"Spock," his father called his name. The Human/Vulcan hybrid took a deep breath to calm himself despite the emotions he felt from his spouses before meeting the other man's concerned gaze.

"Jim has gone into labor," he told the ambassador.

A rare smile crossed the older Vulcan's features, "Go to her."

"Is it not the Vulcan way to wait?" Spock asked his father.

Sarek nodded, "It is. However, your wife is very human. Trust my experience, Spock, she wants and needs you to be there. Go. I will locate your brother and join you at Starfleet Medical."

There was nothing for Spock to say, so he gave his father a nod and quickly left the embassy. It took him twenty-four minutes to reach Starfleet Medical Headquarters and an additional seven minutes to get to Jim and Leonard. His husband was running his fingers along the pressure point at the base of her skull. Doctor M'Benga smiled when Spock entered the room assigned to his wife.

"Now we can get this party started," Jim muttered from the biobed. Spock assessed her and noted that while she was experiencing some pain, she was relaxed under Leonard's ministrations.

The Vulcan attempted to read her vitals but the screen darkened and M'Benga chuckled, "None of that, Commander. You are here as a dad, not a scientist. If anything goes wrong I will tell you but you will not monitor her. Talk to her, get her ice chips, take the insults she's likely to fling at you due to the pain but you can't monitor her. That's my job. Now, Jim, you're progressing just fine. It's not time to push yet but we'll let you know when that time comes. For now, just breathe. We're all ready to meet the little guy but there's no rush."

"Easy for you to say. There's not a person trying to push himself out of your body," Jim muttered.

"Jim. Jim, look at me, darlin'," Leonard said when her eyes rolled back into her head. He didn't need to be a doctor to know that something was wrong with his wife. M'Benga and Philip Boyce running into the room didn't help matters any. Leonard didn't bother asking what was wrong. He checked the readouts himself, the baby was in distress and it was putting an additional stain on Jim's system.

"Jab..." he said to the other doctor.

M'Benga looked at him, "I got 'em, Leo. Trust me, okay?" The southerner nodded and watched as his friend took his wife and unborn son to an operating room.

For a whole minute, he didn't move. Then he felt his husband's strong arms wrap around him. Leonard pressed his face against Spock's neck and took a few deep breaths as he tried to push every bad thing that could happen during a c-section out of his head. Leo doesn't know how long they stood there before he and Spock went to let everyone in the waiting room know what was going on with Jim. The glee turned to worry as the reality of the situation sank in. Joanna dropped into the chair next to him and held his hand as they waited.

He felt useless. He's the doctor, something happens to Jim and he fixes it. Right now, he couldn't do the one thing he knows how to do and it was aggravating. To make matters worse, he couldn't really feel Jim, she was drugged and the thoughts he could get from her were all foggy. Spock wasn't getting a read on their son either. It was the first time in a long time that they didn't know what was going on with their family.

"When are we gonna know something?" Sulu asked, his head resting on Tom's shoulder. It was a good thing too because Jim's oldest friend looked like Leonard felt and the doctor was worried that Tom might flip his shit soon.

"When they're done," Chapel said as she joined the group. She tried to check on Jim's progress but she was denied access. Leonard appreciated the effort and told her as much. The nurse chuckled, "Because she doesn't take care of all of us." The sarcasm was just what he needed.

Leonard smiled, "Good point."

"They'll be okay, laddie," Scotty told him.

The southerner looked at his friend, "I know, she's Captain Kirk. The badass of all badasses."

The Scot shook his head, "Nah, lad. It's because she's Jim. Our sister, your wife, the lass' maw. She and the wee bairn are gonna be just fine. Trust me." Thank the maker for Scotty, the man always knew what to say and when to say it. 'They're gonna be okay. They're gonna be okay,' he thought to himself. After a few minutes, Spock starting thinking it too. It wasn't much but it was the only thing they could do.

"…I don't know. Jim never told us what she picked," she heard Bones say.

"Skon," Jim mumbled but she wasn't sure if they heard her. In a flash, she was surrounded and heard someone mentioned getting Spock's dad. The captain looked up as her husbands, Chris and Nyota hovered over her. Jim sighed, "I feel like crap. What happened?"

Not one to pull punches, M'Benga sighed, "You two went into distress and almost died on me in the O.R. Luckily, you didn't, these idiots scared the regular staff enough as it is. I had to do a cesarean. You're gonna be fine and the baby is perfect, he just wanted out."

"Sounds like my kid. Where is he?" Jim asked.

She heard Joanna chuckle, "Right here. We were trying to figure out what his name is." The new mom smiled as Jo put her newborn son in her arms.

"Skon Samuel McCoy," Jim told them.

"You named him after my father?" her father-in-law asked from the door.

Jim smiled, "I did. I wanted him to have a good name."

Joanna smiled, "Skon means elegant fire. I like it. Hey, Skon." The baby held onto Jo's finger with one of his tiny hands and snuggled closer to Jim's chest.

Nyota smiled, "No Kirk?"

Jim shook her head, "Nope. I almost… almost gave him Kirk as a middle name but I decided against it last week and went with Samuel after my great grandfather, which is where my dad and brother got it from. McCoy was a no brainer."

Naming her son was a very difficult thing. Spock and Bones helped but they left the final decision to her. There was a part of her that wanted him to be a Kirk but Jim knew that it would only be a hindrance later in his life. Little Skon was a quarter Vulcan –who already looked a lot like his father- with three heroes for parents, leaving her last time out of the mix was gonna save him some headaches. So, in naming him, she decided to honor the men in her family and Spock's, while giving him Bones' last name to pass on to his children.

"Thought you'd name him Chris for a minute," Bones said.

Jim chuckled, "Thought about it. We'll save Chris for the next one… if there is a next one. I don't know if I'm up for this again any time soon." Jim actually picked out a girl's name too. She wasn't planning a second kid at the moment, it was just easier to decide what to name a little girl. Spock looked at her when he caught the thought.

"Amanda Christina McCoy?" he asked through their bond.

"Yep. Took me all of forty-five seconds to figure that one out. We'll save it for later," she said in her head. "Has everybody met him yet?" she asked.

Ny shook her head, "Nope, M'Benga put a limit on visitors."

The doctor chuckled, "I did. I can give you a few minutes with everyone so they can check on you and meet Skon but you need to rest."

Jim nodded, "Fair enough. Thank you, Jabilo." She knew the words weren't nearly enough for everything the man did but she said them anyway.

He smiled, "You're very welcome, Jim."

"You're staring at me," Jim said without looking at him.

"You are beautiful," Spock told her. As Jim's pregnancy progressed, her features softened and it suited her. It was the second most beautiful thing he has ever seen after their son.

"Want to know the second most beautiful thing I've ever seen?" his wife asked in response to his thought. He nodded and Jim moved from where she was laying on the couch onto his lap. "You and Bones cuddling with each other. It's adorable watching my tough husbands snuggling with each other," his wife told him.

"Really, Jim?" Leonard asked as he walked into the room.

She nodded, "Yep. You can't even pretend it's not."

"I'll give you that one. Where's the baby?" the southerner asked.

Jim chuckled, "Close your eyes, take a deep breath and reach out to him." They all had a parental bond to their son. Leonard's bond was not as strong as Spock or Jim's but it was there and Leonard just has to learn how to focus it.

After a minute, his husband smiled, "Uncle Sybok is really good with kids." Spock's brother was sitting on the patio at the rear of the house singing songs to their son.

Spock nodded, "He is. I must say, it is an unexpected character trait."

"Not as unexpected as Sarek and the baby. It's too cute," Jim mumbled against his neck. Spock agreed that it was adorable to see his father with his son.

Leonard shook his head, "Pike. I watched that man chew out a bunch of idiot officers one second and make baby faces at Skon the next."

Jim snorted, "You do that to us all the time."

"What do you want?" Jim asked the woman on the other side of the transparent polymer.

Winona smiled, "I hear congratulations are in order. Boy or girl? The press didn't say."

The captain sighed, "I'm not telling you. The baby is healthy and safe, that's all you get. What do you want?"

Her mother looked at her, "Nothing. I just wanted to know about my grandchild."

"Why, so you can try to have the baby kidnapped like you did Jo?" the younger woman asked with a sigh.

Winona chuckled, "No. You have no reason to believe that but it's true. I've been here a while and I've had a lot of time to think about everything. I was wrong. I hurt you and your husband and your step-daughter and I'm sorry."

"You'll forgive me if I'm a bit skeptical," Jim said. Did she want to believe that Winona was changed? Sure. The woman was her mother after all. Was she dumb enough to take the other woman's words at face value? Hell, no. People compare Jim to her father but she got her brain, her cunning, her -damn good- poker face and her ability to read people from her mother.

"I can't really blame you for that. I have some advice for you, do with it what you want: If something doesn't feel right, don't do it. You were meant for space but there's a very real chance that being a mom will change how you feel about your job. When you get back in that chair, it might not feel the way it did when you left it. For your child's sake, don't ignore that feeling. I did and we see where it got me," Winona told her.

"I'll remember that. I gotta go," Jim told her mother.

The former commander nodded, "Of course you do. New baby, ship getting refit and a crew full of people, you got your hands full."

The captain chuckled, "That's what Bones says."

Winona nodded, "Your doctor is a smart man. Cynical and snarky but still smart."

Jim smiled, "He's not so bad once you know him. Goodbye, Winona."

"Goodbye. Oh, Jim… Happy birthday," her mother said. It was January fourth. Jim honestly couldn't remember the woman ever saying that to her in the last thirty-three years. Maybe being on the penal settlement and sentenced with hard labor and confinement was working for the former Starfleet officer.

The captain smiled, "Thanks."

"Are we sure about this?" Leonard asked his spouses. Spock didn't say anything but Jim nodded.

She sighed, "I think it'll work." The brass came back with a schedule for them and the Enterprise would be on short tours –under six months- for the first two and a half years after the refit is completed in fourteen months. After that, they were going on another five year mission.

"I like it," Spock finally said.

Leonard nodded, "Me too. I don't relish the idea of leaving him for any amount of time but there is no way in hell he's going on the ship. If we didn't get into so much trouble I'd be okay with it but we're the Enterprise and the last thing we need is kids, especially our kid, in danger. Jo joining up is bad enough. At least he'll be four by the time we leave again."

Sybok was the first person to volunteer to have Skon and after thinking about it, it made the most sense. He didn't travel as much as Sarek. He wasn't in Starfleet so he couldn't be deployed. His work was portable for the most part and he had plenty of time on his hands. Skon loved his uncle something fierce. Spock's brother would just live at their house –like he's been doing since Skon was born- when he was on Earth or his home near the ambassador's on New Vulcan. Skon would have access to all the family members that stayed planet-side. And it would be practice for when Sybok ever gets around to having kids with T'Mar.

Nothing about this was gonna be easy but the only other alternative was for Jim, Spock and Leo to stay on planet and that wasn't gonna happen. Thanks to Nero and the fallout after Marcus, the fleet was short on good captains. If Jim decided to stay on Earth, the brass would just promote Spock –like they did to the rest of the senior staff- and give him the ship, which would defeat the purpose of Jim stepping away from her destiny. She and Spock were meant for the stars and they'd get themselves killed without him.

"So, is that a yes?" Jim asked the two men. She asked them a few days before if they were staying on the ship and neither had given her an answer.

Spock nodded, "Yes."

She turned her attention to the oldest of their triad, "Bones?"

The southerner smiled, "Yes. We can boldy go… again."

Jim smiled, "This is gonna be epic."

Leo chuckled, "How so?"

"We're gonna be together, that's always epic," Jim told them. Leonard smiled, his wife had a very good point.

They've always been better together.