The BLTS Archive - Shattered Glass
by Maximum (maximummii@googlemail.com)

---

Disclaimer: Paramount owns them. I'm just having a little fun.

N.B. No redshirts were harmed during the making of this story.

Feedback: Yes, please. 

Other: Thanks again to VP. DP is quite manageable as long as you give
her plenty of red meat. Raw.

---

Physically, Uhura was well enough to return to duty within a few days.
Mentally took a while longer. The captain had to be told, but he,
Spock, Chapel and McCoy were the only ones who officially knew about
the rape. Unfortunately the crew were all highly intelligent, and
Uhura's reaction when she was in the gym and Spock walked in
unexpectedly was more than enough for them to guess what had happened.

Spock offered to transfer off the ship, but Uhura refused to let him.
She insisted that if either of them was to leave it would be giving in
to The Other, and she refused to let him win, even though he would
never know. She would have been allowed back on duty much sooner
except that their stations were almost within touching distance.
Logically she knew that it was not this Spock who had attacked her,
she *knew* that, but. . .

For his part Spock did his best to give her as much space as possible,
keeping to the far side of the lift, changing his schedule, and often
eating in his quarters.

Spock was wrong. They didn't break up, but it was a long job and took
many months of therapy before they reached even an approximation of
their previous relationship.

And there were setbacks. They were monitoring a nova when an
unexpectedly strong shockwave hit the Enterprise. Uhura was thrown
from her seat and, without thinking, Spock picked her up as he had
done a hundred times before. She screamed and hit him, struggling to
get away. He was so shocked that he let go and she fell, ending up
sitting on the deck.

The crew stared in stunned silence before they all buried their heads
in their work.

"I'm sorry," Uhura whispered. "I'm sorry."

Wordlessly Spock held out his hand and she pulled herself to her feet.

An unpleasant revelation was a severe case of xenophobia. Deb LaRue
suddenly refused to enter any room that contained Spock. She was
overheard making remarks about no smoke without fire, and you couldn't
trust anyone whose blood wasn't red, just look at those ears. Then she
accused him of attacking her in the bio lab. Fortunately he had about
a dozen witnesses to his presence in engineering at the time. McCoy
was horrified that she had managed to get through all the psych
testing in the academy, but, get through she had, and now all they
could do was ship her back for treatment.

One night after a gentle stroll around the arboretum, Spock had walked
Uhura back to her quarters. She had allowed him a chaste peck on the
cheek. He told the doctor who agreed that she seemed to be putting it
behind her.

The next day they received a call from Platonius.

---

Spock entered Uhura's quarters.

"Sit down," she said. "Would you like a drink?"

"No, thank you."

Spock sat down. Uhura sat opposite and stared silently at him for a
while.

"I think we should break up," she said softly.

"What? Why now?"

"Because of what happened down there. On Platonius. It made me realise
that I can't. . . " She swallowed. "I still can't bear the thought of
you touching me. I thought I was getting better, but when you came
towards me. . .  I just. . .  I. . . I panicked. I was so relieved
when you changed with the captain. And then you came towards me again.
. .  I thought that we would be forced to. . .I was so scared."

"You were not scared of Jim. I heard what you said. You were not
scared of him."

"He wasn't the one who. . .  Oh God. I am so sorry."

"Neither was I," Spock whispered.

"I know. I know." Uhura paused. "It wasn't 'just' the rape. I think I
could have coped with that. It was the other things he did. Things
that you do. He bit me. You only nipped me gently but he tore the
skin, and – he tasted me. Like you do, did. You did it because you
liked to. He did it to hurt, to humiliate. And then he paid me."

"He what?"

"He paid me. He threw down some credit chits." Uhura smiled through
her tears and tried to make a joke of it. "I was deeply offended. He
only thought I was worth fifty. I was expecting at least seventy
five."

"I didn't know."

"I've never told anyone before. But the thing is, I might be able to
handle ordinary sex soon. I think I will, but it's not just sex with
us, is it? It can never be just sex. There's Pon Farr. What happened
on Platonius made me realise that I can't deal with that yet, may
never be able to deal with it. If I ever can it won't be for years and
years. And we don't have years, do we?"

"I would never force you."

"I know you wouldn't. You would just hide away somewhere and wait to
die. Well, I'm not having that. I love you too much for that. I love
you so much that it hurts and I can't bear the thought of you dying if
there is anything I can do to prevent it. If we end it now you still
have enough time to find yourself a nice Vulcan girl. One who can take
everything you need to do to her."

"Nyota, please. Don't do this."

"My mind's made up. We'll be recalled soon. I want you to promise me
that when we are, you'll take some leave, go home and find someone
else."

"Nyota. . . "

"Promise me."

Spock stared at her in dismay. Uhura could be immovable at times and
he knew her well enough to realise that this was one of those times.
He nodded.

"Very well, but with one proviso. If I find that there are alternative
measures, do I have your permission to take them instead?"

"Of course. Do whatever you think is necessary. Just promise me that
you will live."

"I promise."

"Good." She took a deep breath. "Now, do you want that drink?"

---

Instead of taking leave when the recall came, Spock resigned his
commission.

---

Spock walked onto the bridge. Uhura's heart leapt. He looked older,
thinner. Whatever he'd been doing had obviously taken it out of him.
More than anything she wanted to run to him and throw her arms around
him. Ever the professional, she stayed at her post.

Once V'Ger had gone wherever it had gone and they were on their way
home she went to his quarters.

"Nyota. Come in." Without asking he got a glass of her favourite
juice.

"Thank you. Oh, it's so good to see you again. How are you? You look
tired."

"The regime at Gol is rigorous. Are you well?"

"Oh, you know, jogging along."

"Are you happy?"

"On and off. – I've missed you."

"Nyota, you should know, I am bonded."

"What?"

"I chose Gol because it seemed to be the answer. I would survive
without the necessity of a wife. The adepts can control the Fire. But
it takes many years of training. More than I had. T'Pring was
amenable. . . "

"T'Pring! You married that spiteful bitch after what she did to you?"

"That spiteful bitch," he said disapprovingly, "was trying to help
us."

"Help! How can trying to get you and Jim to kill each other be trying
to help?" Uhura couldn't believe it. She had envisaged many scenarios,
but never anything like this.

"We had enough of a link for her to realise that I had found someone
else. If I had met you later we could have divorced, but as we were
not yet fully bonded, that was the only way we could part. Also she
was helping Stonn."

"Huh? You mean they weren't. . . ?"

"No. They were friends only. His wife had died suddenly. It was near
his Time. There are unbonded women who will help in those
circumstances, but it is physical only; there is no mental sharing.
Stonn did not want that so it was agreed that T'Pring would challenge
and Stonn would be her champion."

"So what happened? Why Jim?"

"Although she appeared calm, the Fire was affecting her quite
strongly. Her instincts were in control, and her instincts, for
whatever reason, marked Jim as the better prospect."

"I see. I didn't realise."

"Neither did I at the time. She had told my mother that she would
challenge and afterwards explained what had happened. Amanda explained
it to me."

"What happened to Stonn? I assume something must have done or she
wouldn't have been free to marry you."

"He was killed in an accident. A male near his Time is quite
susceptible to outside influences. It is not unknown for members of a
wedding party to be affected to the point where their Times can be
brought on early. It seems that that is what happened to Stonn. It is
assumed that that combined with the stress of losing his wife brought
it on full force. He lost control of his ground car and crashed on his
way home."

"Oh the poor man. Poor T'Pring. Where is she now?"

"It seems I am a bad influence on her. She is studying at the
academy."

Uhura laughed.

"So, how's married life? Are you happy?"

"We are. . ." He smiled slightly, "jogging along."

Uhura laughed again.

"I'm glad." She looked at the chronometer. "Oh my, is that the time?
I'd better be going. Thanks for the drink. I'll see you around. Bye."

She made her escape.

---

Uhura was sitting in the officer's lounge, staring into her drink when
a burly figure sat down next to her.

"Did you speak to Spock?"

She looked up. "What? Oh, Scotty. I – er –What makes you think I spoke
to Spock?"

"Because I know you, lass."

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"So you didn't?"

"I didn't say that." She sighed. "He's married."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well. These things happen. Besides, he's probably better off
with a nice, sensible woman than a neurotic mess like me."

"You're not neurotic."

"But I am a mess? Thanks." She smiled

"You're beautiful as always." Scotty looked at her for a while. "You
look to be in need of some serious fun. It's my parents' diamond
wedding anniversary tomorrow. There's going to be a huge party,
everyone's invited. Would you like to come?"

Uhura thought about it for a bit. "I'd like that. I'd like that very
much indeed."

---

The End