First Dance
I admit, I don't fully approve of the new Spock/Uhura pairing in the movie. Mostly because Uhura replaced McCoy as a central character (seriously, go look at the movie posters. On not one of them is McCoy shown), and it got rid of the whole Chapel/Spock bit of TOS. ANYWAYS, my school Prom is in a few weeks, so this came out of all the drama associated with that. Hope you enjoy, and remember to review.
Spock looked over the sea of heads bouncing up and down in time with the music. They looked like an angry sea, with heir arms like waving seaweed. He was now convinced he would never understand human customs, especially ones such as this. What was so important about such a social gathering? It made no sense.
What was so important about… what was it called again? Oh, Prom.
The women made the biggest deal about Prom. They couldn't have the same dress, they hair and makeup had to be perfect, but most important was the date. Girls would practically attack the more desirable males, judging each other and their partners. The boys never made such a big deal out of this whole thing, but it was important in terms of a pecking order.
Spock was not part of such a pecking order, nor did he have any desire to join it. No one, not even the most desperate girls, approached him to ask him to be their date. Not that Spock would have gone with any of them. The entire thing was pointless if you asked him.
His ears twitched and he looked to his right. A Third-year male cadet was rubbing his cheek, a look of pained shock covered his face. A female cadet was in his arm, while another was standing in front of him looking very upset. Spock recognized the second female cadet as a Second-year, but could not recall her name.
"You son of a bitch!" the second girl screamed. "I hope you go to hell!"
"Ny, wait!" the male cadet cried, but the girl ran off into the crowd. Spock watched her as she fought her way through the sea of bodies towards the doors to the patio outside.
If you asked him later, Spock would tell you that he followed the girl because he was concerned she would hurt herself or someone else. The truth was, he wasn't sure why he followed her, only that something told him to. It was this something that caused him to miss One Cadet Kirk returning with drinks for him and his date five minutes later, only to find her in the arms of another cadet.
Spock found her sitting on the marble railing, crying. In the dim light, Spock could see the female cadet was quite lovely by human standards. Her long dark hair was pulled up into a swirl that spilled over and fell down her back. Dark eyeliner ran down her chocolate skin, and formed small blotches on her rich royal purple and silver dress. He watched her, curious and transfixed for a few moments; until she looked up and saw him.
"Oh!" she cried in surprise. She lost her balance, but before she could even think about falling, Spock was at her side, propping her back up.
"Are you hurt?" he asked.
"No, no I'm fine," she sniffed. "Well… no, I'm not, but it's not like you could help…"
Her eyes widened as she saw his eyebrows and ears. He blinked and tilted his head, puzzled as to why she was looking at him in such a manner.
"You're that Vulcan Third-year, aren't you?" she asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Yes, I am Spock," Spock replied. "I was asked to help chaperone this, Prom."
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, if half the people in there knew we had a Vulcan watching over us, they would flip!"
"I am afraid I have forgotten your name," Spock said.
"Oh, yes, I'm Uhura," she answered. "Nyota Uhura."
"What happened back there, Miss Uhura?" Spock asked.
"Oh, that, wait, you saw that?" He nodded. "Oh jeez, sorry. It was just, well… Blake Finnegan asked me to be his date; we've been dating for a few weeks now. But then I found out he was going out with Molly Owens on the side and…" She started to cry again. "Oh I'm sorry…!"
Spock raised both eyebrows as she leaned against him and continued to cry. He could feel her sadness, disappointment, pain of betrayal. It was similar to his desire for his betrothed back on Vulcan, though his betrothed did not want him. He looked around to make sure no one was nearby, and, once he was sure they were alone, he slowly wrapped an arm around her. Uhura wrapped her arms around him and buried her face into his dress tunic, startling him once more. They stayed in this position for a few minutes, Spock awkwardly holding the crying girl as she let go of her sorrow into his shirt.
His ears twitched as he heard footsteps approaching. "Um, Miss Uhura, if you would mind…"
"Oh, yes, sorry," she hiccuped, and let him go. She suddenly raised her hand to her mouth in surprise. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have done that. I know Vulcans are touch telepaths. I didn't hurt you or anything, did I?"
"No, I am unhurt by your actions," Spock said. However, he was moved (he left that out).
She nodded. "Good, I'm glad. Sorry."
"You have already apologized," Spock said.
"Sorry," she said, and giggled. "Oops."
They looked back at the dance hall as the song changed. It was an ancient Earth song. She sighed. "Oh I love this song… so much for dancing…"
"I can dance," Spock said.
Her head snapped around to face him. "What?"
For years after the entire episode, Spock would blame chocolate on the whole thing, but he later argued it was a logical choice of action. Uhura didn't mind either way.
Spock knew he could not back out now. "I can dance… Why do you laugh?"
"I never thought a Vulcan could dance!" she giggled.
"Vulcan children are taught dance at early ages," Spock said. "My mother also taught me a few Earth dances. If it would please you, I could… dance… with you now…"
"You'd… you'd dance, with me?" she gasped.
"If you do not want me to…" he said.
"No, no, c'mon!" She grabbed his arm. "Let's dance!"
Spock tried to remember everything his mother had taught him years ago; of course it wasn't hard since he rarely forgot anything. At first, they danced with a large amount of space between them, which slowly grew smaller and smaller as the song continued. Finally, she was up against him, her head resting on his shoulder.
"Miss Uhura?" he said.
"Call me Nyota," she replied.
"We must return to the hall, Nyota."
"Not just yet, the song's not done."
Spock could feel her content happiness that someone, anyone, was dancing with her after what just happened. Years later, Spock realized something else about that dance.
He realized he had been happy too.
