FIC: incomplete mini-fill
NOTES: This is a mini-fill for a prompt
I have NO IDEA where to go with it, but it's been sitting in my hard drive for ages. I've had a recent scare with the laptop breaking down (and I love to write fic on my laptop, in bed) so I just wanted to post it up, so it won't get you know, eaten
Amanda Grayson parted the curtains and peered curiously at the front gardens, where the boy sat on the paved stone steps leading lower down and gradually onto street level. She narrowed her, trying to see his face, but he was looking the wrong way; all she could see was that he was a boy, above ten years of age, with dark brown hair, running his fingers through the thick tuffs of grass and clovers growing nearby. Letting the curtains close, she walked back to the armchair and sat down, reaching automatically for her cup of tea. After the austerity of Vulcan drinks and snacks, she’d forgotten how nice and welcoming a cup of black tea with a splash of milk and some damn sugar could be. Still, nothing could wash down the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, knowing the only family she’d had left was reduced down to one member from three.
‘According to details left by Mr. and Mrs. McCoy, it was their wish that either you, or your cousin, Tyler Grayson, be the guardian and ah, as you know he died, several months ago during a mission on the USS Sigma. The McCoys obviously had not updated their Will but-’
‘Isn’t there anyone else?’ She asked, unable to accept that she was it, the only adult member - hell the only other member of an entire family. ‘Another second cousin? An uncle? I mean, come on, I’m related his mom but what about his dad? Doesn’t he have any family??’
‘I’m afraid David McCoy was a survivor from Colony PX219. He has two second cousins from his mother’s side of the family, the Jackson’s but they’ve recently settled on PX231, and regulations as you know, do not allow migration till the settling period is over.’ The lawyer gave her a look of sympathy, ‘You are the only one who is currently able to-‘
Amanda shook her head and put down her tea decisively. ‘I’m sorry but I can’t make this kind of decision.’ Inside she cringed but she just couldn’t. She didn’t even live on Earth anymore! And she had her own child, and her own responsibilities, and just - she sighed, standing. ‘Look, I’ll have to think about it, and talk to my husband.’
‘Of course, of course.’ The elder woman stood and gave her a look of understanding, ‘You know where to contact me. It was a pleasure, Ms. Grayson.’
With a wan smile, Amanda shook the offered hand and left.
Walking briskly down the stone steps, Amanda slowed when she realized that the boy was watching her. What was his name again? Leo? Lenny? No, it’s Leonard, that’s right. She smiled politely. ‘Hi,’ She said, uncertain what else she should be saying. He was perhaps only two or three years older than her own little Spock, but he had a strong look about him, in the jaw or the nose. Wildness, she thought, he had wildness in him that Vulcan features didn’t have.
‘You Auntie Amanda?’ He asked, blinking up at her curiously, fiddling with a bit of grass.
‘Yes,’ She said, smiling at the way he said her name, drawing out vowels, ‘You Leonard?’
‘I prefer Len,’ He said, squinting and raising a hand to shield his eyes from the afternoon sun, ‘How come I never met you before?’
Yes you have, she thought sadly. Amanda seen him, once, when he was just a month old and that had been the last time besides a few holo-vids and stills through the years. She’d already met Sarek by his birth, and then there had been getting used to living on Vulcan, and then Spock and then - well, everything else in life. She’d invited them to the wedding, but with a new baby, and David’s dislike of flying, they didn’t make it. She’d sent videos and a recording of her narration of the entire experience. They’d responded by sending her real silk-woven booties, which - she smiled to herself - became Spock’s favorite by the time he was nine months old.
‘I don’t live on Earth.’ She told him.
He looked at her suspiciously, ‘Where you live then? Jupiter Station? Terra Nova?’
Amanda shook her head and smiled; it seemed that he shared his daddy’s dislike for anything not from Earth. ‘No, I live on Vulcan.’
‘What you doing living there?’ He asked, looking surprised. ‘Isn’t it all hot and stuff?’
She nodded, ‘It is.’
He frowned and gave her a confused look. It was adorable, she thought with a little smile, on his young face - these days Spock glared when he was confused, adorable too, but different. His hair, she noticed, as the same shade his mother’s, the same shade as hers when- Amanda glanced away, and wondered why she even contemplating it: Sarek was right in a way, she did tend to be a bit masochistic in thinking about things she couldn’t have, and playing the age old game of “Maybes” and “Should Have Been”. It was already near impossible for Spock, who wasn’t even physically distinguishable from other Vulcan children to get along with his peers, and just the thought of a human boy being forced into that kind of competitive environment… she took a sharp breath. No she couldn’t take him, not even if it meant foster care, and one day he’d thank him for it.
‘Then why do you-‘
‘Amanda.’
She looked up, startled by the voice uttering her name.
‘Sarek?’ She said, surprised and delighted. Quickly going down the last few steps, she opened the gate and smiled broadly, ‘Sarek, what are you doing here? I thought you had a meeting with the Czylikan.’
‘A most efficient species,’ Sarek muttered, with a slight twitch of his eyebrow that told her he was pleased, as pleased as Vulcans got anyway, ‘Discussions were productive and finished ahead of schedule. I thought you may… appreciate my presence.’
Amanda smiled and wondered when did he become so charming and where the hell was the stuffy young Vulcan diplomat who stood up in irritation every time someone laughed too loudly? Turning, she gestured to the boy who stood up, staring up at Sarek with wide eyed wonder like most kids do faced with any live alien no matter how many diagrams they’d seen. ‘Sarek, I want you to meet Leonard McCoy - he’s my second cousin.’
‘Second… cousin?’ Sarek frowned, eyebrows going up. Of course, Vulcans usually only had one child, at most two, so keeping track of cousins wasn’t exactly a common activity.
‘It is pleasant to meet you.’ Sarek said, in his standard calm tones, but she could tell from his way his hand was just hovering, uncertain whether to go ahead and shake the boy’s hand or do the Vulcan salute, that he had no idea what to do in the face of a “little human”.
‘Len, this is Sarek, he’s my husband.’ She smiled and crossing the distance, stood next to Sarek proudly, laying a hand gently over his arm. Amanda knew that any more physical contact and he’ll be practically blushing. Victorian Vulcans, she thought silently in amusement at the nickname she’d given her adopted people.
From the way Leonard’s eyes were practically bulging out of his eye sockets, she could tell that he had a lot of questions. But with the kind of tact she expected from someone far older, he kept his mouth shut and straightened his back, only the twisted blade of grass between his fingers giving a clue to how curious he was.
‘Nice to meet you, sir.’
‘Thank you,’ Sarek said with a gentle nod of acknowledgement - and she’d like to think, respect for the courtesy he was being shown, ‘Amanda, I believe we should depart, or we shall miss our evening engagement.’
‘Yes, I almost forgot.’ Amanda gasped, quickly checking the time on her antique wristwatch. There was only two more hours until the big Starfleet dinner they were required to attend. Looking up at Leonard, she felt another swell of discomfort, and distinct guilt that pierced her at the idea that she was abandoning the kid.
‘Sorry, but I have to go now or I’m going to be late.’ She said lightly with a smile and a wave, ‘See you later okay, Len.’
Leonard McCoy nodded with a stoicism that bordered on pseudo-Vulcan, ‘Yeah later.’
With one last look, she turned and hurried across the street to where the hover car waited. She felt her heart sink as she watched him, standing on the front steps by himself, staring at her till she disappeared around the corner. Turning back to face the front windscreen, she fisted her hands in her lap. Dammit, she thought with the slightest trace of tears in her left eye, dammit.
-
Amanda turned around. ‘Sarek, what are you saying?’
Her husband glanced down at the coffee table and gestured in an incredibly human manner of a shrug. Any other day, she would have stood back and watched his mannerisms with a delighted smile, maybe even laughed and teased him but today, she was just grateful he was responding at all and not just shutting her down in that stereotypical Vulcan way that she just - argh - hated because it was so goddamn superior.
‘While there are some obvious… difficulties, which you have considered at length, my wife,’ She blinked, surprised at the admiration in his intent look, ‘I believe in this case, that the benefits of his upbringing by someone of the same clan outweighs the difficulties of his inclusion into our lives. You are his blood relative, and under human customs, his wellbeing is considered your responsibility, is it not? I do not see any reason to depart from this - I would not be an Ambassador to Earth if I showed no respect for an ancient tradition.’
She shook her head, and gave a little laugh of disbelief. She’d been absolutely tortured the last few days, telling herself again and again in great detail just how much of an inconvenience adopting Leonard was going to be, stricken over Sarek’s disapproval of the entire thing, over Spock’s reaction (he already had enough problems dealing with anything denoted as “human” - it broke her heart the way he avoided her sometimes) and then here she was, telling Sarek what had happened and what a bad idea this was, and he just goes ahead and surprises her with the Vulcan version of “Hmm, sounds okay, why not?”
‘You’re not just saying that right? Sarek, tell me, are you really, really, okay with this? Having another child was not in our plans.’ It wasn’t even a possibility with the level of medical technology currently - Spock was already a feat and in her opinion, her personal miracle.
He gazed at her with a perplexed look, ‘Do you not wish to take responsibility for the child?’
‘No!’ Amanda rushed forwards and dropped down heavily on the sofa next to him, ‘I mean, no, no! Of course I want to take him in, of course I do, he’s the only other person in my family, Sarek. He’s -‘
‘Then the decision is quite simple.’ Sarek stated. ‘I shall apply for his residency upon Vulcan.’
For a long silent moment, she stared at him, startled that he should understand her so well. Grabbing his hand, she pressed their fingers together in the ancient symbol of two individuals committed to long life and prosperity together and smiled, harder than she’s ever smiled. ‘You know I love you right?’
‘You are my wife.’ Sarek said in a matter of fact tone, almost disdainful.
Biting her lower lip, she reached out tentatively and stroked his hair in wonder. So many people said to her that Vulcans were incapable of tenderness, were cold, were unpleasant but they were so wrong. She’d discovered that they were deeply passionate, and loyal, hardworking, self-sacrificing, and incredibly generous to people they considered as friends and family. Maybe not human tenderness, but there was such a tenuous connection, always, between them; he was so aware of her, so responsive to her, all the time, at every moment. And - she sighed and allowed a little laugh, feeling a flutter in her heart like a love-struck schoolgirl - there was so much tenderness and meaning in that one little sentence.
‘I will make the proper arrangements.’ He murmured, taking her hand and placing it gently back into her own lap, ‘It is late, you should rest; your human biological rhythms are still adjusting. I shall depart now, for my next appointment.’
With a nod, she watched as he stood and left their apartment overlooking the San Francisco harbor quietly, nothing like a man who was a young and upcoming Ambassador, respected on many worlds and growing to become respected on many more. Amanda smiled in the empty living room, eyes staring out on the sweeping nightscape. Picking up her PADD, she quickly drafted a short note requesting that she meet with the McCoy family lawyer for two in the afternoon, local time.
-
Taking the data pad gently from the other woman, Amanda took the offered stylus and hesitated over the flashing dotted line awaiting her signature, citizen code and thumb print. The time was talking was over now. As soon as she signed, Leonard McCoy would be her responsibility. Glancing at Spock, who sat dutifully and quietly by her side with hands resting in his lap, she leant forwards and softly kissed his hair. He glanced up at her and glared. Amanda smiled softly; this could be him one day, she thought morosely - Sarek and her hadn’t come up any problems so far in all the diplomatic tours of duty he was required to complete, but what if one day their cards came up and it was Spock in another room, waiting to signed off to some relative he didn’t know? With a breath, she signed quickly in Vulcan, her registered electronic signature - Emanda G’raeson, Wife of Sarek - scratched in her ID number and then pressed her thumb next to that, hard. A slightly greasy smear was left when she pulled back. The elder woman took the datapad from her with a smile and set it on the table.
‘Well, I’ll get Leonard, he’s very eager to see you again.’
Amanda smiled weakly. The woman left the room to fetch the boy. Alone with Spock, she reached across and slid her hand smoothly across her son’s shoulder. ‘Spock, this is one of my clan, his name is Leonard McCoy, and as your father has explained, he is to be cohabiting with us from now on.’
Spock looked at her, a hesitant look on his face, ‘Is he human?’
She nodded gently, ‘Yes, he is.’
He glanced away before staring up at her once more, ‘Does he speak Vulcan?’
She shook her head and chuckled, ‘No, he doesn’t. He does however speak Standard very well.’
Spock glared at her, ‘But how shall he live on Vulcan?’
She blinked at the force behind his words, catching the flicker of uncertainty that he hadn’t yet mastered at hiding. ‘He can be taught, Spock, he’s very intelligent.’
‘For a human.’ Spock muttered, in the same tones that she’d heard often from the mouths of other young Vulcans. Is this what Spock was learning by the “refined” education he was supposedly getting on Vulcan? Oh, some days she just wanted to tell all those kids like it really was - that it took Vulcans a good thousand years to recover from devastating planetary war when the same kind of recovery took less than a century on Earth, how’s that for a human!
Amanda drew her hand back and showed her displeasure by switching to formal Vulcan, ‘Spock, you must not to allow your personal feelings and experiences predispose you to judgments you are not qualified to make.’
Chastised, he quickly looked down, ‘Yes, mother.’
More softly, she continued, ‘Thank you for your logical concern, Spock… that he’ll find living on Vulcan illogical. But your father and I have considered it, and have decided the issue negligible.’
Spock looked up at her, less embarrassed than before. Gosh, she’ll miss this one day, being able to read him so well. ‘Yes mother.’
With a little grin, Amanda nudged him in the shoulder, ‘Now look pretty, you’re getting a big brother.’
The startled expression on Spock’s face was going to be something she’d remember forever, and ever.
OKAY so there you have it - no fricking idea where to go from here. the mood is all wrong, the tone is just BLAH and yeah
I have NO IDEA where to go with it, but it's been sitting in my hard drive for ages. I've had a recent scare with the laptop breaking down (and I love to write fic on my laptop, in bed) so I just wanted to post it up, so it won't get you know, eaten
Amanda Grayson parted the curtains and peered curiously at the front gardens, where the boy sat on the paved stone steps leading lower down and gradually onto street level. She narrowed her, trying to see his face, but he was looking the wrong way; all she could see was that he was a boy, above ten years of age, with dark brown hair, running his fingers through the thick tuffs of grass and clovers growing nearby. Letting the curtains close, she walked back to the armchair and sat down, reaching automatically for her cup of tea. After the austerity of Vulcan drinks and snacks, she’d forgotten how nice and welcoming a cup of black tea with a splash of milk and some damn sugar could be. Still, nothing could wash down the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, knowing the only family she’d had left was reduced down to one member from three.
‘According to details left by Mr. and Mrs. McCoy, it was their wish that either you, or your cousin, Tyler Grayson, be the guardian and ah, as you know he died, several months ago during a mission on the USS Sigma. The McCoys obviously had not updated their Will but-’
‘Isn’t there anyone else?’ She asked, unable to accept that she was it, the only adult member - hell the only other member of an entire family. ‘Another second cousin? An uncle? I mean, come on, I’m related his mom but what about his dad? Doesn’t he have any family??’
‘I’m afraid David McCoy was a survivor from Colony PX219. He has two second cousins from his mother’s side of the family, the Jackson’s but they’ve recently settled on PX231, and regulations as you know, do not allow migration till the settling period is over.’ The lawyer gave her a look of sympathy, ‘You are the only one who is currently able to-‘
Amanda shook her head and put down her tea decisively. ‘I’m sorry but I can’t make this kind of decision.’ Inside she cringed but she just couldn’t. She didn’t even live on Earth anymore! And she had her own child, and her own responsibilities, and just - she sighed, standing. ‘Look, I’ll have to think about it, and talk to my husband.’
‘Of course, of course.’ The elder woman stood and gave her a look of understanding, ‘You know where to contact me. It was a pleasure, Ms. Grayson.’
With a wan smile, Amanda shook the offered hand and left.
Walking briskly down the stone steps, Amanda slowed when she realized that the boy was watching her. What was his name again? Leo? Lenny? No, it’s Leonard, that’s right. She smiled politely. ‘Hi,’ She said, uncertain what else she should be saying. He was perhaps only two or three years older than her own little Spock, but he had a strong look about him, in the jaw or the nose. Wildness, she thought, he had wildness in him that Vulcan features didn’t have.
‘You Auntie Amanda?’ He asked, blinking up at her curiously, fiddling with a bit of grass.
‘Yes,’ She said, smiling at the way he said her name, drawing out vowels, ‘You Leonard?’
‘I prefer Len,’ He said, squinting and raising a hand to shield his eyes from the afternoon sun, ‘How come I never met you before?’
Yes you have, she thought sadly. Amanda seen him, once, when he was just a month old and that had been the last time besides a few holo-vids and stills through the years. She’d already met Sarek by his birth, and then there had been getting used to living on Vulcan, and then Spock and then - well, everything else in life. She’d invited them to the wedding, but with a new baby, and David’s dislike of flying, they didn’t make it. She’d sent videos and a recording of her narration of the entire experience. They’d responded by sending her real silk-woven booties, which - she smiled to herself - became Spock’s favorite by the time he was nine months old.
‘I don’t live on Earth.’ She told him.
He looked at her suspiciously, ‘Where you live then? Jupiter Station? Terra Nova?’
Amanda shook her head and smiled; it seemed that he shared his daddy’s dislike for anything not from Earth. ‘No, I live on Vulcan.’
‘What you doing living there?’ He asked, looking surprised. ‘Isn’t it all hot and stuff?’
She nodded, ‘It is.’
He frowned and gave her a confused look. It was adorable, she thought with a little smile, on his young face - these days Spock glared when he was confused, adorable too, but different. His hair, she noticed, as the same shade his mother’s, the same shade as hers when- Amanda glanced away, and wondered why she even contemplating it: Sarek was right in a way, she did tend to be a bit masochistic in thinking about things she couldn’t have, and playing the age old game of “Maybes” and “Should Have Been”. It was already near impossible for Spock, who wasn’t even physically distinguishable from other Vulcan children to get along with his peers, and just the thought of a human boy being forced into that kind of competitive environment… she took a sharp breath. No she couldn’t take him, not even if it meant foster care, and one day he’d thank him for it.
‘Then why do you-‘
‘Amanda.’
She looked up, startled by the voice uttering her name.
‘Sarek?’ She said, surprised and delighted. Quickly going down the last few steps, she opened the gate and smiled broadly, ‘Sarek, what are you doing here? I thought you had a meeting with the Czylikan.’
‘A most efficient species,’ Sarek muttered, with a slight twitch of his eyebrow that told her he was pleased, as pleased as Vulcans got anyway, ‘Discussions were productive and finished ahead of schedule. I thought you may… appreciate my presence.’
Amanda smiled and wondered when did he become so charming and where the hell was the stuffy young Vulcan diplomat who stood up in irritation every time someone laughed too loudly? Turning, she gestured to the boy who stood up, staring up at Sarek with wide eyed wonder like most kids do faced with any live alien no matter how many diagrams they’d seen. ‘Sarek, I want you to meet Leonard McCoy - he’s my second cousin.’
‘Second… cousin?’ Sarek frowned, eyebrows going up. Of course, Vulcans usually only had one child, at most two, so keeping track of cousins wasn’t exactly a common activity.
‘It is pleasant to meet you.’ Sarek said, in his standard calm tones, but she could tell from his way his hand was just hovering, uncertain whether to go ahead and shake the boy’s hand or do the Vulcan salute, that he had no idea what to do in the face of a “little human”.
‘Len, this is Sarek, he’s my husband.’ She smiled and crossing the distance, stood next to Sarek proudly, laying a hand gently over his arm. Amanda knew that any more physical contact and he’ll be practically blushing. Victorian Vulcans, she thought silently in amusement at the nickname she’d given her adopted people.
From the way Leonard’s eyes were practically bulging out of his eye sockets, she could tell that he had a lot of questions. But with the kind of tact she expected from someone far older, he kept his mouth shut and straightened his back, only the twisted blade of grass between his fingers giving a clue to how curious he was.
‘Nice to meet you, sir.’
‘Thank you,’ Sarek said with a gentle nod of acknowledgement - and she’d like to think, respect for the courtesy he was being shown, ‘Amanda, I believe we should depart, or we shall miss our evening engagement.’
‘Yes, I almost forgot.’ Amanda gasped, quickly checking the time on her antique wristwatch. There was only two more hours until the big Starfleet dinner they were required to attend. Looking up at Leonard, she felt another swell of discomfort, and distinct guilt that pierced her at the idea that she was abandoning the kid.
‘Sorry, but I have to go now or I’m going to be late.’ She said lightly with a smile and a wave, ‘See you later okay, Len.’
Leonard McCoy nodded with a stoicism that bordered on pseudo-Vulcan, ‘Yeah later.’
With one last look, she turned and hurried across the street to where the hover car waited. She felt her heart sink as she watched him, standing on the front steps by himself, staring at her till she disappeared around the corner. Turning back to face the front windscreen, she fisted her hands in her lap. Dammit, she thought with the slightest trace of tears in her left eye, dammit.
-
Amanda turned around. ‘Sarek, what are you saying?’
Her husband glanced down at the coffee table and gestured in an incredibly human manner of a shrug. Any other day, she would have stood back and watched his mannerisms with a delighted smile, maybe even laughed and teased him but today, she was just grateful he was responding at all and not just shutting her down in that stereotypical Vulcan way that she just - argh - hated because it was so goddamn superior.
‘While there are some obvious… difficulties, which you have considered at length, my wife,’ She blinked, surprised at the admiration in his intent look, ‘I believe in this case, that the benefits of his upbringing by someone of the same clan outweighs the difficulties of his inclusion into our lives. You are his blood relative, and under human customs, his wellbeing is considered your responsibility, is it not? I do not see any reason to depart from this - I would not be an Ambassador to Earth if I showed no respect for an ancient tradition.’
She shook her head, and gave a little laugh of disbelief. She’d been absolutely tortured the last few days, telling herself again and again in great detail just how much of an inconvenience adopting Leonard was going to be, stricken over Sarek’s disapproval of the entire thing, over Spock’s reaction (he already had enough problems dealing with anything denoted as “human” - it broke her heart the way he avoided her sometimes) and then here she was, telling Sarek what had happened and what a bad idea this was, and he just goes ahead and surprises her with the Vulcan version of “Hmm, sounds okay, why not?”
‘You’re not just saying that right? Sarek, tell me, are you really, really, okay with this? Having another child was not in our plans.’ It wasn’t even a possibility with the level of medical technology currently - Spock was already a feat and in her opinion, her personal miracle.
He gazed at her with a perplexed look, ‘Do you not wish to take responsibility for the child?’
‘No!’ Amanda rushed forwards and dropped down heavily on the sofa next to him, ‘I mean, no, no! Of course I want to take him in, of course I do, he’s the only other person in my family, Sarek. He’s -‘
‘Then the decision is quite simple.’ Sarek stated. ‘I shall apply for his residency upon Vulcan.’
For a long silent moment, she stared at him, startled that he should understand her so well. Grabbing his hand, she pressed their fingers together in the ancient symbol of two individuals committed to long life and prosperity together and smiled, harder than she’s ever smiled. ‘You know I love you right?’
‘You are my wife.’ Sarek said in a matter of fact tone, almost disdainful.
Biting her lower lip, she reached out tentatively and stroked his hair in wonder. So many people said to her that Vulcans were incapable of tenderness, were cold, were unpleasant but they were so wrong. She’d discovered that they were deeply passionate, and loyal, hardworking, self-sacrificing, and incredibly generous to people they considered as friends and family. Maybe not human tenderness, but there was such a tenuous connection, always, between them; he was so aware of her, so responsive to her, all the time, at every moment. And - she sighed and allowed a little laugh, feeling a flutter in her heart like a love-struck schoolgirl - there was so much tenderness and meaning in that one little sentence.
‘I will make the proper arrangements.’ He murmured, taking her hand and placing it gently back into her own lap, ‘It is late, you should rest; your human biological rhythms are still adjusting. I shall depart now, for my next appointment.’
With a nod, she watched as he stood and left their apartment overlooking the San Francisco harbor quietly, nothing like a man who was a young and upcoming Ambassador, respected on many worlds and growing to become respected on many more. Amanda smiled in the empty living room, eyes staring out on the sweeping nightscape. Picking up her PADD, she quickly drafted a short note requesting that she meet with the McCoy family lawyer for two in the afternoon, local time.
-
Taking the data pad gently from the other woman, Amanda took the offered stylus and hesitated over the flashing dotted line awaiting her signature, citizen code and thumb print. The time was talking was over now. As soon as she signed, Leonard McCoy would be her responsibility. Glancing at Spock, who sat dutifully and quietly by her side with hands resting in his lap, she leant forwards and softly kissed his hair. He glanced up at her and glared. Amanda smiled softly; this could be him one day, she thought morosely - Sarek and her hadn’t come up any problems so far in all the diplomatic tours of duty he was required to complete, but what if one day their cards came up and it was Spock in another room, waiting to signed off to some relative he didn’t know? With a breath, she signed quickly in Vulcan, her registered electronic signature - Emanda G’raeson, Wife of Sarek - scratched in her ID number and then pressed her thumb next to that, hard. A slightly greasy smear was left when she pulled back. The elder woman took the datapad from her with a smile and set it on the table.
‘Well, I’ll get Leonard, he’s very eager to see you again.’
Amanda smiled weakly. The woman left the room to fetch the boy. Alone with Spock, she reached across and slid her hand smoothly across her son’s shoulder. ‘Spock, this is one of my clan, his name is Leonard McCoy, and as your father has explained, he is to be cohabiting with us from now on.’
Spock looked at her, a hesitant look on his face, ‘Is he human?’
She nodded gently, ‘Yes, he is.’
He glanced away before staring up at her once more, ‘Does he speak Vulcan?’
She shook her head and chuckled, ‘No, he doesn’t. He does however speak Standard very well.’
Spock glared at her, ‘But how shall he live on Vulcan?’
She blinked at the force behind his words, catching the flicker of uncertainty that he hadn’t yet mastered at hiding. ‘He can be taught, Spock, he’s very intelligent.’
‘For a human.’ Spock muttered, in the same tones that she’d heard often from the mouths of other young Vulcans. Is this what Spock was learning by the “refined” education he was supposedly getting on Vulcan? Oh, some days she just wanted to tell all those kids like it really was - that it took Vulcans a good thousand years to recover from devastating planetary war when the same kind of recovery took less than a century on Earth, how’s that for a human!
Amanda drew her hand back and showed her displeasure by switching to formal Vulcan, ‘Spock, you must not to allow your personal feelings and experiences predispose you to judgments you are not qualified to make.’
Chastised, he quickly looked down, ‘Yes, mother.’
More softly, she continued, ‘Thank you for your logical concern, Spock… that he’ll find living on Vulcan illogical. But your father and I have considered it, and have decided the issue negligible.’
Spock looked up at her, less embarrassed than before. Gosh, she’ll miss this one day, being able to read him so well. ‘Yes mother.’
With a little grin, Amanda nudged him in the shoulder, ‘Now look pretty, you’re getting a big brother.’
The startled expression on Spock’s face was going to be something she’d remember forever, and ever.
OKAY so there you have it - no fricking idea where to go from here. the mood is all wrong, the tone is just BLAH and yeah