Chapter Text
Coming Home
San Francisco, Federation Headquarters, the Press Briefing Room…
Amanda’s head never lifted during the entire Press Briefing.
The Press Secretary was droning on about…something…she didn’t know what and she didn’t particularly care.
She sat with one leg folded over the other, padd propped on her knee and her recording device aimed haphazardly at the podium where the Press Secretary was currently holding court. Amanda was dressed much as many of the other hacks in the room, pressed slacks, crisp shirt. Though her shirt was a little more rumpled than theirs and her battered much patched canvas jacket was currently occupying the seat beside her rather than another journalist. She liked her space.
It was Friday, trash day. The day when the Administration bunched all the stories they wanted no one to talk about into one briefing. A holdover from when articles were more restricted to a physical written format. When only so many column inches were available for each piece of news, one had to be picky and choosy about the juiciest morsel of gossip to salivate over. Bunch all the unsavoury stories together and they had to be squished into the same column space but at a fraction of the size.
In a certain sense, it still worked. Having so many topics for discussion available at once tended to split the attention of the room and some of the truly newsworthy topics did sometimes slip through the net.
Or…they would have if the Federation ever talked about the actual god damn news.
Amanda rolled her head on her neck and tamped down on the flare of annoyance beneath her sternum. She had no desire to attract Sarek’s attention through their bond which, while in its relative infancy, was still strong enough for him to sense her emotions across the city.
Though Amanda didn’t want to think about Sarek right now as she had actual work to do.
Not reporting, not in a Briefing Room, but something more important.
Amanda bit her lip, scrolling down through the search results her padd had given her and considering her options. No one name jumped out at her but she supposed they wouldn’t. She’d never had call to investigate this particular branch of legality after all.
Amanda’s mouth twisted and she returned to the search engine for the Network. She tried a few more key words and tilted her head when that appeared to offer no further enlightenment.
Still, there were a few names that looked to be promising, having been highlighted in earlier searches. She flipped between apps, jotting them down with a scrawl of her stylus and lifted her head when a murmur went through the room.
Ah, time for lunch.
Finally, something worthy of her attention.
Amanda collapsed her padd down into its smallest form, shoving it into the inner pocket of her jacket as she slung the worn canvas over her shoulders. She pushed the stylus through the knot of her hair atop her head and spun away for the back of the room.
Amanda ducked between the security personnel, things having been doubled up since the whole kidnapping incident that both had and had not resulted in a foothold situation in this very building.
There was still much debate as to what had actually happened when the Gorn had taken both Amanda and Sarek on an involuntary vacation but paranoia had won out and security measures had been put under strict and stringent review.
Still, Amanda was accustomed to getting to where she needed to be.
It was a quick jaunt down a corridor, up a stairwell, into a lift and across to the office wing before she arrived where she wanted to be.
“Carol.” Amanda smiled winsomely at the Press Secretary’s assistant despite the exasperated glare levelled her way and walked through the open doorway into CJ’s office.
She found a likely chair, next to the goldfish tank, and dropped down into it. Arranging herself just so. She appeared as if she had been there all along by the time CJ herself arrived and shut the door to her office with some force.
“Bad day?”
CJ whirled, half lifting her synthetic leather covered padd and pressed her lips together when she found that Amanda was no threat. Physically anyway.
“How do you do that?” CJ huffed but didn’t actively throw Amanda out.
Amanda took that to mean she was welcome to stay where she was.
CJ, Claudia Jean, Cregg was one of Amanda’s favourite press secretaries. She was amazing at her job and wrangled a somewhat rabid Press Corps with aplomb. She was tall, her long legs carrying her across the office to her desk so she could sit in less than three strides. She dumped her padd on the desk and dropped into her seat, glaring at Amanda but with no real heat to it.
“I mean it. How do you always manage to get across the building before I can and look more fashionably dishevelled than mussed up wreck?”
“I don’t have a gaggle of reporters breathing down my neck?” Amanda shrugged, smirking at the ‘fashionably dishevelled’ but offered no further comment on it. “I just wanted to run something by you and then get out of your hair.”
“I’ve been lied to before” CJ grumbled, rummaging in her desk drawer for a cool box that may contain her lunch.
“Uh-huh, well, I have a source close to senior staff, says if the President wins re-election it will cost them the moon.”
CJ went still for just a fraction of a second too long before huffing out a harried breath and closing the drawer on her lunch with some force.
“Source close to senior staff?”
“Yep.” Amanda nodded.
“Cost them the moon? Those exact words?”
“Verbatim.”
CJ sighed cavernously and Amanda repressed a wince. This was, by far, the shittiest thing she’d done in this stupid place holder job.
“Can you give me until the end of the day?”
“CJ, I don’t care about the quote. I wanted to give you a heads up is all.”
“Sure.” CJ gusted something of a hollow laugh. “I’ll get back to you with an official statement by the end of today.”
“Do what you like, it was a friendly warning that you’ve got loose lips in here.” Amanda pushed to her feet, CJ shoving to her statuesque height after her and that threw Amanda a little.
People were doing that more often. Standing when she did.
She had a sneaking suspicion as to why and she wasn’t at all happy about it.
Well, a problem for another day.
“You mean to tell me that you’re the only hack in the whole quadrant that doesn’t want to write about the President’s re-election campaign?”
“President Bartlet hasn’t done much interesting since they told that Terra Prime sympathiser where to go and even then, I didn’t write about it. I was off, you know, covering actual news.” Amanda sighed. “I’ll go now.”
CJ frowned a little, disconcerted by a reporter that apparently didn’t care to report on what others did and watched as Amanda left the room.
“Amanda!”
“Yeah?” She turned in the open doorway.
“Thanks for the warning.”
“No problem. Take an actual lunch today. I hear Marbury’s in town.” With that parting shot, Amanda closed the door behind her and made for the stairs.
She had taken her lift for the day to get over here and had zero intention of getting back into one before the day was over. A holdover from her kidnapping that had only happened according to her, Sarek and some confused Gorn several lightyears away.
The stairs were a pain in the ass (and thighs and calves) but they were great for physical conditioning, which is what she told anyone that asked, and they were open. More than one way out and she felt less trapped. She wasn’t phobic about the damn lift, she could get into one when she needed to…she just made it her business not to need to more than once a day.
Amanda swung out into the stairwell and froze when she found herself face to chest with one of the Secret Service. She reared back, slithering backwards through the door before it could swing shut behind her and back into the well-lit corridor beyond.
Her heart was pounding in her chest, her face ashen and her palms sweaty. Her jaw clenched so hard something clicked in the joint and she muscled down the very real urge to run when the door was pulled fully open again.
“Idiot.”
An Andorian female filled the doorway, speaking over her shoulder to the guard that had so badly startled Amanda.
“Leave us.”
There was a murmur of dissent from the guard but the Andorian, a general judging by the glass pendants of conquest decorating her military leathers that she wore under a -Vulcan?- robe, spoke in a deceptively soft tone that brooked no argument.
“Now.”
The Andorian turned back to Amanda only when she was obeyed and stepped fully out into the corridor. Letting Amanda see her in the cold light of day streaming in through the many glass windows around them. She held her hands open at her sides, showing they were empty, but that was hardly the promise of peace that it could be, coming from an Andorian as it was.
The female had skin of a pale teal colour, more turquoise than was typical of most Andorians. Her features were sculpted and aristocratic, her eyes a deep gold in colour and her silver hair braided back from her temples and antennae in an elaborate knotting of microbraids. Further glass beads of military victories adorned her hair and she stood level with Amanda in height even if her lithe frame was evidently laddered with muscle beneath her leathers.
Amanda had spent quite a bit of time on Andoria and knew that their apparent delicacy and petite frame belied a core of solid duranium. Andorians might be physically weaker than humans, smaller in stature and frame in most instances, but they were damn fast and twice as vicious. If this general took it into her head to be aggressive, Amanda didn’t know if things would shake out in her favour.
“I am the Lady Rafina, Ambassador to Andoria, you are Amanda Grayson.” Lady Rafina hesitated a mere moment and then extended a hand to Amanda in greeting.
Amanda licked her lips, a nervous habit and inhaled a fortifying breath. She took the Ambassador’s hand and shook once.
Rafina’s hands were as deceptively delicate as the rest of her. Her grip was strong and she jolted Amanda clean to the shoulder when she shook. Calluses from handling weapons adorned her slim fingers and Amanda made a mental note to double check for the signs of the woman carrying concealed.
“Pleasure.” Amanda managed after a moment.
“Perhaps.” Rafina folded her arms over her chest with a flourish, her robe billowing about her and her eyes narrowed a fraction. “Walk with me.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Amanda cocked an eyebrow, it had not been a request but she fell into step with the Ambassador anyway. “How can I help you, Ambassador?”
“Rafina, please.” Rafina waved the formalities away. “This is not a problem for you? Being seen with me?”
“I’d rather be seen.” Amanda lifted a negligent shoulder and kicked her chin up at another couple of hacks as they passed her in the corridor. She had drawn more than a few glances but her fellows still weren’t sure what to do with her.
She was a reporter, one that seemed to have no interest in their particular branch of reporting and therefore was more behind the scenes than headline news but she was also…affiliated with the Vulcan Ambassador. Cohabiting with him if rumours were to be believed.
Which wasn’t really news, according to Amanda, a view not necessarily shared by her peers.
Especially when the Lady Rafina, Ambassador to Andoria and lover to Ambassador-at-Large Solkar of Vulcan -Sarek’s own grandfather and the Vulcan to make first contact with humanity- was in step with Amanda. A meeting of potential in-laws? Who knew?
Not Amanda.
“Understandable. You are wary. Cautious. This is good.” Lady Rafina’s accent was interesting in her clipped Standard but she stared down anyone that seemed to be taking too much of an interest for her liking. “One of the reasons I came to you today.”
“Oh?” Amanda dropped her hands into her pockets and decided she was just going to have to let Rafina wander to her point when she got to it. The elder woman did not appear to be in the mood to be rushed.
“Sarek speaks highly of you and -then so it follows- Solkar does also. They have ever been the other’s favourite.” Lady Rafina glanced sideways at Amanda but the human’s poker face was better than most and she gave nothing away. “However, they are both very…peaceful men. Trusting. There is a saying on Vulcan, pre-Reformation, ‘the sehlat smiles whilst she feasts’.”
Amanda stopped walking, a frown gracing her features.
“Neither of us are smiling, Ambassador.”
“This is true.” Rafina turned in the corridor so she stood facing Amanda. Uncaring of the people forced to walk around them both. “Nor are we the only predators upon the plane, hmm? Nor do we blend in with the rest. There is a certain…infamy that comes on the heels of Vulcan Ambassadors, after all. An infamy that may draw all manner of attention.”
Amanda frowned more deeply, realising that she was perhaps not being warned off as much as…invited to help? She fell into step with Rafina again, awaiting the General joining her in their slow amble along the corridor once more.
“I have developed an interest in you, Amanda Grayson. You seem to be as singular as Sarek thinks you are. Cunning, brave, fierce. Competent.”
“Thank you?” Amanda’s brows rose at the apparent compliments.
“Such skills come with the cost of -hmm- ascension through the ranks, no?”
“Not so much in my experience.” Amanda waved negligently around the Headquarters building and Rafina smiled suddenly, baring all of her many teeth.
“Why be so terribly orthodox? If there came an opportunity for the pursuit of something real would you follow it?”
“Why change the habit of a lifetime?” Amanda hesitated a moment when they arrived at a lift door and they parted seemingly at Lady Rafina’s presence…as they had begun to do for Amanda.
Amanda wondered again at how much her security level had changed since returning with Sarek from their kidnapping.
She put it from her mind.
Rafina watched her expectantly. Waiting for Amanda to decide how much she wanted this conversation to continue.
Well, she had always been a sucker for her own curiosity.
She stepped into the lift, Lady Rafina joining her with a pleased smile.
As soon as the elevator doors closed, hemming them in, Rafina turned to her. Suddenly serious.
“If the President wins re-election, it will cost them the moon.”
Amanda stiffened, looking sharply at Rafina and found the Andorian watching her intently. Something like a smirk pulled at dark teal lips and Rafina continued.
“Not the first time you have heard this…but perhaps you have not viewed it in the light it was intended, hmm?”
“And what light would that be, Ambassador?”
“By the light of the moon, of course.” Rafina lifted her chin, satisfied that she had Amanda’s attention. Her gold eyes dropped down Amanda and clambered back up. “You are well formed, you could well be one of those humans that broadcasts, no?”
“With some polish…sure?.” Amanda had little idea where this was going.
“My nephew is a technician of some proficiency. He would light you well, should you decide to take me up on the offer.”
“And what offer would that be?”
“That of a stellar, hmm, cameraman, of course.” Rafina shrugged a shoulder in exaggerated innocence. “He is very competent and would accompany you wherever the news took you. To document what you found. Whatever that may be.”
“I see…and what would I do with this information once I had it so tidily documented?”
“Broadcast it, of course.” Rafina looked up as the doors to the lift opened to the lobby of the Headquarters building, her Secret Service detail waiting there for her already. “The names, for your consideration.”
Lady Rafina produced a small scrap of paper, parchment really, and handed it to Amanda who took it with fingers as bemused as the rest of her.
“Names?”
“Forgive my Standard, I am still learning.” Rafina smiled, lying through her damn teeth.
“Right.” Amanda agreed. What the hell else was she supposed to do?
“Oh,” Lady Rafina turned back from joining her security detail, “I wished to say also; welcome to the family.”
Amanda wasn’t given the chance to respond before Rafina spun away with a flourish of her robes and was promptly enveloped by her Secret Service crew.
Amanda blew out a breath as the lift doors closed, leaving her closed in once more. She ignored that in favour of pulling the recorder from her pocket and switching it off. She stared down at it, weighing the small device in her hand. She did hope she had managed to get most of that caught on record.
She had the feeling there had been far more layers to that conversation than even she had picked up the first go round.
Well.
Looked like her afternoon was suddenly full.
Later, the Beach…
“Mamanda! Mamanda, throw!”
Sybok ran back to Amanda over the damp sand as fast as his little legs could carry him, Tank bounding at his side.
The tiny Vulcan and the huge dog had bonded better than anyone had imagined they might do and were all but inseparable.
Amanda hadn’t been surprised on Tank’s behalf. Her dog was a delight and he was well used to children, not minding them so long as they didn’t pull his fur or ears. Amanda had harboured concerns for Sybok being frightened, since Vulcans weren’t socialised with animals the same way human children were, but she needn’t have bothered.
Amanda thought that Sybok was touch starved, his aunt not having tolerated such things and his father having been absent since the death of his mother. Sybok had already had it drummed into him that touching skin to skin was wrong and would hold onto Amanda’s sleeve or her trouser pocket but balked at taking her hand. He felt no such reticence when it came to Tank though. Dogs weren’t covered in Vulcan codes of conduct through the simple means of them being entirely alien.
So Tank and Sybok were often found lumped together in one way or another. Amanda had managed to wrangle an agreement with the local daycare that looked after Sybok whilst she was at work again. Since Tank was technically a therapy dog (Amanda’s therapy dog) he was allowed to attend alongside his person. Amanda had happily bequeathed Tank to Sybok as his need was greater than hers and now they went everywhere together.
Their favourite destination, aside from daycare, being the beach.
“Throw what, misiu?” Amanda pretended ignorance when Sybok slithered to a halt in front of her.
“Throw the ball!” Sybok bounced up and down, hands in the air and Tank dropped the drool sodden ball at her feet.
“Please?” Amanda reminded Sybok and he nodded hurriedly.
“Tak. Yes. Please!” Sybok bounced again and Amanda stooped, scooping up the ball and winding back.
She let fly and the ball soared through the air, out over the surf and splashed into the waves.
Tank took off at a sprint, great bounding leaps taking him right into the water until he crashed through the frothing surf. Doggy paddling out to the ball without missing a beat.
Sybok trailed after him, his smaller legs keeping his pace shorter, red wellingtons beneath child size Vulcan robes flapping, but he never went so far as to wade further than ankle deep into the water. It was very cold to his sensibilities and he didn’t know how to swim.
Sarek had explained that Vulcans made less than stellar swimmers which made perfect sense to her. Their greater strength was the result of a higher density than humans and as such meant they weren’t exactly prone to floating in the same way that humans were. If either Sybok or Sarek were to swim, it would be constant work for them.
Amanda smiled when Tank waded back to shore, shaking himself vigorously to rid himself of excess water and causing Sybok to shriek as he was dowsed. The little boy retaliated by kicking spray at Tank and Tank immediately romped into a game of rear and splash that was soon to have everyone soaked.
Sure enough, it was less than ten minutes before Sybok trotted back towards Amanda, his robes sopping and his lips tinged turquoise with the cold.
Amanda raised an eyebrow at him and he grinned at her shyly. She had told him that he got cold when he was wet and he knew it well but he did it anyway.
“Little rebel.” Amanda shrugged her coat from her shoulders, bundling Sybok into it and taking him by one of the sleeves to start leading him home.
“Tank did it.” Sybok insisted.
“You started it, misiu.” Amanda reminded him and he just grinned again.
Amanda smiled back. It did her good to see him like this. Happy.
He had only been on Earth, staying with Amanda, for the last three weeks or so, but he had already come out of his shell in so many ways. Contact with Tank had helped immensely. Daycare even more so and apparently he was even beginning to make progress with the child therapist that Kat Cornwell had recommended to Amanda and Sarek.
That had taken Amanda by surprise when it really shouldn’t have.
Glancing up the beach even now, Amanda could see lurkers of the Secret Service variety dotted about the place. They always kept a respectable distance but human security stuck out less than a Vulcan crew would have and Amanda hardly expected that Sarek would leave his son unprotected.
That Starfleet would be involved in such a protection detail as much as the Vulcan consulate would only be…logical as far as Sarek was concerned.
“Papa’s coming?” Sybok either echoed Amanda’s thoughts or picked up on them somehow.
Amanda had the sneaking suspicion that Sybok’s telepathy was not limited to the tactile as his father’s was but she had yet to voice this to Sarek. He had enough to contend with right now as it was.
“I think so, sweetie. He said he’d try and make dinner this time.” Amanda summoned a smile for Sybok and refused to dwell on how Sarek had…changed upon returning to Earth.
Well.
Perhaps changed was too strong a term. It wasn’t like she really knew him after all.
They had spent a few days together in less than ideal circumstances and had grown very close as a result. She had seen him in his most reactive and adrenaline fuelled state. When the Gorn had taken them, neither of them had known if they were going to survive between one hour and the next. Amanda doubted that she had been acting entirely herself for the duration either.
Though that did not change the fact that Sarek was distant. Not just mentally, either. Physically too.
He still spent much of his time at the Vulcan embassy or working amongst various Federation buildings. He visited Amanda’s home often though she had little idea if that was because he genuinely wanted to see them or if it was because he felt duty bound to at least give the appearance of checking in with his son whom he had left with someone little better than a stranger to him.
Sarek trusted Amanda, she knew that. Trusted her to care for his son and to keep him safe from the reach of T’Vaal, Sarek’s sister-in-law that had made various noises about taking Sybok back.
Which she would be fully within her rights to do, had the boy been staying on Vulcan land, like the Vulcan Embassy.
Yes, Sarek trusted her to do what was right for Sybok. He seemed content that he was well cared for in her hands…he just didn’t seem to want to spend much actual time with them.
When he visited, and it was most days, he was…hesitant. He kept his distance from Amanda. Touching her only rarely, his mind touching hers only briefly and nowhere near with the depth and intimacy they had shared when they had forged the bond.
Amanda had been on the wrong foot since he had withdrawn from her. She had been ill prepared for the seriousness of their relationship, perhaps, but she had been all in. It wouldn’t be the first time she had done something without being entirely sure that she was ready for it. Nor would it be the last, she was chaotic that way, but it still unnerved her.
The notion that he was…regretful.
Of course, the sensible thing to do would be to talk to Sarek about the whole thing but that had been surprisingly difficult for her. Every time she opened her mouth to broach the subject she was seized by a crippling doubt.
Sarek mattered to her in a way that previous lovers hadn’t and they weren’t even lovers.
Amanda was constantly aware that she may be demanding more than Sarek had been willing to give and -somehow- that had meant that a few heated kisses before they had even made it back to Earth had been as physical as it had gotten between them.
Human kisses that was.
He still brushed his hands against hers in greeting and that was his version of a kiss hello or goodbye but…it wasn’t enough for her.
“No. Papa’s coming!” Sybok lifted his little arm, the length of her sleeve flapping over his hand and obscuring his pointed finger.
Amanda followed his gaze and blinked when confronted with Sarek himself striding across the beach towards them.
Amanda sucked in a breath in what she told herself was surprise but was a physiological response of a different kind she just didn’t want to admit it.
Sarek was an imposing figure after all.
He stood head and shoulders taller than her, his powerful frame wrapped in layer over layer of dark sweeping robes that billowed and snapped in the wind gusting in off the Pacific. His dark hair feathered against the harsh lines of his cheekbones and upswept brows, his apparently blank expression was remote. The green flush of chill on his cheeks made him look otherworldly and as inhuman as he truly was but, even with her doubt, Amanda recognised the warmth in his dark eyes when he moved close enough to greet them.
“Amanda. Sybok.” He rumbled and exhaled forcibly when Tank bounded towards him, spattering his robes with damp sand. “And Tank.”
Tank barked happily behind the ball in his mouth and Sybok giggled, launching himself from Amanda’s grip and into his father’s hold.
“Papa!” Sybok crowed in delight when his father scooped him up and dropped him into the crook of one elbow. “We missed you!”
“I am gratified to be in your presence also, my son.” Sarek’s eyes smiled even if his mouth didn’t and he turned to see Amanda next.
“Dog drool.” Amanda spread her hands to show they were unclean and Sarek’s expression flickered but he didn’t reach for her.
He did send a loaded glance Tank’s way but the dog was happily oblivious and squeaked the ball between his jaws rather than acknowledge it.
“You came for dinner.” Amanda noted, attempting neutrality. She was uncertain all over again because Sarek hadn’t simply kissed her in the human manner.
“Indeed, I have sourced our evening meal. We are having sushi.” Sarek told her and then hesitated a moment. “You expressed a desire for same last week.”
“Uh, yeah.” Amanda shoved her hands into her pockets and fell into step with him, winding back from the beach, through the dunes and towards her street.
“My business this afternoon took me to Okinawa. There was time to go in search of local delicacies.”
Amanda cocked her head at him. That seemed…illogical for him.
“It was impressed upon me by Ruth that it is an Earth custom to bring gifts when one returns from a trip away.”
“Oh.” Amanda smirked.
Amanda loved Ruth.
The older woman was Sarek’s latest aide, a veteran of the Federation diplomatic corps and seemed immune to any sort of intimidation factor that Sarek may have been able to lay claim to. It would be much fairer to say that Ruth managed Sarek rather than the other way around. Sarek, of course, didn’t understand why he seemed to run through aides at roughly one every month or so but Amanda was quite sure that Ruth was long going to outlast Sarek rather than the other way around.
“You enjoy Ruth’s treatment of me.” Sarek seemed to guess.
“Ruth treats you with all the respect your station deserves.” Amanda reminded him. “Just because you can’t cow her by arching a single perfect eyebrow does not mean that she’s bad at her job. Or disrespectful.”
“Hmm.” Sarek nodded his head to one side, half agreeing with that seemingly. He dismissed the topic rather than get into an argument. “How was your day?”
“Oh, you know, mind numbingly boring for the most part.” Amanda shrugged. She didn’t much like to talk about her work.
For as long as her therapist didn’t sign off on her, she was restricted to the Press Corps circuit. It was mind numbing but safe as far as her editor, Perry, was concerned.
Even though she had managed to get kidnapped whilst in the Federation Headquarters. Which had led to more therapy and more staying in the HQ, the site of her kidnapping.
It made very little sense to Amanda but she had also been under the impression that no one else would take her. If she didn’t go to HQ and the tame press briefings therein, then she was to stay home and twiddle her thumbs.
Which really would drive her mad.
“And the lesser part?”
“Hmm?” Amanda glanced up at Sarek, shifting Sybok from one arm to the other.
“It was lacking in mental stimulation for the majority. What gained your attention for the lesser portion of the day?”
“Oh.” Amanda blinked, realising suddenly that she didn’t know how he would take to the news of his…step-grandmother (was that even what she was?) visiting. Let alone the content of their conversation that Amanda still hadn’t managed to figure out.
“Uh, the Andorian Ambassador came to visit me.”
“The Andorian- -?” Sarek slowed to a halt, looking down at her before spurring himself to move again. He spoke with a careful neutrality, even for him. “And how is Lady Rafina?”
“Confusing.” Amanda admitted freely. “I didn’t really understand what she was trying to tell me, I think.”
“That is in character for her.” Sarek sounded less than impressed. “What did you speak of?”
“Oh, work stuff. The president’s re-election campaign.” Amanda trailed off, deciding to edit out the perhaps job offer that she’d had from the Andorian general. “The trials of dating Vulcan men. That sort of thing. She -ah- welcomed me to the family.”
“Is it?”
“Is it what?” Amanda caught the barest flicker of something through their bond but Sarek swept it away into his own private mental space before she could catch it.
“Is it a trial?”
“I’ve not been doing it for long. I’ll let you know.” Amanda smirked, making light of it but Sarek just looked at her and she couldn’t read him at all.
She felt the nip of familiar frustration nibble at the edge of her mood but swept it aside when Sybok turned to speak to Sarek.
“Mamanda is family?”
Sarek glanced at Amanda but she left him to it. She may have been feeling petty.
“According to human customs, I believe so.” Sarek spoke smoothly and Amanda snorted.
Well, were they married or weren’t they?
“Mamanda? Are you family?”
“To you, teddybear?” Amanda grinned for him. “Always.”
She ignored Sarek’s look at whatever she had said that he found wanting and turned to head inside the house instead.
She did wish he’d make up his mind about her.
It was the not knowing that was the worst part.
Later…
If the President is re-elected, it will cost them the moon.
Amanda sat at the small table under the window that she did most of her work at when at home. Her earpiece was perched in the shell of one ear, her finger keeping it snugly in place. The words of her conversation with Rafina from earlier in the day washed over her again and again as she listened to the recording on repeat until she knew it by rote.
She shut it off, gaze wandering to the middle distance and stared out the window unseeing.
Night had fallen and the view was the reason she had bought this overlarge house in the first place.
She’d had notions of inviting family to stay, of course. They stayed here when they were in town but she’d been off planet so long that she usually had just commed them the security code and told them to mind the dog walker. As it was, the house was far too big for she and Tank alone…though it felt less lonesome when Sarek and Sybok were here.
Sybok had his own room. It had a little nightlight and all the new things Sarek had sourced for him since T’Vaal had let him leave Vulcan with nothing save the clothes on his back. There was even enough room for Sarek to meditate in another bedroom since he didn’t sleep alongside Amanda if he did stay the night.
Still.
At least the view was spectacular.
Even in the dark the silvery grasses of the dunes under the moonlight waved in the breeze. She could make out the rush of the surf and see the glimmer of the moon on the water.
Which invariably led her gaze up and up and…to the moon.
Cost them the moon.
Amanda narrowed her eyes a little, worrying that over and over in her head. Turning the words this way and that, trying to make sense of them. They were a burr under her thoughts. Something niggling at her about them.
She had heard the phrase or seen it written down. Even before that dumbass of a source had let it slip to her. It was familiar to her in a way that she could not grasp and it was driving her more than a little nutty.
She considered again, Rafina’s offer.
Meet with her ‘nephew’ and go investigating. Do her actual job and start overturning rocks until she got to the bottom of it. Partner up with a man she knew nothing about in order to do so.
It wouldn’t be the first time.
Amanda had spent most of her adult life with a go-bag at the ready and her dog sitter on speed dial, ready to hare off after the next scent of intrigue that came her way but…but the last incident of same had cost her too much.
Hell, depending on which doctor you asked, she wasn’t even human anymore due to extra-dimensional shenanigans, space dinosaurs and their hellacious version of medical care.
The last trip she had gone on had been entirely involuntary, revealed an alien presence hiding in her subconscious and had ended with her bonded/married to the Vulcan Ambassador to Earth. Something that he himself may or may not be regretting right this very second and was just too -what- polite to say anything?
Amanda gusted a sigh, rubbing harshly at her forehead and stared at the names on the parchment paper in front of her.
So strange. Writing with pen on paper in this day and age. Amanda had little doubt that Rafina had her reasons but they were certainly beyond a mere reporter such as herself.
Amanda hoisted her padd open and swiped the laser projected keyboard onto the desk. She opened the search engine and plugged in the first name.
Samuel Archer.
Amanda’s brows rose at what she found.
Samuel -Sam- Archer was great grandson to Admiral Archer himself. Captain of the first Enterprise. He came from a long line of Fleeters, all the way back to before the founding of the Federation and as such had grown up all over the quadrant. He was someone who was famous for being famous, really. He was known for his travel writing, shuttle flying and being easy on the eyes apparently.
Amanda glanced over his face, the resemblance between him and his great grandfather was plain. Same distinctive brows and strong jawline. His skin darker than Caucasoid but Amanda couldn’t have placed the ethnicity. His hair was a shock of dark and his eyes pale green but they seemed ready to smile alongside the flash of his white teeth.
Amanda opened one of his vid-blogs and watched a few moments to hear him, see his mannerisms. You could tell a lot about someone that way.
He was effusive, in that careless and unconscious way that truly attractive people can be and spoke with his whole body. His smile was near constant, his eyes danced and enthusiasm coloured his every word. He’d make a terrible liar.
Amanda snorted in amusement, if this was supposed to be some cloak and dagger bullshit at the behest of the Andorian Ambassador then Rafina could have done better than to pick her apparent nephew.
Amanda swiped the window away and typed in the next name on the piece of paper. Rafina had never determined which name had belonged to her ‘nephew’ after all.
Maja Hansen was the next name on Amanda’s list and Amanda blinked when confronted with the image along with the headlines that accompanied the search.
A blonde woman with pale grey eyes smirked out of the screen at Amanda and she hit on the bio available to the public before she decided to do any further digging.
Maja was a Swedish lawyer that specialised in…interstellar law.
Amanda bit her lip. Was this to do with Rafina’s motives or Amanda’s own?
She had spent the majority of her time at work searching for a lawyer to represent Sarek and Sybok after all. Amanda had dismissed the notion of hiring a Vulcan lawyer and arguing this on T’Vaal’s home turf. T’Vaal had too much sway considering she ran the lunar colony of R’Moth and as such Amanda had decided that fighting at all fair would be moronic.
Sarek could use his diplomatic immunity in order to keep Sybok with him for now but if T’Vaal had the clout that Amanda suspected she did, then that diplomatic immunity, indeed, Sarek’s whole posting on Earth could be made to evaporate and his immunity along with it.
So, Sarek’s claim to his own son must be incontestable and Amanda had taken it upon herself to make sure that he had the tools required to make that happen. She might not know everything about Sarek, but she knew that he was far too honourable and kind to fight in a manner that might guarantee his success. She also knew that Sybok was far too important to Sarek for him to lose.
As far as Amanda was concerned, that meant she had to hire the most ruthless shark of a lawyer she could find and encourage them to nail T’Vaal to the wall.
Amanda would decide later if she meant metaphorically or not.
Amanda dug a little deeper into Maja’s profile and was fairly certain, after the third article involving new laws being written due to one of Maja’s cases, that she may very well have happened upon a Valkyrie living in disguise amongst mere mortals. If nothing else, Miss Hansen was certainly worth a comm, even if Amanda suspected her private hire rates would be literally astronomical.
A quick calculation on the time difference between local time and Swedish time discouraged Amanda from calling then and there. She settled for typing out a quick email and sending that instead, asking to be contacted as soon as possible about Sarek’s case.
She didn’t mention any names, but if Maja Hansen was half as smart as her reputation suggested, then she’d have it all figured out before she even called Amanda back.
“Tea?”
“Jeez- -!” Amanda startled badly when a steaming mug appeared in her peripheral and was promptly moved quickly out of the way of her flail.
“Apologies, I had thought you heard my approach.” Sarek stood over a metre away now, twin mugs of tea in his hands.
Amanda settled herself with a will. Forcing her breathing to regulate before her pounding heart would follow suit.
“It’s fine. I was…working. I didn’t hear you.” Amanda shook herself and swiped at her padd, closing the apps for the night. She needed to get out of her head for a bit. “What did you want?”
“To offer you tea.” Sarek held up a mug in demonstration and Amanda blinked, staring at him for a moment, uncomprehending.
She shook herself and forced her brain to cooperate. She pulled her earpiece from her ear and dropped it on top of her padd. She held out her hands for the mug.
“You do not have to accept.”
“I know, but I’d like to.” Amanda summoned something smile shaped to her face and took the cup from him, cradling it in her hands. She inhaled the honey sweetened smell and took a cautious sip.
It was steaming hot, Sarek’s tolerance for temperatures ran higher than hers did, but he had added enough cold water for it not to burn her. She smiled at him more genuinely at the thoughtfulness and looked about the living room.
“Sybok’s in bed?”
“Indeed. He has been bathed, storied and is now asleep.” Sarek waited for a moment and then angled himself towards the living area. “Shall we sit together?”
“Sure.” Amanda shook off the last of her distraction and moved to the couch, tucking herself into the corner of it and resigning herself when Sarek took the opposite end rather than sit any closer to her.
“You seem out of sorts.” Sarek looked at her pointedly, clearly concerned.
The last time she had been out of sorts with him, she had been lying through her teeth and had thought she might turn into some sort of lizard mutant so she supposed she might deserve that.
“I’m fine, I was just in my head.” Amanda waved it away, drinking her tea.
“What keeps you so distracted?”
“Your…uh, well, Lady Rafina gave me a name today. I was looking it up. Maja Hansen. She’s a lawyer. Specialises in interstellar cases. Disputes between legal systems of differing planets.”
Sarek cocked his head.
“I’ve sent a message to her, I want her to take on your case. You and Sybok.”
Sarek stilled a moment in lifting his tea to drink himself and then continued the motion with deliberation.
“I do not know if that will be necessary.”
“I do.” Amanda lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “Your sister-in-law has too much sway on Vulcan. You can’t trust that any court would rule in an unbiased way.”
“That is the point of Vulcan courts. To be unbiased.” Sarek pointed out.
“Uh-huh and if you had really believed that, you’d have left Sybok in T’Vaal’s care and sought legal action to bring him home rather than beating her about the face with your diplomatic immunity.” Amanda drawled.
“It was not so violent as your word choice suggests.” Sarek demurred. “As an aside, Earth is not home.”
“What?” Amanda frowned.
“You said that I would have sought legal action to bring Sybok ‘home’. Earth is not home to Sybok nor myself.”
Amanda stilled at that. She blinked, attempting to talk herself out of flinching away from his words but…he meant them. He was Vulcan. Of course he meant them.
“I see.” Amanda sat forward, setting her cup on the table before her shaking hands spilled it. She clasped her fingers together in her lap and inhaled deeply.
Her lungs felt too tight in her chest. Something hot burned deep in her stomach and prickled freezing cold over her skin. Her senses crawled with whatever it was and she shook it off with a jerk of her head.
“I don’t know if I can do this.” The words fell out of her.
Sarek sat forward, setting his own cup aside.
“Do what?”
“This.” Amanda waved between them. “Cohabiting but not. In a relationship but not. Married but…not? I don’t know what this is and I don’t think you do either.”
Sarek’s head ticked to the side and he considered her words a moment. Whatever he felt, he was keeping it to his side of the bond and she didn’t know what to do with that either.
“A relationship between a Vulcan and a human is bound to be…uncharted. I think it would be natural to be hesitant to define it in any way.”
“I had a definition.” Amanda said quietly, speaking to her hands mostly. “I was falling in love with you and I thought you felt…similarly. Was I wrong?”
Sarek stared at her for a moment, clearly she’d sprung this on him and that somehow stung more than it really should have.
“I…” His words died and he hesitated. His expression flickered with something she couldn’t read and then, when he did finally speak, his voice was monotone once more. Reaching for her. “Amanda…”
“Okay!” Amanda bolted to her feet pacing around the coffee table and shoving her hands through her hair. “Okay.”
“You do not seem ‘okay’ by any definition of the term.” Sarek rose to his feet, looking at her like she was something explosive that was ticking down to detonation.
“It’s fine.” Amanda swallowed hard, waving it away. “Don’t worry about it. I never wanted it to be one sided anyway. So, uhm, yeah.”
“I don’t understand.” Sarek shook his head.
“You’re going to have to pick up Sybok from daycare tomorrow. I’m going to be off-world.”
“Oh?” Sarek shifted uncertainly at that. “Might I enquire…?”
“Should just be for a couple of days. Re-election stuff. I should be back by Friday and I can look after him again then. He’s welcome to stay until…well, however long he needs.”
“Amanda, if I could- -?” Sarek rounded the coffee table, his hands reaching hesitantly for hers.
No.
No.
Amanda stepped swiftly backwards. If he touched her then she was going to cry or something equally as wet and then he’d be much more uncomfortable than he already was.
“I, uh, have to get ready.” Amanda waved vaguely and then beat a hasty retreat. “Tell Sybok goodbye from me.”
“Goodbye, Amanda.” His voice was soft and Amanda tensed, her back to him. She couldn’t even turn around.
“Goodbye, Sarek.”