Many thanks to my beta, TheWindowView. She's always great.
Sorry to all my readers for the longer wait than usual. I was travelling this past weekend and had an exam this week, so I didn't have much time to write. However, here is a new chapter before a week has past :)
Please, read and enjoy! All comments are welcomed!
"So," Michaels broke the awkward silence. "What colors of nail polish have you got in that bag, Nyota?"
Uhura grinned and began unloading the bottle.
Turning to Nia, Jenkins asked "You sure you don't want a pedicure? It's all self given, but we've got all the needed equipment. The pumice stone, clippers, lotion, and the polish."
"Of which I have more." Christine announced as she pulled out her own bag.
Laughing Nia held up the bag the blond nurse pulled out. "How is the world did you girls manage to bring all this on board? Don't you have weight limits or something? And no I'm not subjecting you all to my stinky feet."
Michaels shook her head at Nia's question. "Please, nail polish is not considered contraband. And, hello, the foot bath is great for taking care of stinky feet."
"Actually, I don't think that's it." Christine said.
"What do you mean?" Michaels asked, as Nia gave Christine a very wary look.
"I mean when Nia is very particular about her feet. Always." Christine gave Nia a pointed look.
Nia blushed. "Oh come on, you're exaggerating."
Christine rolled her eyes. "Right. That's why you had McCoy kick me out when he was treating your broken foot."
"You broke your foot?" Uhura asked.
"You mean you haven't heard about that yet? I thought for sure Lieutenant Sulu or Ensign Chekov would have told you." Jenkins said, much to Nia's chagrin.
The Paladian in question was slowly turning a brilliant pink. "Why is that even important?" She asked, but no one answered her.
"So what happened?" Uhura asked.
"I haven't heard the full story either." Michaels piped up.
"Well," Jenkins began. "I heard someone challenged a certain Ensign to a weight lifting competition and then that someone dropped the weights."
"On my foot." Nia finished. "Which hurt like heck, but not as bad as embarrassing myself in front of Commander Spock the next day."
"Oh I have to hear this." Michaels said. "What happened?"
"Well, it was the day after I broke my foot, and the commander came by my quarters in the morning to inform me that Starfleet had authorized me to work in the labs on the ship." Nia said, relieved the girls seemed to be interested in the story.
"Wait, this was when you first showed up in the labs, right?" Jenkins asked.
"Yes, Sarah, it was." Nia said. "Do you know this story?"
Jenkins smiled slowly until she had a face reminiscent to the Cheshire cat. "Oh I saw this story."
Thinking back to the incident, Nia tried to remember if she had seen the smaller brunette in the area. Nia hadn't seen her, hadn't seen any females, in fact. "How..?"
The smile got impossibly wider. "The security feed for the lab entrance."
"Oh no." was all Nia could say as the women around her started asking Jenkins if she could pull up the feed.
"No, no." Jenkins said. "I only saw it because we were having issues with the feed and Lieutenant Commander Scott was using only recordings to double check it once he fixed it." She looked at Nia as she pulled a nail file out of the bag in front of her. "That was why I was in Engineering that one day."
Nia nodded as understanding hit her, and then groaned. "So, no chance of that getting deleted, is there?"
"Probably not." Jenkins said.
"Now wait a sec." Christine began. "We still haven't been told what happened."
"Have you been down to the labs? You either, Nyota?" Both women nodded. "Then everyone knows there are a few short steps with a handrail in the middle." Nia took a breath. "Well, the commander and I were speaking, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, and next thing I knew I was straddling the handrail thanking the fact I'm not a male."
The other women roared as she told them this.
"Oh my gosh, how did the commander react?" Uhura asked.
"Oh he was the perfect gentleman, and nearly insisted on escorting me to the med bay." Nia said, giggling. "I was equally insistent to not go though."
"Not after showing up twice the previous day." Christine added.
"Didn't it hurt though? Even if you aren't male, there is bone and tender tissue there." Michaels asked.
"It was worse than dropping those weights on my foot." Nia told her. "Especially with the embarrassment factor."
"In front of the commander, too. That had to be really awful." Jenkins said.
The room fell quiet as the women looked at each other, all unsure what to say. Finally, Jenkins broke the silence.
"Alright, lets finally address the elephant in the room, other than the fact you are hiding your feet." Jenkins said with a pointed look at Nia.
Nia shrugged. "I have no idea what you are talking about." She tried to innocently say.
"Sure." Michaels said. "So who did you have lunch with today?"
Christine spoke up. "Me. She had lunch with me. Why is that so important?"
Michaels shoulders slumped, and Nia allowed herself a small smirk.
As the other women went about discussing the best colors of polish and such, Nia found her thoughts drifting.
It was only that morning that her lunch plans had been discussed, briefly mulled over, and a conclusion reached. This day she ate with Christine, or else she would have eaten alone.
Tomorrow, however would be a little different.
"So, Commander. Let me ask again. Will you continue to sit with me at the midday meal?"
His answer was not what she hoped for.
"I have a prior arrangement with the captain for tomorrow. I will not be able to sit with you."
"But the days after?"
"What are you thinking about, that's got you smiling?" Michaels asked, pulling Nia from her reverie.
"Oh nothing much." Nia leaned forward. "Alright, what color is going to clash the least with my skin tone? And if any one says white, I'll make you eat a pillow."
Laughing the other women made several suggestions.
"Well this bright blue is lovely and goes well." Uhura suggested. She was right and Nia placed it in the option pile.
"Or you could match your blood and go for the hot pink." Christine stated and handed her a bottle.
Nia chuckled. "That wasn't morbid at all."
"You have pink blood?" Michaels asked.
Jenkins looked at her like she'd grown a second head. "You work in the science department and you don't know that?"
"It never came up!" Michaels defended.
Jenkins just rolled her eyes.
Nia answered the poor woman. "Yes I have pink blood. You have hemoglobin running through your veins, I have coboglobin."
"Coboglobin?" Michaels looked confused.
"It means she has cobalt based blood, instead of iron. Not unlike Vulcans, who have copper based blood." Christine filled in for her.
"Like in arthropods?" Michaels asked. She finally selected a wine red for her toe nails.
Jenkins shook her head. "You're talking about hemocyanin. Vulcans use something different that is more efficient than hemocyanin." Jenkins settled on a navy blue color that glimmered.
"Oh." Michaels shrugged and opened the bottle of nail polish to get to work on her toes.
Nia smiled and went with Uhura's suggestion of the bright blue, Christine chose her own suggestion. Uhura was still deciding.
As the dark skinned woman continued lining up the bottles on the small table, one caught Nia's eye even as she was painting her finger nails. It was a subtle, sea foam green and a color she'd seen before. It was common enough on her home planet, in the form of a moss that grew in the tops of the trees. It always grew the most just after a heavy rain, and some Paladians began harvesting it to make mats and floor covering out of it. That idea didn't pan out, as the moss doesn't survive close to the forest floor, whether it be because of too little sunlight or rain.
The similarity to the moss itself wasn't the reason why the color caught her eye. While Nia enjoyed the moss and had used it as a pillow when relaxing during a climb, it wasn't what her mind dwelled on.
Instead, her mind dwelled on the fact it was the same shade of green that caused her distraction the day she walked into the handrail. It was the same shade that appeared to lurk beneath a certain commander's skin, just barely coloring his skin tone.
Maybe she could borrow the little bottle and paint her toes after the girls left.
Almost finished with her finger nails, Nia tuned in to the discussion Jenkins and Christine were having.
Move for move, the two were nearly matched in skill. The game had begun over an hour previous. A quick match never happened between the two, not with both fully focused.
Or mostly focused.
"Bones said we should be able to handle whatever situation we find when we reach the settlers." Kirk said, carefully placing his bishop.
Spock pondered the board for a moment then carefully countered the move. "Did you expect for Dr. McCoy to be unprepared?"
Kirk shrugged. "No, but I didn't expect the level of preparedness he's at. Now I understand the request for the crates of lard bars." He shuddered at the thought of eating one of those.
"Only high fat and calorie rations will be sufficient enough to compensate for the body mass lost due to the Paladians' high metabolism." Spock informed him.
Sighing, Kirk said "That is almost exactly what Bones said." Kirk made his move then glanced up at his first officer. "Do think Sargent is prepared for whatever we find?"
Spock hesitated briefly before speaking. "She is fearful of the conditions her people will be in."
"Anyone would be. Are her emotions clouding her judgment?"
"She has been able to maintain a stable work ethic."
"So that's a no?"
If he were human, Spock would have sighed. "Her judgment has only been tested on board and has proved to be unaffected. However, our arrival to the planet and the discovery of the full extent of the conditions of the settlers may change that fact."
"Right." Kirk said. He frowned. "Spock, I want one of us on the away team when we get to the planet."
"I expected nothing less, Jim."
Kirk nodded. He supposed he hadn't really needed to say it for his first officer's sake, but said it for his own. In fact, he intended to be the one on the away team. Particularly if Sargent was going to react adversely, Kirk didn't want Spock placed in such a position.
Speaking of which… "Spock, did you get the chance to speak with Sargent?"
"I spoke with her at length, Jim."
Kirk knew, just knew the Vulcan was enjoying the oh-so subtle pointing out of the lack of specificity of his questions. "What did you speak with her about?"
The corner of Spock's mouth twitched at the captain's irritation.
Kirk caught the twitch and narrowed his eyes at the minute smirk. Oh yeah. The Vulcan enjoyed it.
"I spent most of the time aiding Dr. Sargent in her experiments."
"Ah yes. Did she finish rerunning the ones that she'd run the wrong variables on?" Kirk asked.
Spock nodded. "Indeed she did. We completed those and had started on the seconds trials by the midday meal." He moved his rook and then said "I also apologized for my previous assumption pertaining to the individual named 'Matt'."
"Who was actually a sparring mat." He chuckled. "That one is never getting old." Kirk counter moved. "So, she accepted your apology?"
"Indeed, she did." Spock considered the board for a moment.
"Did you discuss anything else?" Kirk looked at Spock pointedly.
"Indeed, we did."
"So, Commander. Let me ask again. Will you continue to sit with me at the midday meal?"
His answer was not what she hoped for.
"I have a prior arrangement with the captain for tomorrow. I will not be able to sit with you."
"But the days after?"
"The days after… I will sit with you until you desire otherwise, whenever circumstances permit."
Kirk grinned. "So, will appropriate documentation be submitted?"
"Yes, Jim. It will." He completed his move.
Kirk's grin grew until he scanned the board and frowned. Then he looked over it more carefully. Eventually, he sighed and knocked over his king. "I concede."
"A logical choice."
An hour after the girls left, Nia held the small bottle of green polish in her hand. She shook her head and settled back against the couch.
Carefully, she pulled off her shoes. They were laced and lightweight, but still sturdy. These shoes were her favorite work shoes, and had been specially modified for her Paladian needs.
There weren't many Paladians good at walking on completely level ground, at least not with shoes on.
After dropping the shoes to the floor, she slowly peeled her socks of and flexed her feet.
Like her fingers, her toes were built for climbing. The digits were longer than human toes and the calluses not limited to the pads of her toes, but extending all the way to the ball of her foot.
The odd length of her toes didn't bother her and wasn't what prevented her from showing the others her feet. The girls were right though, she had been hiding her feet.
Nia started painting her nails, starting with the one long pinkie toe. She continued, until she reached her big toe.
Except she didn't have a big toe. The joint was rotated and lower on the foot. The toe was more delicate than a human's big toe.
Instead of a big toe, the Paladian had an opposable thumb. From experience, Nia knew better than to show off her 'monkey feet'.
She hummed quietly as she finished painting her nails. Girl's Night had been a great idea. The next day might be a different story, but at that moment she felt very relaxed. Tomorrow was most likely the last day before the ship arrived at the planet.
Nia found herself anxious at the thought of, but also, looking forward to lunch.
A/N: Ok, ok I know there hasn't been much Nia/Spock in these last couple chapters, but I promise it is coming!
Thank you for my reviewers, crusherccme and QHJumper. Thank you for your support and for the honest opinions.
Thank you to those who have added this story to their alerts and/or favorites. I'm glad you are enjoying this :)