Disclaimer: I don't own Spock, Nyota, Starfleet, or Giotto.

Special thanks to beta Notes from the Classroom

Convergence

It was their last full day together, and Spock had Nyota to himself.

By mid-morning Spock's back was a map of green gouges. He relished the idea of going into the water to feel the sting. They napped. Well, Nyota napped; he read scientific journals on a PADD while her head rested on his chest. The sixteen-hour work days and his time on Epsilon 1235 had put him sorely behind.

Late in the afternoon they began wandering up the beach.

Altair 25 had mollusk-like creatures in its seas, and like Earth's mollusks, some of them produced shells. Nyota and Spock began collecting them as they walked, Nyota because they were pretty, Spock because he found them fascinating examples of convergent evolution -- many of the creature's shells were startlingly similar to the ones of Earth. But then others were strange and seemingly impractical for the creatures' survival. All in all, fascinating opportunities for further inquiry...

...and opportunities for Nyota to tease him.

"You should have become a malacologist, Spock."

He blinked. It was a word he actually did not know. How had he skipped those lines when he read the Standard Dictionary? He began to piece together the prefix and the suffix…

"Someone who studies mollusks, Spock."

Ah. "I do find members of the phylum Mollusca to be fascinating, particularly Ariolimax californicus --"

"Banana slugs," Nyota said. "Your scientific muses. The bug that ignited your travel bug."

She was referring to a trip they had taken long ago to Muir Woods, and the fascinating denizens that lived there. The statement was true in the metaphorical sense; banana slugs -- Ariolimax californicu--had ignited his interest in exploring the wider universe beyond the lab. However--

"They are mollusks, not bugs," Spock retorted, knowing she knew this quite well, "And I am not sure an Ariolimax californicus could ever be described as a muse. A muse is a goddess --"

"Ohhh -- I'm imagining a banana slug in Greek robes on a cloud giving you come-hither looks with her eye stalks," Nyota giggled.

Humans could be so visually evocative. "Being a feminine deity would be quite impossible for A. californicus, as they are all, in fact, hermaphrodites."

"Hermaphrodites can go both ways..." Nyota retorted.

"And you are amenable to one giving me come-hither looks?" Spock responded.

"I would forgive he-she-it out of deference to her good taste..." Nyota said.

Spock stared at her.

Nyota licked her lips. "But I would want to beat his-her-its little single circuit brain in."

Spock's lips quirked. Nyota took his fingers and sent him a delicious wave of possessiveness.

They walked several kilometers, further than they'd ever been before, and found themselves near a beach town and a boardwalk. Since it was late and they were both hungry, they decided to get something to eat.

Looking around as they made their way into town, Nyota commented, "There are a lot of humans here."

Spock noticed it, too. Altair 25's islands were very popular tourist destinations, so aliens were to be expected. But even the stores and shops seemed to be run by humans. He saw a few Tillal'a'han females in the company of human males, but that was all.

There were advantages to human occupation. Scanning the menus on the doors as they walked through the little town, Spock noticed that almost every restaurant featured dishes that were vegetarian and vegan. Humans were definitely more advanced than Tillal'a'hans in this regard.

Even with their casual attire, they were able to get a seat in a nice restaurant. The food was good. The lighting low...

And Nyota began to get quiet...

"Something is wrong," Spock said.

"I'm just sad that it's our last night together," Nyota replied.

Spock tilted his head. "It is illogical to dwell on something which one cannot change."

She dropped her head to her hands. "Spock...I can't turn my emotions off and on the way you can."

Spock tilted his head. He hadn't "turned" off any emotion, actually.

Straightening herself, she sighed. "But you're right; we should try to make the most of the time we have."

They did talk through dinner. But it wasn't the easy banter it had been at the beach.

Afterwards they wandered out to the end of the boardwalk, fingers touching. Most of the restaurants were closed, but there were plenty of bars open and the walkway was still busy.

Once they got out of the halo of the lights from the commercial establishments, the walkway cleared and the stars became visible. Nyota gazed up at them and through Spock's fingers rolled her feeling of wonder...

Spock, of course, noticed stars, but the view hadn't filled him with the same emotion. They were the same stars he always viewed, simply from a different angle. But he liked receiving the feeling from her.

Leaning over the railing she said, "It's amazing to see them from someplace else. Even more than the purple trees, they remind me I'm on an alien world."

Through the link came...awe...wonderment...curiosity...

"Someday we'll be on the same ship up there," Nyota said.

And in their link the feeling of love joined the other emotions. It was quite acceptable. Better than acceptable.

Dropping his eyes from the stars, he turned and looked down at Nyota. A stray strand of hair was blowing across her face. His bond-mate's face. Brushing his hand lightly across her cheek, he gently pulled it back. As his fingers touched Nyota, she turned and looked up at him.

The link was so full...

Spock looked around. They were alone. It was mostly dark. He dropped his forehead to hers and very quickly applied a peck to her lips. Then his body snapped straight, seemingly of its own accord. That had been forward of him...and could hardly have been satisfying for her...He felt awkward and...

"Thank you, My Spock.." Nyota smiled wide, squeezed his fingers, and the link buzzed with happiness.

And it was all better. Taking a deep breath, he brought the fingertips to to hers and they both looked up at the stars.

"Show me where Earth is!" Nyota said, and the link buzzed with suppressed laughter. Considering the request, it seemed logical to move behind her with his chest barely touching her back...it was easier for her to see exactly which direction he was indicating when he brought his arm over her shoulder and pointed to her home world. And then Vulcan. And Orion...

By the time they began walking back towards dry land on the board walk, it was 01:00. The walkway wasn't as crowded as before, but the humans remaining were inebriated. Spock wrapped his fingers tightly around Nyota's. Perhaps he pulled her closer.

He should have expected what came next.

"Whoa!" called someone from a group of human males ahead of them. "She has got it all wrong. All wrong."

For a moment the comment didn't register with him or Nyota...the link still buzzed with happiness.

"I'm talking to you with Mr. Pointy Ears, Darlin'," the human continued.

Anger surged through the link from Nyota. She huffed. Spock was able to maintain his calm.

"If you want to do some whorin', sweetheart, you should be doin' it over here," the man said as he continued pointing at his crotch. His companions laughed.

"So fuckin' unnatural," someone said.

And suddenly Spock's calm was gone. Afraid she would see his anger he dropped his fingers from Nyota's. He stopped. Tilted his head.

"What's the matter...We scare you?" said the human.

One of his friends said, "Hey, Strider, Vulcans are pacifists."

There were about seven of them, but they were drunk. At least two of them would not be able to be effectual in any way whatsoever. The last five only barely so...

"Spock, let's go; these guys aren't worth our time," Nyota said.

Immobilized, Spock focused on the man who had been taunting them -- but he could hear the sound of halting footsteps all around. They were drawing a crowd.

"We are not opposed to violence when it is in self-defense," Spock said. It was simply a fact. For some illogical reason it gave him a thrill as it rolled smoothly off his tongue. Some part of his mind registered that he was goading the man.

"Spock...we don't need this..." Nyota said, her fingers brushing his sleeve and traveling towards his hand. He did not respond.

"He doesn't want you, sweetheart," said one of the man's companions. "But I do..."

Spock found himself stepping forward. It was almost as if his feet were agents of some other body...

The group of humans milled forward, too. Behind him he heard familiar footsteps coming fast...

"Lieutenant Commander, is there a problem, Sir?" said the voice of Ensign Singh.

Spock did not answer, nor did he turn around.

"Back off, guys. He's in Starfleet. You mess with him, you mess with all of us." It was Giotto.

There were unfamiliar murmurs of assent from behind Spock.

The men who had been facing Spock began to ease backwards. Someone in their group spit. Another went forward and grabbed the shoulder of the man who had been harassing Spock and Nyota, whispered something in his ear, and pulled him back.

There were jumbled threats made in Spock's direction. Murmurs of 'it's unnatural' and 'disgusting', but the drunken crowd began to withdraw.

This was not how it was supposed to go. He wanted to fight. Tilting his head, Spock took a step forward...and immediately felt a small, cool hand pulling him back.

Looking down, he caught Nyota's gaze. "Stress is the physiological state that results when the brain overrides the body's natural desire to rip the arms off someone who desperately deserves it," she said.

Someone laughed. Maybe it was Giotto?

"Uhura, what are you doing here?" Giotto asked. It was definitely Giotto.

Nyota did not answer; she slipped her fingers against Spock's. The link buzzed with anger...but mostly concern. How could she turn her anger off so quickly?

Spock pulled his hands behind his back, afraid she'd see just how furious he still was.

"Just visiting," Nyota replied.

Ensign Singh coughed. Spock's eyes lifted to follow the men who had insulted Nyota, his parents...him. He took a deep breath, but it brought no relief. He felt hot.

"Sir?" said Ensign Singh.

Spock turned around. He found himself facing Nyota, with her hands crossing her chest, Singh, Giotto, a woman, and five men he did not recognize.

"This is the guy we've been telling you about," said Singh with a smile, turning to the unfamiliar humans.

"He saved all our lives on Epsilon 1235, Uhura," said Giotto.

"I heard that you guys performed admirably as well," said Nyota. She turned to Singh. "I heard about a Klingon and a fire poker --"

Singh looked at his feet. "Awww...yeah, that was nothing."

The conversation swirled around Spock, but he hardly noticed. He concentrated on breathing. Nyota did the talking. They walked back into town with the group, all Starfleet personnel stationed locally, except Singh and Giotto, of course.

Neither Singh or Giotto asked any more questions about why Nyota was visiting or why she was with Spock. As Nyota and Spock departed in a hover cab, Spock could barely nod at the two men. But Nyota smiled, waved, and managed to say, "Thank you."

Spock was still boiling. He knew it was illogical, but he really had wanted to, as Nyota put it, "Rip the arms out of someone who desperately deserved it."

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

They'd been seen together by Giotto and other Starfleet personnel. It could have been worse. Nyota was friends of a fashion with Giotto. There were reasons he had stuck up for her when Kirk had come on to her. He was probably smart enough, no matter what other people thought, to put two and two together and then not talk about it.

It was doubtful that Singh or the others would realize she was a cadet.

Sighing, she turned in the hover cab seat to look at Spock. He sat staring straight ahead. He would not look at her or link with her...not that she tried to initiate either. He was so angry...it ticked her off how angry he was. As an interspecies couple they were going to face things like this from time to time. They couldn't let it get to them.

When they got back to the cabin and Spock was still silent, Nyota felt her own anger rising. Or was it Spock's anger?

Taking a breath, she calmed herself. Spock stood by the window looking out at the back porch, his back turned to her.

It struck Nyota that their deriders hadn't just insulted her; they'd insulted Spock's parents...and Spock. They had said an interspecies couple was unnatural and disgusting...then what did that say about their thoughts about the child of such a couple?

Did Spock think he was unnatural?

Yes. Or at least, he felt like he didn't fit. He wasn't really human -- obviously. And she remembered the mind meld she'd experienced with him when they'd tried to bond. She remembered the fight with...bullies? Remembered the board of the Vulcan Science Academy...

He wasn't fully Vulcan. The Vulcans she had met--Tyback, T'Lan, the Interspecies Council, and a few others -- their lips did not quirk. Their eyebrows did not rise. They didn't lash out with their fists -- or their mouths.

Spock had Vulcan emotions...but not their control.

Nyota walked over to the window and put her body in front of Spock's.

Spock looked down at her but said nothing. Moving her hands to his chin, she whispered, "Hey, come back to me."

She brought her hands up to trace the outline of his ears. He had long since ceased being alien to her, even the pointy ears -- they were just a feature now, like eye or hair color would be on a human.

"Two auditory orifices and pinnae located laterally on the skull," she murmured. "It is so strange..."

"What is so strange, Nyota?"

She nearly drew back at the sound. His words had...venom...behind them. She would not be cowed.

"That after over six billion years of evolution we are nearly identical," she replied. And their ears were nearly identical...if you factored in six billion years of being apart. Nyota traced his eyebrows with her thumbs. "And eyebrows...why do we even have eyebrows? Maybe in humans they help convey emotion, but in Vulcans..."

He lifted an eyebrow, probably unconsciously, as he considered her words.

She smiled, "...well, they may convey emotion in Vulcan hybrids as well." Tracing the other features of his face she commented, "Two bi-symmetrical eyes, a nose, a mouth -- with lips..."

Dragging her fingers down his chest she continued. "Pectoral muscles." Grazing his nipples she added, "Vestigial mammary glands in the male..."

Spock shivered. "What is your point, Nyota?"

"I think the Tillal'a'hans have it right. Maybe we are all simply varieties of some seed race...after over six billion years, it is inconceivable that we should be so similar, even with convergent evolution. Maybe we are meant to combine..."

"You accept this philosophy from a race that eats sentient creatures for the crime of being non-bipedal?" Spock asked.

Nyota pulled out the big guns. "That is an ad hominem fallacy, Spock, and therefore illogical."

He blinked. "Other members of both our species do not share the Tillal'a'han's philosophy."

"All are flawed," Nyota said running her hands in circles over his abs. "On ancient Terra, interracial couples took heat. We'll get it, too; that doesn't mean our relationship is disgusting or unnatural."

"Human interracial couples did not need the assistance of a laboratory to conceive," Spock said.

He was in a black mood.

"Spock, after six billion years of evolution, it is amazing that humans and Vulcan DNA could be combined at all. That they can be..." she shrugged, smiled. "You are the perfect blend of technology and biology."

Spock's hands went to her hips. His forehead fell gently on hers.

"You're perfect, Spock." She ran her fingers along the front seam of his pants, felt him begin to respond. "And after six billion years of separate evolution, despite all of our differences..." She smiled. "We fit. Perfectly."

FIN!

A/N:
For the record, I don't think Spock and Nyota will need a laboratory to have kids, but Spock's parents did. (If you're going to the trouble to create a hybrid/make him fertile – right?)

Also, I think there was a TNG episode with a seed race (?) Really, there has to be a reason for so many bipedal creatueres!

Another Spock/Nyota actionish story coming soon (maybe...but with more Nyota this time. There's a scene with Jabari I really, really, really want to write.) I have a short one-shot crack piece with Spock/Number One coming up (I think crack is the word for just really funny? Not sure).

Also, been writing "The Native" about Sarek and Amanda -- please check it out. The two chapters up now are angsty, but it will start lightening up next installment, promise. (And then be angsty/romatic and humorous).

Please leave a review if you were entertained. It really keeps me going.

Thanks everyone!