Later, much later when they were both sated after another round, sleep was somehow still eluded Uhura and she slipped out of her bed while Spock slept soundly. It was the first time in weeks she'd seen him truly able to relax, she thought, tugging on her silky robe and going to the window of her quarters; the stars rushed past much slower than usual, she thought, though she knew Scotty's engineers were trying to conserve power until they reached their refuelling station in a few days.

Sighing contentedly, she turned her gaze back to her bed to watch the gentle rise and fall of Spock's chest beneath her sheets, and was suddenly reminded of their first sleepover night. They'd been lovers for nearly a month before they'd actually spent a night together, taking stolen moments wherever they could find them; the most memorable had been the first time in his office when they'd cleared the desk in rather spectacular fashion. The first time they'd spent the night at one of their actual home quarters had been when Spock invited her to spend a weekend with him while he had work to finish but had no desire to let that interfere with his promise to keep a Saturday night date with her. When he'd said it was time for bed, he'd led her into his room where Uhura had found not the blood red or sandstone coloured sheets she'd expected to mimic the landscapes of his homeworld, but a gentle meditative blue. They'd spent the night wrapped up in each other in those sheets, and Spock had told her he realized that he should have brought her there sooner, to show her that the depth of his affection went beyond a mere interest in her physical attributes.

That had been the moment Uhura knew that whatever it was they had begun together, it wasn't just good sex. Good sex, she thought with a soft snort, correction, the best sex she'd ever experienced. Whomever came up with the notion that Vulcans weren't interested in yummy naked times was clearly missing something. She'd felt him stroke her skin, his touch connecting her with him and she felt his lust, but more importantly she felt his love long before they'd each found the courage to use that label on their feelings.

'You are awake.'

Uhura started, blinking in the gentle light as she saw Spock's dark eyes open and focus on her. 'So are you.'

'Why? I thought our lovemaking had put you into a mental and physiological place of relaxation and restfulness.'

'I was thinking about you, about us. Our anniversary is coming up and I think it's making me sentimental.' Uhura crossed back to the bed, climbed in to rest her head on his chest. Automatically, Spock's arm came around her body to hold her close. 'I was thinking about the first time we spent the night in bed together.'

'It is one of my fondest memories of the early days of our courtship,' Spock agreed, absently kissing her temple. 'But I still look upon our first social engagement-'

'On Earth we say a first date.'

'Our first social date,' he compromised, 'as the true microcosm of our relationship.'

'Really?'

'I had been concerned that our cultural differences would make for awkwardness, that we would discover our attraction was merely physical and that we would soon tire of one another's company if that were the case. However, that concern was obliterated by your telling me that you were just as nervous as I was, and then you showed me how much we had in common. And I tried something new, which is not always easy for me.'

'Vulcans like tradition, but all traditions have to begin somewhere.'

'This is most assuredly true.'

'Wait, what did you try that was new?' Uhura asked him, her brow knitting in confusion. 'I mean, besides the fact that I'm the first and only Terran woman you've seduced.'

'On Vulcan the word seduce is a vulgar term, as it has many negative connotations of manipulation and deceit.'

'You're avoiding my question.'

'Are you inferring I am a liar?'

The growl in his voice was so unlike anything Uhura had heard before that she sat up in concern. 'Spock, you're incapable of lying, why-'

'First there was your assumptive accusation I wished to break our bond that could only be classified as, to use your Earth-word, ridiculous and now you are insinuating that I am keep more secrets from you.' Spock flung back the covers, rose to pace naked beside the bed. 'If this is what human jealousy feels like, thank god for my father's blood in me so that I don't constantly feel like I am under attack from the inside out.'

'Spock,' she tried again, jumped when he grabbed at the sides of his head, his eyes full of distress and he yelled in frustration.

'I cannot handle this! This is far too much, these emotions are constantly running into each other inside me, all fighting for control when I have none!'

'Spock!'

Uhura was out of bed in a flash, crossing to him and ducking when his arm swiped out to keep her from getting to close; she popped up in front of him and grabbed his face in her hands, kissing him violently. His arms dropped to his sides, then clutched at her biceps; she squeaked a little when she felt the sharp nip of his teeth on her lip, and the squeak turned into a moan when one of his hands with his clever slender fingers found their way between her thighs. She was already half out of her head for him when he shed her robe off her body, fingers crushing into her skin as both refused to break the kiss.

It was he who finally broke apart from her, nearly hauling her up to the tips of her toes when he took hold of her shoulders once more. 'Nyota,' he muttered, his dark eyes burning hot in the dim light of the room, 'what…why?'

'This is what we talked about, my love, putting your blood fire to good use.' Uhura licked her lips, tasting the traces of his mouth there. 'You're not frightening me. Here, do you feel that?'

She took his hand, pressed his palm between her breasts so he could feel her heart thundering against her ribs. The look in his eyes changed ever so slightly, and Uhura knew he understood that she wasn't afraid and that saying so wasn't a lie to reassure him.

Spock inhaled deeply through his nose; he could sense the change in her scent - she was indeed aroused, a baffling development but not an unwelcome one given their current circumstances. He moved his hand to cup her breast, drawing his thumb over her dark nipple and felt her tremble; his other hand moved up her body to give her other breast the same attention, moving closer so she could feel his own arousal against her body. 'I feel everything with you, Nyota, love above all else. But more than anything, I feel the need to possess your body right now.'

'Then take me,' Uhura whispered back to him, attaching her mouth to the base of his throat, grazing his skin with her teeth. 'I want you to take me, Spock, I want it to be hard..and uncompromising…and…hot…'

Unable to put up a fight any longer, Spock grabbed Uhura's face in his hands, and taking a moment to see the love in her eyes, he crushed his lips to hers as his hands ran down her back to her ass to lift her up and sink her onto his hardened member - the adrenaline and hormones running rampant through him had made his arousal almost instantaneous - before manoeuvring them to her bedroom wall where he braced them so when he gave a hungry aggressive thrust of her hips and hit every sweet spot he could find, his weight kept her at the exactly right height so his mouth could stay fused with hers.

He could feel the anger ebb away to be replaced by pure lust and need and all the human desires he was usually able to keep in check and let surface of his own volition. Now it was the animal side of human nature in charge, combined with his Vulcan DNA that was taking him into a place where there was no logic or reason, just feeling. And everything he felt flowed from him into her, making her response to him even more heightened.

Uhura wasn't sure she could see anymore; she was certain her mind was gone after feeling the bond formed with him from his touch to her skin; aggression, certainly, but not to her - it was almost as though he were purging himself in an attempt to rid his body of so much devastation. She would gladly take it into herself, she was better equipped to handle messy emotions, but there was nothing messy in what he gave her - there was only beauty. It was the kind of beauty found in a raging volcano, violently passionate, stunningly powerful and truly awesome. The image of fresh flowing lava rivers raced through her mind as the orgasm shook her like an earthquake; Uhura clenched around him as the glorious release he gave her took her into a whole new realm of sensation.

'I love you,' she all but sobbed into his ear as he showed no signs of slowing down, 'I love you so much.'

'My heart, my only one,' he replied in Vulcan, and emptied himself into his love.

Spent and now fully sated as their previous couplings of the night hadn't been able to do, they slithered down the wall to the floor, tangled together. Only the sound of their laboured breathing filled the streamlined quarters, until Spock began to laugh.

'Nyota,' he chuckled, 'I think that is what humans would view as pure animal fucking.'

'Nope.'

'No?'

'On Earth, there is no words for what that is we just did,' Uhura chuckled, 'and it's weird to hear you use that word, fucking. It sounds unnatural coming from you.'

'It feels very unusual to say it,' Spock agreed, then reached up his hand to brush Uhura's dark hair off her brow; he loved seeing her eyes in moments like this. 'There is one thing we've left untouched.'

'Oh, God, Spock.' Uhura somehow found the energy to shake her head in protest. 'I don't think anything wasn't touched.'

'There was something I mentioned, that you gave me as a first I did not expect, and I did not follow through explaining myself.'

'Oh yeah.' Hadn't that been the trigger to the whole arguing thing that then turned into the most mind-blowingly passionate sex of their relationship, she wondered. 'Yeah, you did say something about that first date. Guess I kinda side-tracked you, huh?'

'I know it is unintentional, Nyota,' Spock admitted, 'added to which, a side-effect of my current condition is temporary forgetfulness. No, the first you gave me was eating pizza.'

Uhura sat up like a reanimated mummy. 'You hadn't tried pizza before that night?'

'It is an odd thing to bake bread with toppings on Vulcan. We always add ours later, much in the way Earth people add spreads to toast.'

'But…how…why didn't that come up before?'

'Because I decided that it was unimportant in the larger scheme and design of the evening.' Spock sat up with her, touched his fingertips to her cheek. 'That first…date, that was a very special night to me, not only for trying what I consider the most supreme of Earth's culinary delicacies, but the fact that it was the first time I'd gone on a date with a human woman who accepted every part of me. I knew there was something special about you when we first met as professor and student but when we went to that pizza restaurant I was suddenly able to give a name to what it was I felt with you.'

'What's that?'

'Compatibility.' Spock smiled at her. 'So often when I think of my parents, I could never understand as a child why my Earth-born mother caused so much distress amongst the most prideful of Vulcans, and you may trust when I say that is indeed an emotion we exhibit unequivocally. What I saw at home, the way she and my father interacted, was logical to me. She was eager to learn about our customs as much as she was eager to share her knowledge of Earth with residents of Vulcans. Likewise, my father was a great tutor to her and a great student of hers to learn of Terran customs.'

'You think what we have is like what they had.'

'I do, very much,' Spock replied. 'You…you have given me humanity I did not realize I wanted or needed in my life, and I believe I gave you something special in return as well.'

'Every day,' Uhura agreed, then using the edge of her bedside table for leverage, pulled herself to her feet while Spock did the same. 'Think I'm finally ready for some sleep.'

'Agreed, Lieutenant.'

Spock pressed his mouth tenderly to her swollen lips, waiting for Uhura to slip beneath the sheets before he joined her. He felt her move close to him, and for the first time in as many days, Spock finally felt like his usual self as he drifted into a well-earned dreamless sleep.