"Father?" T'sha asked as she walked home with her father and sister. Spock kept his eyes forward, keeping his thoughts to himself as he walked with his girls. If he was angry, he wasn't going to let his children know. He was not angry with them. It was directed at the girl who had bullied his children. He had his hands clasped behind his back, glancing over at his daughter, he kept his tone civil. "Yes?''
" Did I do the right thing?" T'sha asked as they stopped at the door to their quarters. Taking a deep breath, Spock thought about what he should say what he was thinking. " The Vulcan part of me does not agree with your choice of action," he began. "But the human part of me is proud of you for standing up to your bully in the way that you did," he added as the doors opened . Rachel hopped through the door first, heading towards the room that she shared with her twin sister.
"Mom might not be so proud of me," T'sha said, looking down at the deck as she walked through and headed into her room, not saying anything else. Sensing his daughter's doubt in her own ability, he waited a moment before he headed into his daughters shared room. Looking at Rachel, then at T'sha, who was laying on her bed, hugging her pillow close to her. As he sat down next to her, he saw tears going down her cheeks. Unclasping his hands, he gently wiped a tear away with his index finger. He took a deep breath. "Your mother," he began with calmness in his voice, "would have been proud of you for your actions."
The young girl glanced up at her father, looking like her mother when she was feeling uncertain about herself. Spock's heart began to break when she looked at her. "You feel like you have failed her," he posed. She nodded.
"Let me put your mind to rest, young one," he said, glancing over at the picture of his family. "She would be so very proud of you and your actions,'' he told her. "She would have done the same thing."
"What makes you say that?"
"Because she did the same thing more than once," he replied. "Your mother defended me on many occasions. She loved me. And you girls." Spock looked at his two daughters with a softness only a very select few got to see.
"She was a very brave woman," he said. As he spoke, he reached over and took the picture, holding it close to himself. " I love her with every fiber of my being," he went on. " I did right from the start. We met while we were both students at the Academy. She was a year behind me. She was in the top of her class. When she graduated, we got married on Vulcan. She had gained the love of my mother and the respect of my father. She could hold her own in any argument."
"She would say that sometimes logic is not enough. And she was right. Logic is the beginning, not the end," he put the picture back where he took it from. " In the months since she has passed, I began to feel like nothing matters. Nothing but you girls. Even duty meant nothing to me. I was scared to get lost in my own thoughts. It would always lead back to doubt. Doubt is useful to no one."
T'sha listened as he spoke. She had never heard about her father doubting anything. "Do you wish that you could bring her back?" she asked quietly.
"I wish at times that I could take her place. So that she can see how you two have grown in the wake of her death. She would be proud of the two of you. In how you've grown as people. "