Hello, so computer is back up and running, well close enough. Also I have started to go over and correct most typos, I can't promise to spot them all but I'll try so chapter one has now been corrected and chapter two will be done tomorrow (and so on).

Please enjoy chapter 15, I've got a thing for little green men.

March 11th

In his dream she moved above him. Eyes closed lips deliciously parted. Her dark hair fell loosely around her shoulders trailing down to half hide her pert breasts. She gasped his name voice husky and breathless.

Spock awoke his shame and guilt of imagining Nyota in such a way without her permission, especially given the circumstances in which he knew her body, did not last long. She was coming back to him today. This morning she would be back. He would meet her at the shuttle pad and take her t breakfast. She had not been two weeks as she had said but twenty three days. He had relieved two messages from her notifying him that she was stay at home a little longer than expected. Each time he had felt disappointment and had trouble concentrating for a few hours after.

He had spent the majority of his evening since she had left meditating and felt as if he had fully gained control of his emotions and regain a sense of peace ad balance in his life.

He got up from his bed, headed straight for the shower. He stayed under the steaming hot water for twenty minutes, shaved and then wrapped a towel around his waist as he went through the front room into the bedroom. He got a second towel out of the closet and rubbed his hair dry. The he picked the newest of his gray uniforms out and put them on. He went back to the bathroom and combed his hair. Then he left his apartment for the shuttle pad.

He had arrived ten minutes before the regular shuttle from the airport to the academy was due to arrive. As he entered the long building, he saw a familiar figure on the middle walkway. She looked up and smiled widely at seeing him. Spock felt his lips twitch in response. She was wearing a star fleet uniform but instead of her dress she had chosen to wear the less popular trouser and jacket version. But she wore her hair down, she carried a small duffel in her back. Spock stopped and watched her walk towards him. When she was two feet from him he reached his hand out too her and she gave that wonderful smile again and handed him her bag.

" Nyota." He could hear the reverence in his own voice.

" Hi Spock."

Spock turned and started to walk her to the cadet dorms. She walked beside him matching his strides exactly. They both seemed to sense that words were unnecessary, Spock just delighted in having her mind on the fridge of his own again and that wonderful smell of raspberries.

They took the stairs up to her apartment and walked down the hallway, when they reached her door. Nyota turned t him and smiled again as she opened the door. He could sense how happy she was to see him and knowing that they were feeling the exact same emotions seemed to add to his joy.

The door slid open. One moment Nyota was stood smiling in front of him the next moment there was a tangle of covered and green limbs sprawled on the floor.

" Nyota I'm so sorry."

Galia ungraciously untangled herself and after a few touches and giggles both girls were left kneeling on the floor. Galia looked at her friend, she bit her lip in anxiety. Nyota sat staring at her for a moment and then a wide and honest smile spread across her face and she laughed loudly. Spock was glad to feel tightness in his chest and the stomach flip that her laughter caused in him. Fir the first time in twenty- five days he knew she was alright.

" Its okay, you just caught me off balance."

Nyota said the two girls looked at each other for another moment and then the hugged each other, Spock felt slightly moved t see tears well in Galia's eyes, he didn't think he had truly appreciated the depth of the friendship the unlikely roommate shared for each other.

" I've missed you Lia."

" Me too, it's been so only since you left I had to have people sleepover but you weren't here so you can't get angry at me, I didn't kill your plant."

Nyota gave a short laugh.

" I'm not angry. I'm sorry I was gone so long."

" It's okay, you needed it. Are you alright now Ny?"

" Yes. I'm okay now." Nyota said confidently. She looked up at Spock, their eyes meeting for a few moments.

" Galia, can you give me an hour? I need to discuss catching up with my the commander."

Galia looked between the two of them then nodded.

Okay." Galia jumped to hr feet and held her hand out to help Nyota up.

"You hurry back and I'll unpack for you."

Spock handed Galia the bag.

" See you in an hour." Nyota said and Spock walked with her down to the mess hall. Spock kept looking across at Nyota as they walked, he found it hard to keep his eyes from her.

" You look happy." He said as they exited the student building and into the sunlight.

" I needed to be at home. I needed the support of my family but I'm glad to be back. I've missed the freedom, the lectures and of course Galia." She Smiled across at him. " And you."

" I have felt your absence." Spock confessed quietly.

They entered the mess hall and headed straight for the replicator when they saw the long queue for the fresh food. Spock smiled when he saw Nyota head towards the last empty table with a bowl of Plomeet soup. He himself ordered bubble and squeak with eggs hoping she would understand the irony. Spock sat across from her he looked at her for a moment.

" You are truelly well?" He asked.

" Yes Spock. I am, and you?"

" I am well. I do not wish to upset you but I must inform you that Williams has been deported off world."

" He's gone?" Nyota's voice betrayed some relief.

" Yes Nyota."

" I don't have to be scared anymore?"

" No Nyota, you don't."

Nyota looked around her the mess hall was at full capacity only their table had free seats, students always seemed to avoid sitting near to Spock. The room was noisy and nobody was paying much attention to a student and teacher talking over breakfast. She leaned forwards and spoke in his home dialect.

" I wish I could touch you." Her eye's were bright and intense. Spock felt his heartbeat increase but he knew he could not allow this sort of behavior, their were already people becoming suspicious about the nature of their relationship, although Ohakim's accusations had been thrown out they would stay in her and Sinclair's mind, McCoy seemed positive that he was in asexual relationship with Nyota and Chris knew that they had created some kind of bond but not even Spock knew the nature of it.

"We must not do such thing's in public. I did not see any reason to tell you this but Doctor Ohakim made accusations that my relationship with you is.. less than innocent. I feel that we should avoid being seen together so much." Nyota's face dropped. " Perhaps instead of eating in the mess hall on Wednesday's after our one to one lesson we could eat in my office?"

Nyota seemed to consider his words for a moment.

"What do you mean by less than innocent?"

" She suggested that we were having a sexual relationship."

Nyota stared open mouthed at him for a second then blushed and looked away.

"I am sorry, I should not have told you."

" No I want you to be honest with me."

" I embarrassed you."

" No, I just …. Yes you embarrassed me. But it's better than keeping thing's from me."

" Just be aware that people are watching us now."

" Us?"

" You and I, our friendship."

" Our friendship?"

Spock did not know why she didn't understand the statement, he had told her he considered her a friend before.

" Yes, our friendship."

" I'd better get back to Galia before she comes looking for me."

Spock nodded, they had both finished eating and she wished to spend time with her friend. But he did not want her to go, it was the first time they had had a proper conversation in months.

" Yes, Nyota will you come to my office at 14:00 I can help you to catch up on the lectures that you have missed."

" I did read through all the module notes you sent me but I could use some clarification and extra information on somethings."

He watched her as she left, his eyes rested for a few seconds on the sway of her hips.

At 14:03 the door to Spock's office buzzed, he felt her presence close to him. He had been anticipate her arrival. He ran a hand over her hair smoothing it down.

" Come in."

Nyota looked into the room cautiously. Seeing he was alone she walked in. Spock stood up, Nyota smiled at him then turned around and pressed the button to close the door. They were alone at last. Spock walked quickly towards her, she met him in the middle of the room. They stopped their bodies almost touching. Their fingers reached out for each others and they intertwined. Spock felt the bond between them flair . He felt her happiness at their reunion and the twinkling warmth of her katra.

His other hand reached for her face and ran along the soft smooth skin of her cheek. He felt her fingers running through his hair, tussling it slightly.

" Soft." She muttered. He was entranced by the movement of those plump lips. He felt her desire from him, deep and powerful longing that left him breathless. He ran his fingers along her silken moist lips and gasped as they parted and moved against his fingers. He shivered as her teeth nipped at the sensitive pad of his forefinger. He moved his fingers away from her face. He ran his hands up her arms for a moment before drawing away.

" I am glad you are back Nyota."

" Yes, as am I."

" Now, how can I assist you?'

March 20th

Spock changed into his exercise clothes, carefully folded his uniform and walked on the hall of the sports complex to put them in his locker. Then he headed out to the track, passing one of the gymnasiums and a window overlooking the pool. It was relatively busy at this time of the morning with cadets doing llaps before their lectures began. As Spock entered the quad he saw around a dozen of his students waiting for him. There were another ten to arrive.

"Warm up exercises." Spock shouted.

He ached the cadets spread out on the grass in the middle of the track. Each started to perform various exercises. It was then that he noticed copious amounts of well toned long legs revealed by academy standard shorts. Nyota was not a member of his advanced fitness class, he had not received any notification that she had been moved up. He could not ask her now the rest of the students were arriving.

At exactly 7:30 Spock called to his students again.

" Ten laps. Cadet Uhura, I need to inform you of our routine"

Nyota approached him, he lowered his voice.

" Cadet, I was not notified of your transfer."

" There wasn't any notification because Adams would not allow me to move up, he does not think I am ready."

Spock raised his eyebrows.

" Then why are you here?"

" I can't move to advanced combat unless I have completed several months of advanced fitness."

" I was under the impression that you had only been moved up to intermediate level combat last week."

" Yes."

" So why do you think you will be ready to move up at the beginning of next year ?"

He did not mention that only twenty percent of students ever got into the advanced classes, only seven percent completed them.

" Because I have to be." Nyota's voice had twinges of desperation in it, her eyes were beseeching.

" Explain."

" I need to get into advanced combat. I need to learn to protect myself."

He wished he could tell her that she never had to be scared, that he would always protect her but he knew it was impossible to be with her every minute at every day. Though with her linked to his mind he would sense when she was in danger he could not protect her from everything.

" I will give you a trial period in advanced fitness but I will move you back down if I believe you are over stretching yourself."

Nyota gave a small smile a nodded.

" Laps Cadet."

" Thank you commander." She said as she joined the others on the track. Spock kept his eyes on her more than the other students. The laps did not seem to phase her and she was neither the slowest nor the fastest in the class, but he knew she had previous experience in running. When the first student had finished his laps he ran back to the grass.

" Green level, 80 sit- ups 80 push ups, Orange level 100 sit ups 100 push ups, red level 130 sit ups 130 push ups. Uhura, you start on green."

He watched the cadets run onto the field and fall into there sit ups. Spock walked around his student he stopped besides cadet Denver.

" Congratulations Cadet you will be moving up to Orange next week."

" Thank you commander."

At the end of the eighty sit- ups Nyota had slowed considerably, a thin sheen of sweat covered her long limbs. Half way through the push ups her arms began to wobble and after three more he saw her arm faltered and she fell to the side rolled on to her back and heaving a few breaths. One of the male cadets stopped what he was doing and approached her but she got back up and continued. The cadet shock his head and dropped back to the floor. Spock concentrated on the link between them he could sense her tiredness and the weakening of her limbs. She was not ready to be in his group, she would cause herself and injury and he could not allow that even if she would not like him denying her anything. Even if he himself did not want to deny her anything she desired. Spock approached Nyota he knelt on the floor next to her. This close to her he could hear the struggling of her breaths.

" Cadet, take a break, drink some water and join us in the gym."

" I can do it." She panted.

" That was an order cadet."

She looked up at him. Then nodded and stood up, walking into the building.

Spock led his students into the gymnasium, they would be concentrating on weights. Nyota was already sat at the end waiting for them, he nodded for her to join him. He instructed the students to continue with their own routines, suggesting to a few that they increase the weights on their bar.

" Cadet, do you wish to continue?"

" Yes."

" There is a lower weight limit you are expected to begin the class at, but I sense you have already caused some strain to your pectoralis major and biceps brachii and to bench above your usual weight would cause greater strain."

"Stop being so protective Spock!" She snapped at him.

" You are being insubordinate cadet."

She look him her mouth slightly open and then shook her head.

" Sorry Commander."

She walked away from him. He watched her as she started on the weights and then moved on to the rowing machine. He knew that she was being foolish to continue, she had stained her leg and arm muscles She was tired and a little dehydrated, and she had a full day of lectures to complete. He didn't understand why she wished to push herself so far beyond her physical limits, there was nothing to be gained from it. She had said that she needed to protect herself, was this sudden reckless desire due to her inability to protect herself from William's attack?

As all the students left to shower or swim laps he called her over.

" Cadet Uhura a word."

He felt some trepidation she approached him.

" Cadet, you have not yet reached the required entrance level for this class."

He could sense her anger. She straightened up, he could sense she was about to argue with him. He interceded wishing to keep her calm.

" Nyota, I am sorry but I must insist that you return to intermediate class. When you are ready you can join my advanced class but not before."

"I am ready." The Vulcan words sounded strange with her angry tone.

"You told me you wished me to be honest with you."

Nyota seemed to deflate, her shoulder slumped and Spock could sense the misdirected anger draining out of her.

" Yes, even if I don't like what you have to say."

Saturday March 28th

Spock had sent a message to Nyota asking her to meet him at the library at 11:00 . She had shown no anger towards him in the last week. It seemed that she had accepted his decision not to allow her to join his class. Still he had thought about how strong her desire to learn to protect herself had been and he wished to help her. He had come up with several ways in which he could help her until she was ready to join his class. He would start with the easiest and possibly most useful.

He had sat near the entrance of the library reading a short article on an experimental warp core cooling system. A shadow fell over the screen, he looked up to see Nyota standing besides him. She moved to sit in the chair on the opposite side of the table from him.

'Do you mind if I finish reading? It should not take more than two minutes."

" No, course not."

He finished reading the article and looked up at her. She had been watching him quietly.

"Good morning Nyota. I trust you are well."

"Yes, quite well thank you. Just a little puzzled".

"Puzzled?"

"As to why you asked to see me on a Saturday, not that I mind at all, It's just that you've never done that before."

"You wish to learn to defend yourself ?"

She sighed.

"I need to learn to protect myself Spock. I don't want …. I don't want anybody to hurt me like .. like he did."

"Nyota, that night you dd not know there was any danger. You were taken by surprise and had less than a few seconds to react. It may not have been possible to defend yourself even with the best training,"

"Are you saying that there was nothing that I could have done?"

" I believe that there was very little that you could have done."

" Perhaps that's even worse. To be powerless to protect myself."

"I will teach you to protect yourself."

"You're going to teach me hand to hand combat?"

"I thought we would start with something easier but just as useful."

She gave a small conspiring smile.

"Spock, what are we dong today?"

"Am I right in assuming you have never fired a phaser?"

She stared at him

"You know we're not allowed to do phaser training till the second year."

"That's not necessarily true, you are allowed to have one to one lessons with somebody authorized to teach. They're just not offered very often."

"And you're offering?"

" Yes."

"I can't say no then."

"You can say no. I would not force you, it is completely voluntarily, it's your free time."

"Spock, I'm not going to say no."

"I've booked a gallery for 11:15 till 12:00, will you join me for lunch afterward?"

" I thought you didn't want to be seen with me as often any more."

" I thought we could eat outside of the academy grounds, if that is acceptable to you."
She smiled and he felt that now familiar stomach flip.

" It's more than acceptable."

" Shall we depart now?"

" Yes."

He got up and walked down the aisles to replace the book from whence it came. Nyota waited for him at the doorway. They walked side by side across the field at the back of the library to the long building that had the singular purpose of enclosing young people learning to use deadly weapons for the first time. In the entirety of the academy history there had only been one fatality, one was enough.

The gallery was always manned, first and second year students had to be accompanied by those with teaching permits. Third years were allowed into the gallery on their own if they had passed there second year training but they were only allowed modified safety phasers permanently set to stun.

Spock signed them in at the front desk, he lead Nyota through the hallways to the armory where he placed his hand on the door panel, his palm was scanned.

"Voice identification required." The feminine electronic voice announced.

" Commander Spokh, authorization code Delta Three Seven Alpha Romeo."

" Code accepted, welcome commander Spock."

He turned to Nyota.

" Stay here."

" Okay."

Spock entered the armory, the walls were lined with multiple titanium cases. Spock went to the first on on his left and unlocked it, he took out two of the safety phasers and checked they were fully loaded and in proper working order. He locked the door behind him as he left.

" I booked the short distance stationary tunnel, it goes back to a distance of fifteen meters."

" Sounds like a good place to start."

" Indeed. Follow me."

He led her to the tunnel he had booked. Next year when she would take lessons in here it would be with fifty other students, she would get the fire the phaser twice in an hours lesson. He would give her a more complete education.

He started to explain to her how on an ordinary phaser she would change the settings, how it worked, how long the power cells could last , how to charge them and what to do if they overloaded. She listened intently, her eyes boring into his, smiling and nodding every so often. Having her stand so close to him made his heartbeat increase twelve percent. When he handed her the phaser her hands were trembling.

" There is no need to be nervous Nyota, as I said it is a modified phaser, you cannot turn it off stun."

" I know, I've just never held a weapon before."

" Perhaps it would help if you think of the phaser as less of a weapon and more of a tool, on star ships they have been used as drills, heating devices and batteries."

" Okay, deep breaths right?" She said with a small weary smile.

" Stay calm and aim. Do not worry about speed it will come with time."

Spock approached the computer terminal to the left of the the large glass screen, the long tunnel beyond was dark. Spock turned the lights on and programmed the large glass screen to slide apart in two halves. Then he had one humanoid shaped target appear out of a trap door in the floor. He moved it back five meters so that Nyota could get used to firing the weapon.

"The target will light up for red where you have hit it and resets ten seconds afterward. There is a slight kickback, it will not hurt you but it takes a couple of shots to get used to."

"Okay." She walked to the middle of the gallery. She stood shoulder squared, she spread her feet and aimed the phaser with two hands. She inhaled deeply and fired a 1.2 second burst. She dropped her arms and stood staring at the target. Spock walked to stand beside her, the right shoulder of the target had lit up.

" Average for a first try Cadet."

She turned and smiled.

" It;s the weekend Spock, I'm Nyota today."

" Of course, it is the teaching environment."

" How do I become above average?"

" Practice." She smiled at his response.

" What can I do to improve now?'

" Relax your stance and shot with one hand. There will be many occasions in which you will not have both hands free, It is best to learn from the start than try to correct it later."

" Okay, can I try again?"

Spock nodded and took a few steps back. She raised one arm this time but Spock noticed there was still a ridgedness to her stance. There was a stream of red light and a woshing noise as the energy beam cut through the air. The target lit up red on the vicinity of the pelvis.

" Although I am sure that a hit to that part of the anatomy would disable a target there is a batter chance of hitting the target at a distance if you aim for the chest as it is the widest part of a humanoids body and has the smallest percentage of resistance against both stun and kill shots."
Nyota's smile faltered at the mention of a kill shot.

" Nyota, the occasions in which Star Fleet officers have had to shot to kill are few and all were well justified."
She nodded.

" Do you wish to continue?"

She stared at the floor for the briefest of seconds and then met his eyes and nodded solemnly.

" Yeah, I do."

" I will demonstrate a proper stance to you."

Spock raised all five of the targets, set two of them at a distance of twelve meters, the other three at a distance of fifteen meters. He approached the tunnel and shot five short bursts, hitting all the target directly in the left of the chest. He turned to speak to Nyota her eyes quickly flickered up to his, she blushed slightly.

" Did you take note of the differences in our stances and how it affected the aim?"

" Yes, um yes."

Spock placed his phaser down on the side of the console. He indicated for her to fire again. She took up her previous stance, Spock went to stand directly behind her.

" Your feet are too far apart, move them three inches closer. Good, now turn your body at the waist twenty degrees to your left , drop your left shoulder. Now you can fire."

He moved to her side. She hit the first target in the vicinity of the stomach. He watched her bite her lip.

" Your right arm is slightly bent at the elbow."

He watched her straighten it slightly. Then after thirteen seconds she fired again. This time she hit the target straight in the chest. He watched her wide smile.

" I did it!" She said her voice excited, Spock felt the sudden impulse to kiss her but her restrained it and spoke.

" Do not loose concentration now Nyota, there are still the three distant targets."

The smile stayed on her face as she fired at the three other targets. She missed the first completely, the smile faded and he sensed her disappointment. She dropped her arm, took a deep breath to steady herself then aimed again. This time she hit the target in the head, the next two she hit square in the chest.

" Practice." She said her voice happy.

" It is 11:58, we must return the phasers to the armory now. Do you wish to do this again at some point in the near future?"
" Yes, I do."
" I will book the gallery for the same time next week if that is acceptable to you?"

" That's acceptable Spock."

They sat down at a quiet corner table in a small sandwich bar. Spock was happy to be out with her in their free time, for the first time since Thanks Giving he felt he had free rein to ask her anything he wished and not to have to concentrate their conversation around Linguistics and academy aspirations.

" May I ask a number of personal inquires?" Spock asked.

" Of course."

" I wish to know about your home, your siblings."

" You know I have two siblings a brother and a sister." Spock nodded. " Both are older. My Brother is the oldest, he;s twenty-five, he got married three years ago and he's wife is now pregnant with there first child, it's due in two months. My sister Nyonda is twenty-three she's very protective of me. I think you'd like her, well you'd have thing's to talk about at least, she's a conservationist."

" An interesting field."

" It's the only thing she's passionate about, that and partying."

" Is it on planet conservation?"

" Yes, she was turned down a position on a science ship. Moving animal species who were similar to our primates off a dying world and releasing them on a suitable class M planet with no indigenous lifeforms."

" Do you know her reasons?"

" She's a little xenophobic. She's not a bigot or anything." Nyota said quickly. " She just believes in preserving our planet first."

" That is logical."

" She was a little upset with me when I joined Star Fleet, she never actually said anything but she kept joking I was only signing up because I had a thing for little green men."

" I do not understand, what does 'a thing for little green men' mean?"

" Little green men was a pre- first contact saying for alien races."

" Pre- first contact Humans did not know there were other inhabited planets in the universe."

"No, they didn't know but some suspected there were. There are so many star systems out there I guess they thought it was inevitable. They used to draw what these aliens would look like as little green men."

" Did they not realize that there would also be a female of the species or did they assume that all alien lifeforms would reproduce A-sexually."
Nyota laughed.

" I don't know Spock, but I'm guessing those first Vulcans who landed on earth gave the inhabitants a bit of a surprise."

" Indeed though I have often heard Humans comment that because of Vulcans green blood the lighter skinned of the race appear to have green tinged skin."

She leaned in closer to him over the table, biting her lip as if she was concentrating hard on his face, she looked down and gave a short laugh.

" Yeah, you are slightly green. You're not little though."

" It depends on what your point of comparison is. We are on average 4.6 inches taller than humans, but a lot smaller than some none humanoid species."

" You are a little in comparison to none- humanoid species, slightly green man."

' Yes, that is a correct, though somewhat lacking description"

" I guess my sister was right then."