Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations I put all characters in. Everything else belongs to somebody else and that’s just the way it has to be. Thanks so much for reading, I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think!

Rolling With The Punches

The next day Uhura was practically tap dancing on Cloud Nine. Nothing could possibly ruin her day, she thought as she worked hard to eliminate the skip in her step, since even in her present state she realized that that was more than a little over the top. But she was entitled to her mood, it wasn’t every day that the hero of your fantasies swooped in and kissed the daylights out of you, Uhura thought with an inner girlie sigh. Perfect kisses, the sort of kiss that could ruin a girl for all other kissers. Since Uhura didn’t want to kiss anyone but Spock, this wasn’t yet a problem.

Spock, she thought in delight, hugging herself before catching herself. She had a reputation to uphold after all. Gaila was the bubbly, girlie girlie in their duo and she was the serious, tough as nails one. Plus, if she started to act all love struck people were bound to be too curious for her or Spock’s good. And she was going to have to be really careful about the name thing. He’d given her permission to call him by his first name when they were alone, dropping the title of Commander. And as it turned out, Vulcans did indeed have last names, but didn’t bother mentioning them since only their race and a handful of others could pronounce them. She’d get him to write out his phonetically, she’d definitely master it, Uhura thought determinedly. She’d given him permission to call her by her first name too, which was big because she didn’t give it out around school, wanting to be treated professionally as an officer, not a girl. She couldn’t wait to hear him call her name though!

“Well aren’t you in a good mood today.”

Not even Kirk could ruin her day, Uhura decided as she turned to face him, surprised to find him without Bones for once. “Where’s your shadow?”

“Bones? He said he’s staying out of the line of fire.” Grinning Kirk turned to lean up against the wall surrounding the outdoor fountains, giving the illusion of casualness as he continued their game of cat and mouse. “So anyway, got a question for you?”

“Oh goody.” Being female, she could be sarcastic and happy at the same time.

Never put off by her sharp words, of which he was always on the receiving end of, Kirk just grinned at her boyishly, like he hadn’t caught her sarcasm. “I was wondering who you’re going with. I’ve asked around and everyone says you’re single.” But she currently had that first stage relationship glow women got sometimes. Someone was making her happy and he was gonna have to take out the guy making her this happy before he could take over the job of making her very, very happy.

“None of your business.”

“What if I want it to be my business?” Reaching out a hand Kirk teasingly flicked one of her large hoop earrings.

Anything else he might have said was halted by the back of his head, which unexpectedly exploded in pain. Yelping Kirk bent over, his hands clutching the back of his head as he doubled over in pain. Doing his best to bit back the various words and exclamations threatening to surface, Kirk didn’t know what had hit him, only that whoever had caused it was going to pay dearly.

“Kirk?” Bending down to his level Uhura picked out a piece of white clinging to his hair with confusion written all over her face. What had hit him? Studying the remains of Kirk’s headache causer Uhura was pretty sure she knew what it was that had smashed into her daily tormentor’s head. Popping it into her mouth Uhura looked down at Kirk with a mixture of shock, amusement and concern. “Someone threw an apple at your head.”

“A fucking apple?” Staring up at her with pain filled eyes Kirk never let go of his head as he straightened up and joined her in looking in the direction the apple had to have come from. “No fucking way.” The fountain area was half a football field, and to have thrown it with enough impact to obliterate on impact….

“Someone’s got one hell of an arm. Any of your discards play ball?” Impressed, Uhura could only hope someone had caught the apple hitting Kirk’s head on tape and posted it on YouTube. She’d Favourite it first chance she got.

)

It had been a reflex. An instinctual response. An uncontrollable reaction that had him acknowledging that he really needed to get his priorities, not to mention his self control, in line before he did something incredibly inappropriate.

“Spock.”

Turning to face Captain Pike Spock wasn’t sure what to make of his former commanding officer’s face unless..well darn it.

“You just threw an apple at a cadet’s head.” Gaping at Spock Pike didn’t know what to say. If he hadn’t seen it for himself, he would have never believed it. For that matter, if he hadn’t been heading right for the younger man with his attentions focused there he would have totally missed the lightening speed pitch of the apple. It had been a green blur, but he’d seen the apple in Spock’s hand vanish and following said blur direction had seen the cadet across the way go down like a bowling pin. He could put two and two together.

“Yes, Sir.” He should feel bad about what he’d done; it was the most logical reaction for having lost his control so easily, and in broad daylight in front of various witnesses. Strangely though, Spock was currently feeling no such remorse. He was only sorry he’d been caught. The rate of his corruption was really rather remarkable. Had a study of the effect of human females on males ever been conclusively conducting? He would have to look into it, find out what his prognosis was. He’d thought his behaviour unreasonable before, but it appeared that actually learning of her own interest had sped up his own descent into misbehaviour.

Scratching his head in bafflement Pike wasn’t sure whether he should be glad no one else seemed to have noticed or not. “Mind telling me why? Do you even know who you hit?” He added, lowering his voice for Spock’s hearing only.

“Cadet James Tiberius Kirk. My reasons are my own.”

Crossing his arms Pike couldn’t think of a single reason why the half Vulcan would attack any cadet in such a bizarre way. Spock was the up front sort, he met trouble head on without flinching or personal concern. Unless he didn’t have that option. With a considering look Pike studied the cadet he now knew was Kirk, watching another, female cadet help Kirk walk away from his apple encounter. The female cadet…who was dark skinned with very long black hair worn up in a familiar high ponytail. Ah…he got it now. “He making the moves on Cadet Uhura again?” Did the boy never learn?

Nodding stiffly Spock was starting to feel a little bad. He couldn’t claim Nyota openly, so he therefore could not confront Cadet Kirk and make her ineligibility clear the way he desired. This was not Cadet Kirk’s fault. Then again, from what Nyota had told him this past year about the brash cadet, her belonging to someone else wouldn’t matter much to someone like Cadet Kirk. A man without honour deserved an apple in the head. No, he was being unreasonable. His instincts screamed to make his claim, and he was taking out his frustration out on the man who sought to possess what Spock wised to claim as his. This could potentially get very ugly.

“So you and her…”

“It would be inappropriate for a teacher to become romantically involved with one of his students.”

In other words Kirk wasn’t the only idiot in this love triangle. If she had him this stirred up already, it was only a time before Mr. Logical became Mr. Rule Breaker, Pike thought as he struggled to hide a smirk. And if the girl was as smart as her records indicated, she’d grab onto Spock quicker than a Ferengi spotting latinum. It would probably do the boy some good, Pike supposed, though he hoped they’d be discreet about it. Then again…Ambassador Sarek’s face would be interesting to see, especially with his wife doing hand springs behind him over her boy getting a girlfriend she would actually like. That he’d actually pay to see.

He’d definitely be checking in with Spock more often now, either way. He wasn’t missing these fireworks for the galaxy, Pike thought, practically rubbing his hands together with inner glee.

Reading his former commanding officer’s face easily enough Spock’s expression went even stonier than usual. His captain’s lack of faith in him was disheartening. “I simply need to meditate more.” Spock informed Pike firmly, needing to believe it.

“Yeah, well that might work with Vulcan women, my friend, but human girls are a whole other ball game.” Reaching out Pike gave Spock a sympathetic slap on the back. “There is nothing less logical or more threatening to a man’s peace of mind than a human female on the prowl. Trust me on this one.”

)

Sprawled out on the grass a couple of days later, Uhura carefully spread her long hair around her head, not wanting a single strand of it to touch her neck. Mentally cursing her roommate to Vulcan and back Uhura lifted the skimpiest tank top she owned, holding the material away from her sweaty skin as she tried to pretend she wasn’t feeling like an overcooked egg. It was better out on the school grounds, but not by much. She’d come out to lay on the grassy hill with the hopes of cooling down a little, which definitely wasn’t happening. It was only a few steps up from her room and that wasn’t saying much, Uhura thought darkly, mentally planning evil ends for Gaila.

Her idiot roommate had let her even stupider boyfriend ‘try’ to crank up their air conditioning which had been acting up recently. The bastard had broken it, being as stupid as he was good looking, and maintenance wasn’t going to be able to get to it until tomorrow morning. Gaila of course had escaped with her moron to his dorm room, but she was stuck with a sauna for a room till nine tomorrow. Hence the fact that she was stretched out on the ground as opposed to in her room sleeping. The plan was to stay outside until she was too tired to care what her room felt like or resembled. And at least no one was outside to see her; they were all enjoying rooms which were ten times cooler than the unusual warm outdoors. Yeah, she was definitely going to have to think of something horrible to do to Gaila. Like bribe Bones to experiment on her.

At least it was a clear night out, Uhura thought to herself, desperately looking for a bright side to all this. Her week had started out so great too, she thought regretfully as she looked up at the night sky. She could stargaze, which had been a favourite pastime of hers as a child. That was something sorta positive. It had probably been one of the contributing factors in her career choice. And if she hadn’t chosen to enter Starfleet she never would have met Spock, a major tragedy. Yeah, things could indeed be worse.

)

Busying herself with identifying the various constellations Uhura wasn’t aware of the presence of another until he was practically standing over her. Turning her head at the sound of footsteps Uhura sat up quickly, smiling nervously at her surprise visitor.

“Comman-Spock. What are you doing out here?”

“I was going to ask you the same question.” Hands behind his back Spock watched her with interest, curious as to why she would be outside at this late an hour, especially as it was not the most pleasant weather for humans to be in. All his students had been complaining about the heat, something that didn’t bother him personally in the least. Of course his climate was one of extreme heat upon occasion.

Grimacing Uhura quickly summarized her room dilemma. “The most annoying part is that Gaila could have done it easily. She just wanted to let him have his little ego boost.” Rolling her eyes Uhura could only hope that the next boyfriend Gaila had was a little more intelligent than a goldfish.

It took extreme effort on his part not to offer her his own bed for the evening. He could offer to sleep on his couch, but he was very self aware, and therefore knew that the chances of him staying on the couch were slim to none. And even if he did manage it there would be severe consequences if anyone learned of her presence within his quarters. “There is no one you could stay with?” He asked instead.

“Oh I’ll be fine for one night.” She assured him, even as she mentally wished he’d offered to let her come home with him. Even if it was just the couch she could still sneak into his room and see what he looked like asleep. He was probably so cute when he wasn’t looking so serious. Unless he looked serious when he slept too, he was strong willed enough to pull it off after all.

“Would you like me to escort you back to your dorm room then? It really isn’t safe for you to be wandering the grounds at night by yourself. It is nearly eleven o’clock.”

She’d intended to stick around for at least another three hours, but she didn’t want him to worry about her...or whatever the Vulcan equivalent of worrying was. Either way, he cared enough to offer so she got to her feet. She could always come back after he dropped her off. “Thanks.” Brushing off any grass that might be sticking to her Uhura smiled at him, then remembering her sandals reached down to scoop them up to slip them on. Balancing on one foot she got the first one on then, in the process of slipping the second on, her foot shifted and she felt herself tettering forward. Yelping Uhura felt herself fall forward with a sense of resigned self pity.

Reaching out with his lightening fast reflexes Spock was rather shocked to find himself falling with her instead of yanking her back to solid ground.

)

Pulling her close to him he did his best to cushion her body as they rolled down the hill, landing with a soft thud at the grassy bottom, Uhura sprawled on top of him with her arms wrapped around him and her face pressed up against his neck by one of his hands, his other around her waist.

“It has to be hormonal.”

“What?” Spock asked quietly, the position so tantalizing he couldn’t bring himself to move even a muscle to make sure everything was in working order. She was on top after all. It was her obligation to move first.

“These..these episodes.” Was her muttered reply, her face still hidden against his neck. “I had no problems getting along before I started noticing you as a guy. Now that my hormones are in over drive I keep finding myself in these idiotic situations I have only myself to blame for. Getting stuck in trees, picking fights with Klingons, going underwear shopping with Gaila, and now this. It’s a wonder you don’t run away while you still have the chance.”

Spock thought about pointing out that he couldn’t run in his present circumstances but had enough sense to know that that was not the sort of response appropriate in this instance. What was appropriate was beyond him though. Perhaps by reassuring her about her hormones? “I don’t think that your present string of bad luck is due to a hormone imbalance.”

Chuckling Uhura sat up to face him, her legs straddling his hips as she looked down at him with a sheepish grin. “I know, but it sounds better than the alternative. It’s not even the time of month to use hormones as an excuse.” Shaking her head Uhura turned her attention to more important things then her own silliness. “Are you all right? You didn’t hurt yourself during our latest misadventure?”

“I believe I am uninjured. Yourself?”

“I’ll live.” Getting to her feet Uhura backed up a little then held her hand out to offer him help up. Liking the feel of his hand in hers Uhura helped him to his feet.

Since she appeared to be in better spirits Spock thought it safe to exercise his own curiosity. “What did you mean by the right time of the month for a hormonal imbalance?” Did human females go through some sort of emotional cycle during a month’s span? He’d never noticed that in his own mother but she was often an exception to common human behaviour.

Laughing Uhura shook her head, torn between amusement and mortification over having to explain. “Well if you believe most of the men on Earth we women are very hormonal and...emotional during a week every month.”

As she’d given no exact time line Spock assumed this phenomenon was dependant upon the person as opposed to the phase of the moon for instance, or environmental conditions. Interesting. He had been unaware of this. “Does this phenomenon have a name?”

Mouth twitching Uhura could tell he wasn’t just leading her on; he didn’t have that sort of sense of humour. He genuinely had no idea what they were discussing. “We women call it definite proof that God is a man. You guys refer it to PMS.”

That sounded somewhat familiar, though what the acronym stood for escaped him for the moment. “And it occurs every month without fail?”

“Well there are ways to avoid it, though only one doesn’t involve old age, medication or a surgery.”

“Ah, perhaps that is why I never observed my mother demonstrating this unusual behaviour. What is the one thing that does not require outside interference?” Perhaps it could be somehow adapted to deal with his kind’s own hormone difficulties every seven years. Such a discovery would be of insurmountable value to his people.

“Getting pregnant.”

“Oh.” He got it now. All of it.

Wrapping her arms around his neck Uhura smiled up at him teasingly. “So I obviously have no hormone excuse for the moment. At least not yet.”