K'hat'n'dlawa

Humanity

"You know, he's really not bad looking," Karen observed, watching as the Vulcan ambassador strode through the front doors into the lobby. Amanda and Karen sat on plastic chairs, eating their lunches.

Amanda's eyebrows rose at this comment. It looked like Karen wanted to try out a Vulcan, after all.

"Good luck," she said, reaching for her bottle of water and taking a sip.

"What, you don't agree? I mean, look at him. He's handsome, in a dignified, solemn way. Tall, with broad shoulders, dark eyes..."

The ambassador stopped to speak to someone, and now stood twenty feet away. Amanda saw him glance briefly in their direction, his eyes resting on her for a split second, before returning to the man before him. She remembered something she had once read about Vulcans...

"He can probably hear you, you know," Amanda said. "Vulcan hearing and all that."

"Well, good! Should make it easier," Karen beamed in his direction, even though he wasn't looking. She patted her blonde curls and smoothed her blouse and short skirt. "He may be Vulcan, but he's still a man, Amanda. And all men have needs."

She didn't reply to that, but she disagreed. He didn't seem the type to be interested in human women...or anything they had to offer.

He appeared to finish speaking to his fellow ambassador, and looked in their direction again. He nodded once at her in acknowledgment before continuing on his way.

"He just nodded at me!" Karen said excitedly. "Oh, he is so interested!"

Amanda decided not to point out that he had obviously been nodding at her, not at Karen.

She was surprised at how smug that made her.

The ambassador had been working at the embassy for a month now. For the most part, Amanda had very little contact with him- occasionally, she had to take things to his office, or run small errands for him, but they rarely spoke. She didn't even know his name.

But after Karen brought it to her attention, Amanda realized that he really was quite handsome...she hadn't noticed before because she was still sore about his comment when they first met- and because he was Vulcan, after all, and it was hard to find someone so emotionless to be attractive. Other than the two times she had seen him raise his eyebrows, his face was like stone. It unnerved her.

She had more important things to worry about, anyway. The first quarter of her senior year at San Francisco State was drawing to a close. She had exams to study for- she was beyond exhausted, and didn't have time to admire the Vulcan's tall stature, broad shoulders, dark eyes that seemed to pierce straight through to her soul...

She disliked Karen even more for bringing those to her attention.

Still, she always dreaded it whenever he called her into his office- like he did that day. She didn't know it at the time of course- but that day changed the rest of her life.

"Miss Grayson," the ambassador said, looking up from his desk. "Thank you for answering my request."

"You're welcome," she replied uncomfortably, fidgeting with the sleeve of her white blouse, not looking up at him. "What do you need, Ambassador?"

"Could you please take these documents to the Denobulan ambassador? I would take them myself, but as you leave in ten minutes, it would be more convenient for you."

"How do you know when I leave?" Amanda asked as she took the PADD from him. She eyed him suspiciously.

"I am observant. You leave on the 439 shuttle-bus at 1605 hours. Why do you only work here on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays?"