She sat on the bench with her face pointed towards her lap, small hands primly folded, every once in awhile blinking but never saying a word. Her hand moved every now and then to push a pair of insect-like black spectacles up on the bridge of her nose, and the long black curls she sported frequently tumbled down into her face when she shifted slightly.
The twelve year old Vulcan child had been waiting for only a few minutes when her father arrived.
Spock walked into the secretary's office, straight-backed and handsome in a lean black turtleneck and equally black pants. The secretary looked up from her notes and said, "you're her father, then?"
"It would seem so, yes," he replied, one of his eyebrows raising into an arc as if to ask her exactly how much damage had been done this time.
The secretary then shook her head and returned calmly back to her notes as if to say she didn't know, and it was none of her business, thank you.
"Amanda is in through that door," she said, gesturing to her left.
Spock thanked her quietly and walked inside.
"It was an accident," Amanda said immediately when she saw her father walk in.
Spock tilted his head slightly and sat down beside her. He looked down at his daughter, but she didn't look at him and started shifting her legs uncomfortably. Her brand new shoes clicked together.
"An accident," he repeated calmly. His hand softly pulled away a glossy curl from her forehead and revealed a greenish bruise forming just under her bottom eyelid. She grimaced, and blinked rapidly, tears forming in her eyes.
He frowned lightly and said "Did you start this fight?"
"No," she said miserably. "She…said things. About you," she finally looked up at him, and Spock saw some of his own childhood hurts reflected in his daughter's upturned face.
"And what did…she say?" although he understood too well what might have been said.
She started to swing her feet back and forth again.
"She….She said you were a half-breed!"
Spock nodded, smiling ironically. "One cannot underestimate a human's ability to state the obvious and still manage to create an insult. The thing you must remember though," he said to her, "is that emotional outbursts like this…however illogical…are to be expected from children. It is their way."
She looked miserable. "Even Vulcan children?"
Spock nodded. "Sometimes even more so."
Amanda sighed, even her curls seeming to droop. "I guess I shouldn't have punched her in the face."
"That was…rather illogical," Spock agreed. "However," he said, getting up and motioning for her to do the same, "There is a logical alternative to that action."
"What is it?" she asked him as they began to walk out of the building.
"It is called, by humans at least, The Famous Vulcan Neck Pinch…"
