K'hat'n'dlawa

Memories

It was a relief to be away from the hospital. Spending two days lying in a bed was not Sarek's idea of productivity. The amount of work he could do had been very limited- and idleness was one thing he simply could not tolerate, even if it was necessary for recuperation. Now that he was home, he could work in his office and at his preferred pace without a physician complaining about overwork. Overwork was not a concept he was familiar with.

He could feel Amanda's anxiousness as they entered the house- she was laboring under the illogical fear that he may collapse. While the muscles in his legs did feel rather weak from lack of use, he was in no such danger. It was rather amusing that she worried about this.

"You were stabbed," she reminded him out loud as she placed her hands on his back and steered him toward the living room, pressing on his shoulders to make him sit on a divan. "I'm allowed to worry, no matter how illogical it is. It's my prerogative as your wife."

"You have other matters to concern yourself with," he said, slightly bemused by her actions as she sat beside him.

"You take precedence," she replied. "I came to Earth to care for you, first and foremost."

"I do not require care," Sarek pointed out. "And you will likely not see me often over the next few days. I have work to tend to in my office and I must also check on the progress of the building of the Vulcan embassy."

Nodding her head as if she'd already guessed as much, she sat back on the divan, arms folded over her stomach and eyes closed. He noted how tired she looked.

He knew she was deeply troubled by what happened to him. The fact that she'd seen the footage of the incident may have contributed to her behavior the night before- it had renewed her fury and sense of helplessness. He had felt it over the bond and known where she would go to relieve it. His feeble attempt to warn her against such confrontation had been half-hearted.

He could have stopped her. He knew it was a mistake for her go- but she would only have ignored him- which was exactly what she had done. He realized it was a painful lesson to teach, but he knew by now his wife was stubborn, and would only learn by what humans called, 'the hard way'.

"I do not believe I have work to do today," he said. "I will be able to spend it in your company- I suspect this will be my final restful day for quite some time. How would you prefer to spend it?"

"Oh, I don't know," she said with yawn. "I'm tired. I had a long night."

A tendril of guilt shot through him. He could have prevented this. She had lost sleep over the situation with her sister. Perhaps she was in greater torment over the situation than he had estimated.

Although there was no reason to- other than to perhaps relieve his guilt- he placed his hands under her thighs and lifted her legs so they draped over his lap, her head laying on the head rest. Her eyes opened briefly but closed again as he began to stroke her calf in a way she seemed to find comforting.

"Rest, then. We have plenty of time," he said.

"I don't know if I can," she said, eyes opening again. "I keep thinking about what I have to say to Sarah when I see her again. What if she refuses to even see me?"

"Sleep, Amanda," he said, and sent her soothing waves of calm. He leaned over, placing his fingers on her meld points. "Sleep," he murmured again. Her eyes fluttered closed once more and soon her breathing was deep and even.

He watched her for several minutes longer, pondering her question. What if his unwillingness to prevent her from going resulted in an even worse rift than the one preceding it? While there was no guarantee he would have been able stop her anyway- he'd had a chance. His intention had been to make her learn a lesson, not to damage the relationship between the siblings further.