Disclaimer: See Chapter 1!

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"Come in," I heard the Commander's voice call. I walked in and sat next to him on the same side of his desk, as we always did when we were working together, setting my Padd with the assignment onto the desk before us.

"Good evening, Commander," I greeted with a smile.

"Good evening, Cadet," he greeted as well. We went straight to work with my minor questions - mostly about very particular aspects of the most difficult questions - and we were a little over halfway through the work when suddenly, I noticed the Commander looking at me, the same mix of curiosity, content, and hope that he was hiding under his Vulcan mask as earlier.

"Is something the matter, Commander?" I asked him, a little unsure.

"No, Cadet. However, may I make a small inquiry?"

"Of course, sir. Anything," I agreed, confused and curious.

"Earlier when we were outside the mess hall-" I felt my face begin to heat up, knowing where this was going, and I willed my green blush away. I had not revealed that I was Vulcan to anyone since entering the academy. Not because I was not proud of being partially Vulcan - in fact, I was very proud of my Vulcan ancestry - but because I found I did not wish to be ridiculed in a similar fashion as I had been growing up in Ireland. And I tried to avoid a repeat of such occurrences, keeping my ears strategically covered at all times, and making it known I did not want to be touched-by anyone-at any time. "You stopped yourself from saying something. May I inquire as to what you were going to say?"

"A friend, sir," I told him honestly before I could stop myself. "I was going to call you my friend."

He was silent for a long while, confusion, curiosity, hesitance, and (oddly enough) happiness was radiating from him.

"We have spent an abundance of time together this past year and a half, and I find I have begun to think of you as a friend. However, I stopped myself because I realized that I could not call you a friend unless you agreed to the friendship, and I assumed that because it could very possibly be frowned upon by the Superiors of Starfleet, you would not agree to a friendship, thus I stopped myself," I told him honestly. I felt a small flash of hurt before it was buried under his Vulcan control, but I felt it. I couldn't help but look at him, slightly shocked.

"Cadet, I assure you, that is not the case," he began honestly. "I find that I also find your presence... delightful. I enjoy the intelligent conversation as well as the slight banter we tend to get into. I find I also enjoy the minor, irrelevant conversations we find ourselves in... I have also found your insight to human behavior very helpful in my endeavors. Contrary to your belief, I would be very pleased to call you my friend."

I couldn't stop the blush as embarrassment as well as shyness and contentment that spread across the tops of my cheeks and my ears. I looked to my lap in an attempt to hide it, but when I felt his shock, I knew he caught it and my blush deepened.

"Thank you, sir... given the circumstances, perhaps instead of calling each other by formalities, names would be more appropriate in friendly or private settings?" I asked, my blush only deepening even further at that.

"Indeed, Cadet."

"Call me Maeve," I asked. "Please."

"Then you must call me Spock."

"Very well," I agreed. At this point I knew I was greener than leaves on trees. "I must apologize, Spock. I know you are curious... I should not have hidden that my mother is half-Vulcan, but I found when I was young, constant ridicule rendered me emotionally compromised. I spent much of my time angry, or crying, until eventually I was depressed. I have deep, strong emotions, like Vulcans, and I have found that the mixing of the emotions of others, which began during adolescence, as it does for Betazoids, and the human urges to express my emotion, does not make for an easy combination. I wished to prevent more comments of 'mutt' and the like to end, so I may not be in that kind of emotional distress once more. I can not hide that I am Betazoid, given my eyes, nor that I am human, given that this has been my home my entire life... I found it was difficult to hide my being Vulcan... Purely because of my pride in my Vulcan heritage. I understand that you are also very proud of your Vulcan heritage, and therein lay why I must apologize. I did not mean to seemingly blatantly ignore something that means so much to the both of us." I couldn't read Spock's emotions once I was done speaking. I had felt anger radiating from him when I spoke of ridicule, but since then... nothing.

"I understand that it is difficult for you to open up in such a way when our races are often so prejudiced against when they are mixed. It was logical to keep your Vulcan heritage hidden to avoid ridicule, as it would negatively affect your emotions. I do not blame you. There is no reason to apologize, Maeve," he assured me. I blushed again as my heart jumped slightly when he said my name. I couldn't help it... It sounded so right coming from him.

"Thank you, Spock," I said with a small smile. I felt a flash of a warm emotion coming from him before it disappeared. I felt a flash of disappointment through me before I pushed it aside-he was raised to ignore his emotions, I couldn't let myself get upset by it.

And yet, here we were, friends. A very emotional thing.

"Maeve, I've been meaning to ask you... You are aware that I have been programming the Kobayashi Maru test, are you not?"

"I am," I told him, unsure of where this was going.

"You are, as one of my most distinguished, highly qualified for this proposition. I understand that you have been fascinated with computer sciences as well, and I believe if you helped me work on the test, any flaws in the programming I may not have noticed could be fixed. I also thought it would be a very beneficial learning opportunity for you," he admitted. I was shocked to say the least. "Perhaps we could take time Wednesday evenings to work on it if you accept my offer."

"Spock, I'd love that!" I exclaimed, a big smile on my face. I couldn't help it with all the excitement that suddenly burst through.

"Very well," he agreed, a minute smirk on his lips. "I shall see you next week, then."

Spock and I spent the next hour talking about random things that I brought up and working on my assignment. I tied my hair up into a high ponytail once it got warm in the room, exposing my pointed ears, deciding it would now be what I did during our studying. I would never hide from him in such a way again.

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It was on a night such as this, almost two months later, that there was a knock at Spock's office door.

"Come in," Spock called. Suddenly, a beautiful older woman walked in carrying what looked like an overnight bag.

"I'm sorry Spock, am I interrupting? I asked Commander Pike where I could find you and he brought me here," she told him as she walked toward us. I couldn't stop myself from getting up and rushing to her to take her bag from her hands at the same time Spock stood to do the same.

"Mother," he greeted, though I felt a small wave of annoyance coming from him. Why is he annoyed to see his mother? I wondered as Spock's mother smiled at me and gave a small 'thank you'. I felt a wave of gratitude crash over me, emanating from the beautiful human woman in front of me. Her emotions were powerful for a human. "I didn't know you were coming. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm sorry, Spock, I know you don't like surprises, but your father came here for a meeting with Earth's ambassadors and I told him I would stay with you for the next few days before we head back. I've missed you," she told him. I suppose that explained the momentary annoyance. "I figured since it's Thursday, I'd only have to wait through tomorrow and then we could have the whole weekend together."

"Indeed," he agreed with a small sigh as I ushered her into the seat I had previously been sitting in.

"Who's your friend, Spock?" she asked with a grin toward me.

"This is my most distinguished student as well as my friend, Cadet Maeve O'Grady," he introduced. I smiled widely at her, holding back my blush of content and excitement from hearing Spock call me 'friend'. I felt a sudden wave of shock as she looked at me before it was replaced by a happy grin.

"Such a beautiful young woman, Spock, you never told me she was so beautiful," she complimented, making my face flush slightly and my heart pick up speed. Spock's talked about me with his mother?

"I have told you of her immense skill in my classes as well as her impressive credentials, and her valued friendship. I did not know you wish to hear of her appearance, as you have never asked if she was aesthetically pleasing or not," he told her, only making my face flush more as she sighed in good humor, turning back to me. Was Spock indirectly agreeing that I was beautiful?

"I'm Amanda Grayson, Spock's mother. Are you half-Vulcan too?" she asked, glancing at my pointed ears.

"No, ma'am. I'm only a quarter Vulcan," I told her with a small smile. I couldn't help but be honest with the woman, deciding to elaborate. She seemed... easy to talk to. And she had a loving motherly aura about her that I had never felt in such a way before. "Though I do try to keep it on the down-low. Unfortunately, my mixture of races often traps me in a sea of barbarity from other students, and as I am also half Betazoid and one quarter human, I find I have an extreme lack of control over my emotions. My Vulcan part is the only part of myself I can hide, as my eyes are black and much too sensitive for contacts."

Unlike Spock, when I told her of my issues with others about my mixture of races, I felt utmost despair as well as understanding instead of anger.

"Poor dear," she said slightly before she brightened, the sadness she had earlier suddenly pushed aside as she grinned again, happiness and excitement permeating the air around her. "Maybe you could join us this weekend!"

I couldn't hide my shock, the shock and... nervousness? Emanating from Spock made my heart stutter and made my knees weak, making me stumble. Such strong emotions in this room.

"I-I can't just intrude in such a way, ma'am-"

"Please, just call me Amanda," she insisted as Spock's intense shock hid itself once again, helping me steady myself. At this point, he understood how his emotions effected mine. The stronger they were, the harder they were for me to hold alongside my own. She couldn't help but continue, her overwhelming excitement making me almost dizzy. "And you wouldn't be intruding. Spock's already told me so much about you, I want to learn all about you myself. He's only ever spoke of you as his student until recently, when did you guys become friends?"

"Almost two months ago," Spock answered. "Maeve told me she thought of me as a friend, despite the gap in ranking, and I agreed. We've spent ample amounts of time together, and I find her presence both soothing and enjoyable."

"That's wonderful, Spock!" Amanda said with a grin. I couldn't stop my face from flushing further from Spock's compliments. "I'm so glad you have such a wonderful young lady to spend your time with!"

"Excuse me," I intervened, my face green beyond belief, though a wide smile accompanied it. "But I find all of these compliments and emotions are much more than I have handled in many years. I find I am both dizzyingly content as well as breathlessly ecstatic, and I must thank you both. However I find it is almost too much to handle at this moment in time as I am unaccustomed to such praise."

I felt a strong streak of guilt and sadness shoot through Amanda, tugging at my heart.

"It was merely an observation," Spock countered. "Not a compliment."

"Spock, if you say something nice about a person, something positive, it is, in fact, considered a compliment," I informed him, a small content smile on my face instead of the wide grin from before. "At least, according to human nature."

"Then... you are welcome," he told me with a small smile after only a small hesitation in which he processed the information. I felt the content radiating off of him and realized he wanted me to feel his content knowing he made me happy. I grinned, looking down to my feet.

"This is wonderful," Amanda said. I looked up to her as she giggled, love, adoration, happiness, hope, and more excitement exposing itself to me. "Please come with us this weekend, Maeve. I really want to get to know you."

I was unsure for another moment before I felt Spock's minute hope as well.

"I'd love to, Amanda," I told her, suddenly feeling a resounding joy.

It was then that I realized I hadn't felt so accepted and loved by anyone until that moment.

And that made my grin grow ever larger.

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