My beta is awesome. Simply put.
All ridiculous things that happen in this chapter have happened in real life, either to myself or my SFM (sister from another mister or really, my roommate), or were inspired by thing that have happened to us.
That being said, read and enjoy!
"Will you stop that?" Nia exclaimed.
Sulu stared at her. "Uh, stop what?"
"Not you," she snapped. "Him." She pointed behind Sulu.
Jacek was standing at the edge of the mat, grinning like the Cheshire cat. He saw Sulu looking at him and the look was changed to one of false innocence.
Sulu looked back at Nia and told her "Ignore him. Remember you have to keep your focus on your enemy."
Nia smirked. "And here I thought I had to pay attention to my surroundings?"
"It's best to do both without getting distracted." Sulu explained. "Think of it this way, your surroundings may be something you can use against your enemy."
She glared behind him as he spoke.
"He's doing the chicken dance now." She informed her sparring partner. Earlier Jacek had been flailing his arms to get her attention and then would made ridiculous suggestions on how to take Sulu down.
Determined not to let her cousin get the best of her, Nia tried her best to ignore the strutting idiot and watch Sulu as they circled the mat.
She must have done too well of a job because she forgot her surroundings and turned her back to Jacek.
With a sudden jerk and a high pitched yelp, Nia hit the floor hard.
"Come on, man." Sulu whined as Nia rolled over.
"Jacek!" She yelled as she stood up.
The big Paladian was quickly making his way out of the gym, laughing uncontrollably the entire way. While Nia had her back to him, he'd grabbed the mat she was standing on and yanked. Of course, Nia toppled over.
Shaking her head, Nia turned back to Sulu. "My cousin has the maturity of a five year old."
He snorted. "That's insulting for a five year old."
Nia grinned. "Too true."
"Not that I believe violence to always be the answer," Sulu started "But you could spar with him. Show him you aren't someone to be messed with."
She dodged his punch before he blocked her kick. "Uh, no. Not happening. I do not want to get hurt."
Sulu grunted as her elbow caught him hard in the ribs. "You really should think about changing up who you spar with, though."
Nia frowned. "Why?"
His kick barely missed.
"You've really improved since we first started. You land hits more often, I dare not try to throw you for fear of being tossed myself, and you're barely winded by the time we finish."
She seemed startled by that and the next hit knocked her back.
With a grunt, she rolled with the hit to lessen the blow and use the energy behind it. Nia hadn't really thought about it, but Sulu was right. She had improved. And her endurance level was high. Really high. These sparring sessions were barely affecting her on the days she didn't get injured enough for a trip to the medbay.
Sometimes she even got the upper hand when Sulu started slowing down. She hadn't started off with higher endurance, but seemed to have built up to it.
Maybe it was a Paladian thing.
"Ok, so I see your point." Nia grudgingly admitted. "However, Jacek is not the person I should start sparring with. The last time I sparred with him I ended up with a broken wrist and a fractured collarbone."
"Ouch." Sulu sympathized. "He really didn't hold back."
Nia shrugged. "Well, I might have accidently knocked a box of itching powder on his head."
Sulu's deadpan look had her cracking up.
Yeah, those were some good times. Grego had tried to maintain his disapproval, but it the end laughed and just shook his head. He still lectured, but only a couple of sentences before he couldn't keep a straight face. Her father had grumbled something about immature males, while her mother had just rolled her eyes.
Twenty minutes later, Sulu both figuratively and literally threw in the towel. "I'm done. I need a break." He said.
Nia shrugged. "No problem." Her breathing had hardly changed. It felt odd, now that she thought about it. Yeah, her endurance levels were definitely up. She'd heard Paladians could be physically active longer than humans, but she'd never before found that to be true.
Then again, she never needed to push her endurance levels before. It must be like a muscle, she surmised. One she just needed to work out and build up.
Nia didn't have time to test the theory, though. She had just enough time to get another round of testing done in the lab before the evening meal. Then, after that, Spock was teaching her how to play chess.
Wena was convinced he had a death wish.
Shortly after the evening meal, Wena found Nia fumbling with a hair clip in the bathroom of 'their' quarters. An extra cot had finally been added, and the two were already comfortable with sharing a room.
"Here, let me," Wena said after seeing what the problem was.
Nia sighed and handed the clip to Wena with one hand while still holding half her hair back with the other.
As she gently slid the clip into place, Wena realized just how decorative the clip was. While Paladians didn't often wear makeup, hair accessories were frequently used, sometimes instead of other pieces of jewelry.
The clip Nia had chosen was heavy and sturdy enough to hold back the crazed locks, but it had a delicate, leafy design with several sparkling stones that would be visible even from a distance. It was a clip for attracting attention when one wants to be subtle. Wena also noticed her friend had braided a couple locks of her hair to be clipped back.
Her expression must have shown her surprise because Nia blushed.
"I know the gesture is probably pointless, but I feel prettier." The full Paladian had also adorned a simple pair of earrings to match the clip. "He's Vulcan so I don't he'll understand or even notice –"
"Hun," Wena interrupted. "He may not understand, but he will definitely notice. I'm not sure if there is much you do anymore that he doesn't take note of."
"When you put it that way, he sounds like a creeper." Nia grumbled. She toyed with a free strand of hair before she decided to braid the hair that feel onto her shoulder.
Wena groaned. "I didn't say that. I meant that he's male, you're a female he is clearly attracted to, and you two are in an exclusive dating – sorry 'courting' relationship." She rested one closed fist on her hip as she stared at her friend in the mirror. "You certainly notice everything he does, now, don't you?"
Chewing her lip, Nia shrugged. "I guess I do." She stopped braiding her hair and really looked in the mirror. Alright, Nia she told herself. You are attractive. You don't need Spock noticing for that fact to be true. Besides, she smirked. He's already proven his interest in you.
"There you go." Wena whispered.
Nia looked up from her musings in surprise. "What?"
"You grabbed a hold of you confidence again."
Nia smiled. "Now, let's see if I can hang on to it. Come on." She grabbed her friend's arm. "This is not someone who knows the meaning of 'fashionably late.'"
And late she was not. In fact, she arrived shortly after Spock and followed him to the vacant chess board.
She eyed the board as she sat down across from him. The three dimensional board was slightly intimidating, and knowing who she was going to play against made it seem even more so.
He set up the board with himself as white at her choice.
"Alright," she said before he made the first move. "I know how the pieces move, but there have to be some basic moves you can teach me."
"As you wish." He said and then proceeded to demonstrate one of many openings.
Across the room, Wena enjoyed her position as a spectator through a couple rather quick games. It gave her a perfect view of both of the couple's faces and Nia's expressive one was an entertaining contrast to Spock's blank one.
"Enjoying the view?" A low voice asked from behind her.
After Wena jumped, Captain Kirk moved around her to take a seat beside hers.
She rolled her eyes and smirk. "No, I'm enjoying the show." Wena corrected.
He grinned and watched the couple with Wena. "She doesn't like chess, does she?" Kirk suddenly asked.
"Not really." Wena answered. "How could you tell?"
He shrugged. "She's really trying to play and use what he's taught her, but she's starting to get frustrated."
"Well, the commander does like to play chess, doesn't he?"
"Yes, what does…" Kirk paused as a thought crossed his mind. "She's trying to impress him."
This time Wena shrugged. "She's got her pride, too. As I'm sure he does."
Kirk frowned. "You think she's trying too hard?"
Wena shrugged again. "Maybe."
The two didn't speak for a while. While there was no animosity between the two, Wena was still a little uncomfortable. She wasn't sure how to act after the false reports, even though the man had approached her the day before.
He'd stopped her in the hall way and said "You should know that the investigative team's findings match your new reports."
She'd let out a slow breath. "Glad to hear it." She said quietly.
Kirk had found her statement odd, but decided not to call her out on it.
Now the pair was stuck in an uncomfortable silence as they watched his friend aid to the growing frustration of her friend.
Kirk was beginning to wonder if Spock's idea to teach Nia chess was such a good idea and Wena was beginning to wonder if she should rescue her friend when Nia's demeanor suddenly changed.
The full Paladian started smiling and smirking smugly after every piece she moved. The amount of time she would take in between moves grew shorter and Spock began to gaze at the board with a peculiar intensity.
Frowning, Wena turned to Kirk and said "I don't know enough about chess. Why is she smiling?"
Kirk was staring at the board as Nia made another move, this time giggling slightly.
"I have no idea." He told Wena. "What is she doing?"
He could tell Spock was confused too and attempting to figure it out.
"That girl has an awful poker face." Kirk muttered.
Wena's frown deepened at that statement. She studied her friend and then looked at the board. She looked back at her friend, and back at the board.
Kirk stared at the half-Paladian as the woman grew red in the face and started snorting. She was clearly trying to hold back her laughter and not doing well.
"What's so funny?" Kirk asked. He really couldn't see a reason why she was laughing.
"Well, first of all," Wena got out "she isn't a girl."
Kirk rolled his eyes. "Come on, she's barely older than I am and I get called kid plenty."
Wena raised her eyebrows in an 'oh really' look. "She's thirty five."
Kirk froze. "No." He denied.
"Yes." Wena affirmed.
"No." He tried again. "That would make her about seven years older than Spock. She has a decade on me."
"And your point is?" Wena asked.
Kirk eyed the woman next to him suspiciously. "And how old are you?"
"Old enough, that that's a dangerous question."
"Are you over thirty?"
"No." Wena snapped.
"Are you almost thirty?"
She glared at him.
"Wow. You are old." He smirked.
She gaped at him. "You are such –"
"An amazing captain?" He leaned and gave her a smug grin. "I know."
Wena huffed and turned her attention back to the pair dueling over a chess board.
Kirk turned with her and was surprised to see Spock go still. He looked at the chess board. "No way." The captain muttered.
Across the room, Nia was starting to get worried by the look Spock was giving her. Clearly he was expecting her to do something.
"What?" She asked.
"Checkmate." He announced.
"What?" Nia asked, startled. "But you haven't even moved yet!"
Spock raised an eyebrow. "It is not I who won."
"What?" Nia was starting to feel like a malfunctioning music file.
"It is my king that is in checkmate."
"No way." She said and then Nia stared at the board. Or, more specifically, his king. "You're right."
"I am aware."
"How did I do that?"
He raised his eyebrow again as he said "Clearly the strategy you employed was superior. Your changed demeanor indicated that you were aware of this several moves prior."
Nia bit the inside of her cheek as she sheepishly looked up at him. No, that is not at all what happened, she thought.
Wena sidle up beside her and gently bumped Nia's shoulder with her hip. Wena looked at the board. "You won?" She asked, surprised. Snorting, she added. "About time."
Nia groaned and looked up at her friend.
Wena caught the look and started laughing. Hard.
Kirk had shown up at Spock's side and the two men were staring at the two women in confusion.
"Jim, I –"
"I don't get it either, Spock." Kirk interrupted.
Hearing this, Nia finally started laughing along with Wena.
Finally gaining enough control of herself to speak, Wena asked "Did you really just bluff your way through a game of chess, and win?"
By now, Nia was laughing so hard she wasn't making any noise, save for the random clapping of her hands. It was all she could do to nod in response to Wena's question.
Kirk and Spock shared a look.
"Wait, you bluffed? How do you bluff in chess?" the blond man asked.
"Indeed." Spock said. He also wanted to know the answer to that.
Nia lifted her hands up in an exaggerated shrug. "It was accidental. I was expecting to get beat. Again." She didn't have the heart to tell him that she'd completely lost interest in their game and was randomly moving pieces just to confuse him. Besides, she figured he could probably guess what was going on.
"Alright, let's play a game you can't accidentally win at." Wena suggested. "Actually, all four of us could play. What do you think?" She asked, looking at each face in the group.
Kirk was surprised, Spock was unaffected, and Nia was contemplative. "Depends. What game you thinking of?"
"I don't know. You're the card player. What are some good four person games?" Wena asked.
Nia thought about it. "Maybe casino, or hearts? We could play foot in mouth," She turned to the men with a sly grin "if you boys are up for the challenge?"
Kirk decided her calling him a boy wasn't as funny when he knew how old she was. "Foot in mouth?" He asked. "That sounds like disease."
Nia chuckled. "That's hoof in mouth, something that affects Paladian cattle too." She leaned forward. "I assure you, the only danger is to your egos when you lose."
"You are certain you will be the victor?" Spock asked.
She caught the glint in his eyes as Wena smirked. "Actually it's a team game. And I'm certain that we" she gestured to Wena and herself "will be the victors." Then she shrugged. "At least for the first round. Then we can change up the partners if you want."
"Hey, no. I'm not ok with that." Wena gestured at Kirk. "I have no idea how he plays. I don't want to get stuck with him."
Kirk stepped up to Wena until their arms barely brushed. "What you don't think that a genius level intellect resides behind this pretty face?" When she only spared him a disbelieving look and stepped away from him and behind Nia, he shrugged. "That's fine, I'm sure the senility will play in our favor."
"Senility?" Nia gasped.
"Age and treachery before youth and skill." Wena returned.
Nia glared between Kirk and Wena before looking back at Spock. "I hope you realize he just did the equivalent of slapping her with a glove. That's a pretty bold move."
"A trait that has served him in the past." Spock informed her. That glint still hadn't left his expression.
"Ok," she said. "Your funeral. Let's get this game started."
A/N: So my beta laughed while reading this. Several times. I really hope you did too. And yes, the next chapter does the conclusion of the 'date'. Man, those two took forever.
And of course, thank you to QHJumper for reviewing the last chapter. You have reviewed almost every chapter and I really appreciate the time you take to do so.
Also, thank you to those who enjoy this enough to follow and/or favorite this story.