Spock really had no idea what to do. It's never happened before and, although he wished it was, he was fairly sure that it wouldn't be the last.

They'd done many dangerous things in their time on board the Enterprise, but Spock had never heard her scream like that.

He set the PADD aside and walked (despite the instincts telling him to run) to the bedroom they shared.

She was sat upright on the bed, the covers twisted around her legs but dropped to her waist now as her nightgown was askew, the straps twisted tightly. Her face shone with tears.

"Nyota?" He called to her softly. The little he knew about nightmares from the few he'd had himself or what his mother had told him, springing to the front of his mind. He'd stay back until she wanted him, he decided, try not to scare her anymore than she already was.

She looked up at him, letting the tears fall freely. She stretched her arms out to him like a child, requesting his presence beside her wordlessly. He complied - of course he did, he'd known for some time now that he'd never be able to deny her of anything. He stood by her side, and when she didn't recoil when he touched her shoulder, he pulled her into his arms single-handedly and sat down with her draped across him, her head buried in his neck.

"I'm sorry." She murmured, his flesh muffling her almost controlled sobs now. He gently pulled her closer to him, greedy for the warmth her body provided.

"To what are you apologising for?" He asked, cocooning her tightly in the thin sheets she slept in. She never needed anything thicker in his warm room.

"You where working." She snuggled into him, blinking the tears from her eyelashes, said eyelashes fluttering against the sensitive skin of his neck.

"Jim will not mind." He told her certainly "Not if we tell him the circumstances." She gave a weak, tearful chuckle.

"You will not tell James Kirk anything that happens in these rooms, you hear?" He thought about that request for a moment. It seemed rather logical for a human (but then again Nyota had always been very logical - when she wanted to be) to wish for the information to remain private, especially from someone like Kirk.

"Understandable." Her shaking subsided and he released her, laying her back on the bed softly. Her gentle hands pulled at him and he yielded, laying beside her. She snuggled back into his arms again.

"Sometimes, on the few occasions when my mother would have nightmares, she found it comforting to discuss it -" she cut him off then, rather rudely.

"With you or your father?" She giggled, something in her thoughts amusing her. She pulled at his hand gently, maneuvering his fingertips to her temple. Understanding, he quickly bridged the gaps between their minds. He saw the mental image she'd come up with: the Lady Amanda, curled into the great ambassador Serek's lap with a smaller version of himself curled into her lap. Amusement and fondness were tied to the idea. He let the corners of him mouth curl up.

"It did not happen exactly like that." He told her, adopting the almost human word patterns. Her smile refused to move. He showed her the images he remembered, how close she had been. He remembered the nights for her, curled in his mother's arms while his father was away wherever, his face in her neck as she told him the dampened down versions of her nightmares.

" I don't think I'm up to sharing." She whispered. "Hell, I don't even want to think about it."

He nodded, and posed the question through her mind. Can I do anything? The smiled at him.

"Actually," she giggled "You could make me a cup of tea - and then sit and talk about boring nonscience to me till I go back to sleep."

Spock complied, just as he always had. And always would.

So... I'm not sure what her nightmare would have been... I'll leave that up to you.

I'm not sure if I like this but meah.

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