Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or plot :(
"Commander Spock, your presence is requested on the bridge by the captain."
The computer's seemingly loud announcement woke Spock up at once. He looked to see if Nyota was still with him, but she was gone. He felt a small pang of something, a human emotion he had never experienced before. Spock disregarded it.
"Please tell the captain that I will be there at once." With that he quickly dressed and made his way to the bridge. When he entered he could hear Kirk laughing rather loudly slapping Doctor McCoy on the back.
"Spock! Glad you're here. Sorry if I disturbed your…uh….rest," He said with a wink, "But we are here at the space station and ready to go Earth side for a little while. Thought we could all have celebratory drinks before we go." He said clapping Spock on the shoulder. Spock raised an eyebrow.
"Indeed Captain? Is it custom for humans to drink intoxicating beverages before breakfast?" Spock asked, while secretly scanning the room for Nyota. She wasn't there.
"Aww come on Spock, don't ruin the fun. Just one little drink before we get back to all the pomp and circumstance. What do you say?"
"If you insist Captain." Spock said, faintly wondering where Nyota could be. As if she had heard his thoughts, which he knew was impossible; she walked briskly onto the bridge, her hair down and around her shoulder unlike her custom ponytail. Kirk failed to notice her arrival and turned to McCoy.
"What about you Bones? One drink before we go?" McCoy sighed exasperatedly.
"Count me in. Hell, I need a drink if I have to get back on those damned shuttles." McCoy said with a shudder. At that moment Kirk spotted her.
"Uhura! Come and have a drink with us. Even your boyfriend is going to have one!" Kirk said with a smirk, passing a drink to Sulu, McCoy, and Spock, pointedly ignoring the underage Chekov who looked crestfallen to be left out. Spock unsure what to do, simply held the small glass filled with what looked like water, his eyes meeting Nyota's briefly. She shook her head slightly as if to say, "We'll talk later" before turning to Kirk. Uhura laughed.
"No thanks Kirk, I'd prefer to be sober when we get back to the academy. We still have to get through graduation and the ceremony." She said grimacing slightly.
"Fine. Well just us four then, here is to the best crew ever, and may we get this thing over with quickly, and back on board as quickly as possible." Kirk said toasting them before downing his own shot. Spock copied Kirk's actions and almost choked when he tasted the burning liquid, his eyes filling with water reflexively. McCoy and Kirk both roared with laughter at Spock's reaction.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it." McCoy said gruffly, his normally sulky self almost smiling. There was a relief all across the ship at not only saving Earth, and coming out alive, but at going back home if only for a day. Kirk sat back down in the captain's chair and opened up the comm channels across the entire ship to make an announcement.
"Crew members of the Enterprise, this is the Captain. We have docked and are ready to back dirt side. Its been a pleasure serving with all of you, and I better see all you back here on board at Oh Eight Hundred hours two day from now. It's been hell of a ride. Kirk out." With that all the crewmembers began filing out, ready to go back to their homes.
Nyota waited for Spock at his quarters. She gave him a tight hug and a soft kiss on the cheek, smiling happily.
"Are you ready to go?" She asked, her small amount of luggage next to her feet. Spock hesitated, unsure of the best way to tell her.
"Nyota, I must inform you that I will not be able to go with you to the academy at this moment, I have been requested to help my father and the rest of the Vulcan leaders find suitable quarters for their brief stay on Earth until they begin their search for a location for a new Vulcan home world." Spock said studying her face. Her smile slowly faded, and her eyes lowered.
"But you will come to my graduation, right? I want you to meet my parents, and I have something to discuss with you." She stated casually, trying not to sound like a nagging girlfriend. Spock noticed her attempt at maintaining a casual tone, most likely an effort to hide the disappointment in her voice.
"Yes Nyota, as a professor it is only logical I will be there to see my students graduate, and meet their families." He said, touching her cheek softly. She looked up smiling. She knew that was his own way of saying, he wouldn't miss it for anything. She stood on her tiptoes to give him one last deep kiss before leaving.
"I Love you." She said tenderly, her gaze holding his own before picking up her luggage and walking towards the shuttles. Spock stood there for a moment watching her go.
Spock stood at his own doorway his hand halfway reached to press the button to open it. But he lost the courage.
"Computer, please inform me of the time."
"Oh Seven Hundred Hours standardized time Commander Spock."
Spock closed his eyes, trying to meditate, push the influx of human emotions he felt dangerously rising to the surface. He was supposed to meet Cade Uhura, Nyota now, at this precise time and he hadn't even left. Illogically he felt hesitant, and almost even nervous. He frowned to himself as he regarded his behavior as highly illogical. Opening his eyes, he took a step back from the doorway.
He had been raised on a planet where logic was common, and despite his half human genetics, he had always considered himself as a logical being, taking after his father's people rather than his mother's. His own father's actions to marry a human, though said to be logical decision, had never truly made much sense to him. He felt a special regard for his mother, and even loved her. Not that he would ever admit it. His mother was one of the few who accepted Spock for who he was, despite the fact that he was her son.
It was unclear to him why he should be thinking about his mother, when he was supposed to be meeting another female human right now, to take on a 'date'. His regard and the way he viewed Uhura had radically changed. He felt a special regard for her, not in the same way as his mother of course, but in another way. He found himself focusing on her lips when she spoke, looking for her in the corridors in the academy, and at one point had routinely asked the computer where the cadet was so that he might have an 'accidental' encounter with her. From what he knew of humans, it was safe to say he had developed a...crush on her, as illogical as it was.
And now he was approximately three minutes and forty eight seconds late from seeing her again. Spock thought once more of the sweet and unfamiliar kiss she had given him last night, her sparkling intellect, and of her smile that was just so genuine. Spock calculated the time again. If he sprinted quickly now he could be at her dorm in precisely two minutes and seventeen seconds. Without pausing to think he sprinted out of his quarters and across the campus.
Spock now found that he had the courage to take Nyota on the date she had requested.
"Lieutenant Uhura."
Uhura walked across the stage in her Starfleet issued uniform to receive her diploma for graduating Starfleet Academy in advanced xenolinguistics. As she received her diploma, and special pin recognizing her as part of the Enterprise and as a part of the crew that helped to save Earth, she made eye contact with Spock. He was there as promised, looking extremely handsome in his black instructor's uniform.
As he met her eyes she flashed him a grin. He too lifted the corners of his mouth as he nodded to her, but her grin faded as she caught a glimpse of something…perhaps regret? Sadness? But before she could be sure that's what it even was, his face smoothed back into a stoic position. Uhura took her seat, her mind unfocused on the rest of the ceremony. She only vaguely paid attention when Kirk was officially given the title of captain to the Enterprise. She was filled with a sense of dread that she regarded ironically as illogical. She found herself lifelessly walking towards her parents after the ceremony finished, mustering a smile at their excited expressions.
"Nyota darling! Your father and I are so proud!" Her mother exclaimed enveloping her in a tight hug. Her mother looked like an older version of herself, except with crowfeet around her chocolate brown eyes, with wisps of gray in her dark hair. Nyota pressed her face into her mother's shoulder, inhaling her mother's spicy jasmine scent. She blinked back the tears that threatened to spill, fighting back the overwhelming wave of emotions. She released her mother and turned to her dad, who hugged her in return. Her father was a quiet man, but he taught her almost everything she knew.
Spock observed her and her family from some distance away. She watched as she hugged first her mother, then her father. He felt a small stab of human envy that she still had a mother who obviously knew her daughter loved her. At that moment he had never felt that particular human emotion so strongly before. He stood there for a moment longer impassively watching as she talked, too animatedly he noticed, to her family.
"Your father and I were so worried when we saw that you were part of the mission against those Romulans," Her mother said with a disapproving face, "I knew we shouldn't have let our baby girl go off on her own, and on suicide missions at that!"
Nyota sighed as she tuned out her mother's worrisome sentiments. Her mother was a constant worrier. She gave her mother a wane smile.
"Really Mama," Uhura said using the Swahili word for mother, "Don't worry so much. I'm fine. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself." She said putting an arm around her mother's still slender waist. Her father smiled.
"We know mashooq. We just want you to know we are so proud of you, and worry because we love you. Promise that you will be careful in space. Our little star is meant to be in space, we know that." He said quietly. Nyota blushed at her father's use of "sweetheart" for her. She nodded.
"I promise Baba." She said meeting her father's gaze. Though he spoke very rarely, all they had to do was look in each other's eyes to know what one another was thinking. It had driven her mother crazy all throughout Uhura's childhood. Right now she could see his silent worry, pride, and love all at once. Disconcertedly, he saw sadness in her own eyes. But before he could ask her what was wrong, another figure approached them.
Spock walked towards them, deciding that now was as good a time as any. It was the least he could do for her, considering what would come later. Uhura turned to him as he approached, and her smile seemed to be a little more forced. He still marveled at her uncanny ability to understand him.
"Congratulations are in order cadet, or should I say, lieutenant." He said tipping his head towards her. Likewise she returned the head nod.
"Thank you Commander. Commander Spock, this is my father Qamar, and my mother Saahil. Mama, Baba, this is Commander Spock. He was my professor in Advanced Vulcan as well as Advanced General Xenolinguistics. He also served on he Enterprise with me." She said brightly, watching first her mother, then her father shake hands with him in a thoroughly human way.
"I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr. and Mrs. Uhura. Your daughter is a singularly gifted individual in all matters of intellect, and especially in xenolinguistics."
"Thank you Commander, we are indeed proud of her." Her mother said squeezing Uhura's hand. Uhura gave a small smile.
"As you should be, and as am I." He said, this time much more gravely, and his focus entirely on Nyota. Her father did not fail to notice the expression in Nyota's eyes as the Commander spoke. "If you will excuse me, I must go and attend to unfinished business." He bowed slightly before turning and heading towards the corridor.
"Mama, Baba, I'll be right back, I want to go congratulate some fellow cadets. Wait here." She said quickly, walking brusquely in the direction of Spock's retreating figure. In the corridor she found him, alone.
"Spock." She said reaching out putting her arms around him, pressing her ear to his chest, where she could hear his human heart beating, more rapidly though like a Vulcan. After a moment of this she shyly said, "I have something to tell you." . He looked down at her impassively.
"Indeed? I am sorry Uhura, but I must break standard human protocol and tell you something first."
She felt like she had been slapped when he used her last name. He reached to his neck and slowly pulled her hands away, and took a step back.
"Uhura, I must tell you that the elders have requested me to help them rebuild our culture. I am expected to help in the search for a new colony, and to help recreate what we have lost." The words came out stiffly, like that of a robot. She took a step back, blinking rapidly.
"I don't understand Spock. Or should I say, Commander. What are you trying to say?"
"Nyota, I am leaving in less than three hours, and unlikely to return to Earth for at least fifty years. I cannot turn my back on my people. I am sorry." Uhura let out an audible gasp as her hand flew to her stomach. The tears she had tried to fight back began to fall noiselessly.
"So that's it? You're leaving just like that? What about….us?" She choked out. His eyes softened.
"I will always regard you in the highest of lights Nyota. As I will always remember you. I believe we both knew this day might come."
"I…understand." She said at last. The tears came freely and more often now, her arms wrapped around abdomen, as if she were trying to keep herself in one piece. He leaned forward about to kiss her on the forehead, but just before his lips pressed against her she whispered, "Don't."
He stopped and though he could feel half of himself crumbling into pieces, stabbed by sharp pains in his mostly human heart, his Vulcan logic convinced him to turn, and walk away, each step becoming harder and harder. As he rounded a corner he felt the need to grasp the wall and let out a gasp. The pain that he had felt after the loss of his world and his mother had expanded, and become more magnified. Almost to point where it was painful to breathe. Perhaps a purge of emotion would be best.
He didn't want to feel these human emotions that made him want to punch something, to scream out in agony. He didn't want to feel as if half of his body was being ripped apart from him. He tried to block out these emotions as he walked out of the building and towards the waiting shuttle. He walked towards a life with no Nyota, no emotion, only pure cool logic. Logic would never make him feel as he felt now.
Uhura pressed her back up against the wall that he had stood against just moments before, trying to imagine that he was still there. But he wasn't. And now he would never know. When she finally managed to pull herself together she walked back out to where her parents were conversing with Kirk. She joined them, trying to smile, just enough to keep them from knowing the truth. Kirk turned to say something, most likely a smart-ass comment, but stopped short when he saw her face.
"What's wrong?" He asked at once. Her mother stopped in mid sentence, and it felt like everyone was waiting on an answer. She sucked in a deep breath,
"Just sad I guess, about graduating, and about my friends that I lost during the battle." Her mother seemed to accept that explanation and squeezed her hand sympathetically, but her father and Kirk looked like they didn't believe it. She sighed and spoke again,
"I'm fine." But inside she knew she was definitely not fine.
Thank you so much for the reviews! I was feeling a bit creative today, and erased everything I wrote yesterday, its a bit long but I hope it works. Its a bit different, but I hope you guys like it! I will try and write the new chapter tomorrow for you guys! Thanks so much for the support, and as always, please leave reviews and tell me what you think!
Oh and if you haven't figured out what Uhura was going to tell Spock, I PROMISE it will be revealed in the next chapter ;)