AN: Enjoy? Let me know!
A New Life
(One Month Later)
The Vulcans settled into their new lives successfully without raising suspicious, in fact, most of the humans treated them well. Davina proved to be a great resource when it came to adjusting to their new lives.
Mestral got a job as a cook at Pappy's Grill, Logan's restaurant the only one in Carbon Creek.
For a Vulcan from a noble family, Mestral's job as a cook was not without a sense of irony.
However, Mestral got the better end of the deal; Pappy's Grill was the social center of Carbon Creek allowing Mestral to observe human behavior. The same could not be said for T'Mir.
T'Mir's guarded manner rubbed people the wrong way, to them; she came off as arrogant, standoffish, and rude.
Her attitude even prevented her from obtaining a waitressing job, at Pappy's Grill after clashing with Logan.
However, Mestral needed T'Mir to bring in income to support their 'family' (they had convinced Davina and the others Stronn was their father) managed to use his growing friendship with Davina to obtain T'Mir's employment at Davina's store as a clerk.
The pay was low, but it helped and Davina was kind enough to offset the meager wages by lowering the rent.
So far, Mestral pulled ahead and became the new leader of the group.
Stronn for the first few weeks, stayed at home, kept house, and did 'research' by reading old newspaper clippings as he healed.
But needing an income to starve off the costs of rent and food, Mestral asked Stronn to take up employment as a plumber.
Stronn despite now having a limp due to the improper healing his leg took the job.
Soon the Vulcans develop a routine.
They ate breakfast prepared by Mestral in morning.
They washed.
They dressed.
They went to work.
T'Mir worked until close at the store, cleaning, stocking shelves, and sometimes depending if Davina was busy she even cared for Nell. A task the Vulcan was ill-suited for.
Nell sensing T'Mir's uneasiness caused trouble. She cried, she fuss, she laughed, she behaved, and she disobeyed. At Nell's age, a Vulcan child was already well on his way towards mastering his emotions.
She hated it.
Stronn went to people's homes for his job and like Mestral, got to know the residents who always asked him about his children.
He still couldn't believe Mestral introduced him as his and T'Mir's father.
Was he that old?
He dismissed the thought.
After all, he was only eighty-nine years old.
After work, Stronn went to Pappy's Grill for the human delicacy known as a milkshake.
Initially, they tried chocolate cake, but the properties contained in it made them fall ill.
Not sure what caused such an illness, T'Mir had them sample a chocolate candy bar she brought just to be certain.
The results were the same.
No chocolate for them.
Stronn's daily trips to Pappy's Grill ceased once he became the unwilling object of affection by a local and infamous resident, Ms. Stella Powers.
Stella was what the residents called a 'sleazy,' although the Vulcans had no clue as to what it meant.
Finally, Mestral managed to divulge a definition from Davina who thought, like everyone else, Stella's advances towards Stronn were 'cute'.
Davina described her as a 'sexually liberated woman'.
The Vulcans described her as 'emotionally handicap'.
She was also a drunk who often came into Pappy's Grill just to find Stronn.
When she did, Stella threw herself onto him, plant kisses on his face, and even went so far as to pinch his backside.
Startled, confused, embarrassed, and angry, Stronn had no clue as how to deal with Stella and he stopped coming to Pappy's Grill, Stella made phone calls to get Stronn out to her place to 'work' on her broken toilet, faucet, pipes, and whatever else she could think of.
Mestral had it the easiest.
He preferred working at Pappy's Grill. He also liked being in the company of Davina who had proven to be a useful asset during their stay on the alien world.
Often during his lunch breaks or when the restaurant was slow, Davina would stop by to chat it up with Logan and Mestral.
They would eat lunch which consisted of cheeseburgers, fries and malts, a meal Mestral found himself liking a lot.
While on Vulcan eating meat is considered taboo, on Earth, not eating meat was taboo. Nearly every culture he studied consumed meat and he found that by doing so he could increase his energy and managed his emotions among these strange, but interesting creatures.
During their meals, Davina talked about her family, but when pressed by Mestral into talking more about The Coalition she like the others hesitated.
Even with all their intelligence, The High Command never fully knew what happen to cause the war only the aftermath, a world left in ruins.
Davina carefully dodged around some parts, but from what Mestral could gather, the origins of the war were unclear.
"So they don't know who started the war?" T'Mir asked.
The Vulcans were home after another day of work.
"No. She was just a child when it happened, but she talked about the superpowers fighting over a shortage of natural resources."
"The humans did cause significant damage to their environment," added T'Mir.
"What else did she say," Asked Stonn.
Mestral shook his head, "All I know is these superpowers are no longer around, and all that remains what is known as The Coalition."
"The Coalition after the war, fed the people, provided shelter, medicine and hope, but soon their true intentions became clear. They wanted control and killed anyone who got in the way," Davina's words echoed in Mestral's mind.
The Coalition controlled everything from their headquarters in Tri Mane, now the wealthiest and most powerful city in world.
Wearing her rode, T'Mir made tea for herself and the others, "I hope we are able to leave this world before…"
"Before what?"
"Nell drives me insane."
Mestral's and Stronn's lips curved only slightly, T'Mir made an attempt at humor.
"Or before Stella attacks Stronn again," Mestral added.
Again the lips of the three Vulcans curved slightly.
"Tomorrow is Sunday so the store is closed," T'Mir mentioned, "I think I will get some work done."
"Monitoring the communicator for a signal isn't going to make The High Command come any faster. We don't have any guarantee they even received it," Stronn remarked.
"Just because you have given up doesn't mean I have."Mestral finished washing the dishes, "Why don't you come with us to the baseball game?"
T'Mir preferred to limit interactions with the residents as much as possible.
"It helps us to integrate ourselves within this community," Mestral continued.
Baseball was the major social activity in Carbon Creek and in a town of no more than three hundred people it was a big deal.
Every other Sunday, the residents flocked to the park to watch the teams play.
Mestral having been interested in the sport played on the team earning fans for his speed and wining games.
None suspected anything.
Stronn liked the games too although because his leg and his 'old age' he couldn't play. Instead, he would go with Davina and Nell to watch.
Afterwards, many of the residents flocked to Pappy's Grill for food, music, dancing, and socializing.
The Vulcans avoided dancing, but used this opportunity to study human's recreational activities.
"Give it a chance T'Mir," Mestral pleaded, "The humans already think you look down on them."
"Yes," said Stronn who was laid out on the sofa fixing the radio, "Humans don't like that. It draws unnecessary attention."
"Humans are inferior," T'Mir responded, "But I will come to the game."
"Thank you."
(The Next Day)
On baseball Sundays, all business shut down and everyone filled the bleachers in the park to watch the two teams play.
The cheers of the crowd, the swinging of the ball, and the actions of the players all manifested in a crescendo of excitement simulating the emotions of the Vulcans.
Stronn and T'Mir sat in the stands with Davina and Nell as Sela played with the feet of an annoyed T'Mir.
She hated dogs.
Being so young, Nell couldn't focus on the games for long and kept poking Stronn and holding up her two little fingers to get his attention.
Stronn extended the tips of his fingers and used his telepathy to transmit the emotion of calm to the little girl and Nell sat still for the rest of the game in her mother's lap.
This method was used by Vulcan parents to assist their children as they learned how to control their emotions as well as by bonded Vulcans to express themselves in ways words simply could not.
In fact, Mestral had been the first to use such a thing on Nell when the little girl kept poking him.
At first, T'Mir warned Mestral about using such methods on a non-Vulcan as they feared contamination, but after spending several hours babysitting, T'Mir found herself doing the same thing.
Nell found the experience 'fun' and she often ran around extending her two fingers to the Vulcans.
Several people approached Stronn, congratulating him on 'raising such an athletic son'.
"Wow! Look how fast he's running!" Davina pointed at Mestral who had just run to third base.
T'Mir lips curved slightly, "Like father, like son."
Both she and Stronn placed bets on Mestral winning the game.
The extra money helped and whenever Mestral won, folks would always comment on how great he was and how jealous they were of his natural talent.
Truth was, by Vulcan standards, Mestral was about as weak as they come.
Still, the games provided a great outlet and T'Mir, who by now had enough Sela, picked the animal up, and placed it in her lap.
Could Vulcans transmit calm to an animal?
She would have to try.
Extending her two fingers she touched the top of Sela's head and tried doing the same thing she had done to Nell.
"What are you doing?" Davina asked.
T'Mir opened her eyes, "Just trying to calm Sela."
Davina's face appeared confused and then as usual she laughed, "You are so weird. Touching a dog on the top of her isn't going to do anything."
Stronn noticed Nell slowly starting to move around again, she lifted her head and reached over to poke at his shoulder.
Davina turned to face the game and T'Mir quickly transmitted the feeling of calm to the animal.
To her surprise, it worked, and Sela lay silently on her lap.
The crowd cheered again, Mestral won the game.
His son had won the game!
The Vulcans went to Pappy's Grill along with Davina, Nell, and Sela.
The placed was backed as everyone surrounded Mestral and praised the Vulcan for a great game.
T'Mir found herself feeling an unusual emotion.
Jealousy?
No, it couldn't be. Vulcans are incapable of feeling jealousy.
Even so, it wasn't lost on her that since arriving on Earth, Mestral adapted effortlessly into human culture even gaining admiration for his baseball skills.
Even on Earth, Mestral's privilege managed to benefit him.
"Hey cutie!" A woman's voice whispered in Stronn's ear.
It was Stella.
"Hello Ms. Powers, I am here to celebrate with my son," Stronn wanted to run he hated the attention.
"Your son is hot! But not as hot as his daddy!" Stella was drunk and her words slurred.
Confused at how Mestral's body temperature had anything do with the conversation, Stronn was thankful when Davina pulled Stella away from him.
The rest of night went by uneventfully; everyone ate, danced, and drank.
Stronn and T'Mir found themselves sitting at a table with Melvina and her twin Roy who kept arguing. She noticed Mestral preferred the company of Davina and spent as much time as he could with her.
Surely pretending to be human helped Mestral obtain information about human culture, however, Mestral and Davina often had lunch, went for walks and he even stopped by her store to help with shipments.
Just then the doors opened and the restaurant fell silent expect for the sounds of Nell playing with her doll.
In walked, Kaden and his brother Cale.
Davina stood up and walked towards, Kaden and hugged him, "You missed a good game today!"
Kaden smiled as he wrapped his arms around Davina's waist, "Sorry, but I had work at the mines." Despite his smile, Davina could sense he was deeply troubled.
Cale walked towards the counter and was handed a plate of food from Sharon, Logan's wife.
Behind him walked two more men, Saren and Lee who followed Cale's example.
Each of the four men stood around six feet tall, had a strong built and was of varying shades. Kaden and his brother Cale, was pale with long brown hair, while Saren was dark-skinned like Davina and Lee was pale but with slanted eyes and black hair.
Despite their intimidating and commanding presence, the townspeople respected them and surprisingly the men did the same.
Kaden ran the town and he used his contacts in Tri Mane and the mines to Carbon Creek's advantage. With the mines providing valuable minerals and fuel in the form of coal to Tri Mane, The Coalition kept their distance, which for a town full people with secrets was vital.
Kaden felt threaten by Mestral's growing friendship with Davina. A woman he had been courting for nearly a year and made it clear he didn't want the Vulcan around Davina.
However, Saren and Lee was more relaxed and seemed to enjoy Mestral's company with Kai often asking him if his sister, T'Mir was available.
"Is everything okay Kaden?" Logan, an older man and a well respected one, asked.
Kaden nodded his head, "Everything is fine. We just finished delivering another shipment to Tri Mane."
Logan chuckled, "That's two shipments in one month."
"Those bastards are greedy! They don't care if we go cold during the winter!" Sharon spat.
Logan tugged his wife's arm, "I wouldn't worry about it. Kaden and his friends will provide."
Davina hugged Kaden tighter and Kaden rose up his arm, "Let's continue to celebrate!"
The crowd cheered and the festivities went on into the mere hours of the morning.
(Dawn)
The humans came out of Pappy's Grill looking like the zombie creatures, the Vulcans seen in the movies, they were tired, and their eyes were blood shoot.
However, everyone was happy.
"Goodnight Mestral! T'Mir! Stronn!" Davina called after them. She carried a sleeping Sela as Kaden held Nell over his shoulders.
"Goodnight!" The Vulcans shouted back.
"Oh, T'Mir don't worry about coming in so early today, I need to sleep off this hangover!" Davina smiled drearily and followed Kaden to his home for the night.
The Vulcans on the other had never drink nor did they require as much sleep as the humans. They would go home and catch up on some of hobbies they picked up.
For Stronn it was his growing collection of ships.
For T'Mir it was reading poetry.
And for Mestral, it was his photography collection.
Davina had introduced it to him.
For a few hours, Carbon Creek remained silent; frozen in a perfect moment and each of the Vulcans had fleeting thought.
Would it be so bad if they had to live out the rest of their lives here?
An: I hope you like it. I based the Nell character off my niece. She loves to poke people!