Surprise! And a Party
By StarTrekFanWriter
Summary: Amanda Grayson comes by
Disclaimer: I don't own. I don't profit.
Special thanks to beta Notes from the Classroom. Check out her latest,
"Crossing the Equator," in my faves!
Surprise! And a Party...
Amanda rang the buzzer on the outside of Spock's off-campus apartment. Again.
Spock hated surprises, of course. But how often did she get to see her
son since he'd joined Starfleet? Besides, this was not an intentional surprise.
She hadn't expected to be called to Earth for the panel briefing Earth
diplomats for life on Vulcan, but Ms. Matsumura had to cancel, the event
organizer was an old friend, and Amanda just couldn't leave her in a pinch.
What's more, it was Spock's birthday! Granted, his Vulcan pride made him
derisive of the custom of celebrating the anniversary of his birth, but she was
human, damn it. Not stopping by on her son's birthday would wrack her with
pangs of guilt for eternity. Besides, it wasn't like Amanda was throwing him a
surprise party; Amanda prided herself on being sensitive to her son's
personality. Although she personally thought surprise parties were fun, she
would never overwhelm him with a trifecta of things
he found distasteful - a birthday celebration, a surprise, and a party...a
consummate introvert, such affairs typically drove Spock up a wall. Or at least to a corner to stew. No, Amanda was just
dropping in to say hello. She might not even mention his birthday.
Putting her hands on her hips, she stared at the unresponsive buzzer and
tiny blank view screen above it. She hadn't had to use the building's intercom
system to get up to Spock's door; she'd merely smiled at a neighbor
coming out and they let her in. She'd already checked Spock's lab; he wasn't
there. She'd paged his comm before the panel this
morning - three times without an answer! Now it was nearly
Vexed, she pressed the buzzer one more time.
Waited.
Waited...
And waited...
Letting out a huff, she was about to turn around when the view screen
flickered to life.
The face on the other end was her son, but not as she was accustomed to
seeing him at two in the afternoon. His hair was askew, his face was unshaven,
and she couldn't quite tell on the tiny screen, but he appeared not to be
wearing a shirt.
Blinking at the screen, he said, "Mother?"
Suddenly she understood his unresponsiveness, "Spock, you're ill!
I'm so glad I stopped by!"
Spock stared at her for a few seconds. Clearing his throat he said,
"No."
"What?" said Amanda. He didn't want
her to come in? Perhaps he was afraid of being infectious? But that was
ridiculous - Spock tended to get only Vulcan maladies, and Amanda was
thankfully immune to most of them.
"No, I am not ill," Spock said.
"Oh," said Amanda bringing her hand to her lips. "May I
come in then?"
Spock blinked at the screen. "Yes," he said. "Just a moment."
Relieved to have finally caught him, Amanda smiled and waited for the
door to open.
Waited.
Waited...
And waited...
She was just about to ring the buzzer again, convinced her son was ill
and too stubborn to admit it when the door clicked and slid open with a whoosh.
There stood her son completely filling the door to the foyer. His hair
was mostly flat, although it did look like he could use a shower, and his face
was still unshaven. He wore a high dark gray
turtleneck and a pair of trousers that didn't quite suit the gray of the turtleneck. The trousers were gray too, of course, but with a brown undertone. The blue
undertone of the sweater actually made the trousers look dirty, which, Amanda
looked closely...they weren't. The color difference
was a subtle thing, but something Spock would notice.
He dressed in haste then. But why had it taken him so long to open the
door?
"Mother," said Spock evenly. "I did not expect you
today."
"I did try to reach you by comm this
morning," said Amanda.
Spock stared at her.
From within the apartment came a loud bump and then softer thumps, like
someone fluffing a pillow.
Looking past Spock, eyes wide, Amanda said, "You're not
alone."
"No," said Spock. Taking a deep breath, he stepped aside.
"Come in."
Bustling past him she found herself watching a lithe young woman with
caramel colored skin pitch a piece of black fabric
towards the bedroom. It could have been a rag...but...Amanda blushed. It wasn't
a rag. She recognized that fabric - it was the briefs she'd bought for Spock to
replace the standard issue Starfleet ones she'd found in his laundry last time
he was home. She was his mother - she could be forgiven if she couldn't bear to
think of the soft baby bottom she'd diapered so long ago in scratchy underwear.
"Oh," said Amanda.
Spinning around with a dancer's grace, eyes wide, the young woman said,
"Hello?"
She was quite beautiful, Amanda noted. Warm almond
eyes, sleek, long black hair, and generous lips. Her caramel-colored skin was rapidly darkening and she pulled a little
nervously on the ends of her sleeves.
Clearing his throat, Spock said, "Mother, may I introduce to you
Nyota Uhura. Nyota, this is my mother."
It was his assistant! He had talked an unusual amount about her over the
last few months - which is to say, he'd mentioned her by name perhaps three
times.
Amanda looked past Nyota to the couch. One of its legs appeared to be
missing. It seemed to be supported on that side by what looked to be a stack of
PADDs. The cushions looked deflated.
Amanda did her best to keep a straight face. She could not do complex
computations of force and resistance in her head like Sarek and Spock. She did,
however, have very practical experiences with the end result of the force of an enthusiastic Vulcan overcoming comparatively weak
Terran furniture.
It was
Putting a hand forward and smiling her most benevolent smile, Amanda
said, "Nice to meet you."
As a bit of couch stuffing carried on the eddies
of the unit's heating unit floated by her nose, it occurred to Amanda that
someone had taken to celebrating birthdays after all.