forget to invite me to your wedding, Pavel." She teased causing him to blush slightly.
After his embarrassment faded, Chekov looked at her with serious eyes. "And do not forget to invite me to yur wedding, Nyota." He said pointedly looking over at Spock. "He is berry gud for you, starshaya sestra. And you are berry gud for him." He told her quietly and sincerely.
Her eyes suddenly misted up at his words and he reached out and took her hand in his. "I know that I am young, but I am wise for my years, Nyota." He said with a small smile now forming on his face. "And I see the way he looks at you when he thinks no one else can see… and vow!" He rolled his eyes towards the ceiling to emphasize his observation and then squeezed her hand tenderly. "I can only hope to have a woman in my life that I can look at in that way."
"You will have such a woman, my Pavel." She began to giggle through her tears at his kind words, squeezing his hand back gently. "She will be very beautiful and very smart too, you'll see."
After they finished eating, Chekov offered to sit with Spock while she returned to her quarters to change and take a quick shower that she was so desperately in need of. Even though technically she was a patient in Sick Bay, Dr. Matheson had told her off the record that she could come and go as she pleased. She hurried back down to Sick Bay within 30 minutes to find both Chekov and Sulu standing watch over Spock.
"Nyota" Sulu started as she entered Spock's semi-private room. "Pavel has told me that you want both of us to leave you here alone tomorrow."
"Hikaru" she replied giving him a hug. "I will not be alone. Dr. Matheson is assigned to remain here until Spock is released from Sick Bay."
Sulu frowned as he took Uhura's elbows in his hands and stared at her sternly. "But who will make sure that you eat?" he said squeezing her elbows gently "You're already too skinny from 'forgetting' to eat too many times in the past week. Another week and you're going to be just skin and bones!"
"Gah! You're starting to sound like Spock." She chided him as he released her elbows and smiled at her.
"I will just take that comment as a compliment, even though I'm not really sure if it was one." He teased her and she smiled back at him.
"I have already discussed the matter with Dr. Matheson and he has agreed to 'take care' of me when you leave tomorrow." She explained to both of them. "And the doctor is very optimistic that Spock will be waking up soon anyway."
"Once he recovers, what will you do?" Sulu asked quietly.
"Most likely we will join the efforts to help with the recovery effort in San Francisco." She replied. "Dr. McCoy believes that Captain Kirk will make a full recovery, so we will no doubt be spending time with him and Dr. McCoy. And if Spock agrees, I want to take him home with me to visit my family."
Chekov beamed. "I will visit wid my family too."
"Me too." Sulu agreed his face also breaking out in a huge smile.
Nyota smiled back at both of them knowing that all of them had been through so much together and that the prospect of being with their families now would be good change for them all. "Now both of you get out of here and back up to the bridge." She teased "That's an order."
"Yes, Lieutenant." They chimed in together. Chekov picked up their food trays smiling brightly at her before they left the room.
Since his surgery, Nyota had been taking short naps in the chair next to Spock's bio bed, not wanting to be away from him. And sleeping in that chair had started to make her back hurt. She wasn't sure just how much longer she could keep sitting in that chair because no matter what she did to relieve the pain, her back seemed to hurt more and more every day. She was afraid to tell Dr. Matheson about her back for fear he would make her sleep apart from Spock, so she just continued to suck it up and kept quiet about her constant pain.
"Wow!" Dr. Matheson deadpanned as he walked briskly into the room and up to the bank of sensors next to Spock's bio bed. "You're still here!" he teased her making note on his padd of Spock's current sensor readings. He looked over and her and nodded his head towards the bio bed. "You know there may be just enough room on this bio bed for you to squeeze your tiny little body in next to the Commander's."
Nyota could now feel her eyebrows start to climb towards the top of her head and actually felt her skin start to blush. She had known Charlie Matheson since they were in their first year of Star Fleet Academy together. They had become firm and fast friends. But that still did not stop her from becoming embarrassed with him right now.
"I can tell your back's killing you from sleeping in that chair by the way you move. After all I am a doctor." He continued as he walked over to stand in front of her "Almost everyone's left the ship so you won't have to worry about someone walking in and finding you 'sleeping' with him." He chuckled as Uhura's eyes grew large in surprise at his choice of words. "Look, it's not like we don't know that the two of you are a couple or anything like that. So make it easy on yourself and your back and just lay down in the bio bed with him, alright? And who knows, actually having you near him might even speed up his healing process." He smiled warmly as he continued to reason with her. "I know that if I had a beautiful woman to wake up with in bed with me, I would make sure that I woke up as fast as I could!"
"Charlie!" she exclaimed as he chuckled quietly to himself.
They locked eyes with one another for a moment and then he turned and walked back to Spock's bed and dropped the side rail on the bio bed so she could climb in. "Doctor's orders." He stated simply with a smile.
She hesitated for a moment and then sat down in her chair so she could pull off her boots. Charlie pulled the light blanket over both of them after she gingerly lay down in the bed next to Spock.
"Sweet dreams." He said quietly dimming the lights as he walked out of the room.
"Thanks, Charlie." She replied softly, a huge yawn following close behind her words. She didn't realize just how tired she was until her head hit Spock's pillow. She rolled onto her right side placing her left arm tenderly across his stomach and her right hand resting on his forehead, her fingers gently stroking the skin there. She sighed as she inhaled his unique scent and immediately relaxed. The feel of his skin and his smell always soothed her. She quickly fell into a deep sleep.
She dreamed of Spock's mother, Amanda and the time that they first met for dinner at small vegetarian restaurant in downtown San Francisco. But instead of just the three of them, Nyota found herself sitting at a large round table at the restaurant with her and Spock's six children, four stair-stepped little boys and a set of adorable twin girls no more than a year old that Spock held securely in his arms. Amanda's joy at being with her grandchildren was quite obvious and in her dream their children took turns at sitting in their grandmother's lap and giggling at her as she tickled them. She could feel one of her son's hands tenderly rubbing her arm as he waited for a turn in grandma's lap.
Far too soon it seemed the dream ended, and Nyota began to slowly open her eyes as she became aware of a hand that was still rubbing her arm gently. She turned her head away from where it rested in against Spock's neck to find Dr. Matheson looking at her with a huge smile on his face, his hand the one now tenderly rubbing her arm.
"Looks likes you really did need the rest. You've been out cold for over 17 hours." Dr. Matheson said knowingly, looking down at her. "Now I don't want to say 'I told you so' but I but I told you so!" He remarked proudly pointing towards the bank of sensors at the head of Spock's bio bed. "Sensors indicate a 30.3% improvement in Commander Spock's readings this morning. So having his woman in bed with him is making a difference already. Ain't love amazing!"
"Charlie Matheson." She said sternly as Dr. Matheson began laughing quietly. "Stop it right now." He continued to smile broadly at her as she scolded him. "Don't you have some other patients to bother?"
"Nope, just you and the Commander. So just consider yourself special with all the one-on-one attention you two are getting from me, OK." He replied turning around and pulling a rolling table towards the bio bed. "Here's your breakfast, Lieutenant. Now eat! Doctor's orders."
She huffed at him and he gave her a low chuckle and a wink before leaving the room.
She pulled up her chair and opened the container. It was a breakfast omelet, her favorite with mushrooms and green peppers. But this omelet was the real thing…not replicated. Charlie was definitely taking good care of her. With the news about the improvement in Spock's condition, she was suddenly very hungry.
As she ate, she thought back to her dream. She had known Amanda only one year, but somehow it had felt that she had known her a much longer time. Amanda was such an intelligent and loving woman that Nyota had developed a deep fondness for her in the short amount of time she had been around her. Suddenly Amanda's death cast a shadow on her meal and she immediately placed her fork back down on her plate, hanging her head low as a single tear silently fell from her left eye. How heavy Spock's heart must have been at Amanda's loss. Suddenly she witnessed an unexplained vision of Amanda scolding her for not eating as she had done several times in the past telling her that she needed to be strong in order to put up with her son. She slowly smiled to herself and sniffled once, picking her fork back up to begin eating again.
She finished up her omelet, getting up to place the container and her fork into the recycle chute located near the rear entrance to Sick Bay. As she walked back over to Spock's bio bed she looked up at the sensor bank. There before her eyes she once again found concrete proof of his recovery. She gave a deep sigh of relief and blinked away the tears threatening to form in her eyes again. She turned towards him and smiled. Then she leaned over and kissed him tenderly on the lips.
"I am going to set up a video link with my family and let them know that you are getting better, my beloved. I have only sent them text messages up until now because of the ship's damage to the communications equipment. The link has now been repaired." She said quietly in Vulcan hoping that he could somehow hear her. She kissed him once more on the lips. As a rule, Vulcan mates did not have pet names for each other, but rather called each other by many different personal titles. And Ashayam, meaning 'my beloved', was such a title within the Vulcan language. And even though they were not mates, at least not yet, she thought the name was accurate in describing just how he fit into her world at the moment.
She made a side trip to the semi private restroom and brushed her teeth and her hair with supplies that one of her caring crew mates had left for her. She certainly didn't want to appear unkempt for her family because she didn't want them to worry any more than they already had about her. She walked back into Sick Bay and sat down at the now vacant nurse's duty station. She then logged into the communications portal of the ship and began to establish the video link to her parent's home.
Given the local time and the fact that it was a school night, she had hoped to speak with both her parents and her younger sister and brother. Nyota was the middle child of her family. She had a sister six years older than her and a brother who was nine years her senior. There had been an older sibling three years her senior who had sadly died at birth. Given the age gap, Nyota had effectively been the big sister for her younger brother and sister their whole life. An even though they were always quite annoying, she found herself missing her younger brother and sister quite often since she had left home for Star Fleet Academy.
Suddenly the blue screen came to life as her excited younger brother screeched her name and she quickly turned the volume on the link down.
"Nyota!" Jahleel, her 14 year old brother squealed in delight upon seeing her. She watched as her brother quickly became a blur of movement as her 17 year old sister, Nabeelah quickly pushed her younger brother out of camera range as he protested. "Nabeelah! Stop! I answered the video link first so I get to talk with Nyota first!"
He immediately shoved his way back in front of the camera and the fight for dominance of both the camera and the conversation ensued as both of them began to talk to her at the same time as they both jockeyed for position in front of the camera. Nyota started laughing at their antics as she continued to answer their rapid fire questions.
"Sister, are you alright now!" Nabeelah said in a huff. "We were so worried about you."
"I'm fine, I'm sitting here on the Enterprise in Sick Bay…" Nyota replied before being cut off by Jahleel.
"Why are you in Sick Bay if you are alright, Nyota?" Jahleel pounced on top of Nabeelah in order to get his question into the mic.
"I am staying with Spock while he recovers." Nyota answered and Jahleel's eyes rolled to the back of his head at the mention of Spock's name.
"With your boyfriend, huh?" Jahleel teased before being elbowed by Nabeelah.
"Shut up, Jahleel!" Nabeelah yelled taking over the front of the camera again. "Is he going to be OK, Nyota?"
"The surgery stopped the bleeding in his spleen…" Nyota began but was immediately cut off.
"That's bad if he was bleeding internally from his spleen, very bad!" Jahleel exclaimed as he moved to press his head against Nabeelah's so both of them could now be seen by Nyota.
"He also suffered broken ribs and damaged kidneys too along with many bruises." Nyota patiently told them knowing that both of them were taking some pre-med courses in school and that each of them intended to go into the medical field after receiving their education. "But Vulcans are able to induce a healing trance in which their body basically shuts down while it repairs itself. And he will wake up when he is healed."
"Wow!" Jahleel exclaimed. "I am going to research this Vulcan healing trance. It sounds absolutely fascinating!"
"What about you, Nyota?" Nabeelah asked quietly, her eyes suddenly serious. "We saw the security video footage from the garbage scowl. That crazy man didn't hurt you did he?"
"No" Nyota replied firmly "Spock stopped Harrison before he was able to reach me."
"You and Spock were so awesome." Jahleel shouted happily "I now have the coolest sister in the whole school!"
Suddenly Nyota heard her mother and father's voice in the background.
"Is that Nyota?" her mother could be heard clearly asking.
Nyota watched as her sister and brother moved quickly aside in order to let their parents sit in front of the camera.
"Baby girl, are you OK?" her father asked loudly, unable to control his relief and excitement at seeing his middle child once again.
"I'm OK, Daddy." Nyota replied with a smile knowing that she was about to be subjected to questioning all over again. But right now her usual lack of patience with her sometimes nosey family was just that, lacking. She truly enjoyed talking and laughing with her family and for the first time in weeks she felt a soothing calm settle over her. This video chat was the link that she had so badly needed to what had been her former life prior to the biggest change in her life: Star Fleet.
She was very happy that her family was genuinely concerned about Spock's health and she excitedly filled them in on all the improvements in his condition made during the night. But the fact that she had slept with him she politely kept to herself. She would let them know about the change in her and Spock's relationship later after things had calmed down a bit.
Her family had come to know Spock when she had taken him home with her the break before her last semester at the Academy soon after they had actually started dating. Her family had warmly welcomed him into their home then. During the week that they spent with her family, Spock seemed to mesh well with her sometimes quite emotional family. She knew that her father had a private and very long conversation with Spock at one point during the week and that neither her father or Spock had ever mentioned what was discussed in that particular conversation to anyone. Nyota and her mother had also had a serious conversation about her being in a relationship with a fellow officer during that visit with her family. But they had all left each other on good terms as the visit ended. Her family had even invited Spock back to visit again which had pleased Nyota immensely.
"You do realize that you and Spock are heroes, now." Her father declared after Nyota told them that she needed to end their video visit in order to go and check on Spock.
Nyota knew that what Spock had done had been quite heroic, going against great odds to do battle with Harrison who was much stronger than he. But she also knew in her heart that her reason for beaming down to that garbage scowl was purely personal….at least at first. "Spock is definitely the hero taking on Harrison by himself." She paused for a second before continuing. "I was just doing my duty, Daddy." She replied stoically.
Her father smiled broadly at her knowing the truth that lay behind her words. "I am proud of both of you, baby girl."
Nyota beamed as her mother hugged her father hard for his kind words and all four of them began telling her 'good bye' at the same time.
"Call us when you get back to Earth so we can make plans for a visit." Her mother requested, wiping a small tear from her eye. "And give Spock a hug for us." she said as the link went dead.
Nyota smiled to herself as she walked back to Spock's bio bed. She wasn't positive, but she could have sworn that Spock had actually moved his left arm almost as if he was reaching out for something or perhaps someone. Suddenly she knew without a doubt that is was her that he had been reaching for as if wanting her in bed with him again. She slipped her boots off quickly and gently moved his arm so she could once again climb into the bio bed, pulling the light blanket over both of them as she settled down onto the mattress.
She wasn't really sleepy, but she desperately wanted to be near to him as she snuggled up to his left side and closed her eyes. As she relaxed against him, she felt an unmistakable hitch in his breathing. Dr. Matheson had told her that this change in his breathing pattern was a normal part of the waking process from a healing trance. She slowly leaned her head up from his pillow and softly nuzzled his left cheek planting a soft kiss there as she felt his left arm move. She kissed his left cheek again as his breathing rate increased rapidly. She was certain now that he was indeed waking up and she couldn't keep the smile off her face as she kissed his cheek once more.
And for a change, she wanted her love for him to be the first thing he felt upon waking…..and it was!