When the his office door chimed well after office hours two days before the end of exams, Spock expected the usual panicked cadet seeking him out to beg for eleventh-hour assistance. He was therefore very surprised to find instead, the smiling green face of Cadet Gaila, who had already taken her Advanced Systems Programming exam and turned in her final project.
The Orion entered his office in a lively manner quite dissimilar to that of most who sought out his company there. In fact, Spock could not remember a single instance before where anyone had bounced, as a human might say, into this particular room situated in the Hsu Lang Computer Sciences Building.
"Oh good, Lieutenant," she said as she approached his desk, swinging a large cloth bag. Her steps lost none of their exuberance in deference for the small space, "I'm so glad I found you here! I was afraid I was going to have to head all the way over to your quarters. Looks like I dodged Zetlek's arrow this time." She smiled even wider, dropped her bag on the floor and abruptly made use of the chair before his desk by means of thrusting her buttocks back while (apparently simultaneously) lifting both of her feet from the floor. She landed in the seat with a faint thud.
Spock lifted a highly mobile eyebrow.
"Cadet," he said, "as you have already completed your coursework and examinations for Advanced Systems Programming, I cannot help wondering what brings you to my office today." He eyed the bag on the floor warily.
Cadet Gaila winked at him.
"But I'll bet you can give a pretty good guess," she said with a little laugh.
He did not sigh. He wanted to of course — Cadet Gaila had that effect on many in her acquaintance — but he refused to give in to the urge.
"If pressed to speculate, I would presume that your visit had something to do with the small gold-colored box protruding from your bag," he told her in his customarily flat tones.
"You would presume right!" she exclaimed, smiling broadly.
Then she snatched the box from the bag and leapt to her feet. With what Spock did not doubt was a valiant attempt at looking solemn, the red-haired cadet stepped up to his desk and presented the box to him in two outstretched hands.
"I hope you will find this small token of my appreciation and of my faith in you useful, sir," she said in an equally valiant attempt to sound as solemn as she had attempted to appear. Unfortunately for the cadet, her voice was still laced with laughter and traces of a smile remained on her lips.
Spock accepted the box and thanked her anyway.
Cadet Gaila pivoted smoothly and bent to pick up her bag, giving him an unasked-for view of her red uniform briefs in the process. (Prudently, he turned away before she glanced back to see if her was looking.) She straightened up and headed for the door.
Just before exiting, she looked back at him over her shoulder.
"Open that before you see Ny on Thursday, sir, but don't open it here," she ordered. With another wink, she left Spock alone in his office.
A/N: And the rest is posted in a separate fic Playing with Toys: End Game, 'cause it's M-rated folks. Grown folk can find it at /s/5387520/1/
Usual disclaimer: I don't own 'em!