K'hat'n'dlawa

Assist Me

It was strange that Amanda went from being intimidated by and disliking Sarek- to having lunch in his office once a week.

It started one Friday when he'd just gotten out of his first meeting with Terran diplomats and was curious about a number of things. She was on her way down to the lobby- where there was a replicator- to have lunch. Since that was her only free time, he suggested that she eat in his office.

His first question what somewhat ironic.

"I have noticed that humans tend to be uncomfortable in my presence. Why is this?"

Amanda thought back to the first time she had met him.

"It's because...well, it's because you don't express emotions," she replied slowly, setting down her sandwich and looking at him thoughtfully.

"I do not understand. How do humans interpret my serenity as threatening?"

"I guess it's because we're accustomed to using facial expressions to guess what other humans are thinking or feeling. But since you don't emote, humans never know what you are thinking. For an example...you could be about to kill me right now. I wouldn't know because you don't seem angry, or nervous, or in any other moods indicative of murder."

"I have no need to murder you, Miss Grayson," Sarek replied, confused. She couldn't stop her smile from forming.

"I said it was an example, Ambassador," she said. She never called him Sarek- not outside her head anyway. She didn't think they knew each other well enough to be on a first-name basis.

He had more questions of course- Vulcans were known for their need to know everything about anything they became interested in. At the end of her lunch hour he still had many more inquiries for her, so they decided to meet up again.

And thus began their Friday lunch-hour ritual.

"I thought you said you weren't interested?" Karen asked the third time Amanda returned from Sarek's office.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, sitting at her desk.

"When I said the Vulcan was good-looking you just brushed it off. I figured that meant you weren't interested in seeing what he has under those clothes." Karen grinned. "But now you have lunch with him."

"I'm not interested in him in that way," Amanda lied. To tell the truth, he did have a certain air about him that attracted her. She wasn't sure what it was; perhaps his calm demeanor was just a welcome change from the immature college boys she went to school with.

"Then why have lunch with him?" Karen asked, smirking.

"Because...I'm teaching him about Terrans," Amanda replied with a shrug. "It's completely professional."

"So he's still available?" Karen asked brightly. Amanda sighed and nodded her head. Karen grinned again just as Linette came out of her office.

"Can one of you two take these to the Vulcan ambassador?" she asked, holding up the PADD she carried. Karen raised her eyebrows.

"It's a sign, Mandy," she said as she winked and took the PADD. She looked into the mirror on her desk to make sure she was presentable- pursing her lips and fluffing her hair before getting up to leave.

Amanda hated it when Karen called her Mandy. But as she watched her walk away, heels clicking on the marble floor and hips swinging ridiculously, she felt something else...jealousy? But why would she be jealous? Other than the fact that Karen was beautiful and if there was a woman who could catch the ambassador's eye, it was her...

Amanda turned back to her desk, unsettled by her own reaction. He was just an ambassador, after all.

Sarek heard the sounds of feminine shoewear in the hallway. He set aside his stylus and straightened in his chair, wondering why Amanda would come back so soon.