Love TKO

"Okay, so what does it look like?" Sulu asked as he and Uhura sat at his dining table in his quarters sharing another meal.

"What does what look like?" Uhura asked suspiciously.

After their shift, Sulu had invited her to dinner but now she was regretting accepting the invitation. He was going to make her pay for this excellent meal. Since she told him her story about Vulcan he had pried more details out of her and she'd broken down and told him about her 'honeymoon' Vulcan style.

"You know what, 'it'," Sulu said with air quotes.

"Vulcan?" she asked innocently "You ought to know, you saw more of it than I did during shore leave."

"Not Vulcan, Mr. Spock, what does he look like 'au naturel'. Spill girl."

"Hikaru! That's... that's disgusting."

"Really, I always thought he'd have a very thin wiry physique with a lean musculature..."

"Sulu!" she warned.

"You know what I mean."

"I can't tell you what it looks like, I don't even know what it looks like."

"How could you not know? Didn't you get up close and personal on your honeymoon?"

"I was kinda busy at the time, I mean we were in a dark cave, and it was all a blur. Besides, it wasn't like I was there for personal enjoyment. It was just..." she didn't even know what she had experienced. "I don't know what it was, sex, duty, a fantasy? It was all rather unreal."

Uhura had worked herself up just thinking about it and began to tremble. Why was she so anxious lately? Every time she thought of Spock she got so emotional. She dropped her fork.

"Star fleet prepares us for missions of all kinds, we have to prepare to take a life or to die in the line of duty. They try to warn us that we may be compromised and violated physically but you can never prepare for something like this."

"You mean like...rape?" he asked softly.

"It wasn't like rape! I don't know what it was but it was not a rape. For one thing, I volunteered to bond with Spock, didn't I?"

"Did you really?" Since hearing more of the story Sulu saw things in a different light.

"Yes of course I did. I volunteered to marry Spock. Yes, I felt I had to do it, but it was my choice. Out of all the other choices that were taken away from me, it was the only choice that was mine."

Sulu stood up and hugged her. "I am sorry I pried, sorry I joked about it. I guess I just don't understand..."

Sulu was at a loss, he had always seen Nyota as being so strong mentally. She'd suffered trauma on missions before but she always bounced back. And she was so flirtatious and friendly one could easily assume she was sexually adventurous, but he had known her for years and he knew her to be a loyal monogamous person. Of course, Spock was attracted to her, who wasn't? But to kidnap her?

"Ny, maybe you should talk to somebody about this."

"Oh my goddess, et tu Brute?"

"What do you mean?"

"McCoy says I should "talk to somebody". I thought I was talking to somebody. You!"

"Yes but I am not trained to deal with stuff like sexual assault-"

"I was not assaulted! At least not like that. Spock would never do something like that, not even evil mirror Spock."

"So you keep saying, but you didn't exactly go Vulcan willingly."

"For the last time, Spock may be guilty of a hundred different crimes but he has never and would never force himself on me or any other woman!"

"You never know what a man will do when push comes to shove. I mean we've all done some crazy things while serving on this very ship. I ran through the ship with a rapier, and let's not forget how we all sabotaged the ship on Omicron Ceti III including you!"

"That was different, we were all out of our minds, hopped up on the spores."

"And? Supposedly Spock was sick and out of his mind this time too, and I've seen what damage he can do when he's out of his mind. Are you sure he didn't hurt you?" Sulu just wasn't buying this story. It didn't add up.

"He didn't hurt me," she defended. "He didn't do anything wrong. We got married, we had sex, and I consented. It was my choice, I just have to live with that choice."

Uhura realized she was very angry about the whole affair. She didn't have to defend herself! She didn't choose this, she chose to help a friend and in doing so she sacrificed a part of herself. She had no doubt Spock deserved to be saved and she would do it again if circumstances were the same, but she resented that she had to do it in the first place. She wished Spock had just come clean and asked her before she had to bond with him out of desperation.

She just didn't feel good about the whole affair now. In the light of day, she realized that she had been used and laid bare while Spock remained as closed off as he ever was. If only she knew where she stood with him. Did he care for her? Could he love her? Or was he just like the other men on the ship who saw her as little more than big tits and ass? She felt no better than an Orion slave woman. Not for the first time, Uhura wondered why Spock didn't simply hire a woman and be done with it!

"Have you ever been with an escort?" Uhura asked.

"What?"

"You heard me, have you?"

"Why do you ask suddenly?"

"I only wonder if this is how they feel after doing their jobs, angry and used."

"Oh, honey. Don't do this to yourself. I really feel you need to talk to somebody about all this, work out your feelings. It can't be healthy to bottle everything up."

"I always felt sorry for Orion women, if I ever gave them any thought at all. Now I feel their lives must be hell. We are so advanced as a society, we've come so far, and yet we still tolerate and even encourage things like Wrigley's Pleasure Planet and Argelius. It's still a mans world," she crossed her arms defensively.

"Nyota, those planets are self-determining. The federation cannot interfere in their cultural development. But it's not like that for everyone and there are male escorts too you know? It might not be ideal work but I'm sure some people truly enjoy their jobs. And let's not forget, not every species shares the human beliefs about sex, love, and marriage."

"But how do you know Sulu? How do you know they are okay with what they do?"

"I don't know how to answer you. I have known an escort or two and they didn't seem harmed."

"And you think they enjoyed it or they were just doing their duty whether they like it or not?"

"Well I hope they enjoyed it, I would not want to impose myself on anyone unwilling. The escorts I know invited me."

"But they were just doing their job, hustling up work making the customer feel good," she argued.

"In my case, I think it was more than that." Sulu defended.

"What makes you think so?"

"We stay in touch, still chat on subspace."

"Really?" Uhura could not believe her ears.

"You act surprised. I am a wonderful lover I'll have you know, I always leave my partners wanting more and more," he grinned.

"I bet you do, and yet there is nobody chasing you around on this ship or warming your bed," she joked

"That you know of, but I don't play where I work."

"That's the best policy." She agreed.

"Especially since you won't have me," Sulu feigning sad voice.

"I would not touch you with a ten-foot pole." She shoved at Sulu playfully.

"Well, my pole is not quite ten feet but..."

"Sulu! How did this conversation end up on the size of your pole?"

"I'm a man, any conversation with a beautiful woman will end on my pole. If I'm lucky." he wagged his brows.

"Well, no such luck today Mister."

"Ya can't fault a fella for trying."

"Yes I can, I've had enough of that for the time being."

"Hmm if you say so."

"I do say so and let's drop the subject of sex. I am sick of it."

"Bite your tongue."

"Sulu I'm serious I do not want to talk about sex or Spock."

"Okay, okay, I see you're in no mood for teasing. You know what, we'll switch from poles to foils."

"What?"

"Foils, fencing, you need a distraction. Fencing strengthens the body and sharpens the mind, relaxes you, and more importantly, it is an outlet for anger and pent up aggression when the need arises. It's a great way to relieve stress. I think you need to take your anger and aggression out on somebody in a safe way and fencing is my thing, so I can teach you."

"I don't want to learn to fence. Besides, you and I and sharp objects are a bad match," she joked remembering the scar on the mirror Sulu's face that she assumed her counterpart gave him.

"Well then lets spar, you can pretend I'm Commander Spock and you can pound my ass into the mats."

"Hikaru!"

"That didn't come out right, I just meant I'll let you win this time."

"What do you mean let me win? You don't think I can whoop your behind? I handled you well enough on that mirror Enterprise. From the looks of things you tried showing that Uhura your pole too."

"That Sulu was an asshole."

"Only that one?"

"Har hardy har, have I ever been anything but a perfect gentleman to you?"

"No," she conceded. "You've always been a perfect gentleman since the moment I stepped aboard the ship. And you're nothing like that other Sulu, I'm sorry I brought it up."

"Okay then it's settled, let's go pound some ass!"

"Sulu!"

/*-/*-/

Sulu and Uhura sparred for about an hour before she began to feel more relaxed. Sulu was pulling his punches as promised but she most certainly was not. It felt good to punch something if truth be told. She figured she'd beaten on Sulu enough when Mr. Spock walk over to their sparring mat and looked directly at her.

"Lieutenant, I didn't know you were a pugilist." He said in greeting.

"Oh, something about me you don't know?" she said testily, "We were just playing around, blowing off a little steam. And we're just finishing up right Mr. Sulu?"

"Oh yes, I'm beat," Sulu said noticing the tension between Spock and Uhura.

"Miss Uhura, you look like you could go another round, do you mind if I take Mr. Sulu's place?"

Uhura looked at Spock as if he had grown another head. He wanted to spar with her? Here? In front of everybody? They had barely spoken to one another since returning unless it was work related, and now suddenly he wanted to fight with her in the gym? Was he insane? The nerve of this man!

"I would be no match for you Commander. I am tired, Sulu and I have been here for a while."

"I assure you I have no intentions of fatiguing you, I will not use undue force. No harm will come to you," Spock promised.

For some reason that just raised her ire. She wanted to punch that smug Vulcan face of his just once.

"I can't say the same for you," she sang under her breath and punching her gloved fists together.

Sulu read Uhura's foul mood and cut in, "Perhaps you two should do this another time?"

"Sulu, sweetie," she said with a deathly calm, "let me handle this." She pointed her chin at Spock and Sulu held up his hands in surrender and backed away giving Spock a sympathetic look.

Spock was not a boxer, he preferred to fight in the ancient Vulcan fighting arts, however, he understood the fundamentals of human pugilism. In fact, he had used the skills himself quite often as an undisciplined youth against unsuspecting bullies. Therefore, when he entered the makeshift 'ring' he was ready. He and Uhura danced around the sparring mat for a few moments getting a feel for the other's style.

Finally, Uhura had had enough dancing around and began her attack. Spock easily dodged and block her attempts to strike him at first and as promised he did not attack her nor try to strike her himself. But if he thought that allowing her to attack him unanswered would illicit some sort of respect or appreciation he was sadly mistaken. His graceful evasion angered Uhura even more and she didn't bother to pull her punches after a while. Uhura was quick and light on her feet and before Spock fully understood what had happened her attack became ferocious.

Spock instinctively blocked some her attack before he could control his reflexes and that just pissed her off even more. She became frustrated and attacked more wildly and soon the attack was an all-out melee. Of course, she could not fell him but he found himself backing away in order to avoid the blows and not have to deflect them back at her lest she be harmed. Uhura eventually landed a hard blow to his face and he felt pain burst through his nose.

"Lieutenant, that is enough," he barked, but she didn't stop. "Kroyka!" he said when she kept swinging. Sulu finally seized her from behind and stilled her arms.

She seemed to come out of a trance and stopped struggling. She looked up at Spock and saw the damaged she had done to his nose which was now bleeding a rich green color.

"Oh my god, Spock," she cried and tried to get out of Sulu's grasp but he was holding her back with force.

Oh shit!

"Sulu let me go and get these things off of me she said trying to remove her gloves."

"Ny calm down!" Sulu said trying to restrain her.

Calm down? She'd just mashed in the face of her superior officer! She'd lost control and she hurt somebody! That wasn't her, that wasn't what she'd come here to do. "Let me go!" she cried.

"Lieutenant it was an accident. I shall have doctor McCoy attend to it, and I suggest you let Mr. Sulu attend to you, unless you are also injured and need medical assistance?"

"No Spock, I hurt you, I am so so sorry I don't know what came over me just then..."

"I understand Lieutenant, you had just cause." With that, he walked out of the gym.