Work Text:
In the quiet of the early morning, one of the few sounds that permeated the Enterprise living quarters was the gentle hum of the warp engines. Spock sat at the edge of the bed fastening his boots when he felt two arms slide around his shoulders.
“This is early even for you.” La’An nuzzled his neck, peppering kisses along the exposed skin above his uniform collar.
“Indeed. I apologize for waking you, however, there are several tests on the specimen we brought up from the away mission yesterday that will take several hours to process. I thought it prudent to initiate the scan prior to the morning briefing. I was attempting to be quiet.”
“Mmm…you were very quiet. But when I reached out in your direction I felt a cold mattress instead of a warm body.”
The lieutenants leaned into each other, both of them enjoying the other’s presence. “I’m surprised you didn’t start this last night when you got back.”
Spock raised his hands to rub them along La’An’s arms, enjoying her attention and finding himself increasingly distracted. “Hmm?”
La’An chuckled, “Why didn’t you start the scans last night when you dropped the sample in the lab?’
“An excellent question. After delivering the specimen sample to the science lab, I needed to report to Captain Pike to discuss the incident on the planet.”
“Naturally Kirk would be involved in messing up your plans.”
“In fairness to him, we have never before had reports of the local wildlife of this planet becoming violent.”
“Yes,” La’An said, drawing out the word, “but as the ship’s resident exobiologist, if anyone should have predicted that or noticed the signs of a probable attack, it should have been him.”
Spock raised his eyebrow as he considered, somewhat mollified by being able to fully blame Sam Kirk on the scuffle. “True. However, after the debrief, I was left with the choice of returning to the lab to begin the necessary scans ahead of the planned work in the morning or meet you for our planned dance lesson. Meeting you won out.”
“Well I definitely think you made the right choice.”
“I thought you might think so.”
La’An’s ministrations moved along Spock’s jaw toward his ear, “So, how much incentive would you need to delay the work until your shift starts as planned?”
Spock felt his mouth involuntarily twitch into a small smile as he turned to face her. “I do not believe you would find it difficult to persuade me.”
Their lips met and they began moving back towards the head of the bed. La’An slipped her hand underneath Spock’s uniform shirt, working to undress him.
“Chapel to Spock, are you there?”
Spock and La’An froze momentarily before turning their heads in unison to the com panel that was currently relaying the page from the nurse.
“What are the odds that she would be calling you at 4:30 in the morning if it wasn’t an absolute emergency?”
“I have not done the math, but I would say…small.”
“Chapel to La’An, I’m looking for Spock. He’s not responding to coms in his quarters. Is he there?”
La’An pulled Spock’s mouth back to her own for a kiss. “Answer her. Work first, play later.”
Spock hung his head with a sigh. Nodding he pushed off the bed to move toward the console, pushing the controls with more force than necessary.
“Spock here. What is the trouble, Nurse Chapel?” Spock hoped his rather hoarse voice sounded more like the remnants of sleep than from his aborted amorous activities with La’An.
“Sorry to wake you,” remnant of sleep it is, “but I need your help in the science lab.”
“Did something happen with the specimen?”
“Not as such. It’s hard to explain, more a gut feeling than any hard data I can give you.” Christine’s sigh was audible over the communications channel. “Please, just come down to the lab. It’s important.”
Spock looked pained as he looked over at La’An. She was laying on her side, head propped on one hand while the other hand rubbed her face in frustration. Dropping her hand, La’An locked eyes with Spock. She silently mouthed “You need to go” as Spock shook his head.
Chapel’s voice chirped back over the com, “Spock? Can you -”
Spock abruptly cut her off, “I am on my way. I will join you in the lab shortly.” Ending the call, Spock moved back toward La’An.
“I am sorry. I was rather looking forward to…our planned activities.”
La’An cocked a self deprecating smile. “Like I said: Work first, play later. Besides, I know you’ll make it up to me later.”
“Yes, I will.” Spock leaned down to place one last kiss on La’An’s lips before he left.
Spock strode out of La’An’s quarters. This day was definitely not starting out the way he either expected or desired.