1. Mandy's Secret

As her two best friends emerged from the shuttle, Mandy couldn't help it: she squealed for joy. The short Denobulan girl ran towards her and hugged her so tightly that Mandy had to gently peel her off to exchange a proper Vulcan salute with T'Al.

"I missed you so much! How are you?"

"New Vulcan is quite fascinating, but I did not expect to miss the sea to the degree I do", T'Al answered.

"Oh, Denobula Prime is great, even if it took me some time to get accustomed to that many people around me, but there is this totally gorgeous guy who says he has a friend, who also… Hey, look at that – I want one, too!" Lissaan had taken Mandy's left hand and pointed at her engagement ring.

"It's Andorian. Lieutenant Zhras over at K-8 helped Peter get it", Mandy said, blushing at little.

"It is superbly crafted indeed, but wouldn't it have been more prudent if Peter and you saved those credits for future travel expenses?" T'Al asked.

"Well, it's not like we're going anywhere anytime soon. We've already enrolled in subspace classes. Seriously, my Mom needs some help; she hasn't had a day off in years…" Mandy sounded a bit defensive.

"Hey, girls, where are you staying?" the shuttle pilot, an elderly colonist, who had loaded a hover car with crates and packages, called out.

"We have a room at the Guesthouse. We're the bridesmaids!" Lissaan answered cheerfully.

"I know. Shall I drop your bags off there?"

"That would be greatly appreciated, Mr. Ioannidis.", T'Al said.

"No more 'Uncle Stavros'? Just kidding, you're all grown-up ladies now – see you at the wedding tomorrow!"

As soon as the car had left, Mandy turned to her friends: "I'm so glad you've come to my wedding, because I have a secret, and you are the only ones I can talk to."

"You are with child?" T'Al raised an eyebrow.

"No, no! No, I'm not – hands off, Liss! I've invited my Dad to my wedding."

"Is that a typical human attempt at humor?"

"You've actually found him?"

"Not exactly. Let's go over to our place, and I'll tell you."

The three girls' "special place" had always been a ledge on a nearby cliff, overlooking the water. As soon as they had settled there, Mandy began: "You know what my Mom always said when I asked about my father: that he was a fellow cadet at the Academy, and that he died at Vulcan, long before she realized she was expecting me. And because she never had the chance to tell him, she didn't feel it was right to contact his relatives."

"Even if some might question the ethical implications of this course of action, I've always thought there was a certain logic to it."

"So, I'd always kinda accepted that's all I'll ever know. But then I found this hidden in our attic!" Mandy produced a PADD from her bag.

"This is the diary my Mom kept in 2258, the year she was pregnant with me:

JULY 10th

We're back on the Enterprise and most importantly – Spock is back, too, with me. HE'S THE ONE. I know he is. I've never felt this way before, not with Roger, not with anybody else. It's almost a year now that Nyota, who was his assistant then, introduced us. I had heard so much about him from her, I wanted to know some more… - and as he (much later) confessed, he found me intriguing, too. He's the smartest person I've ever met. Gaila, who knows the most unexpected (and sometimes superfluous) things, swears he looks exactly like some gorgeous guy she's seen starring in some obscure ancient video (who was playing, of all things, a serial killer!!). Well, Spock might look like a movie star – he does – but I know just who he IS. If he just touches my hand to show me his feelings, he makes me dizzy, and when we dot-dot-dot…"

"What does dot-dot-dot mean?"

"What do you THINK it means, T'Al?" Lissaan rolled her eyes.

"Oh. I do not know if I want to hear this."

"I do!"

"…I feel like I want to sing, and cry, and laugh. The last two things I've actually done, and, oh, how he liked it!" Mandy continued. "Gaila, who always knew every bit of gossip there is to know, told me and Nyota last winter that 'that research assistant who got fired because of the Admiral's dog' – we didn't know his name at the time - had bet with some prof 'that stuffy Vulcan was a doggone beast in the sack'. Well, he would have won that bet – but I won't tell Scotty. For now, only Nyota and Gaila know about us. Leonard McCoy, who is much more perceptive than people think, seems to suspect it, while Jim – no, Captain Kirk now, and good at it – thinks Spock is with Nyota. Which is understandable in a way, because she's our closest mutual friend, and he can't know what Spock whispered into Nyota's ear before he transported over to the Narada. But she told me, of course, because it was a message for ME."

"So Ambassador Spock is your father? But …" Lissaan pointed at her own ears.

"His mother was human, so Mandy's second X chromosome would be, too", T'Al pondered. "That all or most of her fatherly genes are such he inherited from his mother is not very probable – but it isn't impossible, either."

"Well, it isn't as simple as that", Mandy said. "There's more…"