Disclaimer None of this is mine. A thanks for Gene, JJ, and Paramount

Chapter Four

Spock offered to walk her back to campus, but Nyota didn't think it was a good idea, and declined. She wondered, as she walked the still-loud streets, whether he had thought it was a bad idea, but offered anyway. Partly it seemed out of character, for him to offer what he thought inadvisable; but then, he'd started a relationship with her, hadn't he? He'd told her, pretty clearly, that he thought it was inadvisable. Unreasonable, he'd called it. Yet here she was, meandering back to campus from his apartment, wishing she could have stayed next to him longer, all night…Wishing he could walk her through the streets of revelers. As she sidestepped a drunken classmate stumbling towards campus, she wondered if Spock really had wanted to bring her home to keep her safe.

Halfway back to Starfleet, Nyota joined a group of girls she knew from some of her practical courses and returned to a thankfully empty dorm room anonymously.

XXX

After four hours of sleep and his morning meditation, Spock sent a short message to Nyota to let her know he was leaving. Pike had requested a meeting planetside before their departure, and he did not wish to be late.

Spock re-entered his bedroom with a softly spoken, "Light." He paused for a moment inside the doorway when an image of Nyota sitting on his bed assaulted his mind. Shoving it away, he focused on the duffel packed and waiting on the floor by his dresser, and walked over to his closet. Inside hung his black trousers and undershirt and science-blue uniform. He changed efficiently, noting the snug fit of his shirt and calculating that he would have to increase his time in the gym by 5% this semester to return to service-level fitness. He would, of course, receive a new shirt when he was promoted to Commander.

When he'd zipped up his boots, Spock shouldered his bag and left the apartment, locking it without a backward glance.

XXX

Cadet Uhura,

I will be transporting at approximately 0800. If you wish to contact me, my comm will be within range. Endeavor to have a productive break.

Lt. Commander Spock

Nyota stared at the message on her personal PADD. She'd been awoken by its chiming; the sun seemed to be only just rising, if she was any judge of the light fighting its way in around the blinds. Gaila hadn't returned, and she still felt exhausted, as she hung off the side of her bed, but she retained the PADD in her hands, frowning.

Spock was going to take some getting used to. She was trying very hard not to be angry with him for the curt note. She wasn't actually angry, was she? Shaking her head, she told herself she was being ridiculous. Instead, she imagined him whispering the message into her mind and convinced herself there would be warmth beneath the thought that they could be in touch, and sincerity about being productive.

Her frown deepened when she realized they probably wouldn't actually be in touch very much. Why did he have to have this assignment just as they were getting used to each other? She couldn't send or say anything compromising over comm, and his words weren't the same as his feelings. Tossing the PADD away disappointedly, Nyota burrowed back under her covers and tried to stop her brain from thinking so she could go back to sleep.

It didn't work well.

When she woke up in earnest, groggy because of the interruption, Nyota lounged about for only forty five minutes before tackling one of her new references for her thesis. Gaila walked in around noontime in the same shimmery dress, her hair somehow perfectly smoothed into soft waves, to find Nyota curled on her bed staring at the PADD before her.

"Nyota, that's disgusting," Gaila said as she stripped off her dress and began to rummage for a new bra and panties. "Homework at noon on January first?"

Feeling antagonistic, Nyota asked, "Nice walk of shame, Gaila?" When her roommate didn't laugh her off as she'd expected, Nyota looked up, worried she'd upset her. Gaila stood scowling at her with a matching set of underwear dangling from her fingers.

"Because you didn't take one home from a professor's apartment last night?" she said.

Nyota raised her eyebrows. "You know very well we did not. I'm going to the library," she announced when Gaila turned around with an obnoxiously superior expression. The Orion didn't say anything as Nyota gathered her things and moved to leave the room.

That wasn't like them, Nyota ruminated as she walked across campus. They hadn't fought since sophomore year, even with the times Gaila hogged the room. Maybe she took her anger out on Gaila too much because she knew the lighthearted girl would just laugh it off. She'd try to be nicer…

Nyota actually paused in her steps when she realized where she was headed. The library…where Marcus worked. Her ex. She started walking again, hoping fervently that he wasn't on shift, or that he'd gone home for the holidays…

She needn't have worried, because the library ended up being closed. The great stone building that few people used stood dark and silent and locked, so Nyota found herself wishing she could go back to Spock's office or, even better, his apartment, to work, but turning her steps back to the dorm instead.

XXX

Pike stood at the head of the room with his customary meeting expression in place; based on the silence around him, Spock wondered if his companions perceived it as intimidating. Generally pre-meeting waits were drowned in idle, useless chatter, but the conference room tucked away into the Administrative Building was silent but for the rustle of clothes and papers. Spock stayed still, watching Pike and waiting for him to speak.

When the door clicked shut behind the last officer, Pike placed his hands on the table and leaned forward. Any sounds that had remained ceased.

"Alright, everyone, we know why we're here. The Enterprise is scheduled for launch late this summer, and all of you are going to be on it. I hope you're ready for the honor," he said, eyes sweeping the room smoothly. "The NCC-1701 is a damn nice ship, and I want her crew to get along." The captain sat down. "It's time for introductions."

Spock found the succeeding thirty four minutes exceedingly dull. While cataloguing the incoming information by habit, he began running through the transporting and loading configuration data he'd committed to memory when Pike sent it to him. He kept his own introduction succinct.

"I am Lieutenant Commander Spock, to be Commander within 2.5 months. I will be First Officer and Science Officer."

After a short pause, Pike added, unnecessarily, "Spock is Vulcan, but he studied at Starfleet and is one of the Academy's most distinguished alumnae. He served under me on the Farragut for two years, and earned his promotion over several missions, including the Delta Nebula Five Expedition I'm sure most of you heard about." Spock kept his steady gaze on his captain despite the sideways glances he saw and the murmuring that began. Pike gave the room a stern sort of glare which Spock could not interpret before the man seated next to him began speaking.

When they'd finished, and Pike had given a short speech about himself and the Enterprise, they all rose to go to the back of the hangar decks, where they could transport up to the awaiting NCC-1701.

XXX

Nyota returned to the dorm shame-faced, but Gaila had disappeared. The silence of the room distracted her from her work, and when the door hissed open not long after, her eyes snapped up from where they were stuck at one spot on the page.

Gaila paused in the doorway; she clearly hadn't expected Nyota to be back.

"The library was closed," Nyota said by way of explanation. Gaila just entered the room and stood before her for a moment. Her shoulders slumped.

"I can't stay mad at you. You look so pitiful."

"I'm not pitiful!" Nyota insisted, but instead of feeling angry, she was just relieved her roommate had apparently forgiven her. The place was dull with no one to talk to.

"I can't let you do work right now. It's just not okay." She grasped Nyota by the arm and started to hoist her up. "A bunch of us are starting a Colony Seven marathon, and you're going to come watch. I only came back to grab a pillow."

"I was going to work on…" Nyota started half heartedly, but when Gaila gave her a stern look, she capitulated with a good natured sigh. "Oh, alright. I've only seen the first season—"

"Then here," Gaila grinned as she shoved Nyota's pillow at her. "You'll love it."

The two girls carried their pillows upstairs to the common area, their small spat forgotten. The marathon almost took Nyota's mind off of Spock's absence. Almost; she couldn't stop herself from wishing she was curled up against his side on the couch, or from giggling to herself every time she knew a scene would affront him. And every time a starship came to visit Colony Seven, she thought of Spock and whether he was up in orbit yet.

XXX

Up in orbit, Spock stood guard as package after package transported up. He ran figures in his head as he checked each box and cross referenced the list in his hand. He found it illogical that he was in charge of a simple task when he could begin his more complex duties as Science Officer. However, Pike had assigned him check-in duty, and he would perform it thoroughly.

Two hours later, when he was told to take a lunch break, Spock checked his PADD for a response from Nyota. She had not sent one.

She hadn't even sent one by the time he was directed to his quarters in the evening.

His PADD was still in his hands as he entered the bare room. He would code the door to his voice after meditating, he decided; though many men had to take temporary lodgings, Captain Pike had assured him this would be the cabin Spock would inhabit during his post on the Enterprise. As First Officer, he was assigned a relatively roomy space: in front, there was room to work, or entertain, at a desk awaiting its computer, while the bed and wardrobe were concealed behind a half-wall. He even had shelving, though he did not anticipate needing much in this room; his cabin on the Farragut had seen him only during his necessary sleep and meditation time.

He sat on the unmade bed still considering the PADD in his hands, dimly aware of the new-furnishings smell. An unanticipated feeling invaded him, akin to what he felt when he had first left Vulcan. His mother had called it homesickness. Though he did not think of Starfleet as his home, he was, apparently, missing it. Spock tilted his head to one side slightly.

Chances were low that Nyota had not received his message, as she checked her PADD approximately six times a day, if his extrapolation was correct. More likely she had received his message and decided not to reply; her motivation not to do so was the true conundrum. Setting the PADD aside, Spock wondered if more time spent in company with her thoughts would assist him in anticipating her motivations. This one he could not puzzle out.

So instead, he sat in lotus pose on the bare bed, cataloguing the changes he would have to make to the computer, so it would recognize Vulcan commands, to the door so it would recognize him, to the science station bridge controls to make them more efficient…

Yet all the while, an echo of Nyota's warmth occupied the space next to him in his mind.

XXXXX

A/N First of all, thank you so much to those who left such thoughtful comments last chapter. You are what keeps me writing even though it's hard to fit in.

On that topic: this is getting ridiculous. I hate (not) updating like this. I just really can't fit in writing as regularly this year, and I don't feel it's as fair to any of us, story included. I completely intend to finish it, but I can continue at a snail's pace like this…or I can hold off until I have more time to write, probably in a few months. Comments? I'd really like to know what you all think!