Almost a Kiss, chapter 2
Spock sat at his computer and scanned the backlog of reports, memos, and miscellaneous documents that had accumulated during his year-long sabbatical. Raising an eyebrow at the inefficient quantity of paperwork Starfleet Command expected its officers to process, he moved the pointer around on his screen until he had flagged 73.2 percent of the entries on the list.
"Computer. Eliminate marked items."
"Working. Marked items have been deleted."
There. That was more acceptable. As he pulled up the first memo, a description of some of the personnel changes that had been made within the deep-space assignment division at headquarters, he allowed another portion of his brain to take a different path.
His first task upon returning to his quarters after his evening meal had been to empty the crates in the corner of the room. Carefully restoring his personal items to their proper places, he had remembered the day he packed them and his apprehension at leaving the Enterprise to care for Saavik. Although he had known at the time that his life would change, he had not realized to what extent. And he had not even considered that the changes might be permanent.
Deleting the current document, he pulled up the next and began reading an analysis of the recent alliance between the Orions and a minor royal house on Kzinth.
Saavik still insisted that someday she would join Starfleet and be on the Enterprise with him. Each time the subject came up, he was cautious to point out that she was much too young to have narrowed her horizons to such an extent, that there were many opportunities available to young cadets and the chances of her being assigned to the Enterprise were exceedingly slim, and that he himself could very well be somewhere else by then. Nevertheless, he could not help but be pleased at the thought.
Mentally noting that the analyst who had written the report on the Orion/Kzinth alliance was the same person who had erroneously reported that the Orions had acquired cloaking technology from the Romulans, Spock accessed the next document and saw that it was, indeed, a retraction of the previous report. He forged on.
Another unanticipated change that Saavik had brought was his involvement with Uhura. Although it was possible that he and Uhura would have come to view one another differently over time even without Saavik's presence in his life, he thought it unlikely.
He nodded as he perused the memo before him. Fascinating. The plans for the new Excelsior class starship had been approved.
Earlier in the evening, he and Admiral Kirk had spent some time in the gym and subsequently dined together. Although he had been gratified to find that he and the admiral had fallen into their usual routine as if he had never been gone, he had also been somewhat disappointed to discover that he had missed Uhura at dinner.
The next document was a survey intended to gather his opinion of the new uniforms. Hardly a pressing matter. He filed it away for later action.
In the end, he had briefly returned to the bridge to ensure that the newest member of his science team understood which diagnostics were to be run each night, and he had encountered Uhura in the lift afterwards. Although she was en route to the gym, herself, she had indicated that she would be back in her quarters in two hours and had invited him to join her for a late cup of tea. It was unfortunate that he had been forced to decline due to the quantity of work that he knew he had to complete tonight.
He quickly read and discarded three documents that scheduled and rescheduled the same conference at Starbase Two, and then another that contained the minutes from that meeting. He did not know how he had missed deleting those earlier.
Uhura was surely back in her quarters by now. Perhaps she had prepared herself some tea and was relaxing with a book. Or perhaps she was catching up on her paperwork just as he was. Of course, it was possible that she was not in her quarters at all, having instead chosen to search out companionship.
Ah, now this memo was more interesting. The faculty at Starfleet Academy had begun collecting suggestions for a new course designed to foster creativity in command. Checking the distribution list, he saw that neither he nor Admiral Kirk had been included in the original mailing, and that he, himself, had only received it because an acquaintance of his at the Academy had sent it. Attaching a few comments of his own, he forwarded it to Kirk. If anyone would have suggestions on this, it would be the admiral.
He had noticed while on the bridge earlier that Uhura's day had been particularly busy. Maybe she had already gone to bed.
Intriguing. Commander Styles had been promoted to captain. He would be curious to see what type of command Styles was actually given.
It was not that late, however. She was probably still awake.
Just as he opened the next memo, his computer signaled that he had an incoming personal message. Marking his place in the current document, he checked the new message and raised both eyebrows.
Saavik.
Without even reading it, he transferred it to a data wafer and left his quarters with the wafer in his hand.
...
Uhura sat on her sofa just as she had the night before and tried to read her book. Realizing that she had just reached the end of the chapter but didn't remember what it said, she sighed and glanced at her chronometer. 2218 hours. Although she knew that she was acting like an adolescent, she looked at her door and willed it to signal just as it had last night. She actually slung the padd halfway across the room when it did.
Damn! She'd almost had a heart attack. Shaking her head at her own silliness, she stood and made sure that her caftan was closed to a level that at least resembled respectability. Now, who could it be? Maybe Scotty had come by to try to talk her into a nightcap.
"Come."
She couldn't believe her eyes when the door opened to reveal Spock.
He seemed even more hesitant than he had the night before. "Forgive me for disturbing you, but I just received a message from Saavik and thought that you might wish to hear it."
Recovering quickly, she smiled and ushered him in. "Oh, I'd love to! How's she doing? Does she have a lot to report?"
"I have not heard it yet, myself."
"Well, then pull an extra chair up to my computer and we'll listen to it."
Settling themselves at her desk, he inserted the small wafer in the slot, and Saavik's bright face appeared on the screen.
"Greetings, Spock. My first three days here have been very busy! After you left, we went to the park. There were many children there, but they did not seem to be doing more than running aimlessly about and making much noise. After the park, we walked to the school so that I could see it. It was closed, though, and Rosa and Elizabeth would not climb over the fence with me so I did not get to see much. The two stupid boys on Dantria had told me that it would be scary-looking, but I did not think it looked scary, not even a little bit!
"Yesterday, Margaret took us to the mountains and we walked for a long time. Except for the birds, the only little animal we saw was a snake, but Margaret made me let it go. Elizabeth got tired and complained too much, but I did not. Margaret said that sometime she will bring just me so that we can explore all day, and I told her that I would like that.
"Today I learned something very surprising. Rosa and Elizabeth have two stupid boys who live near them! I told them that it is quite a coincidence that they have two stupid boys like I did, and I calculated the odds against such an occurrence." Saavik's expression was smug as she said this. "Rosa and Elizabeth told the two stupid boys to go away, but they would not. They boasted that they had a tree house! I did not believe them so they showed me, and it was not a house at all. I told them that I would help them make a real house in their tree, so tomorrow we will begin their new tree house. Well, we will begin after school. Tomorrow is my very first day of school! My teacher is named Mr. Thras, and he is Andorian! I have never met an Andorian before.
"It is time for me to go to bed. I wished to record a message for Nyota, too, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. Tell her that there are many flowers in the park, but that they are not as colorful as the ones on Dantria.
"Saavik out."
Uhura sat back in relief. "It sounds like Saavik is really enjoying herself. I'm so glad."
"I must admit that my own concern has lessened after listening to her message."
He ejected the wafer and moved as if to stand, but she placed her fingertips on his arm.
"Will you stay for a cup of tea?"
"I still have a considerable amount of work ahead of me tonight."
"A small cup of tea?"
Obviously amused, he relented. "Very well. A small cup of tea."
She grinned and pointed toward the sofa, "Make yourself comfortable. It doesn't take any time at all to make a small cup of tea."
Quickly heating the water, she put the teabags in as he seated himself on the sofa. "How was your first day back?" she asked.
"Rather uneventful. I have been quite impressed with the fact that Commander Juarez left everything in such precise order."
"Yes, he did a good job. Did you notice that he reconfigured your science board?"
"Indeed I did."
"So, how long before you put it back the way it was?"
"I have already done so."
She chuckled and brought the two cups of tea over to the sofa.
"I meant to ask you yesterday about the family that Saavik is staying with. Do you think they'll be tolerant with her?"
Although she had tried to keep her voice neutral, she could tell by Spock's expression that he had picked up on her worry. She quickly amended her statement. "I mean, I'm not questioning your judgment, and I know that you wouldn't have left her with someone you didn't trust, but—"
He raised a hand. "Nyota, I do not object to your asking this. It is a reasonable query, and I know that you bring it up only out of concern for Saavik. I am entirely confident that these people will treat her well. I have known Margaret Santos since my youth. She is the child of an old friend of my mother's. She and her husband are teachers at the school, and they have two daughters, ages thirteen and ten. Are you reassured?"
"Yes, thank you." She paused to sip her tea. "It's just that Saavik is sometimes, well, not easy."
"Sometimes?"
"Okay, often. But I guess you know that better than anyone."
"I certainly do. You may be interested to know that Margaret, herself, was considered a rather difficult child. I clearly remember overhearing a conversation one day between her mother and mine that covered that very subject, and that I am certain was not intended for my ears."
"How old were you?"
"I was five years old, so Margaret would have been seven. Evidently she had been told not to go to a nearby creek with a group of older children, but she had done so despite her mother's instructions and had then fallen in. Because she knew that she would be disciplined, she sneaked back into the house, changed her clothes, and hid them in a tightly sealed storage bin that contained, among other items, her parents' wedding holos. Her mother discovered the still-wet garments approximately three weeks later when they became fragrant."
Uhura leaned back on the sofa so that her head was near his shoulder. "Oh my, what a mess!"
"I am certain that it was. However, that is not the end of the story. Being quite young, myself, I had not yet learned the value of discretion so repeated what I had heard to Margaret. This led to a description of the forbidden creek, and of course I was intrigued. We slipped out the front door, intending only to view the creek and return, but as I am certain you can surmise, by the end of the day we were both wet and very muddy. That is when I learned what it meant to be 'grounded.'"
"Margaret sounds like someone who will understand Saavik."
"As she told me after meeting Saavik, she anticipates that she will come away from this experience with a better appreciation of her own mother."
Uhura smiled and watched Spock as he finished his tea. She had been fascinated by the subtle traces of humor that had played across his face during his recounting of this story from his childhood, and she could see that it had awakened other memories. Someday she would ask him to tell her more, but at the moment she just wanted to look at him.
For a long moment neither spoke. Finally, he said, "Interesting. I have always recalled that incident with great discomfort, yet I was able to view it from a new perspective as I described it to you."
"I enjoyed hearing about it."
"It is easy to talk to you, Nyota."
"Good," she whispered, "because I could listen to you forever."
He swallowed and studied her face, and then slowly held his hand up like he had shown her last night. She remembered what he had told her. The k'ley'a. His eyes were very dark. As if in a trance, she held her hand up to match his.
He carefully pressed his hand to hers. Never breaking eye contact, he ran his fingertips down the length of her fingers and barely into her palm, and then turned his hand around and brushed back out to her fingertips with his knuckles. His movements graceful and rhythmic, he did it again. Again. His breathing was loud in her ears. Again.
She felt her respiration quicken as his caresses grew broader and he ran his fingers down to her wrist, stroking the soft skin of her inner arm, and back up. The gesture was uncomplicated and almost innocent, but she'd never known anything so erotic in its very simplicity. She closed her eyes briefly, relishing the warmth that was growing deep in her belly. When she looked at him again, she could tell by his expression that he was aroused, too.
Changing his approach slightly, he stroked the back of her hand, exploring the tiny valleys between her knuckles, and the small bone that protruded from the side of her wrist. Finally, though, he pulled his hand away and folded his fingers gently into his palm.
"I really must return to my quarters," he said, his voice rough.
"Okay. But if you don't hurry, I may not let you."
"Is that a threat or an invitation?"
Laughing softly, she said, "A promise."
He nodded and stood. They walked slowly to the door, but he stopped before the door opened.
"Would you care to dine with me tomorrow night?"
"Yes, I'd love that."
He nodded again, and then leaned close and kissed her on the lips.
"Goodnight, Nyota."
"Goodnight."
After he left, she stood for a moment and tried to slow her racing heart. Oh my. It wasn't going to be easy to fall asleep tonight.
End chapter 2