Disclaimer: To my dismay I do not own Star Trek nor am I writing this to make money. I just want to play here for awhile :)

A/N- Tank you to all of the wonderful people who read and reviewed this story! This chapter is for you! Tell me if you find any mistakes!

First steps

Spock's hands slightly shook as he tried to type his reports to the captain about the updates to the science lab. It was getting harder for him to concentrate. It had now fully begun. He had to think and decide what was best for Nyota. His mind traveled to an unexpected morning visit…


Spock looked out his office window. It was rainy and cold out side. He could tell it was not going to be a pleasant day. It seemed as if nature on this planet continuously liked to mock him by putting two of his least tolerable weather patterns together. Coming from a warm and dry climate had its disadvantages. Spock sighed and pushed these human and childish complaints away. He did have work to do after all and whining to him self was not a productive way of spending the morning. After all, after his first class he had another study session with Cadet Uhura and he needed to finish preparing the lesson.

Spock was surprised at how much his mood improved at the thought of spending time with Uhura again. There study sessions had now been going on for about a month and she was getting fairly familiar with the Northern region dialect that was difficult even for those who grew up on Vulcan. It seemed that if he was not careful and suggest that she take up another Romulan dialect, he may lose his usefulness. This thought amused him but alarmed him at the same time. Spock suddenly looked up as his door chime buzzed.

"Enter"

When the doors swooshed open Cadet Uhura walked in.

"Good morning Commander Spock," She said with a grin on her face.

Spock did not show any of the surprise he felt at having Cadet Uhura show up at his office at an hour that most humans would rather spend sleeping. He couldn't help but notice that her hair was damp from the rain and a strand fell quite charmingly out of place. Spock motioned for her to have a seat. Uhura sat down and looked at Spock taking a deep breath.

"What can I do for you Cadet?" Spock inquired in his usual calm and unemotional tone. His dark eyes however betrayed his curiosity and his gladness for her company.

"I was thinking…,"

"That is not an unusual past time for you cadet," Spock replied when Uhura paused tying to think about how to phrase what she wanted to say.

"Very funny, what I wanted to say was that there is a Federation Planets cultural exhibit this week. It last through the weekend and I was going to go perhaps this Saturday. I thought it would be a good educational experience," Uhura said, her eyes darted to the floor, obviously uncomfortable. Spock's lips turned upturned slightly at her comment, he had no intended to be funny.

Spock thought about this for a moment intertwining his fingers in the familiar triangle shape that signified he was thinking. It would indeed be interesting perhaps she should go. What he could not understand is why she was informing him of her plans.

"It would indeed be an excellent opportunity, I am confused however, are you asking my permission?" Spock asked looking at Uhura tilting his head.

"No, not really, I just thought that perhaps you would like to come with me. I don't exactly trust them to have all their facts straight about Vulcan and you could inform me when their information isn't correct." Uhura said quite proud of her use of logic.

Spock could barely believe what he had heard. No one had asked him to accompany them on a social outing before. Since he came to earth it has been nothing but the academy, either as a students or teacher. His peers either taunted him or pretended he did not exist. He thought about her invitation, he wanted nothing more than to spend a weekend afternoon in her company. He knew that it was because of his desire to be in her company that he should refuse. However her logic was sound. At least that is what he told himself.

"That would agreeable," Spock said leaning back a little. This small human female was perplexing to him. Why would she want to spend time in his company? There were other human friend's who's company she would likely gain greater enjoyment. However if she preferred him for this outing he was not going to try to over analyze it further.

Uhura looked a little taken aback by his reply and was silent for a moment. When the silence became too apparent Uhura spoke.

"Great, umm I will meet you here at let say eight o'clock," Uhura said. Spock nodded in response not taking his gaze from hers.

"He noticed the stack of padds in her arms for the first time.

"Is there another reason for your visit Cadet Uhura?" Spock asked eyeing the pads.

"Oh Yeah, these are some of my favorite poems and songs and I thought we could translate them into Vulcan or Romulan. It might be a little fun exercise," Uhura said once again looking as if she may have over stepped her bounds, giving a teacher ideas for an assignment.

"That is an excellent suggestion. We are beginning a Romulan dialect this week and it would go very well with human emotional expression," Spock said. He inwardly cringed as he heard the words come out of his mouth. If wanted to alienate himself from Uhura he knew statements like that would certainly do it. Thankfully, she knew him well enough by now that his statement didn't change her attitude towards him in the slightest.

"Sounds interesting, well I am going to go and let you finish your work, you only have an hour left before class," Uhura said standing up and getting ready to leave.

"Cadet Uhura…" Spock began but then realized that he was not entirely sure what he wanted to say. Perhaps thank you for not ignoring my existence or casting me as a freak. Neither one of those statements sounded very Vulcan or masculine.

"Yes Commander," Uhura said with a confused look on her face. It was not often that Spock fumbled for words.

"I have some poems of my own I would like to show you. I will have to get them from my quarters. I hope you do not mind if I am detained a few moments from our lesson?" Spock asked, relieved that he found something to say before he made a fool of him self.

"Not at all Commander, I look forward to reading them, bye" Uhura said with a warm smile and then left.


Spock returned to the classroom again after his detour to his quarters. Uhura was waiting for him sitting with earphones on listening to music. Spock put a warm hand on her shoulder to inform her that he was back. Uhura shivered under his touch, but Spock did not notice. She took her earphones off and smiled.

"Hello again Cadet Uhura," Spock said. It sent an odd thrill through him to see her smile at his presence.

"It would seem a bit silly for you to keep calling me Cadet Uhura all Saturday, you can call me Nyota," She said her eyes sparkling as she looked up at him. Spock's breathing quickened as he looked into her eyes. He realized that it was a show of affection for her to give him her name. Even her classmates and friends called her Uhura.

"It is then appropriate for you to call me Spock…Nyota," He replied after taking a deep breath. He sat down in the seat next to hers to begin their lesson.

Nyota did not reply she just grinned. Spock was gratified that his response was satisfactory to her.

"Since the idea was yours we should begin by looking at a poem of your choosing," Spock said feeling as if professionalism needed to take over and quickly.

"Well the poem I wanted to read was William Shakespeare's sonnet eighteen," Uhura said taking out her padd and bringing up the poem from her database.

It took them an hour to translate the poem into Vulcan and Romulan. It was quite interesting since several emotional concepts could not be expressed in Vulcan well. This caused quite a bit of debating and conversation before a conclusion was reached to translate it into Romulan. Spock read the poem aloud so that Nyota could correct any of her mistakes. After he was done reading it he noticed that she was smiling.

"I do not believe this poem is humorous," Spock said feeling under scrutiny. Poetry reading was not his usual past time.

"No I am smiling because I was enjoying your voice, it is very soothing," Nyota said honestly looking down in embarrassment she had not realized she had been staring and smiling at her teacher.

Spock's pointed ears flushed green, he hoped Nyota did not notice.

"So what do you think of it?" Nyota said trying to change the subject.

"I believe that the use of imagery is quite strategically well done. However it seems too dramatic, I do not see the need for such flattery. It is illogical," Spock said.

"Well no one said that Shakespeare was a logical man. In fact I would argue quite the opposite and that is why people love his writing," Nyota said as if she had expected to have to explain her reasoning.

"Yes I suppose that is to be taken into consideration." Spock said looking over their notes that was in Romulan.

"Well how about we look at your poems now," Nyota suggested eagerly. Spock could tell that she had been extremely curious to find out which poems he had chosen.

"Very well, this is one that was written before Surak, before the awakening. I believe that you might find it enjoyable," Spock said handing her the padd.

After Nyota read it she looked at it again and then looked back at Spock.

"Spock, this poem puts Shakespeare to shame. The poem is about dying for love, having so much passion and emotion that it can not be contained. It's beautiful," She said in almost a whisper.

Spock noticed that her eyes were misty. He had not intended to make her unhappy. He remembered that his mother often cried when she was touched by a poem or sentiment and that tears did not always equal sadness to humans. He hoped that this was one of those moments.

"As you know, Vulcans were not always as they are now. They had their share of Shakespeares," Spock said not sure why he had chosen this poem until that moment. He wanted to convey to Nyota that he too could appreciate emotion; even it was difficult for him to admit or express them.

"I never doubted that Vulcan's have emotions Spock, and thank you for showing me this poem. It is already half an hour past our time. Your next class will be coming in soon. I will bring in a Romulan translation for our next meeting." Nyota said looking at the time on her padd.

"Of course, I apologize for my negligence of the time," Spock said, as he stood up.

"Goodbye Spock," She said then brushed his fingers gently with hers, as if by accident and then turned and walked out of the classroom doors.

Spock stood there, nearly trembling. His lips were in his slightly up turned smile. Nyota was going to be his undoing. This was a fact he calculated the moment he first saw her in his classroom.