found this in my WIP file, although it appears to be completed.  I don't think I've posted it yet though.  I have no idea why.  At any rate, here it is.

Title: Secrets

Rating: PG

Codes: Sa/Am, Sp, Silek

Summary: A response to the 100 Theme Challenge: Secrets. On Vulcan, all is silent within the family.



Spock shook his head with bemusement.  "I do not understand why you still insist on giving him gifts for occasions he refuses to celebrate."  He was visiting while the ship was on a rare layover on Vulcan.  He didn't even realize it coincided with the anniversary of his father's birth until his mother sprang this little shopping expedition on him.

Amanda glanced side-long at her son.  "It's his birthday."

"An occasion Vulcans do not acknowledge and one Sarek has repeatedly requested you not to indulge in."

Amanda shook her head.  "He doesn't mean it."

Spock glanced past her to Silek, his father's younger brother, who flanked his mother's other side, his arm interlocked with her.  It was rather scandalous, on Vulcan, to walk in such a way, but then Silek was a rather unusual Vulcan.

"Of course," he murmured darkly, "because my brother is known for both his humility and tendency to say that which he does not mean."

She slapped his arm playfully.  "I buy the both of you birthday presents. You like it, don't you?"

Silek met his nephew's gaze for a brief moment.  "Some of us are more appreciative of your efforts than others."

"Look at that head wrap.  How pretty!"  Amanda ignored him and stepped away to admire some wares in the shop window.  Her son stepped closer to look. "Sarek appreciates it, you know.  He just shows it," she smirked at her brother-by-marriage, and oldest friend, "in private."

Silek's eyes widened, his brow lifting slightly in amusement.  "I do not understand, Amanda.  Please elucidate."

"Please don't!" Spock quickly interjected, giving both his elders a dark look.  He released a small sigh.  He was beginning to see why his father preferred his brother's visits to be limited.

The trio moved further along until Spock excused himself to enter a store and make a purchase.  When he returned Silek and his mother were seated on one of the shaded stone benches, heads together as they admired an antique book Silek held in his hands.  They had procured refreshments while he was gone.

"What have you purchased?"

"It's a book of Andorian fairy tales," his mother answered.

"For Father?"

"As this is written in Andorian it would be quite useless in your father's hands," Silek stated factually.  He thought a moment then looked up at Spock.  "Can you read it?"

Spock looked down at his uncle's upturned face.  "Unfortunately, no."

"I never had much chance to interest Spock in linguistics," Amanda explained.  "Sarek had him bedazzled with computers and circuits before he could even walk."

"Yes.  I remember."

"Oh!"  She reached for another cup that was hidden behind Silek. "We bought you one too.  It's kaasa juice."

Spock took the cup, nodding his gratitude, and took a long swallow.  He
still needed to acclimate after his long time off the planet.

Silek closed his book then stood and slid it into his satchel.  He held out a hand toward Spock to take his purchase as well, and placed it with along with all their previous purchases.  "Shall we continue?"

They meandered along the walkway, stopping to admire various wares displayed, at times entering a store to browse further.

"Ooh, look!"  Amanda moved up to a storefront, pointing at a stationery set inside.  It was champagne-colored stationery with gold flecks along the border, and a matching pen set.  "You know how Sarek likes to send paper messages when he can."

"I should think it would please him," Spock said.

"Indeed.  Aesthetic and practical," Silek complimented.

"I'll be right back!"

He watched her until she disappeared into the store, then turned to Spock, who was watching him through narrowed eyes.  "I understand you find your work in Star Fleet satisfying."

"Affirmative.  It suits me well."

"So your father says."

"My father?" Spock couldn't quite keep the surprise out of his tone.

Silek watched him speculatively, taking a drink from his own cup.

Spock looked down, shuffling his feet.  "And… I understand your archaeological work on Numbus IV was illuminating."  His uncle nodded.  "Have you been back long?"

"About four gads."

Spock raised an eyebrow.  "Oh."

Silek's eyes crinkled at the corners.  "Forgive me, Spock.  I have been on Vulcan for four gads, thirteen wadens, five lirt'k, and," he paused, thinking, "approximately four lik'rt.  Is that better?"

Spock bowed his head.  "I did not mean to offend you--"

Silek placed a hand upon Spock's shoulder.  "You do not.  You simply remind me of a familiar debate Sarek and I often have.  My position has always been this:  what detriment befalls us if we do not use such exactness in our personal conversations?"

"It is illogical to attempt communication in a manner that is not clear and--"

"Accurate, I know."  Silek tweaked an eyebrow.  "But as your mother would say, 'Will the world end?'"

Spock tilted his head, considering.  "That would depend on what the conversation entailed.” His eyes twinkled with mirth.

Silek frowned a moment, then his face brightened.  He removed his hand and nodded approvingly.  "You have made several purchases this day, Spock'am. Will one serve as a 'birthday present' for Sarek?"  He noted, with interest, Spock's mirth flee.  "If you do not participate your mother will be upset."

"I know, but if I do participate--"

"Then Sarek will disapprove," Silek finished for him.  His nephew nodded miserably.  "Odd," he murmured softly, "that they should each discourage in you what they each cherish in the other."  He pointed toward Spock, emphasizing his point in a very Terran way.  "That is illogical."

Spock could only stare at the man before him.  Silek was off planet more often than not, so he only had very sparse memories of him, although they were all positive.  Who was he, exactly?  His father's brother, that he knew.  Someone his father both cherished and at times barely tolerated.  And his mother?  His mother and Silek seemed very close, bordering on inappropriate at times, although Sarek never commented on it.  Spock knew only that Silek and his mother once worked together many years ago, before she had met his father.  And, if today was any indication, neither time nor distance had diminished the relationship.

Amanda strode out of the store, her steps jerky in her haste.  Her arms were empty.

"You did not make a purchase," Silek observed.

"I think I'll keep looking."

"We have been looking for hours."  He glanced back at the stationery displayed in the window.  "What changed your mind?"

"I… I just…"

Spock sighed.  "Would you like me to purchase the item?"

His mother glanced up at him.  They exchanged a look of commiseration. "Would you?"

"Certainly."   He handed over his cup and she handed him some currency.

"Take this.  These older shops don't always take Federation credits."

Silek frowned, his eyes bouncing between the two.  "I do not understand."

Spock spared him the briefest of glances then walked away to make his mother's purchase.  He could hear his uncle questioning his mother, his voice becoming more demanding the more she evaded.

Spock had just stepped into the opened doorway when he heard his mother call out his uncle's name.  He turned just in time to step aside as Silek barrelled past him into the shop.

He strode without preamble to the pedestal where the shopkeeper stood.  "How can you refuse to sell to a human?" he demanded, his voice and countenance deceivingly even.

"It is my right."

"The right to commit bigotry?"

"The right to choose with whom I conduct business."

"She merely wants to buy a gift."

"She should try the tourist sector."

"She is no tourist.  You offended a member of my clan, the wife of Ambassador Sarek."

The shopkeeper stared back at him with a stoney expression.  "I am not responsible for her emotional instability, nor for that fact your kin chose to marry that--"

"Do not," Silek held up a hand in warning, "insult that woman in my presence."

Things were escalating too quickly for Spock's own emotional equanimity. Although this would be deemed nothing more than mere conversation to his shipmates, on Vulcan such words were not exchanged in public.  If there were other Vulcans present, it would be "making a scene."  He approached his uncle, gently taking him by the elbow.  "Come, Toz'ot.  Let us leave here."

"We have not completed our business, Spock'am."  Silek walked over to the display and picked up the stationery Amanda had admired.    He brought it back to the shopkeeper and held it up for him to see.  "How much?"

"One hundred and thirty lit."

Spock began counting out the correct amount.

"You may not purchase this item," the old shopkeeper said.  "I shall not do business with you, either of you."

"For what reason?" Spock asked.

"I need not explain my logic."

"Logic has no part of your motivations," Silek accused.

"Leave my establishment at once."  The shopkeeper crossed his arms stubbornly.

"Not until we buy this item."

"You are not buying anything here." The shopkeeper repeated, irritation tingeing his tone.

Silek grabbed the lits from Spock's hands and placed them upon the shopkeeper's pedestal much harder, and louder, than necessary.  "We just did."  He turned and grabbed Spock by the arm, forcefully escorting him from the shop.

Spock hadn't been led like that since he was a small boy, but perhaps it was for the best.  Otherwise he might still be standing there in a state of shock.

By the time they reached his mother, Silek was the picture of Vulcan calm. He handed her the stationery.

"What did you do?" she asked warily.

"We purchased your item," he answered evenly.

"What took so long?"  She turned to her son.  "Spock?"

Silek had moved behind Amanda, and over her head he shook his head at Spock, his eyes warning him to keep his counsel.  "We… There was some discussion about… the market."

Silek looked past Spock, his lips pressing together tightly.  "I see someone I should go speak with."  He turned Amanda so she would not notice the flitter adorned with a City of Shi'Kahr emblem that had pulled up to the store.  "I will meet you later, at your home."

"Don't be late," she warned him.  "Sarek likes to eat precisely at--"

"I know."  He gave her an assuring squeeze on the arm.

As he passed Spock he said, in a tone so low his mother wouldn't possible hear, "Leave the area."

~~**~~

Amanda picked up the empty dinner plates and took them into the kitchen.

The front door opened, and Spock looked up with relief when Silek entered his parent's home.  Sarek glanced over his shoulder from his place at the table.

"End meal is completed."

Silek pulled his full satchel over his head and slid into an empty chair, setting the bag on the floor beside him.  "My understanding is there is another occasion occurring here this evening."  He poured himself a glass of water and took one of the kreyla Spock held out to him.  "I did not have an opportunity to inform you of my tardiness.  Is Amanda angry?"

"She does not seem to be."

"Well, look at what the sehlat dragged in!"  She carefully walked over, balancing three dessert-laden plates, and placed one in front of Silek, then Sarek.

"I arrived under my own power," he glanced down at his confection.  "Does this mean I am forgiven for missing endmeal?"

"Of course.  Spock told me you called."

Spock slid further down into his seat, ignoring the nearly identical gazes focused on him.

"Did he?" Sarek asked.

"Yes.  Didn't he tell you?"  Amanda placed the third plate before her son, watching him quizzically.

"He did not."

"I'll be right back.  Need to make one more."

"I have taken yours," Silek protested, holding his plate out to her.

"Nonsense.  It'll just take me a few minutes to make another.  You boys visit."

Spock glanced back up and found his uncle was still watching him.  A single tilt of his head expressed his gratitude for covering for him with Amanda. Spock lowered his eyes again.  The room became silent while the three enjoyed a rare high-caloric treat.

Sarek leaned back in his chair.  "If you are here to partake in the," he sighed slightly, "festivities, then I assume you have brought a gift?"

"Why should I do such a thing," Silek teased.  "Your birth was through no effort of your own, nor did the event benefit me in any way."  He took a last bite of his treat.  "I did not even exist at the time."

"I would argue that you have, in fact, benefited quite nicely from my existence," Sarek poked back.  "Other than that, you would have to ask Amanda.  I only know it is tradition."

They turned to the progeny.  "Can you explain, Spock'am?"

Spock took a deep breath.  He had been caught up in their teasing, enjoying seeing this rarely-seen side of his father, a side he himself never seemed to evoke.  He was unprepared to become involved.  "I believe," he considered a moment, "the Terran celebration of one's birthday is not actually a celebration on one's birth per se but more a celebration of the length of life one has managed to attain."  There was a moment of silence as his words fell flat.

"Fascinating," Sarek murmured politely.  "However," he turned his attention back to his brother, "as you have failed to act according to custom; I have no choice but to revoke your invitation."

Silek pursed his lips, nodding.  "Then it is fortunate I am not here under your invitation."

"Amanda is an obedient wife...generally."

"Indeed?  Shall we ask, then?"

Sarek raised a brow at the challenge.  "First no gift and now you threaten to come between my wife and myself?"

All mirth left Silek's face.  "No.  I would never do that, Brother."  Taking a deep breath he reached for his bag, pulling out a bottle of vintage Vulcan port and set it on the table before Sarek.

Sarek picked up the bottle to view the vineyard emblem imprinted near the bottom.  "From the Go'an region," he commented, impressed.  "Very generous, Silek.  I thought you did not understand the concept of 'birthday gifts'?"

"It is not for your birthday."

Sarek blinked, nonplussed.  "Then why?"

"Because you are my brother."

Sarek glanced quickly at his son, then down at his now-empty plate.

"And," Silek continued awkwardly, "I have not had the privilege to partake for many years."

Sarek grunted softly.  "In that case, we should adjourn to my study posthaste, should we not?"

"Excellent suggestion," Silek complimented as they stood and moved toward the hallway.

Spock nearly smiled.  This he remembered.  His father and uncle moving to the study each evening with a bottle of port, only to emerge much later, relaxed and contented.  As a young child he used to plead to be included, making promises he was too young to possibly keep to sit quietly and merely observe.  He was always denied, left with his mother to suffer his petulance.

"The boy is old enough to join us, is he not?"

Spock turned at the suggestion.

Sarek glanced back at him with surprise.  "Indeed he is.  Spock?"

"I think my place is to keep Mother company."

Sarek opened his mouth to object, then closed it.  "You are certain?"

Spock gave a single nod.  They both returned it, then left him.  Spock rose from his chair and retrieved Silek's satchel to remove his items.  He removed the head wrap he had doubled back to buy for Amanda, as well as some incense and other supplies that required restocking on the ship.  Pushing some of Silek's items aside he pulled out his last item: a book containing great debates of the Federation.  He had bought it for Sarek knowing he would enjoy it.  He was even in it, a debate he had in the Federation Council over half a century prior.  Spock pulled the book free, wondering if he dared present the gift as Silek had, but decided he probably would not.

He flipped the book open to Sarek's page and began reading.  As he moved the bag to take a seat something fell to the floor.  He sat down and absently bent to place the item back in the bag while he continued to read.  A cold hard texture caused him to glance down, and pause.  It was a ring, clearly designed for a woman, with a rare kulio stone set.  It was exquisite and very expensive.

"I made another whole batch in case anyone wants seconds."

Spock quickly stuffed the ring back into the satchel.

"Where are they?"  Amanda set the tray of desserts on the table.

"They went to the study."  He took another serving for himself and placed one at the seat beside him for his mother.

"Already?"  She pouted slightly.  "I didn't even give Sarek his gift yet." She sat down and picked at her dessert.  "What are you reading?"  She gasped, her eyes wide, having spotted the head wrap on the table.  "Spock?"

He gave her a slight smile and handed over the garment.  She ran her hands over the shimmering, multicolored fabric lovingly, then shook it out and wrapped it over her hair.  "It's gorgeous, but you shouldn't be spending your credits on me."

"Why not?  They are my credits to spend."

"Exactly!  You should be spending them on yourself."

Spock reached over to help her adjust her covering.  "I do, but there is plenty for me to be generous on occasion."

She stroked his cheek.  "Then your father would say you should be giving a higher percentage to the clan coffers."

Spock all but rolled his eyes, eliciting a small laugh from his mother.  "I give the amount required, and the clan has plenty."

"I agree."  She picked up her fork and took a bite.  "What are you reading?"

Spock placed the book between them so they could read together over dessert.

~~**~~

"Check."  Spock leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest.

"Hmm…" Amanda chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully.  "Okay," she murmured, studying the board.

"Ah, chess," Sarek commented as he and Silek returned, a very slight pale green hue suffusing their cheeks.

"I never did learn this game."  Silek pulled a chair up beside Amanda's and took a seat.  Sarek did the same on the opposite side.  "You are white, I assume."

"Why would you assume that?" she asked defensively.

"Because white is losing."  Spock couldn't quite keep the corners of his lips from turning up.

His mother stuck her tongue out at him, then went back to studying the board.

"Why do you not jump his crowned piece with your chapel piece?"

"Because that is her king and his queen," Sarek answered.

"Meaning?"

"Kings cannot jump queens."

The men fell silent while Amanda made her move.  Spock quickly countered it. "Check."

"Then where do all the princes and princesses come from?" Silek asked evenly.

Amanda let out a robust burst of laughter.

"On that note," Sarek said reproachfully and stood up, "I believe we shall retire."  He held out his paired fingers.

"Our game's not over with yet."

Sarek gave the board a quick glance.  "It is, my wife."

Amanda started to protest.

"He is correct, Mother.  I will have you checkmated in two moves.  You have no chance of winning this game."

She sighed and stood up, placing her fingers against her husband's.

"I shall return home then," Silek said.

"No," Sarek quickly moved to his brother, a hand against his shoulder keeping him seated.  "It is late, and no doubt you would wander into a le'matya den on your way."  He met Spock's gaze across the table.  "You will stay also?"  'And see to your uncle?' his eyes implied.

"Certainly."

Sarek looked back down at his brother.  "Spock can teach you chess."  He took a few steps toward the stairway, then turned back.  "He is almost as proficient as I."

Spock bristled.  "I won our last three games."

"Did you?  Perhaps space is affecting your memory, my son?"

"Or perhaps age is affecting yours," Spock shot back genially.

"Or maybe that port," Amanda joined in.

Sarek turned to his wife with surprise.  He reached out for her, taking the ends of her head wrap in each hand and pulled her closer with it.  "It is not my memory the port affects, t'hy'la."

Spock busied himself with resetting the chess board.

"Perhaps tomorrow we can refresh our recollections, Son."

Spock nodded and watched his parents walk up the stairs together, initially fingers to fingers but switching to arms around each other as they neared the top – no doubt assuming they were no longer being watched.  "Do you wish to play, Toz'ot?"  Silek was staring up the staircase, where there was no longer anyone to watch. "Toz'ot?"  Again he seemed not to hear him.  Spock cleared his throat and spoke louder.  "Silek?"

"Yes?"

Spock frowned and gestured to the board.

"Ah."  He shook his head, got up, and began pouring some saya into two glasses.  "I think some time outside might benefit me just now."  He turned and held a glass out.  "Join me?"

Spock bowed his head.  "I would be honored."  He got up, took the offered
glass, and followed his uncle out to the gardens.

Silek passed the ornamental stone benches in Amanda's garden and headed straight for the lounge chairs.  He put his feet up and leaned his head back, filling his lungs with the fragranced air.  Spock followed suit, taking the one next to him.  For some time they sat in companionable silence, just two clansmen enjoying some saya and solitude.

Silek turned his head, gazing through half-hooded eyes at the young man beside him.  Sarek's son. Amanda's son.  The one the family had often commented looked so much like him.  He had never noticed it when Spock was a boy, but now, twenty years since he'd last seen the gangly youth, he could recognize the resemblance.  Or perhaps that was just wishful thinking.

"You left, without a word to me."  He watched Spock's reactions carefully. "I did not discover your absence until I returned years after the fact."

Spock stared into his saya.  "Forgive me."

"If you had come to me first, I might have been able to make a difference."

"He is my father."  Spock took a deep breath.  "Should a third party be required to have a simple conversation?"

"It should not be so," Silek agreed.  "And it is not, for most conversations.  But for certain ones," Silek turned away, thinking back to his own relationship with his father.  Often strained, despite Sarek's assistance, and eventually nonexistent, "it seems to be unavoidable."  He turned back to his nephew.  "He declared you vre'kasht," he said apologetically, remembering the pain of his own such status, until Sarek revoked it upon Skon's death.  "I fear he emulated our father too much."

"Only at first.  He changed my status back after a few years."

Silek clearly remembered that first visit home after Spock's departure, approximately five years after he'd left, over one year since Spock had. He had been shocked to see the state of his brother's home.  Spock was gone. Sarek was withdrawn, his mind grossly unsettled and unresponsive to any attempts Silek made to share his thoughts.  Amanda was distraught, although she made a brave attempt to also hide the fact.  But mere minutes after getting her alone in the kitchen, with Sarek hidden away in his study, she was in his arms, her tears staining his travel robe, nearly inconsolable. It had taken the better part of an hour to learn what events had transpired and to assist her in calming her errant emotions.  Then Silek went to Sarek's study.  He knocked, was denied admittance, then entered anyway. Sarek knew why he was there.  No doubt he had felt Amanda's distress through their link.

They had exhausted two bottles of port that evening.  They spoke of the past, of Skon, of Silek's years away when he was not permitted to return to the clan.  They reminisced of their time on Earth and Sarek's clandestine visits to his outcast brother, during which he met his future bondmate. Then they spoke of Spock, his decisions, Sarek's concerns, the words that were exchanged between them.  By the end of the evening Sarek had given his word to not repeat their father's mistakes.

"So, Spock'am," Silek shook himself from his unproductive musings.  "What are we going to do about your unbonded status?"

Spock nearly spit out his mouthful of saya.  "My unbonded status?"  Uncle Silek had never had a wife that he could recall, and no bondmate selected. He suddenly recalled the ring that had fallen from Silek's satchel.  "Ah!  I am not always current on the family's status.  I had not realized you had married, Toz'ot.  Congratulations."

Silek shook his head, a brief smile gracing his lips.  "No, Spock.  I have not married.  However, as I am twice your age and yet to have a cycle, I believe the family – for good or not – has deemed me…a low risk."

"It is fortuitous for you, at least," Spock uttered, his thoughts consumed with memories of his own Time.

Silek tilted his head in a shrug.  "Perhaps, perhaps not."  Initially he had thought much like Spock.  The Time was so feared by young Vulcans, who would not wish to avoid it?  Eventually, when he was far too late in his life not to have married, his bondmate demanded answers, as did his family.  Silek was also curious.  He was old enough to notice that, even for Vulcans outside their Time, he did not react to a female presence as other males did.  The healer discovered that he was hormonally atypical.  His hormone levels were low, almost to the point of being non-existent.  It was undecided when or if he might ever experience the Time, when those hormones levels rise to such a degree in normal males that the urge to mate becomes all encompassing and the sperm production kicks into overdrive.  His bondmate petitioned to dissolve their arrangement and it was quickly granted.

On a rare occasion he would notice women, would feel a desire to be closer to them, to have a wife.  Like he was now.  The first time he thought it was pon farr, and as much as he was dreading the eventual upheaval, he was eagerly anticipating taking his wife.  But the symptoms did not progress; he had felt no overwhelming urges.  A communiqué with his bondmate revealed that she was feeling no different.  He waited, but soon the urge left him. Since that time he has found himself in a long, erratic cycle of his own. He avoided all attempts to bond him, was quite contented in his friendships with compatriots – male and female alike – until suddenly he would find himself watching the women, reacting to them, wanting them.  He would call Sarek to initiate an arrangement for him, or if an opportunity was present he would begin courting a woman himself, but in just a few days he no longer had the desire and would withdraw all attempts at finding a wife.

"Sarek wishes to find me another mate."

Spock's voice pulled him from his thoughts.  "You need not submit.  You have the right."

"I know.  He told me." 

Spock took a deep breath and slowly released it. "Mother wishes for me to choose for myself." 

An odd noise escaped his uncle. "Always they are pulling you in opposite directions."

"They often see things differently," Spock agreed.

"And what do you want, Spock?"

Spock twirled his remaining saya within his glass.  "I do not know. Certainly it will be difficult to find a wife on my own when I am so rarely on Vulcan."

"Perhaps it is more logical to find a spouse closer to home, your home."

"The ship?"  Spock shook his head.  "The only females on the Enterprise are Terran."

Silek contemplated these words for some time.  "And this disqualifies them in some manner?"

"Shouldn't it?"

"Your parents must not think so.  I would not discount such an arrangement."

Spock shrugged.  "There are some inherent difficulties with such a decision, I think."

"Elucidate."

"First, I predict I shall one day return to Vulcan.  Not all Human women would be willing to follow me here.  Second, even if she were willing, I am not sure..." He sighed softly.  "It is difficult here."

Silek finished his remaining saya in one swallow.  "Does that happen often?"

Spock knew precisely to what he referred.  "Not often, not if she stays to the establishments who know her."  He turned to his uncle.  "Were you fined for your transgression?"

Silek raised an eyebrow.  "Transgression?"

"Stealing, I assume."

"I stole nothing!  In fact, we paid more than the required cost.  No," he stretched lazily in the lounger, "after many hours of evasive debate the matter was eventually dropped when the shop owner realized he would be required to explain the matter more fully than he preferred."  The wind kicked up, floating some intimate murmurs down to them through the balcony doors above.  "I wish to go inside," he said suddenly.

Spock quickly got up and caught up with his uncle in the house.  "May I ask you something of a… personal nature, Toz'ot?"

Silek stopped, his head bent, his face hidden from view.  "It would only be fair, I suppose."  He looked up, meeting Spock's eyes, and waited.

"All these years, even though you have had no need for a wife, have you never considered marrying for companionship?"

A muscle clenched along his jaw.  "No."  He glanced away, his eyes trailing up the stairway.  "But I should have."  He closed his eyes briefly, during which the muscles of his face and shoulders relaxed.  "Show me this game, Spock'am."  He walked away and took a seat at the chess board.

~~**~~

Sarek stood before his bathroom mirror, adjusting his collar to ensure the marks upon his neck remained hidden from his staff.  Sometimes Amanda could be such a…Human.

"Sarek!  It's beautiful!"

Abandoning his ablutions he moved into the bedroom to see what had excited his wife so.  She was standing at her jewelry case, gazing at her extended hand.

"My wife?"

"Oh, you shouldn't have!"

He approached her, taking her hand in his to inspect the ring adorning it more closely.  "I did not," he admitted.

"What?"

"I have never seen this piece before.  It is a kulio stone," he stated notably.  "Where did you get it?"

Amanda's brow furrowed.  "It was sitting right here with all my other rings. If you didn't put it there, then who?"

"Spock," Sarek named the most logical choice, tilting Amanda's hand back and forth to observe the quality of the stone as it reflected the light.  It was a fine piece.

"Why wouldn't he just give it to me?"

"You would have to ask Spock."  Sarek released her hand.  "He did the same to me.  I found a text of Federation debates on my desk the morning his ship left orbit."

Amanda pursed her lips.  Sarek's instance she understood, it was not an uncommon occurrence between them.  But why wouldn't he just give it to her?

~~**~~

Spock was in his quarters, staring at the paused image on his comm. unit.  A video message from his mother had arrived.  In it she spent several minutes simultaneously thanking and reprimanding him for purchasing her the ring she displayed so elegantly on her hand.

Spock frowned, wondering why she would not know the purchaser of the gift.

He knew.

He had seen it once before.

THE END