Baby Shower
Yeoman Janice Rand wanted to throw a baby shower for Uhura. She had been collecting every baby item that she could along the way for the last three years, always expecting a baby to show up, and not having the heart to attempt a shower after the first miscarriage. She had been worried that it may be reopening the wound to do so with the other pregnancies. But when possible, she had obtained baby necessities along the way. Now, as she looked at her small portion of storage space, she realized that she needed to free her quarters of all of the infant paraphernalia.
Dr. Leonard McCoy shook his head at the sight of all of this stuff in her room and said, "I can't believe that you managed to collect this much baby stuff while we've been in space."
Janice felt her cheeks blush, although she shrugged modestly and said, "I am the Captain's assistant, Leonard. All I really had to do was request the items little by little when I placed supplies orders for pick up stations..." But that was not the purpose of their being here. She told him, "I want to throw a shower for her. She seems like everything is going to be fine this time, but if it isn't... a shower may make the recovery process even harder." She sighed and intertwined her fingers as she stared at the items. "That is why I need your professional opinion, Leonard."
"My sweet girl, I'm a doctor, not an event coordinator." He responded, lightly. Her face showed that she was not the least bit amused by his statement. McCoy smiled at her and said, "If it is in your heart to throw her a shower, throw it. She has been extremely temperamental lately. Maybe a shower will only help."
"Has she talked to you yet?" Janice wondered. The last she had heard, Uhura was mad at Leonard.
"No. She still seems angry about the fact that she can't work right now. I think that it's mostly her hormones, not really anything personal against me."
"I feel so bad that I haven't been there for her. At the academy, she was always so helpful to everybody else, including me. We used to call her Mother Hen, and I always thought that she'd be a great mother... then we got on the ship and there's four hundred plus people here and now - I just feel like I have not been there for her in the times that she needed someone. Leonard, if something were to happen to me, right now - Lt. Uhura would be there for me, even in her condition. I just want to repay her spirit."
"So... yes on the baby shower?" McCoy asked.
"Yes." She said with a curt nod at the baby items.
Janice went with Dr. McCoy to the infirmary, as she wanted to talk to Christine about party plans. She realized that things had not been perfect between Nurse Chapel and Lt. Uhura, but she also knew that there was no way that she could have a gathering of ladies without including Christine, therefore, Christine might as well help her with the planning.
Christine seemed excited about the news. It made the feeling of a baby on board come into full view. The general idea had been that everyone was hoping that the baby would survive, but most of them were expecting the worse. Christine felt that having a baby shower would probably put a more positive tone on the arrival of the baby. All that Uhura had left were eight weeks, and Dr. McCoy had stated that it was possible that she would not go through the entire eight weeks because of the size of her and the growth of the boy. She could go into labor sooner than expected. Janice wanted to make sure that the shower was out of the way in time enough for the birth. She wanted all members who meant a great deal to Uhura to be present, as everyone knew that the woman did not have many female acquaintances.
Janice went to the bridge with some documents that needed Kirk's signature and as he signed them, she said, "Captain, I want to ask your permission for something." Kirk stopped signing the PADD with the stylus and stared at her. Usually when a woman on the ship wanted to ask his permission for something, it was something that presented a problem – they wanted to try to have their boyfriend transferred to the ship, they wanted to transfer to another ship... the Enterprise sometimes did not cater to women in the way that some of the other ships did and they were tired of this or that. Janice practically read his thoughts from his face and said, "Oh, don't worry, Captain. It isn't anything too fluffy. I'm a lady, not a sissy."
He smiled at her self assessment and resumed signing the documents, "Well, what is it, Yeoman Rand?"
"I want to throw a baby shower for Lt. Uhura..." His head snapped up to look at her and she quickly stated, "I have all of the products that I need. We do not need to make any special pick ups or any particular stops. I just need the permission to have it and to have the members of the crew that are most important to her to be able to either attend or to make a brief appearance." She touched the screen on the PADD a few times and said, "This is the star date that I wish to throw it and the members that I wish to place on the guest list. Look it over for me, and sign off on it, if it is a doable thing."
Kirk looked over the list and said, "Yeoman, you do realize that these are some of the best members of the ship and my main pick of the bridge."
She nodded in understanding, then responded, candidly, "Yes, I do. I also realize that there are plenty of qualified crew members on the ship who could work the bridge for a short matter of hours while we celebrate the coming forth of the first baby of your first officer." Kirk nodded his head with a smile and signed off on it. She smiled brightly, and her eyes twinkled, "Thank you, Captain." She touched the screen again and pulled up the original records that he needed to sign.
After Kirk was done with the signing, Janice walked over to Chekov and asked, "When does your shift end?" After receiving his answer, she told him, "I need you to meet up with me afterwards. There is something that I am going to need you to do for me, well, for Lt. Uhura." She decided to use the magic words. Chekov nodded his head and they set up a meeting time. When Janice left the bridge, Chekov watched her go, slightly confused as to what might be taking place. Janice and he were not really friends. sometimes, they shared a table in the mess hall, but he knew that Janice had seen him as a person who "stole her friend", in Lt. Uhura. He looked at Sulu, who simply shrugged his shoulders, then they both returned to their work.
Chekov quickly hurried to his meeting with Janice, after his shift. She opened the door of her quarters, dressed in a pair of snug fitting pants and an oversize sweatshirt. She greeted him with, "Hi, Ensign Chekov! I am so glad that you had the time for me. Come in."
He did so and automatically asked, "What is this about Lt. Uhura?"
She chuckled slightly and said, "It is nothing to be alarmed about, Mr. Chekov. I plan on throwing the lieutenant a baby shower and I will need you to get her to it. Everyone tells me that she has hardly left her room since put on medical leave, this past week, and you are probably the only person aboard the ship who could get her to the party."
He looked confused and said, "Wouldn't it have been better to ask Commander Spock? I get a bit uncomfortable when people come to me about things like this, instead of him.."
"Well, as close as you are to her, I think that you know that Mr. Spock is probably one of the last people who would qualify for this task. He is not particularly keen on the purpose of parties, and if she tells him no, he will accept no as an answer. Friends have a way of talking friends into things that they really don't want to do. You would be so much better at getting her out of her room than he would." Janice explained.
Chekov furrowed his brow. This past week he had hardly been able to even see Uhura. Each time that he had attempted, Spock had informed him that she did not wish to entertain the presence of guests. Chekov asked, "And what if he steps in? Commander Spock has been extremely overprotective of Lt. Uhura since she has been out of work."
Janice nodded and told him, "I have heard. Just make sure that he is not there when you coax her."
"Styik will be there." Chekov quickly retorted.
Janice held a laughter in her voice as she answered, "Styik is eight."
Chekov then reminded her, "He has intelligence higher than either of us, and the mental capacities of a finely tuned Vulcan priestess... without, however the ability to control those capacities if he is made upset. If he is made upset by my trying to force Lt. Uhura out of her comfort zone, he may hurt me, by accident, and seriously hurt me."
Janice smiled, then sighed and clasped her hands together as she said, "Mr. Chekov, you are a tactical specialist. Come up with a plan. Don't you think that Lt. Uhura could use this party? She needs to come out of that room and we need to celebrate the coming of your new godchild."
Chekov nodded his head and said, "I will think of something. She does deserve it. I certainly hope that along the way I do not have to face any Vulcan wrath."
She almost asked him what was the last part of his statement, but decided that it would be rude to do so, even if she couldn't understand it because of his accent. Instead, she discussed the shower plans with him and showed him all of the things that she had accumulated for the baby. Some of the items were girl items, but Janice rationalized that Uhura could keep them in case she eventually had a girl.
"I wish for you to return to New Vulcan when our son is born. I have already spoken to my father and to Ambassador Spock, as well as even Dr. Uhura. All three of them have decided to come together in an effort to assist you with our child, and to protect you as he develops enough for us to bring him aboard the ship. Our son shall be handled delicately. Even with Vulcan genes, the child will be mostly human and therefore in need of a safer domestic atmosphere than that of a starship for several of the first months of his life, possibly even the entire first year." Spock had stated when Nyota had her successful check up at six months in. She nodded her head, in full agreement to his statement, then he said, "I will visit with you as much as Starfleet allows." She stared at him as she laid on the bed in the infirmary. He was not planning on coming with her, and she did not know how to respond to it.
Nyota arose as early as Spock did, in the morning. Styik emerged from his small room, as well. While Styik and Spock prepared to meditate, Nyota laid in the bed, staring at the ceiling. Spock glanced at her. She felt his eyes on her and faced him, but he turned right before she looked a him. Styik was staring at her, though. She was depressed. Styik did not like it. He went over to the bed, sat down on the edge of it, and asked, "Is there anything that you need before Guardian Spock and I begin our meditation?"
"No, thank you." She answered, with a soft smile.
Styik sighed and said, "I could let you borrow my emotional modulator. I made several adjustments to it to provide a higher level of efficiency. Guardian Spock tested my work himself and confirmed that it now works better than it ever did previously..."
"Styik, leave your mother alone." Spock said firmly.
Nyota defended, "He is just trying to help, Spock."
"But, he is not helping, is he, Nyota?" Spock asked.
Styik noticed that this brief exchange seemed to make Nyota even sadder. He turned to look at Spock and said, "You should not talk to her like that. She is already sad enough, without you treating her that way."
"In what way am I treating her, Styik?" Spock asked, genuinely unaware of his own tone. Nyota placed her hand on Styik's shoulder, but quickly withdrew it, as she felt that he was getting angry... angry at Spock.
Instead, she offered in a soft voice, "Styik, Spock is not going to understand what you are trying to say to him. He never understands the tone that he is using with people."
Now Styik glanced at her and, in a displeased tone of his own, challenged, "So everyone else around him simply has to understand? He is the one with the extensive arsenal of knowledge. He is the superior intellect. If anyone should modify their understanding of such situations, it should be him."
Spock said, "I make modifications as best as I am equipped to do so." Styik merely stared at him. Spock faced his wife and said, "Nyota, I sincerely apologize if my tone has offended you. Styik is correct in his assessment that I should not say anything to contribute to you becoming even less satisfied with life." She nodded her head. He looked back to Styik and said, "Continue preparing for your morning meditation." There was a hint of agitation in Spock's tone with the child.
Styik arose from the bed and did so, but only because he thought that going back and forth with Spock any further would just hurt his mother more. She arose from the bed, as well, and went into the bathroom. When the bathroom door shut, Spock looked at Styik and said, "Do not do that again." It was a firm tone that he used in chastisement. It was an order, and not a request.
"Do what, Spock?" Styik asked innocently. His tone showed no sign of attitude, but Spock picked it up in the fact that Styik always dropped the "Guardian" from his name when he was "being sassy", as Nyota once fussed at him for.
"Challenge me in front of your mother." Spock replied. The sassiness in what he called him did not matter to Spock. The challenging of his authority in front of Nyota did. He handled Nyota in a similar way when she did this in front of Styik, too. He did not like his authority being challenged so forcefully. He said that he was always open to hear what they had to say, but if they did not present in it a calculated, logical manner and allowed their emotions to shine through, Spock did not receive the information well.
Styik merely shrugged and told him, not shielding his attitude, at all, "You were wrong."
"My errors are not yours to correct. Your errors are mine to correct. If Nyota has a problem with something, she is an outspoken being. She will make her stand known. It is not your place to do so." Spock pointed out.
Styik snapped, "You hate it when anyone proves you wrong."
Spock quickly replied, "It is when you are stubborn and argumentative, that I find discomfort, and when you inject yourself into my relationship with my wife." Spock had nothing in his tone, but Styik could feel the heat of anger in his words. The part that bothered him the most, was Spock's accidental sole claim of Nyota. "My wife". Not "your mother", not "Nyota", but "my wife", as though she were specifically for Spock only, and not to be shared with Styik. It made Styik feel like an outsider, hearing Spock refer to her that way... like he was speaking to someone besides his own child. As much as Spock claimed to consider himself Styik's father, moments like these still occurred, moments in which Styik felt that Spock proved himself a liar.
The boy turned his back to Spock and went towards the portion of their quarters which had been reconstructed to have a small room inside of their room. Styik's room was only big enough to fit his small bed, a small desk, and his emotion modulator console. "You have not been dismissed, Styik." Spock stated.
"I need to do my hour of emotion modulation... now," Styik responded without looking at Spock. Spock sighed, sat on the bed and rested his head on his hands. When Nyota reentered the room, she saw him, though he quickly straightened his disposition.
She went over to the bed and sat next to him. "I am sorry," he said. She rubbed his back and he allowed himself to return to the position that he had been in when she caught him. She had seen him, anyway. At least it was only her. No one else could see him this way, no one. He confessed, "I have made him angry, yet again. He went to do his modulation, or so he says. He most likely is allowing himself to cry angrily, first. I do not understand my errors in my relationship with him."
Nyota attempted to comfort her husband, as he did not usually allow her to see him behave so emotionally. His tone and expression were free of emotion, but his posture was a bit unsettling to her. She offered, soothingly, "Styik has been through a great deal. We have only had him for six months... not even you can undo eight years worth of psychological damage in six months, Spock. It is not your fault that he can not control his emotions. It will take him longer than it even took you, as a child."
Spock lifted his head and looked at her. He stated, "He loves you. Towards me, there is a great amount of respect. There is a great amount of aiming to impress. There is pride and other things, but I do not believe that among them are love."
Nyota shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. She could not argue with the assessment as Styik had practically told her the same thing with his own mouth, but she did venture a response, "Well, I guess until he gets around to allowing himself to do it, that I'm going to have to love you enough for both of us." She pulled Spock into her arms and he laid his head on her shoulder.
"I want both of you to love me." She heard his thought. She wanted to try to say something to encourage, but she could think of nothing. Her final decision was just to hold him until he let her go... which was not until Styik emerged from his room.
The boy did not acknowledge either of them as he went to sit on the floor and began his meditation by himself. Spock got up from the bed and went into his usual position, across from Styik. The two of them generally faced each other during their meditations. When Spock sat down, Styik shut his eyes. They began their usual ritual. Nyota pulled on a long bathrobe, pulled her favorite scroll off of the wall, and left the room.
She went down to the mess hall. At this time of day, there was usually not many people in it. There were some of the crew members who worked overnight hours, which, in space were not exactly overnight hours, just as this was not exactly morning, but they used the words sometimes to have a connection in their brains that kept their days from running together like a murky stream.
She walked to a line and requested a pretty large breakfast of several different meats, eggs with cheese, toast, fruit and yogurt. She waited at the counter for her food and walked to a table, where she sat alone and ate. As she did, she read her scroll, careful not to get anything on it. It had been a gift from Spock from years ago, and was now one of her most prized possessions. She had been taking her off time over the past week to re-familiarize herself with the passages of love in all different languages.
After she finished eating, she felt so heavy that she did not want to try to head back to the room. She continued to read over her scroll, until her alone time was interrupted by Chekov, Sulu, and Scotty. They all sat down by her, with their own trays and she started a bit at their arrival. Scotty was the first to speak, "Lt. Uhura, you don't know what a pleasure it is to see you. This past week has been an ugly mess in the engineering room. Your face is always a delight." She forced a toothless smile.
Chekov stated and pointed a fork at her outfit, "Lieutenant, I believe that you left your clothes behind."
She looked down at herself and said, "I've been in here for over an hour. I didn't expect to run into anybody that knew me." There was some annoyance in her tone, and they all noticed it, but tried to ignore it and credited it to hormones and possibly stress.
"Well, I for one am not bothered by the fact that you did," Sulu said, after a short while. She forced another smile and returned her focus to her scroll.
There had been times where she sat with them before and did not really pay attention to them. She would make an attempt at that. After a moment, she looked up and realized that all three of them were studying her. She gave them a fully obvious annoyed smile, now and asked, "What?"
"Well, we are just wondering if you are alright? How are things going for you this week? How has your time off been?" Chekov asked.
"Every thing's fine." She said, shortly, and looked at her scroll again. Sulu cleared his throat and began to talk to the other men present about upcoming shore leave. It would be in another week or two, and everyone was excited. Nyota had to admit that she was excited too. She did not yet know where they were taking their leave, but she certainly would relish the sunlight when they got to wherever they were going.
In a couple of months, she was going to be taking leave off of the ship, anyway, but for now, she did need that additional boost of vitality that only sunlight could provide. Chekov, not wanting to exclude her from the conversation, asked, "What kinds of activities are you planning to do with the family on shore leave, Lt. Uhura?"
"I just want to enjoy some sunlight." She answered, not looking up at him.
Sulu stated, "Oh, you'll get plenty of that when you go to New Vulcan in a little while." She looked at him with fire in her eyes, and he felt his face go blank. He did not understand why she looked at him so angrily. He tried to confirm, "I mean, you are going to New Vulcan to have your baby, aren't you?" She nodded her head and looked down at her scroll again. Soon, she would have to leave this table. She did not know what was wrong with her. Poor Sulu. She thought that she should apologize, but she did not feel like doing so. Sulu continued on to say, "At least there is work for you on the planet..."
She stood up with her scroll in one hand and her tray in the other and left the table. She tossed her tray to the pile, not stacking it up with the others and waddled out of the mess hall, looking completely flustered.
Chekov watched her go then looked at his two friends, "I was worried about facing a Vulcan wrath trying to get her out of the room, but I will probably get more of a problem from her, herself. Why did you mention New Vulcan, and why did you mention work?"
"What was wrong with mentioning New Vulcan?" Sulu asked.
Chekov explained, "She is going to be stationed on the very planet where her family fell apart, for a matter of months. She does not wish to go, but Commander Spock wants her and the baby off of the ship for a while, and only trusts his father to protect his family while he, himself, is in space."
Scotty shook his head and said, "What kind of a mad animal would send away a wife so beautiful?"
"He is trying to have the baby in a safe environment through his most developmental stages. An infant could die on a spaceship in numerous ways, and of course Commander Spock knows all of the precise statistics of the scenario. He just wants them safe." Chekov said.
Uhura rushed back into her quarters and upon entering them, leaned against the door and burst into tears. Spock quickly went to her and gathered her in his arms, "What happened?" This was not the first time in a pregnancy that she had began to cry suddenly. She seemed to do it more and more as her pregnancy progressed. Spock had been concerned the first few times, then ignored the other times, considering that he realized that it was a hormonal effect, and not an issue of actual distress, but she had gotten so upset with him for not checking on her anyway, that he checked on her, even though he realized that this outburst was probably of no particular importance.
She clung to him and explained, "I ran into people and it was just so uncomfortable. I know how much I hated the idea of going to New Vulcan when I have the baby, but right now, I just hate the thought of being around anyone, and I don't know what is wrong with me! Why can't you come with me to New Vulcan? Why are you placing me on that planet and not coming with me?" She pulled herself out of his embrace to look at him.
"What would I do there?" He asked in an even tone, as though asking her for a professional opinion, with no trace of emotional concern about the subject.
"Do whatever it is that you would have done there if you would have left Starfleet almost four years ago to be there!" She yelled.
That was different. At that time, Vulcan had just been destroyed and was not well on it's way to being recreated. Besides, Ambassador Spock had taken care of everything that Spock would have thought to handle on the planet. New Vulcan was flourishing, and he was doing more for the planet in his current condition, through Starfleet than he probably could upon going to the planet at this point in his life. Not to mention the fact of how Captain Kirk would react to losing the best first officer in the fleet and the best communications officer, simultaneously.
Spock said, "The captain would not appreciate losing both of us..."
Uhura screeched, "To hell with the captain! The wife does not want to be alone on that planet, and your Vulcan family does not count. I love them. I love Sarek and I love Ambassador, but I need you!" She cried and covered her face with her hands. "I need you." She hated feeling this way and she wished that this baby would hurry up and evacuate her body so that she could stop having moments like this. She felt so ridiculously frail and weak. She always had thought that she would handle her hormones better than this. All of the other women on the ship would commend her on how well she did handle herself, but that was just because they couldn't see her on these days.
Spock loved the reality of being needed by Nyota. In all of their time together, one of his most rewarding accomplishments had been her need of him. She certainly could do without him. If he were not with her, he could see her realistically carrying on with her life, properly, even if it hurt her deeply inside, but the fact that it would affect her inside was enough for him to cherish the thought. He felt the same way. He certainly would be fully capable of carrying on without her, but the hollow that such a life would provide would be close to unbearable. He wrapped her up in his arms and said, "Then, I certainly shall go with you." She relaxed against him and he realized that this was what had been bothering her so much. In the past week, she had not been working, but the thing that really bothered her was the fact that they would be apart. He looked into her eyes and said, "You should have told me when we first discussed this that you wished for me to come with you."
She shook her head and defended, "You already had everything planned out. I know how you are with your plans, and I didn't think that you would be able to listen."
"Am I so unkind that you do not think that you can come to me?" For the first time that day, she heard some hurt in his voice when he asked her this.
"I just did not want to start an argument, Spock." They pressed their foreheads together and Styik watched them. After a moment, he got up from the floor and he rushed into his room and stood in front of his emotion modulator.
Scotty had installed a sound proof system in his small quarters, so that he could block off the sound of things outside of his space. He did not know if the moment between his guardians was about to become something that he needed to leave their vicinity for, so he just assumed that it was. Shortly after he entered his room, Nyota entered the room with Spock right behind her. She sat on the small bed and asked, "Styik, how do you feel about returning to New Vulcan?"
"I want to kill you both." Styik said. His voice was emotionless, but he seemed to not be joking. Nyota sighed and looked at Spock.
Spock stated, "There will be no harm to come to you..."
Styik threw him a hateful look and said, "You know how much that place..." he cut his sentence off and turned back towards the device that Dr. T'Priu and Dr. Uhura had worked together to create for him, specifically, as a test subject while he was in the institution. They had brought it with them, to try to keep his emotional outbursts to a minimum, and so far, it had been working. He placed his hands underneath the scanner, and his arms were locked into place by steel restraints.
"Styik, we have to do what is best for the whole family." Nyota tried to explain.
"No, you are going to do what is best for your son, your real son." Styik corrected, with a heat in his tone that she rarely ever heard from him to her.
A red light began to flash on the modulator, and a voice from the machine said, "Anger levels are critically high, prepare for modifications." Styik trembled slightly as the machine began to do something to him that Nyota was not sure of what was happening. She had never watched this before, as Spock had informed her that the sight might disturb her. The machine spoke again saying, "Attempt one, failure. Prepare for attempt 2."
Nyota said, "Styik, both Spock and I consider you to be our son. I think that you know that."
"I don't want to talk to you." Styik said. Spock had already shown him on this day that he was an outsider. He had called Nyota "my wife," and now, his guardians would bring him back to a place that he hated more than any other place, in order for their true son to be born amongst Vulcans. There was nothing more for him to discuss with them.
Nyota pulled herself up from the bed and headed for the door, but Spock stopped her and told Styik, "Life is not about what you want to do, Styik. You petitioned us to become your parents, and since then, we have been the best parents to you that we know how to be. You attacked me earlier for the way that you perceived me to be talking to your mother. Your tone with her now, is both uncalled for and will not be tolerated." One area that Spock drew the line with, was someone hurting Nyota. When he hurt her, it was always unintentional and upon realizing, he always attempted to make right the mistake. When someone else did it, he became visibly bothered and jumped to her defense, unless she indicated through a look or a touch that she would handle it herself. For now, she was too weak to do so. She was about to crack, but Styik was not holding back.
The child laughed and it was the most sinister child's laugh that Nyota could have imagined. He challenged Spock for the second time that day : "Will not be tolerated? What are you going to do to me, Spock? What can you do? One thing about someone like myself is that there is nothing that can be done to make me do anything that I do not want to do. You tried that before, and it made your mother in law deranged."
Spock did not dare look at Nyota to see how Styik's tasteless mention of that catastrophe had affected her. He did say to Styik, "Ashaki's turnout was quite unfortunate, however... you did not get what you wanted. Your mother's katra was still removed from you."
"It was, but something of her was left behind." Styik said.
Spock let go of Nyota and folded his arms, finding himself even more frustrated with the boy as he answered, "Nothing positive, I'm afraid. You hold on to your mother's bitterness, her anger, her heartache... all of the things that others have come to fear about you have been your mother's. You now have a new mother who brings out in you all of your best qualities, Styik. She wishes for you to be happy. Do you not wish for her to be happy?"
The modulator stated, "Attempt 2, failure. Prepare for an injection." Nyota finally left the room, but Spock remained inside.
Styik looked at him as the machine provided an injection for him and administered it into his forearm. Finally, the machine announced, "Anger level modified. Sorrow levels high, but not critical. Would you like to continue administering treatment?"
"No." Styik answered. The machine released him and he looked at Spock. "I will apologize to her." He tried to leave the room, but Spock grabbed him firmly by the shoulder to gain his focus.
When Styik looked at Spock, Spock informed him, "You were incorrect in your thoughts of us. We shall endeavor to do what is best for you, as well as your brother. Being on New Vulcan for a while will be difficult for all of us, but it will be safer, as well. You have discussed with me the desire to be trained in a Vulcan learning center. This will be your opportunity to do so. Also, you will have an opportunity to visit with Dr. Uhura. I know that you have a level of respect for him, even if you did not like being under his care."
"What if Sybok is there?" Styik asked, suddenly finding himself afraid.
"Sybok is in prison," Spock answered, flatly.
Styik's emerald eyes darted back and forth as he said, "I know that you keep telling me that, but I keep having these premonitions about him. I keep having the thoughts that he is not imprisoned and that he is a danger to our family."
Spock spoke calmly, "We have spoken to the prison coordinator several times. He assures us that Sybok is in the prison, in his cell." Styik nodded his head. "Now, go apologize to your mother."
"Yes, Sir. I, I apologize to you too, Guardian Spock." Spock nodded once to acknowledge his forgiveness. Styik had not called him "Father", but at least he did apologize.
Nyota was crying when Styik entered the room. He placed his hands on her face and said, "I'm sorry, Mother."
She said, "We love you, Styik. Your father and I love you. I don't understand why you feel the way that you feel about us. I understand that you have been hurt and I know that it is a slow process, but I thought that we were at least established as people who care about you. I thought that you at least believed that much."
"I do. I just became afraid about going back to New Vulcan, but I am settled now. We will do what is best for the family." She gave him a hug, which he quickly ended. They stared at each other. "Why are you thinking about Sybok?" He asked her, mentally.
Spock had come back into the room and was watching their silent exchange. Nyota responded, "I don't know. I have been having dreams about him lately. He has just been appearing in my mind. I don't know why, but it is scaring me."
"Maybe I transferred thoughts of him into you. I have been having them, myself." Styik said.
"Or maybe he did it himself?" She asked, hoping that he would discredit such an idea.
He simply responded, "I certainly hope not. I certainly hope that Sybok is not in any position to be toying with our minds. Because if he is, not only is he not in prison, but he probably is not far away." Spock began to change into his uniform as Styik stood, holding hands with Nyota, the two of them bonding and staring at each other as they did. She suddenly pulled her hands free and looked at Spock. Spock stared back at her, wondering what was wrong.
"When do we have shore leave?" She asked.
Spock's response was, "In eleven days."
"Is it anywhere near the prison planet?" She questioned.
"No, why do you ask?" Spock wondered.
She simply ignored his question and presented another question of her own, "Are we near it now – the prison planet?"
"We are in the same sector, but we will not be for very long." She nodded her head in understanding. Whatever she and Styik were worried about would be over soon. Spock, now fully dressed for duty, walked over to her, kneeled in front of her, next to Styik and took one of each of their hands into one of his own. He placed his other hand on Nyota's face first, then on Styik's, taking away from them the fear and worry that they were both experiencing.
Generally, this did not work for Styik, but being connected to both parents at the same time, combined with the modulation he had already undergone that day, Spock was able to ease the boy's mind, as well as his wife's. Now, he left for work, but his own mind was unsettled about his half brother.
Chekov shook his head and said, "Pick something else. That one makes you look like the sun." Uhura took off the yellow blouse and threw it at him. Chekov was the only person on the ship, besides her family, that she would dress in front of, and like Spock, would be too honest with her about how she looked. She did not even really see Chekov as a man, solely, but as her friend. He suggested, "I think that you should wear something green. Green is your best color."
"I don't have anything green that I can fit, Pavel!" She insisted. She was frustrated with him, even Spock did not compare her to something horrible when assessing her looks, but Spock seemed to always find beauty in her, even in this round state. Chekov thought that she was still beautiful, but did not have the type of love connected to her to not see her as a fat pregnant woman.
"Well, then maybe the red one..." He suggested.
"The one that made me look like a firetruck?" She quoted him with an attitude in her tone.
"Perhaps the blue one?" He now suggested, a bit awkwardly.
"The one that made me look like a whale?" She quoted him again.
Chekov picked up the blue blouse, from next to him on the bed and tossed it to her as he said, "Wear the damned blue one, alright? Just get dressed! We will go shopping when we get to the surface. When we do go, you should pick clothing with patterns, flowers maybe, or just different colors." She threw him a warning look and Chekov said, "Well, you should not feel bad about anything that I have said. Commander Spock still wants you." She couldn't help but smile at the statement.
Shore leave had began and Chekov was eager to get off of the ship. Spock and Styik were on the bridge, with the captain while some of the other crew members were already going to the surface. Since shore leave was so close, Janice decided that they would throw the shower on leave. It would make for a better party, anyway. Chekov still had the task of bringing Uhura to the gathering, as a surprise, but at least this way, she was eager to go anywhere but where she currently was. After he helped her to stretch the blue maternity blouse over her body, because she had grown since it had been obtained, they headed for the bridge. She was going to get Styik and take him with her. Spock would meet with them later.
Styik was talking to Kirk about his research on emotional instability within children of all existences when Chekov came to the bridge to collect him. Uhura waited outside of the entrance. Chekov said, "Hey, your mother sent me to get you so that we can go to the surface." Spock looked over at him from the science station. Chekov acknowledged Spock with a short nod. "She is waiting outside of the door." Spock turned back to the station and continued to work. Styik smiled and gave Kirk the Vulcan salute before leaving with Chekov.
Kirk looked at Spock and said, "You have really worked on your jealousy issues. It doesn't get to you that Mr. Chekov is leaving the ship with your family?"
"You sound like Mr. Scott, Captain. Ensign Chekov is friends with Lt. Uhura. He is a dear friend of Styik's as well. It is no more inappropriate for him to exit the ship with them than it is for me to exit with you." Spock turned back to his work.
Kirk stared at the back of his head for a while, then said, "At any rate, I am glad that you are no longer the jealous type."
"Jealousy is illogical." Spock answered. Kirk smirked, not informing him that even though jealousy was supposedly illogical, it was something that Spock possessed, and Kirk had seen it for himself.
"Are you going to the surface?" Kirk asked him.
"There are things that I need to do before doing so." Spock replied.
"You better make it to the baby shower, at least." Now, Spock turned to face Kirk. Kirk asked, "Come on, tell me that you were told that Yeoman Rand, Nurse Chapel and Ensign Chekov are throwing your wife a baby shower?" Spock tilted his head slightly, as though to shrug."Perhaps it was assumed that I would not take an interest in such an event. Will you be attending, Captain?" Spock asked.
"I'm gonna make an appearance. Pose with her in a photo, maybe have a slice of cake. You can go when I go." Kirk offered.
Spock stated, "I was not invited. It would be rude for me to make an appearance uninvited."
Kirk laughed, then exclaimed, "You don't have to be invited. It's your baby!"
"Captain, I am well aware of the fact that this is my child, however, I do not wish to interrupt any plans laid down for the lieutenant and her friends." Spock said.
Kirk shook his head. Spock's stubbornness was unbearable. How the hell did a pregnant human woman live in the same quarters with him and not pull her hair out, plug by plug? Kirk said, "I sure hope that you change your mind. The ship is going to be losing the both of you so soon, I think that it would be a good memory to store seeing both of you in this type of atmosphere, with friends and your son, and her in her pregnant state. It'll give us sentimental humans a fond last memory, for when the two of you are stationed on New Vulcan." Spock did not respond, but turned back to his console and continued finishing up his work.
After shopping at a few places for bigger maternity clothing, Nyota was ready to have food. Chekov suggested, "There is a place that I looked up which seems interesting for a meal. We should go there."
"That's fine." She said with a smile, allowing Chekov to lead her and Styik to a place which reminded her of a theme park. They walked through gates and all along the walkway were humongous hot air balloons which were posted to the ground and had people in each of them. "What is this place?"
"It is a restaurant/party center where groups have their meetings inside of a hot air balloon." Chekov answered. "Sometimes, people sign up for the flight plan, where after the party, they can have a short fly in the balloon, guided by a trained native of the planet."
"That is amazing. How did you find out about this place, again?" Styik asked. Chekov ignored Styik's question, pointed and said, "Let's go into the purple and green one."
"It looks occupied, Pavel. Can we even have a balloon, with only three of us in our party?" Nyota asked. Chekov had already began heading towards the balloon, so she simply followed.
When they reached the balloon, there were several crew members there with decorations and food and they all yelled, "Surprise!" Nyota yelped and covered her face. She could not keep herself from laughing.
Janice greeted her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek saying, "We wanted you to have a baby shower, so we got together to throw you this one, though I will admit, it will be more like a party than a baby shower, because of the number of guys we have here." Nyota felt tears falling from her eyes as she hugged Janice again.
Christine walked up to her and said, "Don't let little miss modest fool you – this was all Janice's doing. The rest of us were just along for the ride." Nyota found herself hugging Christine too.
Then she looked around and said, "I really want to thank you all. This is such a pleasant surprise. Now, first thing's first... what is there to eat?" Everyone began laughing.
The planet had mostly oceans, even more bodies of water than earth, and all of the land on the planet was in one general area. There was only one body of land, like an island, and the rest of the planet was sea. Most of the food was sea life. That did not bother Nyota at all, as she loved seafood. The seafood on this planet was quite different from anything on Earth. It all tasted delightful, but not like seafood that she was used to. And Janice had managed to have a cake made on the ship, which she and Christine beamed down with. The cake was Nyota's favorite type cake in the world – red velvet with toffee chunks and shaved almonds, smothered in whipped cream cheese icing. She looked at Styik and he blushed slightly. "You were in on this too?"
"They needed certain inside information." He leaned towards her and whispered, "To say that these are your friends, they do not seem to know very much about what you enjoy."
Nyota tousled his hair and said, "It's okay. I'll forgive them. Thank you..." She looked around and asked him, "Is Spock coming?"
Styik tilted his head and said, "I did not tell him to. I was told not to mention it to anyone." He looked at Chekov, "Did you tell my guardian about the event, Pavel?"
Chekov placed his hand over his mouth and said, "I forgot."
Janice cried out, "So, Mr. Spock is not coming?"
Styik said, "Nonsense. I will contact him at once and explain to him Pavel's mistake."
As he got down from the balloon, Chekov called out, "Is it necessary for you to mention names?" Styik simply threw him a disbelieving look and flipped open Nyota's communicator.
Within minutes, both Spock and Kirk were beamed down not too far from the place that they were at. Kirk climbed into the balloon and greeted Uhura with a hug. He looked around the balloon and said, "Interesting place. Any alcohol available? We are on shore leave, after all."
Janice rolled her eyes, but wore a small grin as she said, "Leonard was sure to bring a little something along for you and himself, Captain."
Spock bowed his head politely at Nyota and remained a distance away from her. She was sitting down with a plate of cake in front of her. Spock observed everyone in the balloon basket from the edge of the basket. Kirk and McCoy kept toasting each other and drinking, while Janice had her arms around McCoy's neck. Scotty pulled Christine to an empty space in the basket and began to try to dance with her. She kept looking to Janice, hoping that her friend might rescue her, but Janice was oblivious to it as she laughed at McCoy and Kirk's jokes. Styik and Chekov were playing darts... Styik was winning. Chekov was saying Russian cuss words with each point that Styik accumulated. Sulu and Lt. Hawkins were having cake. Spock simply watched everyone.
After she finished her cake, Nyota had Janice to turn on some music that she could dance to and she got into the center of the floor. She announced, "I want to dance, and I want a partner. As long as I am here dancing, I expect someone to be dancing with me. If I find myself dancing alone, the party ends and I leave." Janice laughed a squealing laugh as she made her way over to Nyota to be the first person to dance with her. Christine went over to dance with her as well, mainly to get away from Scotty's drunken dancing.
Partners switched several times and when only Nyota, Chekov, and Styik were left on the floor dancing together, Kirk made his way to Spock and said, "Who knew that a gigantic woman toting a baby in her body could have such endurance." Spock lifted an eyebrow at the statement. Jim had no idea how much endurance Nyota Uhura had in her condition. The thought of her endurance brought heat to Spock's body. "Why aren't you dancing with her?" Kirk asked. Now, Spock gave him the most confused look that Kirk had ever seen on his face. "You should do it. This is a celebration of your son's introduction to the world. Dance with your wife." Spock folded his arms as Chekov left Styik and Nyota on the floor. Surely Jim realized that there was no way that Spock would do something so illogical as to dance in front of all of these people, simply for entertainment. Styik soon left Nyota dancing, as well.
Nyota stopped dancing and looked around, "Is the party over?" She asked. Janice turned on a slow song and Nyota held out her arms, "Anyone want to slow dance with me?"
When nearly every man on the basket moved towards her, Spock hurriedly rushed to his wife and cut off any other potential partners. He did not intend to dance with her, but he had been party to her slow dancing before, in private, and it was not something that he wanted another man to experience with her.
She smiled at him as she placed her hands around his waist. She snuggled up closely against him, and began to rock. Spock himself really was not moving and had not even placed his hands on her. "I am severely uncomfortable." He stated.
She stopped moving, cupped his face and whispered against his ear, "Well, we shall continue this dance later."
Spock pulled away from her and placed his hands behind his back. The entire party booed the fact that the dance ended before it began. Nyota blew raspberries at them and rubbed Spock's shoulder, supportively. She yelled, "I know that none of you really expected to see him dance!"
Janice turned off the music and said, "Oh, bah! Let's get to the gifts, then we are going to take a ride in the balloon! Whoo!"
Nyota was pleased with all of the many gifts that she had gotten from Janice. She had all types of baby items that she had not even been planning on getting until the baby was closer, and she had only expected to have standard issue baby items from Starfleet, as opposed to the cute and decorative supplies that Janice had gotten a hold of. Spock was sitting, very stiffly and erect, near Nyota as she opened all of the gifts. When she was done, she sat on his lap, which caused him to tense up, but he did not react beyond that. She was in such a great mood that she just wanted to enjoy herself and be close to him. He was so pleased that she was in such a good mood that he did not ask her to move, but he did not seem to welcome her, either. Well, he did not allow anyone to see how much of an effect her position on his lap was having on him, anyway.
The best part of the party, to Nyota was the hot air balloon ride. Most of the crew looked over the edge of the basket at the world below, at miles and miles of beautiful blue shades of sea and several exotic creatures which leaped from the waters sporadically. She felt Spock's hand on the small of her back, and she looked up at his face. He knew that everyone else was looking at the scenery below, so he leaned in and planted a soft, short, but extremely passionate kiss on her lips. Nyota smiled at him, then looked back down at the view.
When the balloon landed back in it's original spot and the balloon guide got off of the hot air balloon, all of the members began to collect items to clear out everything that was to be removed from it before leaving. Uhura was told not to try to lift anything. On the way back to the ship, Janice purposefully bumped into Spock, from the side. He glanced at her, and kept walking, but she bumped him again. Spock suggested, "Perhaps you should step approximately two feet to your left and you will cease to have your path interrupted by mine."
She laughed lightly and said, "I saw it." Spock lifted an eyebrow, not sure of what she was referring to. "I saw you kiss her. Until that moment, I was really beginning to believe that the two of you had a secret lab in your quarters where you artificially inseminate her, but that kiss said it all." Spock faced forward and did not respond. Janice simply smiled at him and walked to get ahead of him and catch up with a fully armed Dr. McCoy.
By the time they reached their quarters, Nyota fell directly on the bed. All of the gifts were piled against the wall and Styik was going to stay with Chekov for the night. Spock laid next to Nyota on the bed and stared at her. She looked at him and saw the look of desire in his eyes. He had been watching her all day, in his favorite images of her – dancing, laughing, being friendly... those were the things that he loved the most about her and keeping his hands off of her in front of the crew had been incredibly difficult, but her eyelids were so heavy that she could barely keep her eyes open. She said, "It has been a long day. I can't tonight, but I promise that I will in the morning."
He wrapped an arm around her, resting his hand on her stomach and said, "I am going to hold you to that, Nyota."
She smiled and yawned as she said, "Try and stop me, you sexy thing."