A/N: I laughed my $$ off reading all the reviews for chapter 3! Thanks guys!
Paralyzer - 4. Smoulder
Spock was very glad that he was a genius.
Having deftly dodged Nyota's questions about the telepathic contact and his discomfort on discovering she was a student (he told her the touch was simply for added stimulation; which was not a complete truth, and that the discovery that she was student had merely surprised him as he thought she was already an officer, which was not a lie as such) he had told her that his communicator at home was damaged but that he would forward her the frequency when it was fixed. She had smiled wryly and he knew she thought he was brushing her off as a one night - alright, one mind blowing night and one spectacular morning - stand.
She could not have been further from the truth. He had thought about her on the walk back to his apartment on campus, had thought about her as he prepared the day's lesson plans for Particle Scanning Techniques, had thought about her while eating a simple lunch, and as soon as he finished work for the day he had gone home and devised an intricate relay communicator signal to send her the frequency for. The relay signal would bounce between seventy five relay stations before arriving at her comm. terminal. Any signal sent this way would usually incur a three second delay, but Spock was a genius with anything involving sending and receiving data and he was able to rig it so that no discernible delay would be caused. The reason for the relay was as dangerous as the deception was necessary; if he had communicated directly with her terminal her computer would detect the Starfleet signature on the wavelength.
Steepling his fingers in front of his face, Spock watched tensely as he waited for the signal to connect with her quarters. He had changed into non-descript clothing as soon as he had entered his abode. He hoped this worked...
The computer chimed its success and her smirking face appeared on the screen. "Well, hello. I didn't think I was going to be seeing you again."
Spock cocked his head and straightened in his seat, reaching for inner calm even as adrenaline surged through him. "Indeed. I trust you are well?" She smiled and nodded and he had never been happier to break the rules.
"I'm okay, had a hellish day of lectures though. My Xenolinguistics tutor is a real slave driver."
He had to bite his tongue before he asked how Professor Strife was able to sustain illegal human trading while on planet. This was going to be difficult...
"Anyway," she continued, not noticing his almost-slip, "I'm starving, would you like to get some dinner?"
His stomach grumbled, reminding him that the broth he had consumed at lunch had not been very substantial; evidently she had heard too through the communicator, as she laughed easily. "Dinner would be acceptable. Presumably you would prefer to dine away from the academy campus?" Please say yes, please say yes, "I imagine that after a disappointing day you would like to... escape?"
"That's a great idea. Do you like vegetarian sushi? I know a place in the city."
Agreeing on a time and place to meet, Spock signed off and almost sagged in relief. The ruse seemed to be working for now, he hated that it was necessary but after the connection they had shared the night before he had to see her again. Logic told him that he should have severed all communication with her the moment he discovered she was a student. But logic also dictated that he should not have made love with her in the first place, and that would simply not do. He would not have taken it back even if he had been able to. Closing his eyes he could feel the phantom sensation of her soft, taut skin below his fingertips and he sighed as warmth trickled through him.
He hoped that tonight's meeting would end in a similar manner to the previous.
-UFP-
Gaila watched in amusement as her roommate bustled around their rooms with more excitement about a guy than the Orion had thought possible. She shook her head with a grin and returned to her PADD, tickled by the role reversal in play tonight; Gaila was the one cramming for a test and Nyota was the one with the hot date. Without looking up from her revision notes, she asked, "So who is this guy? You've been beaming all day but you've told me nothing about him."
Nyota stuck her head out of the bathroom and chirped, "He's Vulcan."
If Gaila had been drinking she would have snorted it all over her work. "What?! Oh my Goddess, you slept with a Vulcan?!"
Nyota grinned, "Yup." Then disappeared into the bathroom again.
"Man, if I could be any greener right now... What was he like? Was it domo arigato, Mister Roboto?"
Nyota emerged from the bathroom and wandered into the room, a dazed smile on her face, "Absolutely not. He was incredible, and he did this thing," she wiggled her fingers at her brain, "I don't know what it was but it was like he was in my head. It was hot."
Gaila flipped her PADD to one side, laced her hands behind her head and leaned back against the headboard of her bed, eager for more details, "Tell me more."
Nyota threw a discarded clothing choice at her head. "A lady doesn't kiss and tell."
Gaila suddenly sat up straight with a glint in her eye. "Hey, you know there's a Vulcan in the Long Range Stellar Cartography department, right? Maybe I should try your moves on him."
Nyota laughed as she wriggled into a tight fitting pair of trousers, "I thought you were madly in love with Jim Kirk."
Gaila tipped her chin and sobered her expression, putting on a stuffy, academic voice to exclaim in fake pomposity, "All in the name of science, Darling. James would not mind I am sure."
Always amused by her bouncy friend's unquestioning acceptance of all things male, Nyota finished stuffing things into a small handbag and set out to meet her 'date'.
-UFP-
A delicious meal and comfortable conversation set the tone of comfort for the evening. Although her sister was still out of town and she had brought the keys with her just in case, Nyota was content to keep the evening platonic and suggested a walk by the sea once they had finished eating.
They strolled together, at ease with one another as they learned more about each other. He told her about his research and she told him about her studies. Then he did something stupid.
"I am giving a diplomacy lecture tomorrow on Senura-kana in the Cochrane Lecture Theatre. Would you like to come?"
She frowned in polite confusion. "You lecture on ceremonial language? I thought your area of expertise was advanced scanning."
Spock cursed mentally, thinking fast to cover up his slip without actually lying. "It is, but so few humans have studied Senura-kana, and even fewer can pronounce it correctly, that the faculty head asked if I would mind guest-lecturing."
She nodded, accepting the plausibility in his statement. He sighed, this was ridiculous, how long were they going to go on like this? How long was he going to spend making up half truths to deflect her from the fact that what they were doing was wrong? It had only been a day but already he was finding it tiresome; but what was he to do? Despite having known her for only a day, there was no way on this earth that he could not NOT see her. He was intoxicated, it was dangerous, it was illogical and it was absolutely breath taking.
The rest of their evening together continued along the same track of pleasant companionship, and despite his earlier hope for more activities that involved less clothing, he was quite content at the end of the night to bid her good night (safely off campus) with a gentle kiss to the cheek and a soft almost-smile.
-UFP-
The morning was not so forgiving.
Spock awoke on the day of his Senura-kana lecture with a raging erection and a grimace of displeasure. He had not been subject to what Nyota had termed 'morning glory' for years - Vulcan meditation did wonders for involuntary, embarrassing motions - the previous morning having been the first in a long time. But yesterday, she had been there to help take care of the problem; today he was alone with no intention of touching himself - he grimaced again in disgust - in order to relieve it. So he rose, showered (showered around it), dressed in meditation robes and sat upon his meditation cushion to relieve the issue.
Master of his own body once again, Spock was able to enter the Cochrane theatre and not miss a beat when he saw Nyota sitting in the third row, PADD and stylus poised and ready. He had been faced with a dilemma once he had consumed some breakfast and re-entered his sleeping chamber to dress because he could not wear his uniform. The minute he walked into that lecture theatre in his officer grays, Starfleet insignia gleaming on his chest and introduced himself as Commander Spock, it would all be over and his brief, slightly unhinged ruse would be up. Reaching for a set of robes instead of his uniform, he decided it would be quite acceptable to deliver a lecture on Vulcan ceremonial language in Vulcan ceremonial dress and to introduce himself more formally. No-one would see it as odd given the context and Nyota would be none the wiser.
The lecture was educational, in depth, and clear, as was every lecture he had given in the past. It was just as well that the audience members in all those other lectures were not as alluring as the girl gazing steadily at him from the third row, or he would never have gotten through them all. Her huge, exotic eyes remained fixed on him the entire time he spoke, she did not divert her gaze to view the displays that accompanied the lecture, nor did she turn to watch other students ask questions at the end.
Not until one of them dropped him in the proverbial, anyway.
He had indicated for a student he recognised from a previous guest lecture, seated in the front row, to put forward their question. "Commander Spock, is it true that the Senura-kana has been rejected in the P'tal region and replaced with the lesser known Taiya-kana?" He flinched inwardly at the use of his rank and glanced up at Nyota as she stared at the girl who had asked the question, and then at him, like he was some sort of alien creature with two heads.
Spock forced himself to tear his gaze from Nyota and answer the question. "That is correct, Cadet Murass, the P'tal people prefer the Old Language as opposed to the more formal Senura-kana." He dropped his eyes to his notes, unable to return his gaze to Nyota for fear of what would be in her eyes if he did.
The Q&A session wound down and Spock quickly gathered his effects, anxious to escape the suddenly claustrophobic room before she could corner him. Vulcans did not practice self flagellation, but following this cock up of monumental proportions he might have to give it a try.
He was not fast enough; a woman on a mission concerning the heart would not be stopped by a mere Vulcan. As the last of the students filed out of the room with Spock hot on their heels, her fingers curled around his upper arm, stopping him in his tracks as she hissed, "A moment please, Commander."