Dear readers, I apologize for the delay. Sometimes life gets in the way of our more pleasurable pursuits. I hope you enjoy the chapter, it took 2 total rewrites.

Standard disclaimer: I make no money on this. Star Trek is owned by rich people and big studios.

Many thanks to my new beta Goldleaves.

Chapter 27 – Three Months Later

OoO

As soon as she discovered that she was to become a grandmother Amanda Grayson knew he needed to have a home on Earth that was close to San Francisco but not in the Vulcan Embassy, as she would not allow her future grandchildren to be subject to the levels of prejudices that Spock had, in his childhood and after that, been for not being fully Vulcan.

When she was finally able to speak with her husband. He had just returned to Vulcan and was 'satisfied' with the treaty he had worked out between the Tellarite's and the Barzan's which had been extremely delicate and had taken all of his skill. When he found out that they were going to be grandparents against all odds she could tell that she that he was over the moon, or as much as any Vulcan could be. She had expected an argument from Sarek, so she was pleasantly surprised when he had agreed with her that purchasing an estate on Earth was extremely logical.

Amanda had found one of the few small ranches that was still in existence and was lucky that it had been for sale. It was a large twenty second century ranch style house with two suites on opposite sides of the house. The middle of the house was divided with the kitchen and living room, along with the three bedrooms, with a formal dining room to the side. Another room, which she intended to be used as a library, was on the other side near the third bedroom. It could have been a forth bedroom but it had no closets, therefore prompting Amanda's decision to use it as a library. She thought that Jim might like to have a place to properly display those boxes of real books that had been his fathers.

She had given Spock a map so he and Jim could meet her there as soon as they were finished with their appointment with Doctor McCoy…

"They're peanuts Spock, look!" Jim exclaimed as he pointed to the picture of the small fetuses on the screen.

Spock extended his first two fingers to his mate in the ozh'esta touching the same fingers on Jim's hand. "I see two small fetuses, I do not see 'peanuts'," he replied with his characteristic 'not smile'.

Jim laughed, "I kind of meant size and shape Spock, you silly Vulcan."

McCoy shook his head at their banter and said, "Well your little ones seem a bit advanced for the ages. They are more like fourteen week rather than twelve week embryos but, even with that, you and they, are healthy as a damn horse. An oddly pregnant stallion, but a very healthy one."

McCoy frowned at Jim more intently for a moment longer than usual before he continued, "Now I have their genetic profiles for you and its damned odd. You would think since each of you are half Human the babies would be more Human than anything but they aren't. Vulcan DNA took preference at 40%, then Veenan DNA at 34%, with Human DNA at a measly 26%. No surprise then that their blood is copper based."

He shook his head and almost smiled at his friend, "Most women who have twins wish they could carry them as easily as you! And this is a tri-species pregnancy, one with blood based on copper rather than iron. If you were anyone else you would be on bed rest! You just keep doin' whatever you've been doin'. Now get the hell outa here and I'll see you back in next week."

Jim's head whipped up from its examination of his baby bump and he looked at McCoy with wide eyes and exclaimed, "two weeks! We were doing two weeks! What happened to two weeks?" His expression of study changed to a pout as he plead, "Please, two weeks?"

McCoy's frown deepened even further as he looked at his friend, "Jim, you are carrying twins with genes from three different species and now they appear to be developing more quickly than normal for any of those species and as your doctor I am God damned concerned!" In his ire his Georgia accent increased with every word the he spoke. "And I am your friend after all, so I'm extra concerned."

Jim ducked his head and murmured, "sorry Bones. You know how much I hate hospitals, and doctors in general."

McCoy's expression softened as he squeezed his friend's shoulder. "Look kid, you know I'm on your side." Jim met his gaze as he continued, "I want to monitor you to make sure everything is good throughout this pregnancy. Alright?" He smiled and gave Jim's shoulder another short squeeze and quickly let go as Spock's eyes narrowed dangerously.

Jim looked at his mate, "Spock, he has to touch me, he's my doctor."

"He does not have to touch you unless it is part of the examination," Spock countered looking at Jim with that same narrowed eyed look.

Jim was not intimidated by his mates look because in reality he liked his possessive Vulcan. He reached out his hand with a Vulcan kiss which Spock accepted.

Returning his attention to McCoy Jim nodded, "I know you want to make sure that everything is good Bones. I wouldn't trust anybody else. You know that, don't you?"

McCoy nodded. "God help me, yes," he said, smile widening to a grin.

Armed with photographs of their developing three month old babes for Grandma, they headed to the diner where they had arranged to meet Amanda for lunch.

"Spock, I wonder what your mother has up her sleeve," Jim said as they were entering their air car outside of Starfleet Medical.

"I do not know Ashaya. However, she has been very excitable these past few weeks, which is uncharacteristic for her. She is normally quite reserved. I must admit to being puzzled by her behavior," Spock replied looking at Jim as they fastened their seat belts.

Jim laughed and shrugged. "Maybe I'm rubbing off on her," he said laughing harder as he felt Spock's disapproval as the Vulcan guided the car into traffic.

Spock repressed the very human urge to sigh and roll his eyes as he replied, "Let us hope not, my father would not want to be married to you."

Jim's eyes widened as he turned to look at Spock, "Good one!", his surprise causing him to sputter unexpectedly, which soon developed into a full belly laugh.

OoO

Admiral A. Marcus sat at his opulent desk in his equally opulent office on the top floor of the beautiful, yet not as opulent as he thought it should be for what it was, Starfleet Headquarters. And although the majority of his life was beyond satisfactory, it was not the life he wanted. Yes, in Starfleet he had gained more power than he would ever have had in the Veenan fleet, but he had envisioned becoming a leader of his own people, not a conglomerate in which Humans automatically sat at the top. In Starfleet he was a Fleet Admiral and was in charge of the covert Section 31. Admiral Komack had delivered the xi to him on a shining platter and he was not against using either or both if it would put himself and his people on top.

At that moment he had two large, rolling, smart boards next to his desk; on one was a set of complex navigational equations, next to it was the corresponding course on the interactive star map. He had found the dairies of Khan that had been saved when SS Botany Bay had been invaded. All the augments having been blasted into space when the troops finally arrived.

The diaries themselves had been difficult to read. They had been scrawled in an almost unreadable script which vacillated from old Earth English to Khan's native Indian. Then there was the addition difficulty of the diary itself, which had been falling apart from age and had needed to be treated accordingly. Once he had interpreted the words he had needed to sift through them very carefully to determine the general vector toward which Khan had aimed the ship.

Khan had kept much of the information vague. However, one thing that had not been vague was his adamant belief in the legends of the Annunaki. Khan believed that the Annunaki were the ancestors of the Human race and that they would welcome the next generation of Humans with opened arms.

Marcus had finally calculated the most likely trajectories out of hundreds of possibilities and distances that a pre-warp ship could have traveled in three hundred years. It had been quite a feat narrowing it down to the four most likely areas that SS Botany Bay would be located. Hopefully, it would not be too difficult to find in the vastness of space.

The buzz of his comm and the voice of his Executive Assistant broke him from his thoughts. "Admiral Marcus, your 1300 appointment is here," she said.

"Send him in Ginger. Thank you," Marcus replied.

The door to his office opened and a man with steel gray hair and striking blue eyes entered. Captain Erik Pressman of the USS Pegasus was a proud man: he was proud of his ship and his crew, but mostly he was proud of himself and it was that self-pride that had been his downfall. Komack had snagged him with promises of grandeur when the xi were finally in control. So he had wound up with a xi bug in his head. Marcus shuddered inwardly at the thought of how those squids controlled people, happy that he was able to bypass that step by convincing them he would help them voluntarily.

Marcus, however, had his own agenda. And as soon as he was finally able to ignite the war which would destroy the Klingon Empire, he would remove all of the xi puppets once and for all. Then, once the Klingon's were dealt with he would go to the xi home world and smash it into atoms for having the audacity to try to take over his Federation. And the best thing in his mind was, he would ensure they never saw it coming.

When Pressman had received the summons from Admiral Marcus his blood ran cold. Receipt of a summons from that high up usually meant bad news, and he knew that any summons to Marcus meant that it was on section 31 business, which was the worst of all. He had crumpled the sheet it was on and thrown it against the wall. After he had been forced into this 'business' it hadn't taken long for him to realize that he hated all the underhanded, black ops, section 31 business he had been forced to take part in.

Nothing had gone his way since his once Captain, now Admiral, a man named James Komack, found out about his father's early career as a smuggler. It had been a short career that had stopped when he had met his future wife, but it was enough of a dirty background that the family had gone to great lengths to bury it for everyone's sake. Once Komack had found out about it, he had been vicious. He had threatened to make the information public if he didn't do exactly what he had wanted. Then, one day, Komack called Pressman into his office and put the xi parasite into his head to go even farther to ensure his cooperation and that was the first time he met Admiral Marcus in person. Soon after he became a section 31 agent.

Pressman snapped to attention as soon as he entered Marcus' office and offered him a smart salute which Marcus acknowledged before bringing him in and up to the two boards he had set up.

"You may be able to tell that what I am doing here is trying to locate something in space. It happens to be a ship launched from Earth into deep space in 1996." Marcus was watching him while he spoke and could see him calculating exactly what ship could have been launched in. There had been only one space-faring ship at the end of the Eugenics Wars.

Pressman's eyes got big as the realization hit him what ship he meant and Marcus smiled. He felt his knees weakening so he locked them. Last thing he wanted to do was to fall to the floor in front of the man in front of him.

With a wry smile Marcus said, "Komack said you were a history buff and would pick up on it right away. We are indeed looking for the SS Botany Bay."

"Your mission," Marcus continued, "is highly sensitive and you are to mention it to no one. You are to take the Pegasus to the coordinates I have determined and begin your search. I have several vectors for you to search and you will hopefully find the ship along one of them." While he was speaking Marcus was pointing to an interactive star map that zoomed to the vectors in question.

He turned and fixed Pressman with an icy gaze as he continued, "When you do find the Botany Bay you will find eighty three frozen individuals inside. You are to offload the cryo-tubes inside and bring them back to Earth unopened.Am I understood?!" Marcus ordered.

Pressman nodded crisply, the knot that had been forming in his stomach since he had left his apartment that morning turning into solid ice. "Yes sir!" he said with a salute.

"Excellent! Your crew has been recalled from shore leave and you will leave at 0800 day after tomorrow. God speed." Marcus said. "Dismissed," he added with a nod.

All the good Captain could think as he left were the words 'God speed' were not the correct ones for that mission; God was not involved at all in this endeavor. He quickly went to the closest rest room and emptied his stomach of its contents.

OoO

When Monty was right about a theory he was right about a theory, even if his stupid hard headed, ancient Advanced Theories of Relativistic Physics Professor, Commodore Bradburn told him his theory was impossible. It was an argument that had been going on for several semesters and now that he was in Bradburn's advanced theoretical class they could put more into it.

Commodore J'huna Brad'tnb'urnsez which he shortened to Bradburn for ease of the human tongue, was one of the few Neophornen in Starfleet and the only one teaching at the academy. During his first class with Bradburn Monty had given him the unfortunate name of Professor Haggis Head. Which as it turned out was a very xenophobic remark, or at least meant to insult his species because a Neophornen head very closely resembled the Scottish sausage. Fortunately for Monty he had never muttered those words to anyone, not even when he was intoxicated, which was often.

That was until Monty had a really good mad going one afternoon in class when his level of frustration had met an all-time high. Bradburn insisted that in order to beam something there needed to be a line of sight, be it extremely distant or not. Monty insisted that you would be able to beam, trans-warp to anywhere, even a distant planet, not just the other side of the planet.

Bradburn said, "Cadet Ssscott, that issss impossssible."

Monty turned bright red and snapped, and lost his brain to mouth filter, "If ye got yer damned haggis head out o' the sand ye might be able te understand somethin' new!"

Some gasped while others sniggers, while others were totally blank, at that pronouncement.

Bradburn turned said head sideways so he could examine Scott with three of his four eyes and inquired, "What, isss haggissss?"

When he said that Monty realized his error and turned white as a sheet as it dawned on him that he would have to answer the question. For a moment he gaped thinking how he could have let that come out of his mouth.

His first reaction was to hit himself in the head with the palm of his hand, hard enough that it left a mark. The second was to turn as red as the mark before he mumbled, "Um, it's, ah, um, a sausage of sorts, um sir." He was looking at the floor by the time he finished the sentence.

As Bradburn came to understand what Monty was implying the Neophornen became angry, transforming his head. What had looked a pasty grey skin became pasty bluish purple as it suffused with blue blood. Flaps of skin behind the side eyes lifted out as they filled with blood as did the crest on top his head which was normally folded which gave his head its lumpy appearance. Angry an Neophornen was truly scary in appearance.

Monty looked up and felt the cold of fear grip him when he met Bradburn's eyes. He swallowed but said nothing.

There was significantly less sibilance in his voice and the volume had increased when he, "that wass uncalled for Cadet! You," he pointed directly at him, "will go directly to the transporter sssimulation lab and work on this sso called 'theory' of yoursss until the end of the ssemester or until you prove it."

Which was how Montgomery Scott found himself working in the transporter simulation lab all day one fateful Sunday afternoon.

He had been working day and night on his project and was getting close. Monty had found it easy to transport things around the curve of the planet to invisible sights, as long as he had access to a receiving pad.

He had just successfully transported a grapefruit from San Francisco to simulated Mars when a male beagle wandered in. There had been a bit of scratching at the door but he had really not paid any mind to it since he had been deep into his experiment. Monty then placed a mouse in a carrier on the pad and began entering calculations on the computer. So, he did not notice when the dog entered and had hopped up on the pad to sniff the caged animal, when he slid the controls to energize. He had only realized that there was a beagle on the pad as he watched it dissolve into atoms and disappear. There was only one problem, it did not reappear on the other pad. Monty had programmed his farthest distance yet. He had programmed the computer to send the mouse to Vulcan. Except the extra mass of the dog had altered the course slightly to Delta Vega. Monty stood there waiting, staring at the receiving pad, praying for the mouse and the dog to reappear, but nothing happened with the exception of security eventually coming in to get him or the dog.

No one knew what had happened to the dog or the mouse. Cadet Scott was arrested and taken into custody in the 'Case of the Kidnapping of the Championship Dog.' In actuality the extra mass of the dog threw the destination off significantly and caused the animals to be transported to the actual destination, Delta Vega. However, they would not arrive for close to a year.

Admiral Archer had brought his latest champion show dog to the academy grounds to show him off to several of his colleagues. It had been Sunday afternoon, believing that on a Sunday afternoon there was no trouble the beagle could get into. Archer thought Duncan was asleep at his feet, but the dog was carefully working on removing his too large collar. Age worked against Archer in that moment because the dog was so quiet he forgot that he was there until he moved to leave and found no dog at the end of the leash.

Once the nuisance of the collar was removed Duncan made his way out of the building and slowly wandered around campus until he fatefully wandered into Cadet Scott's lab.

Archer seemed to have forgotten just how precocious Duncan was. He had been the leader of the pack since the birth of the puppies. Kirk had named that batch after characters from Macbeth and Duncan certainly was a Kingly young dog.

OoO

Spock entered the highway on the level meant strictly for travel beyond the cities and it was still heavily congested despite the time. It seemed that no matter how many highways were built, the infrastructure was not great enough for the demand.

Jim said, "You know, no matter how many improvements they seem to make to the highway infrastructure they never seem to be able to keep up with demand, and it's a good thing we don't have to use the Bay Bridge! Both that and the Golden Gate Bridge need to be modernized, but no! They are icons and the powers that be need them to be icons of the area. What bullshit!"

Jim could see Spock raise his eyebrow nearest to him during his tirade. Then, without taking his eyes off the road, he placated Jim by agreeing with him, "Indeed, it does appear to be the case." There was a slight pause before he continued on a new subject, one he knew Jim didn't want to think about. "Did you review the parameters of the mission that Captain Pike proposed for me?" As soon as he asked the question he felt Jim's fear spike.

Doing his best to control his voice Jim replied, "Yes, and besides the fact that I don't want to be separated from you, I don't like the idea of you going that far away that if anything happened to delay you that you could miss the birth. I don't want the physical separation to last that long." He sighed, glad his voice hadn't shaken, much.

The mission was right up Spock's ally: Three M class planets had been discovered in the Beta hydra system . The planet closest to the sun had appeared desert like on the long range sensors of the passing ship. The middle planet had appeared cooler with more water and had the potential to be Earth like. While the third planet had appeared more barren but had shown dilithium signatures, so it had been slated to be explored by miners. As a Vulcan, Spock had been assigned to the team to be sent to the desert like planet to determine its suitability as a potential colony sight for other members of his race.

"We both knew this type of mission could be assigned to either of us at any time. Even though we are bondmates we can be physically separated for short periods of time without undo stress. Although the fact that you are pregnant does add extra stress to the situation. However, my parents were separated for short periods while she carried Me." Spock said in an effort to placate his mate. "And," he stressed, "It was a request for me to go, not an order."

Knowing Spock's mind as well as he did Jim replied, "Yeah, it was a request, but I know you and I know you will go because your presence was requested and your curiosity won't let you stay here. Besides, if you did stay you would always wonder what it would have been like if you had gone."

"You also are aware how certain members of the admiralty would view the situation if I declined?"

Jim looked at him and Spock glanced his way quickly raising a brow in question. "Emotional compromise," Jim replied dropping his eyes to his hands.

For the next fifteen minutes of the ride it was silent in the aircar as Jim contemplated Spock going away for several months. Then, to change the subject to something more pleasant Jim asked, "So, Ashaya, where are we going?"

"It appears my mother has something for us to see. She has given me explicit directions to follow. She was uncommonly secretive about the reason for this trip, however, she was also uncommonly excited." Spock said.

Jim's initial reply was "Hmph". However, after several seconds he brought up a new point. "Hey, you know your mom has been meeting with a lot of diplomats recently. I wonder if this has anything to do with that?"

"Why would my mother resort to deception?" Spock asked, looking truly confused.

Jim had to ask, "Spock have you ever had a surprise birthday party?" Even as he said it Jim knew the answer Spock was going to give.

"Negative. Vulcan's do not have birthday parties."

Jim shook his head. "That explains it," he said.

"Please elucidate." Spock was drawing blanks.

"Maybe Amanda is planning some kind of surprise for us Spock. All the meetings were subterfuge to try to keep us off the beaten path." Jim said starting to get excited about what might be happening. He had fallen in love with Amanda and in the short time he had known her, in some ways felt as close to her as he did to his own mother.

"So, tell me what, is the endpoint of this map?" Jim inquired.

"Six point three kilometers outside of Brentwood on Route 4," was Spock's reply.

"Hmm, that's all forest and farms. And Brentwood itself is all hydroponically produced vegetable factories."

After the Eugenics Wars and World War III where much of the land of the Earth had been burned by weapons of mass destruction, the people of the world united and many things began to be done differently including growing fruits and vegetables. They had to in order to feed everyone. Hydroponics and the concept of sharing were adopted and starvation had been, for the most part, eliminated. Hemp was no longer illegal and its many uses became apparent beyond getting people high and relieving pain. Trees were no longer used for paper; hemp paper was just as high a quality. Cotton was reserved for the very rich and most clothing was made from hemp cloth. Therefore, forests were, allowed to grow back prosperous once more. One fruit was found that would not grow well hydroponically and that was grapes specifically grown for wine. Therefore the wine growing regions of the world that remained healthy land, such as, the Napa Valley, Sonoma and a few other spots remained places of Vineyards.

Amanda had been lucky to find a place that had not gone back to forest and was still a working property; a 7.6 acre horse ranch.

In addition to the house there was a six stall barn and four fenced pasture areas for grazing rotation. The barn stalls were large and appeared to be safe and comfortable. At one end of the barn was a tack stall and a feed room. And on the top of everything was space for a large amount of storage for fodder and/or bedding.

With all the fun that she had enjoyed growing up around horses she would make sure her grandchildren had their opportunity to try them as well.

As Jim and Spock passed the last of the factory hydroponic farms they came to the harbor at the very edge of Brentwood. Jim couldn't help but ogle when they passed the yachts. Spock shared his fascination with the personal cruise ships. For the remainder of the trip Jim imagined himself sailing the oceans of Earth rather than the deep of The Black.

When Spock turned Jim's interest was returned to the present. They drove down a wide, smooth driveway passing through tall Arbor vitae with entwined branches creating a wall of evergreen and brown, on both sides for two hundred twenty three feet when it opened up to the vista of the ranch.

Around the house Jim could see dust cloud puffing into the air and called that to Spock's attention as he parked the car. "Hey Spock, there's some kind of activity over there."

They got out of the car and walked between the house and the barn and were met with the sight of Amanda on horseback spinning in place.

"Holy shit," Jim said as his mouth dropped open in amazement, catching the dust.

"I concur, however, it is fascinating to watch," Spock replied as Amanda came out of the spin. She noticed them, and galloped toward them and, at what they thought was way to close slid to a stop raising a big cloud of dust behind her.

Jim backed up so fast he tripped over his own feet and landed on his butt much to his chagrin.

Spock turned when he saw Jim move and caught him by the shoulders just as his butt hit the ground.

Amanda jogged over the remaining forty feet to the fence trying not to laugh at the scene in front of her. She thought that Jim was adorable with his eyes the size of saucers at the moment before she asked the horse to drive his hind end down to stop. She learned as a child the fun of surprising people with a slide stop.

Spock was immediately at Jim's side assisting him to his feet. At the same time he gave his mother a narrow eyed look and said, "Mother, was that necessary?"

To which Amanda snorted as she stepped off her horse, patting her on her neck. "Jim, sorry about scaring you." She giggled as she held the bridle and hugged the buckskin tobiano mare. "But, riding makes me feel like a kid again and I love it! I think you might understand."

Jim walked over to the fence dusting off his butt while he did and said, with a huge smile on his face, "Oh yeah, I do; give me a motorbike and I feel the same way. What was that you were doing anyway?"

"Well this," she patted the mare's neck, "is 'Belle Holly Dun' or Holly. She is a four year old American Paint Horse trained in the sport of reining. I was putting her through some of her paces. All the moves are called what they look like: so what I was doing when you first saw me is called a spin, then I did a slide stop. It's all a matter of how you use your weight, feet and reins in subtle combination."

"Well I think that was the coolest thing I've seen someone do on a horse!" Jim crowed. "I've been to rodeos in Iowa and I've ridden some, but nothing fancy."

"My Mother is much more complicated than she first appears, would you not agree Ashaya?" Spock asked Jim offering him his fingers in a Vulcan kiss and standing closer to him radiating smugness.

"I may have grown up in Canada but as a kid I rode American Paint Horses," she began her story. "I competed in everything from Western pleasure to reining to barrel racing to jumping. I loved the fast stuff the best, and the more complicated the better. That's why I liked reining. Barrel racing was just too simple. If I had really gotten into riding English I probably would have been into jumping high because dressage would have been too slow for my taste. But maybe its complicatedness would have appealed enough to keep my interest." She shrugged.

"Mother, would you give us a demonstration of reining?" Spock asked with a raised brow.

Jim followed that with a "Please?" He gave Spock a look which was barely acknowledged.

In a one fluid movement Amanda put her foot into the stirrup and swung her leg over the back of her mare. She jogged into the middle of the ring where she stopped and nodded to them. She then took off in a slow lope in a small circle. At the middle of the ring the mare changed leads and took off faster into a larger circle in the other direction. At the center she changed leads and continued in a large fast circle in the direction of the first circle. Instead of changing leads she slowed down into a slow circle in the same direction and then stopped in the center. Just stopped from a lope to a dead stop, no slide it wasn't a fast enough lope. She stood there for several seconds looking like she was settling herself when she began to spin to the right, fast. What they had caught when they came in had only been the tail end because she did it two and a half times coming to a stop again dead center, looking in the opposite direction. Then they did it again, only this time to the left, again it was two and one half spins which left them facing the original direction.

Just when Jim thought Amanda was finished she took off at a dead gallop picking up speed as she went along. She galloped around the ring to where Jim and Spock where and turned right and galloped along the rail until she was at the center line at the other end and turned toward them again at a full gallop. At close to the center she started to slide with dust surrounding them.

Jim didn't jump back that time. He was grinning from ear to ear.

Cutting right to the chase Spock asked, "Mother, why did you call us out here?"

"I bought this farm guys, for all of us." Amanda dismounted Holly and began to lead her out of the ring toward the barn. "When you told me that I was going to be a grandmother I decided I wanted something better on here on Earth than the Vulcan Embassy. I talked to Sarek and he agreed that a permanent home on Earth was logical in this case."

"But what of the Council?" Spock inquired head canted to the right in curiosity.

"I will miss very few of them Spock. IDIC is a concept only to most Vulcan's, as you well know." Spock nodded as his mother continued on a bit of a tirade, extremely unusual behavior for her, "with the exception of T'Pau and T'Pay, the Council can go stuff itself! You two and your children; our family, that is what is important."

"Hmph, my Mom and I just had a similar discussion about the reaction of our fellow Veenan's to my being pregnant with non-Veenan kids. You know, like the Vulcan concept of IDIC, Veenan's espouse that all sentient beings are brothers and sisters because we are all Star Stuff. But don't have children with one of them!" Jim said in agreement with Amanda. Twining his fingers with Spock's their mutual distaste for bullies bounced back and forth along the bond for a moment.

Spock then voiced his thoughts, "I am grateful that you are taking this opportunity to stay here on Earth to assist us with the children Mother. We will want to have them with us whenever possible, but when it is not possible it will give us both a peace of mind to know they are safe with you."

During this discussion they had arrived at the barn and exchanged Hollies bridle for a halter, removed her saddle and took her back outside where Amanda gave her a quick wash to remove the sweat before hooking her to a walker and beginning to walk toward the house.

Amanda stopped and looked at her son. She was very wet from bathing the horse. She put one hand on each side of his face, pulled his head down, looked up so she could see directly into his eyes and said, "Now that I'm a little older I've come to realize that work is work but it is only work, however you have only one family it is the most precious thing in the Universe." Then she stood on her toes and kissed him on the nose before releasing him.

A/N: Please take a moment and leave me your thoughts. Thanks for reading!