Unfinished Business
Chapter 28 : Public Courting
June, 2273
Perhaps he grew bolder, or perhaps simply more confident, but it was not long before he was once again by her side at mealtimes. And she seemed content to have him there. It was one morning, as he struggled to consume the nutrients he had selected for breakfast, that she looked at what he had there on his tray and sighed. He turned his head in her direction, confused. "You'll never eat enough to gain back the weight you've lost if you don't choose things that taste good!"
He looked at the unappetizing mixture of boiled grains and steamed vegetables on his plate and found that he had to agree with her. "What would you suggest?"
She rose from her seat and took his tray, taking the glass of fruit juice off of it and setting it back on the table and crossed to the busing station, leaving everything else there. Back to the serving line she went, and a few minutes later she was back at the table, setting a full tray in front of him. He looked down in astonishment. Waffles with pecans in them, covered with butter and maple syrup. A small omelet, stuffed with cheese and peppers and onions. Whole wheat toast, with peanut butter and jam. Half a cantaloupe filled with blueberries. His mouth actually watered and he lifted the fork and began to eat.
When McCoy sat down across from them a short while later, he noticed Spock's tray and heartily approved. Nyota grinned. And thereafter, she was in charge of filling his tray. He found himself eating a much wider variety of foods. And everything she chose for him was appealing, full of herbs and spices and savory vegetables and fresh fruit. And because she was selecting his food, of course he must appear at her door to escort her to the mess hall at breakfast time. It was one morning not very long after she began to select his food, that she tentatively touched his sleeve, and he bent his elbow out, allowing her to slide her hand between his body and his arm, as she had used to do. And so they were seen after that, walking the corridors, with her hand tucked into his elbow, and her head close to his shoulder.
She introduced him to savory vegetable stews, with robust whole grain breads to accompany them, and salads filled with many different vegetables, as well as nuts and cheese, and sometimes even fruit. He found no fault with any of it. He learned to appreciate fried rice, and refried beans, and spring rolls, as well as curried lentils, and pumpkin soup, and samosas, and baklava, which he had always refused to try on the grounds that it was too sweet. He discovered that it went well with an astringent tea. And he began to regain the weight that he had lost, slowly but surely, to the great delight of McCoy.
They continued their walks, and as they walked through the arboretum, if his hand brushed against hers as he pointed out some feature of a new blooming plant, she did not withdraw, but seemed rather to linger there, allowing the touch. When they stopped in the observatory to watch the stars, it would not have been possible to insert so much as a thin sheet of plastic between their bodies as they sat upon the bench. And if her head seemed to lean against his shoulder, he did not remark upon it, but held himself still, and treasured it.
Every week, he played his ka'athyra in the rec room, and she was always there, and always sang while he played, smiling at him, and sometimes coming to stand by his side, or at his shoulder, with the fingers of one hand lightly touching him. He minded this not at all, and would have encouraged more of it, if he could have imagined a way to do so.
And so it was, that he took a chance, and asked her, as they were leaving the mess hall after end-meal one evening, if she would attend this week's movie with him. She looked up at him then and asked him if he remembered how she liked her popcorn. "I have forgotten nothing about you, Nyota." was his response, and she blushed and smiled, and clung to his arm, and his blood heated more than was sensible.
When the correct evening came, he turned from the synthesizer-turned-popcorn-dispenser, with the large carton of well-buttered and salted popcorn that she preferred, and found her standing there beside him, eager. They went down the short distance to the room where the movies were always shown, and took their normal place, in the back row, against the far wall. And there they sat, and he dropped his hand down behind them, so that the backs of his fingers rested against the soft skin of her thigh, and she did not protest at all. And when the music started, and the action began on the screen, her fingers rose to his mouth, with several kernels of popcorn in them, and she stuffed them between his lips as though she had never once stopped doing this. And something inside him broke loose, and he was filled with her, and must control himself strongly to prevent an untoward display of emotion. And he knew, with every fiber of his being, that they must have that talk that he was dreading, and very soon.