Author: Willowtree_16
Disclaimer: I own nothing it belongs to people a lot richer than me.
Rating:
Summary: What happens when you mix Vulcan mating urges with a Human woman? Logic and Emotion are as opposite when Vulcans are concerned as oil and water. How will Amanda and Sarek deal with each other?
Thanks to the wonderful Saavik13 and her story Allocations I've added her Vulcan Mating rules as part of my fannon. They will most likely take place in each of my stories.
She walked through the University's double doors dismayed by the rain, her apartment isn't very far from campus but the rain was hammering down and all of her PADDs were going to short circuit.
'This is what I get for staying so late to finish my homework, instead of finishing it at home.' She thought to herself slightly irritated. Amanda wasn't surprised by the emptiness of the parking lot, yet she had been hoping that there would be someone around that she could get a ride home from. The linguist started walking down the street when a hover bike stopped right beside her.
"Do you require a ride?" The rider said in a deep baritone voice.
"I'm sorry, do I know you?" She asked hoping that if she did, he wouldn't be too offended to still give her a ride home.
"We have not exchanged formal introductions; however I have often seen you at the Vulcan consulate."
On one hand he could be a psychotic mass murderer but the chances of that would be very unlikely if they regularly seen each other at the Vulcan Consulate, right? Amanda knew better than to take a ride from a strange man but she didn't want all of her hard work to be ruined. She quickly told him her address and he replied that he knew where it was. She never thought she'd live to see the day when she would get on a strangers hoverbike. She held her arms tightly around his torso; she loved the way even though it was so cold he still radiated warmth. The young translator was roughly thrown from her thoughts by the sudden swerve of the hoverbike then its complete stop.
She looked up to see a hovercraft sailing past them. She unconsciously held tighter to her driver's waist. She didn't know what it was but there was just something about him that gave off this incredible sense of security. He calmly asked if she was all right which she confirmed, surprised that he was so calm after nearly being killed. Then he restarted the hovercraft and they continued on their destination. She held him tighter the rest of the way to her apartment, still shaken. Once they arrived to their destination, she got off the bike then thanked him before she ran into the building. As she ran into her apartment complex she realized how rude she had been not even asking for his name, and pondering how much she wished she had learned it. As she moved into her apartment her cat slunk over to her nearly tripping her, as she removed her coat.
The young translator took a towel to her PADDs to ensure that they were completely dry before placing them into a newer dryer book bag and setting it on her desk all ready when she when back to class on Wednesday. Then she showered and prepared for bed, in her opinion, in record time.
Amanda woke to a loud Jack hammer in front of her building, and remembered why her rent was so cheap, living next to the college meant that there was always some kind of construction going on in a four block radius. Moreover since the walls were so thin she was able to hear it all, it usually didn't bother her though because she knew in a few years she'd be able to get a decent full-time job and afford a nice apartment, maybe one with a balcony. Ever since she was a little girl she wanted to live somewhere with a balcony or a terrace. She grudgingly got up a whole hour before she was supposed to be getting ready for work and started her morning routine.
She decided that even though she couldn't sleep in she would start the day off right by having a full balanced breakfast, something that hardly ever happened due to her horribly busy schedule. She had to juggle the Vulcan Embassy Monday through Friday, then her college courses Monday then Wednesday through Saturday, leaving Sunday for her to catch up on homework. She usually forgot to eat at all let alone something healthy. She just finished cooking when her roommate came in, dressed in such a manner the centuries old term 'The Walk of Shame' filled her mind and she had to stifle a giggle. She smiled up at Max in a friendly manner before she went back to her breakfast.
"Good morning Maxeen." She said trying not to giggle into her orange juice. Said roommate gave her the dirtiest glare in her arsenal.
"I told you not to call me that Mandy.' She said with a frown as she ran her fingers through her tangled hair. She walked to the stove and started serving herself some of the bacon, hash browns, and eggs that Amanda had prepared for herself.
"As punishment for calling me by my 'Proper' name I'm gonna help myself to your mid-morning meal." She said in an arrogant tone that Amanda thought was very amusing, since the Telivar was often self-conscious about her lack of Human knowledge.
"Here on earth we usually call it breakfast." She replied with a smile.
"What just because I've moved to Earth I have to shed my entire heritage?" She asked in mock anguish.
"Well it wouldn't really hurt would it?" Amanda had spent the last three years with Max because even for being an alien to Terra she was often more down to Earth than most of the humans that Amanda had ever met. Moreover, she had a great sense of humor and she was clean, she probably could not have gotten a more perfect roommate even if she tried.
"So how was your night did you do anything interesting?" The Telivar asked sipping her coffee.
"Not really. I mean I didn't get out of the library until almost midnight then it was raining, but luckily a guy I work with from the embassy gave me a ride home on his hoverbike." She said with a light blush that she couldn't really explain.
"Oh was he cute?" she asked more excited than ever.
"I don't know. I didn't see his face and I forgot to ask his name."
"You got on the back of a strange man's hoverbike? Wow, your more exciting than I ever gave you credit for." The purple-skinned women replied with a knowing smirk.
"It wasn't like that; I just didn't want my homework to get wet. Oh no I'm going to be late for work, later!" She slightly yelled as she grabbed her purse and ran to the bus stop, praying that it hadn't left her. It was pulling up right as she reached the sign. Despite this almost complication, she could tell that today would be a good day. She quickly boarded the bus and the driver made a comment about her cutting it kind of close today which she only laughed at and took her seat.
She walked into her office and set down her purse before she retrieved her coffee so she could start her day. She had tons of data chips that needed translating and all the ones yesterday dealt with weird stuff like food orders and new books that were being delivered, hopefully today would be more interesting.
"Grayson! Did you forget what today was or did you simply decide that you didn't want to show up?" Amanda shot her boss a baffled look and before she could reply, her boss continued speaking.
"Today is day one of the Andorian, Tellerite, delegations. You work at the Vulcan Embassy, you have to be twice as on your game here as anywhere else, so I suggest you remind yourself of who you are and where you work and bring yourself up to standard." Amanda swore not a single day went by when Janice didn't spend at least an hour a day either talking down or yelling at her for substandard work, even when they were both quite aware that it was far higher than standard.
"I must disagree; I have always found Ms. Graysons work most agreeable." Both women were so shocked that they had to do a double take; standing before them was Ambassador Sarek the Vulcan Ambassador to Terra. She gave him a quick look of gratitude and he was gone, geez Vulcans were so weird. Janice refused to even look at her; she just began her walk to the conference hall of the west wing, with the young translator closely following behind.
She had no idea what caused the Ambassador of all beings to be in the translation office, let alone what caused him to stand up for her to her boss. It would have been just as easy to walk away, as if he hadn't even witnessed it. Amanda simply couldn't decide which was the bigger question. However, she was mostly leaning towards why he had stood up for her. Besides, how was it that he knew who she was? Its not as if her name was on most of the reports, most were signed The Translation Office. Nor is any member of her family famous or in politics.
She walked in and the table was already full, three delegates from each planet and two empty chairs for each of the interpreters. Amanda was between the Vulcans and the Andorians and Janice was between the Vulcans and the Tellerites. Ambassador Sarek stood up and as he moved to open his mouth, a strange alarm that she had never heard before begun to sound. In addition, to everyone's shared confusion Sarek replied that there was an intruder. After his brief explanation, he pointed everyone towards a set of doors that led to the hidden tunnels.
Amanda moved to help the other ambassadors out first then however the intruder began banging on the door with both herself and Ambassador Sarek still inside. She was about to go through but the door burst open, so she quickly seals the emergency exit and ran over to the Ambassador. It was only one humanoid dressed in some sort of blue full body covering that neither of them could identify and the Vulcan swiftly moved towards him and preformed the Vulcan nerve pinch and secured the door with the a chair. She moved back towards the door however, he spoke to stop her.
"Once the emergency doors have been activated as well as locked they are unable be reopened until they have been reset. There is however, an alternate means of escape at the end of the hall."
"Alright let's go." She said headed to the door full of determination.
"You are not afraid." He stated with a raised eyebrow. The question was quiet clear in the statement.
"A little but acting on it will only get us either captured or killed or both." She said as though she was speaking to a child.
"Your logic is sound." He replied unsure if she understood the complement.
He insisted on leading them out as Vulcan senses were so much more highly attuned to their environment. They hastily moved to the end of the hall and into the janitors' closet, where they found a lever leading them into the passageways. They spent ten minutes walking in perfect silence looking for the other delegates. Amanda spent most of it contemplating good reasons why they shouldn't kill them, and doing as vast an inventory as she could of all the defense maneuvers that she knew, praying that her less than meager survival strategies wouldn't be called upon.
They heard a few pebbles fall into the water and she was surprise that the Ambassador quickly moved her behind him. Yet, for being so much more important than she was he was quiet protective of her, which she found odd because Vulcan was a matriarchal society so she figured he would have expected protection from her.
When they met up with everyone else there were already officers taking everyone's statements and preparing to take everyone home. Amanda wasn't sure how many more of these near death or almost near death shocks she could go through in one week. So this had been the first one she had ever had, and the statistics were extremely low that anything like this would ever happen again. To Amanda that didn't matter because she did work with highly classified information, so who knows how often this really occurs in diplomatic circles, maybe they just have a lot of cover ups.
Even as she formed these thoughts she knew how ridiculous they sounded, yet the frightened interpreter couldn't help but be caught up in them. She and one of the Tellerite Ambassadors ended up sharing a police car, which she didn't understand even if they were one car short why didn't they just put her in the same hovercraft as Janice? She was of course the second to be dropped off not that she minded of course he had far more important things to do today than she did in a whole week.
As Amanda thought about it, she began to worry about all the hours she was going to miss today because of this, she began to silently wish that she could be left alone with these people for five minutes with a heavy PADD. It would be good payback since it's not like they were going to pay off her student loans, and goodness knows credits don't magically appear in your bank account. As she thought about it, she knew how ridiculous it was to be thinking about such things after the things she'd gone through today and she began to giggle to herself. Thank goodness that her roommate wasn't around to see her acting like such a nutcase. Of course, if you asked her, she'd say with all the weird things that happened to her this week she deserved to act a little on the bonkers side.
She walked into her bathroom and prepared the hottest bath she could and she used half a bottle of bubble bath just for good measure. At least she knew that tomorrow wouldn't be worse than today, she thought allowing her mind to get absorbed in the warm soapy water. One of the things that Amanda always hated, even as a child, was that her mind constantly active. It was so hard just sit back and enjoy the simple things without over analyzing them. Being a child genius just wasn't all that it was cut out to be. As the young translator enjoyed her bubbles she heard her comm Unit her mom must have heard about the attack on the embassy.
She hurried as fast as she could, sliding a towel around her tiny frame and rushing to answer her call. The frequency that was on display wasn't one that she was familiar with but her mom wasn't the type to stay at home and was probably at work or visiting with a friend. When she opened the connection she was in for quite a shock. Staring at her was the Vulcan Ambassador to Terra and if she didn't know any better she would think that his skin had a green tint to it. He acted with complete professionalism despite her complete lack of clothing.
As embarrassed as she was she didn't want to make it worse by acting like a frail emotional human. So she sat as still as she could, willing her all the blood that had pooled to her cheeks to return to where it was better needed, her rapidly beating heart for example. While she expected it to be her mother or perhaps even a sibling, not a single thought came to mind as to why This Vulcan would contact her at home.
"Ambassador, what can I do for you?" She discreetly tried to pull the towel around her just a little higher. He tilted his head to the side in what she interpreted to be a thoughtful manner.
"It is a Terran custom to respond to your private comm unit in such a state of undress or is it chiefly unmated females? I have not come across it in my dealings with humans prior to this encounter. I have found your species to be far too humiliated by your biological configurations. However, it seems that was a miscalculation on my part."
' Geez does this guy ever even take a breath?' I thought they would not see the logic in over talking or something. She began to blush the darkest shade of red, she thought possible with bursting a blood vessel or loosing feeling in one of her extremities.
"No. I thought you were my mother. It's ok for a woman to answer their comm unit in such a way for a member of their immediate family."
"Your logic is not sound. The likelihood that it was your mother to be calling you is a chance of less than 2.4362%." 'He totaly just made up that percentage.'
"Not really because human mothers are very protective over their daughters especially mine. Besides, since what happened at the embassy has reached the news by now it was logical for her to believe that I could have been injured during the safety breech and was calling to verify my well-being. Now isn't the best time for a cultural lesson. Is there a reason why you contacted me sir?" Silently praying that he would hurry so she could go hide in a giant bowl of chocolate ice cream at the idea of having such an awkward conversation with her bosses boss.
"I was informed that events such as today cause a great deal of emotional trauma for Terran women." Amanda's eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
"I don't understand, I don't mean any disrespect but I'm surprised that you even care what happens to me."
"It is logical to ensure your wellbeing, as no other translator in the Vulcan Embassy is fluent in ten alien languages and are currently studying and additional three. You are one of the most valuable beings under Vulcan employ." She honestly didn't know what shocked her more that he spoke so highly of her or the fact that he called her in the first place. It seems like she just needed to be up for anything this week because it seemed to her that the fates were doing everything in their power to shock her to death.
"Um, I was a little shaken, but I'm fine now." She was feeling very uncomfortable talking about today with him.
"Then you shall arrive to work at your prescribed time tomorrow?" He asked in a calm tone, with his face giving away nothing. He nodded once ever so slightly then the screen went blank.
Amanda was pretty sure that, that was the strangest conversation she had been a part of sense she had to convince her mom that she would be better off going to school in San Francisco than Harvard or Yale. She walked back into her bedroom and got dressed and went over some PADDs for work tomorrow that she had somehow missed.
She was determined to be prepared for these delegations. For whatever strange reason The Vulcan Ambassador himself, seen something valuable in her, and she felt that if she did badly over the next couple of days it would let him down. While she knew that those kinds of thoughts were, pretty stupid because that was a highly emotional thought which means that it would never enter a Vulcan brain but she couldn't help the way she felt. She was only human after all.
Amanda woke the next day at her normal time and walked to the bus stop with a granola bar in her hand and a PADD in her shoulder bag. She sat at the bus stop waiting and she began to read every document she could find on the current Vulcan Ambassador. When none of that yielded positive results, she began doing a more in-depth search on Vulcans and their behavioral patterns. There wasn't really anything that she didn't know, much to her dismay. She spent her time before she began working for the Vulcan Embassy learning as much as she possibly could about their society, and according to her latest bit of research, nothing new had become public.
It was driving her absolutely crazy; there was no possible reason why he would be interested in her, that she could deduce. And it didn't matter how good she was at her job an ambassador wouldn't personally call to ensure a translator would arrive at work at the proper time, would he? It didn't seem very likely. I mean that's what he has all of his aids for. When the bus arrived, she slid all of her work back into her bag and boarded waiting somewhat impatiently to find out what today would hold in store. When she arrived she followed her normal routine, she greeted the security guard at the entrance, then went to the break room from a cup of coffee, and prepared herself for her day.
She looked up from her desk at Trish and Grace to find out if the Tellerites were going to back out of the negotiations after what happened yesterday. Neither of them knew however, it wasn't as if she really expected them to, they were only secretaries. The secretaries seemed to know about all the dirty secrets and the breaking news before most of the delegates were briefed not always but nearly. As she put everything together for her day, she allowed her mind to wander.
"Hey Manda!" a voice from the doorway called. Amanda allowed the briefest smile before she made her face look stern. She picked up her things and went off to meet the voice.
"How many times have I told you not to call me that? What are you doing here anyway Jake?" she said with a smile. He looked at her with a slightly affronted look on his face.
"It's better than Mandy, besides you were nearly killed yesterday. I lost the frequency to you comm unit and there was no way for me to make sure you were okay. I was really worried."
He said looking at her with warm caring eyes. Jake spent a lot of time flirting with her, which she returned, not because she actually wanted to date him, but because he made her feel less alone, less empty. She knew he would drop whatever he was doing and court her if she wanted him to. Yet she refused to let that happen.
Sometimes she even gave it thought but in the end, she didn't because she knew that the basis of his appeal was that she could actually speak to him as intellectually as she wanted as he would be able to understand. Only she doubted that she could be with him for the rest of his life, actually seeing herself with him for the rest of her life, but boy it felt nice to be wanted as more than a professional. She told him from the beginning that there was no chance of her dating him because they worked together and them dating would never happen, however he was the determined type.
Every day he flirted with her and she really enjoyed it, their flirting was a fun pattern that she enjoyed as part of her daily schedule. He walked with her to the boardroom forcing laughter from her, in order to calm her nerves. However, with the stress she must be under he was unable to understand why she refused to take any time off work to set her mind straight, because he knew just how exhausting these meetings could get, especially on a heated subject.
When Amanda arrived, they spoke and giggled for a few more moments before she finally went inside. She was surprised to see that she was the second person to arrive; Ambassador Sarek was calmly sitting at one of the ends of the table reading from his PADD. He looked to be in deep concentration, but with a Vulcan, you can never really know for sure. She noticed that today there were name plates, and she was sitting one being away from The Vulcan that had recently took such an interest in her.
She stared at him for a few moments before she remembered how rude staring was on earth not sure, if it would be the same offence on his desert planet. She could feel his eyes on him after she looked down, but she was too embarrassed to know what to say to him luckily she wouldn't have to think of anything to break the ice.
"I have often found that behavior such as yours indicates that one had a query that they aspire to have answered." She looked up at him, and she noticed how he had one eyebrow slightly raised, she had only ever seen this during the most outrageous commentary from visiting diplomats.
"I. Yes. I mean, yes, I do. Have a question for you, I mean. I am quiet confused on how you even know who I am." She responded getting a little braver with each word.
"I have learned of both your presence and expertise from many whom have worked with you."
Amanda wasn't sure how to feel about that. People that she worked with often spoke about her. How much of it was bad? She knew that she always did her very best on everything she did, but tons of beings have their opinions that they can do better. She was about to ask him another question when other beings started to file into the room. She swiveled her chair back to its original spot facing the chair across from her, and waited for the conference to commence. The Andorian Ambassador stood up once everyone was seated.
"The events of the past week have shown the Andorians that The Vulcan race is unable to handle its own security. In addition, by allowing trade agreements to flow between us it would eventually lead our people into chaos. We have decided that we will continue agreements with the Tellerites.
"That doesn't make a lot of since." Amanda did a double take when she realized that she had spoken aloud. She found ten sets of eyes intently staring at her. It seemed like everyone in the room was waiting for her to elaborate.
"Well, there is no such thing as a perfect being, well besides deities of course. However, Vulcans with their vast intellect and codes for honoring logic makes them pretty close to perfect, far more so than a human. Every being makes mistakes, and no system is perfect. Moreover, by working together you there is great potential to learn from each other and improve on the areas that your respective planet is lacking. It wouldn't make much since to me to deny yourself of all that you could accomplish.
It all starts with these trade agreements and will only grow. That's just my opinion though, it's not like I'm a diplomat or anything though." She spoke her monolog in a much quieter voice than normal however; she didn't remove her eyes from Ambassador Taeleknar. It was plain to see that the ambassadors' antenna was twitching in agreement, clearly moved by the words of this innocent young woman.
"I will need to discuss this with other delegates." Wow Amanda thought to herself this week was a series of the shortest meetings of her career. Amanda watched with amazement as Ambassador Taeleknar and the other Andorians rose from their seats and walked out of the room. Without their blue-skinned friends, there was no reason to stay and the meeting was properly adjourned. Amanda had to go the records department for data chips concerning her newest assignment, at least that's what she told her boss mostly she just needed to ask Jake a question that couldn't wait until after work.
One would expect the Vulcan Embassy to be all calm and serene but that was before you factored in all the humans who were loud and talking a mile a minute as soon as the boss turned his or her back. Amanda allowed her fingers to brush the wall as she walked into the records department, admiring the Vulcans since of patience to find a shade of beige that didn't quite match any of the other official type buildings in town. She walked through the very familiar doors and spotted the man of the hour.
"Hey Jake, I need a huge favor." He raised his eyebrow but remained silent waiting to find out what was so important that it was putting Amanda off her work "A couple days ago when it was raining around midnightish, a guy on a hoverbike gave me a ride home. I completely forgot to ask his name, but he told me that we work together and that we had spoken together before, but I have no idea who it could be. You're the only guy here that I really talk to, and he was taller, with a wider build. I can't think of any cologne that he was wearing. Have you heard anything around here rumors, gossip or just good ol' run of the mill chatter?" he was looking at her as if she was his favorite cartoon. She stood there waiting patiently hoping that it would be sooner rather than later for him to tell her what he knew.
"Sorry cupcake there has been zero gossip moving towards that direction. But I will keep an ear out for you kiddo." She smiled big and thanked him, before she walked out and went to finish her work for the day. As she walked back to her office she sighed in relief she was that much closer to finding out who this mystery guy was. She sat down at her desk to go through her emails to ensure that she was currently up to date on all of the office memos, when she found a strange one that had no idea how it got into the system. Under the name read: ARBAON. Curious by the fact that everyone else had his or her last name and first initial, and why this strange person wrote to her she opened it.
Ms. Amanda,
A woman of both wisdom and grace she beckons me to her side.
She, who believes that being forthright is a virtue, beckons those in her vicinity to bow to her.
A woman who is well learned beckons the Terra to her resolve.
She of such exceptional beauty will eternally beckon the universe.
Amanda didn't even know how to respond to that. Whoever it was brought, sucking at poetry to a completely new level, but his thought behind it was so charming. It seemed like the poem was teetering on whether or not the author actually knew her, but the chances were pretty much on the side of not likely. The young translator also couldn't make up her mind if she thought that this guy was some sort of horn dog that was just randomly going down the list of single women that worked here or if it was just a really shy guy that was just trying to connect with someone who he'd seen or heard of.
After going back, to check her computer had received the message at 07:30 while she was in her meeting. But knowing the time it was sent to her computer didn't really help her because the email could have just been programmed to be sent at that time, and the writer could be anyone She clicked the Reply button still not sure what she was going to say to him, well she hoped it was a him.
ARBAON,
Your thoughts are very sweet; however, I refuse participate in interoffice romance. They are just not worth the risk, but I just want you to know that your words were quiet uplifting. You may want to spend a little more time on your poetry skills they are quiet lacking.
Ms. Grayson.
Amanda tried not to be too hard on the guy in case it was just a nice guy who wanted to woo a girl. At the same time, though no matter what his intentions she couldn't allow herself to be a part of something at stupid as interoffice dating. Ten minutes into her Adams vs. Heveleraick project, she got a new email. She told herself that she hoped that it wasn't him, but deep down she knew she couldn't fool herself, curiosity over this letter was killing her and she wanted to get to the bottom of it.
Ms. Amanda
It was my first attempt at such an art; I am pleased that you were able to decipher the meaning. I will soon be leaving the Vulcan embassy then it will no longer be and interoffice romance, as you described it. I have spent time learning about you, and I am quite certain I have a great deal to offer, if only you allow me a chance. After working with you for so long and sharing enlightening conversation with you, I wish to learn more of you. If you wish this will be my last letter and you will hear nothing of me again.
P.S. I am not ARBAON it refers to you.
The college bookworm read and reread the letter she was completely clueless of to make of it. This guy sounded a little weird, like he had never even talked to a girl before. She currently had less than zero time to think about this though she had a ton of work to do. She put the emails on a data chip and resolved to get this fascinating mess worked out.
One of Amanda's favorite things about not owning any sort of hovercraft was sitting at the bus stop everyday gave her a great deal of time to think about things and sort out everything that was going on in her mind, especially this week, which she had deemed the week of weeks. In the last few days she had gotten a ride home from a mysterious person, there had been some sort of attack on the embassy, and now there was a strange man who wanted something from her that she still was unsure about. In addition, from his messages it seemed like they knew each other, but once again Jake was the only male that she had befriended at work.
She thought for a few moments that it was him but Jake wouldn't leave the Embassy the pay was too good, and he really enjoyed it. So unless he did something that he wasn't supposed to there would be no reason she could think of for him to leave. She also briefly considered the flirting that they had been doing back and forth for the last year and a half but they both knew that it was far from serious and she seriously doubted that he would do something as stupid as quit his job just to be with her. So who was it?
Amanda sat in her room contemplating everything that had happened to her in the last week, her mind was full of questions every time she tried to get one of them answered three more cropped up in its place. Sure it probably didn't seem like that much to a normal person, but Amanda was unique unto herself. In her life an unexpected haircut was a big deal.
However this week she had taken a ride from a mysterious guy, the embassy had been broken into by goodness only know who, she had a secret admirer, and the Vulcan ambassador himself had taken some sort of interest in her, not to mention she was to become a Vulcan language tutor. She felt like she was going to lose her mind, although the thing that shocked her the most is that she somehow managed to not get fired today.
In the three years that she had worked for the Vulcan Embassy, she had never acted with such unprofessionalism, let alone on such a delicate negotiation. It was sheer dumb luck that her weak explanation had been able to convince the Andorians to reevaluate their opinions. The weirdest part was that Janice didn't even mention anything to her when they got back to the office about it, just gave her a lot of dark glares.
The young translator decided that the reason why she acted that way was that she subconsciously felt like she was being neglected on a personal level. Therefore, she broke out her nail polish and all the rest of her beauty treatment goodies and decided that she would give herself a makeover; she would start putting more pride in her outward appearance instead of only allowing her near obsession to learn new things to remain her driving force. She highly doubted being more like Grace and Trish, would really hurt her reputation.
As the night went on the bright-eyed linguist continued to feel the difference of her new experimental look. As she climbed into bed she couldn't help but feel a deep level on accomplishment. Unlike other things that she had repeatedly accomplished, this is the first time that she had made such a fuss over how beautiful that the she looked. She put the lights to zero percent and allowed herself to fall into a deep sleep.
As the youngest Grayson walked to the bus stop, she had seen several men staring at her mercilessly one of which tripped and fell because he refused to look away. It was starting to get really unnerving. For the life of her the collegiate couldn't understand why everyone was making such a big deal, it's not like a little make-up and some nail polish changes a four to a ten, and the linguist was defiantly not a 10. As Amanda strode into The Embassy's lobby, she brushed a lock of brown curls from her face.
She walked to her desk with a quick pace; apparently this wasn't the good idea that she thought it was. How was anyone supposed to get any work done when they couldn't stop staring at her? Luckily there weren't any men in the office that she worked she once she sat at her chair she felt she could finally breathe a sigh of relief. She spent her entire day glued to her desk; she refused to leave the office even for lunch. Energy bars worked wonders when she didn't have time to eat a real meal or of course when she was in hiding.
Logically she knew that there were other women more beautiful than her that went to much greater lengths to make themselves stand out. On the up side she thought at least she wasn't like the secretary's that wore dress shirts that you could almost read the tag though. So compared to that her slightly tight, knee-length charcoal skirt and long-sleeved white button up that kind of showed off her natural curves really wasn't that bad. When the five o' clock whistle finally rang she dashed out of the office in an attempt to get home before anyone else managed to notice her.
"Wow! Someone beat you with a sexy stick." Jake said with a flirtatious smile.
"Yeah I'm trying something new." She said starting to feel unbearably awkward.
"I am defiantly liking it, the curls in your hair frame your face perfectly, leading to your kohl highlighted eyes and ruby-red lips. You Amanda Grayson are defiantly a sight to behold." She blushed, before she was able to respond however, she felt a presence next to her. The polyglot turned to see one of Ambassador Sareks aids; nevertheless, his name completely escaped her. The young woman raised her hand in the traditional Vulcan salute.
"Live long and prosper." While keeping eye contact he raised his own hand and replied,
"Prosper and live long." The doe-eyed young woman was surprised to have been responded to in a more than brisk fashion, as she was by many of the beings from the desert planet. "Your presence has been requested by The Ambassador, without delay. I am to direct you to his office to at this time." She gave Jake a brief but confused look before nodding to the aid that she would follow.
He had been led her to a wing that she had never been to before; it was decorated so foreign to anything that she had ever seen before. The colors were so rich and warm, somehow went well with the spike in temperature. While the main wing of the building was warm by a humans business standard, if this was how they preferred to work so could only imagine how cold that they must have been when they ventured out. She calmly waited at the door while the aid that was still unnamed went into announce her presence. Amanda was starting to just think that she was rude. How else was it that she never asked for the name of people who did things for her? He opened the door a few moments later and permitted her entrance.
"That will be all Soran." She was surprised that he even realized that they were there at all with how engrossed he seemed to be with the PADD in front of him. However, after a moment of standing uneasily at the threshold to his office he set whatever it was that he was working on down and looked her in the eyes. The Ambassadors eyebrow quirked ever so slightly before quickly returning to its original possession, the lingual analyst almost could have sworn that her mind was playing a trick on her. The one thing that kept running through her mind was he had heard about the way she was dressed and decided that she needed to be given her pink slip, and since he seemed to like her for whatever reason he was going to do it personally which made her feel that much worse. Which if you had asked her thirty minutes ago she would have told you that she found it very unlikely that she would be able to feel worse than she does now. Well I guess that just goes to show, proof that you really shouldn't ever say never.
"Mrs. Grayson,"
"'Ms.' I'm not married." 'Oh my God, I can't believe that I just cut the Ambassador off mid-sentence. No wonder I'm about to get fired.' She thought kicking herself, what had gotten into her lately?
"Ms. Grayson, I have been informed that you are one of the finest young linguists on Terra nevertheless that does not excuse the disregard that has been being witnessed over the last week." 'Here it comes, one big fat firing'
"However I have been informed that Terran females habitually experience an 'off' week every month, once they arrive at a certain stage in their life."
She stood there still as a statue thinking that this was the world's most embarrassing pink slip speech. There was no way that she was ever going to tell anyone about this, it was a completely new level of mortification.
"With all things processed in the most logical manner, I have come to the conclusion that you are the optimum choice to begin training lessons with myself and several of colleagues on the proper way to use idioms in everyday speech. As well as classes teaching terran customs that vulcans have previously deemed unnessary to learn."
Amanda didn't know what to say, she wasn't a teacher she didn't know anything about it. Besides how rude is it to demand that she drop all of her projects to tutor a bunch of Vulcans, even if said Vulcans were her bosses. She has spent months working on some of those projects. She was furious for a split second before she realized that she wasn't being fired. She just couldn't decide if she was being promoted or demoted.
"I will show you to your classroom, if you have any questions you may go to either Soran or T'sela." As he spoke, she did not think it was possible for his voice to sound any closer to velvet. He handed her a packet of information attached to the top sheet was a data chip.
"I will be unable to assist you in the setup of your lessons as I will be traveling to Vulcan for an unknown amount of time." Her jaw dropped he was leaving?
As quickly as she thought it she dismissed it. The linguist was trying to make puzzle pieces fit where they clearly didn't. It was merely coincidence and she needed to take a breath and think logically. She walked alongside him and listened to him explain that she was one of the only none Vulcans to ever be present in this part of the building and she realized that this was the wing where the Vulcans held their living quarters. The thought of Ambassador Sareks' living quarters caused her to blush a deep shade of crimson that she hoped he wouldn't notice. He showed her inside of the classroom before taking his leave of her.
Amanda surveyed her new classroom. It wasn't very big but she imagined that most of them would be wanted private training. Which was kind of sad as smart as Vulcans are they can't even figure out. She cut that thought off before she could finish it. She should be happy that she didn't get fired, but this was just one more thing on a list that she just couldn't figure out. She sat at her desk and inserted the data chip. Before she had a chance to bring up her new instructions, she seen that she'd received a new email.
Amanda,
I have been observing you and you do not seem well. I can't comprehend the emotions you are currently trying to work through, however I understand that talking to someone you deem a stranger would greatly help you to get your feelings in order.
Well can't I at least have a name to call you, for the purpose of our correspondence, even though I have a pretty good idea who you are. You weren't nearly as secretive as you thought you were. Your right I'm still pretty shaken up. I don't want to sound like a coward or like I'm just making excuses but I think that the breach was the reason why I nearly destroyed the negotiations. Its confidential I can't talk about what happened. Long and short I acted completely irrationally I'm surprised I got a promotion instead of a big fat firing. I don't know how to deal with this. I mean it's not horribly weighing down on me, but I can't even remember the last remotely tragic thing that's ever happened to me. My mother kept me so sheltered, ya know? I think I just need more time to process it.
Amanda
'I must be losing my mind' she thought to herself, talking to what could be a complete stranger about her problems.
After yesterday, Amanda wasn't sure if she wanted to continue her experiment. It would make things much more difficult now that she was going to be stuck being a teacher. Not that she really had anything against educators, it was simply something that she never seen herself doing, for
However, the advantage of Vulcan students would reduce that problem while allowing her to conduct her experiment. With a great deal of deliberation, one more day of experimenting.
Which she was happy about, but after today if people couldn't get past their shock she was going to have to stop, because this wasn't worth her career.
She would simply have to find another way of enriching her life. As Amanda got ready for work carefully picking out a long black skirt and a long-sleeved white top, she kind of reminded herself of one of those schoolmarms but with delicate black liner and thick eyelashes. After she decided that she was ready, she grabbed her things and went to wait at the bus stop.
While walking into the embassy she found many glances in her direction, but no blatant stares and no one was injuring themselves to see her. Apparently, it was beginning to die down which pleased her to no end. She walked down to her new office and as she did, the new teacher was greatly surprised that several Vulcans 'glanced' at her longer than what was normally considered polite. Was her outfit really that horrible and offensive? Amanda had always admired that period in time; this was a modern look at a beautiful era on her home world.
She also thought that it might help to put things into perspective, besides earths green-blooded friends spent a great deal of their time practically covered from head to toe. Perhaps they too were surprised that a human actually went out of their way to show respect to them. That she would choose to work so hard to blend in, and not be about showing how much she can stand out, from them.
The embassy had strict dress code; however, Amanda felt that today she was totally the poster child for what they preferred all females in their employ to wear. When she arrived at the classroom, she was somewhat surprised that none of her students had beaten her to the door, as it were. She sat down at her desk preparing for what she believed would be a rather exhausting day, when she heard a knock at the door.
"Come in." She said not surprised that her first student had arrived thirty minutes early however it seemed that she wasn't done being surprised today. It was Jake, so she smiled warmly at him while waving him over in an exaggerated manner.
"Hey, come on in. I've got a few minutes until my class starts."
She said while pointedly looking at his cloths, which were not his regulation uniform.
"Well I was hoping that you and I could get together tonight anywhere, you'd like."
He asked in a tone that made it very clear that it wouldn't be one of their friendly dinners. That their friendship depended on what her answer was.
Amanda sat as rigidly as she thought was possible for any human to manage, had he completely cracked? 'Wait my mystery pen pal was supposed to be leaving the embassy.' She thought wondering if it could really be true.
While she spent a lot of time believing that it very well could be him, but to actually have him here asking her on a date wasn't what she expected. She couldn't quite place it but his behavior seemed off, especially when he made no mention of them doing anything outside of his e-mails. However, she felt unexplainably close to the writer of those correspondences. If that was just a part of him, that he simply and never shown her before then maybe they would do well together after all. She told him that she would meet him at Teddy's Dinner at 1900 hours tonight... he smiled at her and told her that he couldn't wait.
Even as she watched him go, she could tell that emotionally something was missing. Perhaps it was because he didn't carry himself as she expected that he would. Maybe it was because he didn't refer to her as ARBAON as she thought he would when they finally meet in person.
She decided to deal with it as things come there was no point stressing over a problem that she couldn't currently work on. With that her first Vulcan walked into the classroom when she looked at the chronometer she seen that everyone was coming into the room right on time, nearly to the second.
Wow, she hadn't ever heard of such punctuality. For some reason this certain race of pacifist never ceased to amaze and surprise her. Nowhere in the data chip had it said how long these classes were supposed to last. Ten students to a class, each set of class was six days long.
Only she had no idea how many Vulcans were actually in the embassy nor how many if any would make a trip to get a seat in her class. Gosh, she hoped, not that would make her even more nervous. I mean they are so intelligent, how do you teach one of them, something?
As Amanda packed up to go she wondered briefly if she should check her e-mail, but what was the point? She knew who her mystery writer was and if he wanted to comfort her about anything that she wrote then he would do so in person. Pushing things would only damage thing.
Being blunt was for Vulcans, which was a way of living that Jake wouldn't take well to. As her communicator beeped, the teacher favored ignoring it to finish packing up her things and maybe getting a new outfit for her date tonight, however the person on the other end of the device seemed to be quite persistent with a sigh of long suffering she flipped It open, it was Tammy.
"Jeez Amanda your always so hard to get a hold of. Its' like you don't like me anymore" the bubbly would said with faux sadness.
"Hey Tammy, you know much I value my privacy. What's going on?"
I was wondering if you were regretting putting me on as the Project lead."
"What? No! Why would you say that? Your one of the best linguist we have." Amanda replied dismayed by her friends answer.
"You haven't sent back the signed paper work approving me as the lead on the Kasley Project." Tammy's voice started moving closer to its normal tone as she spoke.
"Oh gracious! I'm sorry Tammy these Vulcans are twice the hand full when you're trying to teach them something."
"I don't think I ever want to imagine it, I'll happily stay here in the linguists department, far always from the exhausting Vulcan students."
"Yeah I've managed to put off my e-mail all day. I might as well do it now."
"Why have you been putting it off? Did you and your boyfriend have a fight? Should I have him tracked down and beaten?"
Amanda's friend replied in a giggly manner. This made the teacher smile brightly.
"You have to know their name before they can be your boyfriend and no we aren't fighting. I found out today that its Jake, he's quitting the embassy."
"Jake? No way! I totally did not see that coming. Well are you going to give me details?"
"Not as yet, I'm going to wait until after this DATE tonight and see how it goes."
"That doesn't sound like the same crushing Mandy that I seen a few days ago, what happened?"
"The man can't live up to the mystery and awe of the myth I suppose. I'll sign your paperwork, and then call you tonight. Bye hon."
"Okay bye Mandy Candy." Amanda smiled at her embarrassing but heartwarming nickname and finished putting her things in her briefcase and logged onto her account. She was glowing that even though they were going on a date tonight, he had still thought enough to send her what was probably a really sweet, though unpolished poem or love letter of some kind.
She moved to click the button but out of the corner of her eye she noticed that the day's final submissions for paperwork were in five minutes. She hurriedly scrolled down to Tammy's document, read and signed, leaving her only five minutes to make it to the public transport.