tanseynz- I'm always surprised by people who are still showing interest in Forward Through Time despite the fact that it's been over for quite a while, but I'm glad that you liked it. To be honest I got tangled up with the characters a lot towards the end too, which is why I decided that this story would have no time travel in it. And yes, Amanda's parents are absolutely crazy. I sort of hinted towards that in FTT but since the parents were never seen, it was never really explicitly shown. She is better off with Sarek, but I'm not going to let this story become too tame hopefully haha

Amanda woke up to the smell of something burning and the sharp beeping of a smoke detector, and she was tempted to roll over and pull the blankets up over her face, but she knew that that would not really solve anything. And if the entire apartment was on fire, then that was definitely something that Amanda would want to make her business.

She got up with a loud groan, annoyed that she was being woken up so early, and she wandered into the kitchen. Sarek was staring at the cooking unit with a puzzled look, and there was smoke rising up from the charred remains of whatever had been on that pan.

Amanda rolled her eyes, then she pushed Sarek aside and quickly turned off the heat. She turned on the ceiling fan, and opened the kitchen window to help air out the room. Then she grabbed the pan off of the stove, held it under some warm water in the sink, and scraped the burnt scraps into the trash. "Seriously? Are you trying to get us all killed?"

Sarek shook his head. "Negative. I simply believed myself capable of making food that would be available upon your awakening. I thought it would be a productive way to spend my time, seeing as Vulcans do not require as much sleep as humans." He glanced towards the trash can. "Instead I awoke you early to rescue me. I apologize. I shall attempt to cook again in the future so that I will be able to gain this skill."

Amanda shook her head, and laughed softly. Her irritation at being woken up early quickly disappeared when her heart started fluttering like that. Sarek was so sweet, trying to make her breakfast in bed, and anyone who claimed that Vulcans didn't have any feelings had to be complete idiots. She stood on the tips of her toes to press a gentle kiss to Sarek's mouth. "It's alright. I forgive you. Why don't you just sit down and let me make you something."

"Yes, perhaps that would lead to a more favorable outcome."

Amanda smiled. "How did you manage to burn whatever that was so badly anyways?"

The Vulcan frowned. "I recently purchased some new reading material that I wished to peruse. I had read much of the story yesterday, and had reached a thrilling point in the climax. I did not realize that eggs would require such a watchful eye, or I would not have attempted to multitask."

Amanda couldn't stop smiling as Sarek sat down at the kitchen table. He was so damn adorable. "All those twenty-first century feminists would hate me for this, but I must say that it would probably be best if you stick with letting me do the cooking. At least until those fancy future machines get invented and we can have whatever we want whenever we want."

Sarek shook his head. "I do not believe that there would an issue with you cooking. It is not because you are female and I am male, it is simply because I currently lack the skills required for this particular task, and I must do some more learning before I will be ready to attempt it on my own again." He pouted as he sat there and watched Amanda practically dance around the kitchen. "How long did it take you to become competent at cooking?"

Amanda shrugged. "I don't know. It's not like I can remember ever getting any specific lessons. But everyone can cook eggs." She glanced over at the trash can. "Well, almost everyone can." A few minutes later, she slid a plate of scrambled eggs in front of Sarek. "Voila. Enjoy. And I'll teach you at the least the basics at some point, I promise. I don't know anything beyond the basics myself." She tilted her head. "How have you managed to survive this long on an alien planet without knowing how to cook?"

Sarek frowned. "It is easy to purchase pre-made meals that can be delivered to my home for a small fee. And it is also easy to go to an establishment where I can pay professional chefs to prepare me a meal."

Amanda laughed. "Ah. I thought that you took me out to eat so much because you didn't know how else to impress me. But it's actually just how you usually eat. You sound like a typical American college boy, Sarek. Take in and eat out and that's how you've survived. And I guess that means your only homecooked meals came from you eating over at my place?"

"Affirmative."

Amanda sat down next to Sarek, and she quickly ate everything that was on her plate. "Well, I guess we're both going to have to do some learning, then, because no offense, but I don't want to live with your parents on Vulcan, and if we're living alone, we'll need to know how to fend for ourselves."

Sarek hesitated in between mouthfuls of eggs. "You are still very young. You are not even old enough to be considered an adult in this country. And this is not the only planet where your age will be looked at dubiously in relation to mine."

Amanda raised one eyebrow, curious about what her Vulcan was trying to get at. "Sarek, Vulcans don't beat around the bush. Just tell me what you're talking about."

He nodded. "I watched a program on the television, and it involved an angry judge in a human court of law who allowed a man to go to jail for making romantic overtures on a child. By your laws I am an adult man, and you are a child."

The human frowned. "So are you afraid of going to jail? Is that what this is about?"

Sarek shook his head. "I am worried about the things that man said to that child. He said that she was mature for her age, and deserved better than the boys who she knew from school. He said that he loved her, so the age difference didn't matter. The judge then said that he was a pedophile who was taking advantage of the girl. Perhaps your parents are right-"

Amanda immediately stood up, and crossed her arms over her chest. "You're going to say that those psychos who locked me up in my room without any means of communication are right? Dude, they are obviously completely bat shit crazy! Nothing they says can be right! And besides that, you're the one who's been happy to be with me for over a year now, and you're the one who proposed to me! God, why does everyone have to make such a big deal of my age? It's not like we've had sex or anything like that. We've just been spending time together and being happy."

Sarek stood as well, and he stepped closer to Amanda so that he could pull her into a hug. "Ah, you are correct. The sexual aspect of the relationship did appear to be the only part that was considered illegal. I do not wish to sound like a 'pedophile' or a 'sexual predator', but I do love you very much. And you're right in that I proposed us bonding to you, because I want to spend the rest of my life with you." He stepped away to sit back down and continue eating. "Today I shall look into making the arrangements to get us to Vulcan. Once we are there, we will be able to explain the situation to the elders, and they will officiate us bonding. I look forward to that."

Amanda waited a few seconds before sitting back down as well. "Yeah, I look forward to that too. Then I'll finally be able to read your mind the way that you're always reading mind. Oh don't give me that look, you've never been subtle." Once they'd finished eating and everything had been cleaned up, Amanda and Sarek settled in the living room, sitting close together on the couch. "So what book were you reading that was interesting enough to make you forget completely about the fact you were in the middle of cooking something?"

"It is a classic old story known as In Bed with a Flower."

Amanda tilted her head. "I've never heard of it. What's it about?"

"It is about a young girl whose parents plan on selling her to a powerful man to be his wife. She gets married against her will, and vows that she'll get free in exactly seven years and seven days. After the first day of marriage, where she put up the biggest fuss she could, she promised to be good if her husband gifted her a single flower. Then she acted like a perfectly complacent wife to make everyone forget about her plans for freedom, and to convince her husband to allow her more mobility. Then, seven years and seven days after their marriage, the girl makes a meal for her husband, and she fills it with poison that she'd been collecting. A single drop from a poisonous flower she'd planted after her husband had gifted it to her every week. He had checked the flower everyday for the first year to make sure she'd never ripped it up and ground it into his food. He didn't know that she was content with waiting. After those seven years, she was ready. She fed the food to her husband, and both of them died." He hesitated for a moment. "Sorry, I've given away too much of the story."

Amanda shook her head. "Keep going. I'd rather hear about it from you. You just have such a lovely storytelling voice."

A faint green tinge rose to Sarek's cheeks, but he did continue as requested. "The twist at the end of the story was that the husband had been a great man all along, and he'd been prophesied to be the savior of a million people. The girl knew this, and killed him all the same, wishing for her own freedom more than that of a million others. But when he died, everyone assumed it had been their enemies, and they rose up together, defeating their enemy thanks to the martyr that the man had become. It's a rather tragic tale, but somehow has a hopeful feeling to it. The people all waited so long for the man to save them that when he died early, they couldn't bear the thought. And they ended up proving that they never needed his help to free themselves. And of course, the girl got her freedom as well."

"Yeah. I can't even imagine what it would be like to be forced to marry someone you don't love. I don't think I'd have it in me to kill anyone though. Especially not if I thought that they were supposed to do something very important. But who knows. That does sound like an interesting story. I guess that could be worth burning eggs over."

Sarek nodded. "Yes, I believe that is true. While I was attempting to cook, I was just reaching the end, where the food was being poisoned. I found it illogically impossible to put the book down until I heard the smoke alarm go off."

Amanda tilted her head. "I wonder why she let herself die too, though. If the people were going to see it as an enemy attack, wouldn't they still see it that way if she lived?"

Sarek shook his head. "She did not know that that would be the reaction, considering that she'd left behind a note. But she'd forgotten to sign it before showing it to her husband so he'd be aware of his impending death, and it simply appeared to be a threatening notice from some unknown assassin."

"Huh. Fascinating. You'll have to loan it to me sometime."

Sarek looked confused. "But why would you wish to read it when you already know the entire story?"

Amanda shrugged. "Because it could still be interesting. And don't you reread your favorite books even though you've already read them before and know what happens? Besides, if they ever make a vid of it, I want to be able to proudly say that I read the book first." She laughed. "I wish that I'd read something new that I could tell you about."

Sarek noticed that Amanda's mood seemed to be dropping, and he couldn't figure out why. "I can give you your reader now so that you'll be able to read many books."

She smiled, and pressed herself up closer to Sarek. "Thanks, but that's not it. I was just thinking about the girl in your book. I didn't even realize it until recently, but I've always been trapped by people I'm supposed to love, too. I know it's not quite the same when it's your parents versus your husband, but in some ways, it's worse for it to be your parents. You know that they're supposed to love you unconditionally, but then when they don't, it just hurts."

Sarek wrapped his arms around Amanda, and squeezed her closer to him, if that were even possible. "I did not think of that comparison earlier. But it is true that your parents have constantly attempted to keep you somewhere you do not wish to be, and more recently, they wished to send you somewhere far away where you do not wish to go. Luckily it did not end in the same extreme way that the book did. I would not be able to ever be happy if you were dead."

Amanda rested her head against Sarek's chest. "I feel the same away. I'd hate for me to die." After a pause for Sarek to appreciate her wit, she got serious again. "I'm serious, though. I'd never want to ever see anything bad happen to you. That's partially why last year was just so horrible. That first moment when I woke up in a strange place surrounded by strange people, I had no idea where you were or whether you were safe. I was worried out of my mind. And of course, the other people on that ship just thought I was straight up out of my mind at first." She sighed. "Was it weird for you to see an older version of me?"

Sarek thought back to the adventure that they'd gone on a year ago. "Of course. She did not act like you, though she didn't act more mature than you do. We did not get along very well. But I don't think that's any sort of indication of our future, since my future self seemed to get along with her quite well." He shook his head. "If you really wish to talk about this then I will not stop you, but I find that I don't like to speak of the things that have happened to us. I'd prefer to look to our future rather than our past."

Amanda grinned. "But in this case our past was in our future."

Sarek almost rolled his eyes, but he forced himself not to because it would simply be an illogical action. "You know what I am trying to say."

"I know." She sighed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I know that all that stuff that happened to us was completely crazy. And you're right. We should just be looking to the future right now. Our future. And not forty years into it, of course. I love you, Sarek."

He gently maneuvered them so that he could extract Amanda's hand, and press his fingertips against hers. "And I love you as well." After sitting there for a few minutes, Sarek carefully moved Amanda aside so that he could stand up. "If we are to get to Vulcan as quickly as possible, I should begin to make my phone calls now."

Amanda nodded, and watched Sarek head into the small office that he usually used to make important calls to Vulcan, or to the other ambassadors that he knew. Amanda felt pride swell up in her chest at the thought of her soon-to-be-husband being such an important person. He was given a lot of trust and responsibility because the Vulcans knew that he was perfectly capable of succeeding at all of it.

She stood up and stretched, then headed back into the bedroom. Amanda had been woken up too early in the day, and she wanted to at least take a quick nap to make up for the lost time.

A/N- The book that Sarek described was completely made up by me on the spot so if the plot doesn't make much sense, that's why haha