In Command
Chapter 10 : Growing Up
June 2282
The Enterprise passed near enough to Vulcan that Spock called his parents and said he and Nyota could come to visit. His mother was thrilled. His father calmly said that it was acceptable. Saavik grinned and waved at him and then remembered that she was only a year away from finishing her secondary education and straightened up and put on a calm face, but her eyes still twinkled at him. His twinkled back, and his lips quirked up, just slightly, enough that she saw.
Nyota was eager to visit again, to see Saavik once more, now a teenager. It seemed so long since they had rescued her, and she had come so far, from a wild thing to an educated young woman. The shuttle trip took only a few hours, and Kyle was left in charge, with Scotty backing him up. Spock was convinced that there would be no problems, and refused to worry about it. Nyota sighed happily and climbed into the shuttle.
There was a ground car waiting for them at the spaceport, and they relaxed and let themselves be driven, arriving at his parents' country estate at dusk. Amanda and Saavik were waiting, obviously having been watching from some window for their arrival. Nyota hugged them both, and he let himself be hugged as well. And then the driver was carrying their bags in, and Amanda was urging them to the dining room, where end-meal waited. "Your father is on his way from the city, but said not to wait for him. You have been traveling and need to eat."
He raised one eyebrow at her. They had not been traveling that long. But they seated themselves, and began to eat and talk, something they would not have done with Sarek there. By the time he arrived, they were almost finished, and he joined them for fruit and cheese, saying it was all he needed. And then they sat out on the covered patio, with tall glasses of cold fruit juice, and spoke of many things. And Saavik kept bringing up StarFleet over and over again. He began to see a pattern there.
The next day, when he had a chance to speak privately with his father, he asked what the plans were for her continued education. And Sarek looked straight at him, and said "She wishes to go to StarFleet Academy, for StarFleet saved her when she was lost."
"And you are agreeable to this?"
"Her reasons are sound, and it is her life. I will not constrain her. Perhaps I have learned some wisdom since you were her age."
Wisely, he said nothing to this, only nodding.
He found Saavik sitting on the end of the bed in the room he and Nyota shared, speaking animatedly with Nyota. She had many questions about the Academy, and Nyota was answering to the best of her ability. When he came in, Saavik straightened up, and became more reserved, but he could tell she was struggling with it. He did not think she would ever be as comfortable with Vulcan reserve as he was, she had spent too many years as a wilding for it to come naturally to her. But she did try.
He spoke with her, to determine that she understood the commitment she must make. And found that she was well aware of what she determined to do. And so he commended her, on her decision, and went to the comlink, and brought up the application forms, and had her fill them out, and counter-signed them, and submitted them, while she stood beside him and quivered with anticipation.
"You must still finish your last year here, and pass all your certifications, and make excellent grades, and pass the physical exam."
"Yes, yes, I know all about that. I exercise every day. I run five meters every morning. I am determined."
"So I see." He could feel Nyota's amusement. And her acknowledgement that she herself had been this excited over going to the Academy.
It was a good visit, and he spent a number of hours, seated at the chess board with his father, speaking of many things. It was heartening to be able to do so, after so many years when they had not spoken at all. But when the time that they had said they would be away from the ship was over, they headed back to the spaceport, and their shuttle, and returned to duty, finding everything on the Enterprise just as they had left it.