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Spock stood near the window, taking in a rare sun beam. He cradled Ama, who they'd named T'Ura Amanda but had chosen to call her by one of his own mother's least used nick names, against his chest. The heat in Kiano's house was at its highest setting and still the little girl was uncomfortable, chilly unless she was swaddled and in her father's arms. Spock, for his part, seemed content to simply stare at the baby while he held her. He would gaze down upon her, fascinated at her symmetry, biological function and movement. Spock often wondered how something so perfect and complex could have come from him. He was less marveled that Nyota could produce such a perfect child; however, that Ama had his nose, ears and his mother's eyes in miniature was still amazing to Spock.
Spock had suspected that his emotions would stir when T'Ura Amanda was born; however, he had never anticipated that he would be so wholly consumed with her comfort and contentedness. She was frequently held by Kiano, her grandfather, who's body temperature was higher than the Human average and Spock could not help but keep his eye on every move that she made. He perked his ears for every cry and gurgle that she made in the case that she might need him. He was only outdone by Nyota who, despite her much cooler skin, took extra pains to keep their daughter warm. Nyota had made interpreting Ama's cries into a science and their daughter, predictably, recognized her mother's scent, voice and presence with happiness.
Nyota and Spock had decided that Ama should be allowed to grow into her Vulcan and Human heritage as it went. They would teach her about Surak and means to emotional control, but they would also allow her to express her emotions if there was evidence that it was more healthy for her. Currently though, Spock was, with assistance from his own father, stimulating her neural pathways and connecting with Ama's mind in the manner a Vulcan parent would to a fully Vulcan child.
Spock gently passed his thumbs over Ama's temples as he walked her away from the window, confirming that she wanted for nothing at the moment. The baby's mind was more unique than anything that Spock had ever encountered. It was fully formed but had no edges. Every day that Spock connected with his daughter, he was pleased to find that she had learned something new. Whether it was to recognize her Uncle Basim's deep voice or to appreciate the taste of soy milk, Spock was overcome with curiosity. Spock had never truly considered the amount information that a child had to assimilate before. Ama had no concept of inappropriate or embarrassment. She did not judge her interests as beneficial or useful, yet she pursued them singlemindedly.
At fifteen weeks old, Ama was mostly interested in her mother's breast, her father's arms and anything that resembled food. Spock had been surprised early one morning when, Nyota having gone for pre-dawn run, Ama had attempted to find a place to feed from on Spock's flat chest. It made perfect sense, Spock thought with a surge of pride, that his daughter was already employing logic and discerning that if one nipple offered sustenance that another might as well. Every day was filled with such realizations for Spock. Fortunately all of the adults that Spock interacted with regularly were equally interested in Ama's head lifting or newly formed cooing.
Things had been interesting at his father-in-law's house. On one hand, Spock could see Nyota's point about needing more room. Ama had many associated objects. Her crib, her changing table, her bassinet, her tiny chest of drawers, her diaper pail and the copious number of objects that relatives and friends brought to her to attract her interest and stimulate her mind took up an entire room, a room that Spock and Nyota did not have in their quarters on the Enterprise. Nyota seemed to anticipate this need for space while Spock had not. He had thought that a person the size of Ama would require a proportional amount of space. On the other hand, Spock was growing weary of the number of extra people he encountered daily. Things had been somewhat tense when they had first arrived on Earth but the members of their extended family quickly fell into a routine that had alleviated some of that tension. Of course, the lack of privacy added more tension in Spock's opinion.
Spock would have been perfectly content if it had just been Nyota, Ama and himself; however, he did realize that it was easy to say such a thing while neither he nor Nyota were expected to report for duty. In truth, the advice that they got from other relatives that had much experience with infants was immensely helpful. It would just be more conducive to Spock's peace of mind if the other members of their family did not feel the need to enter whenever it was convenient for them.
Spock knew that he would not have to worry about it much longer. He and Nyota were set to return to the Enterprise in only two weeks. Spock had already spoken with the captain about moving their quarters to something larger in order to accommodate Ama's belongings. At the time that Nyota had become pregnant the ship did not have a dedicated child care facility. There were too few children aboard that were under school age. In the interim she had worked with the captain to select a nursery attendant, so Spock was confident that they would be able to adjust to their normal routines on the ship.
"Spock?" Sarek asked as Spock laid Ama down for a nap.
"Yes father?" Spock asked, keeping his desire to remind his father to knock at bay.
"I believe that you should inquire about more time away from the Enterprise. I believe that it would be prudent for you to take more time to focus on T'Ura's development. It would also be prudent, I believe, for you and Nyota to not return to full duty immediately upon your eventual return." Sarek clasped his hands in front of himself.
"Noted." Spock said as he turned fully toward his father. "However, father, I have considered our options thoroughly. I believe that delaying the inevitable is illogical. Nyota and I are Starfleet officers. Our becoming parents did not change that. We must adjust to our assignments else it would be a dereliction of duty. As Nyota might put it "it is most logical to rip the bandaid off."
"I see." Sarek eyed his son for a moment before speaking. "What is a bandaid?"
Once Sarek left and Spock had checked on Ama once more, he retreated to the office that he and Nyota were sharing with Kiano. He had downloaded his replacement's ship wide logs and was attempting to bring himself up to date when he saw something unusual pass outside of the window. Spock tried to ignore it at first, but after several moments he saw it again and went to the window to investigate.
With his face pressed to the window, he saw a large black creature running around in the green belt that was adjacent to Kiano's house. Spock immediately recognized it as a Newfoundland, a Terran animal that was popular in areas near water. The dog had what appeared to be a hat in its mouth and its leash was bouncing about wildly behind him. Spock raised an eyebrow as a small woman with her hair blowing in the wind appeared and tried to gain control of the animal. She had little success. Eventually, the dog ran in another direction, the woman making commands that the dog ignored and Spock sat back down.
Something sparked a memory for Spock in watching the dog. It wasn't the dog himself but the woman that ran after it. He thought of his mother, her hair undone and blowing wildly in the high winds of et'Khior. Spock settled back in his chair and allowed the memory to unfold. It was something that he had not thought of in decades. Spock's eyebrows drew together slightly, he could not recall the year that his mother had brought home a sehlat for him, so it must have been well before school age, however the memory of his mother, in the dry gusts on Vulcan, entangled with the dog drew him in.
"Mama?" Spock said anxiously. "Mama?!"
"Yes Spock, I'm here." Amanda said as she emerged from the door, unsure of what to make of the urgency in her son's voice. The nanny had gone to the market to procure several items needed for dinner.
"Mama!!" Spock said. He knew a few Vulcan words already but this word, mama, seemed to fill his mother with joy more than any other words that he knew. He was unsure of why she enjoyed hearing it, but she did and that moved it to the top of Spock's list of things to say.
"Yes Spock, what is it baby?" Amanda said as she moved to scoop her son into her arms.
"Mama?" Spock said, cuddling against her cool chest, enjoying the contrast from the hot blustery day.
"Yes?" Amanda laughed at her son's repeated new word. She had taught it to him when his father had taken his first extended diplomatic assignment since Spock's birth. Amanda had been sure that she would be able to handle Spock alone, with the nanny, however, he proved to be a bit too inquisitive. Things were more difficult than she had anticipated with Spock still very used to communicating with his father and nanny through touch telepathy. She had been coaxing him to use words more. She knew he understood them; however, she guessed that it would be a difficult to transition to using words consistently when it was so easy to convey what one wanted through a touch. Spock put both of his hands, chubby and covered in dirt, onto his mother's cheeks.
"No Spock. Let's try to use words okay?" Amanda set Spock down on the lower of two stone retaining walls that were behind their house. Spock's faced squeezed into a frown as he prepared to protest but then he saw something out of the corner of his eye.
Amanda turned to see what had distracted him. Whatever it was, it was not there anymore, but then, suddenly, Amanda saw the shadow. She turned, startled, to find a large shaggy beast that looked like a cross between a walrus and a bear staring at her. I-Chaya, Sarek's old sehlat, burst through the back door into the garden where Amanda and Spock stood. Instinctively, she blocked Spock's body with her own, fearing that they may be caught between the two animals. The animal, a sehlat that was not familiar to her from the neighborhood, simply stared. Amanda did not know if the beast was sizing her up, looking past her to a low growling I-Chaya or simply regarding their figures with apathy, but she did not want to find out. She extended her hand to Spock who took it and instantly understood what his mother wanted him to do. He crawled onto her back and she slowly walked backwards toward the open door of her house, calling I-Chaya back with her.
It was a few weeks later that Amanda had brought home a new sehlat cub. Sarek had suggested that a new pet would be a good way to stimulate Spock into speaking; after all, one could not generally communicate with a sehlat by touching it and I-Chaya, an animal that had reached maturity years ago, had little use for Spock's rambunctious manner. Further, Sarek had suggested, that perhaps two sehlats would be able to better defend the house than one, especially when it came to interloping animals that wished to challenge the aging I-Chaya. Amanda had gone to a sehlat breeder with her son and the nanny a few days later, selecting the smallest cub that she could.
The cub grew rapidly but Sarek had been correct about the cub's presence in their home. Spock suddenly had a an exciting new reason to speak and he quickly began blurting out things in both Vulcan and English that he wished for his new pet to do. Further, the animal announced visitors that I-Chaya largely ignored, Vulcan and animal alike, consistently. Spock's mother seemed to enjoy these things. She smiled and stroked the younger animal's broad head and back; in return, it greeted her happily when she returned from her outings in the city.
The sehlat cub was blessedly calm, which was fortunate. In truth, Amanda was slightly overwhelmed with managing the household and Spock without Sarek's help. T'Nal, Spock's nanny, was only present during the day and was elderly. She was fine to watch over Spock while he slumbered or was absorbed in a children's game but when he was streaking from room to room it was down to Amanda alone, especially after dark. Amanda had believed that it would be an easy adjustment; after all, Sarek had taken short assignments off world in the time since Spock's birth. The reality was that the situation was more challenging than she had anticipated and with little relief, she found herself collapsing into her bed each night after Spock had finally drifted off to sleep.
The sehlat cub was not much of a burden, until it was. On a day that T'Nal had agreed to go to the market to purchase various roots and spices to remedy the Vulcan version of the common cold, the cub got over the stone barrier that separated Sarek's household from others. Spock was crying, congested and irritable when he suddenly stopped mid-screech and looked out of the window.
"Mama?!" Spock said excitedly.
Amanda had turned her head to follow his gaze and saw the sehlat cub's hind quarters slipping over the outer stone wall. Amanda threw the door open and ran to the wall, cursing under her breath as she ran. She called out to the animal but heard the familiar jingle of its tags and collar moving further away. Spock walked out of the open door after his mother and watched as she considered her options. I-Chaya, already in the garden and dozing in the shade, ignored the scene but for a resigned huff before closing its eyes again. After a brief pause, Spock watched as his mother hoisted herself to the top of the taller of the two walls, her long robes blowing in the wind. She called out to Spock over her shoulder and he ran to her.
Amanda took Spock's hands in hers, lifting him to the top of the wall and told him to sit atop the wall so that she could see him while she caught the animal, who was now happily destroying the neighbor's cactus patch. Amanda sighed and jumped down, warning Spock again to stay put. Spock watched as his mother advanced on the sehlat. The sehlat had no intention of being caught, however, and maneuvered around Amanda at every opportunity. Spock found this to be incredibly amusing. He clapped his hands, to the horror of the neighbors, as the sehlat cub and Amanda ran about the back garden, also to the horror of the neighbors, kicking up dust and knocking over plants.
Amanda's posture suddenly changed. She ground her heels into the dry, red dirt and bent her knees slightly. Spock could see her lick her lower lip as she spread her arms wide. The cub seemed to sense the change too and settled onto its haunches as it prepared to leap past Amanda. When it sprung, Amanda was ready for it. Nearly ready for it, at least. The animal leapt at Amanda, who had intended to block it with her body, and somehow slid just past her, its front shoulder colliding with her as she tried to shift to grasp at its collar. The impact loosened Amanda's hair, the wind picking it up immediately and obscuring her face from Spock's view. Spock did not know why, but this was the best. He clapped wildly and chanted his mother's favorite word. Mama! Mama!Mama!
Author's Note: Thanks to ayachan1412 for being my beta reader. I seem to be partial to two word titles, so I think Kan-Wak is going to stick unless I can think of something else with two words. This story seems to be taking lots of stuff from real life-- my friend's name is Ama and my dog, Nigel, is pretty much the sehlat cub in this story. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter. Thank you for reading!