Emotionless (Spock Love Story) -COMPLETE

Friendship

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1!

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"Come in," I heard the Commander's voice call. I walked in and sat next to him on the same side of his desk, as we always did when we were working together, setting my Padd with the assignment onto the desk before us.

"Good evening, Commander," I greeted with a smile.

"Good evening, Cadet," he greeted as well. We went straight to work with my minor questions - mostly about very particular aspects of the most difficult questions - and we were a little over halfway through the work when suddenly, I noticed the Commander looking at me, the same mix of curiosity, content, and hope that he was hiding under his Vulcan mask as earlier.

"Is something the matter, Commander?" I asked him, a little unsure.

"No, Cadet. However, may I make a small inquiry?"

"Of course, sir. Anything," I agreed, confused and curious.

"Earlier when we were outside the mess hall-" I felt my face begin to heat up, knowing where this was going, and I willed my green blush away. I had not revealed that I was Vulcan to anyone since entering the academy. Not because I was not proud of being partially Vulcan - in fact, I was very proud of my Vulcan ancestry - but because I found I did not wish to be ridiculed in a similar fashion as I had been growing up in Ireland. And I tried to avoid a repeat of such occurrences, keeping my ears strategically covered at all times, and making it known I did not want to be touched-by anyone-at any time. "You stopped yourself from saying something. May I inquire as to what you were going to say?"

"A friend, sir," I told him honestly before I could stop myself. "I was going to call you my friend."

He was silent for a long while, confusion, curiosity, hesitance, and (oddly enough) happiness was radiating from him.

"We have spent an abundance of time together this past year and a half, and I find I have begun to think of you as a friend. However, I stopped myself because I realized that I could not call you a friend unless you agreed to the friendship, and I assumed that because it could very possibly be frowned upon by the Superiors of Starfleet, you would not agree to a friendship, thus I stopped myself," I told him honestly. I felt a small flash of hurt before it was buried under his Vulcan control, but I felt it. I couldn't help but look at him, slightly shocked.

"Cadet, I assure you, that is not the case," he began honestly. "I find that I also find your presence... delightful. I enjoy the intelligent conversation as well as the slight banter we tend to get into. I find I also enjoy the minor, irrelevant conversations we find ourselves in... I have also found your insight to human behavior very helpful in my endeavors. Contrary to your belief, I would be very pleased to call you my friend."

I couldn't stop the blush as embarrassment as well as shyness and contentment that spread across the tops of my cheeks and my ears. I looked to my lap in an attempt to hide it, but when I felt his shock, I knew he caught it and my blush deepened.

"Thank you, sir... given the circumstances, perhaps instead of calling each other by formalities, names would be more appropriate in friendly or private settings?" I asked, my blush only deepening even further at that.

"Indeed, Cadet."

"Call me Maeve," I asked. "Please."

"Then you must call me Spock."

"Very well," I agreed. At this point I knew I was greener than leaves on trees. "I must apologize, Spock. I know you are curious... I should not have hidden that my mother is half-Vulcan, but I found when I was young, constant ridicule rendered me emotionally compromised. I spent much of my time angry, or crying, until eventually I was depressed. I have deep, strong emotions, like Vulcans, and I have found that the mixing of the emotions of others, which began during adolescence, as it does for Betazoids, and the human urges to express my emotion, does not make for an easy combination. I wished to prevent more comments of 'mutt' and the like to end, so I may not be in that kind of emotional distress once more. I can not hide that I am Betazoid, given my eyes, nor that I am human, given that this has been my home my entire life... I found it was difficult to hide my being Vulcan... Purely because of my pride in my Vulcan heritage. I understand that you are also very proud of your Vulcan heritage, and therein lay why I must apologize. I did not mean to seemingly blatantly ignore something that means so much to the both of us." I couldn't read Spock's emotions once I was done speaking. I had felt anger radiating from him when I spoke of ridicule, but since then... nothing.