The lunch line in the cafeteria was moving, agonizingly slow. In the line Nurse Chapel leaned in to whisper into her friend's ear. "Did you hear, Spock has a new kitten?"

The lady exclaimed in surprise, drawing looks from others in the line, "Spock? The Vulcan Spock?" Her eyes bulged out, "No!"

Nurse Chapel smiled at the reaction. "Yes." She responded smugly.

"But he's a Vulcan!" She said with prejudice, but not with malice. She didn't like talking to the guy but he did help her with her computer once.

"I know!"

"How… human of him." She said as she continued to shake her head in disbelief.

oo0oo

It seemed everyone at Starfleet Academy knew about Spock's new pet. And it also seemed as if everyone was utterly flabbergasted that the straight-laced Vulcan Lieutenant Spock would ever have a pet, let alone an adorable, albeit 'useless', kitten.

Slartibartfast, a.k.a. Slarty stared up at her new master and mewled. She was hungry; she was hungry now.

Spock opened the newly assigned 'Slartibartfast' cupboard and took out a can of wet cat food. He dumped the contents into a silver bowl with the name Slartibartfast running around the sides in elegant, filigreed script. He threw out the emptied can after placing the bowl down, in front of Slarty.

He would never admit it, but Spock spoiled Slarty.

Slarty reminded Spock of his childhood pet sehlat; I-chaya. Though only as big as a loaf of bread, Slarty could be as intimidating as a bear if she wished it. When she was happy she was the most pleasant ball of fluff a bachelor could ever want.

On Vulcan, pets were usually reserved for children. Pets were an efficient way to teach a child responsibility, especially with sehlats. Spock's hand itched from the ghost of a long healed scar and the memory of the first and last time he was late with his pet's food.

Spock leaned against the wall as he took a moment to watch his new pet finish her dinner. She would be done soon at the rate she was devouring the pre-chewed fish mash. When she was done Slarty licked her lips, then her light gray paws and then she used her moist paws to clean her whiskers. She was so friggin adorable, it should have been illegal. Spock found the edge of his lips twitching; he looked away, and closed his eyes, hoping the illogical urge to curve his lips would stop. He opened them again when Slarty jumped up onto him, placing her tiny fore-paws at his knees. She wanted to be picked up.

With one hand, Spock scooped Slarty up and draped her at his shoulders; she curled up around his ears and promptly fell asleep.

Making sure not to move too erratically, Spock picked up the empty bowl and carried it to his bathroom to wash it.

As he washed the bowl, Spock watched, in the mirror, Slarty's tiny pink nose twitch as she dreamt about catching fluffy white balls or pesky red dots.

Spock made his way to his meditation corner when he was all done with clean up. Slarty was still fast asleep. Making sure not to rouse her, Spock moved her from his shoulders to his lap.

In all his years of meditating, shuffling through dozens of Vulcan, human, and humanoid partners, Spock had finally found the best meditation partner of all.

oo0oo

Author's Note

Sehlats are animals native to Vulcan, they are sometimes domesticated and kept as pets by children. In the wild, they like to maul things. They are described as bear like creatures with six inch fangs. (Who the hell would give that to their children…maybe if they were little snots…ok, yeah I can see the logic in Sehlats)

I know meditation is a solo activity; I do it myself from time to time, but sometimes it's nice to share a zen moment with a close buddy.