Rated M for scenes of a sexual nature.

It's a day late but i've added a l;ittle dream scene so i'm sure you'll forgive me.

Saturday 26th September 15:14

They exited the cave hand in hand after several hours of sitting and exploring the cave and all the stories of ancient Vulcan life it told, of war and love and jealousy. Spock felt as if he had not actually been in the cave though he had been explaining some of the pictures to Nyota, he felt somewhat disconnected from the planet he was on. Nyota loved him and it was as if his eyes and mind didn't have room for anything other than her. Every moment they had spent in the cave if he was not talking to her he would brush his fingers on her, wrap his arms around her waist or kiss her neck. He wanted to be with her in some way every moment, it was a glorious day, a perfect day, and one that he would remember for the rest of his life.

As they stepped out into the burning sun Spock felt the hairs on his arm stand on end, he looked around trying to figure out what was wrong, then he felt it, the tiniest whisper of a breeze. He looked down at Nyota, who gave him a carefree little smile.

" Guess we'd better get going then." She said.

" Yes." He agreed, he would not worry her at this moment, his fear might be unfounded.

18:37.

She was exhausted, he knew this but they must carry on walking. It was not even the heat or the darkness and the cold that it would bring with it that was worrying him anymore. That was nothing compared to what was coming on the now steady breeze. He kept scanning the horizon as she sat and drank from her third bottle of water that day. He sensed that she knew he was concerned, she gave a worried little frown when she had patted the ground beside her and he had shook his head refusing to sit with her.

" We must continue."

" What is it Spock?" She asked worried.

" The wind."

" That little breeze?" She asked.

" It has been steadily increasing since we came out the cave."

She nodded and got to her feet.

20: 45

The shuttle was in sight, they had made good time but Nyota had begun to slow, he felt her tiredness and was sorry that he had not chosen to set up camp nearer to the cave. It had seemed like a good idea to show her the levels of her endurance and the chances of bad weather had been too slim to dissuade him. But of course one in a million chances have to happen one in a million times, and this was only a one in three hundred forty- five point six chance so it was bound to happen really. He turned and saw a wall of sand a meter high coming behind them, within minutes they would be engulfed. He grabbed Nyota's arm and pulled her towards him, bent, hooked his arm under her knees and the other one around her back and lifted her into his arms cradling her Body to him as he started to run towards the shuttle knowing they would not make it in time. As he ran Nyota ripped the sleeves from her dress, she reached up and tied the transparent blue material around his eyes, he could just make out shapes through it but if he had to close his second eyelids then he would be completely blind. Nyota did the same to herself. The sand hit him as they were three meters away from the shuttle. It tore at their exposed skin and roared in their ears, it blocked out all light and Spock could only see a few inches in front of his face. He staggered as he fought to stay on his feet and move in the direction of the now unseen shuttle. The three meters seemed like three miles and although it only took a matter of minutes to reach the shuttle the knowledge that the abrasive sand could tear flesh from bone made those minutes seem impossibly long. Finally his foot bang against something and he heard the clang of metal and saw a dark shape looming in front of him."

"PUT ME DOWN!" Nyota shouted over the wind.

" NO!"

" WE NEED TO FIND THE DOOR PAD, BE LOGICAL SPOCK!"

Spock put her down, it was true that they would not be able to open the door whilst she was in his arms but he feared that if he put her down he would loose her to the sand. He placed his hands on the metal hull shifting around it, inch by slow inch, Nyota at his side.

" I FOUND IT." She shouted after another long minute and there was the sound of turning gears and a small ray of light that grew bigger as the stairs descended.

Spock grabbed for Nyota's hand and together they moved toward the light source two feet away. As the stairs touched the ground Spock pushed Nyota in front of him and she clambered on hands and knees up the stairs and into the safety of the shuttle. Spock followed her the wind whipping at his cloak as he went, inside the wind still blew at them and the sand rushed in to the shuttle hitting the far wall and falling into little piles there. Spock reached for the controls tapping blindly at them till the shuttle seemed to understand his meaning and the door began to close, finally shielding them from the storm. Ê He pulled the material from his eyes, turned to Nyota looking her up and down to determine if she was hurt. She reached up and undid her own mask, letting it fall to the floor. Her arms were covered with abrasions where tiny jagged rocks had struck her and torn at her bare skin. She looked over at him her eyes worried and then she gave a wild laugh bending over double as if she could not control the outburst. Alarmed Spock stepped towards her and took her in his arms holding her tightly and laying his head against her sand filled hair.

" I do not see what is humorous."

She pushed against his chest a little and looked up at him.

" It's relief Spock, I am relieving the tension." She stood on the tips of her toes and kissed him soundly. Spock broke it quickly.

" You have not lost control of your senses due to fear then?" Spock asked, just to make sure. She gave another small laugh.

" No Spock. I wasn't all that scared." She gave him another sweet kiss. " I know you wouldn't let anything happen to me."

Spock felt his lips twitch upwards at the faith she had in him. He pulled away from her and held her at arms length, he brushed his hands over her shoulders, hearing the sand there fall to the ground like rain. He ran his hands over the top of her head and then lightly over her chest, eliciting a sharp gasp from her.

" I must tend your wounds." He said. " We must keep the sand out of them." He untied the belt at her waist.

" I've got this." She said, he nodded and went to look in one of the storage compartments for the med kit. He found it and replicated a bowl of warm water and a cup off ice-cold water as Nyota pulled the light dress over the top of her head. He turned when he heard her giggle.

" Tension?" He asked happy to see her smiling.

" No, I was just imagining the look on that mechanics face when he sees what we've done to his 'girl'."

Spock looked around at the sand covering the floor of the shuttle and the small scratches on the paint of the steps that could be seen from in there.

" He will not be amused."

" You can say that again."

" Once will suffice.

He gestured to the front of the shuttle and Nyota nodded and walked through to sit in the pilot's chair. Spock, carrying the bowl of water and med-kit knelt before her. He gently took her left wrist in his hand and turned her arm this way and that so he could see all the little scraps, none of them were deep but they were all dirt from the sand. He opened the med-kit and took out some cotton wool, he dipped it in the warm water.

" Close your eyes."

Nyota obeyed him and he gently started to wash the dirt from around her eyes then moved to her whole face. She smiled softly as he worked, face clean he got some fresh cotton wool to start cleaning the wounds.

" You may open your eyes now Nyota."

She did. He handed her the cup of cold water and she began to drink. He took her arm again, Nyota gave a sharp pained intake of breath as he started to brush warm water into her broken skin removing the little pieces of dirt but she didn't pull away. When he finished cleaning one arm he reached for the skin replicator and ran it up and down over her arm until all the scratches were gone.

" Thank you Spock." She said gently.

Spock nodded.

" Will you excuse me for a moment?"

Nyota looked puzzled but she nodded, Spock wondered if she had not heard the change in the wailing outside, the wind sounded as if it were settling. Spock turned the view screen on, he looked through the dark gushing sand and sure enough it was starting to slow, a cloud of blue material rushed past the view screen.

" What was that?" Nyota asked startled." I believe it was our tent. I am going to turn the thrusters on and lift the shuttle up for a few seconds so that it is not buried when the sand comes to rest. Nyota nodded and moved out of the pilots seat sitting in the navigation chair instead. Spock turned the thrusters on, he felt a slight reluctance as he tried to pull the shuttle up but then she was free and he raised her ten foot off the ground and lowered her back down. Knowing the shuttle was safe he went back to tending Nyota's arm. When she was once again without a scratch he went to the storage compartment where she had left her own little bag, he took it to her and asked for her brush. She undid the bag and routed through the few processions' she'd brought with her and gave him the red hairbrush. He stood behind her running his fingers through her hair pulling it over her shoulders and away from her face. He took her brush and ran it down through the long silky mass loosening the sand so that it fell to the floor. With every brushstroke he stroked his hand over where he had ran the brush trying to judge when it was free of sand and knots. He watched Nyota close her eyes and lean back in the chair. Her body tired from a full day walking in harsh conditions was starting to relax and Spock wondered if she would fall asleep in the chair. Then her stomach gave a loud grumble and she opened her eyes. Spock set the brush down.

" What do you want for dinner?"

" Protein bars."

Spock raised his eyebrow.

" I'm not giving up." She said referring to the survival training.

He nodded feeling slight pride at her determination and fetched her a protein bar from his bag. He replicated himself a glass of water, drunk and then ridded himself of his sandy upper garments disposing of them in a storage bay leaving only his trousers on. As Nyota ate he washed his face with warm water and after asking Nyota's permission brushed the sand out of his own hair with Nyota's brush. He heard her yawn and looked across into the front of the shuttle at her.

" Do you wish to sleep now?" He asked.

She gave a sleepy nod and joined him in the back of the shuttle, she placed a small kiss on his lips before scooting into the little bay where the cot was, only 2.5 feet wide it was built in amongst the storage compartments , three foot above the mattress was another long storage compartment so a person could never quite sit up on the bed. It was seven foot long though, made with some of the taller species of the federation in mind.

" Close quarters again tonight." Nyota said.

" I will sleep on the floor if you wish."

She grabbed his arm tugging him towards her.

" Don't you dare." She said lightly. Suppressing a smile he sat on the edge of the cot and swung his legs in, Nyota moved over to the back to allow him room and they lied together face to face.

Nyota smiled and leaned in to give him small sleepy contented kisses.

" May I make a personal inquiry?" Spock asked quietly.

" Anything?"

" You had counselling after Williams attacked you?"

He felt her body stiffen against him.

" Yes." She answered her voice strained and guarded.

" Why did you not continue with it until the nightmares ceased?"

" I didn't like Ohakim."

Spock nodded, he now understood her reasoning, hadn't he himself warned her against the psychiatrist.

" Admittedly she does think highly of herself and seems to have taken a disliking to me"

" I never said a weeks I sat there not speaking until she would dismiss me, she'd spend the entire hour trying to get me to talk but knew she wanted to get evidence against you and wanted to know if I was meeting you that night." Her voice was sad, close to tears. Spock took her hand and tried to send her feelings of comfort and security.

" Do you wish to talk about it?"

No." Her voice had suddenly grown angry and she pulled her hands away from his. " I wish to be in love Spock, care free, I want to forget that anybody ever tried to kill me or force me or whatever."

" Shush." He pulled her to him and stroked down her back. " Darling shush."

He kissed her forehead.

" Then it is forgotten, if not in our minds then at least in our conversations. Let me admit to one thing though. I wished to kill him, I have never cared so deeply for anything, never felt anger so passionately. Just as I have never wanted anything as passionately as I want you."

She stared up at him.

" Why are you saying this?"

" Today you told me of the depths of your feelings for me, I must do the same." He turned to lean over her his hands moving up to frame her face. " You have become the source of joy in my life when joy was previously forbidden. I will guard you, and care for you and fulfil your wishes and treasure every moment with you for as long as you allow me, because you have taught me the value of emotion."

She looked up at him her soft eyes glowing. She moved forwards, and keeping her eyes locked on him captured his lips with her own.

" I love you." She said before kissing him again. " I love you." He silenced her with a firm almost desperate kiss. It grew with intensity and he found himself moving over her, the cot gave a small complaining creak. The kiss seemed to slowly burn between them and her cool fingers seemed to find the knots of his garment and her hands fiddled against him till he had to pull away to let her eyes flicker down and finally manage to undo it, part the fabric and run those cool palms over his chest, her eyes seemed greedy as she took him in. He went back to kissing her with a reckless abandon he had never felt before, his tongue forced it's way into her mouth his hand swept over her back and lingered on her backside. When he felt her pinch his right nipple he growled at her and sucked her bottom lip into his mouth and bit down on it causing her to give a sudden outcry of surprised pain, he opened his eyes to check he had not really hurt her but saw only desire in those that stared back. Then those cool fingers we moving downwards across his stomach, cheekily dipping one into his belly button and brushing the thin hair that made a little line below it. Then they went lower and before he could disentangle himself from the passionate kiss her fingers had run under the material of his pants and brushed against his swollen penis.

He pulled away from her with a gasping pant as a shot of pleasure ran through his body. He grabbed at her forearm pulling her hand away from him and sat up.

Nyota sat up with him her face flushed and lips swollen.

" Did I... I thought.."

Spock cut her off by placing his hands on her face and kissing her again. Quickly and reassuringly before tacking her hands in both of his.

" I have taken your heart, I will not take your body tonight. I want you to be sure, I want my first lover to be my life partner Nyota." Spock said revealing a desire kept secret even to himself. Nyota's eyes widen slowly whether due to his old fashioned romantic ideal or the admission that he was a virgin he did not know.

She nodded slowly as if taking the revelation in then she smiled .

" I do not want you to be affected by your past when we consummate our relationship, I want you to be free from these dark thoughts. You will be with me without the memory of another."

He leaned in and gave her another quick breathless kiss. Resting his forehead against hers he whispered to her.

" And when you are truly ready I will make love to you as if you were a virgin, I will be gentle and spend all night seducing and stroking you until you are exhausted from pleasure." Spock was surprised by his own passionate words, nothing like them had ever passed his lips or even his Mind before.

Nyota stared at him with shocked eyes, her breathing was unsteady and there was a heat in her cheeks.

He placed a chaste kiss to her lips.

" Sleep my darling you are tired."

" I don't think I can."

" I shall leave you then."

"NO." She gave a short laugh and pushed him back down onto the thin mattress and rested her head on his chest.

" I'll sleep."

Nyota was sleeping soundly against his chest, he could not move to see her face without disturbing her so he had to be content to look at the smooth curve of her shoulder. He traced his fingers over her back feeling the shape of her shoulder blades, her spine, and a tiny raised mole on her lower back the gentle curve up to her buttocks. She breathed softly against him, her dreams undisturbed by nightmares tonight, and he marvelled at her, the woman who loved him.

He was in his apartment, his bedroom to be exact but he doubted his bedroom had ever looked this way. He had candles in his meditation room but had never had them covering every surface in his bedroom like this before, and his sheets had always been regulation cotton, these looked to be made of something silky they had a glossy quality in the light. The biggest difference was that Nyota had never been in his room wearing the particular outfit she was wearing now. A tight red corset that pushed her breasts up so that they peaked over the top in little crescents. A thin stringy scrap of material barely covering her under that, her legs were covered up to mid-thigh with some dark see through stockings and she wore high heels that elongated her already long legs.

" This isn't my dream." Spock said.

Nyota walked towards him, she stopped her body mere inches from

his and looked up into his eyes. Her fingers stroked around to the back of his head in a familiar gesture. She pressed her lips firmly to his for a moment.

" Dream?" She whispered sultrily.

Spock ran his fingers along her plump bottom lip, she placed a small kiss on his fingertips.

"But it does seem that this time my actions can affect the outcome. Tell me do you dream every night? I do not dream very often, it is quite a novelty for me."

" Spock, what on earth are you talking about?"

" We are not on Earth Nyota."

" We're in your apartment Spock."

She said reaching back up to kiss him. The kiss was passionate and deep and it quickly became heated, there was no holding back after all it wasn't real. Spock thought it put him in quite a difficult moral position , in his own rare dreams he could carry out all the thing's he desired to do but this wasn't his dream it was Nyota's he had just somehow got included in it. Perhaps because he was obviously meant to there, well he hoped it was he she had been planning to meet here. It's just now he had a hand in how the dream turned out, and looking at her dressed like that he didn't know if he could resist, he didn't have the best of control when asleep.

Nyota pulled away from him for a moment to nibble on his ears, it was strange how the act was arousing but lacked sensation, more as if the idea of the action was causing his arousal, not the action itself, that was unreal. The only truth in the moment was their desire for one another. Nyota was on the bed in front of him without him actually moving her there, he had wished for it and it had occurred. He knelt on the bed and took her ankle in his hand and leaned down to kiss her inner thigh just at the point where the stockings ended, he took the material in his fingers and rolled it down her leg placing little kisses at every inch of bare skin he revealed. Nyota supported herself with her hands on the bed to watch him, her breath growing increasingly faster as he worked his way down to her ankle and she gave a delightful deep moan when he switched legs and started again, mid-thigh.

Once divulged of stockings and high heels he lied with her pushing her back down onto the bed and kissing her for as long as his breath would hold, which in dreamtime was a very long time in deed. Breaking the kiss he stared down into amber eyes and stroked her cheek.

"Spock?" She sounded confused almost worried.

" Yes my darling?"

" You said this wasn't your dream."

" You have realized you're dreaming then? It is strange, I expected it to end when you realized."

" I know I'm dreaming because you're speaking Swahili."

" You are hearing Swahili, I am hearing Vulcan. Do not ask me to explain I doubt I could." He rested his head in the crook of her neck and gave it a light kiss disappointed at the turn the pleasant dream had taken.

" How do you know this is my dream?"

" Our dream, though it started off as yours."

" How did you know?"

Spock looked back up at her confused eyes. Lacking inhibition in his dream state he sighed. He pulled himself a few inches down the bed and placed a kiss on the plump mounds peaking from under the corset. She gave a little gasp.

" Because my Darling in my dreams you are always naked, I would not put you in this." He gestured down her body with his hand.

Nyota stared at him for a moment and then sat up forcing him to sit up too.

" What's wrong with it?"

" It is illogical to be annoyed that I dislike your imagined mode of dress, it is not real and you will barely remember any of this tomorrow, dreams are fleeting."

" But what's wrong with it?"

" Nothing, I just prefer to imagine you naked, I prefer the natural you."

And then without any movement in between they were stood in front of each other naked and the sheets had thankfully returned to cotton though he left the candles where they were. Nyota looked around confused, he took her hand and led her to the side of the room. He stood her in front of the full-length mirror, the one that had simply appeared there. He stood behind her with one hand splayed across her flat stomach the other brushing gently at the hair resting on her shoulders. He placed gentle kisses up her long graceful neck and breathed into her ear.

" Do you see how beautiful you are?"

He looked at their reflection in the mirror, her skin looked warm, almost glowing as the candlelight flickered across it. Spock loomed behind her, pale and shadowed in comparison. He stroked his fingers down her belly trailed lightly over the little patch of curled hair and sunk two of them into the warm wet folds between her legs. She gasped but moved closer to him, her bare buttocks pressed against his erection. He stroked her, made increasingly confident by her pleasured gasps and shudders. His eyes could not be moved away from her reflection, the parted lips and flickering eyelids, the steady blush spreading all the way down to her breasts that trembled with each panting breath. "Open your eyes Nyota." He whispered to her. " I want you to see how beautiful you are."

Her eyes opened for a split second and they met his in the reflection and then everything went black. Spock found himself back on the shuttle, fully awake, Nyota was still lying across him, she gave a stifled little cry, and Spock looked down trying to see through the pitched blackness. He trailed his fingers gently down her back and whispered.

" Nyota?"

He got no response and from the shallowness of her breathing he judged she was still asleep. The sweet dream had reached its conclusion without him actually present. He felt a little cheated.

She felt warm against him, and where the skin of her arm touched him she was sticky and damp as if she had been exerting herself. His nose was flooded by the smell of her arousal, the unfamiliar odours of love a seduction. He longed to reach down and touch her as he had done in their dream, he almost ached for it in a state of breathless arousal he had only experienced once before, but it wasn't his time, he had another five years to go. This was a completely natural desire caused by his want of her and he wondered if he would be able to wait for as long as it took for her to be certain she wanted to be his bond mate, part of him regretted his earlier decision and yet another part of him felt embarrassed that he was being so controlled by his bodily urges. He gently moved her off of him and placed a kiss to her forehead and crossed the little space to get into the decontamination shower, he was about to test the cold shower hypothesis, and if it proved ineffective he would have to resort to other methods

Sunday 27th 8:32

Nyota came sleepily from out of the shuttle as Spock was digging the ruined tent out from under a foot of sand. He had meditated and drunk some water and checked the shuttle over ready for them to leave for the other side of the planet and the internment of the fifty-seven passengers. He had also collected the little pieces of wood that the wind had scattered and made a little fire, it would only last for an hour but that was all that they would need it for.. She smiled at him as she got to the bottom of the shuttle steps. He immediately reached into the backpack by his side and handed her a bottle of water.

She drank half of it in one go, the heat of the newly risen sun having dehydrated her whilst she slept.

She gave a satisfied gasp as she pulled the bottle of now warm water away from her lips.

" Did you sleep well?"

She looked down.

" I had the strangest dream, at least I think I did, I can't quite remember it."

Spock nodded, it was as he had expected.

" So, do you think I could shower in the journey? I can't go to a funeral smelling like this." Nyota asked.

Spock felt his lips twitch, Nyota had indeed taken on the musty smell he now associated with dried sweat.

" That is the first time this weekend I have heard anything close to a complaint."

" Sorry Spock, guess the heat is finally getting to me."

" In my somewhat extensive experience of taking cadets on survival training that is the longest I have heard anybody go without complaining."

Nyota smiled widely and looked down to the floor.

" The company makes all the difference, I guess." She said.

"Indeed, you may shower and change Nyota, survival conditions end the minute we're back on the shuttle."

She smiled and nodded.

" So, protein bars for breakfast."

" No, I thought we could try something different."

She raised her eyebrows at him curiously.

" That bush over there." He pointed to a scraggily unleafed thorn bush twenty yards away. " It has edible roots, the buried deep, but they hold a lot of moisture in the dry season."

Nyota looked over her shoulder at the plant then back at him. Her expression told him nothing of her thoughts.

" Roots for breakfast, okay then." She gave a slight sigh as she stood up and Spock noticed that the light transparent covering had already begun to stick to her back and arms.

Spock got to his feet and walked with her, he stopped her as she got near the little bush.

" No closer the spines are poisonous."

Nyota's eyes widen slightly but she stopped and nodded without a word a yard away from the bush.

" The roots can spread over a quarter of a mile, like a net under the ground trying to trap every last bit of moisture. The tubers that we can eat should be about a foot and a half under the surface."

"I guess if I want breakfast anytime soon I'd better start digging then."

" Not just yet, the ground here is to compact to break through."

Spock allowed her a moment to think about the answer he couldn't help but feel a little pride in her when she answered.

" Are you going to use your phaser to loosen the earth?"

" Yes, though can you think of the dangers of

This course of action?"

" If the beam is on too high a setting then it could melt the sand, or it could heat the sand and we could burn our hands."

"Correct cadet."

She shot him a somewhat reproachful look.

" Correct ,my precious one." Spock corrected himself.

She smiled and touched her fingers to his for a moment. The love that she confessed for him came clearly through their link, a sweet warm comforting sensation. Spock found himself drawing away from it, it did not feel right to experience such emotions on Vulcan. He gave her hand a quick reassuring squeeze before letting go and pulling his phaser from out of the folds of his cloak. He set it to a medium low setting, he glanced at Nyota and she gave a nod before walking a few feet away from him. Once he knew she was at a safe distance he shot at the ground two feet away, a cloud of sand shot up from desert floor. Spock went to kneel by the hole that was made by the phaser blast, four inches wide half a foot deep. The sand was hot as Spock dug his fingers into the hole to shift the loose sand. He heard Nyota's footsteps behind him, saw her out of the corner of his eye as she knelt down next to him. He almost stopped her as he watched her olive fingers reach out close to his and started shifting the hot abrasive sand. He didn't want her to hurt her hands, didn't want that delicate skin ruined but he knew that she was tough, a star fleet cadet and she needed some survival skills.

When the sand started to feel dense and solid again he reached for her fingers and held them up against his own. Her hands were delicate, her fingers almost as long as his, made for playing an instrument or tapping away at the COM buttons of a beautiful star ship. He adored those fingers, adored the contrast of their skin ,mahogany against pale green tinged white. He took them up, turned them in front of his eyes watching the skin glinting across them.

"Spock?"

He looked up to see Nyota looking questioningly at him.

" It is illogical but sometimes I am distracted by your beauty."

She smiled a truly dazzling smile and modestly looked down. He leaned forwards and placed a quick soft kiss on the corner of her mouth .

" I'm going to give it another blast." He said as he pulled away.

Nyota nodded and he helped her to her feet. He shot the same spot with the phaser again, this time holding the burst for 2.6 seconds longer than previously, when they bent back down and cleared the sand away the dark brown tubers were visible.

Nyota gave him a small smile. Spock handed her the flick knife and watched as she dug a little further following the root, she found where the root grew thin again and carefully sawed through the root. She looked at Spock and he nodded she found the other end of the root.

" That's one." Spock said.

When they had collected four of the tuber like roots they headed back to the camp. Spock built up there little fire with the last of the wood they had collected and set alight to it with his phaser they skinned the roots and as the tubers cooked they used the thick bark to collect the moisture that came out of them. When cooked the tubers were a bright orange. Spock found it humorous to watch as Nyota took her first one, and closed her eyes as she took a bite then her eyes widening with a little shock.

" It tastes a little like sweet potato."

" You like it?"

" I do, I'd never have thought you could find something like this out in the desert."

" Before farming Vulcan's lived off what they could forage from this place, the conditions may seem harsh and almost uninhabitable but these are the sands that bore our great culture."

" I think I'm starting to understand that." She smiled as she took another bite out of the tuber.

" You know, these would be pretty good in a stew."

The fifty-seven had been kept on ice until that morning, Spock landed the shuttle at the assigned co- ordinates thirty miles out from the capital city of the province. Spock had only ever been on this side of the planet once before, it was the most fertile province on Vulcan and as such most of the land was dedicated to farming. The fifty-seven were to be interred on a mountain that was too acid and rocky to grow anything. Few people knew the location of their burial and it would not be marked anywhere so the infant T'lana and her mother would finally rest in peace.

As the door came down Spock quickly grasped Nyota's hand for a second he wished to communicate to her how happy he was that she had come with him how comforting he found her presence. Nyota looked around.

" I feel even sorry for them now that I know what it was they were leaving."

Spock looked around the green valley with its little stream and rows of bright yellow grains. There was an orchard on the horizon the hedgerows were dotted with little blue flowers and although the air was hot with the early afternoon sun there was a light breeze. Spock saw a small gathering of five people, all men half way up the hill. Their were piles of light wood box, just long enough to fit a body they were lining the edges of a large pit that had been dug out with a mechanical digger. Spock started to walk up the hill at a slow pace, he knew Nyota would struggle with the slope and increased gravity. Half way up He glanced behind him, Nyota was a few feet away she gave him reassuring smile and then stopped and frown as if to remind herself they were about to enter company that would not appreciate her displays of emotion. He nodded approvingly, a communications officer would always be expected to respect and mimic other cultures behavioural patterns, and it made communication

with them easier and assured no offences are made. When he reached the spot where the hill evened out he stopped to wait for Nyota and they walked the final twenty feet to the grave together. As they approached Spock felt his muscles stiffening, he recognized two of the five people present. Members of the Vulcan science academy admission board. Growing up whenever he had been bullied at school, called weak by the doctors or stared at on the pathways Spock had told himself that if he studied hard enough and proved himself to be the intellectual equivalent of any full Vulcan he would finally be accepted. The members of the Vulcan science academy had finally rid him of that fantasy, he had been accepted as a member yes, but in the same breath as the master had accepted him he had also been told that despite proving himself he would still always be seen as a weak hybrid. He might be an oddity on earth but at least his skills and strengths were recognized and put to good use.

"Commander Spock of star fleet and Miss Uhura who is under my tutelage. " Spock announced himself as he approached though he knew at least one member of the party would remember him. His eyes met those familiar dark gray ones, they exchanged a nod of greeting. Spock took in the familiar features, they had not changed since he was a child, he knew the features didn't actually hold any emotion, the man had never shown any emotion, but to him they held a sternness and a disapproval.

" We were expecting you." The older man acknowledged.

His eyes came to rest on Nyota, she was looked up and down then with a hint of dismissal the man turned around and instructed two of the other members of the party to start moving the coffins. The third seemed to be annotating . Not a word was said for the next two hours and thirteen minutes as the coffins were laid in there final resting ace, a mass grave for those who had dismissed logic so long ago and been banished from the planet of their birth. The final coffin to be placed in the grave was only a foot long, Spock felt a slight ache in his chest. He said a final goodbye to the infant T'lana who had haunted his thoughts those cold days aboard the ancient vessel.

When all the coffins were laid in the pit one of the heftier men who had helped move them got into the mechanical digger and started to shovel dirt, filling in the mass grave. Spock walked around the pit to approach the stern older man.

" I take my leave now." The man barely glanced in his direction and Spock had to wonder how they could be so near to each other yet remain so distance, it had not always been the way things were, or had it? Had he been too young to notice had what he thought to be Vulcan stoicism actually been indifference.

"Please send my apologies to my mother that I did not have time to visit with her on this occasion."

" To apologize would be illogical."

" Yes, but my mother would appreciate it despite that."

"Indeed."

"Live long and prosper."

" Peace and long life Spokh."

He rejoined Nyota and they walked silently down the hill until out of shot of even Vulcan ears.

" Who was he? You seemed to know each other."

"He is my father, let us go home Nyota."

- So, was that a little too strange? I kind of went overboard with passionate romantic in love Spock, it just ran away from me. Thing's will go back to normal when their back at the academy.