The next day at the Starfleet cafeteria Uhura was getting breakfast when she heard a familiar voice behind her.

"Hey Uhura how are you?" it was Carol Marcus

"Oh hey Carol, I'm good thanks" Uhura responded

They got their food and when to sit down

"So I don't mean to sound like a gossip, but are you dating Khan?" asked Carol

Uhura almost choked on her milk and had to cough it out "No I'm not dating him. Why has he been saying that?"

"Oh no, it's just that, you know people have eyes, and apparently you guys were parading all over San Francisco giggling" Carol explained

"Ah...well we ar-"

"You know what? You don't have to answer me. I know we are crew members now, but it really isn't my business. But I really hope you are." said Carol

"Why" Uhura felt like a gossip for asking but she really wanted to know what Carol meant.

Carol blushed "Kirk asked me out and I said yes"

Uhura's jaw dropped "But he's an asshole and you're so smart and confident. I don't want to be mean but why would you ever do this to yourself?"

"Haha, sounds like said no to Khan." Carol said but didn't wait for Uhura to confirm before she continued

"I know it's not wise. But for once in my life I didn't want to be wise"

"I don't get it" said Uhura

"Well you use your head more so than I do, so I didn't think you would. Hmm how can I explain this?" Carol thought out loud

"I always thought that girls who would go out with assholes just had low self esteem. And while may be true for girls that stay with them on the long run, it isn't necessarily true for girls that stay with them on the short run" Carol said

"Ok so you don't want it to last?" Uhura said

"It's not that I don't want it to last it's just that I don't expect it to. See, I want to be with Kirk, which is probably a mistake. But I'm young, I can actually afford to make relationship mistakes right now as long as I have the confidence to get out as soon as I'm disrespected, with infidelity or whatnot. Actually I think I'm suppose to make mistakes right now, so I can get at least half my crazy impulses out of my system, and not act on them in my later years while going through a midlife crisis or something." Carol explained

"Wow...that's brilliant" was all Uhura could say, while she rethought half her youth

"Yes I believe it's called 'living a little'" Carol teased

"Haha I don't think I've ever heard about that before" Uhura responded

"Haha I can believe that….If you are going to let yourself be in a relationship with an asshole just don't delude yourself into believing you can change him. Don't be one of those low self-esteem girls that don't know when to leave. People can only change themselves and only if they want to"

"Ofcourse" said Uhura as she reconsidered the possibility of dating Khan

They ate in silence for a few minutes until Carol spoke up "You are leagues above everyone Uhura"

"What?" Uhura asked

"You seem like the kind of person that never wanted to date assholes or anyone really, because you thought it would get in the way of your ambitions. But you can date as many people as you want and still be above everyone in the fleet. That's how brilliant you are" Carol finished

"Um….Thank you Carol"

"Anyway enough boy talk. How's the rest of your life?" Carol said to change the subject

They talked until they finished breakfast and then went to class.

Meanwhile Khan was in the Jupiter station working. He was doing his job perfectly as usual, but he seemed distracted

"Is everything ok?" an engineer and friend of Khan asked

"Of course I am, now get back to work Smith" In truth he hadn't been able to get Uhura out of his mind which was something he never experienced before

"It's a girl isn't it?" wiggling his eyebrows at a stunned Khan

"How did you know that?"

"Only women can mess with the minds of great men" explained Smith

"Flattery will not get you promoted" Khan said

"Yeah I know. But come on tell me about her, why is she on your mind?" Smith insisted

"Ugh...I asked to court her and she turned me down"

"So you want her because you can't have her?" Smith concluded

"I don't know"

"Damn the great Khan not knowing what he wants, that's new"

"I know exactly what I want I just don't know why I want it" Khan said

"And you won't know until you have her"

Khan was kind of sure he wanted Uhura because of who she was not because he enjoyed the hunt but he wasn't as sure as he wanted to be

"Let's get back to work" Khan ordered

Work ended and Khan got back to Earth by 3:20pm and was in his dorm by 3:40pm. He had a very strong urge to go see Uhura but he was going to need her location first. But after looking for her in the computer he found nothing. She had apparently blocked access to her information to anyone who wasn't part of the enterprise crew. Probably to avoid former dates, Khan assumed. Khan sighed heavily and hacked his way to the information he needed in just a few minutes. Uhura was in a class that was scheduled to end at 4:30pm. So he decided to go surprise her by "accidentally" running into her.