Getting to Know You

Chapter Nineteen : I Can Dream About You

Spock

At precisely 0500 the next morning he tapped the plate beside Nyota's door. The door opened immediately and she came out carrying her duffle bag. Without saying a word, he took her duffle from her and started towards the elevator. She followed him, tapped the elevator plate and followed him into the elevator.

She looked at him. Something strange had just happened. She wasn't sure what, if anything, it meant. "Spock?"

Instantly his face turned to her. She had said his name again. With no honorific. Why was that so different? He did not know, but it certainly felt different. "Yes, Nyota."

"I really think you ought to let me carry my own bag. The others are going to think that it's strange if you carry it."

He had no justification for carrying her duffle. She was not ill or injured. He looked down at her. He wanted to carry it for her. That was quite illogical. She was correct, it would be perceived as odd by the others. With a barely repressed sigh, he handed it back to her, just before the elevator arrived in the lobby.

They stepped out into the lobby. The others were not there yet. They crossed to the exit door and stood waiting. In a few minutes the rest of their party came out of the other elevator. The three cadets immediately crossed to them, while the other instructor went to the desk to check out. In a few minutes they were on the curb outside, hailing a transport back to the airport. Soon they were back at the airport, going through the gate, tickets in hand. Once again, there had been a mix-up and he and Nyota were seated about as far away from the rest of their party as was possible.

As they made their way down the aisle of the plane, he reached forward and retrieved her duffle bag again. She glanced back at him over her shoulder before releasing it. When she located their row, she slid over into the window seat and buckled up while he stowed their bags in the overhead. He sat down in the aisle seat and fastened his own harness.

"Thank you, Spock." She said softly.

He was content. He turned to look at her and observed a small, soft smile on her face. Good, she was not still upset from last night, then. He cast about for a subject of conversation. Ahh. "Captain Pike has informed me that the Enterprise will be completed by graduation next year. Have you had a chance to take one of the inspection tours with him?"

"Oh, I got to go at the beginning of last year, when he was recruiting. It's so marvelous. I can hardly wait to get aboard."

"Aboard?"

"Yes, I intend to serve on the Enterprise. That has been my intention all along. The Enterprise is going to be the biggest, best ship we have and I want to serve with the best officers in StarFleet. That's one reason I work so hard."

"Your achievements are especially noteworthy, Nyota. I am sure you will achieve your goal." I will make SURE of it. But I will not mention that to you, as I am sure you would be offended.

Feeling quite pleased at having found an excellent topic of conversation, he relaxed and contemplated an enjoyable trip back to San Francisco. Since he was extremely familiar with all of the systems aboard the Enterprise, he was able to give her much information. She asked many interesting questions, and time flew by swiftly.

***

They landed back at San Francisco International, made their way to the shuttle waiting to take them back to the Academy. Shortly they were departing the shuttle hanger, going their separate ways. As soon as the other members of the team had disappeared from sight, he retrieved her duffle bag again. This time she made no protest, she simply accepted. He felt pleased.

Nyota

Spock finally handed her duffle back to her when they reached her door. He stood looking at her for a moment, then said he would see her on Monday morning and waited for her to enter her room. He was such a gentleman, it made her feel very protected. And he had protected her last night, even though she thought he wasn't aware that she had observed him snarling at that oaf who had grabbed her. She hadn't been aware that Vulcans ever behaved like that - perhaps it was the way they acted when they were being illogical.

She carried her duffle over to the bed and dropped it. Gaila was out, no telling what time she would get back in, maybe not even before morning. She had the bathroom all to herself - she would go and take a very long, hot shower and then curl up in bed with one of those novels Gaila kept trying to get her to read - just have a nice relaxing couple of hours before turning out the lights. The remaining few weeks of the semester would be devoted to studying for finals, this was likely to be her last free time.

***

Monday afternoon came and she was afraid that someone might have heard about their dancing in Oxford and make comments when they started their practice, but nothing happened and she felt so relieved. Spock had her working on that new kata the whole time and did not even have the music disk player with him, so she knew there would be no duet today. That was a real shame, because she enjoyed them so.

She went back to her dorm, showered, changed back into her uniform to go eat at the mess hall with Gaila. She got a lot of congratulations on the win at Oxford and arrived back at her dorm glowing from her success. She studied a bit and then headed for her meditation lesson.

She tapped the door plate next to Spock's door and to her surprise the door opened immediately. She cautiously stepped through the door - Spock was in the kitchen - how had the door opened? In confusion, she realized that he had coded the door for her. She had not expected that. She slipped off her shoes. Spock apparently had not heard her enter. She wasn't sure what to do, so she just stood there.

Spock

He heard the door open. She stepped in, but didn't move again. He continued his kitchen clean-up, deliberately ignoring her. She slipped her shoes off, but still stood by the door. He had confused her. Suppressing a sigh, he decided that he would have to 'discover' her. He had really hoped that she would have understood, but apparently she did not. He put away his cleaning supplies and turned towards the other room, to discover that she was standing in front of his bookcase, hands carefully behind her back, looking intently at one of his sculptures. Ah, better.

He crossed the room towards her and she turned towards him. He decided to completely ignore the door question unless she commented on it. Instead he asked her a question. "Would you like to handle them? They are not breakable."

With a grin, she immediately picked up one of the small sculptures and began to run her long, slender fingers over it, caressing the curves. "This is so lovely. Tell me about it, please."

They spent 28.75 minutes discussing the small collection of sculpted pieces displayed on his bookcase. It was extremely enjoyable.

She went and changed her clothes. Then they settled down on the meditation pads and he lit the incense. He went through the same relaxation exercise that had worked so well the previous two times. Soon she was once again floating peacefully in a light trance. He sat and admired her. Tonight he would meditate after she left.

***

When he felt that she had meditated long enough to have relieved the stress of the trip, he gently brought her back to alertness. She raised her arms over her head and stretched, arching her back, then swaying from side to side. She dropped her arms and shook herself a bit, then grinned at him. "oh I always feel so good after that. It's so relaxing. Thank you so much for teaching me how to do it. Maybe by the time the semester is over I will be able to do it on my own."

He realized with a pang that she would not be here over the summer. It would be lonely without her. He had not experienced loneliness before, except when first coming to the Academy - he had missed the daily talks with his mother then.

"I will always be available to assist you with meditation, Nyota. It is not an imposition."

"Well, I shall have to find some way that I can return the favor. I'm sure I will be able to figure something out. If not before finals, then sometime next year." She grinned at him again. "Are you teaching anything next year that I haven't taken yet?"

He was sure whether it was fortunate or unfortunate that he was not. He had found her to be an excellent student and one he had been pleased to have in his classes, but he found that that was not the way he wanted to interact with her in the coming year. "I do not think so. As far as I know, I will be teaching the same two courses next year. However, the construction of the message array should be completed before you return in the fall. If you wish to participate in the tuning of the array, I am sure that I could arrange that."

"Oh, yes, please, that would be so interesting. I already put in for a listening shift for next fall, but I don't know whether I will be assigned yet." He would make sure of that. And he would make sure that it was on the same night that he was there. It seemed that there were advantages to being an instructor and research fellow.

"If you like, I can contact you shortly before the tuning is to start, so that you can return to the Academy in time to participate." He cocked his head to observe her reaction to his statement.

"I'll send you my home contact information - or I could just enter it into your com now?"

Without any further comment he rose and activated his com unit, swiveling the keypad in her direction when she followed him. He watched her enter her contact information into his address book, silently exulting. He could send her updates about the construction process - perhaps she would even respond. This evening had been successful on several fronts.

She went into his bathroom and changed again, folding her meditation clothing and replacing it in his drawer. She could not know that after she left, he seated himself on the floor and opened that drawer to inhale her scent. He was hoping that she would forget to take that clothing away with her at the end of the semester.