Many thanks to my awesome beta, TheWindowView for taking the time to help me perfect this story, even though it has taken on a mind of its own and is going far beyond anything I imagined.
Please, read and enjoy! All comments (the good, the bad, and the ugly ;P) are welcome.
He was unabashed by her outburst, but was undoubtedly curious as to the reasoning behind it. Did he do something wrong after all? He was aware of doing so, yet her saying his name in such a manner clearly indicated that there was a disconnect between her viewpoint and his.
Nia almost laughed at the expression that briefly appeared on his face. While his expression was now stoic, a moment earlier it was very clear that her outburst had caught him off-guard.
She sighed and shook her head at him, expression rueful. "I was meaning to imply that she left to give us time as a couple without another person interfering."
Spock thought for a moment before accepting her answer. "Then perhaps we should use this time to discuss a matter that has come to my attention."
Anticipating a question about the settlement (and the remains of the colony ship, and the fiasco with the reports), Nia nodded in agreement. "Please. Let's not waste time."
"I was unaware you are so unfamiliar with human courting customs."
Nia's eyebrows skyrocketed. Not an unwelcome topic, but really not one she was expecting. "I married a human, but I was often told we did not go about it in a typical fashion. It was only as I spent more time with him that I started behaving in a more Terran fashion." She tried to explain.
"You have previously stated such information. While not knowing how to 'date', as humans put it, is not a problem in itself it becomes a problem when paired with the fact neither of us is familiar with the other's courting customs." And Spock truly felt it would be a problem. Where could the relationship go, if there was no way for it to develop?
Nia admitted to herself that he had a point, and she had had similar thoughts. "We could try the Vulcans ways of courtship." She offered. The thought didn't make her wholly comfortable, but she could do it.
"We have none." He told her. He didn't miss the faint relief that mingled with her surprise.
"You told me of the arranged marriages. Is that the only way Vulcans find an acceptable mate?" She almost asked what happens when the one dies, but caught herself before she could be so callous.
"It is the most common way, but not the only accepted way. As an Ambassador to Earth, my father found it logical to marry my mother, a human." He told her.
"Did he ever tell you about their courting?" She asked.
"He did not. However, he did inform me that not only was marrying my mother logical, but also because he loved her." He answered. Spock tried to understand the changing expressions on Nia's face. He didn't realize there could be such a variety of surprise.
For the most part, Nia was pleasantly surprised. By telling her this, Spock was allowing her a look into a part of his world. Well, maybe not his world as in his existence, but what one can't see behind the Vulcan control. The fact that his father loved his mother was also good to know.
It meant he could love, and while he may never come to love her, the fact was Spock could.
"Where are they now?" She asked innocently.
"My father is aiding in the settlement efforts on New Vulcan. My mother," he grew quiet for the smallest of moments and Nia felt a dawning horror before he finished his statement. "My mother did not make it off the planet."
Compassion swelled in her heart as she remembered the awful grief she had experienced previously. "I know it is not enough, but I am sorry, Spock." Nia rubbed a hand over the right side of her chest (where the Paladian heart lay) as she felt pang in her heart for the man. "She was a big part of what you were going through that day, wasn't she?"
For once, Spock was glad for the lack of specificity of her question. He understood it, nonetheless, but it seemed less painful than it could have. He nodded in response to her question.
Nia sighed, decided to leave that painful subject behind. "So how are we going to court? Human or Paladian style? I'm willing to bet either direction will be interesting." She grinned.
"First, I must ask: what is the purpose behind Paladian courting?" He asked.
Frowning, she asked in return "What do you mean? Do you mean the ultimate goal or desired outcome?"
"Indeed." He nodded. "Often humans are satisfied with a certain level of relationship. I would not be."
Relief flushed through her. "Oh good! I wouldn't be either. Paladians court as a way to… test the, I'm not sure what word I want to use, uh," she waved a hand next to her as if to conjure the word before her, "compatibility! Yes, courting is a way to test the compatibility of oneself with one's chosen mate. It's a period of time where we can decide to walk away if we deem the relationship to be unsatisfying." She bit her lip. "Does that make sense?"
"It is logical and the way I expected this relationship to proceed."
"I am so glad you said that." Nia told him. She hadn't really expected him to say otherwise, but the fear had built up in her anyways.
Spock agreed with the sentiment to her statement. "Please, inform me as to how Paladians court."
She smiled. "Well, first I must admit to having followed a part of Paladian tradition. Since it seems not to matter for humans which gender initiates the courting stage, I figured it wouldn't let it matter for me." She shrugged. "For the most part."
Ignoring her last statement, Spock thought back to that day in her lab. "This is why you initiated the relationship. Is it customary for females to follow this course of action?"
"It is." She responded.
"So then females are more dominant on Palad?" He asked. That had some potential for strife.
His concerns were banished however, as she vigorously shook her head. "No, no the males are more dominant and in fact are very territorial." Nia frowned. "Now that I think about it, it is our fathers who are most supportive of this tradition. It is a sign of respect, in some ways, to allow the female to initiate the relationship. Now, I have lived on Earth too long to be concerned with that," she informed him, not wanting him to think she was being disrespected by any means.
"It appears to be similar to the Terran act of opening doors for females and pulling out chairs." Spock surmised.
She shrugged. "I suppose it is. Though in this instance, it is a way to ensure that females have the freedom of choice, instead of being forced into an… unwelcome situation."
"The males of your planet are that territorial?" He asked.
"Not anymore." She answered with a sly grin. "In fact, for a while females were overly domineering as a result of fighting against what was viewed as male tyranny. The current society has found a healthy balance, and females are allowed to be timid and mild mannered once more."
"Something you yourself are not." He said.
The look on his face hadn't truly changed, but Nia felt that he was somehow teasing her.
Smirking, Nia turned her head away from him. While she knew her personality wasn't abrasive, neither was she a shy little girl. "No, I am afraid if you desire a timid female you would have to look elsewhere."
He also smirked. "Then it is beneficial that I do not desire a timid female."
Nia looked at him in surprise. He had risen to the bait without changing the inflection of his words. She briefly considered questioning the logic of his statement until she realized he could easily refute that the statement was factual and therefore logical.
Nia almost rolled her eyes when she realized the voice in her head had sounded exactly like Spock.
Scrapping up the last of her meal, Nia noticed that Spock was also finishing his. "What time is it?" She asked.
"12:53"
She winced. "I should probably head back to my lab. Well, maybe check on Wena first and then head back to my lab. I am sorry that we did not get a longer opportunity to speak."
"There will be other opportunities."
"There will be." She agreed. Standing, Nia smiled at him one last time and told him "I hope the rest of your day is satisfying."
He nodded in acceptance off her statement and watched as she made her way out of the mess hall.
Nia sighed as she made her way down the hall. For whatever reason, she wasn't looking forward to getting back to work in her lab. Of course, she felt she had little other options. The work needed to be done.
Yet, with everything happening with the settlers, she felt her focus needed to be elsewhere: maybe on the more immediate problem of aiding the group of her people currently aboard the ship, maybe on how to help her friends and family through this mess.
She'd reached the med bay without realizing it and the sudden turn she took once she had made her bounce on the edge of the doorway.
McCoy looked up in surprise at the familiar grunt he heard. He saw Nia rubbing her shoulder with a sour look on her face. With a sigh, he quickly ran his tricorder over the area to make sure she didn't injure herself.
"Wall jump out in front of you?" He asked.
Nia just glared at him. Looking across the medbay, Nia caught the familiar sight of a loosely bound mane of dark curls. She raised an eyebrow at McCoy.
He rolled his eyes when he caught the direction she had looked in. "No, I haven't kicked her out yet."
"So she's not causing any trouble?"
"I didn't say that. Just said I haven't kicked her out."
Nia chuckled. "How is she?"
He cast her a sideways glance, then simply said "As good as she can be."
"Good," She said. "It's not great, but it's good."
Surprisingly, McCoy gently laid a hand on her should for a moment. "She'll get through this. They'll all get through this."
"All?" Nia asked, tears starting to smart her eyes.
"I'm not going to tell it will all be sunshine and daisies, but it won't be hell." He gestured to the occupied beds. "Even the worst are going to make a full recovery." Catching her hopeful look, he added "In time, of course. In time."
"Of course," she said, but it was too late to keep the happy smile from spreading. Nia suddenly frowned. "Where's Jacek? I see Grego, but where did Jacek go?"
McCoy frowned at her. "He went to go find you. Think Michaels might have taken him to your lab."
"My lab?" Nia frowned and then a look of horror spread across her face. "My lab. Oh dear. I have to go."
McCoy just shook his head as the Paladian practically ran out of the medbay.
"Was that Nia?"
He nearly jumped out of his skin when that voice spoke up from behind him. "Dammit woman, don't do that!" The male doctor snapped.
Wena just rolled her bright green eyes. Impatiently, she stared at him.
Clearly she wanted something, but McCoy didn't have the time to figure it out. "What do you want?" He near snarled.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Want? You shouldn't ask that unless you really want the answer." She ground out. From the first moment she'd laid eyes on him, the man had grated against her nerves.
He returned her glare with equal ferocity. "Either spit it out or let me get back to doing my job."
"Our job." Wena corrected. "You don't work for me and I don't work for you. I have as much right to attend to these patients as you."
"Excuse me?" McCoy stepped up close to her. "Did you miss the fact that I am the Chief Medical Officer on this ship? That means I'm the one in charge in my medbay, not you. You being allowed in here is a courtesy that I don't have to extend to you."
Wena's smile was grim and mirthless. "Oh, but it is. You want these people to trust you? Then you damn well better show them a face they can trust." If he had no concept of a personal bubble then neither did she. She leaned into his face. "Guess what? That face they trust isn't yours."
McCoy growled and shifted close enough that their noses almost touched. He opened his mouth to issue a particularly cutting comment when a voice neither one expected to hear spoke up from left field.
"Please argue somewhere else."
McCoy and Wena both leapt into action.
"Grego!" Wena said in surprise as she rushed to his side. "How are you feeling?"
"Like Jacek crashed the ship on my head."
Wena smiled. "You do not feel that every day?"
The man let out a weak chuckle that quickly turned into a cough.
Meanwhile, McCoy was checking the man's vitals and condition. He had absolutely no idea what the two were saying though. "Want to speak Standard for the human in the room?"
Grego blinked groggily at the gruff doctor. "I am sorry." Grego frowned. "Who are you?"
McCoy pointedly ignored Wena's smug look. "Name's McCoy. I'm the CMO."
"CMO? We are on a ship?" He sent Wena a near panicked look.
She was quick to lay a gentle hand on his shoulder. "It's ok Grego. Starfleet sent a ship to rescue us. Nia trusts them."
Relaxing, Grego smiled at McCoy. "Then I should thank you. You've saved me from the wrath of my brother had I died."
Obviously it wasn't the right thing to say when Wena winced. Grego frowned.
"Your heart stopped, Grego."
His eyebrows lifted in surprise. "That would explain the pain in my chest then."
At the mention of pain, McCoy began to ready a hypo.
"It would." Wena agreed, watching warily as the other doctor injected her friend. She'd recognized the medication he used, but she still didn't trust him. Or like him. At all.
Grego looked around. "Where is Jacek?"
This time McCoy snorted. "He's in Dr. Sargent's lab."
Wena gaped and Grego groaned.
"I take it that's a bad thing?" McCoy asked. He'd already guessed as much when the woman had taken off as soon as she'd heard.
"He's like a bull in a china hutch." Wena told him.
In a separate part of the ship, Michaels was warily watching as the big Paladian explored around the lab she and Nia worked in. He'd said Nia wouldn't mind, but after seeing the mischief that kept appearing on his face every time he touched a piece of Nia's equipment she wasn't so sure that was the truth.
As if summoned, Nia appeared in the doorway with a gust of air. She'd obviously been running.
Not even taking notice of Michaels, Nia's eyes zeroed in on the rather fragile piece of equipment he was holding in his hands.
"Jacek! You put that down right now!" She scolded.
"Aw, but Nia – "
"I mean it!"
"Are you still sore about the nitrogen triiodide? Because I found that to be quite fun." He gently set down the device in his hands.
Nia glared at him and hissed "Fun? Fun? Your little explosive set me three months behind in my research!" She stalked towards him.
As he hastily backed away, Michaels flattened herself against a counter. To be honest, to crewman hadn't thought Nia could get so angry.
"It was not my fault you did not keep your files backed up. And you are the one that knocked the container of crystals onto your computer." Jacek pointed out.
Nia narrowed her eyes, but Jacek didn't stop talking.
"Besides, you said you had forgiven me after I aided you with your research."
She didn't stop glaring at him, but the tenseness in her shoulders eased. He was right; she had forgiven him after he had put so much effort in to rectifying his mistake.
Jacek noticed the tension and took a step towards her. He raised a hand to touch a tool that caught his eye and Nia near exploded.
"Don't!"
"But –"
"I forgave you, but I don't trust you. Besides, you tackled me not three days ago! Please leave." She tried to be firm.
"What does that have to with me being in your lab? I apologized for that too, and you said –"
"Out!" At the slumping of his shoulders, she sighed. "Come on. I'll show you were the gym is."
Jacek grinned as she grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the lab.
Michaels let out the breath she had been holding as they left. "Oh boy." She said. Then she began to inspect everything the man had touched. "Nitrogen triiodide? Really? What else did he expect to happen when he used touch powder?" She muttered to herself, wincing as she thought of the damage the highly explosive substance would cause to an unsuspecting computer.
That man was not allowed back in the lab.
A/N: So, a little bit about Paladian and Vulcan dating customs and some interaction with others. Not very eventtful, but don't worry there are some very interesting chapters up ahead...
Thank you to those who have decided to follow this story and/or added it to their favorites. Also, thank you to all those who have previously reviewed. I'm not afriad to admit that I enjoy the attention.