Dinner was a leisurely affair, peppered with good-natured teasing divided equally between Spock and Scotty.
Spock ignored the mildly suggestive barbs thrown his way and concentrated, first on eating his food, and second on not reacting to the hand that kept drifting from Uhura's place at the table to his lap.
Scotty continued to defend his penchant for traditionally female-oriented reading material, picking out passages from memory and regaling the group with tales of the conquests they'd helped him secure.
"Now, Desert Sheikh of My Heartwas where I first learned the power of runnin' yer lady a bath with smelly oils, lads," he explained. "Ye see, Mary Chisolm didnae want to marry Dougal bin Moussad – his mother was Scots, ye ken – so he wooed her with simple things – simplethings, lads – that she couldnae have found in the desert otherwise. That bin Moussad knew what he was about!"
He banged the table with his tumbler of whisky for emphasis.
Uhura ran her forefinger along Spock's thigh again.
Spock put down his utensils and turned to his fiancée.
"Lt. Uhura," he addressed her in his most placid tones. "It appears you still require rest. Do you wish to retire for a short interval before we join your sister and your friends for drinks?"
She gave him a slightly dreamy smile and nodded.
Spock stood and waited for her to do likewise.
She got up and gave their companions a cheerful wave.
"See you later, guys," she promised.
Spock aimed a curt nod at the table, waved Uhura ahead of him then turned to leave.
They were halfway across the dining room when he detected a series of snickers and chuckles emanating from the direction of the table they'd just left.
They were at the exit when he distinctly heard a voice say, "Rest my arse! Poor Miss Uhura will be worn out for a month!"
Damned superior Vulcan hearing.
Uhura didn't think for a moment that Spock had led out of the dining room for a repeat performance.
"Nyota," he said rather gravely, as they stepped off the lift into their own corridor, "I hope you did not think that I suggested we retire so that we might resume the activities of this morning and afternoon."
She gave his stern countenance a quick look.
"The thought never crossed my mind, Spock," she said, making no attempt to hide her grin.
His eyebrow shot up. Again.
"Your behavior at the table might have been construed otherwise," he said carefully. While he recognized they currently lacked sufficient time to engage in a repeat performance, he didn't want to limit any chances of it happening in the near future. "Forgive me if I–."
"We don't have enough time for a repeat performance," she told him with a shrug. They reached the door to their room, and she continued while entering the access code, "My sister will and the others will be back by nine. There's no way two hours would be enough."
She opened the door and stepped into the foyer.
Spock followed and, with a hand on her elbow, stopped her when she would have continued on into the sitting room.
"Two hours could be sufficient, if you wish it to be," he said his face perfectly serious. "It was Ensign Chekov's gift that led to the extraordinary events of today. However, I was being quite honest when observed that you were likely in need of more rest."
Uhura vacillated between wanting to burst out laughing and wanting to kiss him. In the end, she split the difference. Cupping his cheek, she placed a kiss against the warm skin and chuckled softly.
"Baby, as much as I enjoyed seeing you under the influence of Chekov's love potion," she told him, "I love you as you are. And I would prefer to keep you like this. And right now, you're right; I really need a nap."
They both moved towards the bedroom doorway.
"So, you are saying that you would rather we didn't experiment with the gift again?" he asked.
She thought about it for moment or two. It had been fun to laugh and tease. To just feel for herself and not know what was coming next because he knew what she wanted even before she was fully aware of her desires.
"Well, I don't know about that," she said eventually. "It was… different. Still great, just different. It was wonderful to see you let go of your control without worrying about hurting me. I really liked that part."
When she didn't continue, Spock tilted his head into a posture that said, "But… ?" as clearly as if he'd shouted the word. At least, it was that clear to Uhura.
"But, as fun as it was, in the end you were just you and I was just me," she explained, feeling as if she were making a confession. "I mean were joined physically, but… ."
Understanding dawned and Spock stepped forward and leaned towards her.
"Once we are bonded," he whispered into her ear, "we will always share thoughts and feelings when we join. Even if one of us consumes the ensign's gift.
Uhura frowned.
"Always?" she said. "You're sure of this?"
There was no way he could be certain, she thought. Not when he'd only tried the gift this once. Not when he'd never completed the mating bond before.
"I'm sure, Nyota," Spock to her, "because once you are my mate, I will let nothing keep me from you when we join."
At that, a slow smile lit her face. It was a full-on grin when she suddenly turned and danced into the bedroom.
As she walked through the door way, she looked over her shoulder at him.
"That's great news, but I'm still going to take a nap!"
Spock allowed himself a tiny almost-smile and made a mental note to find the second silvery ball before they left the hotel.
The four gorgeous women paid no attention to the heads that turned their way as they across the hotel lobby carrying a multitude of shopping bags. Actually, they were too engrossed in their chatter about men and drinking and the appropriate attire to wear to a summer wedding in Africa to even notice the men, and women, left practically drooling in their wake.
The tall, slender, brown one and short green redhead led the way to the bank of lifts, laughing and nudging each other like the old friends they weren't. One of the pale blondes grinned at their hoydenish behavior, while the other one followed along with a quiet smile.
"You were amazing!" Gaila exclaimed as her companion shuffled her bags to jab a lift button. "I thought I could shop, but you're a demon at finding crazy bargains."
Upenda Uhura was in a great mood. She really liked her little sister's friends.
"Who do you think taught Nyota?" she asked with another chuckle.
"Gods, you'd never have known she had it in her back at the Academy," Gaila told her. "I was blown away the first we ended up in marketplace together after we got Enterprise. She was almost as good as me!"
Rand let out a hearty laugh.
"She's so serious and all when she's working, but let anywhere near a mercantile exchange and suddenly you're dealing with a completely different woman," she said. "I love it!"
The lift doors opened to an empty car and the women piled in with their booty.
They exited on the seventeenth floor, laughing and sharing stories about the many sides of Nyota Uhura until they reached Suite 1701 and Upenda pressed the door chime. The women were still choking back giggles when the door slip open.
"Evenin' ladies," McCoy said by way of greeting. "You're right on time."
The good doctor stood aside and indicated they should enter with a gentlemanly wave hand of his hand.
Upenda and Gaila were nearly knocked off their feet when Kirk came bouncing over to greet them.
"Did you find it?" he asked, his voice bubbling over with excitement. He was grinning like an idiot and practically bouncing up and down.
"Good evening to you, too, Jim," Upenda said as she walked around him and into the suite's large sitting room.
Gaila shook her head and Rand laughed as they passed him as well.
Chapel stopped and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"We've got it," she assured him. "Upenda can get anything. Anything." She stared after her rival's sister with a look longing formerly reserved for Spock.
Kirk and McCoy exchanged glances, but neither said a word.
The happy couple let themselves into Suite 1701 when no one answered the door chimes.
Spock hazarded a guess that the loudish 1970s music and the buzz of several different conversations might have been the reason nobody had noticed their arrival. The party was already in full swing.
McCoy and Upenda shared a low bench, heads bent together as they held up half-full low balls to task lamp.
Kirk was sitting on a sofa, one arm around Gaila and the other around Rand. He appeared to be talking without taking any breaks to breath.
Scotty and Chapel stood near the floor-to-ceiling windows. He speaking earnestly and pointing out something on the PADD held, but she was looking wistfully over at the bourbon bench and clearly was missing most of what he was saying.
Chekov sat in an arm chair, clutching a PADD of his own, on which he appeared to be taking notes.
Spock cleared his throat.
Seven heads snapped up and over to them.
"Tonight's the night," a voice sang through the suite's sound system.
A/N:Had to split this chapter into two. Second half will follow later tonight. Blame my slow progress on outtabreath, TalesFromTheSpockSide and StarTrekFanWriter. Every time I'm supposed to be editing this story, one (or all) of those three posts a must-read chapter or story. Really, it's all their faults.
Some of you may have noticed that I recently resurrected Gaila. You can blame outtabreath for that, as well. My Gaila is just a somewhat watered down version of the one featured in outtabreath's Dr. Flenderson series.
Usual disclaimer: I only own Upenda *snicker*, sort of.