I always do this to myself. Always. Most of my stories, in case someone hasn't noticed, are about grief. This one majorly so.

Also, as always, the characters (with the exception of William and Cassandra and smaller players who will appear rarely/once) are not mine. I disclaim the known characters.

This is an AU chaptered story in which Sarek and Amanda had another child before Spock, a girl, who unexpectedly dies in infancy. It will span a two year period. I got the idea, oddly enough, from a one-shot I am writing in which Sarek and Spock notify Amanda's parents that their daughter is dead. It is sort of a sequel to 'Heart of the Matter'. I threw in a line in which Sarek understood the pain of losing a daughter, as he had once lost his own. The one-shot isn't finished yet and I have already, as is quite obvious, started with this story.

If any information in this is wrong, it is completely my fault. I apologise now.

Also, because of the subject matter, a trigger warning. This story may be a trigger to some.

Dedicated in part to Karlie, my niece, who never got a chance to live.

Hope

Prologue

There was no more grating a sound that was more wonderful to hear than the sound of a newborn baby crying. Amanda was laughing and crying at the same time, something she did when she was overjoyed about something, and they both were staring down at the tiny bundle that had just been laid against his wife's chest to suckle.

When the baby stopped crying and latched onto an exposed nipple, Sarek watched his wife's face as she and the new child, a daughter, bonded. With care not to disturb the new quiet, he reached down with two fingers and gently touched the newborn's face, feeling out where her psi points were and bonding himself with her. He never wanted to miss a moment of this new life.

After 3 attempts that had ended in early miscarriage, they finally had a baby. Their family was complete. Amanda could soon enough stop the treatments that altered her body to carry a child of Vulcan blood and he had someone in which to show the world from birth to his death.

The child seemed to have more Human in her than Vulcan. Her ears were rounded and what little hair she had been born with was a very light blonde. The hair, he had been assured, would most likely darken with age, perhaps turning brown, but it would never be his dark colouring. Her skin was pink, which meant red blood.

She did however, carry his features otherwise. His eyes, his nose, his long, strong limbs. She had already shown that she had more strength than a human newborn would have. Her eyebrows had the distinctive tilt upwards that was distinctly Vulcanoid.

He had stated that any daughter they had would be named by Amanda any name she would choose, Terran or Vulcan. The small child had yet to be named. He had to wait for Amanda to decide on that.

He was a patient man most of the time. It wasn't until the baby let go of Amanda and started to fall asleep, that Amanda decided to say anything.

"Oh, Sarek, she's gorgeous! She's got most of your features too!" She looked up at him with a huge, wide smile on her face and pride of what she had just accomplished shining in her eyes. A healthy, human mother holding her newborn child for the first time. There had been few complications during this pregnancy, possibly because of the more human element shown in the baby.

He bowed his head slightly and because they were being left alone for this moment, he smiled at her. "Indeed. There is still something she lacks, my wife. A name."

Amanda looked down at their daughter, smiling, before looking back up to him. "She looks more human than Vulcan, so a Terran name, I think. I'd call her Joy, because that is what she has made me feel, but...well, she doesn't feel like a Joy. I want her to be named by something that connects her to us both. What she means to us."

Sitting down in the seat by the bed, while his wife sorted out in her head what she wanted to call the girl, he once again let his fingers slide across her face, from forehead to chin, feeling the beginnings of a parental link in his mind already.

This tiny child was his future.

"Daddy wants to hold his baby girl," Amanda said, in what she had dubbed 'baby language' and he looked up at her, startled. He would have to teach her not to use that language around the child, it wouldn't be fitting for one of his bloodline.

"Amanda..." he said, before he had a baby held out for him to hold. Carefully, and going on as much instinct as what he had researched, he held the child close, making sure to support her head. Amanda took the time to snap a shot with him holding the baby, but where she got the equipment from, he didn't know.

He was oddly not concerned about what his face might portray in the holograph. Carefully, he handed the child back and did the same for his wife. While he would be just as comfortable having his own memory of the moment, he knew the importance of what the holographs were to his wife.

Soon, another shot was taken, with him sitting near her on the bed, the baby between them.

He was overwhelmed by this whole experience and it possibly showed, but birth was a time of great joy, even for his people.

"I want you to send those to my parents as soon as possible. Just let me name her first."

He nodded his acceptance at this. Amanda was exhausted from the birth and would soon need sleep more than to talk to her parents. He would make sure that the human couple knew that both mother and baby were doing well when he sent the holo's.

He didn't have to wait that long for the name. After a few short minutes, she looked up at him, smiled and stated out loud, "Hope. Her name is Hope. She's our future."

He shared another small smile with his wife and bowed his head. "Then Hope it is. Our daughter. I will let you rest now and send the message to your parents. I will send in T'Vir to make sure she is looked after while I am out of the room and you sleep."

The midwife, hearing her name called, came quietly back into the bedroom, bowing as Sarek exited the room. He quickly made his way to the comm. station in his office and called up Amanda's parents.

While he knew it was late on Earth, he also knew that it was more than likely the Grayson's were still awake. As soon as Amanda had gone into labour, she had called them to let them know their grandchild would soon be born. The excitement of a birth seemed to be universal. He would have to call his father with the news first thing tomorrow morning. To call Skon while still so excited would be a mistake.

William and Cassandra Grayson only had one child. So, having a grandchild was bound to be quite a joyous occasion for them too. Soon enough, they were crowded on the screen, smiling widely at him, and waving in typical human fashion.

"Sarek! Are we now grandparents?"

He nodded once, sharper than normal, in order to try and restrain the smile that was once again threatening to appear on his face. "I would not have called if you were not. Amanda is doing well. She is currently sleeping. She wanted me to give you some holographs she took. The child is female. Amanda has named her Hope."

He sat through their congratulations, before holding up the data chip that held the holos. "I will send these now. Amanda wants you to enjoy having pictures."

He quickly entered it into the data port and transferred the pictures straight to the Grayson's comm. unit. He knew the moment they opened the files, and watched their reactions to the pictures of which he had yet to see. This was the closest the human grandparents could get to bonding with the child without physically being in her presence.

"Oh, she's wonderful!" Cassandra stated, her smile softening to one that he usually saw reserved for Amanda only. He couldn't help but wonder if she meant that because the child looked more human.

"She looks like a blonde Terran version of you, Sarek."

He stared for two seconds, before noting that it wasn't meant as an insult. He and Amanda had just talked about that. It was a simple fact. He nodded slightly again. "We had noticed this. It is the reason we think this pregnancy wasn't as hard on her body. Amanda's Terran genes are more dominant in the child. It was less complicated for her to carry to term."

He belatedly realised he may have accidentally given the impression that he didn't want a more human child. As long as the child was healthy, and the healers had said she was, then he did not care which species she mostly took after. If he cared about that, he never would have married a human, no matter what emotion he may have felt for her.

"Well, as long as she is healthy, I don't care what she looks like or what parent she takes after. She's still wonderful to me. Tell Amanda she has our love and support and that we are proud of both of you," Cassandra declared, grinning at him. She knew how uncomfortable he was around humans giving him overly emotional messages.

"I will send her your message."

"You keep good care of our daughter, Sarek," William stated, before the terminal went blank. It was their usual end to a discussion. They never said goodbye. He found it oddly refreshing, and they knew he would always care for Amanda.

And now he would always care for Hope, as well.

She had no idea what had awoken her. Only that she had been fast asleep from the strenuous day one second and awake the next. And then she felt Sarek at her side and grinned. Oh, she loved her husband like no other, but sometimes he could be completely clueless.

"Your parents send you their congratulations, their love and support and are proud of both of us."

Amanda laughed slightly, turned to where he was lying beside her and took his hand in hers. "You woke me up just to get that out of the way, didn't you? I don't care how illogical it sounds to your delicate Vulcan sensibilities, I love you."

He squeezed her hand gently in his own, lifted his free hand to caress her face and gave her that small smile that was all hers. "I take it you would like to go back to sleep now?"

She smiled up at him and sighed, knowing that he may misinterpret the sound, but not caring. "I want to see my daughter again."

Sarek looked towards the crib beside the bed and checked on the baby. "She is currently resting herself, Amanda. No doubt she will wake soon enough wanting to feed. Sleep while you can."

Nodding, she closed her eyes, grateful that even though it was unlikely he would go to sleep, Sarek stayed at her side, cuddling her close. Though he would never admit to it, Sarek was extremely loving towards her. She drifted back off into a contented sleep, feeling love and affection for her coming in waves from her husband.

A loud wailing cry of an infant woke her two hours later.

Groggily, she tried lifting her head, but found she was being held in a way that stopped her from getting very far with that plan. "Sarek, the baby is crying."

"So I hear," he stated back, his own voice sounding like he had just gotten woken up. Well, perhaps he had fallen asleep with her, after all. How sweet! It must have been the adrenaline rush of becoming a dad, since he rarely slept during the day.

Sarek got up and she let herself be propped up in bed, fluffed up pillows at her back. The care her husband took to make sure she was in as little pain as possible was heart-warming, because she was in some amount of pain. Nothing that wouldn't heal naturally though, thankfully. There had been minimal tearing. Hope had wanted to be born.

Soon, she was once again holding her daughter, and feeling a rush of love for the tiny girl in her arms, suckling at her breast. Sarek was gently running his fingers over Hope's face again, and she knew it was his way of bonding with her, of starting the parental link all Vulcans had with their children from birth.

Her family. All three of them together, whole now Hope was born. All connected and sharing a connection. She loved how much closer this was bringing her to her husband. Her own connection to Hope was amazing. She had heard she may have some sort of link with her, nothing like what she had with Sarek, but she wasn't expecting this. While she wasn't telepathically linked with the baby girl, she knew that she'd know the instant something was wrong. This was nothing to do with the child being half Vulcan either and everything to do with natural human instinct.

She could only imagine the kind of parental link Sarek was forming with their girl.

Even after the feeding was over, she held her baby close, and Sarek stayed with them, regardless of the fact that he had not called in to his office to tell them his wife had gone into labour. He was skipping out on the day to be with his family. It was possibly the most daring thing he had done, but for marrying her in the first place.

For this moment on, she realised that leaving behind her own planet to come live on Vulcan with her husband had been the right decision. She was giving up one life, but moving on to a new, better one. And her parents got along with her husband.

Life couldn't be better.