Simply put, it had vanished. Not even an hour long scouring of the space could turn it up. Often when the ship jerked some of her belongings would shift, but none of them had ever disappeared like this.
In a slight panic, the one that sets in when you know you've lost something utterly invaluable, Nyota's mind ran through several scenarios of what might have happened. It had fallen in behind something by some strange turn of events. She pulled everything away from the wall that would move, and came up with nothing. Somehow it had been taken out of the room. By whom? She couldn't think of a time when she ever took one of her books out of her room to read. In fact, she'd never even told anyone else about—
No. No, he wouldn't have. Would he?
His shift ended in less than an hour. She would ask him herself.
Leaning against the wall outside his door, she waited. When he walked into view he locked eyes with her, and gave the slightest smile. It nearly broke her heart to realize that in a matter of a few moments, that smile might be gone.
He reached for her hand when he was close enough, but she slid out of his reach. "I think we need to have a little talk about boundaries."
"Boundaries?"
Why did he say it like that, like he didn't know what it meant?
"You broke into my room, didn't you? And took my book?"
There was a telling pause, in which he entered the code into the security panel, and the door opened with a whoosh in the silence between them.
He paused at the threshold, looking at the floor, and then looking back at her.
"Would you like to come in?"
Her actions served as her answer, and she stepped in behind him. At his command the lights slowly turned on.
"You can come into my quarters, Spock," she said as soon as the door shut behind her, "but you have to ask."
She felt like she shouldn't have to explain this to him. He was an adult, and a genius at that.
He stayed annoyingly silent, and slipped through his quarters like she wasn't even there.
"Where are you going?" she started after him. "We have to talk about this."
She followed him into his bedroom where, under a sizable porthole, his desk sat. It was the most well ordered surface she had ever seen. Not one item had ever been out of its place. His perfectionist tendencies had never been so annoying to her.
"I am not happy about this, Spock. Can't you understand that?"
Still, he said nothing. From atop his desk he pulled an item she had never seen before, and handed it to her.
She took it, shaking her head. It was a book of some sort, perhaps a written log.
"What is this?"
"Open it."
To complete your collection was written on the very first page, and right below it was his signature. Tears began to fill her eyes.
"What did you do?"
He took a step closer to her. "Turn the page."
There it was, that illustrious first line, handwritten in Vulcan. Every page was filled with his hand, and Jane Austen's words.
How? When? None of it mattered now. Whatever feelings of anger she had towards him at that moment faded completely. Perhaps later she would reprimand him for what he'd done, but she doubted it.
Nyota gently set the book down, trailing her fingers along the front cover for a moment before turning her attention to Spock.
Tears streamed down her face now, and she made no attempt to brush them away. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and held him. When she felt his arms surround her, and pull her tighter, she turned her lips to his ear and whispered, "I love you, too."
That is all. I hope you liked my little story. Thanks so much to all of you who read, reviewed, favorite'd, alerted, or whatever else there is to do. For lack of a better word, I will just say that you guys are awesome!
: )
