Lost and Found in Translation

Disclaimer: Spock and Uhura are not mine—I just record what I see them do.

The intercom buzzes as Chris is stepping out of the shower, and he nearly slips on the tiled floor rushing to press the latch that will let Nyota enter the faculty apartment building. He hurries to pull on his trousers and wrap a towel around his shoulders before moving toward the door to let her into the apartment.

Through the louvers in the door he can see her shadow as she waits. When he pulls open the door she looks up, surprised—he realizes later—by his state of undress.

"I'm running late," he says by way of apology, motioning her to come inside. "I had trouble falling asleep—and then I overslept this morning."

Nyota walks quickly to the sofa and sits, nodding once and placing a small brown bag beside her.

"I brought you a bagel," she says, not looking at Chris. He takes the towel from his shoulders and ruffles his hair, hard, watching Nyota from the corner of his eye. Something is making her uncomfortable.

"Did you bring one for yourself?" he asks, and she shakes her head and folds her hands in front of her.

"Let me grab my shirt and shoes and I'll be ready to go," he says over his shoulder as he walks back to the bedroom.

"You don't need to hurry," she calls. "He's still in that...coma..."

So she has been to the hospital already. That explains her distress.

"Not a coma," Chris says in as matter-of-fact voice as he can muster. "A healing trance. That's a good thing. He's getting better faster this way."

As he buttons his shirt he walks back into the living area and settles himself on the seat opposite the sofa. When he looks up, Nyota meets his gaze for the first time. Her eyes are so large and dark that Chris is momentarily taken by surprise—the sunlight coming in through the window behind her makes her look luminous; a strand of hair has sprung loose from her ponytail and falls over her ear.

This morning she looks older than she did the night before—perhaps because she is wearing a simple pair of pants and an untucked blouse instead of her Starfleet cadet uniform. Chris is startled to find himself wondering how old she is—and thinking that he must be at least ten years her senior.

Those thoughts are out of line. He feels his face flush, and to hide his embarrassment he reaches for the bag and takes out the bagel she has brought him.

"How was he this morning?" he says as he takes a bite. Nyota swallows hard.

"The same. I didn't see the doctor—I don't think they've found a Vulcan healer yet."

"That's not a surprise," Chris says, leaning over and pulling on one sock and then another. He takes another bite of his bagel and sets it down before picking up a dark sneaker and placing in on his foot.

He glances up at Nyota and is surprised to see the same anger on her face that he had seen the night before. When she catches his eye she says, "It isn't fair."

Chris isn't sure how to respond to that—of course it isn't fair, but it is what it is. Despite their historical importance to the Federation, Vulcans are relatively few in number on Earth—and healers are rare, even on Vulcan. Chris has met only three in his medical rotations—and none were interested in living here permanently.

"I'm ready," he says, tying his other shoe and finishing the last bite of his bagel. But Nyota doesn't rise. Chris takes his hands off the arms of the chair and sits back to wait.

For a moment Nyota is silent, and then Chris hears her expel a long breath. The sound makes him uneasy, and he thinks again about how vulnerable and small she appears tucked up on the sofa.

Finally she begins.

"I've been wanting to ask you something," she says, and Chris tenses. He can't imagine what she will say next, but he feels guarded somehow.

"Yesterday you told the hospital that you are Spock's cousin," she says, and Chris nods.

"Uh huh," he says. "Our mothers are sisters."

She looks up at him then, as if she is processing something, and continues, "And you told them that I'm family. Why did you do that?"

Chris realizes that he was expecting her to ask something personal—or something embarrassing—and he is momentarily flummoxed. He purses his lips and blinks.

"Well, I thought it would be...easier...that is, that the hospital staff wouldn't question your being there...I wasn't sure they would let a cadet in to see him—"

"Oh!"

Again Chris is startled by her response. She seems paradoxically relieved and disappointed with his answer.

"I didn't mean to offend you," he says quickly, but Nyota shakes her head and motions her hand dismissively.

"No, no," she says, darting a glance his way, "I wasn't offended. I just wasn't sure—"

And then Chris sees what has concerned her. She is afraid that he knows something private—though he isn't sure what she is afraid that she has broadcast to him. Her obvious affection for Spock? Is that a problem, somehow? Or are they more than instructor and student? He thinks not—her surprise at meeting Chris, her unfamiliarity with the apartment, her questions about Amanda—all suggest a cordial relationship but not an intimate one.

Unless, of course, Chris is seeing what he wants to see. He will have to think about that later.

"Anything else?" he asks, and Nyota smiles quickly and says, "No. We should go."

X X X X X X X X X X

Spock looks exactly as he had when they had left him the night before, exactly as he had looked when she had come by the hospital early that morning. The sounds of the hospital—the steady rush of air, the constant murmuring of the staff, the beeps and blips of instruments, are a water torture of noise in Nyota's ears.

When Chris suggests that they take a pager from the nursing station and leave after only a few minutes, Nyota is relieved. They make their way through the maze of halls and lifts and settle at a small table in the hospital cafeteria. The room is chilly and both sit with their hands cupped around paper coffee mugs.

"You don't have class today?" Chris asks, and Nyota pauses. He picks up his coffee cup and gestures toward her.

"Oh," she says, suddenly understanding. No uniform. "Just one. But I sent the professor a note. I wasn't sure-"

She looks down at her coffee cup and considers how to start the conversation she has rehearsed in her mind all morning. Chris seems to sense her hesitation and he sits back, one foot perched on his other knee.

"So," she says, "how long does this….healing trance….usually last?"

Chris takes a sip of his coffee and considers.

"Hard to say," he says. "I'm not an internist, but I think not that long—he's mostly just banged up. Vulcans are pretty sturdy."

Nyota looks carefully to see if he is joking, but Chris has a thoughtful look on his face. She hears him take a breath and he says, "Look, I'm going to be here for a few days. If you need to go to class—"

Nyota starts to speak but Chris rushes on.

"I told his parents I'd stay until I was sure he could manage on his own. Really. And the hospital can have a nurse check in on him for awhile once he's back in the apartment. You don't have to—"

"I don't mind," she says quickly. Chris leans forward and puts his cup on the table.

"Well," he says, "that's probably good. He seems to be able to communicate with you better anyway."

And here Chris touches on the thing that Nyota has wanted to ask him about—but now she isn't sure how to begin.

"You and your sisters?" she says. "You used to….try to touch Spock's mind?"

"Don't say that too loud," Chris says, laughing. "We tried to keep it a secret. We were never very good at it. But you—you don't seem to have any trouble."

In the pit of her stomach Nyota feels a strange flutter. She wonders briefly if she should hold back her question, but Chris' laughter reassures her that he doesn't mind talking.

"It was….strange," she says, and she watches Chris closely for a reaction. He looks amused but not surprised, so she continues. "It's a lucky thing that I could remember the Vulcan word for sedation. I can't remember why that word came up in the course I took with him last semester—it must have been in something we translated. Otherwise I might not have known what he was trying to tell me."

Now Chris does look surprised.

"He was thinking in Vulcan?"

Nyota nods, and Chris says, "Hmm. I forget that Standard isn't his first language. Well, that probably explains why you were able to understand him and I couldn't."

Of course, Nyota thinks. She feels a pang of disappointment that surprises her.

"Listen," Chris says, "why don't we go ahead and get that key card made so you don't have to keep squiring me around. I've got the pager—" he says, holding it up, and together they pick up their cups and head out of the cafeteria.

X X X X X X X X X X

When Chris first sees Spock in the morning he is careful not to let Nyota see his shock. He had half expected to see Spock already awake and cranky, ready to get up or even leave. Nyota seems restless and Chris suggests that they get coffee, not because he needs or wants it but because he is concerned that she is becoming upset.

Clearly she needs to talk but is reluctant to. Chris is used to waiting for people to reveal what bothers them—he's a good listener and doesn't mind silence. Still, Nyota is a cipher to him—she seems more distraught than he would have expected a lab assistant to be.

She seems even more distressed when he suggests that she might want to leave for class, or that she might have other responsibilities that need tending to.

"It was….strange," she says when Chris asks her about the mind touch the day before—and he thinks briefly that strange is a good word to describe the peculiar buzz that seems to leap from the end of a touch telepath's fingers.

"It's a lucky thing that I could remember the Vulcan word for sedation," Nyota continues.

Ah—so that explains a great deal…Chris thinks about his own sense of Spock through the mind touch—like a distant voice that he couldn't quite hear.

When Nyota tells him that Spock was thinking in Vulcan, Chris has a flash of insight. "Well, that probably explains why you were able to understand him and I couldn't."

The truth of this seems so obvious all of a sudden, and Chris turns to Nyota to say so. Her face, however, stops him. She is upset again—sad, in fact. How is being able to speak Vulcan cause for sorrow? And then it hits him. She wants the touch to mean something else.

That thought bothers him—and the fact that it bothers him bothers him more.

He has to get some distance here. The suggestion to get the key card sorted out is for his own comfort as much as to stop inconveniencing her.

The walk back to the campus is short and swift—Chris keeps the pager in his left hand and follows Nyota though the front gate and towards the administration building. By now the campus is busy with cadets striding to class or milling around in small groups talking. Many of them look up and greet Nyota—she gives a wave but says little—and they seem to know that she is preoccupied and make way for her.

Except for one blonde young man who steps in her path.

"Okay," he says breezily, "you are just the person I want to see."

Nyota slows down but doesn't stop. Chris trails a pace behind.

"What do you want, Kirk?" she says, and Chris thinks he hears a note of annoyance in her voice.

"So," Kirk says, matching her pace and looking at her as he talks, "I'm all ready to go into the simulation and the proctor says it's been cancelled. What's up with that?"

Nyota crosses her arms and continues walking.

"The world doesn't revolve around you," she says, and Chris sees Kirk smile broadly.

"Not that it shouldn't," Kirk says, and Nyota flashes him a look. "But—that isn't fair. Here I'm all psyched up to take the Kobayashi Maru and pass it this time—and suddenly it's off. What do you know? Did you get a notice about this earlier?"

The administration building is a few yards ahead and Nyota slows to let Chris catch up.

"I'm sure you will survive," she tells Kirk, and he grins as she turns to push open the door of the building.

"I still want you on communications when they reschedule," he calls back.

Nyota huffs and Chris follows her down the hall to the administrative aide's office, but as she reaches for the doorknob, the pager goes off.

A/N: Kirk has taken the Kobayashi Maru once and failed it at this point. His second try is temporarily sidelined by the hover bus crash—which makes Spock unable to supervise. You already know what happens when he takes it the third time.

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