Happy new year to anybody reading.
Note: It's been a while since I've been to Paris so the geography might be slightly wrong.
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek nor the song Thank you for loving me.
A non-honeymoon in Paris, part one of two.
Saturday second week of April
Spock rested the two small cases one red one a functional black on the floor. He bent and started unpacking he could see Nyota out of the corner of his eye, she walked over to the bathroom and opened the door to peak inside then stepped over to the window, he looked up to see her little contented smile as she looked out over the Parisian streets. The hotel Spock had chosen was in the backstreets near too the Notre Dame, the side of one of it's double towers could be seen behind the houses. Spock had looked at many hotels nicer than this one, in areas of historic interest and all with antique beds and with famous restaurants connected too them but he had settled on this one for one reason. The little alleys and streets around them which were filled with busy cafes and pastries and the strange little cheese shops ( Spock had no idea why there would be shops dedicated just to one food substance but he intended to find out) teamed with life and a general bustle of excitement. He had thought that Nyota would like the 'atmosphere' of the place more than that of the more expensive places.
The room itself was functional, except perhaps the bed was larger than necessary. It's walls and carpet were a pale inoffensive blue, the curtains slightly darker, their was a com system, a credit operated repliactor unit and plenty of storage. Spock approved of it's simplicity, after all he did not expect them to be spending much time in their room just the eight hours a day that Nyota needed to sleep and he had brought along a book to read during those hours he would be awake. He had intended on bringing a PADD with the latest schematics for a salvaged Romulan battle cruiser but Nyota had taken it out of his bag and told him he was not allowed to work on holiday, he had asked what authority she had too issue that order she had explained too him that as his bondmate it was her duty to force him to relax once in a while. He had accepted this and chosen a Human fiction he had been meaning to read for some time.
Nyota turned from the window and bent down next to him unzipping her own bag. As Spock carefully refolded the few civilian clothes ready to place them in the draws Nyota dug her hands under the mass of hers she lifted them all as one with a hand on the top of the pile so as not to drop any she walked over to the draws balanced the clothes against her body to open the top draw then dropped all the clothes in at one and shut it. Spock watched his eyebrow raised.
" That." Nyota said. " Is how you unpack when on holiday."
" Really I had no idea there were different ways of unpacking in different situations."
" It's a simple choice Spock." She walked behind him trailing her fingers along his shoulder blades. " You can labor over unpacking for the next half an hour." She jumped onto the bed. " Or we can test the bed out."
" I am not tired."
" I wasn't referring to sleeping."
Spock took the rest of the clothes out of his suitcase and dumped them into the second draw. He hesitated for a moment imagining winkled clothing. Then he turned and saw Nyota looking up at him from the bed, beautiful with her jeans stained with the coffee she had split on their flight her hair coming lose from it's band and her face travel weary but excited. Her brain seemed to buzz and he had been having difficulty blocking of the excitement so that it wouldn't effect him. He laid on the bed next to her and turned his face to look at her.
" You are tired from the journey."
She rolled over on top of him her fingers finding their way to his hair as they always did. He rested his hand lightly on her back as she kissed him gently.
" Not that tired."
" You should rest."
She shook her head.
" No, I want to go out, I want to see the cathedral and eat in a little restaurant and find a little park to sit and watch the sun set. I want to enjoy being with you without the constraints of the academy."
" Very well, the sun sets in two hours forty three minutes, after that will you please rest?"
She nodded.
" Yes."
" Then until then I am content to be instructed by you."
The smile she gave at his words was a little wicked.
" I instruct you to make love to me."
" Your desires are my desires." He said flipping her onto her back and kissing her as she giggled. It wasn't long before they were both hot and feverish.
They sat close together though not touching, Spock was not comfortable touching in public and although he had never told Nyota this she seemed to know with out him saying anything. They sat on a bench in the tuileries overlooking a large round ornamental pond where they watched children sailing little toy boats across the golden water. The sun had turned a deep orange and would soon drop below the horizon. There was a beauty in how the orange light lit the leaves of the trees and the bushes. The light fell on the marble statues that were placed along the pink granite paths creating shadows to fall on their strangely human faces making it seem as if they were almost moving with slight expression.
Nyota sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder feeling more freedom than he had since an infant he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and took a deep breath of her scent pleasing him when he realized that it was mixed with his own. It was an evening so perfect Spock wished they could just live their lives in that moment an endless evening of beauty. But eventually the children parents looked up from their books and the kids gathered their little boats and holding their parents hands walked out of sight, the golden sunlight turned into the bluish limbo light of dusk and the air turned chilly. Without words they stood up and hand in hand made their way to the metro station to catch the high speed underground tram that would take them back to the hotel where they could lie in each others arms safe and content till the morning.
Sunday.
The Vulcan peace tower was a large steel structure that glistened a almost blinding silver in the sunlight. It started on the ground as a large circular wall around a square and raised in a spiral that became less compact as it climbed upwards to the apex 1073 feet up. The spiral though solid at the bottom circle took on a net like appearance on it's first turn so patches of blue sky could be seen though it, at the time it had been built Earths resource had been low and the type of thin but extremely durable steel that had been used was a new invention. There was a elevator that carried forty people at a time up through the spiral at the top turn it slowed to allow for people to take pictures before making it's decent. It was said that on a clear day you could see the whole of Paris from the top. Today was a clear day.
Spock could feel the excitement coming of Nyota as she stood a few feet away from him staring up at the strange metal structure. He went over to her and handed her the little camera she had brought with her. She gave him a dazzling smile and pointed the camera at him and clicked the button quickly before he had a chance to move. She looked at the image she had taken on the little screen and laughed.
" Why does the picture amuse you?"
" You look like you're annoyed."
" I am content."
" I know that but the picture makes you look annoyed, look."
She handed him the camera and he looked at the still representation of him, he looked just as he did in all other photos of himself, he did not understand her amusement. He handed the camera back to her and she tilted it upwards bending her knees slightly as she tried to get the shot she wanted in view. Once the camera had clicked she turned to him.
" Come here."
He complied going to stand next to her.
" Closer." She instructed.
He shifted uncomfortably, the square under Vulcan peace tower was crowed, there were long ques to go up the tall metal spiral and Spock was glad he had pre-booked the tickets so they could just go in. Nyota ignoring his discomfort wrapped her arm around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder she stretched her arm out holding the camera straight in front of them and clicked the button. She turned it around to show the picture of the two of them, Nyota was smiling widely but Spock looked as he always did in photos.
" Hmm, another one." She said.
Spock gave a short little nod, her happiness outweighed his discomfort. She leaned back against him and spread her arm out in front as though about to take the picture then turned swiftly catching him off guard as her moist lips kissed his cheek, he turned to her eyebrow raised to ask her what she was doing but she reached up on the tips of her toes and kissed him firmly on the mouth, Spock got lost for a moment in the intensity of the kiss and reached around holding her close to him then remembered that they were in an extremely public place he pulled away feeling the tips of his ears burning.
Not looking at him Nyota looked down at the camera pushing the little button that allowed her to flick through the pictures.
" That's better." She said smugly.
Curious Spock held his hand out for the camera, their were four more pictures of him, one of him standing stoically as Nyota eyes closed kissed him on the cheek, the next was him turning to her with his eyebrow raised a look of puzzlement on his face, the third made Spock stop and stare at it for a long minute, Nyota's mouth was twisted up in a smile as he had responded to her kiss but his own features seemed so much softer than he had ever seen them before, the last picture he had been staring at Nyota who looked at her most beautiful there was a little glint in her eyes and she was smiling widely as if about to laugh, the tips of his ears in the photo were a very clear emerald.
' I would appreciate it if you made copies of these photos for me Nyota, especially the third and fourth ones. It would be nice to have another image of you to look at when you are not near to me."
The only one he had his mother had taken in the hospital on his birthday.
" I'll print them off before we leave." She agreed.
Spock handed the camera back to her and checked his watch.
"Nyota it is near the time on our tickets, shall we proceed to the booth?"
She nodded and he gently rested his hand on the small of her back to walk her safely through the crowds to the third booth on the circle. They lined up for three minutes and Spock noted that all the people waiting in front of them seemed to be couples in romantic relationships, it seemed like Nyota they had come to Paris considering it to have a 'romantic' atmosphere. Then the line began to move and Spock handed their tickets over to the assistant who waved them through into the oval pod. Spock was please to see that it was large enough to hold fifty people comfortably and they would not be crowded on the accent. The floor of the pod was metal but the walls were a clear inch thick plastic so they could see through the gaps in the metal structure. Nyota claimed a place at one side up close to the glass and Spock went to join her. Their was a collective giggle as the pod gave an unsteady lurch and Spock grabbed Nyota to steady her, then the pod was moving steadily upwards out of the first circle. Nyota turned to give him an excited smile as the pod flashed into the light and the speakers started blaring out their recorded information.
" Construction on the world peace tower, sometimes known as the Vulcan peace tower started in August 2064 and opened on the 14th of April 2065, the twelfth anniversary of the end of the third world war. A year previous to it's construction a peace treaty was signed between all nations of Earth agreeing that all warheads would be dismantled. The treaty signified the end of all wars on Earth. The designs for the tower were approved a month later and all nations donated funds and sent mechanics to help with it's construction though the original designer was french the rather aptly named Jean Luc Turret. The World peace tower is the only monument in the world to be owned by all countries and dedicated to all the people of the world.
Here are a few facts about the world peace tower:
It is built on the sight of a previous French monument called the Eiffel tower, it's location is symbolic as the Eiffel tower was destroyed in the worst bombings of the third world war that touched France. Pictures of the original Eiffel tower can be seen in our visitors center at the end of the ride, the Eiffel tower reached 1063 feet and the peace tower is 1073 feet.
Though originally Zephram Cochrane the man who had invented the warp drive two years previous to the towers opening was going to be asked to cut the ceremonial ribbons and give a speech at the opening of the world peace tower it was decided that due to his habit of getting inebriated and starting brawls he would be inappropriate. After some deliberation the first Vulcan Ambassador to Earth was asked to do the ceremonial opening, as it was the first occasion that a Vulcan had been recorded speaking on Earth since their first contact two years previous the tower is sometimes called the Vulcan peace tower. This is due to some comments made by members of the media asking whether Vulcan's, being technologically superior would invade earth, the ambassadors somewhat shocked response that they would not brought a collective sigh of relief from most of Earth government officials.
The opening of the world peace tower actually turned out to go much better than expected with Ambassador T'lang speech congratulating the people of Earth for discovering the logic of peace and telling them to strive for peace with all species that they would encounter now they had discovered warp travel.
The world peace tower has come to stand for not only peace on Earth but peace between Earth and all other worlds we encounter.
We are now going to slow as we are approaching the top, if you look out the sides you will see large port holes in the sides of the tower from which you can view Paris. Photography is permitted recordings are not. Enjoy the rest of your ride."
" That was informative." Spock stated.
" I'm guessing you knew most of it anyway."
" Well I did do the relevant research before the trip."
The pod jerked again as it slowed to a crawl and the metal mesh disappeared into a large meter long window. Spock held Nyota close as the other passengers drew in closer. From the window they saw a bustling mass of buildings, radiating from their position were the small four story or less buildings that had been a part of the Parisian landscape for hundreds of years. The blue Seine snaked through them intercepted every now and then with little bridges. Along the river they could clearly see the long galleries of the Louvre museum and the green of the tuileries where they had sat cradled in the middle of them. Notre Dame sat by itself on it's own private island though all they could see where the twin towers peaking up over the streets, the could make out the two thick walls that before world war three had been the arc de triomphe and now stood broken as a monument to the lives lost in the third world war and all those predating it. Towards the horizon was the newer section of Paris with it's bold skyscrapers making a stark contrast between the old and new.
Nyota kept pointing things out to him and Spock found it difficult to repress a smile at her enthusiasm. Then she was taking pictures again smiling happily at each one she had taken before turning the camera around and taking more. She had moved down along the pod and taken another picture of him stood arms folded behind his back looking out across the landscape. She had laughed delightedly when Spock had turned to pose for her with his lips quirked in the slightest of smiles.
When she rejoined him they moved to the middle of the pod so that the others could see out the windows and as everybody else was looking outward Spock ran his fingers along hers briefly and whispered to her.
" Is it what you wished it to be?"
" Yes. I think it may even be better."
" Better? Well thing's often don't meet our expectations but to exceed expectations is such a rarity that one must treasure those moments."
" Spock everything to do with you exceeds my expectations, and I do treasure all our moments."
Nyota lent her head against his shoulder as they cruised slowly down the historical sector in the riverboat. They had forgone the headphones that told them facts about the buildings they passed. Instead Nyota listened intently as Spock told her the thing's he had read when he had researched their trip. He told her how the Louvre museum had previously been a Palace for the kings and queens of France, he pointed out the round tower that marked the entrance to where Marie Antoinette, Nyota's Halloween heroine, had been beheaded. AS they passed under a bridge Nyota's fingers began to tease his, rubbing and squeezing in what for Spock was the most passionate of kisses. The tips of his ears began to grow hot, he glanced out the window at the calm waters of the Seine and told himself that like those waters he must remain took a deep trembling breath and tried to slow his racing heart.
You are distracting me Ashayam
I mean to distract you Kipenzi. Her voice sounded in his mind.
This next bridge is the lovers bridge, it is said that when a couple kiss as they pass under the bridge then they will be together for the rest of their lives.
Well, we don't need to then do we.
He raised his eyebrow at her.
I already know we'll be together forever. She explained
Indeed.
Her fingers continued to stroke up and down his, he pictured her stood before him naked in his mind. He shot her a warning look knowing she had placed it there and she giggled.
Why are you showing me this? It seems you are trying to make my desire for you rise.
I am.
But I cannot..
He pictured lying on top of her, surging into her with her legs wrapped tightly around his back. He felt the now familiar swelling and shifted uncomfortably. Nyota gave a short sudden gasp as the picture reached her mind. It took her a moment together her thoughts to answer him.
I want you to be thinking of what we're going to do when we get back to the hotel.
Why?
Something Galia said about increasing anticipation.
I believe that you have achieved what you set out to do. I am definitely anticipating.
As they passed under the next bridge Nyota lent forwards and took his lips gently with her own in a long burning kiss. When he pulled away she gave a small shrug of her shoulders.
" Just in case." She explained.
They reached the hotel, the journey back from the river boat had only taken seventeen point three minutes but to Spock it could have been an hour. He had not touched Nyota since they had departed the boat but as they reached the hotel she grabbed for his hand and he felt a rush of desire so strong that he let out a little growl. He hurried his pace as he walked the final steps into the hotel.
" Mr and Mrs Spock." The landlady called to them as they entered. Spock nodded polity to her hoping she would not wish to converse.
" How was your day did you see the peace tower?"
" Yes." Nyota answered. "And we went along the seine, I am so tired now been on our feet all day haven't we Spock?"
" We sat thirty two minutes for lunch." He answered.
" You know I've never had Vulcan's staying here before." The eighty year old tiny plump woman continued obviously not taking their hints that they wished to hurry to their room. " Then yesterday you arrived and today I got two Vulcan's who came to deliver some kind of document for the Louvre's new Vulcan exhibit, they just checked in two minutes ago."
" We wish to retire now." Spock answered barely hearing what the woman had said.
"Oh." She gave a wink and Spock felt his ears start to burn as Nyota grabbed him and pushed him into the elevator. The moment the doors had shut she cheekily pressed herself up against him.
" Nyota." He groaned.
The doors of the elevator took to long, or maybe not long enough to open again and Spock blindly walked out hand in hand with Nyota, their room was the first door on that corridor and Spock groped in his pocket to try and find the key card as Nyota stood close to him her fingers trailing little electric paths down his back. Unable to find the key he turned to her and found her whole weight flung against him pushing him up to the door as her lips meet his and he closed his eye succumbing to the desire that had been building all day.
"Disgraceful."
Spock's eyes opened at the familiar language in an unfamiliar quiet tone. He pulled away from Nyota and looked down the hallway as Nyota moved on to nibble on his neck. They were not alone as he had thought, at the far end of the hallway were stood two Vulcan's one male one female. It was the woman who had spoken.
" I know of him, he is the hybrid." Her male companion answered.
They must not know his hearing was as good as any full Vulcan's.
Spock turned back to Nyota and gently pushed her away from him. She gave him a quick smile and held up something she had in her hand, the key card. As he took it he saw Nyota glance down the hall, their was an instant of shock when she saw the Vulcan's, she had obviously been unaware that they were being observed. Spock opened the door and stood aside to let her in swiftly closing the door behind them when they had entered.
" What's wrong? Do you know them?" Nyota asked him.
" No, there is nothing wrong." Spock answered truthfully, how could he let anything annoy him when he was hear with her.
He pulled her close and kissed her.
Her fingers stroked along his lazily as they lay together in contented bliss, her naked body draped across his and with is free hand he gently stroked along her back. Through their link he could feel her content bliss and he drew it close to him and relished in it knowing that he had satisfied her and brought that beautiful bliss.
" I wish you had your lute." Nyota muttered.
He took her chin and tilted it upwards to look at her.
" Why do you wish it?"
" I love it when you play it for me."
" If you love it than I also wish that I had brought it, an oversight on my part it seems."
She gave a small smile and placed a kiss against his stomach.
" I can see if there is any music stored on the computer."
" No, it's okay, it's not you anyway."
Spock considered this.
" I could sing to you." He offered. Nyota looked up with another sleepy smile.
" Please." She said.
Spock thought about all the songs he had heard Nyota playing when she had been in his apartment. There was one in particular he had listened to a few times after she had left. He began to sing softly to her.
"It's hard for me to say the things
I want to say sometimes
There's no one here but you and me
And that broken old street light
Lock the doors
We'll leave the world outside
All I've got to give to you
Are these five words tonight
Thank you for loving me
For being my eyes
When I couldn't see
For parting my lips
When I couldn't breathe
Thank you for loving me
Thank you for loving me
I never knew I had a dream
Until that dream was you
When I look into your eyes
The sky's a different blue
Cross my heart
I wear no disguise
If I tried, you'd make believe
That you believed my lies
Thank you for loving me
For being my eyes
When I couldn't see
For parting my lips
When I couldn't breathe
Thank you for loving me
You pick me up when I fall down
You ring the bell before they count me out
If I was drowning you would part the sea
And risk your own life to rescue me
Lock the doors
We'll leave the world outside
All I've got to give to you
Are these five words tonight
Thank you for loving me
For being my eyes
When I couldn't see
You parted my lips
When I couldn't breathe
Thank you for loving me
When I couldn't fly
Oh, you gave me wings
You parted my lips
When I couldn't breathe
Thank you for loving me"
As he finished the song he looked down at Nyota, her eyes were wet and she looked up at him with parted lips. He ran his finger along the bottom of her eyelid catching some of that wetness.
" Nyota?'
" I'm happy again." She explained with a soft laugh at his confusion.
" I love you." She said softly and Spock felt as if his heart were expanding ready to burst with the sheer joy those words brought him.
He tried to say it, he opened his mouth but the words wouldn't come.
Nyota raised herself up and kissed him soundly on the lips. He felt a slight sadness that he couldn't tell the woman he loved those words that were so important to Humans, those words that brought him so much joy.