The main bridge lay deep in shadow, almost all of the control consoles lifeless, deactivated by the sensors designed to maximise available energy reserves as the ship cruised through space. A skeleton crew of junior officers monitored the Enterprise's course and status from the secondary bridge in the stardrive section, far from where Spock was working at his science station, a cube of light in the darkness.
He was not quite alone, as he pored almost motionless over the data from the extremely long range sensor array. Impossibly precise cameras followed the saccades of his eyes and adjusted his view sympathetically. His extreme focus and the urgency of their mission prevented him from noticing the hydraulic hiss when the turbolift doors had slid apart almost half an hour ago.
She had been watching him all that time, her eyes shining in the faintest reflected light. They seemed deep and liquid, and in the dark only her eyes and her outline could be made out. Her eyes crept over and into him, again and again. She could have watched him, even just sitting like this, for hours - as she had done many times over the past weeks. She could stand near him all the way through a bridge shift and hold this part of herself down without effort, she was a professional, the mission always came first, but this was a different part of her. She could breathe life into this part of herself and stand there in the dark and drink him with no conflict or confusion in her heart.
She watched his broad back, now, his quarter profile, the hard heavy features, the slash of his brow. She caught glances of him like this all day, but she waited for the night to unfurl the way she felt for him inside herself, when she could just take him in quietly. It was strange, she knew, but she felt that his calm and stillness became a part of her even as the maddening tension built up. She would rather spend three hours watching him like this in silence and stillness than have one of her fifteen minute tussles with Kirk....what would the Captain think if he knew what happened behind her eyelids?
Spock stood up suddenly and forcefully, and for the first time in all of these things they called "night" on the ship, her self control was challenged, a quick indrawn breath; half the swift grace of his movement, half the extent to which she was lost in her image of him. Her movement in response to his overrode the command she had sneaked into the bridge lighting protocols and the doorway in front of the turbolift was instantly spotlit.
"Uhura"
"Oh, Yes...I mean. I'm sorry Spock, I just wanted to see how your work on the new possible class M you found in the Dagema System was going..."
"Well, actually, I have to thank you"
"For what? What do you mean?"
"Your modifications to our long-range subspace communications make the Enterprise a more flexible and powerful platform to conduct scientific analysis than many Federation research vessels. I've been conducting a detailed investigation into the composition of the third planet in the Dagema red giant system at unprecedented range while travelling at warp speed. Without your creativity our network, sensors, and relays wouldn't be sufficient, and my work would have been delayed by weeks. I can't tell you how..."
"Spock! I'm so glad! I love the thought of my work helping yours, but really, you..."
"Nyota, if it wasn't for your insight, I wouldn't have been able to establish tonight that Dagema-3 is the 110th uninhabited class-M that this crew has positively identified. We may be able to establish a Federation colony in the system. You are an exceptional officer. It is truly a great honour to serve with you."
"Thank you Spock..."
"There's one thing that does not follow..."
"What is it? Something from the Dagema-3 sweeps?"
"There is nothing that would prevent me from working in my quarters, and I would have been alerted if anyone had tried to contact me. My location on board the ship is only available to executive officers unless there is an emergency, and you said you came up here to see me. How did you know I was here?"
"..."
Spock/Uhura - Episode II