So, this is going to be one of those stories where I just write what comes out with very little planning. Because when I plan things, it takes forever for me to write. I feel confined to my thoughts. That considered, I hope you enjoy this story!

Her PADD had not quit buzzing since earlier that afternoon.

She'd always known that she would answer, eventually, but she held out as long as she could.

She wasn't scared or nervous or anything of that caliber.

After all, it wasn't like the one person she'd been trying to avoid was the one trying to get into contact with her. She would have expected differently from anyone else—anyone who wasn't preoccupied with logic, that is, which happened to be the case for Nyota's "boss," Jim Kirk.

This time would make his 9th time attempting to get in touch with her. When she was on duty, she would not hesitate to answer him; alas, she wouldn't be on duty again for a very long time, and she knew that he was aware of that and, thus, whatever he wanted to talk to her about wasn't important. Work-wise, at least.

Nyota had a very good idea of what he'd say, what he'd ask, if she answered him, and she wanted to avoid it at all costs. But that wasn't happening.

Jim Kirk wasn't going to let her off that easily.

Resigned, Nyota sat up on her sofa and took her PADD off of the coffee table in front of her. She stared at Jim's photograph on the screen, sighed heavily, and then swiped to answer his call.

His picture hadn't even fully materialized before he started tossing questions her way. "Where the hell are you, Uhura?"

She sighed. "I think we both know that I'm not obligated to tell you that."

"Right. Because after the repairs to the Enterprise were finished, everyone came back to the ship but you. What the hell is that?" Jim shut his eyes and rested his cheek in his upturned palm. "Are you okay?"

He was beat. It was written all over his reddened face.

Nyota figured that she didn't look much better. She was all but disgracing her leather sofa, what with the tacky years-old shirt and pajama pants she'd grabbed from her hamper that morning. Her hair was a mess, a mess she'd "dealt" with by pulling it into a very messy ponytail. And she was sad. She was so sad that her sarcasm didn't even sound right.

"I'm fine, Jim," she said, earnestly. Softly.

He opened his eyes, then. "You don't get months-long leave for nothing. Behind my back, no less," he pointed out, his tone bordering on accusatory.

That brought the smallest of grins to her face. "It's a good reason, Jim. Not a bad one."

He rolled his eyes. "This doesn't have anything to do with Spock, right? Because you could've gotten over him here. With me." And there was his wolfish smile, diluted somewhat by his exhaustion but there no less.

Nyota groaned inwardly. Gossip traveled around the ship quickly, even when they weren't physically on the ship. Usually, it was more impressive to her than irksome, from a communications perspective. This time, communications considered, it was definitely irksome. "You heard about that? Already?"f

"It's been two days. I'd say it was one of the better kept secrets."

"I'm not in the mood to argue with that logic."

"I bet. Hey, speaking of logic—."

"Are you really going to do this right now?"

"As a matter of fact, I am." Jim swiveled around his chair and assured that the coast was clear before he faced the screen again. He lowered his voice. "He's miserable without you. You know, if that helps."

"Hm." Nyota tilted her head to the side in mock thought. "It'd be a very real possibility, Jim. If he were capable of being miserable, or being anything, for that matter." Her lips were set into a taut line. She was behaving unfairly, she was well aware, but she felt that she had the right to. And, even if that wasn't the case, it made her feel better.

"Ouch." Jim winced. "As soon as you come back, you're telling me what he did. I hope you know that."

"No. When I come back, I'm going to be doing my job. Which you should be doing right about now."

"I've never heard of a guy getting such a hard time for checking in on someone before he goes to sleep. I care about you, you know? I'm very loving." He grinned, boyishly. She had a feeling this was the most normal he'd been all day. Going out there, to where no man had ever gone before, had the tendency to change a person. Nyota wouldn't dare admit it, but she enjoyed Jim just the way he was.

She rested her head on her fist and granted him another gentle smile. "Get some rest, Captain. I'll see you—."

"Soon?" He sounded a bit hopeful. It was a personal thing as much as it was professional, she knew. Jim could do just fine without her. He could do just fine without nearly anyone.

"Eventually."

"Eventually." Jim mulled over the word for a bit.

Nyota yawned and watched him, like she had nothing better to do—she didn't.

Finally, he relented. "I can live with that."

If there was one thing that Bones absolutely hated, besides stupid people, it was interruptions.

People were always budding their way into his dinner conversations to ask basic medical questions; barging into Med Bay with basic injuries when he hid there to eat his lunch alone; and knocking on the door to his quarters before breakfast to tell him that another Medical Officer had royally screwed up, again.

Frankly, he was sick of it. He had half a mind to go on extended leave himself.

Needless to say, the knock on his door as he was getting ready for bed didn't help the situation.

Nor did the fact that the person behind the door was none other than Jim Kirk.

Bones tossed up his hands in irritation and stormed further into his quarters, not stopping to invite Kirk in. "What is it now? We just got back here. How many times can Ensign Lee fracture his pinkie finger?" If he'd stopped grabbing parts of his uniform and ranting, he would've heard Jim laughing into his fist. "If I'm going to be the only Medical expert worth a dime around here, I'm going to need to be paid like it."

He'd slipped on his shoes and started to, rather illogically, some might think, slip out of his pajama pants when Jim all but shouted, "Whoa whoa whoa! Hold your horses there, buddy. No one's dying."

Bones wrinkled his nose. Then, unceremoniously, he threw his clothes on his bed. "Good. Now, get out."

"I have something to ask you!"

"What could you possibly have to ask me that can't wait until morning?"

Jim pursed his lips, and his gaze flickered downward, almost meekly, to his feet. "It's about Uhura."

Bones rolled his eyes. "Look. I'm not telling you anything."

"Well, you don't need to." Jim said, defensively. He crossed his arms against his chest. "She already did. I only came here to find out about how this is going to affect her work. I don't want to have to let her go, but…" He trailed off.

Maybe it was the fatigue, but Bones was a little more disgusted by Jim's insinuations than was usual. "You'd fire a woman for being a mother? Talk about sexist. And here I thought we were in the 23rd century."

Jim's face lit up. He was beaming. He had an extremely cocky aura about him, one that was much more obnoxious than Bones could recall ever seeing.

And that was when Bones knew.

"Shit!" That was when he knew that he'd violated the whole confidentiality thing since his first day on the job. Jim Kirk would ruin him.

"She's pregnant?" Jim whispered, excitedly.

Bones grit his teeth. "I'm not saying another word. And if that green-blooded hobgoblin hears a word of this, Jim, I swear—."

"You mean to tell me he doesn't know?"

"I don't mean to tell you anything else. Do us both a favor and forget this ever happened."

"It's going to be tough." Jim shook his head. His expression was one of disbelief.

Bones narrowed his eyes.

"But I'm going to try," Jim finished, lamely.

"Beautiful. Goodbye."

Kamau Uhura hadn't seen his sister in years. Since she'd gone off to become a legend at Starfleet Academy, to be precise.

Kamau, like the rest of the Uhuras, knew very well that Nyota was out changing the universe. Still, that didn't make them miss her any less.

When Nyota contacted her father and told him that she was coming home and that she was pregnant, the former outweighed the latter, and the entire family set to work getting the Uhura household in perfect shape to receive Nyota and her new life.

They all had jobs to do.

M'Umbha was going to prepare foolproof guides and activities for her newly pregnant daughter; Alhamisi was to prepare a bedroom for his future grandchild; Makena was to acquire all of Nyota's favorite foods; and Kamau was to pick her up and bring her home upon arrival.

She was running late. Kamau knew this because he kept looking at the time. Nyota was never late, but, then again, Kamau supposed that the pregnancy hormones had to screw her up somehow.

Sooner or later, he spotted her in a crowd of travellers. Two large suitcases were dangling from either of her shoulders. Kamau took them from her as soon as she reached him, inadvertently missing her outstretched arms.

"Are you insane, Nyota?"

"I'm pregnant, Kamau. Not elderly."

"You're young, you're pregnant, you're beautiful." Kamau stuck her bags in the back seat of his car. He turned back to face her and grinned. "How am I doing with the hormones?"

"Mediocre, at best. But I love you."

"Yeah, yeah." Kamau opened his arms, and Nyota gracefully stepped into them.

He squeezed her as tight as he could without hurting her. She took the liberty of squeezing him back.

Just for those few moments they stood there like that, all was right with the world.

"I'm so happy you're home," murmured Kamau, into her hair.

Nyota chuckled against his chest. "Me too."

There's going to be a few chapters to this. I don't know if it's going to be vital to read this to understand the rest of the story just yet. What I do know is that this part is going to have very little to no Spuhura interaction (there might be flashbacks). Part I is largely about Uhura and her child(ren). There's going to be a few new characters, and readers can expect to see some early snapshots of Uhura's life with her child.

Can anyone help me brush up on missions in ST? I always thought they were supposed to last a certain amount of time. If you know that time, leave a comment and I'll fix it in the story!

We all know that there has to be a somewhat reasonable…reason… for Uhura to hide a child from Spock. With that, I'm gonna leave your minds a-whirring.