T'Sela Is Watching
Today is the day. Spock and Nyota are coming for a week's visit. T'Sela has met them only once before, on Terra at the Embassy. Sarek has gone to meet them at the beam down point. He left earlier than need be, just in case. Though he would never say so, and still uses them all the time himself, Sarek does not really trust transporters any more. It is no great wonder why.
T'Sela finishes setting the table and puts out food and drink. She straightens a moment and rubs her back. The infant daughter she carries is active today,
Sarek's children, no their children, live on a starship. They will be unaccustomed to the heat. She will serve them salads and fruit. She hears footsteps. They are here. She greets them.
Spock is tall and handsome, so like Sarek, except for the eyes. Large, brown, and expressive ---those must be Amanda's. T'Sela had seen Sarek's first wife once, but only at a distance. Nyota is beautiful and graceful. Together, they are striking, reminding T'Sela of an advertisement she had once seen in a Terran fashion magazine. T'Sela had been young and curious when she had purchased it, a Cultural Institute student on a research trip to Terra. The cosmetics and clothing intrigued her, as did the advice columns on sex. She kept the magazine in secret until her first bonding. Then its appeal was gone.
As they are seated, T'Sela notes the fatigue on these young faces. Starship life must be as challenging as establishing a colony. She also sees something else. The young woman is unobtrusively rubbing her belly. "She must be pregnant also."
T'Sela's suspicions are confirmed at dinner. Nyota is five months pregnant with a son. "I will be both mother and grandmother." She is pleased.
Spock is not what she anticipated him to be. T'Sela has seen the echoes of Amanda in Sarek's mind. She was warm, loving, emotional --- very human. Spock is somewhat stiff, reserved, even more so than Sarek. Perhaps he is reacting to T'Sela, does not quite trust her yet. She has not known him long, but has noticed the "walls" he erects in the presence of other Vulcans. He can not be blamed for this. He is often the subject of rumor and gossip, none of it deserved as far as she can tell. A "friend" had tried to dissuade her from bonding with Sarek because of his "Earther " son. Spock has proven himself far more admirable than her "friend."
Her "new" children are musicians, among the best she has ever heard. The harmony of their voices in song reflects the harmonies of their love and their careers. They are well matched and T'Sela rejoices for them.
T'Sela and Nyota were shopping in New Shi'Khar. It was pleasant to be in the company of another woman, doing the simple and the mundane. For the last three years, much of T'Sela's energy had been focused on merely surviving. When she had first arrived on New Vulcan, she slept in a tent. T'Sela had been a daughter of privilege, an academic. It had been strange for her to cook her own food, clean her own living space, to wear patched clothing and to have to patch it herself. Now she actually enjoyed sewing and had made several things for the daughter she expected, T'Shana.
They find a shop with baby items. They each buy necessities, diapers and small T-shirts. Nyota spies a small boutique selling female clothing. A pale yellow, floor length dress catches her eye. It has a matching scarf. "You must try it on. It shall be my gift to you, my daughter." Nyota models it for T'Sela. They both agree that it is perfect, comfortable with room for expansion, so the dress is purchased.
"It will not be so attractive with boots or sneakers." Nyota had tried to pack lightly, limiting her choices to the practical.
"The we must also find you some sandals to go with it."
And so they did. What a pleasing morning. The two women reveled in each others company. In an unobtrusive, non-emotional way, of course.
The evening is equally pleasant, and her children have been asked to honor the community's celebration with their singing. They will be recorded just like professional musicians. Spock is relaxing, opening up a little more. She is developing a deep affection for him.
T'Sela and Nyota spend a busy morning rooting through the older woman's closet, looking for things that will cover Nyota's expanding middle. They do their nails. Nyota has brought peach nail polish. T'Sela has never painted her nails before. She remembers that fashion magazine and smiles ever so slightly.
At lunch time, Spock calls her Mother, not "Mother T'Sela". It is the first time and he does it unconsciously. He may not have noticed but T'Sela did. It meant the world to her.
That evening, as they practice their songs, T'Sela watches them. She remembers the husband and children that she lost. They will always be in her heart. However, now she has Sarek, T'Shana, Spock and Nyota. They are her consolation.