Work Text:
The silence is loud as he watches his son’s glance move from him to that of the starship’s communication officer. The elder Vulcan recognizes the intimacy in the look and his mind dissects the ramifications of his son’s choice. He watches the lieutenant’s face fill with pain as she stands silent unable to ease Spock’s pain as he gives up his command of the Enterprise. Her restraint tells him she understands the Vulcan way, more importantly she understands his son. He watches she step forward to offer her silent comfort. The bond between them vibrates against the bond between father and son and for a moment he allows himself to regret that the four of them father and mother, son and lover will never share space. Spock’s departure from the bridge mutes the feeling and he the father, Sarek walks past the young human to do what she cannot.
Inside the transporter room he stands watching his son, grieve. He waits understanding the sacrifice being a Vulcan requires. He listens, waiting.
They have faced this crisis of choice before and if he would allow himself, he too would rage at the loss of his Amanda and weep at the beauty that was her life. He listens as Spock speaks of his anger, his being torn by his dual heritages. What he hears beneath the pain is strength and promise. In the silence between them he too speaks his truths. “In your youth I once told you, you were fully capable of choosing your own destiny and you did so by joining Starfleet. Once again difficult choices are being demanded of you. With so few of our people surviving Nero’s destruction of Vulcan many will question your judgment in staying in Starfleet and continuing your relationship with Lieutenant Uhura.” Sarek raises his hand to halt his son’s rejoinder. “I and anyone else who chooses to look closely enough can see what both the Enterprise and the lieutendant mean to you.” Staring past Spock to the transporter pad that his wife should have materialized on he holds tightly onto what remains of her inside him. “As you consider your future, consider this. Always trust yourself, your mother did.”
With those words between them the father leaves the son to begin a different life than either of them imagined