AN: This section was originally intended to come somewhere within chapter 2 of Another Path, but was cut because I decided to place Spock's Pon Farr further along in the story.

Another Path

Outtake 1: Pon Farr

The universally standardised voice of the Federation computer had been painstakingly designed by a team of linguistic and psychology experts, over a period of eighteen Terran months. It was designed to be pleasing, calm and unobtrusive. Vocal samples had been taken from over ten thousand linguists across the Federation, who possessed many years of experience in public speaking, before a voice had been crafted incorporating 'perfect' tone.

At this precise moment in time, Commander Spock found it to be the singularly most irritating sound in the universe.

As the computer in his quarters chimed pleasantly that it was 0700 hours, the half asleep Vulcan rolled over in his hard bed and sleepily grumbled at it to shut the hell up. Long moments later and unable to ignore the noise any longer, Spock struggled to full consciousness and politely acknowledged the wake up call. All trace of his drowsy moodiness was cleared from his countenance as if it had never been there. Rising with his usual efficiency of movement, he stood and made to prepare himself for the day ahead, unaware of his waking irritability.

-UFP-

Peace. Calm. Tranquility.

At the moment of Uhura's resolution not to pursue him, Spock was meditating. Seated cross legged on the floor of his quarters, he focused on the candle burning in from of him and attempted to still the unusual stirring of emotion that was roiling in his gut.

Logic. Order. Focus.

There was a reason as to why he was meditating with such intense concentration. He had awoken from his slumber this morning to the worrying telltale signs that he was approaching his Pon Farr. He and his father had hoped that he would not come into his first post-pubescent season for quite some time yet due to his mixed heritage, but something had seemingly triggered it early and he was struggling to keep a level head. He had communicated with Sarek this morning in the Vulcan equivalent of a mild panic, but his father was quite certain that what Spock was experiencing was not, in fact, the Pon Farr. He assured his son that, according to his meticulous calculations, Spock would not enter into his first season for at least another Terran year; therefore he would be able to control his unusually primitive urges through meditation. Spock sincerely hoped he was right, as the Enterprise would soon be complete and he did not want his control to be under suspicion while second in command of the fleet's flagship.

Spock almost wished he could seek medical assistance but as Vulcan had not authorised release of any details pertaining to their ancient culture's rites and rituals, he was forced to suffer alone for the time being. He took a deep breath and forced his mind to calm, mercifully it finally fell to his will and the maelstrom inside him smoothed out to merely a mild churning.

With a clearer mind, he attempted to isolate the reason behind the inexplicable emotional reactions he had been displaying over the past twenty four hours. His temper was short, his arguments colourful, his focus fractured and he had found himself distracted by thoughts of Nyota Uhura on more occasions than he cared to admit. It was the latter of these irritations that gave him the most concern and confusion.

During the past two years, he and Nyota had developed a friendship of sorts. It was an unconventional friendship in that it was subject to certain rigors due to their respective positions, and - due to their opposing sexes - certain scrutiny. In his twenty four hours of irrationality Spock had dwelled particularly on the fact that the friendship between James Kirk and Christopher Pike was considered completely acceptable by Academy standards, but his and Nyota's was not.

Surging from his meditation pad, Spock began pacing his quarters and, indulging his temporarily short temper, ranted silently to himself. He was not accustomed to having his judgment questioned; so why all of a sudden, half way through a perfectly acceptable, nay exceptional academic year, had he been summoned to Admiral Vladislav's office for a reminder on the boundaries of student/teacher relations? He was almost certain that Captain Pike had not been similarly warned, despite the widespread acceptance of homosexuality within Starfleet.

His usually neutral face twisted into an ugly sneer as his irrational temper flared; the pompous windbags in Command probably doubted his ability to teach as well.

The fact that Nyota was one of his top three Xenolinguistics pupils of the year had most likely caused her to be singled her out. Kirk was top of his Military Strategies class, did that make him a target for amorous teachers too?

His emotional control was shot to hell now, as he continued to pace and his hands started flexing into and out of fists at his sides.

Yes Nyota was an attractive over achiever - of course he found her attractive, he was half Vulcan, not half blind - and yes he had found himself becoming magnetized to her vibrant energy and face-splitting smile, but that did not mean that he could not control himself around her. On the contrary, he had been forced to develop new ways in which to keep his bottomless depths of Vulcan emotion and his excitable Human reflexes separate. Which was a damn good thing, because despite his knee-jerk anger at the Admiral's presumption, there was a grain of truth to what he had been warned against.

He found his involuntary responses to her unnerving and completely exhilarating.

Spock had received the finest schooling Vulcan could offer, he had received meditative training from the ancient and wise T'Pau herself, he had excelled at every single academic subject he had ever applied himself to, but he had never been so close to losing his Vulcan cool as he was when he was alone in Nyota Uhura's presence. There was something about her that reached into his core and wrapped its fingers around his otherwise untouchable heart; only his parents had ever managed to breach the well built wall that defended the centre of his being.

Running a hand over his face he forced himself to stop pacing and return to his meditation. His father had told him that he could only control himself in this manner, and as neither man knew how long this hypersensitivity in Spock would last, he knew he had to wrench it under his control as soon as he could and hold it there. The longer it was allowed to lash out freely, the harder it would be to regain his focus and return to normal.

Sinking into a state of calm, he tried not to dwell on the fact that he no longer had to worry about being caught acting inappropriately around one of his students. As of seven hours ago he was no longer an instructor.

-UFP-

The Enterprise would not be ready to leave dry dock for another week, and then it would take the towing ships another day to get her clear of the atmosphere and up to the space dock. Once she was docked at Earth Station One, the crew would shuttle up and board in order to begin their five year mission.

Due to the delay between receiving her orders and actually being in a position to carry them out, Nyota found herself with plenty of spare time, and was using it to bid farewell to family and friends as well as prepare herself for her new position. She had arranged to meet Gaila for lunch today, but had an hour to kill before the prearranged meeting time, so she was on her way to Spock's quarters on the Academy campus to go over the crew manifest for her department.

Crossing the quad, Nyota rounded the corner of the central administration building and stopped dead in her tracks at the impossible sight before her.

She had to blink a couple of times to be sure that she was not hallucinating. Unfortunately it turned out she was not; Commander Spock and a female officer were seated on a blanket together underneath Nyota's favourite tree. Spock no longer wore his grey academy uniform, he was now decked out in his commander blues and his companion wore the gold of operations. The two were clearly working on a something professionally, but that did not stop Nyota's stomach from flip-flopping at the sight.

While Spock was seated quite prim and cross-legged on the blanket - a PADD in one hand as he spoke to his companion - the human woman was stretched out on her belly with her feet kicking indolently in the air behind her, a small stack of her own PADDs positioned by her elbow. Nyota watched aghast as the woman scratched behind her ear with the stylus of her PADD as she spoke. Her poise - or lack thereof - was completely relaxed; she was clearly at ease with Spock. Spock said something and the woman laughed, the delighted, comfortable sound sending rocks plummeting through Nyota's gut.

Ducking back behind the building she had just cleared to see this horrific vision, Nyota leaned hard against the wall and took a moment to analyse her reaction. So Spock had a friend, so what? He had many colleagues at the Academy, of course they wouldn't all think he was dull, of course Nyota would not be the only one to see the potential in Spock for a rewarding friendship.

So why then, was her heart going like the clappers and her stomach churning at the thought of him spending time with another woman? She grimaced in annoyance at her own adolescent reaction; she knew exactly why she had suddenly turned as green as Gaila. Her feelings for Spock were being suppressed for the sake of her career; they hadn't gone away, she still wanted him in a purely non-professional way.

Shaking herself, she plastered a smile on her face and stepped out from her cover, marching directly up to the two officers. Spock looked up as she approached and she swallowed behind the mask she had erected, his nostrils had flared ever so slightly and she could tell that his breathing had deepened.

She addressed the human who was smiling up at her. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but do you mind if I borrow Commander Spock for a moment? I won't keep him long, I just need a quick word about crew manifests."

The other woman clambered to her feet with a noise of polite dismissal of her suggestion, "Oh no, that's all right, we were just about finished anyway, right, Spock?" He had risen smoothly to his feet and was staring at Nyota. His companion was clearly used to receiving silence as a response as she continued talking without looking at him while she collected her PADDs. "I'll send you the results of the tests in a couple of days, Spock, there'll certainly be enough data to keep you occupied while they finish getting the Enterprise ready for you." She flipped open her communicator and waved at the others as she wandered off, already on the line to someone else.

"Hello, Spock." Nyota's voice was soft and surprisingly shy as he took a half step towards her.

"Nyota." Spock was having trouble co-ordinating his mouth into civility, when all it wanted to do was apply itself to hers. He had thought that his efforts at meditation had been successful at controlling this odd, mini blood fever, and as he had managed to spend a pleasant afternoon with Lieutenant Commander Saville without trying to strip her naked he was confident that he was back in control of himself. As soon as Nyota had stepped into his line of vision, that control had evaporated. He would have been put out if he was not so aroused, it had taken four hours of solid meditation to get to the state of placidity he had attained before she appeared. The urge to be close surged through him and, mindless of the fact they were in a public place, he stepped into her personal space. "Will you come to my quarters?" He breathed, almost forgetting in his excitement, to add, "I have the manifests there."

She swallowed again at his proximity and weakly waved her own PADD. "I have them here." He stepped even closer and her heart almost stopped.

"Mine are better."

Was he trying to get her alone, away from public scrutiny? She looked up at him - she couldn't look anywhere else, he filled her view - and could see that the affection she had sensed from him previously while she was still a student, had morphed into something else. She swallowed, he was definitely trying to get her alone.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, Spock."

Spock blinked, suddenly sobering. What was he doing? They were in a very public place and he was practically breathing in the breath she exhaled, they were that close. He marshaled the last of his restraint and took a step back, breathing slowly and watching as she visibly relaxed. "Yes, of course you are correct."