Disclaimer: I do not own Enterprise or its characters. This is for entertainment only.

Author's note: Yes, complete. shugs, but with enigmatic smile

Chapter 8: The Discovery

Daddy's not there when I finally wake up, and I wonder what's happened to him. I creep out and through the dark hallway into the living room – there's another couch there – but I don't see any sign of him. I check in the kitchen, getting myself a glass of water, because I'm so thirsty, but I don't find him there either.

I'm worried. Jon should have made me go away, not Daddy. I decide I'll have to ask Jon, get him to tell me where my Daddy is.

As I approach Jon's bedroom, I hear something strange. It sounds like two people breathing. I move silently up to the door and listen more closely. One of them is snoring, and it sounds like the way Daddy snores. But wasn't Jon mad at Daddy?

I open the door slowly, praying that I don't wake them up. There's just enough moonlight for me to see: Daddy and Jon are lying on the bed together, and though there's blankets over most of them, I can see that Daddy has his arms around Jon. I back out and close the door slowly, then sit down on the floor of the hallway trying to figure out what this means.

A: When Daddy and Mother stopped loving each other, they sometimes slept in different rooms. This must mean that when grown ups love each other, they sleep in the same room.

B: Daddy said he loved Jon, and Jon said he loved Daddy… but they still didn't sleep in the same room, even though Jon let us live in his house. This must mean that Daddy and Jon weren't really sure that they loved each other. After all, Jon said it had been eight years, and that's a lifetime.

C: Daddy and Jon are now sleeping together. Therefore, they must have decided that they do love each other.

So the question becomes: if Daddy and Jon love each other, is there space here for me? Because I don't want to hurt Daddy – I feel really bad about what I did to him earlier – and I know he's happier when somebody loves him.

I still don't have an answer by the time the sun comes up, so instead I go back to the kitchen and make some toast (I can use the toaster, but Jon says I'm still not allowed to use the stove or the oven) and pour some orange juice. I put the toast and orange juice on a tray, and walk carefully down the hall, so I don't spill it. I put the tray down to open the door, but when I go inside, my hands are full with the tray and a gust of wind through the open window knocks the door shut.

Daddy jerks awake at the noise, then he sees me and his eyes go wide, and he starts covering Jon and himself even more under blankets. "Damnit, Ivy… haven't I told you that when there's a closed door you should knock?"

I can't answer him because my hands are full. Jon wakes up too, and seems to be watching me. Daddy's turned bright red, but Jon seems absolutely calm.

"Is that breakfast, Ivy? It looks good." He moves over so there's a space on the bed that I can put the tray onto. This means he moves closer to Daddy, who inches even farther away, like he's scared. This means that the blankets pull away from Jon, and I can see that he's not wearing a shirt.

"What's wrong, Daddy?" Now that my hands are free, I can ask.

"I… um…"

"Yeah, what's wrong, Trip?" Jon's learned enough to understand my simple question.

I'm confused now. "I thought you said you loved Jon, Daddy."

Jon looks like he's trying not to laugh. "I do think you said that, Trip. In fact I remember rather clearly last…"

"Ivy, honey," Daddy interrupts Jon, even though he always tells me that it isn't nice to interrupt. "Sometimes when grown-ups…"

"Sometimes when grown-ups love each other, they sleep in the same room." I broach my hypothesis from last night. "You and Mother used to sleep together when you loved each other, and you were happy. Now you and Jon are sleeping together… doesn't that mean you love him?"

Jon twists around to look at Daddy – he can't keep up with such a long conversation yet.

"That's true, Ivy…" Daddy says, cautiously. He quickly explains to Jon what I just said, and Jon confirms Daddy's statement.

"You're right, Ivy, and your Daddy and I love each other very much."

"Oh." I nod. I know Lorien and I came from Mother and Daddy loving each other a lot, but my biology teacher says it needs a male and a female, and Daddy and Jon are both males, so I don't think that there will be another child from this. "Can I have a puppy?"

Daddy looks at me strangely, but when he translates for Jon, Jon bursts out laughing. "What?"

"Well, I don't think I can ask if I will get a new brother or sister… so can I have a puppy instead?" I don't know why Jon's laughing, because I didn't mean to tell a joke.

Daddy still looks like he's confused, but Jon starts laughing harder. "I'll tell you what, Ivy…" He finally stops laughing enough to talk. "…we'll talk about that later, okay? In the meantime you go get ready for school, and we'll give your Daddy some time to get his dignity back, okay?"

"Okay." I don't know why Daddy's so embarrassed, anymore than I know what Jon finds so funny, but I go. I close the door behind me, and I can hear Jon laughing again.

"A puppy? I gotta admit, that's the first time I've ever heard something like that. Calm down, Trip… she seems to be taking it okay." Suddenly I hear the springs on the bed move, and Jon's laughter gets muffled, like there's a pillow over his face or something. "Okay, okay." The pillow must have been taken away, because his voice is clearer now. "God, if you could only see the look on your face… Trip, this kid of yours is growing more and more on me every day. A puppy!" His laughter gets muffled again, and I go back to my room. I don't know if I'll get a puppy, but I'm pretty sure that I'll be allowed to stay.

Jon says that he's not sure if I'm ready to have a puppy yet, because puppies are big responsibilities. I know he used to have a puppy… there are pictures of it in the attic, a little brown and white and gold coloured dog with floppy ears. Some of the pictures have labels, and one of them says that the puppy was called Porthos. I ask what happened to Porthos (I spell out his name, from how I remember it on the picture), because I've never seen him, and Jon suddenly gets very sad.

"Porthos died, Ivy. He was very old… dogs age differently than humans do, just like humans age differently than Vulcans do. I still miss him… Porthos was a good friend."

"Oh." This is probably another reason why Jon doesn't want me to have a puppy, because it will remind him of Porthos. I don't really need a puppy. I was just asking. I write this last part down because I don't know if Jon will know all the words. I've seen Jon happy and angry and frustrated… but I've never seen him sad before. I pat him on the hand and get together the rest of my things for school.

We're on a field trip to 'The Conservatory' to learn about different animals. Daddy has come along to help out, and translate any questions I have for the guide. Then I see them, in a corner away from where we are. I know I'm not supposed to leave the group, but I have to get a closer look… they can't be real.

"Ivy…" Daddy chases after me, but I ignore him. I stop at the fence and climb up to get a better view. Daddy sees what I'm looking at and slows down, finally stopping beside me.

"Kind of funny looking, huh?"

I shake my head. They're beautiful, with long legs and necks and graceful curves. But most of all… they're a bright shade of pink, just like my magic feather. I reluctantly climb off the fence, because there's so much I need to know. "What are they, Daddy?"

"They're called flamingos, punk. They're from Florida, just like Daddy."

"But they're pink." I've never seen a bird that was so pink before. Birds come in lots of colours – brown, blue, green, orange, yellow, red… but these are a magical bright pink, all over except for their legs and their beaks. True, some of them have streaks of white in their feathers, but mostly, "They're pink."

Daddy looks at me – I'm wearing my favourite shirt today and it's bright pink. He must think I like the birds because they're my favourite colour… but pink is my favourite colour because of my feather. "It's from eating so much shrimp. The colour gets into their feathers and turns it pink."

"Oh, Daddy, can I have one?" I climb up on the fence again for a moment, I have to look.

He laughs a little. "No, punk… you cannot have a flamingo."

I jump down again. "Please, Daddy? Please, please, please? I'll never ask you for anything else again, I'll be so good, please Daddy?" I start jumping up and down, I want it so badly.

He crouches down so we're at the same eye level. There's a bit of a smile on his lips, but he shakes his head. "No. No flamingos, Ivy. For one thing, it's against the law to keep them as pets. And they're hard to housetrain, and I don't think Jon would appreciate flamingo poop all over his carpet. I'll try and talk him into a puppy for you…"

"No, Daddy, I don't want a puppy. I want a flamingo."

"No." He straightens up, and I know I can't have a flamingo.

I sigh and try not to be too disappointed. I reach up and take his hand, and slowly we walk back to the rest of the group, though I keep looking back. One time I think I see a man watching the flamingos, but when I look again, he's gone.

We don't make it back to the flamingos… there's too many other animals that we're supposed to learn about, and somehow flamingos aren't on the list. I try not to be too bored as the guide teaches us about crocodiles – which are also from Florida – and giraffes – which aren't. The giraffes are okay… they've got long legs and necks like flamingos, and they're the only animal I've seen that seems to be put together out of pillars and triangles, which seems to me to be an odd evolutionary geometry. But even the tarantulas aren't that much fun, though I'm the only girl who seems willing to hold one, and Daddy keeps his eyes closed the entire time.

"You can't have a tarantula, either, punk." He answers me before I can ask. But that's okay, because I've got enough spiders in the attic. Its feet are very soft as it walks along my hand, I can barely feel them. The guide tells us that they barely ever leave tracks in the desert sand, which is enough for me not to want one. I don't want a desert creature, even if it is a spider.

It takes us a long time, as we learn about bats – I already knew some from Daddy's old comic books – but up close they look different. I like the sound they make, chattering amongst themselves, but it's too high in the hertz scale for anyone else to really hear it. We also find out about horses – the guide shows us pictures of people using them for transportation, and Daddy shakes his head.

"It's not as easy as it looks," he mutters. I look up at him, and he ruffles my hair. "I'll explain later, punk."

Finally, when we're done with elephants and kangaroos – I don't like kangaroos, they remind me of the squirrel – we go outside and prepare to go back to school.

Daddy sees it before I do: Jon's car is parked near the bus, and Jon's standing beside it with his hands behind his back. We detour over to Jon, while the rest of the class starts getting on the bus.

"Something wrong, Jon?" Daddy looks worried.

"Oh, nothing. I just had something for Ivy, that I thought she'd like."

I'm hoping it's not a puppy, when he pulls his hands from behind his back. It can't be a puppy, because I'm sure that puppies don't come in bags from the Conservatory gift shop. He hands me the bag and I peek inside.

I throw my arms around Jon and hug him, before reaching into the bag and pulling it out. It's a small toy flamingo, all soft and pink, and I hug it tight.

"Jon." I don't know how to describe Daddy's tone… it's like he's frustrated and happy at the same time. "You know you didn't have to do that."

Jon kisses Daddy on the forehead. "I know. But it's just a little thing, and I want our little girl to be happy."

Daddy looks at Jon in wonder. "Our… our…" He throws his arms around Jon. "Oh, Jon…" He hugs Jon tight, and tears fill his eyes, but I think they're happy tears, because he's smiling.

And they don't even argue when I insist on wearing pink to the wedding.