Uhura thought it odd to be called to the captain’s quarters while off duty when she didn’t have a message he’d been expecting. All had been quiet with Starfleet when her shift had ended, Lieutenant Palmer hadn’t alerted her to any pressing matters on the bridge, and they were making good time to reach Starbase 10. In fact, Uhura had been all prepared for a quiet evening in her quarters—already dressed in pajamas and a robe no less—when she’d gotten the summons.

A shiver of trepidation raced up Uhura’s spine. Was it possible the captain wanted to reprimand her? She hadn’t wanted to speak out against him at the competency hearing, but Kirk’s judgment had been compromised because of the virus that had caused him and the landing party onto Gamma Hydra IV to rapidly age. But all was well now…she hoped the captain understood.

Uhura pressed a hand to her fluttering stomach as she buzzed for entrance. When she stepped inside, the last thing she expected was McCoy bum-rushing her.

Or kissing her, for that matter.

Going purely on automatic, Uhura gasped, which McCoy must’ve taken as an invitation to slip his tongue inside her mouth. She immediately felt warmth settle low in her belly and between her thighs, and her arms crept up and wrapped around his neck. McCoy pulled her closer, smelling like he always did of antiseptic and mint, with his lips and tongue making her melt faster than wax in the wake of an exploding sun. By the time her brain caught up to the fact McCoy was, actually, kissing her, Uhura gasped again and froze even as he pulled back and rested his forehead against hers.

He sighed heavily. “Damn.”

Uhura would speak, but she was too busy making sure her lungs could get in enough oxygen.

“Hey, darlin’, why don’t you ditch the Vulcan and go steady with me instead?”

“Um, wha?”

Chuckling, McCoy grasped her chin and kissed her again, chastely this time. “I still got it, gentlemen, I still got it!”

Uhura backed away from McCoy, trembling fingers going to her lips as she shook her head. “Len?”

“Bones won this round, Uhura; and instead of taking Spock’s winnings, he decided on something much more valuable,” Kirk explained, making Uhura jump at the sound of his voice. It was then she noticed the captain and Spock sitting at Kirk’s table, with hills and valleys of chips and playing cards fanned out before them. Kirk had an unsure smirk on his face while Spock’s eyes were trained on the deck of cards in the center of the table.

“Wha?” Uhura asked again.

“All that being old made me realize I refused to die without experiencing the joy of kissing you,” McCoy said with a grin, a lovely sparkle in his blue eyes.

Uhura laughed loudly, her hands coming up to her cheeks. “Leonard!”

“And what a joy it was!” he added, wagging his eyebrows and running his tongue across his lower lip. “Your taste is divine, baby.”

Uhura wanted to hide and was very glad her skin was too dark to make her blush visible. She knew better than to tell McCoy the sentiment was very mutual, so she pulled her lips between her teeth and hugged her arms around her body as if to protect herself.

“Don’t think this gets you off the hook from getting me your grandma’s blueberry cheesecake!” Uhura warned playfully.

McCoy hung his head with mock disappointment, but then looked at her through his lashes and grinned. “Just you wait till you and I play a hand, darlin’—when I win, I guarantee I’ll make you forget all about that cheesecake…”

She hugged herself harder and blushed more, sure her skin couldn’t hide that fact this time.

Kirk cleared his throat dramatically. “Um, well, Lieutenant, that was all.”

“Sir?” she asked dumbly, tearing her eyes away from McCoy to look at the captain.

“Unless you’ll let me kiss you too—”

“You have not won anything, Captain.”

Uhura snapped her widened eyes to the formerly silent Vulcan.

Kirk shrugged, the smirk he wore turning devilish and teasing. “Maybe, but I think I’m owed an apology for that earlier inquisition, don’t you? A smooch would do quite nicely—”

“No.”

Uhura shuddered at the complete ice in Spock’s tone. Even McCoy took a step back and glanced at Uhura worriedly.

“Why not, Spock?” Kirk asked, some of his teasing gone. “You said yourself Uhura is her own woman, unmated and unbonded. For humans, that means she’s fair game—”

“I am not a shuttlecraft you can test drive!” Uhura hissed, the earlier mass of confusion she’d been feeling finally coalescing into something firm—pissed off.

Kirk raised an eyebrow at her. “I never said you were. I’m just explaining to Spock that until you are claimed—”

“Claimed?”

“By mutual agreement,” Kirk hurried on, rearing back slightly in his chair at the sharpness of her tone. “Anyone has the right to court you.”

“And what if I’ve already made a choice?” Uhura asked, her hands on her hips.

“Have you?”

Everything suddenly became very silent and very still at Spock’s soft question. Uhura shook with rage and tears, her hands clenching and unclenching where they rested at her hips.

Uhura looked down at her purple-painted toenails. “Captain, may I be excused?”

Kirk cleared his throat again. “Uh, yeah, dismissed, Lieutenant.”

“I can walk you—”

“I know my way around the ship, Doctor McCoy; I do not need a chaperone.”

Squaring her shoulders, Uhura lifted her head and did not look at any of the three men staring at her as she quit the captain’s quarters. Over the hum of the ship she heard a door hiss open and closed behind her, and her body trembled with awareness. Her dignity disallowed her to run for the turbolift, which meant the person behind her was able to enter it just as she did.

Uhura kept her eyes trained on the lift’s doors. “I said I didn’t need a chaperone.”

There was no response.

Her nostrils flaring and her jaw clenching, Uhura’s hands balled into fists at her sides, willing the lift to go even faster. Soon she was on her deck, and her personal living, breathing shadow followed her to her quarters. She knew she couldn’t prevent its entrance, so she continued to ignore it.

Until it grasped her elbow and hauled her clear off her feet.

The tears sprung in her eyes more quickly than she’d anticipated, which meant one slid down her cheek before she could turn her face away. One arm wrapped around her waist to allow a free hand to brush away the trail of moisture from her skin.

“Don’t…”

“Do not tell me ‘don’t’, Nyota,” the deep voice rumbled quietly.

Uhura shook her head and sniffled, pressing her hands against broad and sturdy shoulders. The bulkhead probably would’ve had more give. “Let me go!”

“Never.”

A choked sob escaped her, and she buried her face into her shoulder. She tensed when she felt a face bury into her other shoulder and gasped when the arm around her tightened. After a few moments, and partly because her arms hung awkwardly at her sides, Uhura wrapped them around a strong neck, though how her fingers ended up tangled in short, silky strands of black hair she’d never know. She felt him inhale deeply.

“Do you desire me?” he asked softly in her ear.

“Oh, Spock,” she whispered, turning her face into his shoulder. “I love you.”

“You love Doctor McCoy,” he said into her neck. “You desire him.”

She tensed. “Spock—”

He pulled back to look into her eyes. She was unable to discern what was going on inside of him. “It is logical, Nyota, for you to feel as you do. You are human, as is he. If you wish to—”

Uhura kissed him silent, an innocent press of her lips against his. Spock tightened his arm around her even more and she dragged in air the best she could.

He pulled back slowly and dropped his forehead to hers. “During the ion storm and your counterparts came to this Enterprise, that version of you said my counterpart enjoyed watching their Doctor McCoy pleasure her. I can say with authority that sentiment is not constant across universes.”

A thrill at his words raced through her. “Spock—”

He began walking her to a wall against which to brace her. “I do not have the right to prevent you from exploring all options available to you, as the Captain is right in that I have not claimed you in such a way that would bestow it upon me. Furthermore, I cannot prevent another from expressing interest in you, or you being receptive to such an interest.”

“Spock—”

“That was why I could not say no to Doctor McCoy’s request to kiss you. If you wish to pursue a deeper relationship with him, I will not impede upon you doing so. Just know this, Nyota—there is no one else for me but you. I desire no one else but you.”

Uhura frowned, framing his face in her hands. “Do you honestly believe I have not made a choice?”

He shrugged minutely. “I could not help but feel the emotions between you two when you kissed. They were genuine. You have always harbored them for McCoy, and apparently, he has had them for you for quite some time.”

She closed her eyes and sighed. She hadn’t wanted that confirmation of whatever that was between her and McCoy. Nevertheless, it didn’t matter in the end.

“You have my heart, Spock,” Uhura whispered, tears trailing down her cheeks. She didn’t bother to brush them away. “You have my body.” She sniffled slightly. “And if anyone should feel unsure, here, it’s I.”

Spock brushed the tears away for her. “You?”

She nodded and pressed her cheek into his palm when he cupped it, still not opening her eyes. “You say you desire me. What happens when you stop? When some less illogical human comes around? Some more logical, more beautiful Vulcan catches your eye? What happens, then?”

“That would require me to let you go, and I have no intention of doing so.”

Her eyes flew open. “But you said—”

“I said I will not stop you from exploring other options. I never said I would let you go.”

Uhura was confused. “Me leave you?”

Spock nodded once. “Precisely. Your counterpart said mine would watch her and that McCoy, which implies, to me, that though they were not bonded, that Spock had no intention of letting her go, either.”

Uhura let out a slow breath. “Which was why you were able to be with…Leila and others, and T’Pring was allowed to be with Stonn?”

“Yes. Less than a marriage, more than a betrothal. She chose Stonn. I chose you.”

She inhaled sharply. “Oh—”

He kissed her tenderly, pulling back slightly so he could speak. “Before I even recognized I had, I chose you, Nyota.”

Sighing, she smiled slowly against his lips. “So, is this me being claimed?”

“To fully claim you as a Vulcan, I must bond with you,” Spock clarified. “But for the purposes of human interaction, you are mine.”

“Spock…”

He kissed her hard, pressing her against the wall. Nyota returned the kiss just as fiercely. His other hand slid up her body to cup her other cheek, and he broke the kiss with a gasp.

“You are mine, Nyota. I claim thee,” he muttered in Vulcan.

Uhura arched into him, biting on her lower lip. “Yes…”

“Not McCoy’s, not the Captain’s, not anyone else’s—mine.”

“Oh…”

Spock moved his hands to her pajama bottoms and slid them and her underwear off her frame. Then he lifted her up the wall until her crotch was level with his face. He inhaled deeply, mashing his nose in the curly hair covering her mound.

“Your scent intoxicates me,” he whispered, his lips brushing against her sensitive nether ones. “Pubic hair traps pheromones to signal an animal’s readiness to mate. Most women in my experience shaved. You do not. Do not ever shave, Nyota.”

Uhura would’ve laughed if Spock hadn’t chosen that moment to wrap his tongue around her distended nubbin, because her bibi had counseled her on the exact same thing. And considering her bibi, to this day, never lacked for lovers, Uhura had always taken the advice to heart.

Grandma knows best! Uhura thought as her eyes rolled in the back of her head. She’d never been tongued against the wall—at least not with her lover still standing fully upright. Spock’s strength was such an aphrodisiac whenever he decided to use it in their lovemaking, and this was no exception. Groaning, she wrapped her thighs around his neck and bucked against him, already shaking as the orgasm hurtled through her body. As with everything, he laved her essence thoroughly, leaving no part of her center untouched by his lips or tongue. He took every drop of her release for his own even as her fingers dug into his scalp. By the time only tiny tremors snaked through her body, Spock dragged her gently down the wall and directly onto his length.

There was something incredibly erotic and naughty having Spock make love to her with his pants around his ankles while still wearing his Starfleet tunic, his expression fixed and intense as he gazed at her. The feel of her robe and the camisole she wore rubbing her skin raw as she slid against the wall from his unerring thrusts made Uhura whimper in pleasure/pain. Spock, ever attentive, inserted one hand between her and the wall and bent forward to kiss her, letting her taste herself and him from his mouth. They both moaned and their tongues entwined together in a completely different rhythm from his pelvis pounding into her.

“I enjoy your taste,” he said against her mouth. “McCoy’s assessment was correct.”

“Hmm. Same here,” she replied, grasping his upper lip between her teeth and sucking on it. He pulled away, the lip springing back with a pop, and he trailed his mouth down her collarbone to nudge the top of her camisole down with his nose. Seconds later, the scalding, moist heat of his mouth enclosed around her left nipple while his free hand molded her right breast. Uhura clutched his butt, forcing him into her faster and harder.

She reached her release with a shout. A few pumps of the hips later, Spock moaned out his climax against her breast. Smiling softly, Uhura kissed the top of his head and smoothed down his hair, basking in the feel of his penis throbbing inside of her and his ejaculate sliding down her inner thighs.

“Nyota…” He nuzzled her breast for a bit before giving her a kiss on the lips. “Nyota, I apologize for behaving so rashly and selfishly.”

She frowned but didn’t cease her caresses. “What makes you think you did?”

“When Doctor McCoy kissed you, I was suddenly very glad I was not going through pon farr, or else he would be dead.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Don’t say that—!”

“It is the truth,” Spock insisted. “That…unsettled me.”

“Unsettled you enough you didn’t try to establish a link with me this time?”

Spock lowered his eyes. “I did not deserve such a privilege, and it was unnecessary.”

She tilted his face up so they could gaze at each other. “It was?”

“Yes. I am confident you are mine.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Even though there will probably always be sexual tension between me and McCoy?”

“You do not belong to him,” he said so matter-of-factly, Uhura would’ve thought it smug from a regular human.

“And are you mine?”

“That is up to you, but I would welcome the distinction. Solely.”

Uhura sighed heavily and tsked. “Well, what if I wanted to have a harem with you, McCoy, the captain, Sulu, Scotty, Chekov—?”

He blinked at her. “Chekov? Nyota, he is but a child.”

“Get ’em young is what I say!”

Spock rolled his eyes, yet she spotted a very rare glint of mischief in them, and she started to giggle. “Speaking of…you’re gonna get McCoy back for that kiss, aren’t you?” Uhura asked, drifting her fingers behind his ears.

Spock’s expression became impassive. “Vulcans have no concept of that.”

Laughing, Uhura kissed him softly. “Liar.”

Spock’s lips thinned. “Vulcans do not lie.”

“But I’m sure even Vulcans can bend the truth a little bit,” Uhura teased, closing her teeth around his earlobe. She smiled as he grew larger within her, then yelped when he pulled her from the wall and went to her sleeping alcove, pausing just a bit to remove her robe and to step out of his pants.

“I would much rather bend you, in several positions, if you do not mind, in order to give you maximum pleasure,” Spock replied candidly, laying her on her back and rising above her, all without breaking their intimate connection.

Uhura hissed and moaned as he began languid, yet sure thrusts once more. “I believe that can be arranged…”