The first time Sarek met Amanda Grayson was also the first time he ever felt jealous of another person.
She was standing across the room from him next to a darkly handsome man whom Sarek recognized as Earth's ambassador to Remus, Alec Grayson. She was lovely, a woman of average height and build, her skin tanned a light gold, making her jade green eyes stand out. Her chestnut-colored hair, which was somehow stuck on the borderline between wavy and curly, was pulled up into a slightly messy looking but elaborate bun befitting of the ancient Greek-style ice bluechiton she wore.
And, for some reason he could not explain, Sarek found that he actually felt for her, even though he did not know her.
Amanda was bored. Her brother had brought her to yet another of the ambassadors' dinner dances, and the only real reason for it was that he was single and also too scared to ask the person he really wanted to go with—their longtime friend Diana Gemme. Alec was her twin, although they didn't look at all alike—she had curly chestnut hair, green eyes, and fair skin, whereas he had brown eyes, olive skin, and black wavy hair—and possibly for that reason Amanda could not bring herself to be as mad at her brother as she maybe should have been. Diana, with whom Amanda and Alec had been friends since they were children, was also at the dinner (her father was a widowed ambassador to Vulcan), which gave Amanda a little relief. But that night, Diana was not the one who caught Amanda's eye first. It was him.
He was a tall, rather handsome Vulcan, with brown hair so dark it was almost black, and deep, chocolate-brown eyes that seemed to hold every feeling he suppressed. When she looked at him, she couldn't help the fact that looked just a little too long, or how she blushed when he caught her eye. Alec, of course, saw all of this, and decided to intervene. He quickly ended his conversation he had been having with his colleague, took Amanda's arm, and brought her over to Sarek. "Ambassador Sarek," Alec said, inclining his head slightly, "I would like you to meet my sister, Amanda Grayson. Amanda, this is Sarek, the Vulcan ambassador to Earth." Amanda bowed slightly. "Greetings, Ambassador," she said, in English because she did not know Vulcan. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"And you, Ms. Grayson," Sarek replied coolly, inclining his head to her. "Tell me, what is it you do for a living?" Amanda raised one eyebrow, slightly confused. Strange question. Still, she was too glad to be actually speaking to him not to answer. This was going to be an interesting evening.
Several weeks passed, and Amanda began to actually look forward to the dinners. Sarek had agreed to teach her Vulcan, and she was learning at a rate that she suspected probably surprised him, though he did not show it. When he wasn't teaching her, they talked—about their families, their jobs, everything, and Amanda slowly but steadily found that she was falling in love with him.
When Amanda walked into the room with her brother, Sarek almost gasped out loud. Her chestnut curls were down, framing her face, and she was wearing a beautiful off-the-shoulder dress, fire red with a gold sheen to it. Around her neck was a necklace he had never seen her wear before—a gold chain about half as thick as a piece rope, with a quarter-sized ruby on the end, nestled in the hollow of Amanda's throat. She looked almost unspeakably lovely. Sarek somehow managed to keep in control for most of the night, until about an hour after dinner. Amanda, Alec, and Sarek were standing together talking when Sarek decided to ask her about the ruby. "Amanda," he began (the two of them had long ago abandoned the practice of addressing each other formally), "may I inquire about your pendant? I have never seen you wear such a thing before."
Amanda's hand came up instinctively to hold the stone in her fingers. "Oh, this?" she replied. "It belonged to my older sister Maria. My parents are ambassadors as well, though retired, and they took Maria with them once to meet the king of Romulus. He was so enchanted by her that he gave her this as a gift."
"I did not know that you had a sister," Sarek said, his eyes narrowing slightly. "She died," Amanda said quietly. "When Alec and I were ten and she was seventeen. A man mistook her for someone else and killed her."
There was a long silence. At last Sarek spoke. "I am very sorry."
"Don't be," she said roughly. "It wasn't your fault." She sighed. "Anyway, officially my parents gave the necklace to me, but they assigned Alec as its keeper, so I have to go through him every time I want to wear it. Not that I really mind—I'm always afraid I'm going to lose it somehow."
"That is highly illogical, as it is far too large not to be seen by anyone with eyes." Amanda laughed. "I know. But still, I can't help worrying." She was clearly quite happy, and Sarek, finding her even more beautiful in that moment, barely noticed that his had lingered too long on Amanda.
Alec glanced at Sarek, then away, and said, "Lovely, Ambassador, is it not?" He turned back to Sarek as he finished speaking, and though he was not smiling or laughing, he looked faintly amused. Sarek felt his ears go slightly green, but ignored it. "Yes, quite," he replied.
Alec was quiet for moment, then said, "If you two will excuse my abrupt departure, I have just realized that, as an ambassador, I must dance to this next song and I wish to snag my intended partner before someone else asks her."
"I'll dance with you," Amanda offered.
"No, that's all right," he replied, walking away quickly.
There was a long, slightly awkward silence before Sarek said, "Will you dance with me? I too must dance, but I have no partner."
Amanda's heart beat a little faster. "I thought Vulcans didn't dance."
"Not normally," Sarek replied, "but I would like to make an exception this one time." He held out his hand to her. "Shall we?"
She took his hand tentatively, feeling extremely nervous, and followed him out to the dance floor. On the way, she caught sight of her brother with Diana and could not help grinning.Finally, she thought. The two of them had loved each other for a long time, but neither one had had the courage to do anything about it until now. Diana looked extremely happy. She caught Amanda's eye and gave her a huge, bright smile before her mouth fell open when she saw who her friend was with. Amanda almost laughed out loud, but the music was about to begin. She and Sarek turned so they were facing each other, and he slowly put his hands on her. If he was as nervous as she was, he certainly wasn't showing it, and she was grateful for that. That would only have served to make her even more nervous. The music started, and they began to dance. The two of them both looked abruptly at each other at the same time, making Amanda blush, and she quickly looked away. To her surprise, however, Sarek tilted his head so he could look at her again, and this time she didn't look away. She couldn't.