He hadn’t meant to spy on them. Really.

But he’d been in the area, walking, because he wasn’t sleepy, wasn’t hungry, and was still mulling over a difficult conversation with his mother over Sam.

He’d heard the hushed voices and was about to reveal he was there when he realized it was Spock and Uhura. Instead of saying, “Hey, I’m here,” like he absolutely should have, he’d found himself crouching down so they wouldn’t see him.

“Spock, it’s not a matter of not caring about you anymore. I do. I always will. But you and I are at different places now.”

“What places, Nyota?”

Uhura sighed. She had her hands on his chest, whether to hold him or push him away, Jim couldn’t tell.

“You’re in love with someone else, Spock. And you have been for, I don’t know, years. And I’ve tried to ignore and hoped it would go away, but it never does. It only gets worse, and I’ve been fooling myself that you would choose me.”

“I have chosen you, Nyota.”

Her hand grasped his shirt at the side. “Not here. Not ever. Or for a very long time. I’m not really sure I ever came first for you and certainly not since he came around.”

“Nyota, I…”

“Spock, this isn’t to hurt you. I care so much about you. But we’re not even having sex anymore and I think we both know why. We haven’t been in love since…” She took a deep breath.”Since our days at the Academy. Search yourself, Spock, you know what I’m saying is true. And if you’re as smart as I think you are, you’ll tell him.”

“He does…” And then Spock’s words faded as he had lowered his voice and they walked away a bit from Jim’s location.

He craned to see where they had gone and was in time to witness Uhura kiss Spock’s lips softly, her fingers grazing his cheek. She then pulled away.

“I’ll see you,” she said then and turned and walked out of the observation area.

Spock waited a few minutes more and then followed her.

Jim rose from his hiding spot, approached the window, and looked out.

It appeared Spock and Uhura had broken up. He had no real time to think much about it though.

Sam was in trouble. And Jim had to decide whether to help him.