Woman to Woman

The next day Uhura awoke to an empty bed. She didn't know why but she felt disappointment. Last night had been incredible. Spock had found her and danced with her and he had kissed her as if the world was made for only the two of them. And he brought her home and put her to bed as if she was his greatest treasure. A girl could get used to treatment like that, she thought as she stretched.

But as usual, Spock was nowhere to be found this morning. His makeshift bed had been neatly put away and all evidence of him having slept beside her bed was gone. Today was their last day on Argelius, in fact, she should be up and packing for their rendezvous with the Enterprise. The Enterprise should have been in orbit for several hours now if everything worked out as scheduled and she and Spock could beam back aboard rather than taking a shuttle.

Uhura was just putting the finishing touches on her hair and makeup when someone knocked on the door to her suite. It couldn't be Spock, he would just let himself in, after all, it was his suite. He had taken up the habit of disappearing early every morning. Uhura suspected he needed some alone time to meditate. She understood that so she let him do his thing, she was sure she worked his nerves overtime, she smiled to herself as she skipped to the door.

She palmed the door lock and it slid open to show Leila Kalomi standing on the threshold.

"Ms. Kalomi?" Uhura said in shock her smile disappearing. Why the hell was she here? "I'm sorry, but Spock isn't in at the moment. You know he does more in one day than most men do in two. And I'm rather busy, I just got up myself. We had a rather late night," She said smiling again. Uhura didn't' know why she implied she and Spock's late night as due to conjugal activities but this Miss Kalomi got under her skin.

"I came to speak to you actually," Leila said.

"Me? Whatever for?" Uhura asked.

"I guess I was curious about the woman that Spock married."

Uhura could understand that. She had been curious about T'Pring once upon a time. Now she wishes she had never met the bitch, but still...

"You know curiosity killed the cat," she said playfully.

"I'm willing to risk it," Leila said still standing on the threshold waiting for Uhura to invite her in.

Uhura stepped aside and Leila stepped into the suite slowly. She took a good look around and was in just as much awe as Uhura had been in when she first saw the suite.

"Wow, you two spared no expense."

"Oh well you know this is sort of our honeymoon," Uhura giggled. "And you know how Spock is, he's just spoiling me." She said. Why was she saying these things? Why was she being so petty and trying to make Leila jealous? Just something about Miss Kalomi rubbed her the wrong way.

Uhura ushered Leila over to a sitting area. "Argelians don't use chairs, so we'll have to sit on the floor."

Uhura led Leila to a group of pillows near one of the huge windows that boasted a spectacular view of the city. Once seated Uhura came right to the point.

"So you wanted to speak to me?"

"Yes, as I said I was curious about you."

"Really? To be honest Miss Kalomi, I was curious about you too." Uhura said

"Oh. Curious about what?"

"Who are you exactly?"

"You mean Spock didn't tell you about me?"

"No, not at all." Uhura stared at Leila waiting for an answer.

"You didn't discuss me last night perhaps?" Leila asked.

"No. As I said we were otherwise engaged." Uhura smiled.

"Oh," Leila said with disappointment. "Well, Spock and I are old friends."

"Yes, you said as much yesterday."

"Yes, well we met back on Earth. I was a botanist for the Federation preparing for my first off-world journey when I was a liaisoned with a young Starfleet officer."

"Spock?"

"Yes. I liked him right away. He was a bit stuffy but he was so well briefed on our mission I was blown away by his knowledge of botany and everything else. He added many contributions to the arrangements for our expedition. During that time, I fell in love with him. I suppose I'm not the first woman to do so, and certainly not the last. But I had hoped...Well, I thought he felt the same way about me."

Uhura remained silent leaving Leila to fill in the void.

"Well, I guess he didn't or couldn't love me in return. He told me yesterday that he was engaged to a Vulcan woman since childhood."

Leila waited and looked at Uhura expectantly. She was perhaps hoping to see some surprise at this news but she was again disappointed.

"Go on," Uhura said.

"We went our separate ways after that, but then we met again on Omicron Ceti III"

"Mmm hmm."

"And... I infected Spock with the Spores."

"Oh, so you did that?"

"Yes, I'm afraid it was me. But you must understand, we were all under the influence of the spores."

"Yes, I was too. I'm not proud of the things I did back then." Uhura shook her head in remembrance of sabotaging the communications panel.

"So you understand?"

"Not really, but no matter, continue."

Leila fidgeted in her seat. This Uhura was giving her no quarter. She just stared at her blankly, drawing her out. It actually reminded Leila of Spock.

"So, under the influence of the spores, I thought Spock and I could finally be together. I thought he could finally love me back."

"And did he?" Uhura asked while masking the tumultuous emotions that were building up inside.

"Did he love me, you mean?"

"Yes."

"I thought he did, he seemed happy. He laughed, he smiled, he could finally kiss me, he could hold me... On earth, he could not even touch me and on Omicron... I thought he finally wanted me as much as I wanted him."

Uhura was seething. She didn't want to hear about how this Leila and Spock made love on Omicron Ceti III. She wanted to punch that smug little face of Leila's and scratch her eyes out of their sockets. How dare she come up in here bragging about how she drugged Spock and made him happy! I just bet you did, Uhura thought. Is this what Spock wanted? Was he still in love with this Leila? Then why had he married her?

"Miss, Kalomi, what do you want with me? Did you come just to tell me that you and Spock were lovers?"

"I guess I was wondering if Spock was really happy now. Are you and Spock happy together? Spock and I, we... well I thought I would ask his wife since Spock can't tell me himself," Leila confessed.

"You've got a lot of nerve Missy," Uhura said letting her anger go. "You have no right to ask me anything about Spock! So you loved him. Big deal. And you asked Spock if he was happy yesterday? So you didn't get the answer you wanted and you come to ask me? Why does it even matter to you anymore?"

"Because Spock and I loved one another once-"

"And?" Uhura asked.

"And I just thought... I wondered..."

"You wondered why he married me and not you? Does he love me like he loved you? You wondered if maybe you still had a chance?" Uhura said getting even angrier.

"I don't mean to come here and insult you or your marriage-"

"Well, your intentions don't reflect your actions Miss Kalomi. It doesn't matter why Spock married me. The fact is, we are married. And Spock is a Vulcan; if you loved him so much you should know better than to ask if he's 'happy'. And let me tell you something else, Miss Kalomi. Don't you ever ask me or anybody else private questions about my husband ever again! If Spock wanted you to know about me and him, he would have told you. You'd do better to worry about your own husband if you have one instead of worrying about mine. Now, I think you should leave before I lose my cool."

Uhura stood up and went to the door and she was fuming with anger. "Amanda warned me!" She said to herself. "I didn't believe it but she did warn me. Right in front of my face, they try to take your man," Uhura said.

"Who is Amanda?" Leila said getting to her feet.

"Not that its any of your business, but Amanda is Spock's mother. She warned me about women like you."

"Oh, you've met Spock's mother?" Leila asked if in shock.

"Listen, little girly, I'm not gonna tell you again-"

Just then the door slid open and Spock appeared.

His shields were not in place and Uhura thought she saw a look of panic cross his face before he quickly schooled it. But deep in her mind, she felt it, he couldn't block the reaction that bombarded her with his unshielded thoughts.

Oh, shit!