Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek

Chapter 2

Spock had messaged Uhura shortly after their meeting that morning to let her know when and where to meet her. The message had been very bare; it had literally just contained a building name, room number and time. She looked at that message now and then at the number on the door she was standing in front of.

6008

Yes, this was definitely the right place. She tried to steady her breathing and calm herself down. It hadn't helped that her legs had carried her far faster than she had wanted them too, so she was now a little flushed from the work out.

Oh hell, she thought, as she checked her chronometer.

That fact that she'd walked so quickly also meant that she had arrived at his far too early.

She took a deep breath and smoothed her hair. The message was still blinking on her mini-PADD. Ordinarily she would have lost no time in tracking down the sender of such a message to slap them hard across the face, as she had vowed never to let a jerk get her down again.

However, no one else had ever been able to make her feel the way Spock did. Oh, how cliché, she thought.

As she read over his message again, instead of feeling enraged, she felt an ever growing sense of excitement. The short message was thrilling and very much to the point. It was dangerous. And right now there was nothing she wanted more badly than that.

She reached out and rang the chime. Her heart was now beating so furiously she could feel it pounding against her ribcage, as if it were trying to escape.

Her palms were moist. When he didn't answer straight away, she smoothed her hair again and licked her lips. Her stomach felt like it was in knots and she wasn't sure anymore whether that was a good or a bad sign.

When she pressed the chime a second time there was still no answer. She felt the knots in her stomach tighten.

Damn.

She could no longer hold back her anxieties and doubts that stemmed from her incredibly accurate, yet often ignored, intuition. Torrents of conflicting emotions were tearing through her.

This could and never would work out, what had she been thinking? This was just going to be a one-night stand, maybe a short fling at most. He didn't actually care about her. This was a mistake.

She'd told herself she would be more careful, that she would try and break the cycle of 'making mistakes' and she had been doing so well - up until now.

Then the door opened and she quickly stepped back, taken by surprise. Quickly she tried to banish the thoughts that had just taken over her mind.

She also tried to resist the urge to pull her shoulders back and stand to attention.

Spock's hair was damp and in complete disarray. She'd never seen him look that... informal. Not even in any of her numerous day dreams.

"Would you like to come in?" he said and stepped to one side to let her in.

But although Spock's words were innocent and polite, his eyes were dark and the corners of his mouth betrayed his enjoyment of the situation.

Uhura knew she was staring at him wide eyed, but she was helpless to do anything about it. Whenever she saw him, she couldn't help but marvel at how tall and handsome he was. There was something very regal about Spock - even with damp hair. She felt like she was walking on quicksand.

"I am sorry I was not able to come to the door straight away. I was not expecting you this early, so I was still in the shower," he continued as she entered his apartment, and the deep tone of his voice made her shiver. The door swished shut behind her, but she didn't really hear it, the noise of her heart beating was drowning out everything else. Her hands and feet felt oddly numb.

With one long, sudden stride Spock closed the gap between them. Their bodies weren't touching, but they couldn't be more than a hair's width apart now. Uhura looked up at him.

His lips were slightly parted. She could feel his warm breath on her face. As for herself, she had stopped breathing. Their eye contact was still unbroken. Out of the corner of her left her eye she could see his hand slowly reaching out for hers. But he didn't follow through and under his intense scrutiny she finally let out the breath that she had been holding.

"Is this what you want?" he whispered.

It was too much. She took a step back, away from him. Why this change of tone?

"I am glad that you came here tonight, despite the odds that you would reject the invitation," he continued while keeping his voice low.

Uhura knew that she had yet to say a single word since entering his apartment.

"You know full well what effect you have on me. Was I really that likely to turn you down?"

"Indeed," he said and dropped his gaze her to hips. She realised she'd been pulling on the fabric of her dress and scrunching it up. She stopped.

His eyes met hers as he looked up again, but they were unreadable.

"You are a model student and always followed all my instructions precisely."

Uhura couldn't believe what she was hearing. What the hell was this? Thoughts flashed through her mind. Spock whispering instructions into her ear during class, her high test score that morning...

"Yes," she hissed back, "I take all my courses seriously. I know what I want to achieve and I study very hard."

"And how would those achievements be viewed by the Academy board if they knew you were here with me right now?" he said, and then added, "Wearing that dress."

Uhura felt her jaw drop.

"Consider the situation carefully," he said.

She took a deep breath, but her rage was even harder to control than her nervousness and excitement when she first stepped through his door.

"Right, Spock. What the hell? You were the one who started all this. You invited me here! And if I am caught, then I'd like to think you'd be in far more trouble than I would be."

He inclined his head ever so slightly, "That is correct."

She felt her fists unclench slowly.

Eventually she asked the question, not just any question – no, she asked the question.

"Why?"

She wanted to know everything. Why had he taken an interest in her? Why had he acted on it, again and again, in class? Why had he invited her back to his this evening? At least to that last question she had thought she'd known the answer, but now she wasn't sure about anything anymore.

"Why did you invite me if you are so worried about the consequences? Explain your logic too me."

The question hung in the air between them for a while.

Spock took his time considering his reply.

"I am not worried about the consequences. Worry is illogical."

Uhura placed her fists onto her hips and stuck out her chin, "Right, of course, sorry, I'd forgotten that."

"Considering the logic of a situation allows me to make decisions consciously, rather than being a slave to whims or sentimentalities and allowing myself to be too impressionable. As far as risks are concerned, they cannot be avoided in life."

"You think I'm impressionable and foolish?" she spat.

"Are you?" he asked calmly and raised an eyebrow.

"What? Do you want me to prove that I'm not by leaving right now?" she said, gesturing towards the door, "Are you testing me?"

"Indeed."

"Indeed? Indeed what?"

"I am testing you."

"Why?"

"Because the Academy rules forbidding 'inappropriate' instructor-student relationships exist for a reason. I handed in your grades this morning and I will not be teaching you again. However, you are younger and less mature than I am."

She wanted to argue with him, but she bit back the reply that was forming on her tongue. He was more mature than she was, it was one of the things she admired about him. Spock was also an alien. She allowed the conversation to play over in her mind again before she spoke next.

"You're right. You are more mature than I am," her voice was now a lot softer and quieter.

She stepped towards him, "I didn't show up tonight because you are my instructor or because you are 'Lieutenant Spock'. And if you'd invited me here before handing in the final grades, I wouldn't have come."

Spock moved almost imperceptibly closer to her.

"I assure you I didn't feel pressured into this in any way," she whispered.

This time when he reached out towards her hand with his he didn't pause or hesitate. When she felt the searing hot heat from his touch she closed her eyes. The blood in her veins felt like it was starting to boil.

Thank you all so much for all your reviews so far! It is really motivating to read all your comments and I'm so sorry you had to wait this long for an update. I've worked out the rating system now (next chapter definitely M) and i'm also able to write on my pc again (woooh!), you can't imagine how frustrating it is writing fanfiction on a mobile phone :-P.