A/N: Paralyzer is now officially my most highly reviewed story, which I will take to mean that it's going down well! Thanks for all the reviews, and don't be afraid to hit me with some criticism (constructive of course) if you think bits could be better.

Paralyzer - 5. Incendiary

Spock found himself backing into the room as Nyota, beautiful in her fury, advanced upon him. Thunder was impossibly gathering over her head as her glare darkened to the colour of night. She scowled hard enough to crease the delicate skin between her eyebrows and when she finally spoke after long, agonising moments, her voice was low and dangerous.

"A researcher, you said; nothing remarkable, you said. What happened, you just stumbled into a commission this morning when you got out of bed?"

Spock held up his hands in a gesture of supplication. "Nyota, please just-"

She didn't give him chance to finish, cutting him off as her voice began to rise in anger. "Not just any old, dime a dozen, makes the tea, cleans the conduits, minion go-for junior officer, but a COMMANDER?!"

He was meek in his reply when he couldn't help but add, "Pending First Officer status of the new flagship."

"OH MY GOD!!!" She threw up her hands and whirled away from him. He took an abortive step towards her but she was pacing furiously now, and if he kept moving towards her personal pacing runway she would probably flatten him. "What on God's green Earth could have possessed you to even make a move on me, let alone SLEEP with me?!"

Despite the fact that his human half was bouncing up and down with the thrill of confrontation, Spock forced some of that famous Vulcan calm onto his features and into his stance, before responding. "I was unaware that you were a cadet at the time. Had I known, the circumstances of our exchange would probably have been different."

She stopped pacing and looked at him incredulously. "Are you saying you would have done it anyway?"

He allowed a wry expression to quirk his lips, "Nyota, I felt attraction the moment I saw you. Even if we had not made contact that night it would simply have been a matter of time until I saw you around campus, and then..."

Unusually for him, he trailed off, uncertain of what to say next. What would he have done if he had seen her around campus? The burn of lust when he had set eyes on her in the club had been impossible to ignore, but she had been wearing very little clothing and he was Vulcan, not blind. If he had seen her on campus she would have been in the regulation cadet uniform which, while flattering on females, was uniform, making her blend in with the hundreds of other females currently enrolled in the Academy. In which case he had no guarantee that she would have caught his eye at all. Also, she was not in any of his classes, she was based in a completely different school to his; would he have seen her at all except in passing? How could he know that he would have still felt this attraction had the circumstances been different? He realised that he was reacting with a human knee-jerk defensive mechanism, attempting to talk his way out of the fact that he had acted irresponsibly. So while it may well have been a matter of time until they ran into each other on campus, he had no real way to back up his argument.

"And then what?" she shot back. "You would have jumped me after class?"

Spock blinked, flustered at her suggestion. "N-No, I-"

"I don't know what's worse, the fact that I just had the most amazing night with a superior officer, or that said officer tried to hide the fact that he is, in fact, superior." Her eyes narrowed in rage and she hissed, "No, it's definitely the latter. How could you lie to me like that?"

"Nyota, I did not lie, as a rule I cannot, it is not logical to do so."

She shot back, "And it's logical to sleep with your students?"

"You are not my student, you are a student. The difference is not lost on me, it is what allowed me to contact you yesterday afternoon." His voice softened and he took a half step towards her. "Would you rather I had severed all contact with no word of explanation?"

Running out of anger, she deflated and pinched the bridge of her nose. "It would certainly have been easier than this." She looked up at him with a sad resignation swimming in her eyes. "Well it's clear what happens now." He watched as she pulled herself up to her full, unimpressive height, squared her shoulders and held out her hand. "Goodbye, Commander Spock, it was a pleasure to meet you."

Spock blinked again, stunned at her transformation from beautifully hot-blooded, emotional woman to this cold, controlled, distant being now standing before him. He looked blankly down at the hand she had extended. "Nyota-"

"That's 'Cadet Uhura' to you." Her eyes flashed, clearly she was not as in control of her emotions as he had thought. "I'm not going to let the fact that you thought with your dick get me expelled from the Academy." She smiled mirthlessly. "It's a damn shame I can't tell my roommate about this, she'd pitch a fit." She sighed heavily. "I should go, I have a test tomorrow I need to cram for."

Dazed, he took the hand that was still extended, unwavering, towards him. Her fingers were cool against his warmth and he felt it seep into his skin, travel up his arm and wrap around his heart. The cold squeezed and Spock reeled. How had this happened? A chance encounter leading to a mere two day acquaintance had managed to turn thirty two years of Vulcan discipline and control to mush. Fear lanced through him as the quick, deep attachment formed through requited lust panicked at her unspoken promise of severance of contact and he found himself acting on impulse. Listening for intruders, he tugged on the hand he still held, let the other hand come up to cup her cheek and kissed her deeply, before logic and decorum could stop him. She stiffened for a split second, before melting helplessly against him, moaning softly into his mouth as he poured his sorrow for what he had done and his desire for her into her. His tongue flicked out to meet hers and she gasped, Sense kicking Lust out of the way and reestablishing control. She pushed him away and staggered backwards, her arms extended where she had pushed him.

"Damn it, Spock! You don't get to just kiss it away! You don't get to kiss me period; you're a teacher, remember? Do you want to get us both kicked out of Starfleet?" She whipped her head from side to side, convinced that they were about to be caught as she murmured under her breath, "They'll pull you up for cradle-robbing."

Spock fought back the urge to blurt out that chronologically he was not much older than she, sensing that such a response would most likely incense her again.

"Ny-Cadet, it is quite acceptable for cadets and officers to interact out of classes, so there is no reason why we cannot continue to enjoy each other's company."

She quirked a disbelieving eyebrow at him, amazed at his apparent naivete. "Do you seriously think we can just act like nothing happened? I know I can't and if we started spending time together as student and teacher, I'd be constantly thinking about what we did." She blushed. "I'd probably be thinking about ways to make it happen again."

A very human pulse of adrenaline surged through Spock at her confession, he knew that he too would be thinking along the same lines. Reining back on the urge to move towards her, he forced himself to see reason. She was right to be wary of continuing their acquaintance, they had already spectacularly shattered an important rule, and if they remained in easy contact it would only be a matter of time until they did it again. Even now he could feel the weak, incomplete, accidental bond they had formed in the heat of passion calling for him to reclaim her. He swallowed hard and masked his face with calm, settling his hands comfortably behind his back, below his heavy Vulcan robes. "I see your reasoning, Cadet, it would be logical for us to part company." He paused as his eyes flashed before continuing, "At least for now."

Despite the excitable warmth that flooded her at his unspoken promise, Nyota relaxed, her body easing from its formerly tense stance. They seemed to be safe, he appeared to be back in control of himself - which was a relief because she had felt her resolve to just break it off cleanly wavering with his persistence. The sound of approaching footsteps and voices outside of the room cut through the remaining tension between them; the next lecture were on their way in. She straightened and held up her hand in the traditional Vulcan salute, "Peace and long life, Commander Spock."

He returned the gesture, fighting the urge to curl in his thumb, ring and pinky fingers to make it into the gesture used for the Vulcan telepathic kiss. "Live long and prosper, Cadet."

When the next batch of students entered, all they saw was a fellow student and a Vulcan dignitary exchanging cool pleasantries. What they didn't see was two lovers trying desperately to keep themselves in check.

-UFP-

By the time Nyota made it back to the dorm she was exhausted. The exchange with Spock had drained her and she wanted nothing more than to collapse into bed and sleep for a week. Gaila was waiting for her, stretched out on her own bed, flicking through an academic periodical.

"Hey, how was your lecture?"

Enlightening "Interesting. Vulcan is a beautiful language, it's just a swine to pronounce correctly."

Gaila nodded, returning her gaze to her reading. She waved a hand at the comm. terminal without looking up. "A message came through for you while you were out, I think it's from your course administrator."

Dropping her bag on her bed, Nyota moved to their shared comm. and sat down to read the message. Lieutenant Commander Dyson, her personal mentor, had been diagnosed with Bajoran Flu. It was not a life threatening affliction but it was rather difficult to concentrate as it thoroughly clogged every sinus in the head. It was also highly contagious, so Commander Dyson had been sent home for however long it took him to get over it. Nyota scrolled down to see who would be taking over for Dyson and then almost lost her lunch.

Due to your work containing a predominant amount of research on Romulan, Commander Spock has been assigned as your temporary mentor due to his experience with this language. Professor Chang (who was the head of the department and an equal to Dyson when it came to mastery of all three Romulan dialects) has the maximum quota of students assigned to him already for this semester and is unable to accept you as an addition. Commander Spock has been relieved of some of his duties in the Long Range Stellar Cartography department in order to assist you and the other students assigned to Commander Dyson. Please attempt to make the Commander feel welcome in our department while he is working with us.

Yours sincerely,

Yeoman Carter - Xenolinguistics Administrator

Unseen by Gaila, Nyota braced her elbows on the deask and dropped her head into her hands.

Wasn't this just peachy?