Guys, the response to this has made me all warm and fuzzy inside. I'm so happy that you're all as excited about reading this as I was when I was writing it. It's obviously not a very S/U-ish trope, since they are very serious professionals who would never engage in a fake relationship (bwahahah) and that made it even more fun to try to figure out. So enjoy the long, winding path that these dorks took this story on (emphasis on long, and a second emphasis on winding) and keep letting me know if you like it! Reviews are like watching Spock, in his adorkably attractive puffy jacket, say 'precisely the opposite' as Nyota smiles.
She hopes Commander Spock's closed office door is a sign he's not there because there is no way she's doing this in the first place and not being able to find him will only help ensure that.
So she doesn't knock and doesn't take a step forward to activate the proximity sensor, and is therefore just standing in the hallway when even, measured footsteps turn the corner and echo down the corridor towards her.
"Cadet Uhura?" the Commander asks as he approaches her. He has a mug of tea in his hand and a padd tucked under his arm and looks so crisp and professional in his pressed uniform that she feels herself flush at the thought of what brings her there.
"I was hoping to speak with you," she leads with, since it's innocuous enough and he might as well hear her out before he calls Starfleet medical for a full psychological work up on her. Which, frankly, might be warranted.
"I expect this is not another inquiry into my availability to serve as your advisor," he says as he opens his door.
She waits until he's set down his mug and his padd on his desk, hoping that if he gets settled in enough, he won't bolt as soon as she starts talking.
"Actually it is, sir, but please let me explain."
He does, and she doesn't know if the complete blankness of his expression is better or worse than a raised eyebrow, or even him immediately showing her to the door.
"I'm one of the top cadets in my year, I excelled in your class, and I have a promising future in Starfleet. Frankly, sir, not only is it logical to contribute to the strength of the organization by cultivating talent, but you'd be lucky to work with me," she finishes. She's reaching, she thinks. Or maybe not, since a human might be turned off by a list of qualifications but Vulcans are so different when it comes to these things. "What I'm proposing would of course be strictly professional and give us the time to work on my paper simply in more public, social settings. It would be mutually beneficial, allowing me to complete my project, while also increasing the efficiency of your negotiations with the Saiph envoy."
In the silence that follows, she waits with her hands folded in her lap and her heart pounding.
He is so incredibly still that she seriously considers asking if he heard her when he finally speaks.
"I assume this is not a form of Terran humor I am unfamiliar with," he says, his tone so dry she almost assumes he's joking himself.
All her tension leaves her in a breathy laugh, which she immediately staunches since she's not sure if he would understand she's not laughing at him.
"No, sir, it's not. I understand that it sounds ludicrous and believe me, I also think it's a bit crazy, but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask."
That last part is untrue since it certainly can hurt to have him think she's insane. He is the first officer of the Enterprise, and is one of the most distinguished professors in her department, and is not the kind of officer she wants thinking she's deranged, but the thought of getting an advisor's signature on her research proposal keeps her firmly in her chair and meeting his gaze as steadily as she can, no matter how flushed her cheeks feel.
She waits for him to speak, imagining him asking her to never bring this up again, imagining an official reprimand, imagining a silence that culminates in a stern dismissal and her showing herself out and never, ever being able to look at him again. It'll make a good story, she thinks as she meets his flinty gaze, something to tell at a bar in a couple years after she's worked her way back up from janitorial detail, ordered by one scandalized Commander Spock. Or, maybe a story she'll tell from her posting on the Outer Rim, where she'll transfer to immediately and hope the Enterprise never does a milk run to. She'll live out the rest of her career as the officer who never made it above Ensign after propositioning a Vulcan for a fake relationship.
She's in the middle of planning an elaborate, intricate revenge for Gaila when he finally speaks, and it's so sudden, and his words so unexpected that she considers asking if he'll repeat himself before deciding she just wants this conversation to end as soon as possible.
"I will consider it."
"Excellent. Thank you," she says and makes herself resist the urge to bolt long enough to leave him with the newest draft of her research outline. She steps out of his office before he can come to his senses, the door closing behind her and only then does she take a shaky breath.
Her heart pounds all the way down the hall, down six flights of stairs since she's too jumpy to stand in a turbolift, and down the steps to the quad, which she walks briskly across, trying to get the excess energy out of her body.
She finds Gaila stretched out on her back in a sunny patch of grass outside of the computer sciences building and sits cross legged next to her, burying her face in her hands.
"He didn't kick me out, or call Starfleet security to have me arrested, or say no immediately, so I think it went pretty well." She presses her fingers into her forehead and squeezes her eyes shut behind her palms. "I can't believe I did that!"
"Of course he didn't," Gaila says. "He probably wants to get into your-"
"-Don't say it-"
"-Brain. He's a touch-telepath. Literally into your brain."
"He does not. He wants his dilithium crystals and I want a research advisor."
"I can't believe you went for it either, Ny," Gaila says and when Nyota looks over, she's grinning. "You're nuts. Off the wall. Nuts. Wall. Walnuts? Is that why they're called that?"
"No."
"Really? Are you sure?"
"I'm sure that I'm never, ever going to be able to look Commander Spock in the eye again."
"You're fine. You're braver than I thought. And kind of unhealthily obsessed with this paper if you actually took my suggestion. Nyota Uhura, asking a Vulcan out on a date."
"I didn't ask him on a date," Nyota corrects. "There will be zero dates. I asked him if he wanted to review my progress on my project in a public setting."
"Semantics. Oh, you guys can talk about semantics! I bet you'll both love that."
"This was a horrible idea. I blame you, you know. I probably broke more than a dozen cultural taboos, horribly offended him-"
"-Got him thinking about spending time with that hot cadet who was in his class-"
"-Suggested he do something so incredibly ridiculous-"
"-Gave him a chance to get to know the woman half of Starfleet, hell, half of the Federation, wants to date-"
"-And potentially compromise the professional integrity of-"
"-Set up a situation where he has you all to yourself-"
"-God, Gaila, is it going to be like this with you all summer?"
"Only if he says yes. Oh, I hope he does!" Gaila squeals, excitedly drumming her heels on the ground. "He's cute, too, you lucky thing."
"Even if he does agree, and he won't since he's not crazy like you are, an arrangement like this is really going to cut into my productivity, which is a whole other reason I never should have asked him to do this with me," Nyota sighs, pulling out her padd and calling up her notes. "What with meeting up with him and we'll probably have to actually eat, and traveling to and from whatever we decide to do. I wonder if we can just get some witnesses to come meet us in the library."
"I mean, I've seen him at the gym a few times, and Vulcan martial arts, Ny? Yum."
"Or maybe he'd be ok with just meeting for coffee, then we can skip meals."
"He was wearing this gray t-shirt, you know, the departmental ones we all get? S'Fraelae told me the science department ones were replicated wrong and are too tight and I never really thought about it, but Ny-"
"I think we could work in the student union, too, that's pretty public and the net access is as fast as it is in the library. And Vulcans don't sleep a lot, which is good, so I won't be worried about keeping him up late if I have to meet with him after dinner."
"He was in the weight room with Captain Pike one day, and let me tell you-"
"Do you want to have sex with him?" Nyota asks, flicking her padd off and pinning her roommate with a stare. Gaila, for her part, pauses mid-sentence with her mouth hanging open, before she shuts it with an audible click.
"Pike? Sure. Would bang, definitely."
"No, the Commander. I just need to know ahead of time. If this actually works out – which is totally insane to think it would –are you going to be taking up any part of his day?"
"I- What? No, no, no. Vulcans and Orions are biologically incompatible. It'd be terrible. He can't use his telepathy with me, I can't use my pheromones with him. It'd be, oh it'd be awful. Like two humans having sex, complete sensory blindness." Gaila shudders. "Still, an officer like the Commander. That uniform? Who can help but look?"
"I need his answer by the end of this week," Nyota murmurs to herself. "I don't think I told him that and I should have, because this morning I found out that there's still an opening to work on neurolinguistic research with Lieutenant Commander Hyden. I could apply for it if this falls through, even though that's not really ideal."
"You can," Gaila mutters.
"I can what? Apply for that position?"
"Never mind," Gaila sighs.
…
In the next few days, she sees Commander Spock twice, both times the Saiph Ambassador gliding beside him, her robes flowing around her, and her head shaking in a gesture she must have picked up since coming to Earth.
The first time, he glances over at her and she busies herself with her padd, all the while telling herself that she's a Starfleet cadet who will soon be an officer and if she can't manage to actually make eye contact with him, she may want to rethink a career choice that lists 'bravery' and 'perseverance in the face of obstacles' among its chief qualifications. Still, he doesn't approach her either and some part of her hopes they can just both ignore any conversations that may or may not have taken place in his office and may or may not have covered the topic of a fake relationship.
A bigger part of her wants to graduate with Lieutenant stripes and a top posting, so the second time she sees him, she pushes back the temptation to run for the hills, sets her jaw, and gives him a polite nod when he and the Ambassador walk past her.
The third time she sees him and the Ambassador, it's in the mess hall and Nyota is interrupted in her perusal of which protein bar to take back with her to the library.
"Cadet?" she hears from behind her, and she turns to find Captain Pike.
"Uhura," she supplies.
"Cadet Uhura, you speak Saiph, correct?"
"Saphian," she corrects before she can stop herself. "Yes, sir, some."
"Translate for the Ambassador," he orders and she nods, dropping the bar she had picked up and following the captain over to where the Ambassador is standing with Commander Spock.
Her heart starts banging around in her chest when the Commander looks at her and she feels her palms begin to sweat, but with the Captain and Ambassador staring at her there's really no time to think about the pervasive awkwardness or how badly she wishes she had never listened to Gaila. So instead of letting the embarrassment of the memory of her conversation with the Commander overwhelm her, she firmly pushes that aside, takes a deep breath and focuses on what the Amabassador is saying.
It takes her a while to understand the problem since the Ambassador is speaking quickly and isn't interested in slowing down so that Nyota can understand her. She wonders, belatedly, where her attendants are, or some of her other colleagues that she's seen around the Academy in the last few days, but none of them are here in the mess hall to supply an extra, properly encoded universal translator since the Ambassador's seems to be broken.
"She- well, I think the issue is that Saiphs are carnivores," Nyota explains to the Captain and Commander. "She doesn't seem to have a word for vegetables, dairy, or grains, and she keeps asking for food, so…"
She trails off, since it's completely possible that she's misread the situation. Gaila eats a diet of algae and desserts that alternatively makes Nyota's stomach turn and mouth water, and Ghelfians photosynthesize for their nutritional needs, and Sanghvis don't eat at all, but Nyota's pretty sure she's on the right track. She gestures towards the display of Andorian food and when the Ambassador's sharp, dark eyes track her movements towards the array of steaks and kebobs, she offers to take her there.
"Uncooked," she says, since she can't remember the word for 'raw.'
The Ambassador nods and points to a particularly bloody piece of meat and Nyota tries not to grimace, or take it personally, when she seems to be expected to serve it to her.
"Knife? Fork? And would you perhaps like to sit?" she asks but the Ambassador gives her a blank stare, takes the plate from her without a word, and remains where she is as she begins ripping off large chunks of meat with surprising strength.
"Translators on the fritz," Pike sighs, appearing behind Nyota with the Commander and she turns to look at them, rather than the source of wet, smacking sounds as the Ambassador has her lunch.
"I can go get you another one from the linguistics building, sir."
"They are being recalibrated. A summer project by the acoustical engineering department," Commander Spock says.
She looks up at him and then quickly away, feeling her cheeks warm and wishes for some of his Vulcan stoicism and emotional control. He, at least, seems unperturbed by their earlier conversation and she focuses on trying to emulate his calm.
"Well," Pike says, his eyes trained on the Ambassador before he swallows and glances away. "Guess our plan to bring her to a more crowded place in order to prove we aren't completely socially isolated backfired. Not all of us eat rabbit food, Mr. Spock."
"On the contrary, Captain, my diet-"
"Rabbit food," Pike says again and to Nyota's surprise, smacks the Commander on the shoulder. There's a list of species you just don't touch and Vulcans are at the top of it, but the Commander doesn't even react to the gesture. "Eat up. I need those dilithium crystals. You need them, too, if we're ever going to take our girl out for a spin."
Pike is gone in a quick staccato of boot falls, leaving her alone with the Commander, who is carefully not watching the Ambassador eat.
"I do not understand the predilection for assigning a female gender to a starship," he says quietly and she glances up at him, surprised he's spoken to her, and in such a soft tone at that.
Tell him to forget the whole thing, she tells herself.
Tell him you need his answer, she thinks wildly.
"Cadet?" he asks and she nearly jumps, realizing she's just been staring at him.
He's a Commander, has one of the most renowned records of an Academy graduate, and apparently is buddies, of sorts, with Captain Pike. He's intimidating on the best of days and downright terrifying on others, and her mind is full of his reaction when cadets clearly hadn't done their homework, or a particularly low scoring quiz he had given them, so she just wants to slink away into a dark corner of the Academy somewhere where she never has to see him again.
But instead of excusing herself and crawling under a rock, or explaining to him that her insane Orion roommate planted this idea of them pretending to date in her head and she's already considering homicide as a suitable course of action, she hears herself say, "Well, all the old sailors on Earth were single men, sir. I'd say, considering the circumstances, it's actually quite fitting."
She looks away, mortified, but can't bring herself to continue to watch the way the Ambassador is eating, so she ends up looking back at him, her cheeks burning and catches the tiny twitch of his eyebrow.
"Apparently."
"I'm going to…" she points to the exit of the mess hall before forcing herself to calm down. "If you don't need further assistance, Commander, I am otherwise currently occupied."
He just nods and she leaves him with the Ambassador licking at her fingers and staring back and forth between them.
…
"I wonder why he's single," Gaila muses, squeezing her curls in a towel. "Don't Vulcans mate for life?"
"Yes, as young children, I always thought. And actually, they have all these really interesting etymologies in their languages surrounding that, since it's so rare for them to date as adults. The word for-"
"Think she died?"
"What? His bondmate? No. Maybe. I don't know." Nyota pauses and looks up, only to get an eyeful of naked Orion. She just shakes her head, too used to Gaila at this point to care much.
"That'd be sad if she's dead," Gaila says, stepping into her underwear. "And then to have that thrown in his face by the Ambassador. And you with your whole 'guess everyone in this room is single' thing you have going on. Dating. Ugh."
"It would be sad," Nyota agrees, dropping her gaze back to her padd while Gaila flits around the room in just her panties. "Maybe they just broke up, although, I don't know. Vulcan doesn't really have a word for-"
"Who do you think he's had sex with?"
"What? What?"
"If he's single. Wait, are Vulcans even attracted to any other species other than their own?"
"I don't want to even think about it, Gaila. That's his business."
"I wonder if he was single when he was a cadet," Gaila muses, sitting down to pull socks on. "Most cadets are so much fun, you know, showing up at the Academy having hardly tried sex with other species. It's like everyone gets four years to spread oatmeal-"
"-Um-"
"-And try everyone else out." Gaila wrinkles her nose and frowns at Nyota, who just glowers back, knowing what's coming. "Except you."
"I do fine, thank you for your concern."
"I am concerned," Gaila says, shaking her bra at Nyota before pulling it on. "Very concerned. It's not good for you to go for so long-"
"Gaila…"
"Just saying," Gaila shrugs. "Don't spend all summer with Commander Hot, sorry, Spock, and come crying to me if you don't get laid until you're the Rear Admiral of Starfleet Intelligence."
Nyota grins. "You think I'll really make Rear Admiral?"
"Yes, and then you'll immediately drop dead of stress, or be committed from having a nervous breakdown due to never relaxing. Terrible career planning, Ny."
"I don't know why I bother with you," Nyota mutters, and then groans when Gaila, still nearly naked, nearly jumps on top of her to hug her so tight she can barely breathe.
"You need me."
"I need you to get off of me."
"Vice Admiral Nyota 'I'm Sexually Stimulated By A Long Afternoon of Research' Uhura."
"You are ridiculous."
"Fleet Admiral Nyota 'I Do My Research In Bed And It's Long And Hard' Uhura."
"I can't breathe. You realize this, right?"
"Federation President Nyota 'I Fantasize About Recently Published Academic Journal Articles' Uhura."
Nyota sighs under Gaila weight. "Are you done?"
"Just getting started. The only thing that can stop me is a cocktail. With you."
Nyota sighs again and glances at her padds on her desk even as Gaila squeezes her tighter. "One, and then I'm going back to the library."
Gaila squeals and jumps up.
"Progress!"
…
The next time she sees him, the Ambassador is pacing in front of Cochrane Hall and the Commander is just watching her from a distance, his hands clasped behind his back.
She considers turning and walking the other way, but by the time she's decided to he's glanced over at her and she can't very well pretend she wasn't about to walk down the path he's standing on now that he's seen her.
"Sir," she says as she approaches him. She wants to keep walking, wanting to leave him alone until she hears back from him since it's all too weird for her, but instead of a polite nod and telling him to have a good afternoon, she finds herself stopping next to him and voicing the concerns she had earlier that Gaila had so completely ignored. "I didn't say this before, and I should have, but I just hope you didn't find my suggestion inappropriate, nor that you should be reticent at all to turn me down."
His eyebrow quirks slightly, easing his normally stern expression. "I believe that is what the higher ranking officer is supposed to say under such circumstances, Cadet."
"I well… yes." She had looked up fraternization regulations sometime between telling Gaila she was completely nuts and finding herself actually considering her suggestion, and it is true that superior officers are supposed to mitigate any occurrences of favoritism, and certainly avoid coercion, but beyond that she found that Starfleet is permissive of personal relationships. "Still," she tells him with a small shrug. "I'm sure the suggestion was sudden and likely unexpected."
"Do not trouble yourself."
"Ok, good, as long as I didn't cause any offense."
They watch the Ambassador pace for a long moment and she's about to say goodbye, a certain weight lifted from her now that they've spoken again and he's as unflappable about this as anything else, when he speaks.
"I admit I am uncomfortable with a scenario that is so firmly rooted in deceit."
She looks up at him, her mind whirring through everything she knows about Vulcan culture before kicking herself for not thinking of that sooner. "Of course. I hadn't really thought about that, and it's an uncomfortable situation to begin with. But I wouldn't want either of us to lie."
"I am uncertain as to how this arrangement would preclude that."
"Well…" She drags her teeth over her lower lip, considering. "If you think about it, I asked you in your office the other day if you wanted to spend time with me socially."
His eyes narrow slightly as he looks at her. "Time spent with you in public working on your paper."
She smiles despite herself. "That is just about how I spend all my time, Commander. Trust me, it's ruined a number of actual relationships, and I can assure you that it is in no way uncharacteristic for me to spend the majority of my day on school work." She holds open her bag to show him a half dozen padds she just checked out of the library. "See? Proof."
"You are continuing your research without a confirmed advisor?" he asks and she doesn't think she's imagining the note of incredulity that colors his voice.
"I'm interested in the topic," she shrugs. "And I'm going to receive a top posting upon graduation, hopefully on the Enterprise, and I have two years left at the Academy to secure that."
"If you are so adamant on a competitive posting-"
"No," she interrupts before realizing she just spoke over a commission officer. "Sorry, sorry, sir. But I'm not, I- I work for what I earn, sir."
His slightly open mouth and the crease between his brows suggests he doesn't quite follow her outburst, but then his expression smooths and he looks at her with those dark, searching eyes and she presses her lips together, rocking back on her heels slightly.
"I did not intend to presume…" he starts and then doesn't seem to quite know how to finish. He pauses for a long moment and she waits, her fingers tight on the strap of her bag, before he finally says, "Favoritism is illogical."
"I know."
"Indeed."
"That's not why… that's really, really not why I suggested this," she says quickly, taking a step towards him before she can stop himself. "Frankly if you were human, I wouldn't have even- Consider your heritage a certain advantage in this case."
He's quiet again, just watching her as the Ambassador paces, occasionally pausing to look at them before she resumes walking back and forth, her robes flapping in the wind.
"It is not an advantage if I refuse to partake in this arrangement," he says shortly.
"I won't ask you to lie, not if you don't show me any favoritism," she promises. "Rather, just… let everyone decide their own truth."
"Lying through omission is still lying."
She shrugs, trying to brush off his brusque tone and looks over at the Ambassador, thankful Saiph's don't have good hearing.
"Look, it's just as true that I enjoyed your class, found your office hours intriguing and our conversation stimulating, and hoped to have further similarly interesting conversations in the future, outside of a strictly professional setting. If I tell anyone the that, they'll think I asked you out. Which I have now, twice technically." She lets herself grin. "And I can honestly tell them that you're a tough catch sir, and they won't even know I'm talking about as a research advisor."
He does that thing again where he just watches her for a long moment and she tries not to shift under his gaze. He finally glances over at the Ambassador, who has sat down on a bench and is staring right back at him.
"I will continue to consider your suggestion," the Commander finally says.
"Good luck with her in the meantime," she replies and she thinks he pauses for a moment before he walks back over to his companion.
…
"Wow, she hates him," Gaila says, her chin propped on her hand, and her elbow on the table they're sitting at outside of the mess hall. Nyota glances up long enough to watch the Ambassador striding across the quad with Commander Spock by her side, the Commander saying something and the Ambassador studiously ignoring him. "Why are they making him work with her again? Can't they find someone else that she would actually talk to?"
"The Enterprise needs those special dilithium crystals, or something." Nyota shrugs and scrolls to the next page of the journal article she's reading. "Don't you know all about this? Engines and stuff?"
"Yeah, the active multiphasic dissipation engine design they're installing on the Enterprise," Gaila says dreamily. "It's brand new warp technology they chose so that the ship's range is farther than any other in the fleet. I read all about it. I mean, not like you read with your nose stuck in a padd for hours at a time. I read it and then moved on with my life. To see friends, to go for a walk, to watch a holovid. Absorbed knowledge then had fun. You should try it."
"Hmmm."
"But I want to know why him, why not, who is it, Chief Engineer Olson? Pike could assign him to this and the Commander could be less stoically, logically frustrated all summer. Oooh, and then you could pretend to date Olson! He's cute, too."
"I don't know," Nyota murmurs, highlighting a paragraph and making a note to cross reference it with an article she had read that morning. "But I'm guessing it's part of his job as first officer, getting all these various things coordinated for the ship. Anyway, Pike specifically told him to. And, I would never pretend to date Olson. At least the Commander is a professional. Olson's like an overgrown puppy."
"I can't wait for the Commander to say yes to you."
"I'm not sure he will," Nyota sighs, glancing up at him and the Ambassador again. "He's pretty uncomfortable with the idea. I am too, you know, I should never have let you talk me into this."
"Talk you into something? Me? If I had that power, we'd be at the beach with fruity drinks with those little rain shields in them."
"Umbrellas."
"Sure, whatever." Gaila sighs heavily, her focus still on Commander Spock and the Ambassador. "I still can't believe you asked him."
"You suggested it, and I still think I'm insane for having listened to you. You're rubbing
off on me after so many semesters rooming together."
"I bet he wants to rub off on-"
"Gaila!"
"What? Men are all 'when's your roommate coming out, Gaila?' 'how's Uhura, Gaila, is she here tonight?' 'can I get Uhura's number, Gaila? I have a question about dimorphic phonologies.' It's ridiculous, Ny!"
"Well maybe they have questions!"
"Questions about getting in your pants."
"He's… he's not… he was my professor, Gaila! And would be my advisor. It wouldn't even be like that."
"You could use some rubbing-"
"Oh stop. Please."
Gaila nods slowly, her lips pursed as she continues to watch Commander Spock.
"He's hot. Those ears, I could just-"
"Look, I wouldn't ever suggest this whole… thing with him if I thought there was an actual realistic scenario that he and I would ever… that we would... It's just… No. Not him, not me, not the two of us. Let's focus on my paper, Gaila. Stop with any other ideas, please, it's weird enough to even think about spending time with the guy outside of his office or classroom."
"Ok, you think about your paper, I'll think about-."
"I hate you," Nyota sighs.
"I thought you loved me."
"I do. It's confusing, trust me."
"Humans," Gaila mutters.
…
She has her application for Hyden half filled out when her comm rings.
"Uhura," she says, flipping it open.
"I accept your proposal, Cadet Uhura."
"What?"
"This is Commander Spock."
"I- yes. Of course. You, um, accept?"
"Yes."
His statement is followed by a long, empty silence and she desperately casts about for what to say.
"Great," she finally gets out.
"How, exactly, do you propose we begin?" he asks in that brisk, succinct tone she's heard dozens of times in his classroom and she realizes she doesn't actually know. She looks over at Gaila's traitorously empty side of the room, then back at her comm.
"I need to show you my research proposal," she starts, because that's simple enough. "What I had earlier was a preliminary draft and I've expanded it since then."
"Please send it to me at your earliest convenience."
"Of course."
She pauses, still studying the black and gold casing of her comm, so innocuous a moment ago and now it's bringing her Commander Spock's voice. And she has to… go out with him. In public. For real. For fake, for real, which makes her head swim.
"Well, let's start with a cup of tea and go from there," she suggests because the idea of actually doing this seems a bit daunting now that it's not theoretical. But her padd with her notes for her paper is in her bag and she focuses on that, not on the idea of being in social situation with Commander Spock of all people. For the entire summer.
"Very well," he says and as soon as they've made arrangements, he hangs up without saying goodbye, which leaves her sitting on her bunk, staring down at her comm and wondering exactly what she just got herself into.
And, she thinks grimly, looking over at her closet, what exactly to wear on a fake, first date with a Vulcan.
