Unfinished Business

Chapter 4 : Do You Know Where He Is?

December, 2270

Sarek was working at his desk in his home office when the comlink chimed. He was not expecting a call from anyone. Trying not to frown at the interruption, he activated the screen. There in front of him was the young woman that Spock had introduced them to on the Enterprise. He had called her his bondmate. "Nyota Uhura. I was not expecting a call from you."

"No, sir, I know that you weren't." She bit her lip, obviously not sure how to continue.

"Is there something I can help you with?" He sat and waited, wondering what the call was about.

"Do you know where he is? Can you tell me? Please." Her face was drawn, like she was only barely holding herself together.

He frowned. Surely she was not referring to Spock. If she were truly his bondmate, she could use the link to locate him. "To whom are you referring?"

"To Spock. I don't know where he is. I need to know that he's all right."

"Is there any reason to believe that he is in any difficulties? I do not understand what the problem is."

"Didn't he come to Vulcan?"

"My son has not been to Vulcan in some time." He watched the young woman's face dissolve into tears. She dashed at them with her hands, trying to regain her composure. She looked back at him, took a deep breath, and spoke again.

"I am sorry to have bothered you. If you hear from him, would you please let me know that he's all right?"

"Should the situation arise, I will ensure that you are notified." She did not look too happy with the way he had worded his statement, but she nodded and broke off the call. He sat there at his desk, trying to figure out what that had all been about. Was Spock not still on the Enterprise? And if not, why not? And where was he? He shook his head. He had no answers and insufficient information. This was not a problem he could solve, if indeed there even was a problem.

It was a week later, while he was in his office in the government complex, that he received the second unexpected call. This one came from someone at the space port. "Osu Sarek, I do not wish to disturb your work, but there is something which I must call to your attention."

"Please tell me what the nature of your call is."

"Only this day have we discovered, in the lost and found area, a duffle bag which was apparently accepted into the lost and found without being checked for identification. It has been sitting here for four months. It bears the identification marker of your son Spock, with his StarFleet address. We are sorry that we were unable to provide this luggage to him while he was visiting you. Please tell us what to do with it."

Sarek sat there stunned. Spock's duffle had been at the spaceport for four months? What possible explanation could there be for this. "Please have this duffel delivered to my office here in the government complex. I thank you for informing me of this." He would not dwell on what this meant. He would wait to examine the duffel, to see whether there was evidence of foul play.

When the duffel arrived, he thanked the messenger, and sat the bag on his desk, looking over it. It was not damaged in any way. The seals had not been forced, there were no stains on it. He carefully opened it, and found one uniform, and a number of pants and tunics, clothing that would not be out-of-place on Vulcan. There was also underwear. In an inside pocket, he found an unused ticket to Vulcan, made in the name of Nyota Uhura. And two tickets from Vulcan to Africa on Earth, one in Spock's name, and one in Uhura's. He sat down heavily in his chair, holding the tickets. There had obviously been a plan for both of them to come to Vulcan together, and she had not come with him. He did not have any idea why not. And then they had planned to travel to Earth together, to the continent of her origin. What had happened to change these plans? And where was Spock?

He turned immediately to the comlink, and searched the public records of four months ago, looking for injuries, or accidents, or episodes of violence - anything which might offer a reason for his son's disappearance. He found nothing. And then he searched, and found the security archives from the space port, and found the logs that detailed people leaving. It took him four long hours of searching, but he found him, striding unsteadily out of the spaceport with empty hands. Why had he left his duffle behind? Where had he been heading? Why did he look the way he did? There were too many questions and not enough answers.

He found himself delving through other logs, trying to trace Spock's progress through the city. He caught glimpses of him, here and there, always heading in one direction. And then he was on the edge of town, headed straight out across the desert, ignoring anything and everything about him. Sarek looked at the map he had been marking, and drew a straight line through all the points, extending it until it hit something. The monastery at Gol. He sat there stunned. Surely Spock had not crossed the entire desert on foot? He must know. He rose from his desk, and descended to the carpark, and entered his flitter, headed for Gol.

He talked long and hard before the adepts granted him permission to see his son. When he entered the small room that they had said was Spock's, his son was seated on the stone floor, his eyes cast down. Even wearing the rough robe that all the penitents wore, Sarek could see that Spock had lost far too much weight. His hair and skin were dull and lifeless, and his eyes, when he eventually raised them, were cold and empty.

He seated himself as Spock was, on the hard stone, with his legs crossed in front of him, his hands on his thighs. "It is good to see you, my son."

Spock looked at him with almost no curiosity at all. "Why is it good?"

"You are my son. I was not aware that you were here. Your mother is not aware that you are here. We did not know that you had left StarFleet."

"How did you discover my whereabouts?"

"The young woman from the Enterprise, that you introduced your mother and I to, called to ask if I knew where you were. I told her I did not. And then a week later, someone called from the spaceport, and said that your duffle was in the lost and found. After that, I was able to deduce where you were."

Spock looked back at him. "Nyota called you?"

"Yes, indeed she did. Why is it that she does not know where you are?"

"She did not wish my presence any longer." Spock's voice was hollow.

"If she did not wish your presence, why did she call me?" He could make no sense of what his son was saying. He needed to get him out of here, and under the care of the healers.

Spock hung his head. "I do not know. But she made it plain to me that she blamed me for what had happened. She hit my body. I… I had no wish to cause her more pain, and so I left. I did provide for her, so that she did not have to pay the bills and could travel back to Earth. It was the least that I could do." His voice was full of pain, and his eyes were shut, and he rocked slowly back and forth, as though trying to calm himself.

Sarek looked at his son, lost. He was not sure what had happened, but he did not think that Spock understood the event, either. "Spock, please tell me what happened, from the beginning."

And so slowly, with many pauses, in a choked voice, Spock told his father everything that had happened once they had left the Enterprise. And Sarek sat there shocked. His son had done something unspeakable. How had he ever thought that this was the correct course of action?

"Spock, you have not handled this correctly. And because of what you have done, I am unable to offer the protection of our house to her. I am extremely disappointed in you, my son. And you have left your post in StarFleet without permission, as well. These actions are simply not acceptable. You were raised to have more responsibility than that. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I can say nothing. I did what I felt was right. She was in so much pain." His voice broke. "I did not wish to cause her any further pain, so I left her so that she could heal. I had no wish to disturb her any further." A single tear rolled down his cheek. "She was my life, and now my life has no meaning, no reason to continue. I am nothing without her."

Sarek was shaken to his core. "You have misunderstood her. You left her alone when she was in pain and grieving, and did nothing to share her grief. You must accept responsibility for your actions, my son."

Spock shuddered, but he said nothing more. At length, Sarek rose, and retreated from that room, going to find the adepts again. "My son is broken. I would take him from here, and place him with healers."

"He may leave if he wishes, but you may not take him from this place against his will."

Sarek bent his head, his thoughts bitter. There was no way that Spock would go with him now, not in the condition he was in. He had lost his second son, as well as his first.