DISCLAIMER: I Don't Own Star Trek. And I'm not making any money from this.
Shattered
Nyota was late. It was exactly twelve minutes and forty two seconds after she was supposed to arrive.
She had been late before -- but had always communicated with him as soon as she realized she wouldn't be on time. She had always had good reason, a lecture that ran overtime, or some other official task that she had to attend to.
So this was unusual. And it was an unusual day. Spock had received communication from T'Lan that morning that Nyota's paper had been published at last. He was looking forward to a reason to celebrate.
It had been a week and a half since he'd cracked the glass in the restaurant, and they hadn't been out since. He'd met her twice on her way out of the Xenolinguistics Department, but that was it. In the lab they were almost purely professional, and although he enjoyed her quiet company, he missed her unguarded side.
At exactly fourteen minutes and thirteen seconds after Nyota was scheduled to arrive she entered the lab. She stood at attention and spoke in her smoothest professional voice. "Lieutenant Spock, I would like to apologize for my tardiness."
He stood up from his console and regarded her. Her uniform was neat, she didn't have a hair out of place, as was usual -- but her eyes were puffy and red. He had seen human's cry before, even been the cause on occasion.
Shifting on his feet a little in discomfort he considered what the proper response would be. Should he read her the rule book on the penalties for lateness? No, she knew the rules. And this was a far from common occurrence; he had some leeway in the discipline department. Instead he said, "At ease, Cadet. Perhaps you would like to tell me the reason?"
"I think Lieutenant, that I would prefer to get to work," she replied. He didn't know if he was relieved or troubled by this. She did not look him in the eye.
"Very well. But first I would like to congratulate you on finally being published, Cadet. I believe I owe you a glass of wine and a toast. Perhaps we can go out later and celebrate?"
Uhura looked at the ground. "Thank you, Lieutenant. I don't think that today is good idea. Maybe some other time..." Her voice was very soft.
He stiffened. "Very well, some other time then."
Nyota didn't look up. "I'd like to look for sentient transmissions that occurred during Sol's last plasma storm." She moved to sit down at a console.
Spock sat down across from her to focus on his own tasks. He didn't look at her, but he did listen.
In the first hour he heard seven just barely audible sighs and heard five deep intakes of breath – the type of deep intakes a female human would make when trying to contain a sob. It had been a while, but he did recognize the sound. Nyota did these almost imperceptibly; if he were human he doubted he would have noticed.
Venturing to observe a few times he noticed she was not crying, and she did an admirable job of staying on task.
They didn't speak much as they worked as a rule, but she said even less than usual. Usually her hunt for appropriate sentient transmissions revealed something interesting she shared with him.
She stayed late at the end of the day without being asked, of course. As it got closer to her time to leave he noticed her catching her breath again, although her eyes stayed dry.
She was clearly still upset. It was quite possible that what was troubling her was a personal matter. Considering there last real conversation there was a good chance that he did not want to know the matter. But, if one was to be friends with a human maybe one had to face these things head on?
He checked his internal clock, it was 17:20. At 18:15 Professor Matsumura would come by to discuss some new subroutines they'd been developing for the Kobayshi Maru. He had some time. He decided on a course of action.
As she stood to leave, he stood too, his hands behind his back. "If you need to discuss what is bothering you, I am available...Nyota." It was the first time he's used her name in the lab. It felt uncomfortable, and highly irregular.
She looked him in the eye. "Are you worried that my emotions will effect my productivity?"
"Actually...I have not been considering your productivity in this matter." He tilted his head. It was odd that he hadn't thought about it.
Nyota looked at him, for a long moment and folded her arms in front of her chest. "May we talk in your office?"
His gaze went to the door of his office and back to her. This was getting much more awkward. After a long moment he inclined his head in the direction of the office door and said, "After you."
Nyota entered with him just a few paces behind her. Without turning she said, "You might want to close the door."
Spock did not want to close the door. It would mean being alone with her, really alone, and that was something he hadn't done since that night when he had lost control. He checked the lab, and listened for the sound of footsteps down the hall. He was satisfied they would not be overheard. "Cadet, I believe our privacy is secure." He stood by the entrance though, just to be certain.
Nyota shrugged, and then turned so she was looking out the window over his desk.
"It was hardly a formal accusation…but today as I was leaving the Xenolinguistics Department I overheard an aide down the hall..." She tilted her head, her lips got tight and she drew her eyebrows together. "She suggested to a number of cadets that my paper had been written by my Vulcan boyfriend."
Spock pushed the button to close the door.
