Learning Human Nature

Summary: Spock has noticed Cadet Uhura and wishes he knew more about how human inter-act "romantically."
Rating: NC 17- nudity, sex
Pairing(s): Spock and Uhura
Feedback: reviews welcome.
Characters: Original characters - Uhura's father, Vernon Uhura; her sister, Kendra; her sister's lover, Max; a friend, Gabriel and the Vulcan, Sunval.
Author’s notes: This is my first fanfic. I hope you enjoy it. Story takes place 2 years before the movie begins.
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek, Star Trek fandom or any of the Star Trek characters portrayed in this story nor did I receive any financial compensation for writing this story.


Learning Human Nature
Chapter 9- Something for the pain…

Life on Sardinia was pure, relaxation. No work, no effort to do anything particular, just eat, drink, sleep, play. It would be a perfect vacation except that Uhura was filled with misery and longing for word from Spock who still hadn’t written to her.

She surmised that he was off planet. He had mentioned over the past few weeks that he was going to participate in a project on Vulcan over the hiatus from the Academy so she assumed that’s where he was. Her first week on the island, she checked her messages every day and still nothing from him showed up in her inbox.

She composed messages to him several times but deleted them before they were sent. She honestly didn’t know what to say. With no word from him she was at a loss. Should she tell him how much she missed him or tell him to go fuck himself? Her mood on this changed daily.

Her sister and Max, and on occasion Gabriel, had helped her come out of her brooding more than she had believed possible. But she kept coming back to a previous thought from the night she and Spock had attended the opera. What had happened between them was a little like what had happened with Pinkerton and Butterfly, despite his promise that he was nothing like Pinkerton. Spock had abandoned her and with no words of comfort or promise of return. “Butterfly was stupid for waiting all that time for him,” she thought. “At least I didn’t get pregnant.”

She had promised herself that she wouldn’t give her heart to him from the very beginning. She had promised herself that she would remain detached and enjoy a physical relationship but nothing more. And here she was behaving as if they had been bonded to each other. She had made a mistake in her judgment of him but it wasn’t as if she was stranded, alone, with a child.

Day by day Uhura allowed the anger over his leaving her, gain strength over the hurt. She licked her wounds and began to let them begin to heal.

Her sister believed in distraction therapy so they went on shopping trips to buy knick knacks and locally made items of clothing some days. Other days they went to Porto Torres and ate at one of the little cafés that dotted the winding streets.

The island of Sardinia was beautiful. They swam in the blue Mediterranean nearly every day with Max and Gabriel paddling on their short surfboards out to catch the easy rolling waves off the north coast. Then at dusk they returned to the villa to eat and play hours of bridge which Uhura loved.

It was a game of strategy and courage, much like chess, and she had enjoyed playing since she was in grade school. She and Kendra had vied for top honors as family champion throughout girlhood. She recalled that the first thing Kendra had told her about Max when she first met him was not that he was handsome (which he was) or that he was smart, (which he was) but that he was a great bridge player. Her own interests had drifted to other things but Uhura had missed playing cards since attending Starfleet Academy where she never had time to indulge.

A month passed and Uhura began to accept that she was not going to hear from Spock.

At breakfast one morning Kendra told Uhura that Gabriel’s parents had arrived and that they were having a party at their villa the following weekend. Gabriel had invited all of them to come and meet his parents and enjoy the food and the company. Kendra looked down at Uhura’s bare toes and remarked,
“I think we need to spend a day in town.” Uhura laughed. She did need a pedicure in the worst way. It was all too easy to neglect even simple things when you wore a bikini and a towel all day and a sarong all evening. She and Kendra set off for Porto Torres for some dress shopping and lady pampering.

Midway through the shopping trip Kendra decided her sister was a drag.
“Nyota, who taught you to pick out clothes?” Nyota frowned. “I know it wasn’t me,” she said with her arms crossed and a disparaging look on her face. Uhura had passed over every dress they saw and nothing seemed to strike her fancy.

“I just don’t like dressing up that much. I wear a uniform most of the time remember?” She touched a coral colored dress on the rack and for a moment it reminded her of the dress she’d worn to the opera. She recoiled her hand.
“Now that is a pretty dress,” said Kendra pulling it from the rack. “That would be a good color on you too.”
“No. I don’t like it,” Uhura said and walked to another rack. She immediately picked up a turquoise silk dress that was modest but very pretty and in her size.
“How about this one?” she said trying to put some enthusiasm in her voice. Kendra examined the dress and nodded her approval.

“Go try it on for pitty’s sake.” Uhura grabbed the dress and headed for the dressing room, Kendra following her to offer help zipping her up.
The two women joked and laughed at the crowded space but in the end Uhura tried on the dress and won the approval of her older sister. It did look nice and she was happy she’d bought it. She would think of the Sea every time she saw it.

Uhura hadn’t powered up her PADD since the first week she’d arrived on the island since Kendra was on top of all things “family.”

Her sister kept her up to date on her parents’ comings and goings. And had informed her just that morning that her mother had been asked to lead a delegation to Cardassia and that their father was about to host a group of Vulcan Scientists interested in several new drilling techniques his company was testing. They both apologized for not being able to fly to the island for a few days.

The whole family seldom landed in one place any more and though everyone had dynamic individual lives, Nyota had thought it would be nice to see her father especially. They had always been close and as a child she had loved to spend time with him when he was not traveling around the universe on speculation trips necessary to his mining business. He had been her role model in so many ways even though she loved her mother very much. They just weren’t as close as her mother and Kendra.

While Kendra and her mother went shopping for recreation, Nyota and her father went birding or snorkeling or spelunking. Her love of languages had come from him to be sure. He spoke nearly 20 languages and he had encouraged her by taking her with him on trips to many countries when she was little. She remembered him telling her he loved her in French when she was just a toddler.

Disappointed as she was, she knew that if he could spare the time, he would come to see her.
He had visited her in San Francisco a few months after she began Starfleet Academy wanting to see where she spent her time and inquiring about her friends.

She recalled that the evening of his visit, they had dined at a small Chinese restaurant just off campus known for its excellent food. Jim Kirk had been there too, eating with two other cadets. As they were being seated he saw them and stood up when they walked by his table.

“Lt. Uhura, very nice to see you,” he said a bit formally. She rolled her eyes at him but spoke to be polite.
“Lt. Kirk, nice to see you too.” Before she could move along he had reached out his hand to her father.
“Sir we haven’t met, I’m James T. Kirk.” Her father shook hands and smiled.
“Very nice to meet you Lt. Kirk. I’m Vernon Uhura, Lt. Uhura’s father.”
“Yes sir, it’s a pleasure,” replied Kirk. But the sparkle had left his eyes. Uhura knew the joke. Kirk thought he’d weasel her first name out of her father. Ha! She had loved that it drove him crazy not to know.
“Nyota we need to get ready to go to dinner. How close are you?”
“I’m ready,” she called back.

Spock had given a great deal of thought about what his mother said to him. They had a special bond because until he left for Starfleet Academy he had no other contact with humans except her. She had patiently taught him to speak Standard Federation and even English from birth so that he could think in another language besides Vulcan.

She had introduced him to foods similar to those on her home planet Earth, as best she could given the extreme differences in the two planet’s climates. She had read stories of Earth’s history and mythology to him as a child and supplied him with more reading material on Terran subjects as he grew up. No Vulcan cadet could have ever been better prepared to enter Starfleet Academy than he.

And though he knew it was a disappointment to his father that he chose Starfleet over the Science Academy on Vulcan, the light in his mother’s eyes when he told her of his decision was worth it.

He trusted both his parents to treat him with love and fairness. His father’s cool, logical approach to parenting was offset and complimented by his mother’s warm inclusiveness. They had differing opinions on how to best proceed. Now he had to decide which one was right. And while he knew no one could decide that for him, he thought there was someone from whom he could gain wisdom.

He left his parents’home and traveled to the headquarters of the Science Academy. Once there he sought out his former teacher and mentor, Sunval. He had not visited the older man since his arrival back on Vulcan and indeed he did not know if he would be welcome without notice.

It was a departure from Vulcan manners but he hoped his friend wouldn’t refuse to see him. At the large sandstone building he trotted up the steps to the gaping doorway then into a cooler, shaded chamber. There he spoke to a valet at a tall desk.
“I’d like to see Sunval please.”
“And you are…”
“Spock.”
“Is he expecting you…”
“No. But I was hoping it would be convenient for me to see him.”
“Spock.” The valet repeated. He touched a screen and spoke softly to someone.
“Sunval asks that you meet him in the garden,” he pointed down a long hall, “That way.”

Spock walked down the corridor toward a dim light at the other end. The hall opened onto a large, dimly lit garden containing thousands of plants in a myriad of colors, shapes and sizes. The air smelled damp compared to the arid atmosphere outside. It reminded him of Earth. He removed his boots and placed them on the mat beside the other pair as was the custom on entering a garden. To his left he saw Sunval about 50 meters down a paved winding path. He was a bit stooped from years of bending over his beloved plants but looked much the same as he had when Spock was younger.

The older man turned toward him when he heard Spock’s bare footsteps on the ceramic pathway. He was standing by a tall, bushy plant, abundant with an elongated fruit. Spock walked to him.
“Mangifera indica vulcanis.” Sunval said almost reverently. Spock cocked his head to one side as he often did when he did not understand something.
“A Mango tree, Mr. Spock. A fruit tree native to Earth. But this hybrid has adapted to live on Vulcan.” With a small very sharp knife he held in his hand, Sunval cut the stem of one of the multi-colored, pod-shaped fruits.” He handed it to Spock who hesitated at first then took it from his mentor’s wrinkled hands.

“I am familiar with the fruit,” he said passively. Sunval raised his eybrow and peered at Spock.

“I suppose you are acquainted with many things most Vulcans will never experience.” He had been one of the very few of Spock’s many tutors and teachers to support his desire to attend Starfleet Academy. Spock had always found that when words failed him with others, Sunval understood what he was trying to say.

“Would you like to sit?” he said, gesturing to a small table with stone benches around it. Spock nodded and the old man walked on. Spock followed him still carrying the mango in his hand.

When they were seated Sunval handed the small knife to Spock. Spock took the knife from him, but shook his head and handed it back to Sunval. The old man took both the knife and the fruit and began to make a cut around it.

“I am glad you have come to visit me Spock. I feared you had nothing to say to your old teacher. It is unpleasant for old teachers to think their students no longer need teaching,” he said as he continued to cut the mango into two pieces.

“That day will never come for us Sunval,” Spock said with respect.

Almost at once the scent of the ripe fruit assailed Spock’s nostrils and flooded his mind with the memory of that afternoon with Uhura. Sunval noticed the difference in him but waited for him to speak.

“I need your wisdom Sunval,” he said at last. The older man gently placed the two halves of the mango on the table.
“I am and will always be your friend Spock so speak your mind to me.”

Spock asked his former teacher to meld his mind to Spock’s. He didn’t trust his spoken words to convey to Sunval everything Spock wished him to know. Sunval placed his hand on Spock’s face, both men closing their eyes. It took less than a minute for the younger man’s pain and misery and guilt to be crystal clear to Sunval. He concluded the melding and sighed softly before he opened his eyes. Then he spoke.

“When I planted the tree that bore this fruit I did not know if it would live or die. It was audacious to expect it to grow on a strange planet where only half of it had originated. And look at this.” He pointed to the mango pieces. “Not only did it grow, it has thrived and produced a delicious fruit.”

He took a slice and put it into his mouth with delight. “Surely this is wonderful, no?” Spock listened carefully. Sunval looked at him with knowing eyes.

“Spock, you are half human and half vulcan. This is not a curse. This is something for which to be proud. Though I am a Vulcan, I do not think we are a perfect people. Our decision to let logic rule our lives, while serving a great purpose, has robbed us of something. Something you have inside you because you are half human.”

“What is that Sunval?” Spock queried.
“The desire to pursue joy.” Said the old man. “I believe you must satisfy that pursuit to be whole,” the he added, “It isn’t easy living up to being human Spock but necessary in your case.”

Spock said nothing but his mind raced ahead. He knew he must get back to Earth at once and find Uhura and tell her of his feelings for her. He had to apologize to her for everything that had gone wrong and ask her to forgive him and take him back as her lover or if not, as her friend. And he had to accept the fact that she might not want him back.

“Spock, perhaps you have spent as much time on Vulcan as is required at this time,” Sunval spoke at last. “I do have a request of you however.”
“If it is in my power to grant it, then yes,” said Spock.

“A team of scientists is leaving for Earth the day after tomorrow. They will be meeting with a man there to discuss new developments in mining equipment as part of our ongoing collaboration in this industry so important to our planet.” Spock looked at him with interest. Sunval went on, “I believe you are proficient in Standard Federation and several native Earth languages.”
“Yes, I am,” said Spock feeling a slight rush in anticipation of Sunval’s next words.

“I would like for you to take your leave of your parents and return to Earth with this group. I would ask that you act as an interpreter and also to report back to me as my acting secretary,” he finished, “If you would be willing of course. It is only a few weeks, is it not, until you are due back at Starfleet in any case?” Sunval said offhanded. Spock nodded affirmative and stood to say goodbye.

“Thank you Sunval for this opportunity to be of service to you.” Though he had not seen Sunval make any gesture or call, he saw that a woman had arrived and was standing by the door to the hall. Sunval motioned to her.
“This is T’Vas. She will make your travel arrangements.” Spock lifted his right hand and made the Vulcan gesture of farewell.

“Live long and prosper Sunval.” The old man offered Spock the same in return and Spock walked quickly to meet T’Vas.