No ownership, no profit! It's such a shame!

The Sins and Shame Of The Past II

There was much Sarek wanted to ask Trethis. Did he know where Sybok was? Sarek did not even know if Sybok still lived. He had never formed a parental bond with him as he had with Spock. Sarek had been relieved when Sybok had move out of his house and into a dorm at the VSA. Sometimes, a year would pass before Sarek would even think of Sybok. Now, on the eve of potentially life-threatening surgery, Sybok was all he could think of and he was ashamed of himself. His older son's face haunted him.

This state of mind was not could for his health or his chances of recovery. Sarek cleared his mind through meditation. He would speak more with Trethis after the surgery.

T'Sela was certain that the small room must have been Amanda's study, though there was no trace of her left, save the color on the walls. They had been painted a pale blue-green. T'Sela found the color soothing. She would not have it changed. The room had excellent natural light and would make a fine drawing studio, as well as a place for meditation. There was enough room for her to perform her stretching exercises. Yes, this room would do. There were no ghosts in here.

Sarek had rested quietly. T'Sela managed some rest herself, though she kept the bond wide open in case Sarek needed her. He was not impressed with his breakfast of tea and vegetable broth, but due to the proximity of the Vulcan heart to the stomach, Paula had forbidden heavy food for the twenty-four hours prior to surgery. She had also prevented him from making calls to New Vulcan or carrying out any official business. By lunch time and his second meal of broth, Sarek was like a caged lion.

However, Paula had said that Sarek could take some light exercise, as it would benefit his circulation. Recalling T'Sela's interest in the pool, he requested that she find their swimsuits. They would go water walking.

By Terran standards, the dark green one-piece suit was quite modest. However, T'Sela felt a bit awkward in it. This was the least amount of clothing she had ever worn outside of her bedroom. Her reaction was not logical, as Sarek had seen her in less than this. Most of her bruises from the ordeal of Pon Farr had faded, so there would be no cause for embarrassment should others come to use the pool.

Most of Sarek's damage had healed as well. The sun shone through the skylight in the roof, revealing Sarek to be a fine specimen for a male in his nineties. T'Sela was not at all displeased by what she saw.

He descended the steps into the pool and stretched out his hand to her. The water was above his waist. She had never stood in water deeper than her knees, and then only in a bathtub. It was a little frightening, but she took his hand. Fear of water and drowning was almost innate in Vulcans. When she stood on the bottom of the pool, the surface of the water hit her at mid chest. It was warm, a temperature humans would consider perfect for a hot bath.

Keeping hold of her hand, Sarek walked them back and forth across the pools width several times.

"See, my wife, there is no cause for fear."

Then he released her hand, that she might walk at her own pace. When Sarek was satisfied that she was at ease in the water, he stuck his head under and swam to the deep end and back.

T'Sela sent fear and anger to him through the bond.

"I thought that you would die!"

"I am sorry that I alarmed you. Swimming is pleasant exercise, but probably more taxing than is good for me right now. I did not learn how until Spock left for Starfleet Academy. He learned in just a few days. It took me several months."

"This exercise is pleasant?"

"Very."

"Then, Sarek, you must teach me to swim when you have recovered."

"It will give me something to look forward to."

Paula reviewed the plan for the procedure and the image studies of Sarek's heart. She would be replacing the mitral valve with a prosthetic one. It was not all that complicated, just time consuming. Sarek's heart would have to be stopped and his blood circulated by a pump. The blood would be filtered to separate out clots, so there would be a loss of volume that would have to be replaced by transfusion. Too low a blood volume would cause decreased oxygen to the brain, which was a greater danger to the complex Vulcan organ than it would be to a Human's.

Paula tried not to dwell on the fact that her patient was an important political figure, or that he was related to her friend Sirin, or the father of Nyota's bond-mate Spock. He was just her patient, important in his own right. She would do her very best to keep him alive.

In the afternoon, Sarek received a subspace call from Spock and Nyota. His son did a good job of veiling his concern about the surgery. Nyota's worry was a little more obvious. She has become fond of Sarek. She also wonders how Spock would handle it if Sarek were to die so soon after Amanda. Sarek tells Spock that Sipel would be able to provide him with any legal documents he might need. They did not speak of the reason they might be required.

T'Sela readied Sarek's duffel for the hospital. He would need very little, as he would most likely spent the first few days post-op in a healing trance. He asked for a few old, paper-bound novels by a Terran author named Tolkien. Sarek had first become interested in them when someone had compared him to a character named Legolas.

Sarek received broth again for his dinner. T'Sela had no appetite. When the meal ended, Stohl the driver took them to San Francisco General. Sarek would be spending the night there, attached to a heart monitor. Paula wanted an accurate assessment of his condition. He would receive medication to induce sleep.

T'Sela would have stayed the night by his bedside, but there was no logical reason for her to do so. He would be drugged to sleep and closely monitored. Sarek wanted her to be well rested in case anything unforeseen happened. Since their bonding, they had not spent more than a few hours apart. T'Sela rested on her bed, but she could not sleep.

She went to her study in the early morning hours, making sketches of Sarek in the pool. At dawn she returned to her room to shower and change. T'Rysa had her breakfast waiting for her, and a small basket with fruit and juice for later. She had just finished eating when Stohl arrived to take her back to the hospital.

T'Sela and Sarek had a few minutes to spend together before he was taken away to surgery. She felt Sarek's warm and calming presence through their bond. He sent her affection and confidence. She sent him peace and security. They entwined fingers for a few moments before the medical staff bade her leave.

T'Sela waited in a comfortable, private lounge. Sarek had wanted her to return to the Embassy, but as he was now unconscious, he had no say in the matter. When she had been there only a few minutes, Sirin, Sarek's nephew came and introduced himself.

"Paula has asked me to join her in surgery today, to help monitor Uncle's condition. Paula has done this procedure many times and she is very competent. The cause for concern is minimal."

It was not logical for T'Sela to find comfort in Sirin's words, but they comforted her just the same. She occupied herself with holomags and her sketchbook. When she grew weary of those, she walked in the hospital's indoor garden.

Sarek had been extremely fortunate. When Paula removed his damage mitral valve, she found both a small clot and a tear in the chamber wall close to where the valve attached to the heart muscle. This must have happened in the past twenty-four hours. What had the idiot been doing? Strenuous exercise by the look of. Paula would try to remember to ask him when he woke up.

She replaced the valve and easily repaired the other damage. The procedure had taken over nine hours and used almost three liters of blood. Paula was exhausted, but Sarek would make a full recovery.

T'Sela sat next to Sarek's bed in the ICU. She held his hand as she felt his transition from anesthesia to healing trance. He chided her in passing.

"I told you to stay at the Embassy."

"You had no say in the matter."

When Sarek's healing trance was well established, T'Sela finally returned to the Embassy exhausted. He would mostly be in that state for a few days. There would be nothing T'Sela could do for him.

Trethis came to the hospital to take Paula home after her long day in surgery. This would be the last one she did until after their daughter was born. The doctors estimated that there were about two months left in the pregnancy, but it was difficult to tell with hybrids.

When Paula had showered and changed into her nightgown, Trethis gave her a light meal. He gently massaged her neck and swollen feet and then lay next to her while she drifted off to sleep. They had high hopes for this pregnancy, this child. One had already been lost to them.

Trethis was feeling restless. So many memories had been stirred up in the past few days. He attempted meditation, but calmness escaped him. He walked to his desk and took the photo from the bottom drawer. A beautiful Vulcan female held a small, smiling child. Senlal and T'Veri. Trethis shook his head and sighed.

"T'Veri."

Trethis should never have thought of her or spoken her name aloud. The ancient Vulcan mystics had said that speaking a name could call forth a person's katra. He had never believed it, but there she was. T'Veri's presence was in his mind. She was in distress.