Spock left the medical bay, moving quickly to return to his own quarters to stow the case of medicines in his lavatory cabinet; he emerged to find his PADD chirping noises and answered the vid-chat coming from Uhura. 'Good morning, Lieutenant.'

'Morning. How come you got up so early? Kinney is doing made-to-order omelettes with Delta-colony eggs, and I know you like those, I figured we'd eat together.'

'I desired to speak to the doctor about alleviating my current physical symptoms,' he replied, 'and-'

'And you didn't want to invite any more questions by arriving there later,' Uhura concluded on a nod. 'Well, in any case, happy anniversary.'

'A happy anniversary to you as well.'

'What time will I be seeing you?'

'I would like you to join me at the holodeck for our evening plans at approximately nineteen-hundred-forty five.'

Uhura grinned, and Spock felt his libido bubble in delight. 'Anything I should wear?'

'Something American citizens would define as cocktail appropriate. Once we are in the holo-program, your attire will change accordingly.'

'Should I bring my gift for you with me?'

'Yes, most definitely,' Spock told her as he noted the incoming transmission from Kirk requesting he report to his ready-room. 'Forgive me, but the captain is requesting my presence-'

'Go, go, I'll see you tonight.' She winked at him. 'I love you.'

'I love you also, Nyota. I…I am looking forward to this evening.'

'Me too.'

Uhura ended the call, then drumming her fingers in thought, sent a text to Christine - big anniversary date tonight, wanna help me get ready?

You couldn't keep me away was the almost instantaneous reply, then followed up with does that include picking out fancy undies? Cause that's kinda weird.

It made Uhura laugh and the combination of knowing it was a special night with her man and getting to have girl time with her best friend as she readied herself for whatever Spock had planned kept her going through her shift on the bridge until she was back in her room by eighteen-thirty.

She was just emerging from the water-shower when she heard Christine come in; sticking her head around the door-frame, she grinned broadly when she saw the silver and green case that looked more like one of Scotty's engineering toolkits. Christine was the kind of woman who embraced her femininity entirely and used it to belie her skills as a Star-Fleet officer; more than once Uhura had seen her play the damsel in distress to act as a Trojan horse for her away mission team, and watch her completely decimate any opponent who viewed her as little more than a busty honey-blonde bimbo.

'You know, you could have gone home to change before coming here,' Uhura reminded her as Christine set out her hairstyling apparatus - both women were fans of the old way of having one's coif tended to, as the automatic machines left their hair feeling stiff and unnatural - and giving her friend's blue uniform the once-over. 'Or are you here on your shift break?'

'I'm going back to med-bay to help Bones with some data input on the specimens we collected from our last away mission on that Q-class planet. Dealing with the near-miss of Tribbles really backed us up in the lab. I feel more like I'm doing my job if I stay in uniform even if I'm technically off-shift.'

'Fair enough,' Uhura conceded, then tilted her head and gave a sniff as she studied her friend's face; the light lip colour was barely a shade off her normal hue and her lashes were extra long with the addition of some mascara. 'How come you're so dressed up?'

'Dressed up?'

'You've got make-up on and you're wearing perfume. You got a hot date tonight?'

'No,' she spluttered, trying with all her might to keep from blushing rose-red and failing horribly, 'it's just my new soap, it's a new recipe, it…I thought some lemon might make it more…ugh, why are we talking about me, it's your big date night! I'm just the hired help for you tonight.'

When the nurse went red as Uhura's uniform, she turned back from wringing the remaining water from her hair into her towel to give Christine the once over and silently admonished herself. She'd been so self-involved lately worrying about things with her own relationship that she'd overlooked the possibility of her best friend actually being interested in someone. Uhura thought back to when she'd been struggling with her feelings for Spock shortly before they became romantically involved and remembered how self-involved her roommate had been with her own love life that she'd been relieved when Gaila would spend a week at a time with whatever boy she had on the line. Had she herself become that insufferable that Christine was closing herself off as a means of self protection, just as Spock had tried to do to her?

Sitting down on the edge of her bed, Uhura watched the measured actions of Christine's twitchy hands and reached for her comb from the bedside table. She knew the nurse inside-out, which meant Uhura knew when Christine was lying. 'Come on, spill it. You got plans later with a special someone?'

'No!' Christine nearly yelped it, then cleared her voice. 'No, I just figured sprucing up a little might help me feel somewhat more human, seeing as the time I'll clock off tonight from helping with Bones will make it an eleven hour day in the med-bay.'

'And then?'

'And then what? I'll probably go to the Archer and Sparrow for a cold drink with the engineering guys, then head to my place to vid-chat Tim,' she replied, referring to the ship's local-pub holoprogram that was a favourite watering hole amongst the crew once off shift. 'Diet Coke Classic and screen-time with my brother. Such is the wild and crazy life of a single girl on board this interstellar tugboat.'

'So no sexy man waiting for you to see that new lip dye, then?' Uhura asked as Christine dragged over Uhura's desk-chair to serve as a make-shift salon chair, and swallowed tightly when Christine's face nearly went purple with bashfulness. 'God, I'm so sorry, Christine, I didn't realize…I didn't think much about anyone but myself lately-'

'I think you're kind of allowed to be a little self-involved, given how special today is and that Spock has been a real dickhead lately. My shit can wait, believe me.'

'Yeah, right. You wanna talk about it?'

'Not really, I…I really don't wanna make you take care of me on your date night.'

'Chris, seriously, talk to me. I've never seen you give any guy a second look on this rocket-fuelled ship of fools that makes us all feel like we're in high school close quarters again. Has something changed that I didn't notice?'

'If I promise to tell you after date night, will you let it go for now?'

Uhura's teeth threatened to grind together, but she nodded as she sat in the chair; it still took a lot for Christine to be able to open up to people, even her, and to share something as personal as her interest in someone on board would be another big step for her to take. Instead she gave Christine's hand a supportive squeeze.

'He must be something really special if he got your attention,' she said quietly, then gasped when she saw Christine's eyes shimmer. 'Sweetie, what-'

'It's okay, Nina, really, I meant what I said about telling you later. Right now, I need to focus on you so Bones doesn't go into his southern gentleman nice-guy routine if he sees me walk into med-bay with my eyes streaming.'

'Yeah, no woman would hold up against that, whether they are gay straight purple or cross-eyed,' Uhura agreed, making Christine's waterworks shut down with a laugh.

'Alright, so do we know what the plan is for tonight? I wanna create a look here that won't be too little or too much depending on the agenda.'

'He said cocktail attire, so-'

'Oh what about that yellow sparkly one that you got as a gift from the Cygnusian delegates when you were their interpreter last month?'

'That's a little too formal.'

'What about that green one like mine?'

'You look way better in that dress, you were breaking all the boys' necks when you wore it to the reception,' Uhura told her friend, hoping it would cheer Christine up. 'Engineer Cupcake wouldn't stop checking you out.'

'Cupcake would check out a pair of breasts no matter what they're attached to.'

'Fair point.' Uhura pursed her lips as Christine worked some type of pomade through her hair, then turned on the portable drying wand; she didn't wanna push Christine despite the fact someone was obviously on her mind. Instead she let herself sink into the feel of being pampered and polished for date night, while her brain filed away the details she knew about this latest development with her bestie. 'Well, you can never go wrong with basic black.'

'True, but…okay, a thought. You guys went to the symphony on your first date, right? You still have that dress or one the same colour?'

'Same dress no, but…' Uhura frowned in thought; it had been a silver-grey dress she'd worn that night since neither black nor white had felt appropriate. It had been an apt metaphor since Spock had told her he wished for her to be his personal guest to the performance that evening. 'I think I have something in the same colour. It's grey with iridescent silver threads.'

'Perfect. Hair up or down?'

'Down. Dunno what he's got planned and down it's easier to pull up if needed.'

'Sweet deal.'

Uhura saw the far-away look come back into Christine's eyes, gave her a poke in the hip to keep her in the here-and-now. 'Tell me more about this Tribbles outbreak we nearly had, did one of them really bite a lab tech in the junk?'

Christine snorted, launching into the story that put them both at ease - the nerves Uhura hadn't realized she'd been combatting were threatening to surface. Why was she so anxious about tonight? It wasn't the idea of Spock being rough with her in bed - that part had been exceptionally fun and relieving on so many levels - nor was she concerned about her gift to him, as it was something she knew he would love.

By the time Christine was finished stroking on her various paints and powders, Uhura was certain she'd managed to tie her stomach into a square knot with nothing more than her own mind playing tricks on her. 'Christine? Do you think I'm crazy for staying with him so long?'

'Absolutely not,' was Christine confident reply as she misted on some hair-hold spray, and whipped off the towel from Uhura's shoulders. 'You look great.'

'And I bet whomever you're hoping to impress in Engineering will be under your spell once you show up at the Archer and Sparrow.'

'Still not talking about it,' Christine singsonged as she packed up her spa products while Uhura went into her bedroom to dress, breathing a small sigh of relief Uhura's guesses were so totally off-base. Still, she knew sooner or later she'd be found out and then she'd really have reason to be embarrassed, so better to put off the worrying until she'd really need it.

Fortunately, when Uhura emerged in her dress, Christine's personal drama was legitimately backburnered. 'Oh, you look amazing!'

'Yeah?'

Uhura did a little twirl, sending the cloud-like skirt floating; the deep scooping neckline was off-set with the modest above-knee hem, and she'd left her legs bare but for a thin silver band adorning her right ankle. She carried the black ballet gel-flats in one hand and her matching black clutch in the other.

'Like Goldilocks, just right,' Christine assured her as they walked out, turning in opposite directions.

Because she was down to her third strike, Uhura saw no harm in pressing her luck a little by calling down the hallway, 'And when it's your turn for date night like this, I get to put the warpaint on you!'

'Nice try,' she called back, then rounded the corner towards the medical bay while Uhura chuckled and headed towards the holodeck. She sincerely hoped her man didn't mind taking a rain check the next night because it seemed her bestie was in need of some serious girl time.

But as much as she cared for her friend, Uhura's mind was immediately on whatever surprises Spock had in store for her. Surprise she thought with a snap of her fingers and raced back to her quarters to retrieve the gift she'd finished wrapping just before shower time.

Because of the backtrack, it made her perfectly on time instead of a little early and Uhura felt her heart stop just a little when she saw Spock in a traditional American suit in navy blue man-made silk with a white dress shirt and thin black tie. It took her back to the steps of the music hall, when she'd seen him waiting for her and he'd been studying the other guests arriving until his dark gaze had locked onto her and it had been like they were the only two people there.

Spock glanced over, giving her a rare smile as he saw her walking towards him. He felt the bubbling rush of joy inside as he took in the sight of her, something he'd never experienced until he'd met his beloved lieutenant. Despite logically knowing it was implausible at the moment, Spock seemed to feel like he'd been flung to the first night he'd taken Uhura on a date; her eyes looked sleek and sultry, and the scent of Terran lilac reached him moments before she did. The fragrance drew him towards her as effectively as her tender embrace and when he reached her he held up his hand to her in invitation.

Uhura reached him and wordlessly she pressed her palm to his to create the bond; she smiled as she felt her core warm, the slow burn crawling through so it reached everywhere inside.

'Hi there.'

'Good evening, Nyota.' Spock used his free hand, reached up to toy with the ends of her hair. 'You look exceptionally beautiful tonight.'

'You're pretty handsome yourself,' she replied, giggling when he broke the bond to crook his elbow in an offer of old-fashioned gallantry which she gladly accepted as they walked into the as-yet blank holodeck. 'Happy anniversary.'

'A happy anniversary to you as well,' he replied, then using the move he'd seen that morning with Chekov and Sayuri, pressed a kiss to her temple which indeed had the desired effect. Uhura smiled sweetly at him, then looked around at the white space that seemed to her like they'd stepped into a giant marshmallow.

'So what are we doing tonight?'

'We are time-travelling, to use a metaphor,' Spock replied, taking her into the centre of the room, then lifting his hand near her cheek. 'Close your eyes.'