K'hat'n'dlawa

Difficult Decisions

Although he had not said as much, Amanda knew that Sarek had just given her an ultimatum: Either agree to bond with him, or it was over. There was no middle-ground; that part was over with. It was time to decide. They couldn't afford to put off that which they had known was coming all along.

She couldn't blame him. If she denied him, then that meant he had wasted all this time, and from what he had said, his time was running out. Since they didn't know what was going to happen in the aftermath of that article, he needed to know where she stood on the issue of the bonding. She would have done the same thing- make him decide.

As for her answer...she honestly did not even know yet. As he had pointed out, there was a lot to consider- especially now. If he had asked her before, she may have said 'yes' without hesitation. But with the revelation of this 'Pon Farr'...

Was it true? Of course it was...Sarek was Vulcan, and Vulcans don't lie. But she didn't want to believe it...she couldn't imagine Sarek ever being so out of control as to make it possible for him to kill her. Yet, he had told her that it was a definite possibility. The thought of him hurting her in such a way sent a chill down her spine. The Sarek she knew and loved would be incapable of that. But he wouldn't be himself at that time...

She wished he had given her more time to wrap her mind around the idea. This was all happening so fast...now, not only had he dropped that bomb on her, but she had to decide whether or not she wanted to marry him. She was conflicted- her mind whirled with thoughts and emotions that were in constant battle. A war was raging, and to her dismay, the side she wanted least was winning out- her brain.

He had told her to make a logical decision. Could she do that? Logic was telling her not to say yes. There were so many reasons to decline, no matter what her heart said...

Amanda's musing was interrupted by the sound of her door buzzing. She closed her eyes and sighed. She had been unable to sleep the night before, and now it was Friday morning. She had called off work- knowing that reporters would be at the Embassy, and she had no desire to face them. Sarek had told her the night before that he was not going in today, either. He had said that it was best for him to stay out of public view until it was over. His work could easily be conducted at home, and anything he needed from the Embassy could be retrieved by one of his aides, who worked in a separate building across from the Embassy.

Amanda sat up, smoothing her hair down. There was only one person who could be at the door, and she wasn't looking forward to the confrontation. She needed to be spending the day in deep thought and introspection- not dealing with her sister. But the buzzer sounded repeatedly, with increasing agitation as Amanda wrapped a silk robe around herself to partially hide the bite marks that marred her pale skin.

When she finally answered the door, Sarah was livid.

"Show me!" she said as soon as the door was closed.

"Nice to see you, too." Amanda replied coolly, turning away to pick up a stack of data slates that held her homework and putting them away. She really wasn't in the right frame of mind for this. She had much more important things to be thinking about. Such as whether or not she was ready to fully commit herself to a relationship that had been extremely rocky from the start- and wasn't likely to get any better.

"Don't try to beat around the bush!" Sarah hissed. Her jaw was clenched, and her eyes flashed dangerously.

"I'm not. I was only pointing out your lack of greeting." Amanda replied, and turned back around. The two sisters- who looked so alike- stood six feet apart, in identical stances- arms crossed over their chests, glares fixed onto their faces.

"I want to see the evidence." Sarah said impatiently.

"Evidence of what?" Amanda asked.

"The evidence that your boyfriend, who you've been defending all this time, tried to kill you!" she snapped. Amanda rolled her eyes.