Disclaimer: I do not own Star trek, It belongs to paramount and I do not own the poem used here either ( because my poetry is dreadful) that belongs to the fabulous Mr. Nimoy. I am not making profit of either of them.

Note: I'm not going to try and write anything from Sarek's P.O.V. because I'm writing another piece that's from Spock's point of view and there would be a danger of making my Vulcan sweethearts too similar.

The fling and the chess pieces.

Mandy felt strange going into school on Monday, most weekends went so quickly she could swear that they didn't actually exist and she was actually at school all week. But this weekend had seemed long, full, and as if something had happened that had changed her life ever so slightly. It was a strange feeling and one she wanted to ignore, it was ever so slightly scary.

She got through the morning on story time and daydreams of pointed ears, soulful eyes and long fingers. When the bell had gone she wondered where the time had gone and felt a little guilty the children hadn't had her full attention. When she walked into the staff room Paul was sat there.

" Morning Mandy."

His tone was deep with curiosity.

" Good morning Paul." She answered curiously.

" I had a visitor this morning."

" Oh?" She still didn't know what he was getting at.

" An assistant from the Vuclan embassy."

Mandy had to fight back a smile, that could only mean one thing, a message from Sarek.

" Really?"

" He dropped of a letter for you."

" Oh, that's interesting." Mandy smirked, he could dig as much as he liked she still wasn't giving anything away. " Can I have it?"

" It's in my office."

Mandy nodded, she walked out of the staff room without another word, dodged some very small children as she walked down the hallway and then ducked into Pauls office. The large white envelope was sat directly on the top of his desk. She settled herself into his chair and took a deep breath to calm her excitement as she picked it up.

'Miss Amanda Greyson' was written directly in the middle with black ink and a strangely curly yet precise handwriting that she immediately knew was Sarek's. She opened the envelope and slipped out two pieces of paper. As the shape of the writing on the second was clearly a poem she turned to the first piece.

' Miss Amanda,

I hope this note finds you well. Here is one of the poems I promised you. I apologize that there is only one but my duties have not allowed me the time to translate any more. I shall be sure to send some more at a later date.

Yours Sarek'

Mandy read through the letter twice and then set it down and picked up the sheet with the poem on.

I love you
not for what
I want you to be
But for what you are

I loved you then
For what you were
I love you now
for what you have become

I miss you
And not only you

I miss what I am
When you are here...
You bring out the best in me

Mandy fell back into the seat with a happy sigh. She had always known Vulcan's were really romantics deep down.

Mandy pulled at the bottom of her jumper, she wondered if anybody else in the universe ever felt this anxious when visiting their parents. Her dad was away for the week on business so tonight it would just be her mother and her younger pregnant sister Sarah, who had been staying with her mother for a few days. Mandy knew that her sisters recent wedding and even more recent pregnancy was going to be used to unfavourably compare Mandy. Of course it had only been a week since she had broken up with Bobby and as her mother hadn't seen her face to face since then she knew that most of the night would be one, her mother pointing out that her younger sister was already married and expecting a child when she couldn't seem to keep a relationship going for more than a few months and two, why had she broken up with Bobby? Could she fix it? Could she please lower her expectations in time for her to get more grandchildren? It didn't feel like she had been through a break up only a week previously and she had no doubts about why, perhaps Sarek was just a bounceback but the excitement of getting to know him was definitely stopping her from feeling that 'oh, I'm single again, well that's not so bad but..' feeling.

Mandy sighed as she walked into her living room, she picked her bag up and quickly checked through it's contents sure she had everything she needed. As she grabbed her keys from the mantle her eyes came to rest on the photo she had placed there two days ago when she had got back from the bowling alley. She didn't even come up to Sarek's shoulders and while she was grinning widely he was staring blankly at the screen. But they looked like a couple, like they belonged together. She had to stop herself from feeling such warm fuzzy feelings towards him, she had not known him for nearly long enough to be feeling the way she was, dizzy and excited and longing to hear from him again. She felt like a teenager again, like before she saw that there were no real princes in the world of dating, no fairy tales come true. She gave a little smile as she turned from the photo and left her apartment.

She arrived at her parents house forty minutes later, she had not grown up in this house her parents had moved into it shortly after she had left for New York to study literature at college. All that meant was that she had no happy childhood memories of this house just memories of the forced monthly dinners where she would be constantly bombarded with barely concealed snide comments and disappointment. Why her parents were never proud of her she didn't know. Why they couldn't see her accomplishments and only seemed to worry about her singleton status, it was the twenty third century, it wasn't as if a woman's only opportunity in life and only noticeable accomplishment was marriage. Her parents attitude always reminded her of an eighteenth century writer called Austen. She considered doing a runner for a moment as she stood outside their door then she took a deep breath and pressed her finger to the bell. Her mother opened the door with a smile.

" Amanda." Her eyes flickered over her pencil skirt and jumper ensemble. " You look.. I always thought you needed to put on a little weight."
Mandy inwardly guffed, she had lost weight since the last time she had seen her mother, there was no point in pointing it out to her mother though because she'd just turn it around and insult her jumper or her hair or perhaps even her shoes, anything and everything was fair game.

Mandy walked into the house, her mother had choose to decorate in twenty different shades of off white, apart from the bathroom, that was an imaginative blue. She made her way through the dull living room into the dining room where her sister was already sat. Apart from a hatred of sit coms and a love of twentieth century literature her and her sister shared the same big dark eyes and the same straight dark hair. Her sister however was taller than her and had always been jealous of Mandy's (somewhat limited) curves as she herself was completely flat. Though now she had the smallest little baby bump. She stood as Mandy entered. Mandy gave her a warm and honest smile as she pulled her into a bear hug.

" Oh my god! Look at you." She placed her hand on that baby bump. " How's my nephew?"

" He's doing good."

" And you?"

Sarah smiled. " I'm getting used to it."

" Used to it?"

" Not having panic attacks every time I think about the sweating and swearing bit."

" That's a very short bit, if I were you I'd be worried about the eighteen years that comes after it."

Sarah laughed.

" Still a vegetarian?" Her mother shouted from the kitchen.

Mandy rolled her eyes at Sarah who gave a knowing smile.

" Yes Mum, That hasn't changed in thirteen years."

" Don't sass me Mandy."

" Sorry Mom."

" I really don't know where your attitude comes from."

Mandy sat down with a sigh, she hoped the night would go quickly and had deliberately arrived late so that her mother would have to put dinner out straight away so as not to burn it. Her and Sarah caught up with their day to day gossip about people they had in common and how things were going at their jobs. Then their mother came out and placed a mac cheese and salad in front of her, considering how often her mother had put mac cheese in front of her it was the only vegetarian meal she could cook.

" So…" Her mother started conversationally as she started cutting her pork chop. " Still haven't made up with Bobby?"

" I'm not going to make up with Bobby Mom, he isn't right for me and I don't love him."

Her mother looked straight into her eyes for a moment then shook her head.

" You're not getting any younger you know Mandy, all the best men are already married now. Your dating life will only go down hill from here.. It will take longer to find suitable men to date as well."

Her mother stated as if she was the worlds foremost dating expert. She had been married for the past thirty five years to her childhood sweet stared down at her mac cheese and salad. She hated how this was the only facet of her life her mother was interested in. She grabbed hold of it like a vicious dog with a teddy bear, shaking till all the stuffing fell out and all that was left was a rag.

"Actually." She started wanting to win the conversation for once. " I've been on a couple of dates this last week."

Her mothers startled look would be worth the argument she knew was coming. Her sister looked up and gave a little wink.

"Oh?"

Mandy took a deep breath, she wasn't sure if she could find words that explained Sarek. She didn't know if she could explain the way she saw him, the way she knew, just knew him after so little time. The kindness she knew was under that stoic logical façade. That little sense of humour where he would deliberately say something to make her laugh and he'd hide that deliberation but there would be the smallest twinkle in those soulful eyes. The way his presence made her feel comfortable and secure, the ease of being with him despite their differences and their slight misunderstandings. It had been ten days, was she being stupid to feel this after ten days. Her mother stared expectantly at her.

"He's.. Well he's a nice guy. Chivalrous." She said feebly.

"And what does this nice guy do?"

" He's an ambassador."

" For what company?" Sarah asked.

" For the planet Vulcan actually."

" Well, it's just a fling then." Her mother said flippantly.

" How do you know? I could really like him. He's smart and funny and he's so…so kind."

" Well he'll be off planet half the time. You can't have a serious relationship with a guy whose always off in space somewhere, besides he spends all his time with Vulcan's and you know some of that's going to wear off."

Mandy felt her muscles tense.

"Some of what?" She asked.

" That dullness, that roboticness."

" He is the Vulcan ambassador to earth and I don't find him dull."

" He's an alien?" Her mother said staring at her opened mouthed. The forkful of mac cheese hovering uneaten in the air.

"Yes. A Vulcan." Mandy answered daring her mother to say something about it. Sarah's eyes flickered nervously between the two of them.

" Oh Mandy! I'm sure that's very exciting but come on.."

" Come on what Mom? It's the twenty-third century you know?"

Her mother got up and turned to leave the room.

" There's just no talking to you. You'll see in a couple of weeks."

There was silence in the room for a couple of minutes after Mandy's mother had left.

" You always were the rebellious one Mandy." Sarah said.

Mandy choose not to answer but did note the slight hint of hero worship in her younger sisters voice. Sarah's eyes kept flickering over her and she finally dropped her fork in frustration.

" What?"

" Well do they even have the same stuff?" Sarah whispered.

" Oh come on!"

" Well, do they? You know I've read about Aliens who keep their testicles where we keep our knees . And Vulcan's are telepaths, what if they don't even have balls? What if they just inseminate you with their minds?"
" You're ridiculous, you know that?" Mandy said ( as if she hadn't considered that their might be a few differences between Vulcan and Human men.)

" You know they kiss with their fingers?"

"Sarah." She sighed.

" It's true. I saw it in a documentary."

" Vulcan's kiss with their fingers?" Mandy said. That strange tingling sensation when she touched him had suddenly clicked into place.

" Yeah."

" Vulcan's kiss with their fingers." Mandy muttered wondering how she had not known that. Suddenly her trying to hold his hand in the parking lot took on a whole new dimension. He did know that she didn't know, didn't he?

" You could have been heavy petting with him without even realizing."

" I think I have, well not heavy exactly."

" Mandy, you're such a slut. " She leaned in closer as Mandy was about to protest. " Tell me what it's like."

" Just like a tingling. It's quite nice actually."

Sarah looked at her sister with admiration, Mandy knew that she thought her adventurous to be dating a Mandy quite liked having somebody to talk to about Sarek.

" You know those gorgeous pointed ears Vulcan's have?" Mandy whispered.

" Well I think they're erogenous zones."

" Mandy!" Her mothers voice came from over her shoulder.

" Jeez Mom as you keep pointing out I'm a grown woman."

" Enough of this conversation."

Mandy sighed.

" Yes. Mom."

" So Sarah, when's your next scan?"

She had just got back to her apartment and happily threw on a pair of flannel pyjamas when her Com system started to give an annoying trill. She settled on her overstuffed sofa and leaned over to turn the Com system on. She smiled as she saw Sarek's features fill the screen. Her heart skipped a beat, jeez she'd got it bad.

" Miss Grayson. I am not disturbing you?"

"No, not at all. Excuse the pyjamas I was just getting ready for bed."

Sarek's eyes quickly flickered over her, then without missing a beat he answered.

" There is nothing to excuse. I have an evening free, on Wednesday. I wondered if you had any previous appointments?"

" No." She said trying not to sound over enthusiastic. "What did you have in mind?"

"A game of strategy."

"Which?"

" Chess."

"Chess?"

" One of my pastimes . It exercises the mind and teaches focus." He explained.

" I haven't played chess in years."

" Is it acceptable?"

"Very. I can cook."

" That is a useful skill.'`

Mandy smiled.

" I was offering to cook a meal for you." It wasn't until the words came out of her mouth when she realized that cooking to impress a man would be a lot more effective if she'd cooked more than cheese on toast in the last two years, take away was just convenient.

" That would be more than acceptable."

" Seven thirty?"

" Yes."

" Chess and dinner at seven-thirty."

" Yes." Something around the corners of his eyes seemed to soften slightly. " I will be glad to see you again Amanda."

" You too."

" Goodbye."

" Bye."

Mandy felt a slight disappointment when the screen went black. Before being hit with an onslaught of excitement at the thought of seeing him again and then nervousness, why had she offered to cook?

Mandy looked down at the cook book her mother had brought her two Christmas's ago. The one she hadn't opened since that point. She had found the recipe that morning and had stopped at the grocery shop on the way home. Now she was looking down at the rather ambitions Mediterranean terrine, flat breads and aubergine paste. She gave a sigh and opened the bag of chickpeas putting them in a bowl to soak. She felt a little relieved that she hadn't dropped them, that had to be a good sign.
Two hours and a sliced thumb later and Mandy was starting to feel stressed. Everything that could go wrong was going wrong, the flat breads weren't flat, they'd puffed up, how had that even happened? And as she was adding spices to her aubergine paste the lid of the chilli powder fell off, it seemed the more she tried to scrape the excess out the more it seemed to get mixed in and as she was working on that the Mediterranean terrine stuck to the bottom of the pan so little burnt bits got stuck to it. At least nothing could go wrong with the drinks, she had gotten soda, fruit juices and a bottle of wine so there should be something in that mix that he could have. With fifteen minutes till Sarek arrived Mandy turned the heat right down and ran into her bedroom to throw on a cute little summer dress, it had a rather risky neckline but she threw a shrug on over the top so it wouldn't appear as if she was revealing a undue amount of skin. She retouched her foundation and put on some mascara and a pinkish tinged lip gloss. Then was able to quickly squirt a room spray, straighten the bed sheets ( only because you had to walk through the bedroom to get to the bathroom, honestly) and the couch cushions and set the two seated fold up table she usually kept in her closet with the usual glasses and cutlery. She felt butterflies in her stomach as when her doorbell rang. She checked herself in the mirror in the hallways and judging herself presentable she opened the door. She couldn't help grinning when she saw Sarek stood there in the hallway of her flat, almost filling the doorway. Tonight he was wearing a white dress shirt and slacks. His lips quirked ever so slightly at her and he bowed his head in welcoming offering her a bottle of wine.

" Hello Amanda." He glanced down at the bottle he was holding. " I have been told that on Earth when you visit another's home for a meal it is traditional to bring an alcoholic drink."
Mandy took the bottle, she glanced quickly at the label, red and French and, jeez she didn't think she had ever had such a mature wine. And she didn't think a man had ever brought wine to dinner at her house, all her girl friends yes, but men seemed to forget the social curtseys. But Sarek followed the book of etiquette ( literally) to the letter.

" Thank you. " She stepped back to let him in and there was an awkward moment when he just stayed standing in her doorway.

" Would you like to come in?"

" Yes." Sarek said. He stayed stood in the tiny entrance hall as Mandy closed the door. Which forced her to manoeuvre around him to open the door to the front room, their bodies mere inches from each other she could sense the heat coming off him. She wondered if the higher body temperature was a Vulcan thing or just a Sarek thing. She stopped herself from giving a nervous little laugh as she thought about how whatever happened at least she had a 'hot' man in her apartment again.

She opened up the door to her living room and for tonight dining room. Sarek followed her in and she briefly saw him looking around before she had a moment of panic at the thought of burning dinner again and headed for the kitchen.

" Make yourself comfortable I'm just going to check on the dinner. What would you like to drink?"

" Water please."

" Okay." Mandy answered noticing for the first time the bag on his back.

She stirred the terrane and then bent to search her cupboards for something to serve the food on, she went for three serving dishes and a plate for the flatbreads. She grabbed a ready made green salad and emptied it into one of the bowls glad that at least one part of the meal would be edible. She poured Sareks water and took a deep breath to calm herself as she went back out into the living room. Sarek was stood by her bookshelf looking through her books, his bag had been place next to her sofa. He turned as she walked in and Mandy wondered whether she should apologize in advance for the disastrous meal and suggest getting a take- away. Instead she gave a wide fake smile.

" Hope you're hungry."

" Reasonably so."

" Would you like to sit at the table?" She said gesturing to the tiny table. Sarek nodded politely. Mandy went and finished dishing out the meal and placed the salad and (un) flat breads in front of Sarek and then realized their would be no room for the other two bowls. She froze looking at the table.

" Umm…"

" Is there something wrong?"

" There's not room for all the dishes on the table."

Sarek crooked his head to one side.

" Then we will fill our plates in the kitchen and then eat out here."

Mandy nodded, it was obvious but it spoilt her idea of the perfect evening in. She led Sarek into the kitchen and pointed to the bowls of food.

" That's Mediterranean terrine. And aubergine paste. I hope you're not allergic to anything."

" Vulcan's digestive systems do not allow for any kind of poisoning."

" Oh good."

Sarek raised his eyebrow.

" Not that I think it will poison you, I'm just glad that I can't poison you in anyway." She took a deep breath. "I'm just digging myself further into a hole aren't I?"

Sarek looked down to her feet.

" You do not seem to be digging."

" It's a saying. It means I'm making a problem worse."

" There is a problem?"

" Never mind."

Sarek starred at her for a moment then turned back to the food. Mandy had the idea that if he were Human he would have shrugged his shoulders. They filled their plates and went back into the front room to eat. Mandy watched with anxiety as Sarek dug his fork into the aubergine paste and tasted it. His facial expression did not change and for a moment Mandy decided that perhaps the food hadn't turned out as bad as she thought. That moment ended when he tore a piece of the flat bed scooped up some of the paste and after two seconds felt as if her mouth were on fire. She jumped up and ran to the kitchen for a glass of water.

" Amanda?" Sarek called after her.

As she glugged down the second glass of water She herd footsteps behind her.

" Amanda, are you ill?" She noted a hint of what could only be worry in his voice.

" Hot." She gasped between gulps.

" The food, I believe it was only 69 degrees. " He stated.

Mandy's mouth still burnt but she knew it was as better as it was going to get in the next ten minute.

" No, it was too spicy. "

" I understand."

They walked back into the front room.

" You don't have to eat it. " Mandy said as she sat down.

" Spicy food does not affect me."

Mandy nodded and pushed the paste to the side of her plate away from the terrine. The Terrine itself wasn't so bad, apart from the black charcolie bits.

" Is it okay?"

" It has an interesting flavour."

" It's burnt." Mandy admitted.

" I believe it adds to the flavour." Sarek answered. Mandy couldn't help but smirk. They continued eating in silence but it was an easy comfortable silence that in Mandy's experience usually occur that easily until much later In a relationship. Sarek actually went into the kitchen for seconds, Mandy wondered if he was just being overly polite or if Vulcan taste buds really were that different.

" Thank you Amanda." Sarek said as he finished eating.

" Would you like anything else? More water? Wine? Fruit juice?"

" Yes, Fruit juice would be welcome."

Mandy picked up the dishes, she quickly threw the left over's in the fridge and the dishes in the sanitisor. And poured Sarek an apple juice deciding Mango would be to sweet for his tastes. When she went back out into the front room Sarek was setting up a 3-D chess set on the table where they had been eating just minutes before.

" Shall I put on some music?" Mandy asked.

Sarek was silent for a moment, Mandy knew that he was actually considering the question from every possible view point, everything he did hinted at that meticulous way of doing things. The way he lined up the multiple levels of the chess board gently nudging one a millimetre in one direction another a half millimetre clockwise illustrated this perfectly.

" Yes, if you do not believe it will distract you."

" It won't." Mandy answered. She kept her music disks on the bottom level of her bookshelf , she knelt down to look through them for something suitable.

" Do you have a preference?"

" I have little knowledge of Terran music."

Mandy decide classical music would probably go best with chess so she scanned the small classical section of her collection and picked out a mozart collection then she slotted it into the multimedia station inbuilt into her living room wall. The opening bars of Mozarts ode to joy started to drift out the speakers. She turned it down so it would be just some background music.

" This music is interesting."

" It's a composer called Mozart."

" Mozart, I shall remember next time somebody asks I have a preference for Mozart. I was looking at ht pictures on your mantle earlier."

Mandy blushed wondering what he thought of the fact that his picture was on the mantle. She also wondered where he kept his copy.

" Pictures of you're family?"

" My two sisters." Mandy answered. " Do you have any siblings?" She asked, glad that they seemed to be heading towards a personal talk and she could get rid of that feeling of not knowing much about him.

" No." He seemed to stiffen slightly, and hesitated for a split second. " I have a son."

Mandy tried to hide her shock, she had never thought to ask whether Sarek had children, she had just never considered it. When she had first seen him interacting with the children in the school he hadn't seemed very comfortable. Perhaps that was why she had assumed he was childless, but what else did the presence of a child mean.

" You're uh.. divorced?" She asked. He can't be married she told herself, why would he be pursuing her if he was married, surely he wasn't like that.

" No."

Mandy felt her heart hammering in her chest.

" Divorce is not common on Vulcan. I was once to be married but she succumbed to an epidemic."

" I'm sorry." Mandy spluttered not sure what to say, he never knew how to react to people who had such sadness and loss in their past.

" I'm sorry."

Sarek gave her a strange look she could translate.

"That you lost somebody you loved." Unthinking she reached out and rested her hand on his arm.

" I had only met her on two occasions, there was an arrangement between our parents."
For the third time in three minutes Mandy was completely thrown. She just didn't know how to react so instead she decided to just listen and try to figure it all out later.

" Oh." She said.

" And the epidemic was forty-seven years ago."

" Oh."

Mandy had to wonder how old he was and how young he had been when he had been engaged? what had he thought of it? What had he thought of her? Felt for her? He wanted to understand him, wanted to know as much about him as possible.

" Oh." She said again.

Sarek took a step back making her hand fall from his arm.

" You are shocked by this information." He stated.

" No, well yes.."

" It is common on Vulcan for families to make arrangements for their children's bonding when they are around seven years of age."

" I can't imagine the kids at my school getting engaged. I mean hundreds of years ago their were arranged marriages in some earth cultures but …" She didn't know how to finish the sentence, she suddenly felt rather stupid. All day she had been as excited as a teenager before the prom for a guy who she actually knew nothing about. She started to feel doubts again.

" There are logical reasons for thing's being done the way they are on Vulcan. It has been this way for thousands of years."

" SO uh.. " Mandy hunted around wanting to get the conversation back on safe territory, she thought it would be okay to ask about his son. She knew about children, she spent all day five days a week with children, and she was too curious not to ask.

" Your son, how old is he?"

" He is ten years of age. He is being raised by his mothers family."

" You said you'd never dated."

" I have not."

" And his mother was not your fiancé?"

" No."

" I don't think I understand."

"I cannot explain. This concerns you."

Mandy was completely lost, she didn't know why he couldn't explain, she didn't know how to react.

" No, maybe…a little. These things happen."

" Indeed, at times they are unavoidable."

Mandy felt even more confused, surely in this age pregnancy was completely avoidable.

" And you never wanted to marry her?"

" Marrying her would have forced her to assign her titles and lines to me. They have been in her family for many generations and she did not wish for them to pass into my family and be dispersed between the offspring I produce."

" So as it stands her child with you with you inherits her lands and titles."

" Indeed. You are still concerned, this information has made you doubt my character."

" No, I mean. Your past is your past we all have them. I'm just trying to understand how you can say you have never dated and yet you have a child I mean I don't mind you have a child we've only just met and we're just getting to know each other and you know I like kids." She said very quickly. Sarek levelled her with a steady gaze. She went and sat down at the table wondering if she was handling this right.

" How long ere the two of you together?" she asked before she could stop herself.

" I was present at her home for two weeks."

" It was a fling!" She exclaimed thinking she finally understood.

" Fling?"

" A sex thing. You want somebody , you get it out of your system and once it's over you realize that you're not actually interested in the other persons personality."

Sarek visibly flinched. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Mandy was surprised she had actually dragged an emotional reaction out of him, and was a little scared that she seemed to have made him angry.

" Sorry have I offended you?"

Sarek opened his eyes and she was hit by the depth of them once again, they seemed to capture her entirely so that she couldn't move or breath.

" These matters are not discussed."

" Matters pertaining to sexuality?"

" Indeed, I have a child, I have been mated once but never bonded. I hope that knowledge is enough for you to judge whether my companionship is suitable."
Mandy stood up again and reach out for him. In that moment he seemed strangely vulnerable to her. His eyes glanced down as she rested her hand on his arm.

" Of course it's suitable. Thank you, for opening up to me."

" I have told you more than I would a Vulcan woman as I know you do not understand our ways."

" You try to understand me and I'm trying to understand you. Shall we play?"

Sarek sat across from her at the table. His lips quirked the slightest amount as if giving her a ' it's alright' smile and Mandy immediately felt relived.

" You will play the white queen?" Sarek asked.

" Yes." Mandy said as that was the side of the board that she was sat at.

" Then you go first."

Mandy looked at the board trying to think of a clever first move but had to settle on moving a Pawn to spaces. Two more turns and that poor little pawn had disappeared from the board. Five more turns and she had lost three more pieces and knew that there was no chance of managing a dignified defeat; her fake little army was getting slaughtered. The she saw he had left his castle open to her queen and she smiled as she knocked over the castle and plucked it from the board. Sarek raised his eyebrow. Two turns later after a pawn was left open to her knight she started to become suspicious.

" You're letting me win."

" I am merely elongating the game. If it were over to quickly not only would I shorten the time I get to be in your company but also you may loss confidence in your chess playing abilities. A loss of confidence would affect your performance in the next game."

Mandy knocked over the pawn and took it off the board.

" Well stop it." She said.

" Very well."

He moved his knight from the third level down to the second taking the knight she had just moved there, he had set up the perfect trap sacrificing his pawn as bait. The next go he check mated her and Mandy had o feel a little sorry the game was over even though she had lost spectacularly it had been quite fun, not as fun as bowling but still fun. She smiled and said 'good game' and then they sat together in silence for a moment. The end of the game seemed to mean the night was over and even though she had work in the morning and it was getting quite late she didn't want the night to end.

" How about snap?" She suggested quickly before he had a chance to say goodnight.

" Snap? Is that a game?"

" Yes. It's a card game."

" I know game cards. What are the rules."

Mandy smiled and got up to pull the cards out of a cupboard draw. Sarek quickly took down the chess set.

" right the rules are simple, I mix up the cards and split the pack we take turns flipping them over one by one, when the card you put down is the same colour and number as the previous one then the first person to shout snap and slam their hand down on the cards wins the pile. The aim is to win all the cards."

" It lacks strategy." Sarek said but Mandy knew it was simply a comment and not a refusal.

" Well you have to be really quick when you slam your hand down before the other person does."

Sarek finished putting away the chess set. They sat across from each other on the table. Mandy smirked as him as she shuffled the cards, part other wanted to ask him to do it. She wanted to see those long flexible fingers ..she kicked herself again. She split the pack and gave him half.

She flipped the first card over and moving so fast his hand was a blur Sarek flicked another on top of it. She smiled up at him and he met her eyes, Mandy thought he was flirting with her. Less than thirty seconds later a king of hearts was thrown on top of the kind of diamonds and Mandy's hand flung out.

"SNAP!"

There was silence form Sarek and when she glanced up at him she saw his hand hovering up in the air. When the piece fell together she could have kicked herself.
" You can't play this can you?"
Sarek slowly shook his head.

" Because you might accidentally touch my hand and you don't want to do that." She clarified.

Sarek stared at her for a long moment.

" The first part of that statement is true."

" Explain."

Although Sarek didn't visible move an inch Mandy had the strangest feeling he was fidgeting, maybe it was that slight flicker of his eyes to her hand.

" I cannot play because I might accidentally touch your hand, but it is not that I do not want to merely that I should not."

Mandy tried to keep from smiling considering what her sister had told her about Vulcan's hands it was a very good thing he wanted to do a little hand , she wanted him to explain it, just in case her sister had got it wrong.

"Why not?"

" Because for Vulcan's the touching of hands is a romantic gesture, it is because of the number of receptors in our hands. Touching hands for a Vulcan is comparable to kissing for a Human."

Mandy felt that her heart was beating so fast and so hard that Sarek would be able to hear it. Then she reminded herself that she had read that Vulcan's hearing was three times as powerful as a Human's that he definitely could.

" Are you saying that you want to..Vulcan kiss me?"

" You are very desirable to me."

Mandy held her breath as she reached out to him with trembling fingers to touch the back of his hand. Not feeling very confident she stroked her fingertips across the warm and soft skin. The effects on Sarek were incredible, his breath actually hitched and his eyes flickered partly shut for a moment and then he gently pulled away from her and held his hand up. Mandy stared wondering what he wanted her to do but feeling bold from having brought about a reaction in him. She mirrored his movements as he held his two fingers up and gently inched them towards hers until they touched. It was like a bolt of electricity heading straight down her spine. She pulled away eyeing him wearily but his straight stare told her that she was feeling exactly what he expected her to feel. She reached forwards again and felt a smaller shiver this time and a feeling of warmth spreading throughout her body and she instantly relaxed. Sarek rubbed his fingers up and down hers once and then she did the same. She saw his throat move as her pulled away as if he were gulping.

"Thank you." He said softly.

She let out a breath of air she hadn't known she was holding.

" I.. Yeah, its comparable."

Sarek definitely smiled.

" I must take my leave of you now."

" Oh." She said disappointed and a little surprised at the suddenness. "Okay."

Sarek stood up and picked up his bag. Mandy wordlessly followed him to the door. He turned to her as he went.

" Thank you for the meal and your company Amanda."

" Your welcome." She answered.

Sarek bowed his head to her and then left Mandy stood in the doorway feeling as if it had been a rather strange evening and trying not to think too much about that finger kiss because she would collapse into a giggling puddle if she did.

Okay, not sure if this one flowed quite right and that talk between them got a bit awkward. So for anybody reading both this story and Cautionary Love you'll notice that I'm starting to diverge slightly from the story line set out in the Bowling and Banded knees chapter , I will be adding a couple of extra date nights as I'm enjoying writing this and want it to be a little longer than five chapters. But the basic story line will be kept the same. Oh, just in case I didn't make it clear the idea between Sarek and his son ( Sybok) and the reason he was embarrassed by the conversation was that Sarek went into Pon Farr when visiting the house of a Vuclan princess.