Mother Knows Best
Uhura awoke when her alarm sounded, which caused her roommate, Gaila, to groan in her own bed. Uhura said, "Silence," and the alarm ceased. She sat up and looked down at herself. She was still in her uniform from yesterday. She lifted the bandage to check her wound and was delighted that although it was a darker color, it seemed to look a little less infected than the day before. She tore the bandage off and stood to get ready. As she walked to the bathroom, Commander Spock automatically entered her mind, then briefly afterwards, the Lady Amanda. She felt as though she should do something nice for the woman, but did not really have any idea what would work.
After taking a long, hot shower, and dressing in a clean neat uniform, she applied ointment and another bandage to her busted knee. Uhura was relieved that she could walk more comfortably than she could the day before. She was also relieved that she had slept so well. Whatever shots she had been given in sickbay, she thanked the heavens for! She brushed her teeth, brushed her hair into a high ponytail, and collected her items from her desk.
When she arrived in Commander Spock's office, as usual, he was not there yet. She started a pot of tea, turned on soft music, and awakened his computer to adjust the temperature. She opened the blinds, slightly, set her desk up for work, and prepared herself a mug of tea, which she sweetened with the nectar from a rod of sugarcane, and added a touch of a blend of spices and set an African violet in the mug to allow it to sit. She took it to her desk and set it down, then prepared a mug for Spock, as well. When she was done, she glanced at the clock, set the tea on the desk and sat at her own.
After about twenty minutes of her posting markings results to student's electronic mail, Spock entered the office carrying a lovely bouquet of flowers with him. Uhura looked up and gasped at the sight of the flowers, "Commander Spock, how lovely! Are those for the Lady Amanda?"
Spock looked slightly confused for a moment, before replying, "I did not expect you to come in today."
"I am feeling much better. Thank you again for yesterday. I want to thank your mother, as well. Do you think that she would be willing to allow me to prepare dinner for us tonight?" Spock placed the bouquet on Nyota's desk, placed his hands behind his back and nodded. Nyota looked at the beautiful bouquet, wishing that she could get such a gift, then wondering if she was. After all, he placed them on her desk. Just in case they were for Lady Amanda or something, she dared to ask, "Um, Spock, is there something that you need me to do with these?"
"My mother informed me that this would be a gesture of kindness in an effort to wish you into good health. I do not really understand how flowers which serve no medicinal purposes could accomplish such a task, but she insisted that these would cause you to feel better, just by mere appearance."
Uhura smiled brightly, leaped up from her desk, rushed to Spock and threw her arms around his neck. "Thank you, so much, Commander!" She let go quickly and said, "She was right. They do help." Spock took a deep breath as he recovered from her intoxicating fragrance, which he knew, even in that short period of contact had transferred to him.
He tilted his head, "It is scientifically impossible for the appearance of a flower to enhance one's health." He stared at her as she went to admire her flowers. "However, it appears that your skin has become luminous and your eyes have developed what I can only describe as a sparkle. You appear to have become happier, which within humans, I believe IS related, to a certain degree, to health."
She cleared her throat, turned away from the bouquet, reluctantly, and returned to her desk. "Hand me over any work that you need me to do, right now. I don't want to tie myself up too badly tonight. I have several make up assignments."
He shook his head, as he answered, "I have nothing, as of now. I passed on what I would have had you work on to another assistant, as I did not expect you to be here today."
She shrugged, "Well, after I finish posting these grades for Professor Rice, I suppose I will begin my make up work." He bowed respectfully,
"I shall not bother you, unless a task arises." He went to his desk, which was positioned for her to face his profile each time she looked up at him, and for him to face the self service area and the window. He turned slightly to his left and saw her smiling at her flowers. She glanced up and realized he had caught her and shyly buried her face in her computer.
Spock smirked slightly. Uhura confused him on numerous occasions. She handled herself with complete confidence, and worked in such a manner that a stranger would believe that she knew everything that there is to know about anything placed before her, but she also held several mysterious traits. She possessed a certain gentleness that someone with her brain usually did not. Instead of being arrogant about her skills and qualifications, she was quite humble and in most instances awaited instruction before making any move. But, it had been a transformation. She completely changed from who she was when he met him - a highstrung, brash woman who took everything seriously, but overreacted much. She was still tough, though she had softened up over the years and she was still serious, though she had "lightened up," as well.
Spock often assessed that she was not nearly as tough as she portrayed herself to be, yet she was a great deal stronger than some part of her allowed herself to believe. Now, she looked at him and they stared at each other,
"Is there something on your mind, Commander?" She asked, a bit defensively.
"I am wondering if you have a preference of time to invite my mother over for dinner," he said.
Uhura thought for a moment, then replied, "I would say 1930 hours. I need time to prepare everything, yet I don't want it to be a late meal. Hopefully, you realize that I will be using your quarters?"
"That would be most logical," he told her.
She replied, "I'm glad that you agree."
Now, Spock warned her, "My mother has been wanting to sit with you and become acquainted with you more." He did not say much more, but she could tell from their time together and her keen attention to who he was that this was a problematic situation, in his eyes.
"Does that not bother you?" she asked, knowing already that it must.
He thought for a while, then answered, "It only concerns me in consideration to how her discussion may affect you and inadvertently affect our work rapport." Of course, that was not his only concern, but it was the only one worthy of logically being concerned about. His emotions were irrelevant.
Lt. Uhura smiled a small smile and said, "Well, I promise that I will not let anything that she may happen to say negatively affect our work environment."
Spock lifted an eyebrow and said, "I have found that humans often make promises which they can not keep."
"You think she will be that insufferable?" She asked, now bothered herself. Spock ought to know, by now that she meant what she said, especially when she talked to him. When had she ever lied to him, about anything.
"I think that she will want answers to questions that we ourselves have not quite figured out yet." Spock nearly winced as he said this. Uhura noticed that his statement was a slip, and to his relief, did not question its meaning.
After three hours, Uhura stood to leave and grabbed her bouquet as she did.
"I will see you tonight, Spock," she said to the empty office, or herself, whatever. Spock was already gone, teaching one of his classes. She glanced at her used mug and sighed as she went to retrieve it. She placed the bouquet down and took the mug into the service area to clean it and put it away. Had she left it on the desk, Spock would not have been pleased. Now, she left. She stopped at Spock's dorm, first, to set her flowers there. She thought they would be nice decor for dinner.
By the end of her classes and her assignments, she realized that she had two and a half hours to accomplish her goal. She hurried to the campus garden to retrieve products, rushed to her room to pack a change of clothes, and hurried back to Spock's room. As she entered, carrying several bags, she nearly dropped everything on the floor. She skipped into the kitchen and released all of her baggage onto the counter top and sighed.
Nyota grabbed her clothes bag and headed for the bathroom, but stopped when she noticed one of her earrings on the counter. She had been searching for it, for a while, and upon finding it, stuck it in her bag. She tossed her bag into the bathroom and went into the kitchen to prepare the meal before washing up.
Spock arrived before his parents did. When he entered, to his pleasant surprise, Nyota was dressed as though she was at a classy social event. She wore a silken pearl ankle length evening gown with spaghetti straps and a silver sash. Her hair was pinned up with hair clips of feathers and pearls. She also wore pearls on her neck and ears. Spock froze when he saw her setting the table. She smiled brilliantly - a smile that could only fail to reach appreciation from a blind man.
"Hey, Commander! Everything is almost ready. Are they on their way?"
The only time that she had ever looked almost as lovely was on Efros Delta, with the sunset on the horizon and soft winds in her hair… or in her green kaftan for the symphony, or in his deepest of dreams, when he illogically made her his wife… He stared at her for a moment longer and said, "They will be prompt, as usual."
She nodded and laughed, "When I first got here, I was slightly doubtful that I could pull this off in time. The fact that I have is enjoyable." She smiled at him, that sparkle in her eyes from earlier only seemed to shine brighter.
Spock informed her, formally, "I am going to quickly clean and change myself. If they arrive before I am finished..."
"I'll be a friendlier hostess than you would be a host, anyway," she finished his sentence, in a completely different way than he would have, of course.
He lifted his eyebrow, and told her, "I have no doubt in that statement." He quickly disappeared into the his bedroom, and shortly afterwards, into the lavatory. He resurfaced just as his parents were arriving. He passed Uhura as she headed to the door, which caused her to pause and look at him. He was dressed in all black, but this was not his uniform, and he wore a cape, very similar to his father's. Uhura felt her temperature rise a bit at the sight of him, in this setting. She smiled at the Lady Amanda and Ambassador Sarek when they entered.
Amanda greeted her with a hug, and Nyota was shocked at how comfortable it seemed to her to be hugging Spock's mother. Ambassador Sarek simply offered a hello. Both Spock and Sarek took their seats at the table, but Amanda followed Nyota to the kitchen. The young lady smiled brightly at her and insisted,
"Lady Amanda, you are the guest, tonight."
Amanda laughed lightly, "On Vulcan, it is highly acceptable for the guest to serve the hostess at home gatherings."
"Is it? That must be why Spock is always so comfortable with me doing that around here." She smiled, awkwardly. That may have revealed more than Spock would have wanted her to reveal. What if his mother asked how often she came here, or ventured into even more personal questions? It was possible that the woman did not even believe that there was nothing but feelings going on between her son and this lovely woman. Amanda simply offered her a polite grin. Nyota suggested, politely, but with her professional tone, "Well, if you will grab that platter, I will gather the soup. You can come back for the salad and I will get the fruit." Amanda nodded and reached for a silver covered platter which she placed on the center of the table.
As she emerged from the kitchen, Amanda conveyed, "Spock, I am surprised that you keep such kitchen ware in your quarters."
He gave Nyota a look of acknowledgment and responded, "Lt. Uhura has been known to leave such things here, in case I am in need of a meal."
Sarek stated, "That she prepares for you, no doubt?"
Spock nodded, "If she is present for the dinner, she has prepared it most of the time, to avoid my lack of skills in the art of appealing to human taste buds."
Sarek's dark eyes fell upon Uhura and he asked, "Does it not bother you to serve a man who is not your husband?"
Amanda bulged her eyes at the question and quickly turned to look at Nyota, who smiled and answered, coolly, "It does not bother me to render services to a dear friend."
She went into the kitchen once more and Amanda followed behind her again,
"That came as a surprise, even to me," she chuckled uneasy and watched Nyota for a reaction.
"I am curious about something, Lady Amanda..."
"AMANDA, Ms. Uhura!" she chimed bubbly.
Nyota nodded, and continued, "Right. I just get so used to titles around here, and of course it's a professional academic atmosphere. But my question is - does it bother you? Their ways of logic and avoidance of emotions?"
Amanda smiled and stared off into the distance, "It would bother any reasonable human. No matter how attractive, smart, or decent a being is, only love would attach a reasonable woman to a man with a Vulcan mind." She looked at Nyota. "The thing about it is... if a woman can win the heart of a Vulcan man, she already has his mind and all his logic weighted out on a scale, opposite from where she stands. Everyday, it will be a struggle for him to balance out the logic he holds so dear with the woman he holds dear. And everyday, it will be a struggle for her to accept that sometimes the logic he holds so dear is going to outweigh her. On the days that it does not, they are worth all of the days that it does." Uhura sighed and followed Amanda out of the kitchen with the rest of the meal.
"Was there a problem?" Spock asked, looking at Nyota. If his mother was in there making her uncomfortable, he would not appreciate it. His protectiveness began to stir and both Nyota and Amanda noticed the look in his eyes, that he was ready to defend his "friend," even against his mother.
"We paused for a bit of girl talk, Spock," Amanda offered.
Spock looked at his father and lifted an eyebrow. Sarek replied, "It is a ridiculous human practice, performed widely by females in which they vacate to a room or area with a specific goal to speak on issues that may not be male appropriate. Throughout the years, I have observed it is usually performed in the lavatory." Amanda took her seat next to Sarek as Nyota placed food on everyone's plates, and poured soup into each of their miniature bowls.
Sarek watched her attentively, then looked at Amanda and said, "I am inclined to agree with you, that she reminds me of you in your youth, as well."
Amanda laughed and said, "Sarek, that sounded dangerously like flirting with Spock's..." she glanced at Spock, then closed her statement with the word, "friend?" She shrugged her shoulders and looked at Nyota, who simply took a sip of her drink, and tried not to even glance Spock's way.
Sarek replied, evenly, "Nonsense, Amanda. I am simply acknowledging that she has similar framework."
"When I said it, I certainly was not speaking of her "framework". I used to sit beneath the trees and do my studies while I listened to songs sang in foreign tongues," Amanda clarified for her husband, whose eyes were void as he studied the similarities of Nyota to his wife.
Nyota's eyes widened and she happily cheered, "That is the strangest thing! That is exactly what I do. I have found that listening to other languages in song form helps me to fluently speak them better."
Amanda shrugged her shoulders and in an innocent tone, said gently, "I just thought it sounded pretty."
Sarek asked, "Lt. Uhura, I must warn you, my next question may seem to your human mind as out of comfort as the first question..."
Spock intervened, "Then, I will ask that you simply refrain from asking it, Father."
"It is something that I know your mother wishes to know, and she has lost the nerve to ask, in light of yesterday's dramatic event."
"Father," Spock attempted, but Nyota placed her hand on Spock's hand.
With her usual boldness and candor, she faced the man and opened herself up, "Yes, Ambassador?"
Sarek gave a polite nod for her acknowledgment of him and asked, "Do you have any interest in pursuing a relationship with our son outside the confines of the work platform?"
Amanda lowered her head into her hands and whispered across the table to Nyota, "I didn't wish to know that."
Uhura smiled, glanced sadly at Spock, looked back to Sarek and replied in Vulcan, with a tiny voice, "Ambassador, if I do wish to do such a thing, I feel that it would not be my place to speak with you about it, before speaking with Spock about it. Considering that such a decision on my part would directly affect myself and Spock, it is most logical that such an issue experience discussion between the two parties most affected by the decision before sharing with outside parties, regardless of the level of affect to said outside parties."
Spock lifted an eyebrow, Sarek lifted both eyebrows, and Amanda smiled brightly into her palm.
Sarek looked at Spock and said, "Spock, I believe that this young lady is the most logical human woman that I have ever met." Now, Amanda laughed out loud and Sarek continued, "Of course, there are certain details that you would not want to leave out of such a discussion, Spock."
Spock simply stated, "It has not been agreed that a such a discussion with take place."
Uhura added, "And such a discussion is not very likely to take place, Ambassador." Now, Amanda stopped smiling and shortly said, "And the current discussion seems to have run its course as well. Uhura, have you ever heard Spock play the Vulcan lyre?"
Nyota smiled and looked at Spock, "No, I have not! That would be a pleasant thing for him to do, tonight, wouldn't it?" Spock threw Nyota an amused look and she leaned to his ear and whispered, "I'm tired of being the one picked on, tonight."
He continued to eat, "Perhaps after dinner," he suggested.
Nyota now rubbed his arm, lovingly and suggested, "Oh, but it'd be nice! I tell you what, if you will play, I'll sing, so you won't feel so in the spotlight."
"I will not feel..." He began his argument.
"Then, it's settled, we'll do a song for your parents after I clear the table. You know how much I love the sound of the Vulcan lyre. I'm disappointed that you never told me!"
Sarek leaned towards Amanda and suggested, "It would appear to me that the aforementioned discussion will take place soon."
Amanda smiled and looked at Spock and Uhura, as they whispered to each other in a like manner, discussing whether or not it was appropriate for them to sing a song. Amanda nodded her head, as Uhura poked her lip out towards Spock repeating, "Pretty please? Pretty please?"
He countered, "I have to ask you to stop repeating that, as I do not understand it. If you are referring to pretty in the sense of something which is favorable to the eyes, placing it behind the word please..."
Amanda snickered and replied to her husband, "I agree, Sarek. What do you think about that?" Sarek looked at the back of her head, then back at Spock and Uhura, as Uhura now had taken to making prayer hands and Spock stared at her, looking at her hands from all sides, as though trying to discover the significance of her holding them in that manner.
"Are you asking what I think about Spock with a human mate?" Sarek questioned Amanda, still whispering.
"Yes." She replied as Nyota now threw both of her hands into the air and shook her head. Sarek stared at the young woman, as perplexed as Spock was ashamed that she was behaving this way in front of his father.
Only Amanda seemed to realize that the woman was being ironic. It was not her personality to be so playful and silly, and she only did so to lighten the mood and to help Spock. Amanda smiled to herself as Sarek answered, "I would not judge him for it, but if our Vulcan name is to continue on, he would have to marry a Vulcan. It simply depends on whether or not he wishes for our name to continue on. It was difficult enough to find a Vulcan mate for him with his human genes. The possibility of finding one for a child that the two of them would parent should be roughly, less than 2.463 %."
Amanda faced Sarek, now, "Maybe their children won't be able to find Vulcan mates, but I feel that this woman is right for our son."
"Feelings hardly hold substantial evidence..." Sarek stopped speaking as he realized that it suddenly seemed quieter than before. Amanda and Sarek looked across the table at Spock and Nyota, who had both retreated into their food and were watching them.
Spock spoke first, "We will be performing a song, shortly." Uhura tried to suppress a smile, as her eyes lifted from her soup to the Lady Amanda. Amanda made a hand gesture of a balance scale, dropped one of her hands to the table, and with that same hand pointed at Uhura. This caused Nyota to laugh so hard that she nearly lost her soup. Spock slightly widened his eyes at her, then glanced at his mother and finally looked at his father.
Sarek said calmly, "This is an example of what I believe they refer to as an "inside joke."