A/N: Ugh I hate this chapter but it leads into the climax. So yes, un-beta'd, yes typo-licious but here we go. BTW, thanks for all the reviews as of late. Nyotarules made me laugh along with DianaTrayFanGirl ( SMDH) and Caligirl87 was the first to comment on my Chapter 8 cliff hanger. I'm so bad about getting back to you guys but do know that I love them and use them to tweak my already written chapters. Valyria if you not crying yet, you will be in a couple of chapters.

Present

She pulled off her gloves and cursed as Spock came to stand beside her. " Why did you distract me, couldn't you see I was getting ready to shoot?" she hissed at him.

They both looked away from each other and studied the Romulan ballistic gel dummy that was oozing green slime onto the floor. With the strength of the laser, each shot that made its mark would have been an instantaneous kill.

" You must be able to proficiently point shoot as well as sight shoot as an approved member for away missions." he stated calling up her target results from the shooting range booth she was housed in.

" 92.5 accuracy overall. You have improved but you still require more practice and clearly more focus. If you considered my mere presence a distraction then what would you think of a Klingon that was trying to get his disruptor back from you?"

She disarmed the weapon and strapped it back into the holster at her hip. " I wouldn't think much of him because he'd already be dead if I had his disruptor." she said as a matter of fact. "You could have waited until I was done, that was my last shot."

He pondered her words as she filed her results away in the computer's database. All commissioned officers were asked to their kinematic records up to date and phaser/disruptor training had been the last thing that Nyota had left on her assessment. As she reviewed her log Spock loomed nearby, clearly wanting to speak with her.

She gritted her teeth, tapped the screen to approve her results and looked back at him. His face was blank, his body more or less relaxed and stood tall in his surroundings.

God, he made her so tired. Just the thought of speaking with him made her feel exhausted. " Can I help you?"

" Yes, I request your presence tonight at my quarters at 2100 hours to discuss our relationship and bond."

He noted a micro-expression flash across her face. Curious. Why would she suppress showing her emotions now in front of him after being more than demonstrative in earlier interactions?

Ever the scientist he asked, " Does my suggestion of coming to a conclusion on what should be done about our current situation cause a negative emotional response in you?"

A nanosecond long sneer appeared once more on her face, this time accompanied with a facial tick. " No, I'm fine. I'll be by your cabin in a couple of hours. See you then." she mumbled before dipping her shoulder and walking around him.

He turned and watched her exit the gym. His eye narrowed as her form disappeared in view. She was lying.

Hendorff joined Doctor McCoy, Head Nurse Chapel, Captain Kirk and Ensign Diana Tray in the Captain's ready room. The room was definitely getting its share of visitors lately and was well stocked with refreshments. The crewman eyed the water and nodded his thanks when the Captain extended his arm toward the tray as a way of giving permission.

" Hello Cupcake, what do you have to report?" the bright eyed blonde teased.

The crewman sighed and took a sip of his water. " Sir, I thought we got past the cupcake name calling?"

Kirk's nose crinkled and he pouted his mouth out a bit. " Then how are you going to know how special you are without me using your official call sign?"

The burly man hunched over in his chair in horror. " Sir, you didn't..."

Kirk looked innocent as he watched his fingers drumming across the table. " I don't know...maybe somebody, somewhere registered the name officially...but I really wouldn't know. Getting back to your report, crewman."

If Hendorff didn't already looked distressed about his new call sign, then he looked downright miserable giving his report.

" We still have one tail on both Lieutenant Uhura and Commander Spock but after leaving the gymnasium neither has made anymore contact with the other. When we spoke with the shipmates exercising or using the target booths nearby they reported hearing Spock and Uhura making plans to meet up tonight at 2100 in his quarters. The Lieutenant looked uncomfortable but agreed to the arrangement. Permission to speak freely, sir?"

Kirk nodded and Hendorff continued after another sip of water. " I'm worried that if they make contact and actually meet that 'things' may escalate and not in a good way. The Lieutenant has pretty good aim with that disruptor of hers and Mr. Spock..."

" Wait...her WHAT?!" the captain yelled.

The crewman shrunk in his chair a bit, clearly guilty of not telling the captain earlier about the contraband weapon. " Yeah, about that, she has a uh...Klingon disruptor. Since the Commander didn't make a fuss about it I didn't think it was that big of a deal since he's such a stickler for the rules and regs..."

Kirk's jaw twitched as he ground his teeth and looked around the room. " Just so I know, off the record, how many of you guys have something illegal in your possession aboard this ship?"

Everyone looked at each other and back at Kirk and slowly raised their hands.

Kirk looked around dejectedly and threw up his arms. " Seriously? I knew it! You guys, we can't keep going on doing things like spiking the replicators to season everything with Orion spice, which you could only do if you had it ON BOARD! It took weeks to get everybody back on active duty and prime condition! Do you know how much Pike chewed me out for that?!Ffffuuuuu..." he muttered into his hand as he rubbed his jaw. " Never mind, it just reminds me that I need to do a ship wide sweep. I should have done so after we took that shoreline at that Rigellian colony."

Everyone nodded, mumbled or shrugged more or less in agreement with his statement.

" Okay, moving on. Ensign Tray, report."

The counselor straightened in her chair and flicked her PADD on from sleep mode. " Commander Spock has assured me that he is no longer proceeding with his Kolinahr training after we spoke of the impact it would have on his Starfleet career. I spoke with the Elder Zahvek but he had nothing more to offer me than what he had already given to Spock. It seems no one has attempted to ever reverse the effects of the ritual and Zahvek was hard pressed to even try to tell me how we should even try to begin."

Doctor McCoy grunted and crossed his arms. " That sounds about right. Vulcans are always tight lipped about this business. It only took us hundreds of years to figure out about their mating cycle, God knows what else they're keeping from us. If they had it their way we would be under the illusion of that their shit didn't stink and smelled of roses!"

Kirk winced and eyed his friend. " Bones, tone down the racism, would ya?"

Bone threw up his arms and commented on how no one could say anything around here as Diana continued her report. " All in all, the Commander is no longer having suicidal thoughts or signs of depression but Uhura is definitely feeling a great deal of stress."

Kirk nodded and rested his chin on his steepled fingers. " Hmm, I have been in communication with Spock Prime and it seems that he and Uhura may have a plan to relieve or rid our Spock of his Kolinahr symptoms. He is set to rendezvous with us at...", Jim checked the comm on his desk and noted the time. " 2 day and 4 hours. In the meantime, I'm putting Operation Lovesick for RomCom into play."

The gathered crew looked at him in confusion and he gestured with his hands to explain.

" Nurse Chapel, I need you to go to Uhura's quarters 10 minutes before her meeting with the Commander and put your acting skills to work. Come by crying your eyes out and ask for a sympathetic ear. I know you two are good friends and she's a tender hearted person despite the front she puts on for work so she shouldn't turn you away. Once you guys are about to part ways, comm Ensign Tray. Ensign I want you to issue an order for Uhura to relax with close friends watching romantic comedies as a part of her therapy and to avoid Spock at all costs. If she challenges it, say that the order is directly backed by me and Senior medical officer McCoy so she can't pull rank on you."

Jim turned to McCoy with a smile. " And you my good doctor, I'm sure you have one of those delightful vaccine cocktails mixed up somewhere for our dear Vulcan to get updated on and otherwise incapacitated by?"

The Doctor shrugged with a bit of a smirk and nodded. " I'm sure I have something lying around the bay..."

" Great! Well then, Hendorff please report back to your detail that I want constant surveillance on those two until we get this mess sorted out. Once Prime gets here in a couple of days our Spock should be more or less good as new. Ugh, you can give me Klingon armada any day if that meant I didn't have to deal with this." Kirk said grabbing his glass of water. " Dismissed."

" Ugh if I have to see one more sappy ending I'm going to puke!" Nyota groaned as she left Nurse Chapel's cabin. The first movie was actually really fun to watch but after the fifth ' strange, misfit girl meets handsome, quirky stranger and after a series of awkward encounters fall madly in love' story variation she was done with was done with romcoms. Give her Die Hard 16 any day, action was more of her thing. Maybe she would do that on the third day of her movie marathon with Nurses Chapel and Steele.

She was just about to enter her cabin when a pair of arms locked around her in a steely grip. She fight automatically and the arms readjusted to her shoulders. One hand pinched down sharply her trapezius and her vision quickly faded into black.