Sorry for the tiny chapter, but it felt right to leave it where it's at. Also, sorry for not updating sooner. I had a little injury and wasn't able to function for a few days. - J.S.

Changes

Mariana was in a happiness haze as she sat on the return shuttle from work being flown by Shin. A bunch of great things had happened that day. A really good-looking Terran had asked her out while she was at work in the restaurant and on impulse she accepted. And that was the other thing. Work. The Vulcan Academy Hospital made her an offer of a job in their xeno-clinical section as a nurse. The Healer that had surveyed her initial work on Demek had been so impressed by it he'd recommended her for the job. At his insistence she'd sent them her resume and within an hour she'd received a return offer. She was stunned at first. She didn't think she would ever want to go back to nursing, but she found it was like a siren's call. She loved helping people.

She had to admit, taking care of dirty old men was a major pet peeve, but working in the ER of one of the worst ghettos had fried her brain over a year before. She had walked away from the profession thinking she would never want to do it again. But the moment it was dangled in front of her, she had accepted the offer in a heartbeat. It would be, thankfully, in a clinic, not an ER like before.

To top everything off, she was also going back into the Terran section that night to look at a two bedroom apartment. Things were changing for her again, fast.

As soon as she got home she told Dana the news about everything. "So, what do you think?" she finished up with.

"I'm really happy for you about the job situation, but why do you need a two-bedroom apartment?" asked Dana.

"Duh! I need a roommate. I'm not ready to live alone here."

Dana's face broke into a huge grin and she hugged her dramatically. "I knew you loved me!" And they both laughed. "But I don't even have a real job yet. I might not find anything for months, Mariana, that's not fair to you."

"It's all right. With the credits Sarek gave us when we first got here I already have enough from my portion for the first month's rent. I didn't go on any spending sprees or anything, so I was able to save most of it. And I get paid from my restaurant job for the first time this weekend, so I can get food with that money."

"Oh, I can give you the portion of my credits that I have left over for the security deposit. But you're going to have two jobs. Are you crazy?"

"Just until I start getting paid by the clinic. I'll see if I can juggle the restaurant hours until then, I think, and then I'll quit if I can't."

"Hopefully the internship will pay off by then and I can get a paying job after it's done…well at least those were the terms of the internship, that if I performed well I might get a job out of them. And I've been working my ass off while I'm there, you know."

"See! We're almost there. We won't have any furniture for awhile, but we'll have our own place. So come with me tonight to look at the apartment."

Dana thought about it as she looked around the guest house. But everywhere she looked, she saw reminders of Cassie. She looked down at Mariana's expectant face and gave in. "All right. Let's do it!"

####

Maya sat there, in shock of the information being given to her. "So she says I should tie him down when he falls asleep on day two?"

"Yes," answered Amanda, "she said that he's not going to sleep much after that…like barely. So tie him down when you can and leave him tied up for the next three days."

She honestly scratched her head. "Okay." But her eyes said 'I don't know about this'.

Amanda smiled. "You're going to be fine. We're going to be fine."

Maya sighed. "I got some news today."

"Oh? Did you speak to your sister?"

Maya smiled, "I spoke to her yesterday, she's fine. No, that's not the news I got. Sokam's been accepted into the VSA's Healer training program."

Amanda did a happy-dance and said excitedly, "Good for him!"

"Yeah, but…" She swallowed. "He gets a tiny compound with a house of his own right near the school because of his new status. Apparently Healers are a big deal here. So he just let me know that we're moving next week. I didn't want to put any stress on him since he's not exactly in his right mind now, but I'm a little bit upset he didn't talk to me about it first like he promised we would. After we're settled then I can get some kind of job, I guess. Other than that, I don't know what I'm going to do here. I still don't even know where I'm at. But I guess it's only normal he and I should have our own place and not keep sponging off of you guys."

Amanda should have been happy for her. But all she knew was that she'd just gotten the news that it looked as if Dana and Mariana were moving away that very weekend. And now Maya was telling her she would be gone the following week. "That's great," she said, though she didn't really mean it. "I mean, I know all of you felt badly for 'living off of us', even though we didn't see it that way-"

"I don't want to go, either, Amanda. But I guess it's better this way. We're all adults and living together like this, all sandwiched together and up in each other's lives…it can't be healthy. Even now, the thought of leaving you and Sarek and leaving Dana, Mariana, Shin and Zurel…" Maya's eyes filled with tears and she quickly wiped them away.

She tried to hold it in, but couldn't. "It feels like my family is falling apart!" sobbed Amanda.

Then the two of them were crying. They were sitting in Maya's old bedroom in Sarek's home, fortunately in private. "I feel like such an idiot crying about this," Maya laughed through her tears.

"I know. We all knew everyone would move soon, but I had no idea it would come this soon. And for goodness sakes, who am I going to talk to when I fight with Sarek?"

And then they were both laughing, tears still on their faces. "We're going to have to live with these Vulcans on our own, I guess," said Maya.

"We'll all still have each other," Amanda said with a small grin as she wiped her tears away.

"It's not like we're all moving across the planet or anything," agreed Maya. "I can come visit you anytime and you can come visit me. We can go and crash at Mariana and Dana's place anytime, too."

"But still, it makes me sad."

####

The day grew later and Sarek's thoughts about what he would say to the council were coming along, though not as quickly or coherently as he wished they could. It was less than three days until he had to stand before the Joint Council and he still had yet to finish his report. He knew he was in for another long session of meditation, that evening. Apart of him was also concerned about Demek. Why had someone inflicted harm on such an older man? What could he possibly have stumbled across? He already knew he wished to go and see Demek as soon as he was awake, which could happen at anytime.

He was also troubled by the prospect of T'Pau coming to see Amanda, which he knew was going to happen very soon. She had spent this time without coming to examine the Terran female only because, he knew, she was formulating some plan. It was her way. He had received information from an acceptable source that T'Pau had learned of Sokam's bond with Maya and was even more displeased about it than she had been about his bond to Amanda.

But what he needed to ascertain was how to protect Amanda from such intense displeasure. And he honestly did not know how that was going to happen. But one thing was certain. His wife would be respected, come what may. He turned from those thoughts.

He was more than troubled about Amanda having employment so far from home. His eyes closed as he drifted into a semi-meditative state. Honesty washed over him as he took out and examined his intentions concerning his wife.

He did not wish harm to come to her. It was the reason he did not want her so far from home. But he had to acknowledge, his wife's wish to not be idle was not in any way vain. It did not even have to do with pride. She was correct. She had spent a significant amount of time attending school and fueling a future career. And idleness was not the Vulcan way. For her to seek employment was commendable, vital even for her stability. But to obtain such work so far from home? Another part of him knew two days a week was not at all Amanda's idea of full time work. He knew she had compromised, yet again, for his sake.

He looked at it from that point of view, suddenly. How much had his wife given up? Although it was mostly necessary given the trouble she'd found herself in, he would never require her to sacrifice her entire life for his whims. And he had to acknowledge, his desire for her not to be in danger was clouding his perception of things. He wished to keep his wife at home with him at all times and he knew it was not logical for him to expect her to do so. She would certainly chafe at that requirement. A Vulcan woman would find it a waste of time to remain at home while not raising children. Why would he expect anything less of his wife? Simply because she was Terran?

He then thought of what he said to her when she asked what she should do while she remained at home. "Attend me." He had to wonder how, at the time, he considered that a wise thing to say to her while she was already angry. Perhaps he was growing a sense of humor the longer he remained tied to her? No. He had not meant to be humorous. He had only been attempting to protect his wife. But it was time for him, he knew, to allow her to become her own person in his world in whatever way she saw fit. Her satisfaction was what mattered, did it not? And if she was not satisfied with her life they would both suffer for it.