'I Kissed a Girl'
After the stunt, Spock had expressed the opinion that Selina was likely to avail herself of the women's private yoga studio to meditate, so there was no point in waiting for her to emerge soon. And Uhura had refused to provide any further information. The way she had been smiling at Spock when they wandered off together, Jim had a sense that there was also no point in waiting for either of them to be available for further questioning anytime soon. So he went to the men's locker room looking for Sulu.
Hikaru was sitting in front of a locker, pulling his boots on. When he noticed Jim, he began to whistle. It took Jim a minute to place the tune.
" 'I Kissed a Girl' - very funny, Hikaru."
The helmsman grinned up at him. "I thought so."
"Between you and Spock, I should start a theatre company," Jim said, sitting down. "I could've sworn you were totally surprised when she kissed you."
"I was," Hikaru said. "I thought I was going to interrupt you getting chewed out. Getting slammed up against the wall and kissed was the last thing I expected."
"Uhura said it surprised her too, since it wasn't what they were planning." Jim shook his head. "I guess you just walked in at the wrong time."
"Wrong time?" Hikaru gave him a huge smile. "I'm not complaining."
"Yeah, you didn't look too unhappy," Jim chuckled. "When did she let you in on it?"
"She came over and sort of apologized before we took our positions. That's why we only went one bout," he explained. "She said she was more tired than she'd thought and needed to spend some time meditating. Gave me a good fight anyway. Someday, I'll have to see if I can still beat her when she's not dead on her feet."
Jim thought back over the morning. She'd woken up 'hearing' Hanlan being attacked, saved three of his men in the middle of a shoot out, tried to move negotiations along while also 'listening' for Hanlan to wake up, and then gotten drugged helping with a rescue mission. All while still operating on a sleep deficit, and then there was whatever having her shields down in the casino had cost her. Even though she'd just thoroughly gotten back at him, he suddenly felt a bit like a cad for adding to that.
"Well, it's been a long day. And Bones and I probably deserved it," Jim said. "I'm just sorry you got caught in the middle."
Hikaru laughed. "I'm not. The telepathy thing was kind of weird, but I can't remember the last time I had this much fun with a practical joke. And, she promised she'd reward me later for being such a good sport." He winked and walked out whistling.
.
As soon as they walked into his quarters, Nyota turned and threw her arms around Spock. "You were brilliant!" she said, kissing him. His hands rose to her back and pulled her close as he savored his reward.
"I never realized that you found fencing so ...stimulating," he observed when his lips were free again.
She smiled and ran a finger along the edge of his ear. "And to think I was actually worried when you showed up."
"Once I realized the game, I surmised that you would appreciate it if I contributed." He reached over to tap the privacy code on the door pad.
"You surmised correctly," she replied, moving to run her hands appreciatively along the firm back muscles under his shirt. "How long did it take you to figure it out?"
"I would have realized immediately if you had not implied that she had seen his thoughts," Spock murmured, his mouth moving softly against her neck.
Nyota's hands paused on his back in mid-caress. Hikaru's usual foil style was French school. Selina might have just guessed or thrown the Zorro reference out there as an excuse to break way. Spock had stopped nuzzling her neck and was looking at her. With this much close contact and no reason to maintain his shields, he had almost certainly caught glimpse of the scene that had just flashed through her mind.
"She's had her shields at least partially down most of the day and kissing him was total improv," Nyota said. "I'm sure it was just a slip, maybe surprise when he kissed her back like that?"
An eyebrow had risen slightly. "Possibly. However, that a man would return her kiss should hardly have been a surprise." His head was tilted to the side, and he had the sort of look he wore when parsing the translation of a particularly challenging text.
"Spock, what is going on in that brilliant head?" she asked.
"You know that I do not lie, Nyota. While my statements were tailored to meet the requirements of the game as I understood it, none of my comments were technically untrue." He leaned his forehead against hers. "But do not be concerned. My 'inner big brother' is firmly in check."
She studied the lower portion of his face. He did not look disturbed. In fact, there was a very faint smile. "I think I'm more concerned about you inner matchmaker," she said, suddenly suspicious. "I noticed you didn't exactly swear you'd never do anything like that again."
"I had told her that I would not 'play Cyrano' again. But I never swore that I would not ...encourage... the sort of connection that might persuade her to cease being heedless of her own well-being." His lips showed the hint of a sly smile.
"But you saw it. This was a joke." Nyota's eyes were wide. "You don't think she and Hikaru...?"
His shook his head. "While such a choice might be reasonable, I do not believe that she has designs on our helmsman."
"How do you know?" Nyota was beginning to wonder now herself.
"In the same way that I deduced your game: by the second point that she unnecessarily allowed. The first might have been due to fatigue, but the second could only have been because her attention was divided." He cupped Nyota's chin in his hand and looked into her eyes. "If she had truly desired him, he would have held her focus."
Nyota smiled. She could drown in those eyes. "Do you know what I desire?" she asked, pulling him back down into a kiss.
.
Christine Chapel walked into the women's locker looking for Selina. She had more or less chased Leonard back to sickbay, but now that a decent interval had passed, she decided to check on Selina herself. She found her sitting quietly in the women's yoga studio and was just about to leave her undisturbed when Selina opened her eyes and began to stand.
"Christine, I believe you know by now that our original plan has been altered?" she asked, her usual composure again in place.
"Yes, I was sitting a little behind everyone so I could hear what Nyota was going to say to them," Christine chuckled. "It wasn't quite what I'd expected to hear."
"Forgive me. I had not expected to encounter Jim and Len discussing me in the equipment room. I am afraid that I ...lost my temper." She looked down for a moment. "When the opportunity to improvise presented itself, I did so."
Christine smiled. "Hey, I don't blame you. Given an opportunity like that to kiss Hikaru, I would have grabbed it too."
Selina's eyebrows rose.
"Don't be surprised," Christine said. "Ever since he started doing those fencing demonstrations, as many women have been interested in him as in your 'brother'."
Selina placed a hand over her eyes. "Please tell me I did not just hear that. Surely Spock could not have acquired another fan club?"
Christine laughed. "Don't worry. Everyone likes Nyota. As long as he's with her, he's pretty safe."
"I noticed that he had joined the audience. I hope that I did not cause him undue concern?"
"I think he was just fine," Christine said. "In fact, after a few minutes he was playing right along."
A single eyebrow rose in disbelief. "Spock played along?"
"Oh, you would have been so proud of him! He explained in that perfectly dispassionate voice why it wouldn't be illogical for you to fancy Hikaru until Leonard and the Captain both looked nearly sick," she recounted gleefully. "And to top it all off, he told them he'd be fine with it if you took Sulu for a lover, even though he hadn't considered him before as a potential match!"
The sparkle in Selina's eyes died at the words 'potential match'. Though her face remained calm, one hand balled in a fist at her side. "He said the words 'potential match'?"
"He even had Nyota going for a moment with that one - made it sound like maybe he'd intended to fix you up with Hikaru."
Selina's head tilted to the side and her brows furrowed in thought. She looked as though she were considering something unpleasant.
"What's wrong?" Christine asked.
"Since he is in no real danger from his new fan club, I am wondering if Nyota would forgive me if I caused him physical damage."
"What? Why? I thought you'd like it that he played along."
"I do, but he never lies if he can at all avoid it." Selina's lips formed a tight line. "Let us just say that there is a history to that particular turn of phrase. And I had thought I had provided sufficient deterrent to prevent it from recurring."
"Well, we could always use the original plan on him," Christine suggested.
She shook her head, but a small smile formed. "He knows me too well. He would know immediately that it was an act - although, he might break an all time record for single eyebrow lift." Her own lifted slightly at the notion.
"For that, you'd have to kiss Jim or Leonard - or better yet, both!"
"Not an entirely unappealing prospect, but we have just worked too hard to lay that rivalry to rest." The corner of her mouth twisted. "Besides, I am reasonably certain that both of them would be quite uncomfortable with what actually kissing me might entail."
It was Christine's turn to raise her eyebrows.
"I am afraid that I am rather seriously out of practice when it comes to maintaining my shields when a kiss is at all enjoyable." Selina sighed and looked away. "Most men find having their thoughts exposed in such a situation rather disconcerting."
"So I take it that kissing Hikaru was enjoyable?" Christine grinned.
"Yes." Selina blushed slightly. "Fencing is not all he that he excels in."
"In that case, I don't feel so bad about not taking part in the joke," Christine replied. "Although I would really have loved to have seen Leonard's face if you'd kissed me."
I was listening to the song in the title when the original idea came to me, but then when Sulu kept jumping into my scene I realized it could still work (and it's maybe a bit more amusing when you consider that George Takei came out a couple years ago, although in my story Sulu is fairly straight). This just makes Spock's decision to interfere a bit more complicated and gives Selina a heads up that he's up to something.
Selina doesn't want to come between two friends, but what are the chances that she's actually laid the rivalry over her to rest? Or that she will keep turning them down if she becomes hacked off enough at Spock for matchmaking?
