~*~
The weekend went by uneventful. In Tuesday's lecture, Uhura sat in anticipation for the man lecturing hundreds of cadets on Romulan present-tense sentence structure. The way that he spoke in Romulan had her staring at his mouth, and most considerably at his thick lips forming the words. Kirk yanked her out of her reverie, whispering to her as he leaned over, God, why does this guy always have to sit next to me?
"You might want to stop staring, Vulcans aren't allowed to have random hook ups. Let alone with that of a human."
She turned her head slowly towards him, but before she could say anything, Spock spoke up in front of the class again, in Romulan, "Cadet Kirk, is there something you would like to share with the rest of the class?" Little did Uhura know that those Vulcan ears could pick up on everything.
Kirk wasn't too great at speaking freely in Romulan and failed miserably, stating, "No there are nothings I have to said, I apologizing."
With that poor conjugation, the class couldn't help but roar out in laughter, including Uhura as she caught the raised eyebrow from Spock in Kirk's direction. Kirk, to Uhura's delight, was a beet red and sinking slowly in his desk chair.
Spock commanded that the class settle down and continued with his lecture, calmly. By the end of class, Uhura bid him a good day and reminded him of tomorrow's meeting.
"I would not forget our meeting for the whole galaxy," Spock slightly smiled, away from the eyes of other students. As she retreated, Spock thought over his last statement and realized how Terran it sounded, coming to recognize how illogical it sounded: he would never be able to give her the galaxy let alone possess it to give it away.
~*~
As Wednesday came, all Uhura could think about was 6:30.
She met him promptly at his office, not missing a second, and knocked on the door. He answered quickly and stepped aside, inviting her in. Walking passed him she noticed that he smelled wonderfully fresh and something flipped in her stomach, sending butterflies around. Immediately composing herself, she sat on the couch, making herself comfortable while taking out her data pad from her bag.
Spock grabbed one of the chairs and turned it towards the couch, sitting neatly on the edge of it, "Where would you like to begin?"
"I suppose just beginning a conversation in Vulcan and correcting my mistakes as we go along? How does that sound?"
"That sounds logically constructive. What would you like to talk about?" He asked in Vulcan.
Uhura seemed caught off guard for a mere second, and then continued in Vulcan, "I would like to talk about Vulcan. Traditions, culture, history…" Nyota continued with asking him about his heritage and the lineage of Vulcans that he came from. After three hours of discussing the politics, geography, horticulture, and ancient civilization of Vulcan histories. Then she asked, "What about Vulcan mating practices? Here on Earth there's the courtship and all that, but with a culture more reserved and sophisticated as yours, I'm betting there's a difference."
Now it was Spock's turn to be caught off guard. "Mating practices? May I inquire as to why you are interested in Vulcan mating practices?"
"Just a general," she paused for a nanosecond, "curiosity, I guess." It was not lost on Spock.
"In that case, what would you like to know?"
"I went over the records in the library and it stated something about 'bonding,' which did not go into very much detail. It said just that: that Vulcans bond when they mate." Spock caught on that she was leaning forward in interest of the topic and was very good with eye contact while she spoke of such a sensitive subject.
"Yes, Vulcans do bond with their mate. Not while they mate, meaning that there is only one bond between a male and a female before they mate and there is no more than one partner in one lifetime. Once they do mate, the bond is finalized and the pair is inseparable until one passes on."
She sat there, considering and digesting what he had just said: "Does it only work with Vulcan on Vulcan or can it work with a Vulcan and, let's say, a human?"
"Yes, it does work but only when the male is Vulcan. When he chooses a potential mate, he starts releasing a specific pheromone only detectable by the female that he chooses. When it comes to human physiology, they are almost the same as Vulcans, allowing them to pick up on the scent. It is traditional that Vulcans' mates are chosen for them when they are children, but tradition has been giving way since our conception of the Federation.
"It worked with my mother and father: my father being the Vulcan and my mother, the human; effectively making me the half-Vulcan that I am." He paused, trying to read her face, "I apologize Cadet Uhura, but I am rather intrigued by your curiosity with the Vulcan mating practices." It wasn't a question.
"Yeah well," she laughed softly to herself, "that will have to be something we can discuss further on Friday?" Spock was taken in by her small smile and brilliant white teeth. She continued as she stood up, collecting her belongings, "I should go though, I do have your class tomorrow, you know."
"Yes, I do know. I'm sorry I have kept you from your rest."
"No, it's not a problem. I rather enjoyed our study," she had selectively changed back to speaking in English.
"I did as well. Good night Nyota."
It was not lost on her that he chose to use her first name, "Good night Spock." His eyes smiled as his office door closed behind her.