AN: Hi everyone! I'm so sorry for the delay and that this is such a short chapter but RL has a way of pushing things aside. I really hope this chapter is ok and I would really appreciate reviews. It helps to remind me to keep going and serves as inspiration. Please let me know what you think! Thank you for reading!

Tishbing

Chapter Eight

Nyota Uhura followed Spock into his quarters where he proceeded to continue to ignore her and sit at his desk. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot as he starting pulling up files, too fast to really see, and discarding them just as quickly. His search started to take on a frantic pace and Uhura had just about had enough.

"Spock?"

No reply.

"Spock!"

He continued pulling up more and more documents, some with a red classified stamp across that he could not access while others showed plant diagrams. He was quickly setting them up in a meticulous timetable.

"Spock! What the hell is going on?" Uhura shouted and he paused in his typing to turn towards her. Uhura could see that there were lines around his eyes that weren't there two months ago, his behavior, as of late, almost seemed...desperate and he had been closing her out more and more.

Tonight had been the first time in a month that Spock had initiated something resembling spending time together outside of duty and she had been sorely disappointed.

He'd been locking himself up and doing...something. She could see scores of PADDs littering his desk, some in Vulcan script, others looked more like legal documents and combined with Spock's latest stunt it left a sour taste in her mouth.

She'd been giving him space to deal with whatever was bothering him but enough was enough. She slowly walked towards him and leaned a hip on his desk. She forced herself to relax, even though she felt like strangling him, and let her body fall into a more non-confrontational pose.

"What is going on with you?" She watched as Spock's eyes darted from hers to the computer screen and back, clearly torn. Nyota had never been more grateful for her Starfllet training. The urge to storm from the room in frustration was great but she waited patiently.

Spock closed his eyes and took a deep breath to center himself. While he was doing that a lit PAAD caught her eye. She saw an acceptance letter from the New Vulcan Science Academy.

Puzzled, Uhura lifted the PADD and quickly scrolled down. It was for a teaching position in the languages department...for her. Start date was set for six months from now. Her mouth instantly went dry.

"Spock, what is this?" Before he had a chance to respond, Uhura grabbed another PADD. This one didn't have much, just a Vulcan litigator's contact information. She grabbed another. It had a listing of Federation laws regarding custody cases between parents of differing species and cultures. Another had Kirk's personnel file, most of it blocked because Spock's clearance wasn't high enough.

"What is this?" Uhura thrust the PADDs in his face. Spock's expression went blank, as if he threw a veil over his emotions to confront her.

"They are necessary preparations." His tone was cool, calculated and it only infuriated Nyota. She stood up and started to go through the PADDs more thoroughly and even saw Spock's carefully worded transfer request to the VSA.

"I know you know what I mean, Spock. What are you doing?" She waved the documents in emphasis.

"I am making preparations for the birth of my child. As the Enterprise is unable to host children, it falls to me to make the necessary arrangements."

"And where am I in all of these preperations?" She knew what the letter had said but she needed him to say it.

"You would be at my side, on New Vulcan, teaching." He said it as smoothly as if he didn't realize that what he'd done was wrong.

"I'm not a teacher, Spock. My home is the Enterprise. It's my life! I love it here." She continued shuffling through the veritable mountain of research filling his desk and saw the computer screen as a green "Verified" started to flash. There was a timeline listed and Spock had placed Thomas Leighton's file next to the captain's in comparison. Lines were drawn from the classified sections connecting to press releases from Leighton and an unknown assistant as well as to listings of Federation history. Uhura tried to ignore it, the green flashing was irritating to her in the edge of her visual field.

Spock tensed in his chair and his eyebrows drew down. "I had believed that you would want to become my bondmate and join me on New Vulcan when my child was born. My mother found teaching on Vulcan satisfying and stimulating when she raised me."

Spock knew exactly where to target Uhura and she felt her heart squeeze in sympathy. "I know she did but I'm..." The flashing continued and Uhura had to force herself to face Spock. "I'm not her."

"I know this, Nyota." Spock's voice was hoarse, as though the pain was bubbling under the surface tearing his throat raw but his face was as smooth as any Vulcan she had ever seen.

"Then why are you trying to make me into her?" The green flashing was becoming more insistent and suspicion was beginning to unfurl in her mind.

"Why would we need to move to New Vulcan? Where would Kirk be in all..." She waved a hand at Spock's documents. "...this?"

Spock looked at her as though he was looking at someone else, his gaze was unfocused and distant. "I am not attempting to make you into my mother." He turned away from her and pulled up the new document on the computer. Spock quickly sectioned the new data and lined it up with the blank spaces in the timeline.

"Spock? You're not answering me."

He looked from the computer screen to her. "The captain will not have a place on New Vulcan nor will she raise my child."

Uhura didn't know what to say. It was starting to make sense. The past behavior and the documentation on Spock's desk began to fall into place like puzzle pieces into a picture in her mind. The image slowly coming into focus.

"What?" Her word was hardly more than a whisper.

"She is unsuitable."

"What..." Her mouth was dry and Uhura tried to swallow. "What are you talking about?"

"The captain did well to hide her past but she was not able to hide the past of those around her. That, combined with her recent behavior, is enough to show that she would not be a suitable mother."

"You can't be serious." She looked from him to the documents again and saw the meticulous planning and organization and recognized the pattern from when he was a professor at the academy. It was flawless and followed the set parameters well. There was everything that he would need to bring a case forward even so far as a future plan set. Uhura doubted that the Captain had set up her plans.

"I assure you, I am serious, Nyota. Why would I not be?" Spock quickly pressed the send button on his desktop and gave Uhura his full attention. "The captain's history shows a past habit of self-sacrifice and repeated thrill-seeking, dangerous behavior. Most may see it as noble, however, I see it as a cry for help, possibly a death wish. She had a clear history of abuse and trauma that she has not sought help for and has therefore not healed. She has even attempted to murder my child without my permission or knowledge and has not shown the slightest interest in planning for the future of said child."

The air became like a suffocating blanket, threatening to snuff her out. "How can you know about her past and what does it have to do with now?"

"History has sown that those abused and those that have suffered trauma tend to abuse and/or neglect their children and Vulcan children are more sensitive to the emotional state of their parents. She has shown resentment towards the child. Captain Kirk did well with disguising her past but it was only a matter of time and research. I was able to correlate the data from her past associates and able to discover that she was on Tarsus IV during the time of Governor Kodos. There were reports and some comments from survivors that placed her right in the middle of everything."

Spock took a deep breath and Uhura's horror grew as he continued. "Not only did she suffer through the attempted genocide but her mother's divorce documents showed the reason for divorce as abuse. Severe child abuse of two children. Winona Kirk continuously left her children in the care of an abusive husband and neglected them by failing to notice. This pattern of behavior could be repeated. I will not have another male raise my child and risk this nor will I allow my son or daughter be left behind with someone that is not their parent so that Kirk can abandon them to do as she pleases."

"So..." Uhura's hands started shaking, the feeling quickly leaving them. Her heart started to thrum as everything fell into place. "...you're going to take her baby away from her?"

Spock's head tilted, almost like he was trying to understand a conundrum. "I will be obtaining custody of my child to ensure it's wellbeing."

"Where am I in this...plan?" Bile threatened to come up in the back of her throat.

"At my side, of course. I have secured a prestigious position for both of us and we would raise the child together. It is only logical to ensure the best possible scenario for the three of us."

Uhura couldn't see straight, the room seemed to be spinning out of control. "I have to go." She couldn't escape from the room fast enough.

It was two floors down before she could catch her breath and only then could she sink to the floor. She was torn in two. Her love for Spock warring with her duty to her friend. She had to remember that Spock was an alien and it had never been more evident in their relationship before today. His cold logic was being used as a tool to destroy her friend.

James Kirk had been through so much. Nyota wasn't sure she'd survive another trauma but at the same time, what about Spock's rights to the baby? Kirk hadn't even acknowledged the pregnancy, going to the point of still hiding the growing bump but would she be so different? An unexpected pregnancy with a subordinate officer would be ripe for scandal, especially if that officer was already in a committed relationship.

She understood that Spock was trying to protect his family but at the same time, it was too far. The thought of taking a baby away from their mother was sickening and even though she would never want to have a child of her own it would break her if someone took her baby away from her.

Spock was even planning her future without consulting her. Nyota was still young, at the height of her career in Starfleet. Her dreams of being the next Hoshi Sato were rapidly being pushed aside by Spock with no consideration to her wants and needs. She wasn't ready to give up her life here. She loved Spock but she loved herself more. She wasn't ready to set down roots and become a mother. At twenty-five, she still had barely scratched the surface of life.

"Uhura? Are you ok?"

Nyota looked up to see Jamie looking down at her, concern lighting her features. It was then that she noticed there was something different about Kirk. Even though she was worried, there was a certain glow about her, as though a weight had been lifted. There was still sadness but there was a sense of peace surrounding her.

The other woman crouched down, her baggy off-duty clothes obscuring her belly and she reached out. "What's happened? Why are you crying?"

Uhura reached up and felt wetness on her cheeks. She hadn't even realized she'd shed tears. "Uhura, what's wrong?" Her hand gripped hers and squeezed and it was too much. She could feel the hot sting of tears and for the first time in her life, Uhura cried in front of someone else. She let herself be pulled into a gentle embrace and heard the whispers of comfort being offered by Jamie as she stroked her back and it only made her cry harder. How could Spock not see this?