Author's note: I don't own Star Trek or any characters, places, or organizations from it.
Day four
When Spock opened his eyes Nyota was not there. He listened for her movement but it was clear that she was gone. Spock had just meditated the evening before; however, it was appropriate for him to do so again. He had lingering questions about the events of the past day. He and Nyota did not speak much of their families. They were both quite focused on the work they had been tasked to accomplish and then, upon each other. Nyota knew that Spock was somewhat estranged from his father and that his mother made attempts to be close to Spock without upsetting Sarek, but beyond the issue coming up when Spock's mother had spotted Nyota and promised not to tell his father, they had not spoken of it again.
Spock knew that Nyota and her mother were not close, but he had no real clue as to why. Spock did know a fair amount about her father, including that the older man asked Nyota for her opinions on policy matters, especially as they related to Starfleet. Spock could see a logical basis in requesting first hand information about the needs of members of Starfleet and for those training to join. Spock also knew that Kiano was aware of his relationship with Nyota. When she had told Spock of this, he was quite concerned, but he followed Nyota's lead and relaxed with the information. It seemed fair, after all, since Amanda knew and had not informed anyone that might hurt them or use the information against them. Plus, Spock knew that Nyota valued the ability to speak candidly with someone about Spock. It was a uniquely human need that Spock indulged Nyota in. He would have preferred their relationship to remain as private as possible until Nyota had graduated. Still, as evidenced by his actions thus far, Kiano was trustworthy.
Spock did not find that the evidence would support such a conclusion about Naima. Spock trusted Cadet McCoy and, although his understanding of Swahili was imperfect, he was far less concerned by McCoy's place in the events than Nyota appeared to be. Spock knew that McCoy felt very strongly, based upon his own experiences, about infidelity. Spock would have preferred not to know this information; however, McCoy spoke loudly, especially when alcoholic beverages were involved. Spock was more concerned with the level of animosity that was displayed toward he and Nyota by Naima.
Spock would have found it illogical, but acceptable from a human point of view, to demonstrate a certain amount of dismay at the fact that an adult child was engaged in sexual behavior. He even understood the idea of finding certain choices made by adult children to be unacceptable, despite his experiences with his own father. Here, however, Naima seemed far less concerned with the innuendo of Nyota's sexuality than with the choice of sexual partner. Spock considered. From his perspective, he was not the worst person that a young woman could possibly find themselves engaged in a romantic relationship with. He understood that many human women could not perceive of such a thing, but he was a product of such a relationship so he did not find that the perspectives of the 'majority' of human women counted for much. Spock was not cruel. He listened well. He was intelligent and he was employed in a steady manner. He was very considerate when it came to Nyota and her preferences. He was not slovenly nor did he emit unusual, uncontrolled odors. Indeed, as Spock thought of some of his students, a woman of Nyota's type could do much worse.
Based on both the day before and the comments from Kiano early this morning, Naima seemed far more aggrieved at Spock's mixed species than at the idea of Nyota having sex in Spock's office. Spock sat before his incense holder and inhaled deeply. Spock had been on the receiving end of a number of stereotypes and unwanted prejudices both on Vulcan an on Earth; however, as far as he knew, no one had explicitly acknowledged this in his presence. It had always been implied, with the rare exception of Vulcan school children and the ranking member on the Vulcan Science Academy's admissions board. Spock believed that if the conversation had been allowed to continue, Naima would be the first human to explicitly do such a thing; she had said as much to Kiano, and she had indicated her that opinion on Spock's position at the Academy was not favorable.
Spock had long ago stopped trying to reconcile the illogical actions and motivations of Terrans, but in this matter, unlike most others, he had a personal stake. If he were to make Nyota his bondmate, something he intended to propose closer to her graduation, he would have to interact with Naima Hassan for the rest of his relationship with Nyota. Or not. It was not lost on Spock that he had been free of Naima's presence in his life thus far, and with the surprise of yesterday discounted, he may be able to avoid her for the foreseeable future. He could, however, not estimate such a probability without knowing Nyota's thoughts on the matter. She did seem displeased with both her mother's appearance and her behavior in general, something stemming from an event that occurred prior to meeting him. Perhaps it was nothing to be concerned about. Indeed, if Naima disliked Spock simply because he was not a native Terran, perhaps his bonding and subsequent life with Nyota would further alienate her and their lives would be peaceful.
Nyota came in from her morning run two hours after Spock had begun meditating. She saw him on the floor with his back erect and his face peaceful. She let him be and took a shower, enjoying the feeling of her aching legs and of sharing a space with Spock. She was a little concerned that spending all of her time with Spock would erase some of the perpetual newness of the relationship, but she was really enjoying it. She and Spock were very compatible. She even had a new appreciation for Spock since everything that had happened. She admitted, to herself, that she was generally tight lipped about her family with Spock because she was afraid that some of their issues might cause him to re-evaluate whether he wanted to be with her but he had lived through a conversation with both her mother and her father no worse for it. Nyota smiled as she stepped out of the shower and the smile grew when she saw Spock standing in the doorway without his shirt on.
"Now I need to take another shower Spock. This was not an efficient way to get me dry." Nyota grinned at Spock from only inches away. It was an hour later and she had worked up a sweat again.
"I did not promise efficiency in that matter Nyota. I only offered my assistance in drying you after bathing. I do believe I kept my word. You are now dry." Spock lifted one eyebrow and the edges of his mouth fluttered "You are mostly dry." Spock corrected himself.
"You said you always strove for efficiency Professor Spock. I thought Vulcans didn't lie." Nyota sat up and leaned over him with a grin, her hair slightly damp and covering parts of her anatomy that Spock would have preferred uncovered.
"If you look at the activity that we undertook moments ago, I would be well within acceptable scientific analysis to argue that the activity did dry you efficiently and that it is merely your own personal hygiene preferences that would label my method inefficient." Spock looked into her eyes, and tried to be as serious as possible. It worked. Nyota laughed. Spock found the sound of her laughter to be uniquely enjoyable.
"Ok. Fine. You win." Nyota feigned a pout as she snuggled against Spock's bare chest and wrapped his arms around her. "I guess I should just enjoy this while I can. I'd hoped to spend as much time with you as possible before heading to Korea, but with everything else that's just happened..." Nyota trailed off and planted a kiss on Spock's clavicle. "I guess I'll just make the best of the time we do have."
"Nyota, please feel free to not answer if you find that my question is inappropriate for this time or place; however, I do wonder what to make of your mother. I understand from my own personal experience the alienation that can be had between parent and child; however, this dynamic, it is new to me. Please explain?" Spock wrapped his arms around her more tightly. He found that she was more receptive to answering his more difficult questions when he was touching her in a way she found comforting.
"Well," Nyota sighed, "it's a really long story Spock. It's just a bunch of small things that kept adding up until she lost it. I was younger then, of course, so I realize that I played a part in it as well, but the things she said and did? They were unforgivable." Nyota traced her hands absentmindedly through the hair on Spock's chest, taking comfort in its rise and fall.
"I find that difficult to believe Nyota. I have never known you to hold onto anger or be unforgiving in any manner." Spock said quietly.
"I'm not. Not really. I have a long fuse Spock, it's what makes me really good at what I do. I don't give into frustration very easily. Can you imagine a communications officer trying to parse a new dialect in a battle situation and them being easily frustrated? No. My mother said things to me on one night that I had suspected for years, but still, they should have never come out of her mouth. I can't imagine ever saying anything like that to any living being. I wouldn't have said those things to my worst enemy Spock." Nyota sighed again, a feeling of sadness washing over her at the memory. "It revealed what she really felt, that she would never really see me, never actually love me for who I was. I don't know if she ever even loved me at all."
Spock infrequently wished that he had human emotional expression, but at this time, more than anything, he wished he could respond to the single cool tear that Nyota cried onto his chest.
oOo
McCoy had packed up most of his dorm room the night before. Kirk had gone out to party. They were sharing a small apartment off campus for the summer. McCoy didn't really have anywhere to go home to and Kirk didn't want to burden his mother. McCoy had taken a job at one of the clinics funded by the Federation to treat all life forms. The pay, if one could call it that, was negligible but McCoy relished the idea of keeping his skills sharp. The one thing his wife couldn't take away from him was his ability to mend the sick.
While Kirk slept off his hangover after the sun was up, McCoy started carrying his boxes to the new apartment. After about two hours of moving, he was surprised to walk out and see Kiano Uhura standing at the building door. Kiano, as Naima had, asked where to find McCoy. He was beginning to wonder if he should just have his whereabouts printed on a billboard. McCoy wasn't sure he wanted to talk to Kiano. He still remembered the warm feeling from the night before, but in the light of day, Kiano seemed far less Santa Claus and far more enigmatic politician.
Kiano offered to help McCoy move the rest of his things. When McCoy looked around for a team of special service guards and saw that it was just Kiano, wearing a pair of casual pants and a white shirt similar to the one McCoy wore, Kiano had laughed. He insisted that he was not immune to hard work and that, after they were finished, they could share the drink that had been offered the night before. Kiano had not lied. When they had finished hoisting the rest of McCoy's boxes and equipment up the four flights of stairs in the old fashioned building, Kiano was drenched with sweat, but he still smiled. The two went to a casual restaurant that served many of the working people of San Francisco and few would care about the two pungent men's presence. To McCoy's surprise most of the people in the restaurant knew Kiano. Small children called him mjombo, tio, ya kahl or kuya and most of the men clapped him on his back. McCoy took a swig of his beer and eyed Kiano. Obviously the effect that he had on McCoy was not unique. Kiano caught the look and laughed, a deep rich sound.
"My unique problem is that, for a reason that I have yet to verify, people see in me whatever it is that they most want or need." He shrugged as he tilted his own bottle back. "It is useful in politics, but not so much in my personal life, especially when I would like to have my own opinions heard."
"I see. Why do you think that is?" McCoy asked, skeptically.
"I do not know. I have had a number of theories proposed as to why it is that I am able to elicit the responses I do, but I have never found one theory more credible than another." Kiano smiled at the younger man, "Fortunately, or not, my children seem to be immune to this effect and see me exactly as I am. I admit that there are occasions in which I wish that I would be able to have more influence upon them but in reality? In reality I find it nearly as refreshing as this beer."
"It's an interesting problem." McCoy considered what had just been said. What would it be like if people only saw exactly what they wanted in you instead of who you were? Obviously it would be great on interviews and dates, but it must be frustrating as well. He imagined it feeling like a cage. "How does it usually manifest itself Mr. Uhura? Do you know of anyone else that has such an issue?"
"Oh, yes, it's something that was quite common in my family actually. My wife doesn't believe that it exists, but some of my old mates from school endeavored to run tests on me to determine if I exuded some type of pheromone that was a unique effect of gene mutation caused by radiation or if perhaps I had a portion of my brain that was, without my knowledge, supplying telepathic suggestions to those around me."
"And what results did they find?" McCoy was actually very interested, he had never heard of something like this and he was very surprised to be having this conversation.
"Oh, you know how science is. What is the old saying? Scientific results are not unlike prisoners of war; torture them enough and they will say whatever you want them to." Kiano's face grew solemn but his eyes told McCoy that it was meant to be lighthearted. "Fortunately for me, I enjoy people of all types. They make my life more interesting at best and more challenging at worst. I think I would have shriveled into an old man by now if I did not have such a fascinating array of people to keep me stimulated." Kiano waved a waitress over and ordered another round of drinks.
"That's interesting." McCoy had not believed that Kiano was really a person who would appreciate diversity, at least it was not the impression he got from Naima. "I suppose that you certainly get your fill of personalities working for the President."
"Oh of course!" Kiano beamed. "I certainly do love my work. I'm very fortunate. What other job in the world allows you to sip the finest Andorian ale with some of the wittiest beings in the universe, is never dull and allows you the opportunity to serve your people at the same time? Well, you and my daughter might argue that a career in Starfleet would be roughly equivalent, but I'm not quite fit for military duty, so this is the best that I could get." Kiano's eyes shown with excitement when he talked about his work.
McCoy was on his second drink and had an empty stomach so he couldn't tell if he was being affected by Kiano's unique ability or the alcohol, but he was beginning to feel the warm feelings toward the older man again. He felt like he had known him forever, as though he were a trusted advisor or an old friend. Kiano ordered food which was served quickly and with a broad smile from the waitress.
McCoy and Kiano talked about a number of things, from why McCoy got into medicine to Kiano's life before getting married. He was a very interesting man. He had studied at Oxford for both his undergraduate and graduate degrees, he had traveled to live on Andoria shortly afterward and become interested in politics due to some of the aspects of Andorian culture he observed. He went back to live in England where he ran to represent his district in the parliament of United Earth. He'd won the position easily, but found that actually being a representative was too limiting. After his term ended he and a friend, a representative of another district, moved to the Lunar colonies to assist policy makers there in solving various problems. Kiano enjoyed the behind the scenes work so much, that when he returned to earth he set up a consulting company that worked with a variety of parties and species on solving various civic matters. Eventually, due to his unique gift and the insights it provided him, Kiano also set up another company which helped candidates win their elections. By that time, he was well settled in Kenya he had made quite a name for himself, having been asked to teach a course in Intersystem Political Science at Cairo University, where he met Naima.
Kiano had suddenly stopped the story when he got to the part about meeting Naima and he would not go any further but to say that his life was very different afterward. While Kiano and McCoy ate and drank, McCoy talked to him about issues that he thought Kiano would know something about, like the Federation policy in the neutral zone, the present state of the truces between the Romulans and the Federation, the possibility of other planets joining and the state of Starfleet's new ships that were under construction. McCoy talked a bit about his divorce and how he came to enter Starfleet.
"I guess you don't approve of your daughter's decision though, do you?" McCoy asked the question flatly, as though he knew the answer.
"Why wouldn't I approve of my daughter's decision? She's spoken with me about it from the time she was ten years old. It, besides going to the Olympics and winning the 100 meters, has been the only thing that she ever wanted to do. I think she'd be a wonderful Starfleet officer. I'm proud that she's representing our planet out there." Kiano looked genuinely baffled at McCoy's suggestion.
oOo
Naima had been calling Kiano for most of the morning but kept getting voicemail. It was only three o'clock but she wanted to hear what had happened between him and Nyota. Naima lacked confidence in Kiano's ability to discipline Nyota, but she was hopeful that he would make it clear that her continued relationship with a Vulcan, no matter how nice she thought he was, was unacceptable. Naima thought about tracking Nyota down to try to smooth some of the things that were said over from the day before, but realized that she had no idea where she would be. She remembered Nyota saying something about final exams and when she had called the Academy, she was told that the semester was over. Naima wondered if it was just as well.
She had never been very good at communicating with Nyota. Naima was far more similar Basim, who was less gregarious by nature. It did not help that Nyota was so incredibly stubborn. Kiano liked to joke that it was Naima's genes that were responsible for Nyota's obstinance, but Naima had never disobeyed her parents wishes in the way that Nyota always had. Add to that the fact that Naima's communication skills, not at all helped by her high IQ, were lacking and most of what Naima could remember, as far as talking to Nyota, for the last 15 years of her daughter's life seemed unduly stressful.
What made things harder was that very few people saw Nyota in the way that Naima did. Everyone thought that she was a clever girl with a bright future, but Naima mostly saw where Nyota was flawed. Nyota did well in school, consistently ranking at the head of her class, but she did not do as well as Naima had at the same age. Naima had finished her university's freshman curriculum by the time that Nyota had begun junior high school. Kiano had always encouraged Naima to have more relaxed expectations for their children, but for Naima that was unacceptable and would do no good. Because Naima loved Nyota, she expected her to excel past Naima's old milestones. Nyota's teachers joined Kiano in lauding the girl, when they should have been encouraging her to be more disciplined.
Nyota herself had always been somewhat difficult and Naima acknowledged that she had been relieved when Kiano had taken her with him on his trips even though she was slightly jealous. Nyota had always had such different interests from Naima. She had done acceptably well in biology, but she was constantly drawn to literature and language studies instead of the hard sciences; Naima found these things fairly useless. She understood something about art appreciation, but really could not find a practical usage of such soft disciplines. Naima was doubly disappointed that Basim had chosen a career based around the same topics. She often wondered where she had failed as a mother with both children more interested in the way that people communicated information than in the way that the world actually worked. Ultimately though, she blamed Kiano for their choices. Kiano was secretly smitten with the works of ancient philosophers and was constantly indulging himself with fiction and poetry. Naima had accepted it as one of his idiosyncrasies when they married, but had no idea that it would negatively impact their future children.
In addition to choosing work that Naima found to be without real merit, Nyota was always disagreeing with her. It had not really gotten bad until Rie Matsuzaki had hired Kiano for her campaign and then asked him to stay on as her chief of staff. It was then, Naima thought, that Nyota changed for sure. She expressly disobeyed Naima's directions, opting not to study but to sneak off to track meets that she had been forbidden to attend. She was always wandering off to the houses of strangers after school and when she had skipped a physics practicum that Naima had signed her up for to hear Admiral Shen speak about Intergalactic Diplomacy, Naima had been at her wit's end. She would hear Kiano telling Nyota to be more obedient when he was home, but as soon as he was gone, she would revert to her usual defiance. Naima had never asked for an explanation because the why was not important, the fact that Nyota was living under her roof and disobeying her rules was plenty.
Naima decided not to try to figure out where Nyota was. Their history told her that if she were going to talk to her daughter, she had better do it with someone else around. Nyota was expert at setting Naima off. Naima acknowledged that Nyota frequently angered Naima unintentionally, but as Nyota grew older, her anger almost matched Naima's and Naima knew that things would only get worse should they both get caught up into a cycle of rage. The last time things had gotten really bad, Naima had said and done things that she shouldn't have. She mostly regretted her lack of control, but still felt justified in much of it. Instead of trying to find Nyota, Naima decided to surprise Kiano by showing up at his apartment for once. Figuring out how to navigate the city would be an interesting challenge and if she got lost, she could ask him to come fetch her. That was, if he ever answered his phone.
Ok, so this was another long chapter but I couldn't think of a good place to break it up. There is one more longish chapter, a shorter chapter and then the conclusion of this story. If you'd like to read about families reconciling and strengthening their relationships, feel free to read Love Letters, a story about Sarek fixing the past and helping to shape Spock's future with Nyota (and lots of Spock/Uhura romantical mush). This story will play a part in some of the dynamics of that story, which is why I am focusing on getting it to the appropriate place right now. Thanks for reading and for all of your comments!
