Sarek was reluctant to describe the days since his return from Io Station as the happiest of his life, since Vulcan logic still refused to relinquish its hold on him and ebullience was a thing experienced by other species, but he would not deny that he was exceedingly content. Each day began with Amanda's body curled beside his, often naked from a sexual encounter the night before.
Sometimes they would resume their nocturnal passions again in the morning if time permitted, but if it did not, they would adjourn to the shower together. He enjoyed watching her dress herself in the mornings almost as much as he relished in the undressing in the evenings. That she would share such a simple, intimate part of her routine with him felt like a rare breed of privilege.
When their clothes were donned and the business of hygiene was complete, they would take first meal together, then he would depart for work while she tended to her education, and in the afternoons after his duties had ended, he would walk with her from the university to the learning center across the street. When there was time, they shared beverages at Pete's Place—though Sarek switched to tea rather than continue to imbibe mochas—and he quizzed her to prepare her for her final examinations.
Amanda's competency in the subject of physics had advanced from abysmal to mediocre and her confidence in passing the course seemed to grow with each day. Their nights were occupied by preparing end meal together, which was how Sarek learned that her culinary prowess rivaled her talents in physics, but he was content enough to do most of the work and entertained the notion that she contributed by encouraging her to slice vegetables or add garnishes.
Amidst the idyllic routine, Sarek's guardedness over the threat of logic extremists began to wane. He still took care to vary his routine when outside his apartment and still walked Amanda to and from work every evening, but he was beginning to feel relieved he'd kept his concerns for their safety to himself. He had never wanted to needlessly alarm her and it appeared he may have overestimated the danger.
He hadn't seen the two men from the park again. Moreover, he hadn't even seen another Vulcan in more than a week, and that included Vedek. On Tuesday, Sarek went into work to discover his Vulcan colleague was absent and as the week wore on, whispers about his departure seeped into the customary gossip. Each rumor was more outrageous than the last but the general consensus was that he'd run off with his human girlfriend to a distant colony.
On Thursday, he arrived outside of the learning center to find Amanda standing on the sidewalk and scanning her PADD with a puzzled expression. "You're never going to believe this," she exclaimed upon seeing him, holding out the device as if its mere existence could put her vague announcement into context. "Or maybe you will, I don't know."
"Clarify," he urged, taking stock of the foul-smelling stain on her shirt.
Her eyes followed his to the yellow blemish and she frowned. "Amani threw up on me. Anyway, Mara and Vedek ran off together. Ran off. Like some kind of sordid romance novel."
"How do you know this?"
"She sent me a message on Monday night and I'm only just now receiving it. It literally just says, 'I'm moving to Kessik IV with Vedek. Sorry about the room.'" Amanda grimaced. "Which means it's probably a worse mess than it was the last time we saw it, if that's even possible. And where is Kessik IV anyway?"
"At the outskirts of the beta quadrant, near Klingon space," he replied.
Amanda's eyebrows darted toward her hairline. "That can't be right. No way would someone like Mara want Klingons for neighbors."
"She might," Sarek argued. "She discussed that very destination with Vedek just a week ago."
Her nose scrunched and her eyes narrowed, whether out of surprise or disgust, he couldn't be sure. "Since when do you have casual chats with Mara?"
"When we went to your dormitory to collect some clothing prior to departing for Io Station, I heard a portion of their conversation through the door while you were searching your bag for your keycard. Mara asked Vedek what they were going to do, he explained he had a friend on the Kessik IV colony, she seemed surprised that he would ask her to move there and inquired whether he expected her to drop her courses, and he reminded her she rarely went to class anyway."
"And you got all that by listening through the door?"
"Yes."
"Wow, you have good hearing," Amanda muttered, examining him through a pair of narrowed eyes.
"And if you recall, Mara did inform you on Monday that she withdrew from all her classes," he added.
She chewed her lip. "True. It's just…what would anybody want to go to Kessik IV for?"
"It is a distant colony world rich in dilithium resources," Sarek mused. "There is considerable wealth to be made in that system, for those tired of Earth's egalitarian distribution of resources. Its remoteness also makes it an attractive destination for fugitives. But it is illogical to speculate about the motivations of others, particularly people I do not know well."
"Mara's done a lot of things I don't exactly approve of, but I can't imagine her as a criminal any more than I can picture her as a dilithium miner."
"Do you have reason to doubt the validity of the message?"
Amanda rubbed her neck and thought to herself for a few moments before answering, "Mara has always been impulsive. She did just drop her classes on a whim on Monday. I guess it's not completely out of the realm of possibility…do you think Vedek is the type of person to do something like this?"
"Yes," Sarek replied without hesitation. As long as he'd known Vedek, his singular impression had been of a jaded hedonist eager for novelty.
"I guess you never really know what people will do to shake up their lives, I suppose," she shrugged, stuffing her PADD into her bag. "Part of me wants to see the state of my dorm room."
Sarek suppressed a fleeting feeling of longing. "Now that Vedek and Mara have vacated your room, do you intend to resume your residence there?"
"Are you kicking me out?" she asked, cocking her head.
"No, I implore you to stay as long as you wish. I am fond of your company."
"Only fond?" she queried, turning he eyes up toward him.
Sarek blinked. He knew what he felt for Amanda far exceeded fondness, but he was unsure how to convey this to her without being illogically sentimental. He searched for an adequate word but she interrupted his thoughts with a laugh and said, "Let's go home."
Sarek spent the entire short walk back to his apartment wondering if she'd genuinely meant to imply she thought of his quarters as her home. As the door closed behind him he asked, "What would you like for end meal?"
"Anything," she sighed. "But first I want to wash off the kid vomit."
They parted ways, her toward the bathroom and him toward the kitchen. Sarek scanned the contents of the preserver and considered making a light pasta meal, but thought he should seek Amanda's input before committing to the dish. The night before he'd prepared a Terran recipe called eggplant parmesan, only to discover she greatly disliked the vegetable from which the name was derived.
He had thought he would approach the wash room and knock on the door, but he was surprised to find it open and Amanda standing before the vanity mirror cleaning her teeth, a pair of flesh-colored underwear concealing her buttocks and a faded blue brassiere covering her breasts. He knew he should alert her to his presence but she was a marvelous thing to behold. It took nearly ten seconds for her to notice he was there and when she did, she gave him a slow smile.
"I had no idea you liked to watch half-naked women."
Sarek furiously beat back the flailing feelings of shame and remorse and cast his eyes toward the floor. "I did not mean to offend your honor, I merely came to pose a query about end meal. The door was open and I—"
Amanda turned to face him, her smile extending into the muscles around her eyes. "You've seen me naked before," she laughed. "You saw me naked this morning."
"Yes," Sarek replied. "But that had been with your permission."
"I think the fact that I'm standing here with the door wide open means I don't mind if you see."
He nodded. "Logical."
She inched toward him and rested her palm on his chest. "I could get all the way naked, if you want."
And with that, all thoughts of dinner were abandoned. They made love in the shower, which was not necessarily logical because Sarek did not require a shower, but he felt powerless to refuse her invitation. The logistics of mating while standing up in such a small, enclosed space posed unique challenges, but Sarek was willing to meet them. The sonic shower massaging their bodies as they explored one another added an extra element of stimulation that sent Sarek over the edge faster than he expected.
He held her for a time, kissing her jaw and throat as he melded with her. He felt his heart could burst for how much he loved her and not for the first time, he found himself longing to be her husband. He refocused himself to deepen their bond, but his trance was interrupted when Amanda gasped and pulled away from him.
"What is the matter?" he asked, curious what transgression he'd committed to cause her to recoil in such a way.
Her eyelashes fluttered and her cheeks flushed with a bright glow of crimson. "Nothing," she breathed. "Nothing at all. I just thought—it was like I could hear your thoughts."
He regretted his inattention immediately. He'd been so concentrated on reveling in bonding with her he'd neglected to fully shield his mind from her. His hands dropped to his sides and he moved to exit the shower.
"You want to marry me?" she blurted.
It wasn't a question so much as an accusation. There was a strangeness to her voice and he found he was angry with himself for revealing his innermost thoughts to her, even if it had been accidental. But he could not deny her allegation.
"I am aware you are hesitant because of our short acquaintance," he began.
"I'm also way too young," she replied, tugging on a pair of clean underwear. "I'm nineteen."
"Many Vulcans are already married by the age of nineteen and my species lives twice as long as yours," he countered, deliberately leaving out the fact that pon farr made such early matrimony necessary. How he wished he could return to a time several moments in the past when conversation between them hadn't been defensive and fraught with awkwardness. Even thought awkwardness was of course, illogical.
"I'm not Vulcan," she declared.
"No," he conceded. "You are not."
She pulled a loose cotton shirt over her head and turned away from him, though he could see her complexion reddening in the mirror.
"Why do you want to get married?" she muttered, yanking a brush through her hair. "And why me?"
"Because I believe we are compatible and I see no reason to search for any other mate when I am quite satisfied with you."
"It's just…we only agreed to date a week ago. Less than a week ago, actually. How can you be so certain I'm the one?"
"Because you have permitted me to share your mind and body," he answered in earnest. It suddenly dawned on him that he'd shared himself with her as well, but she had not arrived at the same conclusion he had, that it would be logical to formally join their lives together.
"I've never been with anyone like you," she admitted. Her voice was lower now and the nervous edge was gone from her tone. "I'll agree it feels very natural to be with you, but we have so little in common. I doubt we want the same things out of life. You're logical and I—"
"You are emotional," he finished. "But I want to share my life with you. I am no longer beholden to my family, nor am I in the service of my homeworld. I am free to choose my own path and it is a path I would like to travel with you."
Her eyes widened and she leaned over the counter. "I want children someday. I've never gotten the sense that you care for kids all that much."
Sarek hesitated. He'd considered this very subject quite recently but had failed to arrive at a conclusion. He always supposed he would have children one day, since children were necessary for the perpetuity of the species, but her point was valid. Any offspring he would have by Amanda wouldn't exactly be continuing the Vulcan race but rather, would be something new entirely.
Knowing full well hybrid children would never be accepted on his homeworld, they would have to be raised on Earth, and to raise children on Earth with a human woman meant coming closer to officially recognizing this cold, wet planet as his real home. Was he prepared to do that? When he saw the reflection of her blue eyes studying him in the mirror, he decided that he probably was.
"I do not know much about children. I will confess they have always been something of an enigma to me," he explained.
"But do you want them?"
"I would give you children if you asked me to."
"That's not the same thing as wanting to," she said.
"Are you fully convinced you will never want to become my wife?" he asked, dreading her answer.
She closed her eyes. "I didn't say that. I just feel so young. I want to graduate from school first and experience life a little before I settle down with someone. And whoever I do settle down with, I want them to want kids with me."
"I see."
When she opened her eyes, he could see her lashes were becoming damp. "Being able to bond with you has helped me learn more about you than most people could probably hope to learn about their partner in a lifetime. I just don't want to rush into anything."
"I respect your decision," he replied.
"Then why do things feel so weird between us now?" She crossed her arms and turned to him.
"Nothing has changed," he explained. "Your discovery of the true nature of my regard was inadvertent, but you are now aware of my intentions toward you and despite your rational trepidation, they remain unchanged."
"And you're really okay if we don't get married right away?"
"I am willing to be patient and permit you time to make an informed decision."
"And what if I decided I never wanted to get married?"
Sarek paused, allowing his mind time to reflect on her question. Was there any logic in forming such a close attachment to a person if he knew nothing permanent could ever come of it? Was it enough to just enjoy Amanda's company for an undefined length of time? He knew this was common practice for humans, but what did he, a Vulcan, think about it? Evidently, he took too long in answering her because she chose to break the silence by adding, "Like I said, I didn't say I'd never want to get married I just want to let things happen organically."
"And as I have already told you, I respect your decision," he replied. And he did respect it, but he wasn't certain he understood it and so he resolved to meditate on the matter after Amanda went to sleep.
They spoke little to each other for the rest of the night. They shared a lasagna meal made in the replicator for the sake of time and retired to bed early. It took Amanda far longer than usual to drift to sleep but when he was certain she was no longer awake, he crept from the bed and began an intensive period of meditation.
Amanda woke up alone. She'd tossed and turned for most of the night, only dimly aware that Sarek left the bed sometime after midnight. She found him trimming his hair in the bathroom and knocked gently on the door to announce her presence.
"Good morning," he said, dusting wisps of hair from the collar of his shirt.
"Morning," she replied, disappointed they wouldn't have the opportunity to shower together. "Can I make you some breakfast?"
"I am leaving for the office directly," he explained. "Mr. Fischer sent me a message an hour ago summoning me to a meeting to discuss the work I did on Io Station."
"Oh," she said, hating the persistence of awkwardness. "I don't have work tonight."
"I am aware."
"Maybe we could have an early dinner together? Study a little bit? Watch a holomovie or something?"
"If that is what you would like," Sarek replied, standing straighter to observe the results of his efforts in the mirror. "I must leave soon if I am to arrive at the appointed time."
He turned to leave the bathroom and Amanda stepped aside to allow him to pass but as he approached the threshold, she murmured, "Sarek?"
"Yes?"
She stood on the tips of her toes and brushed her lips against his. He leaned into the gesture and seemed receptive to it, but when they broke apart, his eyes were as neutral as they'd been when cutting his hair. She'd never been able to detect overwhelming affection in his demeanor—he gave nothing away and would have been a master at high stakes poker—but she'd always been able to sense that he liked kissing her. Now he bore the textbook Vulcan expression of calm stoicism and mild disinterest.
"I will see you this evening," Sarek said, gently touching her hand. "I must go."
The next nine hours were torture as she oscillated between thinking Sarek wanted to break things off and feeling convinced they were fine. He had said he respected her decision and she was resolute in her objection to being a teenage bride, but she couldn't help thinking she might have phrased things differently or broached the subject in a better way.
When her government class let out at 1630, she raced outside, expecting to see Sarek waiting beneath the stubby oak tree. He wasn't there. She scanned the perimeter of the building and the opposite sides of the street but he was nowhere in sight. She extracted her PADD from her backpack.
Grayson, Amanda
Stardate 2229.48; Time 1633
I'm just now leaving class. Are you at the apartment?
When he failed to answer after five minutes, she set out in the direction of his building, trying to ignore the anxiety in her gut. If Sarek were anyone else, the fact that he waited for her after class would have seemed like one of those disgustingly saccharine things that obsessive new couples did, but she was certain he did it out of nothing but a desire to be gentlemanly.
Sure, they'd only dated for real for a week, but he'd never not been there when she got out of class. She looked down at her PADD. He'd also never failed to answer one of her messages in a timely fashion either.
She let herself into Sarek's apartment with the keycard he'd given her. The fragrant aroma wafting from the kitchen momentarily made her forget her apprehension. She turned the corner into the small dining area adjacent to the kitchen and saw two place settings on the table.
"Sarek?" she called, thinking he would appear from the bedroom and ask how her day was. All she received in reply was silence.
It took less than a minute to search the small apartment and realize Sarek wasn't there, so she sent another message asking where he was and wandered into the kitchen to investigate the source of the smell. A small casserole dish sat on the top rack of the oven and a digital timer informed her it would be finished cooking in a little more than two hours, ready to come out of the oven at precisely 1900. She smiled, realizing she knew Sarek well enough to know that wasn't accidental.
She wandered from room to room with her PADD in hand for the next half hour, thinking he would materialize at any moment, or at least send word of where he'd gone and when he would be back. To keep her mind from running away with ludicrous possibilities, she flopped onto his sofa and activated his holocube.
A three-dimensional Vulcan newscast appeared over the coffee table, featuring a serious-looking woman rattling off words in a language Amanda couldn't understand while loopy text scrawled upward. She fumbled with the control screen to find a Terran channel but accidentally activated the universal translator and suddenly, everything was in Standard.
It was a dry story about some Orion and Ithenite dispute and she watched with genuine indifference until she saw a face she recognized a minute later. The man was more or less a copy of Sarek, though his face was more oval-shaped and his shoulders seemed slightly broader. When the newscaster uttered the name "Ambassador Silek," she knew she was seeing Sarek's brother.
"Ambassadors Skon and Silek are scheduled to return to Earth to ratify the agreement with the Orion Free Traders. This historic pact marks a significant advance in securing the safety of the disputed Ithenite Trade Zone."
She wondered if Sarek's brother coming home had anything to do with his unexplained disappearance but decided there was no point in guessing. Ten minutes drifted by, then twenty, which turned into an hour, then two hours. When the timer in the kitchen went off, Amanda solemnly pulled the bubbling, oozing casserole from the oven and set it on the trivet between the two place settings.
She slid into one of the empty seats, folded her hands in her lap, and tried to keep from shaking. "Where are you?" she whispered.
Several minutes ticked by and tried to swallow her panic. Sarek wasn't the type of person to step out and lose track of time, especially not in the middle of preparing a meal.
Grayson, Amanda
Stardate 2229.48; Time 1923
Dinner's on the table. Will you be home soon?
Grayson, Amanda
Stardate 2229.48; Time 1931
I'm getting worried, Sarek.
Message after message bound for Sarek's inbox left Amanda's PADD, but none were returned. She tried video conferencing with him, but his device seemed to be off. Tears brimmed her eyes and she stole a glance at the casserole, which by now was developing a hard crust. Who else could she call? Vedek? She didn't have his contact information and he'd run off with Mara. The police? They'd probably tell her to wait a day or two.
She gave up on messaging Sarek and started contacting hospitals. Two hours later, she gave up after talking to orderlies in hospitals as far away as San Antonio, all of whom swore they hadn't admitted any male Vulcan patients. She drifted into his bedroom and began digging through his drawers, looking for any clues, though she had to admit she wasn't certain what might pass for an indication that Sarek was safe. When she opened his closet and saw the neat rows of vests and slacks hanging in an annoyingly orderly fashion, she burst into tears, pulling one of his shirts from the hangar to sob into it. The fact that it smelled like him only made her cry harder.
Around 0400 hours, she abandoned her reservations and called the local police, but was informed that unless she had an emergency, she should call back during normal operating hours. Something snapped inside Amanda when the sergeant terminated the call. She grabbed her bag and without taking the time to form a plan, walked out into the pre-dawn morning.
It was six blocks to the nearest precinct and when she arrived, she was met with a gaggle of woebegone citizens waiting for their arrests to be processed. Most looked like the usual array of Friday night revelers who'd let alcohol and emotions get the better of them. It took several minutes for the woman behind the desk to notice Amanda standing in the midst of the fray. The officer activated the intercom that allowed her to speak through the glass divider separating her from the lobby and waved Amanda forward, asking, "Everything okay?"
"I uh-I need to report a missing person."
"That's usually done during regular business hours, which are—"
"Yes, I know. I already talked to someone. But this is different."
"Do you have reason to believe this missing person may be in immediate danger?"
"Well, I don't know. He's missing. I can't exactly ask him."
"And who is he?" the officer yawned, turning her attention to a scuffle that had broken out between two men sitting handcuffed to the bench along the far wall. She banged on the glass and yelled, "You're already facing drunk and disorderly charges! Why add assault to your list of problems?"
Amanda cleared her throat and waited for the officer to acknowledge her again, but she didn't. "He's my boyfriend. His name is Sarek. He's Vulcan."
"When did he go missing?"
"I'm not exactly sure. I saw him this morning—yesterday morning actually—when he left for work around 0730."
"So he hasn't even been missing twenty-four hours?"
"No, but—"
"You tried calling him?"
"Of course, but he—"
"Maybe he just went out for a walk."
"I came home to find dinner cooking and the table set. Dinner was ready at 1900 but he never came back to eat it."
"Maybe he lost track of time?" he officer mused, scrolling her fingers across a computer screen.
"He's Vulcan," Amanda reiterated. "And it's 0500 hours the next day. Who would honestly leave dinner to burn in the oven for ten hours?"
The woman shot her an exasperated gaze. "You tried calling hospitals?"
"Yes, and no one's seen him."
"Call his friends?"
Amanda buried her face in her hands. "Do you really think I would be at a police station before sunrise on a Saturday if I hadn't tried to track him down any other way?"
The officer sighed. "Any chance he got arrested?"
Amanda was about to laugh at the insinuation but held her tongue. She thought the chances of Sarek getting arrested were about as good as her sprouting wings and flying to the moon, but it couldn't hurt to exhaust every avenue of inquiry. "I don't know. Could you check?"
She gave the officer every detail about Sarek she knew, blushing furiously when the woman scoffed at the fact that Amanda didn't know his last name, but she came up empty-handed despite the scant information. Only one Vulcan had been arrested in the city during the past forty-eight hours and it had been a woman.
Amanda was directed to have a seat and was told an officer would take her statement when one was available. She slumped into a hard chair next to a man with a black eye who reeked of body odor and foul cologne and couldn't stop beaming as he told the story of how he was here to bail out his son following a bar brawl that he'd started and his son finished. Behind her, someone retched onto the floor, sending wet droplets of vomit onto the back of her calves.
It was noon by the time Amanda spoke to a detective, who turned out to be a small, sharp man who received her report without any sign of curiosity or friendliness. Detective Hildebrand had conceded that some of the circumstances surrounding Sarek's sudden lack of communication were unusual but he tried to reassure her by saying most missing persons cases ended with the person walking through the front door with a perfectly good explanation for their disappearance.
She exited the police station and wandered onto the sidewalk, feeling exhausted and hopeless. Was this Sarek's way of breaking up with her? She doubted it. Abandoning his apartment without a word while dinner was cooking was beyond illogical even for a human child. She strolled aimlessly along 6th Street and before long, her feet had instinctively carried her back to her dormitory.
Mara's rushed message had apologized for the room, but no apology could forgive the state Amanda found it in. The smell of mildew, rotting food, and dirty laundry nearly made her gag and she had to kick debris out of the way to clear a path to the lavatory. She wasn't sure whether what happened next occurred as a result of her being distraught about her missing boyfriend or being angry at Mara, but she began to emit a guttural moan.
She swept the clutter off the counter in a singular motion, sending vials of makeup and food wrappers skittering to the floor. She pulled a robe from the hook on the back of the door and screamed into it, then sank to the floor and began to cry, slamming her head hard against the metal reclaimator in frustration. The device clanked and fell open, dumping the unreclaimed garbage down Amanda's back, which only added insult to injury.
She cried and cried and wished someone would come ask her what was wrong but she was quite alone. When she finally managed to pull herself together and stood up, she noticed a thin metal card on the floor and a vague memory of the jammed bathroom reclaimator resurfaced. The shiny metal card, whatever it was, was probably the culprit. How many times had she told Mara the bathroom reclaimator couldn't handle metal? She turned it over in her hand, shocked when she realized what it was and doubly shocked when she realized what it meant.
It was a generic pregnancy test, the fancy kind that detected the pregnancy hormones of twenty-five different Federation species. Under the columns listed as Vulcan and human, there were tiny little plus signs. Amanda blinked several times. Mara was pregnant.
Amanda collapsed back onto the tile and stared at the card in her palm. It felt strange and monumental to know this thing, but she wasn't sure what it meant. Her mind reeled and suddenly a lot of things made sense. Mara dropping out of college, the tense discussions with Vedek, moving to a colony world. She leaned against the wall and sighed. "Wow."
Mara was going to be a mother, responsible for the care of a helpless infant. That was unfortunate for everyone involved. She might have laughed if she weren't so on edge about Sarek. After twenty minutes of musing and moping on the floor, she gathered her will and began the arduous process of decontaminating and organizing her dorm room. It would feel wrong to keep staying at Sarek's apartment if he wasn't there, even if he wasn't there because he was missing.
She threw herself into cleaning, desperate for any distraction from her current woes. It worked a little but she still checked her PADD every few minutes for a message from Sarek or the police or anyone, really. The bright sunlight streaming in through the window grew warm in late afternoon and then cool at dusk as the sun faded. Despite feeling utterly lost and afraid, she found herself forced to reconcile with a serious lack of sleep.
She startled awake the following morning and groped in the dark for her PADD, but just as she feared, there was still no news from anyone. It had been two days since she last saw Sarek and not only did no one know anything about his disappearance, she seemed to be the only person who cared. Then she was struck by a novel thought. Surely if Sarek's family knew he was missing, they would worry too, Vulcan or not. He had family. He had coworkers.
She couldn't just call his mom up and casually ask if she'd heard from her son and it was Sunday and Cary Cartographic was closed, but she knew where his boss lived. An hour and a half later, she stood on Garrett Fischer's porch, frantically ringing his doorbell. When he appeared in the threshold with a confused look on his face, she didn't bother with pleasantries.
"Have you seen Sarek?"
Garrett frowned. "He quit Friday night."
Amanda gawked at the man. "What?"
He shrugged. "It was the weirdest thing. He was at work on Friday. We had an early morning meeting. It was a regular day. Sarek left an hour early and then two hours later, he sent me a message saying he was resigning and going back to Vulcan."
A chill ran through Amanda. The thought of T'Vara unceremoniously discarding Adam without warning rolled through the back of her mind. "That can't be right."
"It seemed pretty unlike him, sure. But that's what I just told the police when they called about an hour ago. Did he not tell you he was leaving?"
"I'm the one who filed the police report," she explained, her voice cracking. "He normally meets me after class but he wasn't there and there was dinner and he wasn't there and argh—" A sharp pain tore through Amanda's chest, knocking the breath out of her and sending her to her knees.
"Amanda?" Garrett caught her as she fell, but she was lost in a swirl of nebulous shouting and indistinct agony.
The stabbing sensation continued to crescendo. When she woke in the hospital some time later, exhausted and groggy, Garrett had been replaced by a thin, Vulcan face. Her heart soared for a fraction of a second, but she wasn't so out of it that she couldn't immediately see it wasn't Sarek.
"Who are you?" she mumbled, rubbing her aching chest.
"She's awake."
"What's going on?" she croaked.
"Miss Grayson, can you hear me and understand my words?" asked a bright female voice to her right.
Amanda turned her head on the pillow to see a young woman in a nurse's uniform standing next to a biobed monitor. "Where am I?"
"The hospital."
"Why?"
"We think you had a panic attack."
She licked her dry lips, realizing her last memory was of standing on Garrett's porch earlier that day. "What time is it?"
"It's 2100 hours on Sunday night," replied a gruff voice from the other side of the room. That was when she noticed the human man standing by the door.
"What is all this?" she asked, trying to sit up as she scanned the faces of the Vulcan man, the human man, and the human nurse crowding around her bed through a set of bleary eyes. Her tongue felt lazy and slow. "Why are you here? Has anyone found Sarek?"
"We had to sedate you," the nurse explained, patting her shoulder and holding up a tricorder. "These officers want to ask you some questions but they're going to have to wait until I've looked you over."
The exam didn't last long and when the nurse was satisfied Amanda wasn't going to pass out or spontaneously combust, the two men returned. Amanda was feeling more alert with each passing minute, but her heart and mind still felt heavy.
"Miss Grayson, I'm Detective John Gold with the Federation Bureau of Investigation," said the human man, touching his chest to indicate he was speaking of himself.
"And I am Investigator Stevek with the Vulcan Ministry of Justice," announced the Vulcan man.
"Where's Sarek?" Amanda asked.
"Before we begin," said Gold, "I should explain that you have the right to have an attorney present—"
"Attorney?" Amanda sneered. "I haven't done anything wrong! My boyfriend is missing and you're acting like I'm a criminal?"
Investigator Stevek held up a PADD, seemingly to check some notes. "You are in a romantic relationship with Sarek of the S'chn T'gai family of Shi'Kahr?"
"Yes," she said, not entirely certain that was actually his last name but unwilling to admit that aloud.
"When was the last time you saw him?" Stevek asked.
Amanda squinted. "I filed a missing persons report with the police yesterday. I told them everything I know."
"Yes, we have that report," Gold explained gently. "We just want to hear it again in your own words."
"Where's Sarek? What is all this about?"
Gold opened his mouth. "Miss Grayson—"
"Where's Sarek?" she shrieked.
"Miss Grayson," Stevek interjected. "Are you aware Sarek's father and brother, the Ambassadors Skon and Silek, were killed earlier today, along with twenty other members of their staff and the crew of their diplomatic vessel?"
A black pit formed in Amanda's stomach and expanded rapidly, like a black hole sucking all the life from her. "H-his brother and h-his—"
"Yes," Stevek interrupted. "There was an explosion aboard their ship. The pair were scheduled to return to Earth."
Amanda watched his lips continue to form words but she was only half listening. So much information was floating around in her mind, all of it seemingly unconnected but nevertheless overwhelming.
"It does not appear to be an accident," Stevek finally concluded, his eyes trained on Amanda.
"You think they were...what? Attacked? Sabotaged?" Amanda mumbled.
"Preliminary forensic and circumstantial evidence suggests the explosion was intentional."
"Who would do such a thing?" she gasped.
The two men exchanged looks. "We are pursuing several leads, but as of right now, our primary suspect is Sarek."