Author's Note: Spock is NOT a stalker! Remember this man is half Vulcan - he has instincts and compulsions that cannot be interpreted in the same way they would be when performed by a human male. Vulcans are very territorial and possessive. Also, he feels a very strong compulsion to safeguard and protect her, even though at this point, he does recognize it as such, nor even understand fully why he is acting the way he is.
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A New Day Coming
Chapter 7 : You Light Up My Life
Spock
StarFleet Academy, San Francisco, Earth
First Week of September, 2257
It is very strange to have Nyota sitting in the back of the classroom instead of front and center. He keeps wanting to tell her to move into her usual seat. That would not do. He must overcome this temptation.
However, it is very nice to have her sitting here when he thought that he would not see her this year while he was teaching. Whenever the questions from the students become too irritating, too indicative of the fact that they have not, in fact, read the material they are supposed to have read, then he can look towards the back of the classroom and see her lovely face. This has a very calming effect on him.
He notes that she is keeping meticulous notes about which students are participating in the class discussion. This is a great help to him, as he does not have to commit these student actions to memory while still answering questions or lecturing. At the end of the class period, he introduces her to the students and directs them to turn all assignments in to her. He notices that several of the students go to her and ask questions. He is not sure why this is, he will ask her when they get back to his - no their - office.
After five minutes of standing alone at the front of the classroom while she answers questions in the back of the room, he is impatient. He wants her to accompany him back to the office, but she still has several students blocking her way. She is talking to them, smiling at them. His displeasure is irrational and illogical, but it is there nevertheless. She looks up and sees him standing there, then dismisses the students with a few words and comes to join him. "Sorry, sir, they just had some questions about a few things you said."
"And why did they just not ask me their questions?"
She bit her lip, sighed, "I think you intimidate them, sir."
He considers her answer. "But I did not intimidate you, Cadet. I do remember the first day of class last year, when you approached me after class to ask questions." He cocks his head slightly, and looks directly into her eyes.
"No, sir, you did not and do not intimidate me." That is all that she says, yet it seems to hold some hidden meaning. Why did she phrase it just that way? He cannot solve this puzzle now. He turns and leaves the classroom, returns to the office. She follows, half a pace behind him. He does not realize why this feels so comfortable, until he realizes that this is the way his mother accompanies his father when they walk in public. Strange.
When they reach his office, he seats himself behind his desk and continues to read the papers he left there before class. Nyota goes to the mini-replicator and presses buttons. She comes back across the small office, retrieves the tea pot off his desk and goes back across the office again. When the chime sounds, she removes the hot water and pours it into the tea pot. The fragrant odor of tea drifts across the room. Another chime sounds and her arm reaches past his shoulder, retrieving his tea mug, then sets the full mug back in the same spot. "Thank you, Cadet." He is quite pleased at her thoughtfulness, and does not mind that her little finger has grazed his hand when she set the mug down. But the contact has caused a slight tingle that he has no explanation for. It was actually quite pleasant.
She pours tea for herself and sits at her desk. After a bit, his comlink chimes with an incoming message. When he answers it, he finds a file containing the student interaction notes for this morning's class. She is very efficient. This is expected, but pleasing nevertheless. Having an aide is turning out to be much better than he had thought. Of course, this is possibly because of the particular cadet that he has chosen for this duty. He continues with his reading, sipping on his tea.
At 1200 she gathers up her carrybag and leaves the office, which seems unaccountably empty after she is gone.
Nyota
After class was over, she was surrounded by students asking for clarification of the assignment. She explained it to them the same way Spock had explained it to her the year before. She tries to get them to go across the room to Spock, but they are not inclined to do so. This might be a problem. Eventually, she realizes that Spock is waiting for her and is becoming impatient. She is not sure how she knows that he is impatient, but she does know. She tells the students that they must leave now or be late to their next classes and they disburse. She crosses the classroom to him and sees the small signs that tell her that he is now less tense. They walk down the hall to his office and she keeps just slightly behind him, letting him lead. She had studied Vulcan culture and knows this be more comfortable for him in this setting. She is clearly indicating to him that she accepts him as her superior.
When they get to the office, Spock sits behind his desk and begins to read again. She decides to make tea. When she brings his mug over to his desk and sits it down, the smallest finger of her hand grazes the back of his hand. A small tingle, almost like an electrical spark, passes between them. It was so brief that she did not even have time to react before it was over. Odd, she thought.
She seats herself at her new desk with her mug of tea and looks over the notes she made today. She organizes them into what she considers the proper order, saves the new file, and sends it to him. He reads the message but does not acknowledge her work. Oh, well, that is what she's getting paid for.
She looks the rosters and syllabi during the remaining time until lunch, familiarizing herself with the slight changes he has made to the lesson plans. At 1200 she gathers up her carrybag and goes to the mess hall to meet Gaila for lunch. She does not wish to bother him when he is so absorbed in what he is reading, so she does not say anything to him when she leaves.
She and Gaila meet other friends in the mess hall and sit and talk and laugh until it is time for her to leave for the gym. After the quite time spent in the office this morning, for some reason their enthusiasm seems overloud.
She changes into her workout gear and crosses the gym. There is no music player today, so she knows they will be working on the movements to the second part of the third kata. Probably there will be no more duets until he is satisfied with her knowledge of this difficult series of movements. When he determines that she has progressed sufficiently for one day, he leads her back to the dumbbells again and gives her specific instructions on how many times to perform each exercise. She concentrates on maintaining the correct tension so that she will derive the most benefit from the exercises and pretends that she does not know that he is watching her while he performs his own weight workout. When she has completed her exercise, she takes the dumbbells to the rack and stows them in the correct place, then turns. He has not told her how many laps to swim. It's probably the same as last week, but if she assumes that, he will have changed the number and be dissatisfied with her for assuming. Sighing softly, she turns to go ask.
She stands out of the way, waiting until he completes his set, and then moves into his sight. He raises one eyebrow at her. "Commander, you didn't tell me how many laps to swim, sir." Is that laughter in his eyes? Not possible.
"Please swim the same number of laps that you swam last week, Cadet."
"Thank you, sir." She turns and crosses to the locker room, changes, swims laps. When she finishes her last lap and raises her head from the water, he is kneeling at the edge of the pool.
"I shall expect you for dinner at 1700, Nyota." His voice is so low that no one else could possibly have heard it, even if there had been anyone else in the room. He stands and dives neatly into the pool.
Spock
He wants to be sure that she understands that their time together in his quarters is not the same as their time together in class, in his office, in the gym. That there is a definite distinction between the two - between when he is her superior officer and when he is not. Although, correctly speaking, he is always her superior officer. But he feels it necessary that there be this distinction, that she does feel that the way he reacts to her here is not the same as the way he reacts to her there. He is not entirely sure why he wants this, but he definitely does. It is not logical, but it is true.
He stands in front of his closet, trying to decide which of his casual clothes he will wear. He could just change into his meditation pants and shirt, but for some reason this does not satisfy him. He looks through the clothing again and selects a pair of jeans that he has worn for several years. They are soft and comfortable. He adds a knit shirt that pulls over his head. It is his favorite shade of deep, soft blue. Surely these clothes will convey the correct impression.
He crosses to his kitchen and begins to pull ingredients out and organize them on the work surface. When she enters his quarters fifteen minutes later, she goes first to the music player and selects a disc. Then she comes into the kitchen to help prepare the food. She is wearing very tight pants, he thinks they are called leggings, that are so dark a blue that they are almost black. She is wearing a very tight tank top in the same color. Over that she is wearing a loose blouse of some very sheer fabric, pale blue with large white flowers on it, that comes down past the tops of her legs. She is wearing a silver chain as a belt. As she moves about the kitchen, the light shines through the blouse as if it were in fact invisible. He can see the outline of her slender arms, her perfectly formed small breasts, molded by the tight tank. He can find no fault with her clothing, he appreciates it very much. He is very glad that he has chosen his own clothing with such care.
***
After they have eaten and cleaned up the kitchen, Nyota changes the music disc again, putting on soft music that will not interfere with their poetry discussion. He has two small books laid out tonight that he wishes to compare. They are written in two different languages, from two very different cultures, but there are many similarities between the poems. He thinks she will be fascinated by them. He sits in his customary place and she sits down where she sat last week. He is very pleased that she has not retreated to the opposite end of the couch again. It is very pleasant to have her sitting close enough that he can catch her scent as she moves her arms to turn the pages of the books. At times as she changes her position upon the couch, the neckline of her loose blouse falls forward and he can see the soft curves of the tops of her breasts above the top of the dark tank. He exerts strong controls over the sensations this causes in his body.
It is a very pleasant discussion. Sometimes they have contradictory opinions and must explain at length why. This is extremely interesting. He is almost unhappy when the books are laid aside as she goes to change into her meditation clothes. But he quickly follows as soon as she has closed the bathroom door and changes himself.
***
After their meditation, he quickly changes back while she is in the bathroom, and is ready to accompany her back to her dorm. They continue to discuss the poetry that they had read this evening, comparing it to that they read the week before. When they are at the entrance to her dorm, he asks her a question. "Nyota, last week you mentioned another food which is often eaten with the pita breads. Would it be possible for you to show me how to prepare this next week?"
She looks at him. There is an unusual expression on her face that he does not know how to interpret. After a short pause, she replies. "I will be glad to show you how to prepare falafel, but I will not allow you to pay for the ingredients. I will go shopping on my own."
He wants to protest, but he sees that spark of fire in her eyes and resists. He does not wish to anger her again. He nods his acceptance and turns to go, then turns back. "I shall see you on the track in the morning, Nyota."
She smiles widely at him in agreement. It is very acceptable.
