Sorry for the delay! Here is the next chapter! As always please review! Thank you!
As soon as Amanda finished taking a shower, she dressed in a modest light blue dress. Deciding it was the only presentable day-dress that she had bothered to take with her. It was a V neck with a high collar and a one piece, reaching just above her knees with a small white belt across her hips. She placed her wet hair in a bun, and a small amount of make-up, not having enough time to do much else.
She slipped into white heels and left out the door, where Lario waited for her in the hallway.
No sooner did he see her, he walked briskly to the turbolift.
They took the turbolift to the first floor and walked past Starfleet alumni.
They turned and stared no doubt wondering who the girl was and how important she must be to have a military escort.
Amanda struggled to keep up with Lario as he almost sprinted down the steps of the building to a waiting black limo.
She stared at the pristine black vehicle as it hovered several inches off the ground. Lario opened the door in the back and waited.
Amanda didn't move. A limo?
"Miss Grayson?"
Amanda snapped out of her reverie and got into the large vehicle before Lario could say another word.
The limo, inside, was large. There were two couches, one that stretched long ways across the limo and the other one width ways, which was the one she was sitting on. There was a small snack bar no doubt for entertainment.
"Computer," she found herself saying.
The computer on the limo chirped in response.
"Water, please."
A small cup appeared on the bar and the clear liquid poured out of a spout on top of it. As soon as it finished, Amanda gulped the water down.
The rush of getting ready quickly and making it in the limo made her forget her worries from the morning about the meeting. But now that she was in the limo, on her way to see the Ambassador, her hands began to shake and she remembered everything again.
She needed information on the Ambassador.
Amanda kept her head low as she made her way to the front of the limo. She knocked on the small window that separated the driver with the rest of the limo.
The window automatically rolled down and Lario's green eyes looked to Amanda's in the rearview mirror. "Yes, Miss Grayson?"
"What's your name?"
He looked puzzled but he answered anyway. "James Lario, miss."
"Please," she told him. "Call me Amanda."
He looked even more confused.
"Can I call you James?"
After a second, he nodded. "Yes. Are you all right, Miss Grayson?"
"Amanda," she corrected. "And yeah, I'm okay." Then she took a look at her hands. They were shaking. The butterflies in her stomach were growing in number and torturing her stomach. "All right, I'm nervous." She drummed her fingers on the leather seat. "I'm very nervous."
His eyes went back to the road. "There is no reason to be nervous, Amanda."
"How long have you been in Starfleet?"
He straightened in his chair, almost like his chest was swelling with pride. "I'm in my last year."
"So you've been here for a while."
He nodded. "Yes, actually, after graduation in a couple of months, I'm scheduled to be on the SS Kelvin, Starfleet's newest Starship. I'm on the waiting list."
She chuckled, "I bet you didn't sign up to be a babysitter."
He chuckled too. "I was hand-picked by the General to stay with you at all times.
"It's still babysitting."
He laughed.
She smiled. "Finally, a laugh, I was starting to suspect you were Vulcan by the way you were acting."
The scenery blurred past and they were winding down around some hills.
"Speaking of which," she said, getting comfortable in her seat. "have you know the Ambassador long?"
"No."
She felt her hope sag.
"I don't know him. This was the first time I have even been in the same room as him."
"Perfect," Amanda sighed. "I don't suppose you know about what happened yesterday when I first met him."
He interrupted. "You tried to shake his hand. I have a buddy stationed at the Space Station that heard about it."
Amanda wanted to crawl into a hole. Crawl into it, hide and get out in five hundred years when everyone forgot about it. She groaned. "Kill me."
Lario laughed.
"That's not funny, James!" She groaned again, feeling nauseas. "I'm going to be the reason Vulcans and humans go to war, I swear it."
"As far as I know," James stated, nonchalant. "The Ambassador was very understanding about it. He is asking you over to the embassy, right?"
"Somehow," Amanda told him. "I'm sure his brother had something to do with it. He is the most amiable of the two. He's been living in D.C. for years now."
"Yes, I know," James told her. "But know this, Miss Grayson-"
"Amanda."
"Amanda. He is the one who wants to talk to you, not his brother. Ambassador Sarek will do what he wants, no one influences his decision. The only one to do so is the Vulcan High Council. His brother might have said something but ultimately, the Ambassador will do what he wishes."
Amanda sighed. "I'm going to be boiled alive, I know it. Boiled alive."
James laughed pleasantly. "I will be with you at every moment. The mean Vulcan won't do anything to you."
No sooner did he say that, the car pulled up to a large gate. There was no security but there was no need to. As soon as they pulled up to the larger than life gate, it opened and James pulled up to a large house.
The home had a large fountain in the middle of the pull-in driveway and the entrance of the home had large columns. The home was large and plain but beautiful and unlike any architecture she had seen on Earth. She knew it had to be Vulcan.
She didn't know how long she stared at the marble columns, large two-story windows or the double-door grand entrance but it was long enough that James had enough time to get out of the limo, walk around and open the door for her.
She got out slowly and took in the scenery. The house was high in one of the hills, so high that it overlooked the city and the traffic below.
"What is this place?" She asked.
James didn't look at her, he looked straight ahead at the house, and his back was pin-straight again. The military training overtaking him again. "The Vulcan Embassy, Miss Grayson."
Amanda gulped before going up the steps and to the doors. James pressed a button next to the turbo doors and waited like she did.
Not much time passed before a woman answered the doors. She was Vulcan, Amanda saw. She had the same features as Sarek. Her eyes were dark and her long flowing hair just as dark.
Her porcelain white skin was flawless and Amanda found she was jealous.
She bowed her head. "Moi loma."
James bowed his. "Moi loma."
Amanda bowed her head slightly.
James spoke. "Miss Amanda Grayson has an appointment with Ambassador Sarek."
The woman didn't look at her. "This way please"
They followed obediently, following the woman's slow pace. Amanda looked in awe at the sculptures in the room. The columns extended throughout the grand room they were passing. There was a balcony from the second floor overlooking the first floor and Amanda saw that there were numerous doors.
At the end of the grand room there was a large window that took up the entire wall. The window looked to a large garden. The garden had numerous flowers and foliage. She thought it was the most beautiful garden she had ever seen.
Before coming to the window, the woman turned to a pair of double doors.
She turned. "La-kuramano S'chn T'gai Sarek would like to see Miss Grayson alone."
Amanda, terrified, glanced at James, who stepped back. "Of course."
The woman touched a pad next to the turbo doors.
"Yasha."
Amanda froze, she recognized that voice.
The doors opened and Ambassador Sarek was on the other side looking at some papers at the desk he was behind in the middle of the room.
Amanda stepped forward, just enough for the doors to closer behind her.
Sarek didn't look up at her but she couldn't look away from him.
She could hardly move now that she was alone in the room with the Ambassador.