Chapter 2

Nyota stared up at the ceiling of her dorm room and let out her fourth sigh of the evening. Her roommate and best friend Gaila shook her head and dropped the latest Orion fashion magazine onto the bed in disbelief.

"Nyota, what the hell is wrong with you?" Gaila demanded.

"What?" Nyota blinked, looking dazed. "Nothing."

"It's something. I know you better than that. You're acting weird, kind of like the way I act when I haven't seduced anyone in a few days," Gaila huffed, then frowning, added, "But you're still pure as Earth snow, so you wouldn't know what I mean."

"I know. It's pathetic. I've never made less than an A on any assignment but I am completely failing when it comes to getting a love life."

Gaila cringed a little. "Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Don't feel bad about being a virgin. It's not such a bad thing. You can find ways to please yourself, you know. Before I started having intergalactic orgies, I used to–"

"Can we please change the subject?"

Gaila shrugged, and picked her magazine back up. All she had to do was wait, because Nyota never acted this way, with all the sighing and blowing and staring into space. Any second now…she wouldn't be able to hold it in but for a few more moments…

"I think I'm in love," Nyota blurted out.

"That's what's bothering you? Love is a good thing! Love is better than sex. I think," Gaila said, and pondered her last comment for a minute before she closed the magazine and got comfortable on her bed, ready to hear the entire story. She could talk about relationships and all that came with it all day, all night, all through classes...

But Nyota just threw her arm across her eyes and groaned. "He's the worst person I could ever possibly be in love with. Ever."

"Why?"

"Because, he's just…he's just…I don't know. He's always so practical, and he's too quiet, and I never know what he's thinking. I'm crazy for even feeling this way," Nyota went on.

"Is it Simon, in our Physics class?"

"No."

"Pepson?"

"The one with the tentacles? No way."

"Is it Jim?" Gaila asked hesitantly.

"I said I was in love with someone, not that I had gone insane," Nyota said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, well…Jim's not that bad…" Gaila said. "I think he might like you, actually. He's always asking me about you--"

"I could care less."

What Gaila saw in that arrogant, perverted Jim Kirk, she would never know. And yes, he was smart and handsome, but the problem was that he knew exactly that. As far as Nyota was concerned, it was going to take a hell of a lot more than boyish good looks and smooth talking to impress her, that was for sure. It would take someone mysterious. Tall. Humble. Didn't hurt if he had pointed ears.

"So, who is he?" Gaila pressed.

"I'd rather not say. I think it's just a phase anyway."

"Right. A phase. Gotcha," Gaila said sarcastically. "We've lived together for two years and I've never heard you say you were in love before. I've never seen you stare into space and look so serious when you talk about a guy."

"Seriously, I'm sure it will be over soon. I've got PMS and I always get a little crazy around this time. I shouldn't have even brought it up. Just forget I said anything," Nyota said. She sat up on her bed and shoved her feet into her house slippers.

"I already know who it is," Gaila called after her as she headed toward the small kitchen area to make some tea. She needed to stay up a little later and proofread an essay she had due tomorrow morning.

"You don't know who he is. You'd never guess in a million years–do you see my PADD in there?" Nyota asked, going back to the bedroom the girls shared. She threw back her sheets, but nothing was on the bed except a pencil and some hair elastics.

"I haven't seen it since this morning before classes," Gaila said. She started helping Nyota look for the missing tool.

Panic surged through Nyota; she'd never be able to replace all the information she'd stored on it! Plus she had two major assignments to turn in first thing tomorrow morning! She'd been meaning to transfer all of her notes and assignments to her zip drive, but she'd never got around to it.

"If I lost it, I'm dead," she said, and felt tears sting her eyes. "I had all of my work on that thing!"

"Don't worry, we'll find it. We'll look all night if we have to," Gaila reassured her. "I'll check out front."

Nyota dropped to her knees and started pulling clothes, papers and books from under her side of the bed. Just then, the familiar beep of the teleprompter sounded in the room.

"Incoming message for Cadet Uhura," the digitized voice said. "Please specify whether you wish to Accept or Ignore the message."

"Accept," Nyota said grudgingly as she reached as far as she could and closed her fingers around something hard—only to find that it was part of one of her old chemistry lab models. She hurled it across the room, cursing. With a sigh, she huffed some loose hair out of her face and stood, turning to look at her teleprompter.

To her shock-- and embarrassment-- Professor Spock's face was looking back at her, his expression slightly curious, no doubt waiting for her to say something.

"H-hello, Professor," she said weakly as her stomach did several somersaults.

Shit, my hair! My room! She thought in a panic, and nervously ran her hand over her hair again, thinking how terrible she must have looked to him.

"Miss Uhura, I apologize for disturbing your evening. I wished to inform you that I have your PADD. You left it in my office this afternoon—"

"Oh, thank God you found it!" she interrupted, and despite her momentary embarrassment, a wave of relief washed over her. "I was tearing this place up looking for it!"

She called out to her friend, "Gaila, I left my PADD in Professor Spock's office! You can stop looking, I'm going to get it!"

She turned back to the screen and started searching frantically for her Starfleet issued jumpsuit and sneakers. "Sir, just give me ten minutes and I'll be right there. I have so many assignments due, you wouldn't believe it."

"Miss Uhura, it would be most unwise for you to walk unattended to my office at this hour. I believe the most logical thing to do would be for me to bring the PADD to your place of residence. What dormitory are you assigned to this semester?"

Nyota glanced around the messy quarters and gulped. "Uh, Sloane Hall. But I think I would rather come and get it. I wasn't expecting any company, and the room is kind of messy."

"I will not be there to inspect the conditions of your living quarters. In fact, I have no intention of entering your quarters at all. My only objective is to return to you your equipment."

"It's really not that far, Sir. I could be there in ten minutes," Nyota tried to convince him.

"Miss Uhura, it is nearly ten o'clock at night. It is illogical for me to sit safely in my office and knowingly allow a young female to come to the Science and Linguistics building unattended. The probabilities of some form of assault taking place will be greatly reduced if I am the one walking alone at night with a highly valuable machine in my hand versus you."

"Yes, Sir," Nyota said. He took the longest time to explain the simplest things, she thought. It was incredible how precise he was. She couldn't help but feel a burst of admiration at how his mind worked. "I guess I'll stay in the safety of my dorm room and wait for you to get here."

"I will have your property returned to you momentarily, Miss Uhura," Spock said, and leaned forward to switch of the teleprompter.

Nyota clicked off the teleprompter from her end, then stood and mouthed the words Oh, my God, jumping up and down several times as she did so.

"I was right. I knew it was Professor Spock. I'd never have believed it of you, that he would be your type."

Nyota whirled around to see Gaila watching her. She was smirking again. "Happy your secret love is coming over to save your academic career? Maybe he's the one who's finally going to see what you've got stashed in between your—"

"GAILA, SHUTUP!" Nyota screeched. She started shoving clothes into the drawers and kicking things back under the bed as if on speed. "Can't you see I'm nervous enough? This really doesn't even make sense, it's not going anywhere…I can't believe he's coming! Should I change my clothes? Should I put on some makeup, or will that look too obvious? It doesn't make sense, he said himself he wasn't coming in. Wait, where are you going?"

"I'm going next door to give you two some privacy, where do you think?" Gaila said, and grabbed her robe. She was wearing next to nothing underneath it. It just occurred to Nyota that their two neighbors were both males. She hadn't seen Jim coming over as much, and Gaila had been talking about sex all day... Oh well, there were more pressing things to think about. Like the fact that Spock would be here in minutes!

Nyota tried to clear the image of what Gaila would be doing with their neighbors out of her head. "Gaila, listen, you can't leave me here alone! I need moral support! I don't want him to know how I feel about him! He'll think I'm trying to hit on him or something!"

"So, you're admitting that Professor Spock is the person you were talking about earlier? The one you said you were in love with?" Gaila said slowly.

Nyota bit her lip. "Yes. Please don't tell anyone. I'm confused enough by how I feel myself. I could get kicked out of Starfleet just by mentioning that I'm interested in a teacher."

"No, I think that rule only applies if you two sleep together. Hey, Nyo, is he even into females?"

"Yikes, I don't know," Nyota said thoughtfully. The thought hadn't occurred to her. "Well, that will make it easier on me if he isn't. Then I can find someone my age to fall for."

"He's actually not that much older than you. I'm pretty sure he's in his early twenties. I've heard that he was some whiz kid and the youngest instructor ever on staff at Starfleet. That's probably why I've never seen him with a woman. He's too busy sticking his nose in some computer or book. Kind of like someone else I know," Gaila said as she fluffed her shiny red hair in the mirror. "Anyway, I'm outta here. You have fun. Don't let him stay too late, you've got class first thing in the morning."

"Don't leave!"

"Nyota, calm down, for Orion's sake. You said it was a fleeting crush, so what is there to be nervous about?" Gaila said with a wink. She opened the door to their room and slipped out before Nyota could protest any further.