Silence in the Dark- Part II

Nyota gave a sound of triumph as she finally worked her feet free and the bonds fell to the ground. Her ankles were chafed, but that hardly mattered.

Now, for the hard part...

She looked up at the beam that ran from one end of the hut to the other- the same beam that her wrists were tied to. She bit her lip in concentration as she began to swing back and forth, swinging her legs until they almost connected with the beam. So close....but not close enough.

She tried again, not caring that the ropes rubbing against her skin burned almost as bad as her back, which was still wet with blood. This time, she just barely managed to hook both ankles around the pole. Her right ankle hit much too hard, and she heard a small crack! and felt sharp pain emanating from it. She gasped and felt her eyes tear up, but somehow still managed to keep her hold and pull her body up closer to the beam.

She maneuvered and wiggled herself around the beam until she sat astride it, her head grazing against the leafy ceiling. She was panting with pain now- her ankle was rapidly swelling and throbbing, and her back was burning anew.

Nyota couldn't let that distract her. She looked down at her wrists, barely able to see the ropes in the dark. But she saw enough, and soon she was rubbing the fibers against the sharper edge of the square beam. She hoped and prayed that it was fraying, because she couldn't see it well enough to know for sure.

She must have been at it for ten minutes when she heard voices approaching. Her breath caught in her throat, and her heart hammered in her ears. She realized that she had paused, and began to vigorously rub the ropes against the beam, her breath coming harsh and painful...come on... just a little bit more...they were coming....

When the leader and his sidekick came through the door, they were surprised when they didn't see their prisoner anywhere. They began to babble in their horrible language loudly, pointing at the spot where Nyota had been tied, and where her blood still stained the dirt. The leader was yelling...

But they weren't nearly as surprised as when she leaped out of the shadows from the beam, and landed directly on the leader, pinning him to the ground. The fall jostled her broken ankle, and she hissed in pain, but she was now so filled with rage and hate that she didn't care.

She felt the leader's companion's arms wound around her, and she elbowed him blindly in the face. She knew from the satisfying crunch that she had hit his nose and broken it. She felt an insane feeling of retribution as her hands found the large man's throat, and she squeezed.

"Where is Spock?" she hissed. "Where is Kirk? McCoy?"

He made a strange gurgling sound in the back of his throat, and she lessened her grip a little. He tried to push her off, but her knees were on either side of him, her weight on his chest pinning him down. She saw the other man run out of the hut from the corner of her eye, but at the moment she didn't care about him.

"Where are they?" she growled, sinking her nails into his skin. She could not describe the feeling welling up within her...she was almost feral.

She was stopped by a voice from the doorway. The woman that had tended to her before stood there, watching with wide eyes as Nyota slowly choked the leader to death. She was yelling words in the strange language, her voice making the harsh words almost beautiful. She was waving her arms at Nyota, as if beckoning her. Her yellow eyes glinted in the dark like an animal's would.

She was pointing off in the distance, and Nyota realized that the woman knew something...either someone was coming, or she knew where her friends were.

Nyota released the man, who immediately began to cough and sputter, his chest heaving. She got to her feet, limping over to the woman.

She looked out the doorway, and saw that they seemed to be in a clearing in the rain forest, surrounded by huts made of wooden slats and large leaves. It was a village, and in the distance she saw a group of men armed with crossbows running toward them.

Nyota stared at them in fear, unsure of what she was supposed to do. Then she felt the woman nudge her gently, and she looked down- the woman held out her communicator. It must have been found with her things, but the woman couldn't possibly know how important it was or what it did.

"Oh, God...thank you!" Nyota said, feeling relieved tears well up in her eyes. All she would have to do is contact the ship...

She flipped it open, and hailed the Enterprise.

"Enterprise...this is Uhura...come in, Enterprise." she said, not realizing until then just how hoarse her voice sounded. There was a moment of static, and then...

"Uhura? Is that you?" came an incredulous-sounding voice. It was Miller, the secondary communications officer.

"Yes, it's me! Beam me aboard NOW!" Nyota cried as the warriors neared them and stopped to aim their crossbows. There was a moment's delay, and then she felt the tingling sensation all over her, like thousands of ants crawling over her skin. Then- at the same time, two things happened. The dark woman beside her grabbed a hold of Nyota's arm, and the nearest warrior let loose an arrow.

__________________________________________________

When she rematerialized on the transporter pad, her eyes were wide with shock, and her hand moved down to her stomach- from which protruded an arrow.

The woman beside her, who had been beamed aboard the star ship with her, cried out in alarm. One of the engineers in the room started forward, getting there just in time as Nyota tipped forward in a graceful fall, staring down at the blood on her fingertips. His hands caught her around the shoulders, and he lowered her to the ground.

"Call medical!" he yelled at the other person at the transporter console. He leaned over and pressed an intercom. "Dr. McCoy, report to the transporter room immediately!" he said loudly. "It's an emergency- Lieutenant Uhura-"

She didn't hear any more...everything sounded distant. Her ears were ringing. She was aware of bright lights, of pain in her stomach, her ankle, her back, her head...pain everywhere...all she could think of was Spock. As she felt herself lifted onto a stretcher and rushed toward sickbay, she could only think of him.

"Spock...Spock..." she moaned, her head tossing back and forth. "Where is he?"

She heard McCoy's voice, but his words didn't make any sense...she felt herself being moved, lifted and placed somewhere warm and comfortable. She heard someone cry out...was that her voice? She felt herself tipped to the side, and someone gasped...

"My God, Leonard, look at her back!" she recognized the voice as Nurse Chapel's...

"Never mind her back, let's concentrate on this arrow!" McCoy barked.

She felt more pain...her mind was getting fuzzier...

She heard McCoy's voice shouting out orders...

Then she knew no more.

___________________________________________

When she came to, she was on her side on a biobed. She blinked, and moaned. Pain. Pain everywhere. And still, only one clear thought...Spock...

She opened her eyes wide, and looked around. Her heart beat faster and her breathing quickened.

She still didn't know what had happened to Spock, whether or not he was alive...

She tried to sit up, but realized it was going to be impossible. Thick bandages covered her torso, and there was a cast on her ankle. Her head felt heavy, and she raised a hand to it, only to feel another bandage there.

"You're awake. Good." said a voice above her. She rolled her head to the side and squinted up.

"Turn the lights down, Bones." she grumbled. "They're hurting my eyes."

"That's not unusual after a concussion." McCoy replied. He moved a medical tricorder over her. She grabbed his wrist, meeting his eyes.

"The landing party. Did everyone get back okay?"

"Everyone but you beamed up the evening before last." McCoy replied gently. "After the fight with the natives. Thompson and Watkins are both dead, and Spock was in pretty bad shape..."

Her fingers squeezed his wrist painfully. He winced.

"I see your strength is returning." he commented. He paused, and then eyed her. Her eyes were wide, her heartbeat elevated. "Spock's okay." he added, and she leaned back against the pillows, sighing as relief washed over her. His brows furrowed.

"Why all the interest in Spock all of a sudden?" he asked. Nyota shook her head and didn't answer him.

"What were his injuries? Is he still here, in medical bay?"

"He had a pretty nasty shoulder wound, but it's healed up well now. I discharged him within an hour after treating him. He insisted that he had to get back to work, get back to trying to find you, like Jim and everyone else was doing. Once you were far enough away, the natives retreated. The away team beamed aboard to treat injuries before beaming back down, to try to find you with a full security detail. That's where everyone was when you beamed aboard yourself last night."

"Has he been to see me?" she now asked.

He didn't have to ask who she meant. "No. The only person who's been here besides me is Jim. He's been dropping in once an hour or so to check up on you."

Nyota couldn't stop the disappointment from flooding her, and she turned her face away to hide it. Why hadn't he come to see her? She could have died...

"You said everyone was looking for me...isn't that against Starfleet regulations?" she asked, trying to distract herself from the pain that was no longer physical.

"Yeah, well...you know Jim." McCoy said, and she could almost hear him shrug. "He's been known to bend the rules."

"How long have I been in sickbay?" she asked.

"Thirteen hours now."

Thirteen hours...and he hadn't come to see her even once...when she was in pain, when she needed him most...he hadn't been there for her.

There was silence except for the beeping of her vital signs on the screen above her.

"Well, I wanted to stay here until you regained consciousness. I have to fill out your report now...you should sleep for awhile." McCoy said, gently squeezing her arm. He moved away, and flicked the switch that turned off the lights in sickbay as he went into his office.

"Wait- Dr. McCoy?" she called out, her voice cracking a little. He paused and looked back at her.

"What is it?" he asked gently.

"Thank you. If it weren't for you, I'd..." she trailed off. Both of them knew that she had almost died.

"It was an honor, Lieutenant Uhura." he replied softly, and then left.

Nyota lay there, and felt her throat burning as she fought back her tears again. Finally, she was tired of fighting. She had been fighting pain and fighting for her freedom for two days...she didn't want to fight any more.

She felt the tears splash down her cheeks, onto her pillow. She had been through so much...endured so many things...and the only thing that had given her the confidence to escape was him. And he couldn't even come visit her in sickbay...he claimed he loved her, but how could he leave her alone when she needed him most?

She brushed her tears away with her hand and buried her face in her pillow. The secrecy of their relationship she could deal with...and even his lack of emotional display was tolerable...but this?

Maybe she was being selfish...she had been selfish before, when Spock had decided to leave Starfleet. She would not have admitted it at the time, but it was true, she had been selfish in wanting him to stay and resenting him for hurting her. Was she being selfish now, when she wanted his support after all she had endured? Somehow, she didn't think so...

She adjusted herself a little, wincing as pain shot through her body. She tried not to think of the events of the past two days. Would she ever be right after that? After being kidnapped and whipped, strung up by a beam...for no reason?

She squeezed her eyes shut, knowing sleep would not come for her.

Instead, she found herself listening to the silence of the dark...both within and without.

_____________________________________________________

When McCoy and Nurse Chapel came next to check on her, they were accompanied by Captain Kirk.

"Nice to see you awake." Kirk said with a small smile that was nothing like his usual cocky grin. Nyota didn't return it- she hadn't slept, and instead had spent the hours thinking about Spock, hoping he would walk in and demand to see her at any minute...she needed so badly to see him...

"I assume you weren't too badly injured in the fight?" Nyota asked. She was now sitting up in bed, propped up by several pillows. The lacerations on her back had mostly healed, but she still felt them burning underneath the bandages.

"Nah." Kirk said. He smiled at her kindly. Nyota stared back at him. The only other time he had been this nice to her was when Spock had decided to leave Starfleet, and he felt bad for her.

McCoy and Chapel soon left them alone, and Kirk sat next to her bed on a chair.

"Why hasn't he come to see me?" she asked right away.

Kirk looked uncomfortable. "Well...I don't know. He keeps asking me to check up on you when I get the chance...he's been working on the bridge since we got back last night. He's writing a full report of what happened, and then he-"

"I want to see him." Nyota murmured, looking down at her hands. They were folded in her lap. "He should know that already."

"I'm sure he has a reason, Uhura." Kirk soothed. Nyota shrugged.

"I'm sure he does." she replied flatly. Something in her tone made Kirk lean closer.

"He was really...well...I've never seen him like he's been the past two days." he said. "When they hauled you away...if it weren't for his shoulder, he probably would have killed everyone in sight. When they retreated it was everything I could do to keep him from going after them...his shoulder was bleeding pretty badly by then, so we had to get him back on the Enterprise. As soon as he could he was ordering a search party."

"Wait- I thought it was you who did that?" Nyota asked, surprised.

"I gave him permission of course, and I was planning on it, anyway, but..." Kirk shrugged. "Anyway, he refused to stop. We were on the surface when the call came through from Miller that you had just been beamed aboard with a native woman and were being rushed to medical bay with some pretty serious injuries...Spock didn't say a word, but I could have sworn that he got pale...paler than usual, anyway, if that's possible. Ever since, he's been asking me to stop by and check on you, like I said."

"Why can't he come himself?" Nyota snapped, leaning forward and forgetting in her anger about her back. She winced and sucked in a hissing breath. She relaxed against the pillows again, calmed down. Then she remembered the woman who had beamed aboard with her. "What happened to the woman?" she asked.

"She's in the brig. We weren't sure if she had anything to do with your injuries, so we figured we should keep her there until you woke up."

Nyota shook her head. "No, she helped me." was all she said. Kirk nodded.

"I'll have her returned to the surface. If she wants, anyway- if not, we can take her to a base so her language can be studied." Kirk stood. He hesitated. "Listen...when you're ready...it's required that you give a full report of everything that happened to you."

"I know." Nyota said, nodding.

"Get better soon, all right?"

"Bones says I can be discharged tomorrow, but he's making me take a few weeks off."

"Damn right he should." Kirk said with a smile, and then he left her alone.

_____________________________________________________

By the time she was deemed to be ready to leave sickbay, Spock still had not come to see her. The pain of this had settled deep within her. Two days in sickbay, four since she had seen him...and he could not find five minutes to see her?

It hurt. It hurt more than the injuries she had sustained. He had been all she could think of while she was held captive...and while Kirk said Spock had been worried about her, she wasn't so sure.

McCoy and Chapel each gave her gentle hugs goodbye as she left. She was to be restricted to her quarters, meals brought to her by a yeoman, and was instructed to keep off of her ankle as much as possible...while 23rd century medicine did seem to work miracles on her other injuries, the slowest healing was the broken bone.

She was settling onto her bed and picking up her data PADD to peruse the articles she had missed over the past few days, when her door chimed. Her fingers paused over the PADD.

"Come in." she called. She kept her eyes trained on the screen as the door slid open. She didn't bother looking up- she already knew who it was. "Hello, Spock."

"Nyota..." his voice was hesitant, and when she looked up she caught him staring at the cast on her ankle, at the neatly healing cut on her head where her concussion had been. She no longer wore the bandages, not even on her torso, as those wounds had mostly healed by now. But the stiff way she sat told him that she was still experiencing some pain.

"Nice to see you again." Nyota said, feeling a twinge of pain deeper than any physical injury.

"You are angry."

"I'm hurt." She replied. "And not only physically. You know what? I thought about you every minute that I was a captive. I worried about what had happened to you. All I wanted was to see you again. I could have died, and you wouldn't have been there with me."

"Nyota..." he gave the Vulcan equivalent of a sigh, which was only a slightly faster exhalation. He came closer to the bed. "I have a logical explanation."

"Then I'd like to hear it." she said, finally looking at him, tears shining in her eyes, but she blinked them away. "You can sit down." she said, moving over to make room on the bed.

He sat beside her, and looked at her, his eyes roving over her features.

"If I visited you in the medical bay, it would have been conspicuous." he replied gently. "Do not think that I did not wish to. You were on my mind constantly. I could not risk being seen."

"But I needed you." Nyota whispered so quietly only he could have heard it, with his superior hearing. "I wanted you there beside me."

"It would not have been logical. Your healing would not have been sped up by my presence, and once it was ascertained that you would live, I knew you were in capable hands."

"I still wanted you. I wanted to see you. I fought so hard..." she stopped herself. She wasn't ready to think about what had happened.

"I know you did." Spock replied, and he reached out to touch her. She pulled away, and he withdrew his hand, placing it in his lap. He took a deep breath. "I promised you, before they took you, that I would protect you. I failed."

Nyota looked back at him, a little surprised. He blamed himself...how could he blame himself? She had seen with her own eyes how hard he had tried to protect her. And he himself had been injured...

"None of this is your fault, Spock." Nyota said quietly. "But...you don't understand. I needed to see you. I don't care if we got a court-martial because someone saw you and complained. This isn't the same as someone seeing you leave my quarters. This is beyond that...you should have taken the risk."

"Nyota, do you not recall the promise you made to me when we first pursued this relationship?"

"I do." Nyota whispered. "I promised to accept any logical decision you make, even if it hurts me."

"This was a logical decision. You may resent me for it, you may even hate me for it. But it was logical."

"I don't resent or hate you." Nyota replied truthfully. "It's just...sometimes it's unfair. I was there for you when you lost your planet...but you couldn't be here for me."

Spock closed his eyes, and Nyota realized how much she had just pained him. She reached out and took his hand into hers as an apology, and he squeezed back- apology accepted.

"Nyota, I do wish I could have been there for you." Spock replied. "I did not realize that my presence would be beneficial to you."

"Of course it would have been." Nyota said, and she moved so that her head rested against his shoulder. He gingerly placed an arm around her, careful not to touch her back. "And it is, even now."

"I could not be there for you then, but I know a way so that I will always be with you, no matter what." Spock said quietly. Nyota lifted her head and looked at him. "I could bond with you." he explained.

She looked up at him, looking into his chocolate-brown eyes, the eyes that she had thought so often about the last few days.

"I don't know, Spock." Nyota said quietly. "That's a big decision."

"I do not expect you to respond right away." Spock said, a bit too quickly as he looked away. Nyota raised a hand to his face and turned it back to her.

"I do want to bond with you...but not right now." she whispered, and kissed him. "Just promise me that you will be here for me for the rest of my healing process...both physical and mental."

"I promise." Spock said, squeezing her hand. Nyota laid her head against him and closed her eyes.

She didn't know when she would fully recover from this...but she knew that with Spock there for her, she could do it. She understood now why he hadn't come to her in sickbay...she didn't like it, but as before, she must accept it. He had done it for them, just as she had escaped that hut for them. She forgave him, because in the end, what really mattered was that he was still with her, and he would help her get through this...because he loved her. His voice was the sound she listened for in the silence of the dark.

A/N: Not sure how this one is going to be received...this is my first time doing action in a fic, so I'm not that good at it. I'm not happy with the ending, but tell me your thoughts on it...sorry about the length, too. If you write, you know how it is...once you start writing, you just can't stop.

The woman who helped Nyota will be in a few of my future fics, and yes, she does have a name...you'll find out more about her, unless you're all completely uninterested, then she'll drop off the face of the Star Trek universe...anyway, I only get paid in reviews, so please review! Even if it's just a few words saying that you like or hate my writing, even if you're just telling me I suck...review!