Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or any of its characters.
"Wait, are you guys even dating?" asked Uhura while she painted her big toe a lovely turquoise.
Ellara shrugged, adding some black to her thumbs tip. "Sort of. It's kind of confusing. We're sort of like friends with romantic benefits. We haven't kissed, however we've had romantic meals together, alone."
Uhura stared at her friend as though she had a third head, which they had encountered before, so it wasn't that far fetched. "But, what about the good stuff? Holding hands, hugging, cuddling, movie nights, all of that?"
Ellie shrugged, blowing on her nails. "It's not us. We weren't raised like that. I don't know what he did specifically, but Lywa and I were best friends, and we only hugged when friends would. It's law on Rendoria."
Scoffing, Nyota pulled out a deep green for her finger nails. "I don't want to be insulting, but that sounds really weird."
"I have to admit, I am kind of hurt. To me, the fact that you spend years looking for someone is crazy. If you just grew up with someone, you'd come to love them. The ancestors would guide you." spoke out Ellara.
And it was true; she found Terran mating customs strange. Ellara wouldn't have brought it up if Nyota hadn't have made the comment she did, but it was now an argument in the honour of her species. Nyota chuckled, not believing her. Ellara frowned in frustration. "I'm serious!" she exclaimed. "I spent sixteen years of my life no more than one room away from my mate. My village leader had consulted the Priests, who spoke to our ancestors and learned that she was the one most suited for me. You start off resenting it, but then one day, you wake up and realize that you love her. That she's the most perfect woman you've ever seen, and there's no one better. And you come to appreciate every second you have together, sometimes not sleeping just to be with her. Terran dating is crazy to me, because according to my studies, you typically spend a year dating them, only seeing each other a few times a week, and then you spend a year in the same apartment, and it's a gamble. You either get married or it ends in frustration. So don't laugh at me for what I believe in, not when I hold my laughs about what you do."
Her spiel over, Ellara stood up, grabbing her things furiously, and stalked out of Nyota's room. She grumbled as she began walking, not really noticing where she was going. It took a few moments before she realized that she had arrived in front of Spock's' room, her hand poised to knock on the door. Taking a breath, Ellara followed through with the move she was ready to perform.
Various seconds later, the door opened to reveal Spock, who had a pen in his hand. "Ellara." he said.
"Spock." she replied, taking a deep breath to calm herself. "Do you think I could come in?"
Spock moved to the side, allowing the Rendorian inside. Once there, she began pacing back and forth, clearly upset.
"What is wrong?" he asked, taking a seat at his desk.
Ellara groaned, glancing at him. "It's Uhura." she began. "She…" one more breath. "She doesn't seem to be able to accept how I was raised."
The pacing had increased in speed. "I tried to explain it to her, but she just laughed at me! Sometimes I don't feel accepted, even here." she huffed out, looking downcast.
"I do not believe anyone else is more accepted on this ship, Ellara. I have never heard anyone say anything negative against you. It is safe to assume that Nyota simply did not realize what she was saying was hurting you." commented Spock, his head moving back and forth to follow Ellara.
She calmed down, not having thought of that. "Oh."
"Perhaps you should confront her and explain why her words hurt you." he suggested.
Ellara nodded quietly, and moved to leave before stopping. She turned back around and hugged Spock around his middle, taking care not to touch his skin. "Thanks, Spock."
The Vulcan was sitting stock still, not having expected the action. Ellara left, blush tainting her cheeks.
"I'm sorry if I hurt you, that wasn't what I was trying to do." murmured Uhura, glancing at her feet in shame.
"I know that. I just hope you could maybe avoid doing that during future conversations." replied Ellara sweetly. "Ow…" she muttered.
"Hold still. I can't get the eyeliner on properly if you keep fidgeting." ordered Uhura.
The two had made up, and Nyota was now putting the finishing touches on Ellara's makeup. Their little spat from the night prior was nothing more than a memory, and Nyota had decided to repay her friend by dressing her up for her date. Ellara groaned, "Maybe if you didn't jab it in my eye, I wouldn't have to move."
Uhura sighed as she moved back, popping a hip. "Well, it doesn't matter anyway, because I'm done." She spun her friend around, putting her face to face with the bathroom mirror.
Ellara leaned in close, impressed at what she had done. Her lips were a darker red, her eyes a smoked out black, and her cheekbones had a nice shine. "I didn't know that this was something that could actually be done." she commented.
"It takes practice. But, I can't do your hair for you. I've never had to operate on anything so… short." Uhura glanced warily at the mop of hair on Ellara's head.
El shrugged, reaching up and slicking her hair back with the gel she had sneakily applied to her fingertips. Looking in the mirror once more, however, she realized that she looked the same as usual, only with a made up face. Nyota noticed this as well, and shook her hands through Ellara's hair. This made it more messy, and seemed to do the trick.
"Now, come on. We need to choose an outfit."
Ellara frowned as she was dragged to her closet. "Outfit? What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"
Nyota raised her upper lip at Ellara's clothing with a slight grimace. The plain off-white blouse and the light green pants didn't exactly scream 'date night'. Not to mention, they clashed horribly with the makeup on her face.
Reaching in, she let out an 'a-ha!' as she found what she was looking for. Nyota emerged holding a gorgeous black strapless cocktail dress. "Uh…" stuttered Ellara, looking from the seemingly offensive piece of clothing to Nyota and back again.
"What?" demanded Uhura.
"It's just, I wore that dress on one of my dates with Lywa a while back. It was the first time we…" she looked to the side, blushing.
"Oh."
"I was going to save it for another time. Plus, this is a more casual date."
Nyota nodded awkwardly and reached back in. "Any preferences?" she called out.
"Something light and fun, and more everyday."
Uhura emerged once more holding a sheer pink blouse and a pair of blue jeans. In her other hand, she held some strappy silver heels. "How about this?"
Ellara nodded rapidly. She was pleased with this new choice. As she got changed, Uhura continued searching through the closet out of boredom. "You know, one of these days, you and Spock need to go on a more fancy date."
Chuckling, Ellara sat down to put on her heels, remembering what happened the last time. She swore she still had a bruise on her hip. "Yeah, well, we're waiting."
"You two seem to do a lot of wait-" she words died on Nyota's lips as she saw her friend exit the bathroom. "You. Look. Amazing." was all she said.
Ellara smiled, about to say something, before she saw the time. "Shit, I gotta go!" she began rushing out of her room, closing the lights as she went. "Thanks for the help, see ya later!"
Nyota simply shook her head in the direction of the retreating Rendorian. "I swear, she's gonna trip and fall one day with how she runs in those things."
"Did you have an adequate date?" asked Spock, his hands behind his back as he walked Ellara back to her room.
She nodded, a small smile gracing her lips as she glanced up at the Vulcan beside her. Way, way up. "I did, thank you. I especially enjoyed the part where you tripped getting up."
Spocks cheeks were dusted with a light green tinge of embarrassment as he remembered that particular moment. "I did not personally enjoy that moment, however I can see where you would find that humorous."
Almost as if to mock her, Ellara's heel slipped, and she tumbled down. Spock reacted quickly and caught her before she hit her head, his head mere centimetres away from her own. "Thank you." she breathed out, her eyes searching his.
The two were stunned for silence, until Spock regained his composure and righted Ellara. "It was no problem."
Ellara cleared her throat, looking awkwardly to the side. "We have arrived." commented Spock, stopping in front of her door.
"So we have." replied Ellara awkwardly.
The two stood one in front of the other, staring at each other in stony silence. The calm wasn't comfortable for the first time in a while, and Ellara wondered what could be done to fix that. She didn't have to wait long, however, as Spock had a fairly decent idea of what to do.
Staring into her eyes, Spock wondered if he should do what he had been thinking of for the better part of the night. Swallowing, he held out his hand, specifically two fingers, a silent question being sent out.
Ellara, unfortunately, was not well versed in that particular part of Vulcan customs, and was quite confused. Spock sighed, slightly disappointed that he would have to discuss this with her at a later date. His hand slowly descended back down to his side, and Ellara glanced down in shame.
She realized that the man in front of her had wanted something to happen, but she couldn't understand what. Ellara would most likely have to ask Uhura about it, seeing as she knew more. However, there was something she could do. Standing up on her tippy toes, she pressed a light kiss to Spock's cheek, murmuring a 'goodnight' before walking into her room.
Spock was once more rendered speechless as his hand unconsciously lifted back up yet again, only this time to feel the warm spot where Ellara's lips had just been. He didn't dawdle long, however, and retreated to his room after a brief moment.
Ellara leaned back on Uhura's bed, staring up at the ceiling. It was completely flat, and lacked any creativity whatsoever. Just like every other room on the ship, other than Kirk's. She waited as Nyota brushed her teeth, wanting to ask her question.
"So?" Uhura asked, crossing her arms as she looked at her bored friend. "What happened?"
"He stuck out two fingers." was all Ellara said.
Uhura raised an eyebrow expectantly, as if waiting to hear what happened next.
Ellara gave her a look that simply said 'what', because she was clearly confused.
Uhura groaned and threw her hands up in exasperation. "It's Vulcan finger-touching, El. To them, it's sort of the equivalent of a human kiss and human hand-holding."
Ellara's mouth gaped wide open as she sat up in a flash. "Seriously?" she asked.
Uhura nodded vigorously.
The Rendorian groaned as she turned and shoved her face into a pillow. Nyota rolled her eyes and walked over to her friend, rubbing her back. "It's ok, you didn't know."
Ellara turned her head to the side to allow speech… and breathing. "But I should've. I ruined a perfectly good romantic moment."
"There'll be more, trust me." commented Uhura, looking at the time and silently wishing this could be over so she could sleep.
"Yeah, I guess." Ellara, as if by some miracle, also noted the time, and slowly got up. "I gotta go sleep. See you tomorrow."
Uhura flopped back on her bed, relieved to be alone. "Peace and quiet at last."
Chapter twenty four! So, we got a little bit of girl talk with El and Uhura, as well as a small argument. And Spock tried to... yeah. To be honest, the canon meaning of that is more along the lines of a hug, but I figured blurring the lines of canon and fanon would work well, so it's more of a mixture of hug and kiss, at least here... We learn the Ellara is very bad at dressing up, but does enjoy it when it is necessary. Also, that girl can run in heels. Spock is also very nervous about all of this. I hope you guys enjoyed, and I shall see you next chapter! By the way, if anyone would like to suggest something for the story, I could work something out. ;)
booklover1898: Thanks! :)
Love. Fiction. 2016: They are, right? It's gonna go slow... sort of.
- fangirl0012345
Updated January 6th, 2016.