AN: Thanks for all those reviews! I love you guys! A reminder, if you want me to answer your reviews – which I normally do – you have to have private messaging enabled.
Also huge thanks to BookLuva97, who, beginning with this chapter, is my new beta. This chapter is dedicated to her. :)
I don't own this, even though the number of OCs is growing.
One more thing: Just today, I found out that my grandmother married her high school teacher (my grandfather). Obviously, it's not my fault. Student/teacher relationships are in my blood.
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"Jones is suspended?" Gaila said incredulously, staring at the message on her PADD.
"What?" Nyota whipped her hear around to look at her friend.
"It says so right here," Gaila stated, still apparently in shock.
"Don't tell me you're complaining," Joyce, another junior sitting at their table, commented.
"Not by a long way, but I don't think this has ever happened before. Has it?"
"Not during our time here, no," Nyota muttered. Well, he certainly wasted no time.
She thought back to the last class she had with Jones. Under his lead, the course effectively turned into a parade of clichés about different species. Last week, they were dealing with Risians, and there were several memorable scenes. Commander Jones saying that 'there was only one reason to visit that planet, and it had to do with interesting statues', or that they were 'unlikely to have a Risian student at the Academy any time soon, since the species was so obsessed with sex they couldn't get out of bed long enough to study for an exam' – that one almost made Gaila leave the class. Yes, Nyota was certainly glad they wouldn't have to deal with that man any longer. However...
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"How did you achieve that, Commander?" Nyota asked the moment she sat down to dinner in the evening.
"How did I achieve what?" He asked, one eyebrow up.
"Suspension of Commander Jones in just four weeks," Nyota explained patiently, even though she was quite certain he knew what she'd meant.
"What makes you think I had any part in it?"
She just looked at him.
"Very well, I concede it was a logical conclusion. It was quite simple. I listened to the recordings of his classes, realized that he really was hopeless, as you say, and brought the case to my head of department, since it would not be appropriate for me to interfere in another department's matters. Captain Nguyen was not happy to take the matter on, but, as she said, she owed me for bothering me with the misconduct investigation. I did not think so, but I let it stand. The head of Interspecies Relations department watched the same recordings and drew the same conclusions as I did, and so did the principal. And since the Academy agrees with your judgement that Insterspecies Ethics is an extremely important subject, they suspended him straight away – after they confronted him and he refused to understand that changes in the way he taught the subject should be made – instead of waiting for the end of semester, as they normally would. Fortunately, he has been teaching the subject only for two years, so not that much damage had been done. Head of his department states that the first classes last year, the ones which he inspected, were correct, otherwise Commander Jones wouldn't have been able to keep the post."
Nyota nodded, understanding instantly how the problem occurred. "Yes, the first couple of classes are normal – it's just some history. It gets bad after that. Who's going to teach it now?"
"It is impossible to get a qualified teacher on such a short notice, but it was still felt that any change would be for the better. Till the end of the semester, teachers are going to take turns as instructors of that course, employing every one who has at least the slightest qualification. That means it is mostly going to concern non-terrans." He smiled a little – very little, but still, the corners of his mouth actually went up a couple of millimetres. "So you'll be pleased to know that you will get your wish, I will indeed be teaching Interspecies Ethics. However, I'd like to state that I still have no intention of teaching Advanced Phonology."
"I don't care about that, I don't have that class," Nyota muttered, a bit dazed. She was still thinking about the smile. It was most...fascinating.
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"It's great we could all come this time," Gaila shouted over the noise in Space Bay one Friday as six women were huddled together around a table meant for four. "The last time, Khadija ditched us for some graduates, if I remember correctly, and Harshika had some even lamer excuse."
"Hey!" the latter protested. "We had a family reunion!"
"As I said," Gaila dismissed her blithely.
"And," Khadija joined in, "I do have to think about my future career, you know."
"Future career?" Harshika cried, mock-horrified. "I thought you were getting ready to find a good prospective officer and settle down?"
Khadija stuck out her tongue at this parody of her old-fashioned grandmother, who was often painfully 22nd-century. Harshika shared the same plight in the form of an overly conservative aunt who, unfortunately for her, lived in America and often made her feelings of 'no woman should ever step on a starship without being married and her husband accompanying her' patently clear to her niece. Apparently, starships were true dens of sin.
"No way," Khadija said now, "that would embarrass Aisha something terrible, if I found a husband before she did."
The older sister actually blushed a little, then said: "You know Ahmad can't propose before he comes back from the first mission, so would you stop it?"
"Yeah," Gaila joined in, "stop it, all this talk of marriage is making me feel anxious. Keep on it, and I'll have to go and chat up some guy just to assert my sexual freedom."
"Which in turn will make the sisters anxious, and they will have to talk about marriage some more, and the conflict will only escalate," Ines commented drily.
"And I will have to start reciting Klingon poetry just to get away from all your men talk," Nyota muttered darkly. "Isn't this supposed to be a girls' night out?"
But Aisha was looking at Gaila seriously, ignoring Nyota for the moment. "You do know we don't actually get anxious when you go and chat guys up, don't you? I mean, I don't want you to think..."
The Orion waved her hand. "Don't worry, Ines was only joking. As was I, by the way – I certainly hope you know I wish you to be happy with Ahmad, and that I am willing to listen to you prattling on about him as long as you want to."
"You might want to reconsider that," Khadija noted snidely, but her sister smiled brightly and said. "Of course I know, Gaila. But Khadija is right, perhaps we should rather not risk that – it might prove too much for Nyota."
All looks turned to the Kenyan woman, who shot them a nasty one in return. "I swear, if any one of you tries to recommend me a young man you know is very nice, I'm going to go Romulan on all of your asses."
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"Months ago, I asked you why you decided to join Starfleet. I think I never got an answer to this question," Spock observed one March evening as he was starting on his fried rice.
"True, we were distracted by plush sehlaks," Nyota smiled. "I think the main motivation was simply that I wanted to be...useful. Like my mother was, but not, I knew, in the same field. I would be a terrible politician, or diplomat. So what could I do? I knew academic work was useful, but it simply didn't have the kind of straight on contact and usefulness I wanted. It was not concrete enough for me. And, well, what else was there, except for Starfleet, when my field was alien languages?"
He shot her a look. "So it was simply by elimination?"
She shook her head. "Not only that. There was also the – how did you say it? – seeming attractiveness of working on a spaceship. You have to admit that the Enterprise looks...impressive."
"Yes, I believe it is one of our most potent recruiting tools."
"It certainly would have recruited me, if I was still undecided when I came to the recruiting grounds," Nyota admitted.
"And are you content with your choice so far?" He enquired.
She nodded vigorously. "Absolutely. Spaceships have lost none of their seeming attractiveness so far."
"It takes working on one to discover that it gets old after a while, I believe."
"Are you content with your career choice, Commander?" Nyota returned the question.
He inclined his head. "I am. Part of my reasoning for joining Starfleet was identical with yours, and it did not disappoint me in this respect. It is just that it can be rather monotonous, too."
She shrugged. "What work can't? But I am curious. What were the other options you considered?"
"Vulcan Science Academy," Spock stated calmly.
Nyota laughed. "Vulcan Science...impressive. You do dream big, don't you? But I suppose it was worth trying, and Starfleet received you gladly after you weren't accepted, so..."
He interrupted her, which was probably a first. "In actual fact, I was accepted."
She stared. "You were...wait a minute. You. Were. Accepted. To Vulcan Science Academy. And you refused?"
"Yes."
She shook her head to clean it. "Just...why? Such things just...don't happen."
"That is what the admission committee thought, too," he said and it seemed to sound just a tad too smug.
"Why, then? I mean, Starfleet is impressive for sure, but it's no Vulcan Science Academy!"
Any hint of humour disappeared from his face – not that there had been any strong clues before. "There were reasons. Personal reasons."
Nyota immediately turned serious too. "I did not mean to pry, Commander. I did not mean to doubt your career choices either, and I am certainly glad you decided to join Starfleet in the end. I was just surprised. Vulcan Science Academy is more prestigious than Starfleet, so I assumed you would have picked that choice."
He tilted his head. "Is the amount of prestige in a profession the only criterion on which you based you career choice?"
She sighed. "You know it isn't. Diplomacy is more prestigious than Starfleet."
"They you should understand," he paused. "Perhaps one day, I might share with you the reasons for my choice. Not just now, however."
That promise rang in her ears for the remainder of the evening.
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Spock was troubled. It was impossible to detect from the outside, of course, but it was still true. He had long been aware that he found the company of Ensign Uhura pleasing, but did not think much about it. If circumstances led to him spending so much time in her company, it was certainly a good thing he didn't find it repulsive, even though that would not have changed his behaviour, of course. Except perhaps for agreeing to tutor her privately in subspace transmission problems solving, that is. But that was reasonable enough - he was giving her a lot of his time, he could not be expected to do it entirely as part of his teaching duties, without getting any personal benefit out of it. Her pleasant company was adequate compensation.
Lately, however, he noticed a growing desire and need for her company, which sometimes led to irrationally wishing they had conversation during lunch, too, or they had their laboratory training more often. Such emotions were always quickly suppressed, of course, but they still disturbed his calm. And all of this culminated when he told her recently that one day he might share his reasons for not joining the Vulcan Academy with her. Why would he say such a thing? It was illogical. In a year and three months, she'd graduate the Academy and their contact would come to an end. It was true that if she got her wish, which she was likely to, they would serve on the same ship, but he would be on the bridge and she would be in the communications department, and they would likely have no contact at all. That thought filled him with more irrational feeling, this time of sadness.
He sat on his meditation stool, and carefully considered. Was there, unbeknownst to him, some truth in that anonymous letter? Did he have inappropriate feelings for the cadet? Not of the nature the letter implied, of course, but nevertheless more personal than was appropriate for a teacher? And if so, what was best to be done about it? There were no regulations barring an instructor feeling anything towards his students, there were only rules against him – or her – taking some concrete action based on those feelings, instead of on professional assessment, for example. He was breaking no rules. He was no longer her instructor in any formal sense, he was not in charge of her evaluation, so there was not danger of his objectivity being compromised. She needed his help to excel. He was a Vulcan, he was not influenced by what he felt in his acts. He was influenced by logic. He shortly considered cancelling the subspace transmission problem solving sessions, which weren't necessary for her, but no. Logic dictated that he continued helping her, and suppressed his emotions on his own, since they were his problem. It was not an impossible task, so there was no need to bother her on his account. Perhaps one day, when she made her way to the bridge – and he was ninety-seven per cent sure she would do that very soon – he would be able to enjoy the pleasantness of her company without the inappropriate and un-Vulcan desire for friendship he felt now.
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AN: If you caught the reference to The Big Bang Theory, have a cookie.
Also, when I talk about Spock's smile, I'm thinking of the smile from the TOS episode Charlie X, the smile he gives Uhura before he plays for her to sing. I'm in love with that smile.