The chime at her door was ringing and Leela tried to think it to stop. When it would not, she opened her eyes. The chronometer said 14:52 ship time. She was still tired, and wondered who was so impolite to come and barge in like this when the sign on her door said "2nd shift person resting till 18:00 ship time". Finally the door opened on its own accord. This did startle her. Her eyes blinked at the sight of the light coming from the corridor. As they adjusted to this change, she noticed the figure of the thin Vulcan entering her cabin. She had no doubt why he had come and a strong feeling of fear ran through her body. To her surprise, the Vulcan reacted to her feeling. He looked like he had been slapped on the face.
His reaction brought her to her senses and she jumped out of bed to catch him before he fell. Her fear was gone, and it amazed her to see this on the Vulcan's face.
"Lights" she ordered.
Mr. Spock stood by the cabin door. There was no point in pretending that she did not know why he had come.
"Sir, would you like to sit down?" she pointed towards a chair. The Vulcan hadn't uttered a single sound, and she was beginning to feel nervous again.
Spock took Leela's offer and sat down, then he looked up at her face and really took it in for the first time. She was a small built woman.
The word petite came to mind. She had a thick mane of long black curly hair. Small lips and small blue-gray eyes. Almost the same colour of McCoy's eyes, he mused. Also her nose was small and pointy. He thought of the Captain's reaction to such a woman, and he could only come up with the words 'not satisfactory'.
"Ensign Gray" he began "I believe you know the reason for me coming to visit you".
He couldn't help noticing the young woman fidget on her bed.
She looked down at the carpeting as she spoke "I do, sir".
The Vulcan continued "As you know, I am a touch telepath. I do not have the ability to receive messages and feelings from people with whom I am not in physical contact" That wasn't quite the truth. He had felt the Captain's feelings even when they were far apart, but he attributed this to his closeness to the Captain. He was not going to reveal this intimate side of him to this strange person.
Abruptly the ensign cried out "You had no right! This was private! It's not my fault!"
Spock thought that she was going to burst in tears any moment. Her lips were trembling. So were her hands.
"I suggest that you calm down ensign. I respect your privacy and I would not think of revealing a person's personal feelings, without his permission, or if any other dire situation arose".
Leela stared at him with big worried eyes. Could she trust him? He was the First Officer. Why wouldn't he go running to the captain telling him about her. But he did give her a promise.
"Sir, I would appreciate it if that is exactly what you did".
Spock nodded with understanding and then said "Ensign, how long have you been able to send such strong feelings?"
Leela thought about this "Sir, I was not aware of the fact that you were able to sense my feelings".
It was Spock's turn to think this over. He couldn't really explain this. She was obviously able to penetrate his mental shielding, but he had run a background check on her before he came by her cabin. Leela Gray was as normal as normal can get, and she had been serving on the Enterprise for more than a year now. He could not understand why, suddenly, Ensign Gray showed a strong tendency towards some form of telepathy. He wanted to do some tests and find out more, but he had a strong feeling that the ensign would object.
When Spock didn't say anything for over five minutes, Leela was beginning to believe that he might go back on his promise.
"Sir, I hope I haven't done anything wrong"
Her worried tone brought him out of his reverie. He could do nothing at the moment. They were about to approach their current destination and set on a new mission. He would have to discuss this in depth when that mission was concluded. He told this to the ensign, who seemed relieved, and left.
As he was walking down the corridor towards the lift, he heard the Captain's voice on the comm.
"Spock here" he replied after pressing the nearest comm panel button.
"Spock" the Captain's voice said "Would you mind dropping by my cabin"
Spock had a feeling that he knew the reason for the Captain requesting his presence "I'll be there in 30 seconds, Sir" He acknowledged.
Jim Kirk put a plain shirt on, took a towel and gave his wet hair a more thorough dry. He checked his chronometer: 28 seconds, 29, 30 and the expected chime ringing at his cabin door.
"Enter" he called out.
The door slid open to reveal Mr. Spock. The Captain noted that his first officer looked splendidly well, despite what McCoy had described happening earlier.
"Spock" The Captain began "Dr. McCoy told me about a strange incident in the mess hall this morning" he paused and checked Spock's face for any reaction. There was none there.
"Captain, did the good Doctor also mention that I had asked him not to pry into this matter, before I will come up with some more information of my own?" He looked directly at the Captain's face.
"He did seem to mention this, but you know Bones' tendency to listen to good advice"
Now the Captain did note a slight reaction on Spock's face, which he interpreted as a sigh. "Spock, I believe you know that there is no reason to hide this information from us. We have gone through so much together. I thought that you trusted me" and his tone did sound a bit hurt.
Spock felt something snap inside him, but outwardly he kept his composure "Captain, if it had only to do with my privacy, I would have no difficulty in revealing this information, but the matter concerns another person's privacy and until I will get this person's permission, I do not intend to breach this privacy".
Even though Kirk could understand Spock's reasons, he did not like it that something was going on, on his ship which he did not know of, what's more, that it affected his first officer and best friend. He weighed the possibilities in front of him, and decided to give Spock some leeway for the mean time.
"Alright Spock, I guess I respect that, but I would appreciate it if you can take care of this matter as soon as you can. I do not want to have my first officer not fit for duty" he said, and smiled at the Vulcan.
Spock got up, and bid the Captain good night. When he was gone Kirk thought I hope you know what you're doing.
Leela had made her mind up. She would leave the Enterprise. She couldn't live with her envy any longer. Every time she thought of Crane she wanted to puke. She was so astounded at herself for reacting this way. She had been competitive but it had never gotten in the way before. Now, with the Vulcan being aware of her feelings, she could not chance it. She sat down and wrote a letter requesting a transfer. Might as well do this before I get too much attention she thought. After the letter was ready, she hesitated a few seconds before pressing the button that will send the letter to the Captain's terminal.
Eventually she got annoyed at herself This is what you want! So, why are you hesitating? When it was done she decided to go for a walk to the arboretum. She needed to relax, and to arrange her thoughts.