A/N Probably just one more chapter after this one, unless Sarek or Amanda feel like talking to me for a little longer. Maybe when their voices are quieted, I can get back to listening for Spock and Uhura!

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek nor any of its characters. I am just a (big) fan writing for fans.

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Chapter 2: Feelings, nothing more than feelings....

As Amanda sat on the bed, holding a sweet-smelling, humming Meri in her lap, a feeling of warmth and contentment washed over her. She begin humming a little herself. But as she remembered what had happened between her and Sarek after she fainted at the dance a few weeks previously, her cheeks heated with a different kind of warmth....

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"Amanda!" Sarek caught her as she fainted, cradling her form in his arms as he lowered them both to a low bench. Amanda moaned faintly, and turned into him as he tightened his hold around her. Sarek rubbed the back of her neck with one hand while he monitored her pulse with the other. As he pulled Amanda's body fully into his lap, he lowered his head to catch the scent of flowers emanating from the tendrils of her hair tickling his nose. As he closed his eyes and breathed in her scent, he felt her stir, and opened his eyes to see her own blue ones gazing back at him in confusion.

"But, Sarek, you're going to marry her!" And Amanda burst into tears as she threw her arms around his neck.

Sarek gathered Amanda close to his chest and rubbed her back soothingly as she sobbed. "Shh, shh, Amanda, please don't cry," his own voice broke as he felt the force of his emotions slamming into his consciousness. He shuddered at such force. When had this girl become to important to him that her feelings became his own? It was very unusual for a Vulcan to be so empathetic to those of another species, even with a mind meld. But there had been something about this lovely creature from the beginning. As he continued to hold her weeping form in his arms, he thought about the events that had brought him to this position.

Sarek had convinced himself that it was time to become joined with another after so long a time alone, and that perhaps he should choose a human. Humans were an endless source of fascination to many of the species who made up the Federation. Seemingly allowing their emotions to control them, humans nevertheless were an important part of the interplanetary peacekeeping organization. Humans seemed to capriciously decide who was friend and who was foe, but were quick to learn and adapt, and almost as able as Vulcans to see more than one side to any given situation, even if it took some time for them to calm down and logically perform an analysis. Uniting with a human seemed to be logical to Sarek for several reasons. He could more ably serve his own kind by learning as much as possible about this ally, he himself was intrigued by a people he considered to be volatile and thus so unlike his own (who had made a veritable religion of Logic), and he did find human women to be attractive and eager bedmates even if they did not generally appeal to his intellect.

But Amanda was intelligent as well as beautiful. She listened to him carefully, and was not afraid to voice her opinion if she disagreed with any of his conclusions. She sought out his company, indeed several members of his own delegation had made sly comments about her predilection for his company in apparent attempts to gauge his own attitude toward her, and she seemed reluctant to part from him whenever her brother came to escort her away. Sarek was most definitely attracted to her in the physical sense as well, and was surprised to find that he had to exert quite an effort not to give into his carnal desire to possess her. He had tried on several occasions to divine any reciprocal desires on her part. Indeed, even though she was crying, he was almost trembling at her nearness, and it was all he could do not to allow his hands to roam over her body and crush her mouth to his. He shook his head and laughed out loud at such a predicament. And humans accused Vulcans of having no feelings!

Amanda stirred again, and removed her arms from around his neck. She sat back a little, increasing the distance between their bodies and wiped at her eyes with shaking hands. As she straightened up to look into Sarek's eyes, her earlier words finally registered with him, and he grunted in a pleased way.

"Amanda, who is it I am to marry, hmmm? And why would the thought of this make you cry?"

Amanda could say nothing as she looked into his eyes, watching as his normal affect morph into a--why it was a smirk! she thought heatedly--a more relaxed expression. I'll wipe that smirk off his face, she thought, threw her arms back around his neck and kissed him for all she was worth.

At the first touch of her lips upon his, Sarek groaned, and shifted Amanda on his lap. When she stilled, no doubt feeling his arousal, Sarek captured her bottom lip between his teeth and growled a little, causing her eyes to open wide. He nipped at her lips a few times, then flicked his tongue across them until she opened her mouth. Then he kissed her, while his hands moved down her back until they reached her hips. Sarek pushed down gently, until Amanda was left in no doubt of how the feel of her body was affecting his own. His lips left hers, but before she could protest, she felt them on her throat and, then, ooh, oh, his hands were on her breasts. She moaned and kissed the only part of him that she could reach, the pointed tip of his ear. When he groaned at the sensation and bucked his lower body into hers, she licked the tip and blew on it before taking his head between her hands to bring his lips back to hers.

Suddenly, Sarek wrenched his mouth away from hers, and Amanda found herself whisked off his lap and sitting on a stone bench still warm from his body before she could protest. Sarek strode over to the balustrade, gasping and gripping the rail tightly. Amanda stood up slowly, panting, and made her way unsteadily over to him. She pressed herself against his now silent form, and put her arms around his waist.

"Amanda," she heard Sarek say, in a voice so low she could barely hear it over her own breathing, "You are very young, and I am not. You give your feelings freely to others, and I, I do not. I-"

"Shh," she said, running her hands up and down his torso. "Now is not a time to talk, except for me to say one thing. If you are thinking about marrying somebody on this planet, or in this universe, that somebody had better be me!"

Sarek started, mentally shaking his head at the reactions this frail human elicited from him, and then he asked her, "Amanda, you again speak of marriage. What is your experience with the mating rituals of your species, with males of your species, or others," he stopped, surprised by the feeling of rage that swelled inside him at the thought of her with anyone other then himself. He paused and reframed his query, "Have you ever, er......joined with another?"

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TBC