So... I have decided that I don't have the time to commit to trying to fit a story between Illogical Progression. So, it shall be posted as it was written. This one should be exactly as it always was. Hope that you can enjoy and I'll try to have it all posted asap, but I'm working on some other works, currently. I'll do my best to do right by everyone. That's part of the reason that I can't take on a new Star Trek to insert, right now. Maybe in the future? :)
A Child
The developing planet of New Vulcan had begun to look a bit similar to the destroyed Vulcan. Lifeforms all throughout the Federation made themselves available to contribute to New Vulcan's development and assist where needed. Architects from different areas of different galaxies worked diligently in attempts to recreate structures for the planet, which the elders made plans of from memory. Starfleet gave the Vulcans regular assistance, as well. Starships often traveled to the budding area to deliver aide via materials and transport. As scattered Vulcans needed to find their way to New Vulcan, Starfleet commuted them.
Now, three years after the destruction of Vulcan, New Vulcan would be officially opening the doors of the New Vulcan Science Academy. The Federation was sending the Starship Enterprise as representation for their presence in an official ceremony, which the Vulcans only agreed to have to fulfill the requests of the many lifeforms which assisted in the institute being rebuilt. The ship would only be in New Vulcan for three days, and when the ceremony ended, they had another assignment to complete.
Not everyone would be leaving the ship, only Captain Kirk and his assistant, Yeoman Rand, along with Spock, and his wife, Lt. Uhura, and Dr. McCoy. All of the other Enterprise personnel were to remain on the ship, in orbit until the three days of visit ended. Nyota Uhura prepared her bags for the landing, a bit intimidated about this particular visit. This was not her first time to New Vulcan, but Spock had already informed her that it would be greatly different and that she would have to see his family. When she did not understand why that was a problem, he told her that he had been keeping a few things about his family from her, and that she would soon find these things out. Hearing this had made her somewhat nervous. She wished that he would have told her what his words meant, but shortly after he made the comment, Captain Kirk stole him away and both of them became quite occupied. She did not have a chance to interrogate him about these family secrets.
When Spock decided to stay in Starfleet, he and Uhura committed themselves to each other again. Shortly after, they became engaged in human practice and on their first visit to the developing New Vulcan, Spock was able to have a bonding ceremony performed for them. Uhura wanted a human wedding, as well, and it have taken place approximately two years after they reunited in love, and one year after they were bonded by T'Pau. Now, another year was upon them. Their anniversary would coincide with the opening of the New Vulcan Science Academy. This was no surprise to Uhura, as Spock had informed her of his planning things in this way. Having their ceremonies closely linked to affairs on New Vulcan made it easier for Starfleet to grant the ship passage to New Vulcan for the events.
She had been his bond mate and Vulcan wed for almost two years and his human wife for almost one year, and now, she found that there were secrets between them?
When she was bonded to him on New Vulcan, in its early stages, wearing a silver gray Vulcan caftan, covered in ceremonial bridal ornaments and decorated by Vulcan elder women that she did not know anything about to secure their relationship until death, she never imagined that there would ever be a secret. All of the things that either of them had ever felt for and towards each other had been made clear in both of their minds and hearts through this union, and the love that she now knew Spock felt for her did not seem susceptible to any secrets. Then, she wondered what could these secrets involve? Was it a bad secret or a good secret that he just thinks is bad? Where in that wonderful Vulcan mind of his had he hid something from her?
The concept of secrecy between them confused her, as she believed that because their minds so frequently became one that there was no way of keeping secrets - she certainly had not been able to keep any from him since they bonded. Apparently, there were aspects of his mind, not to mention his character that she still had not penetrated. He had been so open in speaking about New Vulcan, that she believed that she knew everything that there was to know about it. To be frank, she did not like the idea of something else, unexpected going to take place so soon to being there. All of a sudden, as she was packing... she realized that she was immensely hungry. She stopped packing to make her way to the mess hall.
On the way, she ran into Ensign Chekov, one of her favorite people on the entire ship. He greeted her gleefully, "Lt. Uhura, why are you not preparing to go with the landing party to the surface of New Vulcan?" She smiled at him, loving the way he for some reason switched his "v" and "w" when speaking. He was the only Russian that she knew who did that.
She responded, "I am all kinds of hungry. I hope that I can get some pastrami and beef and salami from the mess hall."
He winced, then looked at her with a surprised face. "Lt. Uhura, you are craving for meat?"
"You know I usually don't, but every now and then, I have a taste for it. Today I have a mighty taste for it." They went into the room and found a spot. Chekov cheerfully volunteered to go grab her requested food for her. She hoped that there would be what she wanted.
The Russian rushed to the counter and said, "I need a sandwich with the meats of roasted beef, pastrami and salami, pronto!" The man at the counter looked at him and pressed his lips together, but Chekov explained, "This is for the Lt. Uhura."
The man's face brightened, now and he asked, "Is she pregnant again?"
"I hope so. Make it snappy, She has somewhere to be!" Chekov looked over at his friend and waved with a smile. She smiled back and remained patient, but eager for the food to hurry up.
When Chekov returned to the table with a tray holding a bun with a pile of different meats on it, she clapped her hands. "Thank you so much, Chekov!" She took the tray and began to eat as he sat across from her, talking about different things of Russia, but never mentioning the possibility of a baby. She knew that he wanted to ask, but he did not do so. Instead, he spoke about the fact that her wedding anniversary was coming up, soon and asking if this trip to New "Vulcan" would be as a second honeymoon. No, this was a business trip that it just so happened she would have the opportunity to see family on.
After she finished eating, Chekov escorted her back to her room and she finished preparing. Uhura met with the other members of the landing party on the transporter deck. Scotty winked at her as she stepped onto it. She simply smiled at him. Scotty always did things like that, despite the fact that he knew that Spock could become quite jealous, whether he showed it or not. Nyota stood facing the entrance of the transporter room, as well as the others.
Spock tilted his head curiously at her and commented, "You carry the scent of cooked animal flesh on you, Lieutenant." She looked at the transporter pad and tried not to smile. Spock did not like the fact that she had eaten meat. It worried him. She would have tried to clean away all traces of it from herself, but she had not had time to do so. She glanced at him as they began to dematerialize. She saw that he looked worried, but she turned away from him and faced front again.
Uhura, Spock, Kirk, McCoy and Yeoman Rand transported to the surface of the planet, right outside of the New Vulcan Embassy, and were greeted by Ambassador Sarek. Sarek gave the traditional Vulcan salute to all of the present party, except Nyota, whom he greeted with a hug, as it was her custom to accidentally hug him so many times that he decided to simply greet her in that way, as she would most likely continue to forget not to do so. The first time she had done so, Spock had thrown her a disbelieving look, then apologized to his father for her. Sarek accepted her actions and informed Spock that Amanda would have greeted his father in the same way early on in their relationship.
Upon New Vulcan, Nyota looked beyond Sarek at a tall, dark skin man with a long ponytail and a long single braided beard - her father, Mwinyi, and she dropped her items and rushed to hug him. "Baba!" She began to greet him in Swahili.
Mwinyi let go of her and looked at Spock, "Hello, Spock."
"Hello, Dr. Uhura." Spock replied, politely.
"Spock, how many times must I tell you? As my son in law, you no longer have to call me that. My name is Mwinyi." Spock nodded once. Mwinyi shook the hands of Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy, and bowed slightly to Yeoman Rand.
Sarek led the guests to where they would lodge for their visit, within the Embassy. Uhura handed her bags to Spock and left the landing party to go with her father. Kirk reminded her to keep her communicator on her, as though she would forget such a thing. Mwinyi and Ashaki had come to New Vulcan two years earlier to settle for a while and help troubled Vulcans, however at the moment, Ashaki was off planet and would not return until the next day.
Vulcans never realized that they could even be troubled until so many of them were faced with such turmoil as what had occurred with their planet. The most affected Vulcans were the children. There was a shortage of Vulcan children in existence, as most of the children were on the old planet when it was consumed. The children who had not been destroyed found it difficult to resort to their logic as easily as the adult survivors. There were also several adult Vulcans who had suffered great mental anguish from losing their bond mates, who needed extra care. Mwinyi worked out of a special home for troubled Vulcans with the help of Vulcan neurologist, Dr. T'Priu. Ashaki served as something like a den mother at the institution, caring for the children, but trying not to make them too attached to her. Many of the Vulcans decided that the Vulcan children with special needs probably needed a more emotional approach to regaining their logic, and only a human could do such a thing. Nyota did not understand the logic of it, but was grateful that each time she visited New Vulcan, her family was there. They had been present for her Vulcan wedding, although they did not have a chance to witness her human wedding, as it was thrown on the ship by Captain Kirk.
Spock watched her leave, a look of concern in his eyes. He certainly knew that he could trust her father to protect her, but he also knew that her father was merely human. If danger approached them... Kirk stared at Spock and asked, "Is there a problem, Mr. Spock?" Spock now looked at Kirk without answering and continued to follow Sarek.
Sarek looked at Spock and assured him, "They highly respect Dr. Uhura. No harm will come to either of them. She is safer with him than with you. You did not tell me that there would be another woman here."
Sarek glanced at Yeoman Rand and Kirk offered, "Oh, she's my assistant. I brought her along for, well, assistance. Will that be a problem?"
Sarek said, "We have certain elements on the planet who may be overly interested in the woman." Janice looked worried. Sarek stated, "However, I am sure that you will be fine as long as you remain with your colleagues."
Dr. McCoy now spoke up to ask, "Just what the hell kind of elements are there in this place that might be overly interested in a woman, besides this one, that we tainted on Earth?" He asked nudging his head towards Spock.
Sarek answered, "Vulcans who rejected Surak's teachings are now becoming a part of New Vulcan society." Spock made a rather displeased face, before straightening it out. Kirk looked at Spock, wondering why this was so agitating to him, but did not ask at the moment. He did not want to make him feel confronted in this group of people. He would ask him to explain everything later, when he had the chance to get him alone.
Nyota walked with her father to the institution, concerned with the fact that Spock was so worried about her. She could feel it radiating off of him when she had left. When they first spoke of coming to the planet, he had spoken about a major worry of his. He had not presented it as a worry, but he did not have to. She knew when he was worried. There were Vulcans on the planet who had once been banished from Vulcan who were now needed for procreation. Spock seemed to have a great deal of disdain for them and had referred to them as "more like Romulans than Vulcans". He seemed mostly worried of the thought of the males around her.
For one thing, these particular Vulcans did not follow the teachings of Surak. They did not follow a path of logic. Those who did follow the path of logic often referred to the others as barbarians. The word made her flinch, to think that they were actually calling each other that. Despite the fact that they seemed to not respect each other, all of the surviving Vulcans had come to some type of agreement of peace in order for their species to continue. From what she understood, negotiations between the two types were not always easy, or even hardly ever easy.
The... she thought of a more appropriate word than barbarians... outsiders, that sounded better in her head, did not wish to promise any of their children to other Vulcans. The outsiders did not know if their children would grow to feel for the Vulcan in question and wished to have their children have the freedom to choose a mate according to what they wanted, not whom they were promised to. She respected that aspect of their beliefs. After all, Spock had been promised to someone else as a child and had fallen completely in love with someone else years later. The logical Vulcans claimed that their species was too scarce for them to be choosy, but only a few of the outsiders would pledge their children, and only after tough consideration.
Logical Vulcans were losing the ability to secure mates for their children, those who even had children. The children who did not have parents would be of the last to be chosen, if choices would be made. Most of them were in the institution. Most of the logical Vulcans had children ages three or younger, and most of their options for a promised mate for their children were a ward of the institution, which was already a defect to most Vulcans, or the child of the barbarians. Nyota found herself sad about the formation of New Vulcan, or the hatred between the last survivors, anyway.
Another shortage in Vulcan was amongst the women. Many of them had been on Vulcan during its destruction, as well. The outsiders of New Vulcan were practicing the taking up of one bride for each family and suggesting that the logical Vulcans do the same. As logical as it seemed when broken down, most of the more "civilized" Vulcans were blatantly against the idea. However, some of them were beginning to consider it and far fewer of them were beginning to practice it. The bride was generally from the outsiders' tribe, as many logical Vulcans did not volunteer their daughters to be a child bearer for a group of men.
After Nyota had spent some time with her father, she thought to leave the institution. The day was half over with and she was sure that Spock wanted to take her around the planet, some. Mwinyi told her to wait for him to escort her, so she would not run into anything dangerous. He only had to gather a few things from Ashaki's office before they left. As Nyota sat by herself in his office with the door open, a small Vulcan boy walked into the office with a dazed look on his face. The boy was one of the most beautiful children she had ever seen, with black hair bearing strands of gray and silver, and the most deep emerald colored eyes she had ever seen. She looked at him and said, "Hello, friend." in Vulcan.
The boy seemed to snap out of his daze at the mention of her voice. He appeared to be around seven or eight, but his hair coloring and the wisdom in his face made him look even older than Spock, although she would have compared him to a cherub of ancient paintings. The exquisitely beautiful boy walked over to her and touched her abdomen. "They will want him for themselves." He said in Vulcan.
She stared at him and asked, "They will want who?"
The boy looked at her and said, "Your son, obviously."
"Who will want him, Child?" She asked, She used the Vulcan term for "my child" instead of "a child", which she had done aware of it, but he mistook it for an accident.
He smiled at her and said, "You are not Vulcan."
She shook her head and said, "No, I am not. I do not have a son, either. Who do you think would try to take him, if I did have one?"
The boy sat on her lap and touched her forehead. "Did you mean it, when you called me "friend"?"
Nyota nodded her head at the boy and said, "I certainly did."
She reached for his hand to remove it, but the boy had already penetrated her mind. He showed her a flash of images that she could not clearly see or decipher, then he pulled his hand away and said, "You shall not forget."
Mwinyi entered the office and startled, "Styik, how did you get out of your quarters?" Now, Mwinyi picked the child up and looked at Nyota, "Are you okay? Did the boy meld with you?"
She almost answered honestly, but somehow feared for the boy if she had said he did, even if she had said that it was only briefly, therefore she stated, "No, we just talked." The boy smiled slightly at her. His face was so angelic it made her heart stop.
Mwinyi rushed out of this office holding the child and said, "Stay with me, Nyota." She quickly stood up and followed him to a room where the Vulcan child was placed into a seat and restrained to it.
Nyota gasped and asked, "What are you doing, Baba? There is no need to restrain the boy. He is completely calm."
Mwinyi responded, "Styik has a way of seeming calm when he is causing havoc. It is best that I get you out of here before he does try something on you." Mwinyi escorted Nyota back to the Embassy and left her there with Spock and the other members of the landing party.
When Nyota approached the table at which the landing party was seated, Rand grabbed her hand and said, "Did any of them see you?"
Nyota tilted her head and asked, "Any of who?"
"The barbarians!" Rand said.
Nyota winced at the mention of the word. To think that it was a word that was used for creatures such as the boy, Styik, bothered her greatly. "Janice, stop calling them that. It sounds so terribly primitive of you. It makes me think of Earth's history. My people were called savages, because they were misunderstood, and they faced great tribulation for it. We don't know anything about these Vulcans. It is heartless and judgmental of us to just call them names."
Rand shivered and said, "If you think so, there is a family down the way with nine men who take one woman as their wife. She has had three sets of twins in the past three years. She can not even walk! One of her husbands actually said to me, Although a human wife would not last as long, one would be greatly pleasured. It is a good thing that Captain Kirk was there."
Suddenly feeling sick of the topic and tired for some strange reason, Nyota announced, "I am tired. I need to be led to where I can sleep."
Spock lifted an eyebrow at her and asked, "Are you alright, other than tiredness, Nyota?"
She sighed and said, "I just want to sleep, right now, Spock. I'll take a nap and be up before nightfall." Spock quickly guided Nyota to their room.
Kirk looked at Dr. McCoy and asked, "Was it my imagination, Bones, or did she seem extra touchy, today?"
Dr. McCoy shrugged and replied, "Well, our pointy eared friend did smell meat on her, earlier."
Janice gasped and said, "She's pregnant!" She covered her mouth with both hands and added, "I hope that it'll be alright."
Upon entering the room, Nyota immediately laid down in the bed and fell into a deep sleep in which she had a very strange dream:
Nyota was in her Vulcan wedding dress and she was swollen with child. Spock was older, with long hair and a mustache and beard and was seated at her feet. He crawled over to her and embraced her abdomen. She stroked his hair and cupped his face. He promised her, "No one will ever take this one from you, my bride."
Nyota jumped up out of her sleep and Spock stared at her. She placed her hand over her heart. That dream seemed so real. Spock rushed to her side and took her hands into his, "What happened?"
She answered, "I had a nightmare, only it was not like a nightmare. It seemed to be real, but I became so terrified of the scene, and I don't know why.." She replayed the dream for him and he winced in pain at her details of his description.
"That was not me." He stated.
She nodded, "I know that you would never grow your hair like that, but I am sure that it was you."
"No, it was Sybok, my elder brother." He said, not looking at her anymore.
Nyota tilted her head to the side and asked, "You mean your secret older brother that I just found out about as those words slipped from your mouth?" She was only being slightly sarcastic, the rest of her tone was completely upset.
"He was cast out of Vulcan, and is only here because the other barbarians listen to him."
"Stop calling them that!" She snapped.
"What would you prefer that I call them? They behave as uncivilized savages. They resort to means of distasteful methods of life."
"Call them others. Call them outsiders. Whatever you call them, let it not be so suggestive of inferiority... Styik seems like a nice child."
Spock startled a bit at the mention of the child's name. He looked into her eyes, very concerned and asked, "You have met Styik?"
"Yes. He sat on my lap and spoke with me." Nyota said, wondering why both her father and Spock seemed so unsettled about this child.
"Did he attempt to touch your mind?" Spock asked.
Her answer avoided the question, "We had a very nice conversation... he seems to think that I am pregnant." Spock now looked as worried as she had ever seen him, but only for a moment, before regaining his stoic expression.
Spock began to assess, "Styik's observations are hardly ever in error..." She shuddered with desire a tiny bit when he said the word. She loved the way that he stressed his "O" when there was an "R" after it (error, record, sensor). It always made her tingle a bit, and sometimes giggle. Spock noticed her shudder and lifted an eyebrow at her, curious as to her reaction. She kissed him on the eyebrow, which pulled a reflexive, amused flinch from him. "However," he continued with his previous thought, "Styik has also been known to play games with minds less feeble than his own." Now her eyebrow shot up and Spock quickly corrected, "That is not to say that you are feeble minded, Nyota. The child simply has high levels of mental capabilities, which we do not know the cause for." Her face softened, but only slightly. "If you are indeed pregnant, he would be able to tell. But, he may have also read something from your mind, about yourself, which prompted him to use a pregnancy as a means to try to relate to you."
"The only way that I can know is to have a test." Spock frowned at this, but nodded his head in agreement. She stroked the side of his face and said, "Maybe it will be different this time."
"Hopefully." He stated. "I will let Dr. McCoy know that we will require a test as soon as he can conduct one."
She sat up and said, "Styik refers to the child as a "he". So, if I am, and if Styik is correct, the child will be a boy... like the first." Spock lowered his head and she looked at him. "We will have one, eventually, Spock. I have faith."
He looked at her and pointed out, "Just as you did the last two times. I am being logical, not negative. Our first child lasted only three months in your womb and our daughter only lasted six months. It is highly possible that we can not bring a child into being..."
"Or it is possible that we just haven't yet!" She snapped and got up from the bed to storm into the bathroom. Spock heard the water running. She was going to shower and try to forget the things he had just said. He knew that she was not really mad at him for his words, but she probably needed to cry, and she did not like for him to see her doing so.
He believed her to be pregnant for the last two weeks. She had been reacting in the way that she had the last two times, and her eating of meat was generally one of the biggest indicators. Now, with the child, Styik, saying such a thing, he feared that his concern had been confirmed. He did not want her to be pregnant again. In the past two years, she had two miscarriages. The first was going to be a boy, Solak, and the second a girl, Saada.
The boy, only just forming, died when the starship went into a bad storm area near a planet they were orbiting around. The ship could not get out of the path of the storm and functions were difficult to maintain. Spock firmly held onto Nyota, so that she would not fall, but when something struck him and knocked him down, Nyota was thrown halfway across the bridge. She had been unable to land on her feet, and everyone available tried rushing to her to render aid. However, the storm was too much and they had too difficult of a time trying to rush her to sickbay. She was bleeding so much that there was a trail from the bridge to medical. When Spock, Chekov, and Kirk got her onto the bed, McCoy immediately went pale at the sight of her. All of them knew that the boy was gone. His death had been difficult, but circumstantial. Nyota was hurting for quite some time, but she covered it well. Spock remained her strength through the entire ordeal. She had told herself that no one could have prevented it, or it would have been prevented. McCoy gave her a pill to help her "pass" Solak. Each time she went to the bathroom, she cried, but after a few short months, she bounced back.
The girl's death had been harder to accept, as both Spock and Nyota had been extremely careful, and she had been extremely healthy. One visit to Dr. McCoy, they realized that the girl was not living. That Nyota's body did not realize that the child was gone, and therefore, she had not known that she had miscarried. It was unexpected, and the doctor had to remove the underdeveloped girl from Nyota's body. After that tragedy, Spock refused to touch Nyota for a time. He went four months without allowing himself anywhere near actions that may lead to another child's conception. However, as Kirk explained to him when he expressed concern of his actions leading to the possibility of another child, "The best thing to do to prevent another pregnancy is to get her back on the contraceptives. There is no man, Vulcan or otherwise who could be seduced by that woman and turn her down."
Several weeks ago, that statement was proven true. Spock had worked overtime on the bridge, as he had been doing since Saada's death. Nyota had not bothered him too much about it, because she realized that this was his way of coping, but she needed him to touch her again. Spock had been asking her to resume her contraceptives, but she had not wanted to. There was not much that she did want to do, but she had began to feel unwanted and the last thing that she needed when trying to get over the loss of a second child was to feel unwanted by the only other being who could understand exactly what she was going through.
She waited for Spock to come into their chambers, and when he did, she sat him down on the bed and asked him to shut his eyes and allow her to do something for him. Spock did not particularly react to surprises, but he shut his eyes, as told. She got on her knees before him and reached for his pants, which caused his eyes to shoot open and he gently grabbed her to remove her from himself. "Spock, it can not impregnate me. Shut your eyes." She told him. Spock still held both of her wrists in both of his hands as she began to rub the side of her face against his crotch area, causing him to stir in a way that he had not allowed in months. He shut his eyes and let go of her. Before long, she had made her way into his pants and beneath his undershorts.
The feeling of her hands on him nearly caused him to grab her and throw her onto the bed, forsaking any logic of whether he should go into her again without necessary precautions, then... his eyes flew open as a sensation flooded his loins and moisture fell upon his manhood. Nyota's eyes smiled at him as she explored his personal part with her mouth, or a better description would be as it explored her mouth. Spock fell back onto the bed, clenching the covers tightly, as though if he let go, some terrible tragedy would befall him.
He could not believe the feeling that this caused, and Nyota could not believe how much pleasure it brought her just to feel wanted by him again. After enduring her mouth wrapped passionately around him for a time, Spock managed to pull himself up from the bed and he gathered her into his arms, from the floor and threw her onto the bed, with very little effort at all. He slid his hands up her nightgown, and slid her panties slightly to the right to allow himself access to her. To his pleasure, she spread her legs wider, to signify that she wanted him there.
Spock slid himself into her splendid curves gratefully and thrust in and out of her eagerly. Nyota removed his shirt as he did so, and once shirtless, he gathered her to his neck. She kissed his neck and teased it with her tongue while he pleased her and himself with several short, fast thrusts, which he sporadically transferred to long, slow, deep thrusts. She was to finish first, or with him, he never allowed it any other way. When she did finish, and he felt her moistness flow from her onto him, he allowed himself release, as well. He thought to maybe remove himself from her, but there was a certain sense of ownership that he had always felt when his seed poured into her. Knowing that no one else ever had nor ever would be allowed such an honor always made him want the moment to last, to always be perfect, to never be interrupted, cut short, or nullified. He remained inside of her for a moment, until she seemed to be moving away from his pelvis. (He always allowed her to make the first move away.)
He laid his head on her chest and said, "I am sorry."
"Believe me, my love, you have nothing to be sorry for." She told him
"What if my lack of self control has resulted in another pregnancy?" He asked, with a bit more inflection in his tone than he usually had.
"Then, we will be expecting another child." She stated, simply.
Spock nearly blurted, "Thus far, expecting a child and receiving one has not been on the same path for us." He sat up and looked at her, "Nyota, I am..." He thought to tell her that he was frightened, but never liked to say such things aloud. Instead, he simply placed his fingers to her and allowed her to feel how he felt. She sat up too, and wrapped her arms around him.
She squeezed him tightly as her strength would allow and promised him, "It will be okay, Spock. Even if we never have a child, we will still have each other."
Spock held her tightly, too, and confessed, "Losing our son was more painful to me than losing Vulcan, and losing our daughter, more painful to me than seeing my mother die... I do not know how I might react if we were to lose another child."
She broke the embrace only to cup his face and look into his eyes. "Spock, if that happens, please just remember that I will need you more than ever. The last few months have been torture. I know how much this hurts you. I couldn't empathize when you lost Vulcan nor your mother, because I could not even imagine such pain. But this is pain that we share, and you know that I need you to help me endure it." She kissed him, knowing that her words would give him the strength he would need, if it came down to it. Spock would never let himself fall apart if he knew that she needed him. He would be her strength, even if he had none of his own.
Now, she was quite possibly pregnant again. The ship would be both excited and fearful, as all of their friends aboard had become hopeful and optimistic every since the first miscarriage about the idea of them having a child. There were two other married couples on the ship, but mostly everyone seemed only interested in the two of them. Jim would often say, "One of these days, I'm gonna have that godchild." Chekov practically became Nyota's handmaiden the second pregnancy, after being one of the up close witnesses to the first loss. He had handled both losses extremely badly, taking up drinking with Scotty, after the second.
Nyota emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her. She looked at him and asked, "Do we have any special dinner plans?"
Spock responded, "My father would like for us to have dinner at his home tonight, tomorrow, there will be dinner at the opening ceremony and the next night, we can have dinner with my family, as well as the rest of the landing party." She sighed and reached into her bag for a Vulcan dress.
"Do you have any ideas about that dream I had during my nap?"
"I have one... I believe that Styik planted it there. You did not know about Sybok, therefore, you could not have known how he looked without it being passed to you. Styik is quite familiar with Sybok."
She looked at herself in the mirror and gathered her brush as she asked, "Is he coming to the dinner?"
Spock nodded once, "Yes, he will be there, as well as Ambassador Spock." Now, she dropped her brush and turned to look at him.
"I will finally get to meet the future you?" He nodded once again. She smiled and picked up her brush. When she and Spock had bonded, she found out about the Spock of the future from his mind. She had been eager to meet him, but never had the opportunity. Now, she would be able to. The news excited her. She could hardly wait.