When I woke the next morning I found that Spock was still beside me. His eyes were shut and his breathing was deep. I wasn't sure if he was meditating or asleep. I rolled onto my back and saw Leo filling up a hypo,

"I hope that's not for me." He jumped and whipped around toward me and cursed,

"Don't you know it's rude to sneak up on people?" I chuckled at him as he came closer. He nodded toward Spock,

"He's been there all night."

"Was he awake when you came back?" He shook his head,

"Scotty stopped by to talk to you but when he came back to the game he said you both were asleep. I couldn't believe it so I came back to see for myself. Sure enough you were both asleep." A smirk appeared on his lips,

"What?"

"You and the hobgoblin were holding hands. Care to explain?"

"He told me I needed to rest but I told him I was afraid to. He promised to stay with me and wake me if I started to slip. He was telling me about his mother." A slight frown appeared on his face,

"You two have been doing that a lot lately. Holding hands I mean. You know what could happen right?" I nodded,

"Yes I know, and so does he. But… I don't know. I wouldn't really mind. We have a lot in common, and yet we're so different as well." He placed his hand on my shoulder,

"I may have my quarrels with him but he does seem to really care about you. He asks about you a lot. Wondering how you're doing and such. He's also devoted a lot of time looking for Fallor. I wouldn't be surprised if he called Scotty while you're working." I looked at the sleeping Vulcan and smiled,

"What time is it?"

"About 0600. Another hour until breakfast." I nodded,

"Thanks Leo." He smirked at me,

"No problem darlin'." He walked away to stick some poor sucker with that hypo leaving me alone with the still asleep Spock. I bit my lip, I knew I shouldn't wake him but I wanted him to be awake. He must have sensed this because a second later he was awake. Blinking at me,

"Did you sleep well?"

"I did, thank you. I had no dreams." He nodded his head with a slight upturn at the corners of his mouth,

"I am pleased then that I was able to help."

"It's about an hour until breakfast, and then I get to head back to engineering. With the guards of course."

"You should be exceptionally vigilant. I will talk to the captain and see about having extra guards placed in engineering."

"If you think it would be necessary." He nodded,

"Indeed I do." I pursed my lips for a moment,

"Would it be possible to head to the Rec Room before breakfast? I'd like to have another try at chess with you." He hesitated,

"I do believe we have time for a match." We stood up and told Leo where we were going and let before he could say anything. I felt a little odd walking down the corridors. Not because of Spock but because of the two guards who followed us. When we got the Rec Room there was nobody there leaving us the whole room. We sat down at one of the chess boards and began. No words were spoken because we didn't need to use our voices to speak. We carried on a simple, as simple as Spock would allow, conversation and again I lost to Spock. Three times to be exact. I laughed as we headed to breakfast,

"I can't win against you can I?"

"You are fairing much better than our last match. Your skill has improved."

"Thank you." We walked into the mess hall and I got replicated oatmeal with apples and cinnamon. It lacked in real taste but it was still better than nothing. We sat down with Sulu, Chekov, and Uhura.

"Amaya! It is wonderful to see you."

"Thank you Chekov, I've missed you all. And Sulu you and I must have a rematch when all this is over." He grinned at me,

"I look forward to it." I looked to Uhura next,

"Thank you for offering to stay with me tonight." She smiled gently at me,

"No problem. We'll get to have some time just for us women. No men allowed." She gave the three men at the table a pointed look. I laughed,

"That sounds like a wonderful idea Uhura."

"Yes, and you three can tell Scotty, McCoy, and Kirk that as well." We laughed. It was refreshing to eat with my friends again, and to have a real conversation with people again. I was relaxing for the first time in six days. When breakfast was over we parted ways. The guards and I went to the turbo lift and down to engineering where four more guards were waiting as well as Scotty.

"Lass, welcome back." I grinned,

"Let's get to work Scotty." I stuck with Scotty and Keenser was always near by, usually up in a high place looking for Fallor. We worked happily through the day even through lunch. We lost track of time until Leo came down to get me for dinner,

"Scotty, she needs to eat. You both do. Besides Uhura is waiting for her. Apparently none of us men are allowed to bother them tonight."

"Ah, sort of like a hen do. Only no one's getting' married." Leo gave him a questioning look and so I elaborated,

"A hen do is the British version of a bachelorette party."

"Oh, well, I guess that makes sense. Anyway, it's time to call it quits for the day. Amaya, dinner will be brought to you and Uhura in your quarters." I chuckled,

"I'll be seein' ya Scotty."

"Alright lassie, have a good night." Leo, the guards, and I went to the lift. They escorted me to my room and I punched in the code,

"Gonna tell me what the name is darlin'?" I smirked at him,

"Nope, again figure it out on your own." He scowled at me.

"Go on, Uhura's waiting inside." I grinned at him before going into my room.

"There you are!" She grinned and pulled me over to the bed making me sit down as she ran over to the couch. She picked up a bag and brought it over to me, "After we eat dinner I thought we could paint our nails and watch holomovies. Oh, and in the morning we could give each other makeovers!" I bit my lip,

"I've… never, um, I've never had a makeover." Her mouth hung open as her eyes widened,

"NEVER?!" I shook my head,

"I've painted my nails before but I've never… worn makeup before." She gave me a sly smile,

"Well, then I shall have to teach you. Every man will fall flat on his face when they see you. Especially a certain Vulcan." I raised an eyebrow at her,

"Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?" She smirked at me,

"I am." She suddenly became very serious, "He likes you. I'm sure you've heard about how the two of us dated for a while." I nodded my head, unsure of where this was going, "Then I want you to know that it was nothing serious. Nothing intimate. He is very attracted to you. Not like he was to me. You two have a… deeper connection." She smiled at me, "I'm happy for you. Both of you. I think of you as a friend, and I would hope that you would consider me a friend as well." I grinned at her before throwing my arms around her in a hug,

"I think we can be very good friends." We laughed,

"Good, then I want you to call me Nyota." A yeoman brought us dinner and we ate it quickly before starting on our nails. We told each other stories about our lives, we laughed and cried. I painted Nyota's nails red with a gold pattern on it. She painted mine a dark blue before painting a silver design on it. We stayed up late into the night watching holomovies until the next morning. We got up early. We were tired but excited as well. I had never worn makeup and I was interested to see what the other's thought of my makeover. Nyota made my lips a dark red and painted my eyes with a smoky eye shadow. She did a few other things but I had no clue what they were. Then she moved onto my hair. She made the curls softer than normal and pinned some of them back with a silver gemmed pin. My dark brown hair seemed to flow down my back. I thought it was nice. I could never do it myself but it was a nice change. She grinned at me, "Spock, is going to fall head over heels. His green blood is going to boil at the sight of you." I blushed and bit my lip,

"Nyota-"

"Amaya, don't even try to tell me you don't like him. You may not even have admitted it yourself but I know that you like him and that he likes you." My door chimed letting me know my escort for the day was here to pick me up. Nyota grinned, "Now let's go. I want to see his face when he sees you." I opened the door and Jim stepped in. Immediately his mouth dropped open,

"Amaya?" I nodded and he still stood there slack jawed,

"Well don't just stare at her! Say something!" Uhura pushed him a bit and he snapped out of it,

"Wow, Amaya, you look beautiful! Wow." I blushed,

"Thanks Jim." He stood straight and offered me his one of his arms and offered the other to Nyota,

"It would be an honor to escort two lovely ladies to breakfast." We rolled our eyes but took his arms anyway. As we walked down the hall the people I recognized stared at us. When we entered the mess hall we got our food and sat down with Scotty, Sulu, and Chekov. All three stared at me.

"Lass, is that you?" I shot him a look,

"Shut your trap Scotty." Sulu laughed,

"Yup, that's Amaya." Chekov smiled at me,

"You look very beautiful." His accent made it sound so adorable,

"Thanks Chekov."

"You do look lovely lassie. I only hope that I can keep the boys in engineering away." I laughed,

"I'm sure you can do it Scotty." Uhura nudged me before whispering in my ear,

"Here comes McCoy and Spock." I didn't turn around. Instead I stared down at the table. McCoy dropped his try on the table right beside me. And Spock sat down across from me.

"Mornin' all. Darlin' how was- what the…" I felt his hand underneath my chin and slowly he tilted my head up until I was eye level with him. "Amaya… are you wearing… make up?" I nodded. Worry built in my chest and Nyota placed a hand on my arm,

"What do you think McCoy?" He glanced at her before looking back to me,

"I think… you look very beautiful. Gorgeous even. It was hard enough to beat away the men before. Now you make it almost impossible!" I laughed as he pulled me close and kissed my temple.

"Spock what do you think of Amaya's new look?" Nyota gave me a small smirk before turning towards Spock again. I looked at Spock who simply stared at me,

"You look-"

"ALL STATIONS RED ALERT! CAPTAIN KIRK AND REPORT TO THE BRIDGE IMMEDIETLY." Every one jumped into action. Just as I was about to run out of the mess and down to engineering I felt a hand grab my arm and pull me back. It was Spock,

"You look… lovely. The Doctor was correct in saying you look beautiful." I blushed profusely and looked down to the floor.

"Thank you Spock."

"Amaya, look at me." I did and saw a deep concern in his eyes, "Go to Sick Bay."

"But-"

"It will be easier for you to be looked after if you are in Sick Bay." I didn't say anything. I wanted to go to engineering, "Please… for me?" My eyes shot up to him. He surprised me again with such a… human response. Especially since he actually spoke it out loud and not through our telepathic connection. I bit my lip slightly and his eyes darted to my lips for just a second.

"Very well. I'll go to the Sick Bay." He nodded his head before we parted ways. I ran to the turbo lift and so did the guards, "Shouldn't you be going to your positions?"

"No ma'm. You are our primary objective until further orders from Captain Kirk." I rolled my eyes,

"Stubborn man." When the lift stopped I ran to Sick Bay, "Leo!" He came out of his office with several PADD's in his hand,

"What are you doing here?"

"Spock asked me to come here." He nodded his head,

"Alright, get ready. We're being attacked by Klingons. There'll be plenty of wounded." The fight lasted for a long time. At least it felt like a long time. There was a constant stream of wounded coming in and I was beginning to feel very run down. When the battle was over I washed my face off and made my way back to my quarters. When I reached my quarters I realized I left the guards in Sick Bay. I yawned. I'll contact them after I rest a bit. I had just spent the last three hours patching people up. I lied down and eventually I shut my eyes. I was deep in sleep when I felt something. It was close, something closing in around me.

"AMAYA!" I gasped and shot up in bed,

"What?!" I looked around the room until my eyes landed on Leo, "Leo?" He had a scared and relieved look on his face, but anger rolled off of him ways,

"Oh thank God you're here. Are you alright? Are you hurt?" He sat down in front of me and took hold of me by the arms,

"I'm fine. I'm alright."

"Good, now what the hell is wrong with you?!"

"What?"

"You left without the guards! Nobody had any idea where you were! We thought Fallor had got you. I was terrified that something had happened to you." His eyes softened and his grip loosened. "You had us all frightened. We thought the worse had happened." I took hold of his hand and squeezed it.

"I'm alright Leo." He gave me a weak smile,

"Well, I'm going to go call off the search, the guards are outside. I'll let you rest again." He started to walk away,

"Wait!" He whipped around,

"What?" I bit my lip and looked around my dim room,

"I… can I come with you?" He furrowed his brow,

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

"I just… I don't feel comfortable in my room. I just… feel like I'm not alone." He gave me an alarmed look before quickly crossing the room again and pulling me up from the bed,

"Yeah, come on." He glanced around my room, "We'll get someone to search your room. I left my room with Leo's arm wrapped tightly around me. Little did I know that there really was something in my room. Something lurking in the dark. With a fire in its eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hey everyone, thank you to all who have been reading my story. I hope you all enjoy it. I do ask however to please review. It really motivates me to update faster if I get more reviews than I put up chapters. Like now I have 7 reviews and 7 chapters. Please review, I love to hear what you all think of my story.

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