Kirk cleared the shuttle bay, leaving himself the only crew member to greet them. Punching hacker code into the console, the captain altered the ship's logs relating to this particular shuttle. The official records now displayed two short trips to Aldebaran IV with no intervening absence.
After completing the final landing checklist items, Spock descended the shuttle steps with their bags. He straightened and offered his free hand to the other passenger in the shuttle, his bonded mate. Four weeks at her beck and call had accomplished wonders. Spock reminded himself that he would need to tightly encrypt those holo-images of her nude form stored on his PADD to prevent their accidental download and viewing by his crew mates. Especially the captain.
Even at this distance, Kirk noted their improved demeanor. From Spock's relaxed stance to Uhura's inscrutable smile, their easy manner rewarded the effort necessary to accomplish the plan he and Spock hatched to get them time alone and off the ship. Uhura had that walk that told Kirk she was back in top form. A bridge filled with workaholics made morale management challenging.
Look at her! I just wanna be Spock for one day. Wonder what Starfleet did with Janice Lester's body swap machine after the trial? Kirk ruminated, approaching the couple.
"Good to have you two ba- Uhura! What did you do to him!?"
Kirk sprinted the remaining distance to check on his unconscious first officer.
Uhura had Vulcan nerve pinched her mate.
"When he wakes up, tell him I said don't EVER frighten me like that again. For his sake I'm going to pretend you had nothing to do with this so you can drag him to Sickbay. Don't do it again - understand me, Jim?"
Without waiting for an answer, Uhura stepped over Spock's crumpled body, scooped up their bags and headed for their quarters.
"If you'll excuse me, my birthday is coming up and I have an anniversary to plan for. I'll see you on the bridge, Captain."
In Sickbay, Spock awoke minutes later with McCoy and Kirk staring at him in shock.
Spock confirmed his return to nominal functions to his friends - giving his name as "Spock", his rank as "Commander" and his present assignment as "Nyota Uhura's bond mate" - before asking a pertinent question:
"Where does the jackpot stand in the Offspring Pool?"
Finis - "Uhura and The Envoy"