Sa'ren Part I

"The Trouble with Fuzzymores..."

---

 

Joel found Sammy almost straight away, for he had just entered the Dining Room carrying a fresh plate of food. "Hiya, SamSam!" Joel giggled as he drew close, watching as Sammy placed his plate down by his seat.

Sammy looked up fast and smiled, his face filled with relief. "You okay, Joel? I couldn't get to you after that fight... are you okay?" he asked, quickly opening his arms in an offered hug.

Joel ran into his arms quickly, giggling as he did so, "Yeah! Don't worry, SamSam - we Vulcans are survivors!"

Sammy started and quickly pushed Joel back in order to hold him at arms length before him; then he just looked at him in wonder.

"Wassa matter, SamSam?" Joel asked with concern.

Sammy continued to gaze at the young Vulcan before brushing Joel's cheek with a hand, "It's...it's gone, it's all gone."

Joel seemed puzzled for a moment, then, "Oh, my fear? Yeah! Daddy showed me how to block the old emotions. To not 'remember' them, you know?"

"Oh, Joel; I'm so happy for you, little guy - so happy!" Sammy said softly as he pulled his brother into a tight hug.

"Wanna meet my Daddy? Have you met him yet?" Joel asked as he enjoyed the hug.

"No, but I'd love to," Sammy said with a happy grin. His eyes seemed to lose some of the pain they had always seemed to carry whenever he had looked upon Joel: as if the lessening of Joel's pain also lessened Sammy's.

Joel was about to tug Sammy from the room happily, when his father and Jason walked in. "Sammy! Do you have a moment, Cariad?" Jason called out as he came towards them both.

"Sure, Jace. My lil'guy wants me to meet his dad anyway!" Sammy giggled as Joel excitedly led him over to Spock and Jason.

"Daddy! This is Sammy, the boy you've seen in my mind, and the one Jace and the Doc said you should help. Please help him, Daddy; he's got bad dreams and stuff that ain't goin' 'way, and we don't wanna lose our SamSam!"Joel begged, as tears sprang to his eyes.

Sammy quickly pulled Joel tight against his chest, and whispered, "Shh. Don't cry, little guy; I'll be fine, really."

"But he can help you, SamSam; really!" came Joel's answering whisper. He then looked up at his father, and Sammy followed his gaze. For a moment, the empathic Sammy seemed to get lost within the piercing, loving gaze from the Vulcan man before him.

"Greetings, Samuel," Spock said formally, his hand raised in salute.

Surprisingly, Sammy copied the salute perfectly, and said, "Peace and long life to thee, Spock of Vulcan."

Spock smiled briefly, then continued, "I have been informed by your brothers, my sons, that you are having issues with your memories. I have it on good authority that only a Vulcan Kolinahr Master can help you. Since you are a member of the Clan, you are, by default, one of my wards. It is logical for me to help you - even if it were not my moral duty to a member of my Family to do so."

For a moment, Sammy just looked at the floor between himself and Spock. Then he said softly, "It's just... just the pictures, I... they won't go away, but sir..." he paused as he raised his eyes, "Everyone is having nightmares, not just me: it's everyone."

"I know, Samuel," Spock said softly. He sat down and held his arms open. "Come here, child, and I shall explain why you need my help, first."

Sammy stared at the Vulcan for a moment, and Spock's arms did not waver in that time. The man remained seated, and his arms steady - offering warmth and comfort. Woodenly, Sammy moved and fell into those arms, to be gathered onto Spock's lap and held secure. Joel just managed to hear a whispered "Okay" from his friend before Sammy tucked his face against Spock's chest.

"I am not 'sir' to you, son," Spock whispered as he gently rubbed Sammy's back. "I am a'nirih to the Clan; Caring and Nurturing Father. You have the right to call me 'dad', 'pop', 'uncle', or simply Spock. You do not need to use 'sir'; ever."

Spock's words had a profound effect on Sammy, who started to weep softly. Joel smiled, then noticed the Doctor enter and beckon him over. Joel quietly ran to the small Time Lord, "Yeah, Galli?"

The Doctor smiled and whispered, "Sammy has more than just nightmares and pain to deal with, Joel. He is confused and lonely, even though he has more love in his family than most. He is in love, yet knows not with whom. He is conflicted and confused and desperate - all deep down. He needs your power, Child of Vulcan."

"Okay," Joel said slowly, as he nodded. "Anything else you can tell me?"

"Yes," the Doctor replied, "first, tell Sammy to find Brian and Vishnu, then you go and 'test' all those who love Sammy. You will know who they are, as you pass them. Take a pattern of their love, for you will need that knowledge. Then, speak with your Kevin - he has information unrelated to what you need to do, but you will need that information, on a personal level. Something is about to happen, and both you and your young husband need to be at peace with it."

Joel blinked. "Okay. Thanks, Galli," he said before heading back toward his father, Sammy, and Jason.

As he came up to Spock's side, he heard Sammy's tear filled voice saying, "... sometimes I don't even want to go to sleep because they'll be there, but it's the anger that really is scaring me. Yesterday... if it wasn't for your son, I'd have done something... something bad... I...I... wouldn't listen to Jace, you see, and... I've seen something like that before and I know what it means, yet I thought I could control it. It can't be, though, and I didn't listen to Jace and it's like it's there waiting... burning... deep in me and I don't want it there. Please don't make me hurt him more; please don't make him have those pictures or the fire."

Joel knew that it was he that Sammy was the more concerned about, so he laid his hand on Sammy's back. He was quickly pulled up by Spock, and Sammy started to cuddle him fiercely. "I'd like to help, Sammy," Joel whispered after kissing his brother. "I just didn't know if Daddy thought I was ready, so that's why I said him. Are you sure, Sa'mi?" he asked, staring up at his father, hopefully.

"Yes, I am," Spock answered with a tight hug.

Joel looked back at Sammy, and saw his brown haired brother start to shake his head. He stopped Sammy speaking with another kiss. "Sammy... I said this to Cory once, but you weren't there in the pool last night. You were with your Dad. My pain is a mountain. It's all the pain from all my life all at once. Your pain is remembered, but not alive in you. Your mind isn't Vulcan. It's human. Your pain would hurt me, but to me it would be like pricking my finger. I already have an open cut, so your pin prick would only make me say 'ouchie'... but Sammy... that was before! Daddy helped me close those living memories away so they don't keep hurting me... it's why you don't feel all that fear and pain in me no mores. Please... I love you. I really love you, and I wanna help you. I'm kinda your little brother, but I'm older than you... let me be YOUR big brother, this time? Please?"

Even with the tears falling thickly from his eyes, Sammy could not help but smile, "I still can't get used to that, you being older - but I just don't want to hurt you anymore, little guy. I swore I'd protect you, not keep hurting you - not even a pin prick. You've been through so much. I don't want you to have the... the pictures I have. I...I don't want... I don't want you to know that. I love you, little guy, and I just don't want to hurt you. Can you understand that? It would mean everything to me to let you help, but I don't want you hurt anymore, Joel. I don't want those things which are in me to be in you, they're... not in you, my wonderful big brother, not in you, please?"

Sammy looked over at Jason and sent quickly; pleadingly, 'Jace, you understand. Make him see, please. I don't want him to have what I do in my head. Its... please?' He then fell back against Spock's chest and continued to cry.

Joel hugged himself in tighter and said, "I want to, Sammy. I want to help you. Please let me help you. I've helped others, not the same way, but I have. I'm needed here, SamSam." He then started to cry himself as he nuzzled Sammy's neck like he'd seen the cat-kids do. He murmured, "I mean it, Sammy... ask Jace... he'd know if I could cope..."

Sammy looked up and found himself looking not only at a nodding Jason, but at the Doctor. He was also nodding, and he said, "He is the Shaper, Sammy. And he's Sa'ren, the Blade of Surak reformed. He is 'Redeemer' in the Human tongue. Let him redeem you, Heart of Gold. It is what he wants to do."

A large, gentle hand raised Sammy's face. Spock captured Sammy's eyes in his own gaze before stating, "I can assure you that my Child will come to no harm in helping you. In fact, he will help himself while helping you. He still feels worthless here, Samuel. He still feels like he is a slave, but when he has helped others it makes his sense of self-worth grow."

"Please?" Joel whispered again.

Sammy looked long and hard at Spock before whispering, "As long as he won't be hurt, I...I couldn't stand to do that; and he's NOT worthless, he NEVER has been."

Sammy then swiveled and pulled Joel into a position so that their eyes could meet. "You're always gonna be needed here, big bro; by me, if no one else, and I know there's lots more that feel the same way even if you don't do nothing - just cause we love you so much. I... I'd very much like it if you would... if you could help me. Just... if it gets to be too much..." Sammy trailed off as he raised his fingers to trace over Joel's cheeks.

Joel kissed him yet again, and longer this time. When he pulled back, his sunshine-smile lit up Sammy's face as he said, "I need to do a few things first. I'll only be a few minutes; the Doc will help me. Umm... Vishnu is Merc and Herm's brother?"

"Yes," Sammy answered with a small nod, his eyes seemingly dazzled by Joel's smile.

"Go get him and someone called Brian, while I go do some stuff, then go to that Meeting Room just off Main CIC. Jace will show you where," Joel hooted as he jumped off Spock's lap and headed out of the door.

For the next five minutes, Joel zoomed about inside CIC, and even ran outside. He didn't know what was leading him to the various people around the place, but when he felt he should stop by someone, he'd touch their hand or arm and asked them to think about Sammy. That was all - then he'd move on.

As he came inside the final time, Kevin was waiting for him. "Galli said you need to talk to me," Kevin said simply, as he pulled Joel into his arms. "Meld? Be quicker."

Joel grinned and placed his fingertips against Kevin's face, and for the first time he joined his mind fully with the boy he loved...

---

Kevin sat on the edge of his bed and looked around in confusion. This was his room, the one he shared with Kenny, but why was he suddenly here? Why would the Mikyvis teleport him here when he was about to meld with Joel?

He scratched his head briefly as he tried to work out what the joke was. Shrugging, he stood and went to where he kept his Clan communicator, but before he reached his cabinet, a giggle from the bed made him turn. Joel was sat there, right next to where he had just been, and was smiling at him.

Kevin grinned as he moved back to cuddle up against his new husband, "What's the joke? Was it Levi?"

Joel's brow creased in puzzlement for a second before he burst out laughing. "This is your mind, Kevvy! This is your quiet place where you go in your mind when you need to unwind. Now you're conscious of it, you can see what it looks like," Joel explained as he continued to giggle.

"Oh," Kevin nodded, now looking around himself more carefully. Things did seem, now that he was looking closer, different. He had little time to ponder that, however, when another feeling came to his attention. His earlier confusion has masked it, but now he was feeling naked. Vulnerable. He recognized it. He looked at Joel, "Xain's right. It's the same for all Vulcans, isn't it?"

Joel again looked momentarily confused. Then, "Oh! You mean the naked feeling? Yeah. We're soul to soul. We are naked, in a way."

"Now that could be interesting!" Kevin giggled. "I can feel how horny you are. Shall we..." he trailed off suggestively.

His tee-shirt being ripped off his body answered that question for him. He giggled as they started to kiss as both their hands set to work.

Once done, both boys lay side by side and wrapped in each others arms. They each gazed into the other's eyes lovingly, and simply enjoyed the feeling of closeness.

"What did Galli want you to tell me?" Joel asked eventually as his free hand rubbed circles in Kevin's back.

Kevin shrugged as he closed his eyes in contentment, "Just what I'd found out about Sammy. I wanted to talk to Kevin Carlson earlier, when you were off in Gotham. Twin to twin, you know? Mainly because we shared a name. Really, I don't know why I wanted to, but I've made new friends. We just talked, and it came up about what Sammy likes to do with his brothers."

"What is that?" Joel asked as he absently kissed Kevin's cheek.

"Sex stuff," Kevin blushed. As he felt Joel become concerned suddenly, he continued fast, "No, not in a bad way, Sa'r. He... I think I understand what they were trying to tell me, even if I can't do something like it myself, yet. You see, Sammy sees all love the same, and if he loves someone, he wants to show them. That means kisses, or hugs, or sex. It makes no difference to him to show you he loves you by giving you a cookie or make love to you. It's all still love to him."

"I don't understand," Joel murmured.

Kevin thought for a second. "I don't think I explained that right. Sammy sees sex as a way to show someone he loves and cares for them. He sees hugs and cuddles in the same way, and the same for giving you cookies or food or... get it?"

"Oh, I see," Joel nodded, concern still in his eyes. Concern for Kevin, "How did you feel hearing that?"

"Strange. Real strange. I'm okay - kinda - with jacking off with you, now. I'm not feeling dirty about doing it - like it'll make me a whore and a druggie or somethin' - but hearing about someone doing sex stuff with loads of people... made me a little nervous." Kevin paused as he studied one of his fingernails for a moment. Then, "Also, a little jealous: like he'd try and steal you from me..."

"No way! Never, Kev!" Joel protested suddenly. "No way! I promise right now, I'll ne..."

Kevin covered Joel's mouth with his hand and smiled at him. "It's okay, Sa'r. I know you're mine. Kevin, Randy and Danny explained it to me - that's the 'Trinity' you might have heard Sammy talk about? They said that it just means he loves people, not that he's wanting everyone as his boyfriend. I... I don't think I'd mind if you did some things with him, if you both wanted to..."

Now it was Joel silencing Kevin with his hand, "What are you saying? That you'd want me to do sex with SamSam?!"

"Well, no. Not do sex. That's becoming a whore. Show him you love him, like we just did now, with our hands? Yeah, I'd be okay with that. I trust him and you. Just nothing that you and me haven't done. I wanna be the first to do things with you. But I'm okay, I think, with you jacking off with others. That's not a major thing for me. If you and Sammy were to screw, though, I'd be hurt. A lot."

"Never! No, Kev... I..." Joel shook slightly as the old fears came back. "I'm still feeling it's kinda bad for me to be doing this stuff with you at all... how can I... why are you saying this? Do you want me to wank off Sammy?!"

"Not saying that," Kevin shook his head slowly. "Just saying that if you both want it, and it happens, then I'd be okay with it. Jacking off, that is. I know you're not going to go off and start sleeping with everyone, Sa'r, but I do know there are others here you'd 'play' with because you love them. And they love you."

Joel's eyes seemed distant as he thought all this through. He then nodded. "Yeah... Sammy, Cory, Sean, couple of others... Mostly you, though. I'd feel real nervous with the others... But why'd I do it when I can show people I love them with hugs and kisses? And why are you so calm about it when yesterday you wanted to fight Sean and Cor 'cos I loved them?" he asked curiously.

Kevin smiled. "What you Shared with me right after our big argument, about what the four of us feel for each other, really helped, Sa'r. I'm not going to lose your love if you were to jack off with Cory, for example. It would, as Randy said, just be two brothers showing each other they loved each other in a real special, personal way."

Joel continued to think hard before stating softly, "But anything more than wanking would be... wrong..."

"Yes and no. Right now, I'd be hurt. Bad. 'Cos I wanna be with you for your firsts, and I want you to be with me for mine. After? I dunno. I'd have to see how I'd feel then. Maybe not. Maybe I'd wanna keep most of the rest special for just you and me. But if I'm not around when you go into Pon Farr, and Cory, Sean or Sammy help instead, I wouldn't be mad or anything. Just hurt that I couldn't be there." A pause, then, "That's about it, I think. That's what the Doctor wanted me to tell you. If you and Sammy ever want to jack off together, I'd be okay with it. I won't do stuff like that. I'm too afraid of becoming a whore and a slut, but I'm cool if you did it."

Joel eventually nodded after another long think. Softly, he said, "Thanks for telling me, but... well, I don't think I'd ever do anything with the others... okay, Pon Farr, maybe, but I can't... oh, that still scares me," he trailed off with fear. Kevin kissed him quickly, and Joel smiled. "Thanks, T'hy'la. Don't worry about me and the others. It's really only you I want to make love to. Sex with others might feel good, but I'm too scared to enjoy it, and... well, you know."

"Yeah. At least you now know, Sa'r. If something does happen, go with it. If not, never mind. I'm okay - okay?" Kevin smiled.

"Okay," Joel smiled back, before getting up off the bed. "You've got one real nice comfy bed, Kevvy."

"Yeah. Don't feel this comfortable out in the real world, Sa'r," Kevin sniggered as he bounced on his bottom on the bed, "but then, you've never shared my real bed with me... yet..."

Joel blushed.

---

Koth and Juan walked out of CIC hand in hand. The small Klingon led his boyfriend directly into the Pool Building, and straight upstairs.

"This is the room," Koth said quietly, as he pushed the door open to reveal a well appointed bedroom, but it was void of anything personal. "Yeah. It's a guest room."

Juan just shrugged as he moved to sit on the bed. He folded his hands in his lap and shook slightly.

"Want to talk about it?" Koth asked, as he cuddled in beside the trembling boy.

"Not yet. Not right now... well, yes and no," Juan muttered. He sighed irritably, "I don't know, Koth. I'm scared and I'm ashamed, yet I'm happy and excited... It's a mess..."

Koth pushed Juan gently until he had his boyfriend lying down, before curling up next to him. "Listen. Restored memories are funny. I've had a few brought back that I'd repressed, and I felt off for ages. Don't rush it, Juan. Talk when you need to. Cuddle when you need to. We're all here whenever you're ready."

Juan nodded, then just laid there holding his Klingon boyfriend tightly against himself for a while. He broke the silence, "You're going to hate me."

"Why would I do that?" Koth asked softly.

"Because of what I've done."

"Do you really think it's so bad that I can hate you?"

"Yes," Juan whispered. "I've killed innocent people. Hurt them. Tortured them. Even killed kids and babies. You're going to hate me."

Koth raised his head off Juan's chest and looked down into the boy's eyes, "Did you do these things because you chose to do them, or because you were made to do them?"

Juan bit his lip hard, breaking the skin. "At first, because I was made to. Then because I didn't want to get hurt. Then because I wanted to."

"The 'Angry Juan' you mean?"

"Yeah."

Koth thought for a moment longer. "It was what you were taught and trained for. You had no choice. If I was to isolate a child from birth and tell them the sky was yellow, then that is all they would know. I don't blame you, Juan. You never knew different."

"But I did. There was this one doctor..."

Juan haltingly began to explain briefly about his past, then finished by turning over and curling into a ball. "I won't stop you if you want to hit me," he sobbed.

Koth grunted, forcibly turned the boy back over and hugged him possessively to himself. "You had no choice. That is why you split yourself, Juan. The part of you that couldn't do those things split from the part that knew you had to."

"Why don't I feel it, then? Why don't I feel like it wasn't my fault?" Juan sobbed. "I... I feel..."

"I forgive you," Koth whispered, and Juan became deathly silent. "If that is what it takes, then I forgive you. I won't ever stop loving you, and I think you are everything Joel has said about you. Does he hate you? No. Then how can I? I forgive you."

Juan began to cry again, this time softly and he allowed himself to be comforted.

---

Meanwhile:

When Joel and Kevin came out of their shared meld, they found themselves in a pair of strong arms, and tight against someone's chest in a warm hug. "What?" Joel looked up, and saw Justy smiling at him. "Something wrong, Justy?"

"That was what I wanted to know, little cousin," Justy said seriously, yet the gentle smile never left his face.

Kevin gasped and started to blush. "No! Don't tell me you saw!"

"Saw what?" Justy asked.

"Us having our... I... errr..." Kevin trailed off, blushing.

Justy's eyes widened, then he giggled. "So that's why you two started to shake for a second. I was passing and just grabbed onto you both to stop you falling and breaking the meld. That's what worried me," he explained.

Joel started to blush. "Thanks, Justy. We were wanking, but I didn't think it would show in the real world," he whispered quietly.

"TMI, Lil'Cuz, but you're quite welcome. Next time you two want to get it on in a meld, I would suggest being seated. No-one will know what's happening, but you both do shake a little and that could be dangerous if you fell apart," Justy said, still giggling a bit.

Joel nodded, then his eyes widened, "Oh! SamSam! I gotta go, Justy. Come on Kev!"

Justy watched as they both sped through the Rec Room and off into Main CIC before breaking out in loud giggles that caught the attention of Sarek and Amanda.

"Care to share the joke, grandson?" Amanda asked with a knowing smile, for she had witnessed Justy's rescue of the two boys.

"Nope! Not for a grandmother to hear," he replied cheekily.

"Uh huh," she said, that knowing smile becoming more certain.

Justy continued to grin at them both for a moment longer before they noticed his emotions in his eyes change.

"What is troubling you, Justin?" Sarek asked as he pulled the teen closer and into a joint hug with his wife.

Justy sighed before saying, "Now that 'Clan Short' is a Family, do I have a role here any more? I was liaison to you from the Clan. What am I now?"

"You are still Liaison. You, Cory, Sean and their brothers are all part of Family Sarek. Yet you are also all part of Family 'Clan Short'. There is still a need for Liaison, and I know that Cory does not waste talent and ability. You have performed your duties adequately, and I would therefore expect you to remain in your post, doing so," Sarek answered him seriously.

Cory had felt Justy's emotions suddenly shift, and had drawn closer, along with Sean. "Listen, Bonehead," Cory said lovingly as he wrapped his arms around Justy from behind, "you're our brother forever, and there is NOTHING that's gonna change that. We don't keep ya cuz' we need ya; we keep ya because you are FAMILY. Don't worry about who does what; just keep bein' you and doing things like you always do and we won't need to dunk you in the pool to straighten your head out."

"I think we should dunk him anyway," Sean said with a snigger as Justy twisted to hug Cory properly.

"Why is that, grandson?" Sarek asked, his eyes twinkling.

"Because it's fun," Sean shrugged as he and Cory picked up the suddenly animate and protesting Justy. "Come on, Hon. Pool's thataway!"

"Oh," Sarek said as he watched the three 'brothers' leave through the open doorway. "Human bonding is... fun, I believe the word is."

"That it is, husband," Amanda agreed. "That it is."

---

Ten minutes later - Main CIC:

Kevin watched with a smile on his face as Sammy and Vishnu were ordered into the meeting room that had recently been used by Joel to heal Sammy's mind. It had not taken long, and the results had been surprising. Seeing Sammy no longer conflicted about 'love', and watching him ask Vishnu to be his boyfriend brought sudden tears to Kevin's eyes that he only just managed to keep in. He had not understood real love before being rescued by the Clan. Nor had Joel. Now, Sammy, to whom all love was the same, had been touched by that same magic and had been able to choose a life-partner without fearing he was losing the love he held for everyone else. It was... a miracle. Plain and simple.

Kevin turned to look at Brian, who was the only other choice that had been there for Sammy to pick Vishnu from, and his smile started to vanish. He heard Sammy whisper to Vishnu, "Your brother looks interested in someone..."

Kevin quickly looked between both Sammy and Brian, then noticed Kartik. The other cougar-boy was staring, not at Sammy and his brother Vishnu, but at Brian. Kevin knew that stare.

Brian's eyes met Sammy's and he said, "I hope I'm as lucky as you, one day, SamSam."

"Oh," Sammy answered cheekily, "I think that is a safe bet..."

Brian looked puzzled, and Sammy flicked his eyes to one side. Brian turned to find that Kartik had silently moved up and was standing almost nose to nose with him. "Something wrong?" Brian asked.

"Not any more," came Kartik's answering purr.

Brian looked confused for a second, and Sammy started to laugh. As Brian quickly glanced at his brother, Kartik used that distraction to move even closer, and he really began to purr. Brian's confusion suddenly turned to wonder as Kartik pulled him into a tight, inescapable hug, and began to purr into his neck.

Sammy and Vishnu both giggled and went into the meeting room and closed the door, just as Joel whispered to Kevin, "Doc's gonna have to do up another room, now!"

"Uh huh," Kevin agreed, watching the two hugging boys, and his ears were filled with loud cougar-purrs. "That's one seriously smitten kitten!"

"Talking about being smitten," Joel whispered in Kevin's ear, "we have a date with the nearest empty room. Now!"

Cory, who had returned from dunking Justy in time to witness Sammy get together with Vishnu, pointed to the closest empty bathroom. "I'll make sure you're not disturbed," he smiled at his little brothers.

"Thanks!" Kevin managed to say as he was picked up and carried by an obviously impatient and horny Vulcan.

Once Joel had put him down and closed the bathroom door, Kevin asked, "Didn't doing it in those melds help at all?"

"No, not really. It helped calm my mind, but my body... what Uncle Bones did to me is making me feel weird," the Vulcan answered as he pulled off his clothes in record time.

"So I see!" Kevin giggled as he was quickly stripped as well.

A little later, and again, as in their meld, the two boys were curled up together. Only this time, on a bathroom floor.

"Was what I did with Sammy really okay?" Joel fretted. "Wanking with him in the meld like we did?"

Kevin nodded slowly. "Yeah. Listen carefully, Sa'r - first, you love Sammy as a brother, and he loves you. So that's okay. Second, you were helping him with a problem when your horny-problem started up again. You needed him to help you get off, and you did the same for him, because you care for him as much. You even pulled me in through our Bond-Link. I said it was okay in our meld, I told you when you pulled me into that other meld, and I'm saying it again now. You did nothing wrong."

A pause, then Kevin continued, "But your asking again just makes me love you even more. I trust you, Sa'ren. You're my husband. Now; tell me what happened in that meld! That change in Sammy was wonderful!"

---

Juan had stopped crying, but Koth could feel how tense his boyfriend's muscles still were. "You need to relax, Juan," Koth whispered.

"I can't," Juan breathed back, as he turned to his side to look the Klingon in the eye. "I just can't."

Koth smiled softly before kissing Juan, and after a few moments, Juan began to melt more and more against his boyfriend's body.

When they eventually came up for air, Juan rolled back onto his back, and glanced down. "Why'm I naked?" he asked in confusion. "When did I get naked?"

Koth giggled as he lay there looking at his cute, blushing boyfriend, and held up the clothes he had removed as he had been kissing Juan. "I thought we'd do something to relax better, and bring a smile to your face as well."

Juan half smiled, then looked nervous, "I've only had people do things to me. I was hurt by him, and I was shown that sex is something good by Jer and Ty, but I've never... never done anything myself."

Koth shrugged, "That doesn't matter."

"But what if I do something wrong?" Juan fretted nervously.

Koth giggled, "I like that - you're not afraid of doing things with me, only getting things 'wrong' - that's a good thing, Juan!" He then smiled warmly, "I'll tell you a secret - this is my first time doing things too... with you! It doesn't matter that I've done things with Riti and Viccy, and that we've done everything but go all the way together. It doesn't matter that I've also helped a few of my other brothers, sisters and friends with my hands and stuff... this is the first time I'm doing things with you, and I'm just as nervous as you are!"

Juan looked puzzled, "Huh?"

Koth pulled him close and smiled, "I don't know what you'll like or not like. I don't know what I'd like from you or not like from you. We both have to learn about each other, Qu'raki. We both have a lot to learn."

He pulled back a bit and pushed Juan down gently before speaking softly, "Do you trust me?"

Juan nodded slowly, so Koth took both of Juan's hands in his own. "Then relax and enjoy it. What we do after; that's up to you. Just enjoy this, though."

Then, the Klingon wiggled his way down the bed and lowered his head - and Juan's dual coloured eyes popped open wide. "Wow!"

---

"Cory!! CORY!!!" Joel called out as he and Kevin left CIC to find many from the Clan playing out by the soccer fields. They made their way over to the group - Kevin carrying a soccer ball, while Joel kept calling out for his brother.

"I think he's hiding, Sa'r," Kevin giggled.

Joel stopped and turned his puzzled face to his husband. Kevin saw a slight look of hurt in his eyes as Joel said, "Why? What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing," Cory answered with a giggle from behind the Vulcan. He had snuck up behind his noisy little brother, and Kevin had been in on it. "You're my little brother, you just love teasing me, so I wanted paybacks!" he continued as he hoisted the now laughing Joel up into his arms, and proceeded to tickle him.

After reducing Joel to tears of mirth, Cory held him close and pulled Kevin in close to his side. He continued on towards the playing groups of kids and asked, "What did you want, Lil'elf?"

"To play. I had loads and loads of toys and stuff, and I wanted you and Sean and Kevvy to play with one of them with me," Joel explained with great seriousness. "I've never played before, and I wanted you three to show me how."

Cory giggled, "I've got no problems with that!"

Jude and Billy Joe came running over once the boys reached the playing field. "Hey, Joel. We're going to play soccer, and... oh, you brought your own ball?" Jude asked happily.

Joel nodded as Cory lowered him back to his feet. "Yeah, and Cory's gonna teach me how to play."

"Looks like we have enough here to form teams," Cory giggled as Sean joined him with little Matty.

"Can I be on youw team, Unca Joel? Please?" Matty asked with full powered puppy-dog eyes.

Joel giggled and nodded.

"I think Joel's team's going to win," Jason giggled as he joined them. "The other one'll see Matty coming and run OFF the pitch!"

Matty crossed his arms and glowered at Jason, "You awe mean, Unca Jace. I'm gonna get you fow that. An' you awe not in myteam."

Jason giggled mischievously at the small boy and messed his hair briefly with one hand. "Okay, little one. Cory? Give me two minutes. I'm calling my ship for industrial strength ball-protection!"

"MOM! Where's the Transparent Aluminium cups?" Sean yelled. "Jace will need one!!"

"You want standard, or 'Matty-Proof'?" she yelled back from where she was seated with many of the other adults.

"Matty-Proof!"

"Sorry, we're out. They've all been destroyed!"

"Nath'?" Sean said sadly to the blond boy at Jason's side.

"Yeah?"

"Sorry, dude. You're husband is about to become a girl."

"He isn't already??" Nathan retorted before ducking out of Jason's reach.

Matty eyed them all suspiciously as he took Joel's hand. "I think you'we all being mean. None of you awe in my team. Me and the Twibe and Wug-Wats and Unca Kev and Joel will show yous! Yeah! Come on, Unca Joel, Unca Kev. You'we the only nice uncles!" he said loudly as he pulled the two boys after him.

"I believe the term is: 'Oh shit'," Xain said, although his face remained emotionless. "Jason. Can your ship provide enough protective devices?"

---

Joel was dribbling the ball down the pitch and finding that all those on the other team were allowing him to pass them without interference. He was concerned, but figured that since it was his birthday they were allowing him at least one of these 'goal' things. He aimed at the net and booted the ball hard, knowing that Xain, the other team's keeper, was also Vulcan and wouldn't be hurt.

Xain allowed the ball in without even attempting to save it.

Joel stomped his foot in slight anger. "This is no fun if no-one plays by the rules Timmy told me!" he said with a little heat.

Behind him, Matty giggled.

Xain, who's eyes had not been on the ball nor Joel but on the tiny terror that had followed him closely, said, "We were not letting youwin, Joel. We do not want to anger him."

Joel turned to look at the innocently smiling Matty, then around at the others. He glanced back at the tiny boy and pulled him in close. "Why are they scared of you?"

"Be'cos' I can hit hawd," Matty whispered.

"I don't understand," Joel murmured.

"Dey think I'll hit theiw petews if I gets too close," the boy giggled.

Joel's eyes widened. "Would you?" he asked in a deathly whisper.

"No," Matty giggled just as quietly. "But, DEY don't know dat!"

---

The game settled down after that, and cries of fun and laughter soon filled the air as the kids either played in the two teams or watched. They were soon joined by Adam Casey, Logan and many from the Special Forces Division.

Once Matty had scored his final goal, Adam pulled Cory to one side and explained what he and his brothers wanted to do. Soon, the pitch had been vacated of players, and the kids all settled down in a large ring shape, leaving a nice open space in the middle for the Unit kids to show off their skills.

Tristan and Donna were not paying attention to the duels when they started, however, but were both chatting intently with Riti and Victoria.

"So, you think...?" Tristan murmured.

Riti nodded. "Yeah. He's been looking. Are you both sure about this? Three way relationships are meant to be difficult to maintain," he asked seriously. "Most of us play around with others, but serious stuff we keep to our special ones."

"And are you both sure you can do this?" Victoria added. "You've only just managed to get over a bunch of hurdles after Joel Shared with you. Are you sure?"

Donna nodded peacefully. "There's been something missing for a while, Vic. I didn't know what I was feeling when I first saw him, but now... Same for Trist. We both had our eyes on him for a month, now, but we thought we were being unfaithful to each other. We weren't. We both need him, and you said he's got feelings he's hiding about us, so..."

"So we ask, and find out," Tristan completed quietly, hope in his eyes as he glanced over towards a boy seated across from where they were sitting.

"Then I'll wish you both good luck, and the same for him too..." Victoria smiled. Then she giggled, "Oh, you do know he's a virgin, right? And I mean a complete innocent, in a way; he's never even played with others before, only did what he was trained to do to 'relieve stress' by those... those gits. Play nice!"

"We will..." Tristan giggled.

Donna added with a wistful tone in her voice, "That will be nice, Vic. We'll both get to experience a 'first' with someone we love that isn't forced. Assuming he accepts..."

"He'd be a fool not to," Riti said firmly. "Two hot bods, and both gagging for him... he'd be nuts!" Then, the bird-boy fell over laughing hysterically.

"Featherhead," Tristan giggled as he started to tickle his friend.

"Come on," Donna stood up, "let's grab him now. I have a plan."

"You're gonna to seduce him?" Tristan guessed, also standing.

"No," she said with great dignity. "We're gonna seduce him!"

---

"Prince Sa'ren," came an imperious voice from behind Joel as he sat with Billy Joe, Jude and Kevin. Before them, Adam Casey, Chang and Amur Khan were in the middle of their duel. He turned quickly and looked up into the expressionless face of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth.

"Y...yes, your Majesty?" he trembled as he leapt to his feet.

"You have been joined in marriage to Kevin Thompson. Is that not so?"

"Y...yes, Ma'am. That is correct," he whispered fearfully as Kevin stood to wrap his arms around the trembling Vulcan. Kevin glared at the Queen. Why was she doing this?

"I cannot allow a Prince of the Empire to marry an untitled American, Prince Sa'ren," she stated, looking into the now furious face of Kevin.

Kevin started, for he could see the Queen's eyes twinkling in hidden mirth, and he too started to giggle.

Joel was now torn between fear and hurt, and confusion. "What am I missing?" he asked Kevin quickly, not taking his eyes of his royal grandmother.

"Your Majesty," Kevin said to the Queen, ignoring Joel's question. "Can I become one of your princes, please?"

The Queen's face broke into a wide, loving smile. "Of course, sweety. You, at least, got my meaning," she chuckled as she pulled the stunned Joel into her arms and kissed him. "Joel; run and get your crown, and tell your big brothers to do the same."

"You have a crown for me already?" Kevin asked in shock.

"Levi," was the Queen's single word response.

Kevin looked around, and saw Levi standing off to the side with a huge grin on his face. He mouthed "Thank you" at the grinning Mikyvis, and received a bow in return.

Less than five minutes later, and Cory, Sean and Joel arrived back, each holding their crowns. Joel was examining his, "I thought this Seal would be revealed by now. Look, Cory! It's still hidden! Why?"

"Must not be time yet," Cory mused. "Either that, or they're still trying to find a suitable seal for the King of the Elves!" he added with a grin.

Joel did a double take before giggling.

"No need to wear them yet," Elizabeth said as Cory was raising his to his brow. "Let us wait until this current duel is over. Then everyone can watch as I ennoble Kevin Thompson."

Cory nodded his agreement and sat down with the others, while Kevin just blushed and tucked himself into the circle of Joel's arms.

"Stop muttering, Kevvy. You'll like being a prince," Joel giggled at the blushing boy.

"So speaketh Sa'ren Joel Short, King of the Elves!" Sean giggled. "Just say 'Yes Your Majesty', Kev!"

Both small boys turned their cute faces towards Sean and, in unison, blew raspberries at him.

"Well said," the Queen chuckled.

"May I attend the Coronation, Your Highness?" Antonio asked Joel with a grin as he jogged over to join them.

"Kev," Joel stated as he reached and pulled Antonio in between them both, "I do believe my loyal subject requires a reward for his cheek - yes?"

"Tickle until he wets himself?" Kevin asked as he grabbed Antonio's arms as the smaller boy laughed and struggled.

"Uh huh," was the Vulcan's response as he lifted Antonio's tee-shirt and started blowing bubbles into the boy's bellybutton.

"No! Noooooo...." Antonio cried out as he laughed louder and louder. Then, "Help!.... I meant ME not HIM!!!" as Cory started attacking the nine year old's armpits.

Joel stopped a second or so later and just giggled at the flushed face Antonio was now sporting. "Hello, first Lil'elf."

After poking his tongue out at the Vulcan, and pulling Kevin's arms around himself for a proper hug, Antonio replied, "Hello, second Lil'elf."

"We need one more, then we'll have the three stooges!" Sean sniggered.

"I got ya Uncle Joel!" Dylan yelled from across the field. After a brief flicker, Sean was now sitting there, soaking wet.

"Kyle! Do something about your son!" Sean yelled.

"Okay!" Kyle replied back, his giggle obvious in his voice. "Dylan, go tell Tommy I said you can have a couple of cookies!"

"Not what I meant," Sean muttered as he shook the water out of his hair. "You're not helping any, hon!" he grouched at Cory, who was trying not to wet his pants laughing.

"Got any more pets for Timmy?" Cory asked curiously as he regained some control and sat himself back upright.

Sean reached into his jacket and pulled out a long, bright red snake with yellow and green stripes running down it's body. Everyone stared in wonder as the snake looked around at them all.

It then started to sing.

Cory tilted his head. "Wow, you're getting creative with your catches, Hon."

Joel crawled slowly over towards Sean and sat there, inches away from the snake that was still letting loose with it's eerie song-like cry. It was staring intently at Joel, and it's head was weaving back and forth as if trying to hypnotise the Vulcan boy.

Joel's skin went into war-paint mode as he weaved his own head in response to the snake, and that same cry started from his own throat. The snake stopped singing and flared it's hood and flicked it's tongue out. Then continued to sing with Joel.

The Queen was watching carefully. "Cory. Very slowly, pull Joel back. That snake is about to strike," she said softly yet firmly.

Joel stopped singing and said, "No. I'm talking to her. She says her name is Leh-sheh, 'cos she was the sixteenth egg of her nest-mates." He then continued to sing-talk with Leh-sheh the snake.

"Who gave you the animal language dump?" Sean asked, as he continued to cradle the reptile in his hand.

"No-one. Timmy said it comes with the paint," was Kevin's answer, as he listened to the two songs, obviously understanding both.

Timmy ran over and explained, "They're not Spirit Guides like me and Ricky, Poppa. But they are linked to two Spirit Guardians, so they have some of our abilities. Unca Joel? Can you teach me that language? Please?"

"Wait, you mean you don't know this one?" Cory asked quickly.

"Nuh huh. I learnt Sehlat, but I've not met any other animals from Vulcan yet, so..." the little boy shrugged.

Sean threw a dirty look over at the giggling Dylan. "Next time, THIS solar system ONLY, imp!"

"Okay!" Dylan called back. "Methane sea on Io next!"

Cory sniggered at the faces both were pulling at each other and asked Joel, "What type of snake is this?"

"Masutra'oluhk. Sea-snake. They live on the shore or in the waters of the Thanar Sea, east of my home city. Daddy had a pet one when he was a little boy!" Joel bubbled as he took the creature into his hands and wrapped it around his neck, where it started to purr like a cat. "She says her mate is in your jacket too, Sean! His name is T'Dahsu, cos there were two in one egg, but his twin died. She says they are both to be looked after by me and Timmy!"

Timmy all but mauled Sean as he started searching for his new 'pet'. After only a few bruises to Sean's body, Timmy emitted a cry of joy and stood up with a similarly coloured snake in his hands. He stared into the eyes of the snake for a minute, then softly began 'singing' to the new arrival.

"Timmy, Leh-sheh said she's pregnant. She'll be laying her eggs soon, so we have ta get a place ready for them!" Joel bubbled happily.

"Kewl!" Timmy giggled. "Uncle Bryce! We need some Vulcan water an' sand! Daddy, can you get us soma that tanspa'nt aluminininum stuff?"

Cory rolled his eyes as he giggled. "And you say I spoil him, hon? Sure thing, munchkin. I think we might even have a spare room that you guys can use that hooks to both your room and Joel's room at the house. Talk nice to Uncle Josiah, and I bet he'll help you get it set up just right."

"You mean our pet room, Daddy?" Timmy asked, as Ricky giggled at his side.

Cory just rolled his eyes. "I'm not asking. I'm just not asking."

Joel handed Leh-sheh to Timmy, who draped both snakes around his neck. "You can set it up for them with Josiah, Timmy?"

"Yeah, Unca Joel! Seeya later!" he hooted as he ran off with his little boyfriend, searching for Josiah.

"The fight has finished. Are you ready, Kevin?" the Queen said with a chuckle as she glanced between the tiny boys running away, and the now empty sparring area before them.

Kevin gulped and nodded. "Yes, Grandma Lizzy. I am."

"Then you may now wear your crowns, children," she said to Cory, Sean and Joel.

They each placed their crowns upon their brows and smiled. Once Joel's had settled in place, however, everyone shielded their eyes as it blazed out briefly in white light. Once the light had cleared, Joel could be seen standing there in shock, and the crown on his brow seemed different.

The Seal of House Surak was now plainly visible at it's apex in the centre of the circlet. To either side were the Coat of Arms of the House of Windsor and the Crest of Clan Short. Yet there were now more Crests spaced out around the edge, all the way to the back.

"That's the Dragon's Crest," Kevin muttered in wonder. "And the Diplomat one. AND the AI one!"

"Oh... Kyle? Can you get over here..." Cory called out, his mouth now dry with shock.

Kyle was already running over with Levi in response to the blinding light, and they skidded to a halt beside Joel. "My Crest? Why's he got the Mikyvis one there?!" Kyle gasped.

"And the Founder one?!" Sean added.

Jude was looking at the crown closely. "There's Crests from all the groups linked with the Clan, guys. But these two at the back... what are they?"

Levi's eyes popped open. "That's the one for the Q Continuum, and that's... that's the Seal of Rassilon! The Time Lords!"

"There's spaces for more," Cory muttered as he looked closer. "Far more. Levi, what does your Friend say about this? What does this mean?"

Levi's Friend responded directly, instead of through Levi's Voice.

//He is of the Blood that joined you all, through the Promise you and your brothers first made, Cory Short. He is the child that the Heart took in that now links, by Blood and Parentage, all the Clan as Family. He is the Protected, and so he bears the Marks of all. He is not above all, nor below all, nor IS he all. He is just the visible symbol of the Link your promise created. He is your Brother and Protector and Protected - because you made it so//

"Why's it always me?" Joel asked weakly, as he buried his face in Cory's chest. "Why can't I just be normal?"

"None of us are 'normal', Lil'elf." Cory said softly as he rubbed Joel's back. "I'm proud of you being just what you've became since you came home; please don't ever try to change that."

"Okay," he whispered softly. "I love you, Cory. I promise I won't change nuffin'."

"I love you too, Lil'elf," Cory whispered back.

The Queen then reached and ruffled his hair, before turning and leading Kevin down through the milling crowd of kids to the centre of the duelling arena that had been set up.

She then turned with the small boy standing before her, and addressed them all...

---

"Good fight," Tristan said casually, as he sat on one side of Jory and watched as the Queen led Kevin into the middle of the Dual circle.

Jory nodded. "I won the bet on that one!" he giggled.

Donna grinned as she sat on Jory's other side, "I wonder if you'd make a bet with us?"

"Oh?" the explosives expert raised his eyebrow. "How much and on what?"

"Oh, how much? We'll leave up to you. On what?" Tristan giggled, "Well, how about on which of us can get naked and into a warm comfy bed first?"

Jory's jaw dropped open and he blushed scarlet. "I... pardon?"

"You've been looking at us," Donna said seriously.

"N... no I haven't!" Jory stammered quickly. "Well, not that way... I mean... you're together! It's not honourable for me to... to..."

"But you have feelings for us, and so you've looked," she continued reasonably. "You've not done anything, just like we didn't, even though we've both been eyeing you as well..."

Jory looked back and forth between the two kids on either side of him so fast it looked like he was watching a very fast game of tennis. "I'm... lost... what're you saying?"

Tristan took Jory's hand and said, "I like you. Maybe more than that. You're sweet and cute and wonderful..."

"And you have a simply edible bum," Donna quipped seriously as she pretended to examine one of her fingernails.

Jory didn't know what to do with himself. "I... errrr..."

"You're bi, right?" Tristan asked directly.

"Well... ah... yeah, I like both..." Jory stammered.

"I'm bi too. Donna's... well, Donna's Donna." Tristan shrugged and grinned, "To cut to the point, we love each other, and we both like you. We might be as in love with you as with each other, but we'll give that time. So - now that Joel helped us both with our problems last night - we both want to see if those looks you've been giving us since Sunday mean anything. If nothing else, we both want to have some fun with you, even if only as friends."

Jory felt his mouth go dry. "You're not pulling my leg, are you?" he asked softly, a hint of worry in his voice. "I've never d...done anything before, and... I'm..."

"We know you're really shy inside, and you've hidden it behind your playfulness all this time," Donna said quietly. "I'm a teep - a telepath - and Viccy's my friend. That's why she and Riti teased you at dinner... she was scanning you emotionally, just to make sure of a few things. She didn't read your mind, though. But what we know about you is from observation and what you broadcast loudly, without realizing it."

Jory stared at her. "You've not read my mind?" he asked quickly.

Donna shook her head, "No. I hear what you're thinking, but that's kinda normal for teeps. We have to 'point' our abilities upwards to hear nothing, and that makes us feel real odd. Right know, I hear everyone around me like the buzzing of a bee on the other side of a room. Only when people shout in their heads do I hear them clearly, without looking 'right' at them. You're going nuts right now wondering if we're serious. We are."

"We want to make love to you and with you," Tristan continued, causing Jory to go even more red. "And we want to give you the best time of your life - so, shall we make a bet on it, or just go and do it?"

Jory looked around quickly as he scrambled his thoughts together. It gave him time to pull up his playful 'mask'. He quipped, "I've nothing else to do today that I can't postpone..."

Donna giggled and stood, pulling the boy up with her. She looked down, "I see you're ready. Come on, before that explodes!"

Jory glanced down, giggled and linked his arms with both of theirs as they quickly walked off towards the Apartments over the Indoor Pool. "I don't believe this is happening," Jory breathed out with a nervous giggle.

"Just be ready to 'lose' something," Tristan giggled back.

Donna added after the briefest of pauses, "... and in all ways possible, too!"

Jory was now sporting the largest, shit-eating grin any in the Clan had seen in a long, long time...

---

"How's it feel, Prince Kevin of the Empire?" Sean giggled as Joel pulled Kevin into a lip lock.

Kevin glanced over but "Mhmmm... humphmmmeph... mmmheemmmph..." was all that could be heard from him.

"Say again?" Jason giggled as Joel, grinning, released Kevin from the congratulatory kiss.

"It feels great!" the newly minted prince giggled as he was pounced by his twin brother.

"I'm so proud of you!" Kenny said, his voice thick with emotion. "We're all so proud of you!"

Kevin hugged himself tightly into his soul-mate's chest, and said, "S'not a big deal, Ken. Not really."

Kenny first hugged Kevin back just as tightly, then slowly pulled back and used both hands to hold his brother's head steady. He looked Kevin straight in the eyes and said firmly, "Yes it is. Do you think the Queen of England would take just anyone as her grandchild? She's accepted the entire Clan for a reason - and each of us have something unique FOR that reason. YOU TOO, Kev! Our mother thought you were a waste of space and breath, Kev - look where you are now! You're a Defender of the Commonwealth, a Prince of Britain, a Vulcan Diplomat, representing the newest Vulcan Family, a captain in the Vulcan Fleet and you are married to the grandson of Surak of Vulcan himself! I think you've more than proven your worth, and I think our mother can eat her words, now!"

"I do not believe that it is possible for Gloria Harris to 'eat her words' post-mortem, Kenneth," Sarek said as he came over and placed a hand on Kenny's shoulder. He looked down at Kevin, "It was only logical that you were given this honour; I personally believe it is long overdue, in respect to your accomplishments since being reunited with your brother."

As Kevin started to blush, Joel hugged himself around his back. "I think you're pretty special, too, Kevvy. I also think you're just real pretty as well!" he giggled before kissing the nape of Kevin's neck.

Kenny's mouth opened slightly, and his face became unreadable. "Post... post-mortem? Grandfather - wh...what...?"

Jason reached and took Kenny's hand and said, "After our grandfather melded with Kevin earlier, I was asked to render sentence on your egg-doner, Ken. I sent Telez over to where she was being held. I don't need to tell you the rest."

"But... but why?" Kenny asked, his voice as unreadable as his face. "She was already sentenced, and the Clan had decided to just let it stay that way. Why did she need to be...?"

Kevin pulled his twin tighter against himself and whispered, "I never told you everything about me, Kenny. Some things were just to upsetting, and... and... I didn't want to hurt you. You... I love you a lot, Kenny, and... I just didn't... didn't wanna tell you she tried to... to..."

Kenny knew what was not being said to him. If Gloria had been deserving of death, then something pretty terrible must have happened. He increased his grip on his twin so much it nearly hurt Kevin, and whispered, "I want to know, Kev. I'm your brother, and I really want to know."

Joel backed away a few steps and said quietly, "I'll wait here for you, T'hy'la. I think you should tell him as well."

Kevin nodded briefly against Kenny's chest before they both moved away to find a quiet spot to sit and talk.

Jason sighed, then glanced over to where Kirk and Adam Casey were having a long talk while watching some of the other Special Forces kids duel for the entertainment of the Clan. Will was nearby with Billy, and they seemed to be making bets on the outcome. "I think I'll ask Will if he wants a sparring match. I need to work out this bad taste I suddenly have in my mouth," he said to himself as he moved away.

Nathan moved after him as Cory and Sean sat down to watch. Joel sighed and looked around. He looked up at his grandfather, hugged him briefly, then turned to Jude. "I'm going for a walk, big bro. I'll be back after, so we can have more birthday fun," he said mutely.

Jude nodded with a sad smile, "Of course. I'll be waiting, little brother."

Joel smiled wanly and moved away. He did not get very far before being pounced by a speeding Timmy, Ricky and Jimmy Marcus. "The masutra'oluhkam are okay in their new home?" he giggled briefly at the red-haired fireball now perched on his chest.

"Uh huh. They're really happy! Granpa Spock told us what they can eat, and they have lots of stuff there to play with and do, and they're nice and warm and can go for a swim and everything!" the fiery rugrat rushed out as he bounced on Joel's chest and stomach. "T'Dahsu is finding a nice place for Leh-sheh to make their nest for the eggs, and they both said thank you!"

"Can I have one of the babies to be my friend when they are old enough?" Jimmy asked, as he knelt at Joel's side, his face alight with hope.

Timmy giggled, "They'll choose, Jimmy. All our pets and friends choose us."

"Oh, okay! I hope one will choose me!" the dark blond seven year old bubbled.

Joel looked up at the boy and his brow furrowed. He sat up gently and hugged both Timmy and Ricky close and smiled, "What's your name? Your full name?"

Jimmy grinned shyly. "James. James Marcus... I, uh... I have a middle name, but I don't like it much. I like being called Jimmy."

"Do you have any brothers?" the Vulcan asked again.

"No," Jimmy shook his head sadly. "Mummy said I did once, long ago. But he died before I was born. When Mummy knew I was coming, she said she had to leave my daddy, 'cos she was afraid I'd die too. I think my daddy killed my brother."

Ricky looked sadly at him. "Was your daddy a bad man?"

"No. Mummy never said he was bad, only that he cau.. ummm... he was part of my brother dying."

Joel continued to stare at Jimmy's face. "I... oh, no, it can't be!" he whispered in shock. "Jimmy? Is your last name really Marcus?"

"Yeah... why?" Jimmy replied, his face confused.

"What was your Mammy's name?" Joel pressed.

Jimmy looked even more confused. He looked at Joel as if the Vulcan was crazy. "Mummy," he answered seriously, as if to an idiot.

Joel blinked, then giggled. "Your brother's name?" he asked, still chuckling.

"David," Jimmy Marcus answered, now wondering where this was going.

Joel grinned. "I think I can guess your middle name," he giggled.

"Bet you can't!" Jimmy shot back, a small smile playing at the side of his mouth.

"Can so!" Joel retorted playfully.

"Go on then! I bet you can't! I bet you a squillion lollipops you can't!" Jimmy giggled as he bounced on his knees at the Vulcan's side.

Joel continued to grin. "Keep the lollipops, James Tiberius Marcus. Instead, you wanna meet your daddy?"

"How'd you guess?!" Jimmy spluttered in shock. Then the rest of what Joel had said sunk in. "What!! My Daddy?! WHERE??"

Joel stood up and took Jimmy's hand in his own. "Come with me," he said, as he beckoned Timmy and Ricky to follow them.

As they ran around the edge of the spectators of the duels, they bumped into Sarek and Amanda. Amanda had a datapad in her hand, and was talking animatedly with her husband. "This says... Husband, what will he feel? How will he react? This is the second time he has missed those formative years with a son!"

"I do not know how he will react, other than to be very happy at having a child, Wife. Sa'ren - I see you have met James," the older Vulcan said in greeting, as his grandson bounced off his side.

"Sorry, Grandpa!" Joel giggled. "Yeah! I'm taking him to his daddy!"

"You know?!" Amanda asked in shock. "How?"

"Logical. I know what David looked like, and I know what Carol Marcus looked like. Logic, Grandma!" Joel giggled again.

"Where's my daddy?" Jimmy asked impatiently. "Can we see him now? PLEEAAAASSEEEE?"

Sarek nodded. "I shall accompany you, children. The information was left in my care, so I should at least be there when you meet him," he said softly.

As they continued around the group of kids, Joel looked up at his grandparents and asked, "How long have you known?"

"Five minutes," Amanda replied. She held out the datapad, "This was left with Nathan this morning, but with all that has happened, we had not looked at it until now."

"Oh, okay," Joel smiled. Then, "Uncle Jim?" he called out as they came close to where the Captain was. Adam Casey had only just left the chat he had been having, and Kirk was getting ready to head for something to eat.

"Yes, Joel. How can I..." he began, but an excited voice overrode his own.

"Is this him?!" Jimmy yelled out in excitement.

Joel giggled, "Yup!"

Kirk was suddenly holding a squirming, overexcited and happily crying child. "Wha...?"

"James Tiberius Kirk," Sarek stated formally, "meet your son - James Tiberius Kirk... Junior."

---

"Finally," Bones said, as they sat around the Kitchen table. "One down, probably 784 more to go," he muttered with a grin at his captain.

"Bones," Kirk said, but the smile on his own face as he cuddled his son on his lap negated the warning in his voice.

"Those figures are not entirely accurate, Doctor," Spock supplied, completely deadpan. "The more likely estimate is 1,834 more to go."

"Damn, Uncle Jim! You call US horndawgs??" Cory spluttered before falling off his chair laughing.

"What're they on about, Daddy?" Jimmy asked, looking up at his father, who was glaring about at the others.

"Nothing," Kirk replied quickly. "Nothing at all!"

Timmy giggled, "That's why Jimmy is so 'fun' in the showers! He's Unca Jim's son!"

Jimmy looked between Timmy and his dad, then giggled. "You're fun in the showers with your friends too, huh?" he giggled.

"That's one way of putting it," Bones muttered, just loud enough for them all to hear.

Joel was laughing so hard that he was dangling from Spock's lap, and only being held from the floor by his father's strong arm around his belly. The more he laughed the harder it was to stop, in this position.

Eventually, everyone had gotten their share of Kirk-teasing, and things settled down as Sarek explained about how Kirk had never known of his son. "According to the message left by Doctor Marcus, when she found out she was pregnant again, all the hurt she had suffered at your eldest son's death came back to her. She mentions here that she had never stopped loving you, Captain, but she felt that if you were to have contact with your youngest son, the same might happen. She felt that she could not allow the possibility to happen. She named your son after you - even his family name - but called him 'Marcus' to hide him from you. According to this pad, she knew she was ill for over five years, and had decided that placing your child in my Family's care was the logical thing to do, once she passed."

"I see," Kirk said softly, an old pain rising in his eyes. "What is her will about now? Am I to have any contact, or not?"

"That has been placed in my purview," Sarek stated gently. "I am not held back by her fears, but I do have to respect her wishes. I will not cut you off from contact. He is your son and heir, and you have shown yourself to be honorable, just and loving. You could be and would be a good father to James Junior. However, we must consider the dangers involved. Starfleet is not the safest organization to be a part of. None of the Federation's Fleets are. But is that reason enough to deny you custody?"

Admiral Morrow was seated at the far end of the table, and coughed lightly.

"Admiral - do you have something to add?" Sarek asked politely.

"Yes, Ambassador, I do. Jim," he said, holding Kirk's gaze with his own, "You have every right to continue in your current post as Captain of Enterprise. I see no reason for you to leave it, nor would I feel right in reassigning you to a safer position in the Fleet. You are simply too valuable where you are. However, if you requested it, I can see to it that any post is given to you if it will make things easier for you to care for and love your son. You have earned the gratitude, not only of myself, but of the entire planet - the entire Federation."

Kirk did not reply at first. He looked about the room, at each and every person present, before locking his gaze with that of his best friend - Spock. "Brother," he said softly, "you told me on Saturday that you will be resigning your commission to care for your own family. That is now a dead certainty with your son's return. How can I do any less to care for my own son, my little Jimmy?"

Spock answered slowly and seriously, "My brother, I cannot tell you what you should do. It is just as likely for you to be an excellent father as Captain of Enterprise as it would be for you to be father as a retired Captain of Starfleet. However, your options are greater, regardless. If you retire with me, we will not be out of work, as you humans say. We have a large family to care for, and I know that it is something that has long been missing in your life. There are many here, and I am sure many will follow, who need uncles and fathers. You have a heart larger than yourself, Jim. Follow it."

Kirk pressed his face against his son's beautiful blond hair and simply thought. After a long while of respectful silence, where Jimmy was completely happy at the cuddles and attention he was getting from his long-missing father, Kirk looked back up. Facing Admiral Morrow, he said, "I, Captain James Tiberius Kirk, of the USS Enterprise, do hereby resign as Captain of said ship. I have served the Federation and Starfleet faithfully for forty years, and I now retire with honor, knowing that my task is being handed on into capable hands."

"I, too," Spock echoed, "do hereby resign as Captain and First Officer of the USS Enterprise. My Family calls, and I must answer that call."

"Might as well make this three for three," Bones joined in, "because I'll be damned if I have to break in a new Captain and Science Officer! I have a daughter, a son in law and three grand kids to spoil. I resign as well."

"Only three grandchildren?" Sarek asked with a raised eyebrow. "Correction Doctor, but I believe there is a Compound full of children that have adopted you."

"Humm," grunted Bones. "In that case, I will have to start handing out corner-sittings to those who back-chat me..." he finished, glancing at an innocently smiling Cory and Sean.

Morrow sat there impassively regarding the three most famous and decorated officers that Starfleet had ever had, to date. "I will accept your resignations, with a few amendments."

"And they are?" Spock queried.

"One - that each of you accepts a rise in rank by way of thanks. Two - that you accept the Enterprise-A as a gift-on-loan, to use however you wish for as long as you choose to remain her Captain. And finally, three - that each of you will give thought to teaching at the Academy; the kids there can use your knowledge and experience, and learn from each of you."

Kirk, Spock and McCoy traded long glances, before Kirk answered for all of them, "We accept. Thank you, Admiral."

"No. Thank you, the three of you. I shall prepare the paperwork, and your discharges with full honors. There are a number of other things I wish to accomplish today, so all can be done at once - including your elevation in ranks. I shall return later, and we can discuss the details," the Admiral said with feeling as he stood, bowed to Sarek, and left quietly.

"This is going to be so SWEET! We get to keep the ENTERPRISE?" Joel bubbled happily.

"Well, Uncle Jim gets to keep her, but I'm SURE Uncle Jim won't mind giving you a ride every now and then," Cory giggled. "Us too, I hope... right, Uncle Jim?"

Then, to show that he had not forgotten how to use them, Cory turned on his own 'puppy-dog eyes'.

Timmy was really impressed!

---

Hand in hand with Cory and Sean, Joel went back outside to look for Kevin, leaving Jimmy and Kirk to catch up a bit.

Seeing that both Kevin and Kenny were now hugging and smiling softly, Joel smiled as well. He let go of his brothers' hands and ran over.

"Okay?" he asked them both, as they grabbed him into a hug.

Kevin nodded while his twin answered, "It is, now."

Joel kissed them both before asking, "Wanna play a game with me and Jude and Cor and..."

"Uh huh," Kevin giggled, kissing Joel to silence him. "Come on..."

---

Later:

"I won't be able to stay much longer, so I felt you should know of our mission, Justy," the Doctor was saying as Brant and Dean came into Main CIC. Harry and Seth were following behind - Seth in Harry's arms and a relaxed smile on his face.

Justy, his eyes wide as saucers, nodded numbly.

"It's a lot to take in, and I've only really just started, and..." the Doctor continued after nodding at the new arrivals, but he never finished.

"Just started? You have over five thousand inside the Tardis already, and only just started??" Justy exclaimed. "Shit... I..."

The Doctor giggled.

Dean asked curiously, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing's wrong, I was just telling Justy what my mission is. He's a little shell shocked," the Doctor answered.

"YOU'RE REBUILDING YOUR ENTIRE RACE, and I'm just SHELLSHOCKED?" Justy spluttered.

"What's the problem with that?" Brant asked, while trying not to laugh at Justy.

"I... five thousand... in... in how many WEEKS??" Justy blurted.

"About 4... sorta... Time Travel, you know," the Doctor grinned. "And that's only the beginning."

"Care to explain?" Harry asked as he sat Seth down in his wheelchair and kissed him.

"I have three missions. Find the Time Touched - those that can become Time Lords to rebuild my race. There's a whole mess of them throughout the Universes. Then, find the Thirteen - the Councillors of Gallifrey. Got five of them, myself included. Then, find the Time Councillors. I know a few of them - myself, Levi, and Q represent the High Races. Miah represents the Middle Races. The Guardian is the Leader of that Council, of course. That leaves three from the Younger Races to find, and the last - the special one, but I don't know who those four are. It's going to t...take... what the hell?" the Doctor trailed off as he stared at the boys in front of him. "Oh, fuck!"

"What's wrong?" Brant asked, "and why do you have a mark on your forehead?"

"Yeah," added Dean. "Why did it just appear like that?"

Justy's face went pale. "You... I... Dean? You have... your face... your forehead... Doc! What is that?!" he yelled out, pointing first at Dean's forehead, then at Brant's.

"The Dark One and the Silver One... this is freaky! Four Councillors from the same Universe?! This is weird!" the Doctor mumbled to himself as he looked between the two now marked boys, who were checking each other's foreheads.

"What the fuck! What is this, Doc?" Brant exclaimed as he checked his reflection in the monitor.

"You're marked of Time, Brant. You are the Dark One, one of the Younger Race members of the Time Council. Or you will be, once it is fully formed." The Doctor then turned to look at Dean, who was having his face closely checked by a nervous Justy, "And you are the Silver One, Dean. I know the true 'Names' of each of the Councillors. and... hey, kiddo!" he finished as Joel ran in and pounced onto his back.

"Hiya Galli! Hey, what's with the tattoos? I don't like tattoos..." Joel trembled as he gripped the Doctor harder at seeing Brant and Dean's faces.

The Doctor pulled the trembling Vulcan around and hugged him to his chest as he said, "They're not tattoos, sweetheart. They are Seals placed by the Guardian of Forever. Your brothers have just been appointed as Guardians of Time and Space... or they will be, when the Council is complete." He then looked up at the two boys, and most especially at Dean, "This is a good thing for you. You are conservators of Time, and those who serve Time are protected by Time... as are their partners, eventually. You are ageless, now. In Brant's case, that isn't a big change, but for Dean, it is. You won't even age at all, not even like a Vifer would. And when the Council is completed, nor will you, Justy. You are within Time, yet now unaffected by it."

"You're right, no big change for me there," Brant murmured.

"Well, the big change for you is... check that device on your arm, Dark One," the Doctor chuckled.

Brant looked at his arm where the gift from Tyne was, and found that it had dropped off unnoticed. "Umm..." he trembled as he bent to pick it up. "Why am I still awake?" He checked around the room. Since it was deep inside CIC, there were no windows to allow sunlight in, but still...

"Even though you are not yet a full 'Time Councillor', you still get some of the 'perks'. You'll never need that again. At least, as long as you remain a Councillor. And you can only stop being one if you choose to. So don't choose to if you are in direct sunlight or something," the Doctor explained, finishing with a giggle. Then he became serious, "Keep that device on you at all times, Dark One. You will need it, but I cannot explain why. It is just a feeling, okay?"

Brant nodded mutely, and slipped the Founder device into his pocket. He then sat down, and trembled. Joel ran over and climbed into his lap to hug him, "Wanna talk about it, Fangie?" he whispered.

Brant shook his head. "Not yet... I don't know what there is to talk about yet... Doctor?"

"Everyone needs to sit," the Doctor said. "I wasn't expecting this, to be fair." He waited until the others had settled down, then he started to explain more fully.

"In the Ancient Days, billions of years ago, the Time Lords were just Younger Races, like you are now. We were the Gallifreyans, and we simply lived on our world and explored space around us, much as your Federation does. Then, we were attacked by the Destroyer. At the moment he was doing so, I was ten years old and about to change into an energy based life form. I was the first on my world to evolve that far and it was believed I would lead my people into the next phase of existence as Middle Race members. Well, half right is better than all wrong. When the Destroyer attacked, the influx of energy changed me completely into what I am now. High Race in a Young Race body. My body changed to allow Anti-Energy to exist within it, and as I lost my temper at the Destroyer I also changed my entire race to be like me.

"Well, that nearly wiped us out. No-one can face the Destroyer - at least, not any of us Mortals from the Universes. It was the Guardian who came to my aid, and Higher Beings who chained the Destroyer. I only managed to distract the Destroyer by unleashing all the power that my race had suddenly come into possession of. Once the Destroyer had been dealt with by those Others, whom we Time Lords called 'The Runi', the Guardian appeared to us and taught us some of what we needed to know. A representative of our Race was asked to commune with the Guardian. It turns out that he had intended me for that role, but the leader of my people, then, was an asshole. Rassilon. He took the position for himself, then hid a lot of what it was to be High Race from us. The Thirteen, our OWN Council, sided with him completely, and only they were unlimited in power. They chained the rest of us, to control us.

"In my case, it didn't work. Although I didn't know that until I regenerated in my current form. In the last few weeks since that change, I have learnt that I was never limited nor chained. I am the Prince of my People, and therefore unbound.

"However, back then, I didn't know that. Anyway, as we were the First High Race to appear in the Third Cycle of Creation, we watched as others rose to our level from all the other current races of the time. The Time Council was first formed when the Q appeared, the next race to get to High level. In all cases, it was the first of each High Race that would goto the Council. Yet that was never me for the Time Lords. Instead, the Guardian spoke to me constantly behind Rassilon's back. When he found out, I was exiled. Didn't matter when the Time War started, though.

"At the end of the Time War, only the Q remained untouched. All the other High Races had died, and only I and one other Time Lord remained. He has now died, but I remain. I and my daughter and the newest of us, my partner Jay. So, now we have a new Council to form. This time, though, one from the Middle Races has been appointed. Miah, the Gatherer. I suppose he was given that name as he loves gathering information," the Doctor shrugged with a smile. "Levi was appointed from the Mikyvis. Even though he is not the Prince of the Mikyvis, he is the first born of them. And Innocent, and that is also his Council Name - Innocent. Both of those together marked him as Councillor. Q himself takes up his old post. He's not leader of his people, but he was the first to become Q, so... Prince of his race, he sits on the Council once more. Of the Younger Races, three are to be called. You two - The Dark One and the Silver One, and one other. The Fatherless. Then, the last, is unique. I don't know who he or she is, nor where from, but I have the name."

"That is?" Justy whispered.

The Doctor half smiled, "The Undying."

Justy blinked, "Wow. Ah, okay."

"Not very nice name for this 'Fatherless' one, really," Dean murmured. "A lot of the guys here are that. There's a lot of people everywhere who are fatherless. How will you find this person?"

"Just as I found you," the Doctor whispered. "The Seal will just appear. The Seal of Time."

Joel smiled and slipped from Brant's lap. "It'll work out, though. Sounds like the Councillors will be a good thing."

Justy nodded absently. "Doc, you said I would be affected by Dean being a Councillor? I'm not going to age?"

"Correct," the Doctor nodded. "When the Council is formed, you shall come under the same rules as Dean. Now, though, you'll age. Shouldn't be long for me to find the last two members, so it's not long to wait."

Dean smiled at his boyfriend, "Looks like you don't have to become a Vifer after all, hon."

Justy smiled back, "Yeah."

---

As Joel left CIC to head back outside, now carrying his bag of cookies that he had originally gone to collect, he was pounced by Jimmy.

After rolling around on the grass tickling each other for a few minutes, Jimmy helped Joel stand. "Daddy says that your daddy and him are bestest friends. Does that mean we get to be bestest friends too?" Jimmy bubbled as he slipped under one of Joel's arms and hugged him around the waist.

"Yeah! We're gonna be great friends, Jimmy!" Joel agreed with a sunny smile. "You gonna come play with me and Kevvy?"

"Okay!" Jimmy bounced around in a circle for a moment before grabbing Joel's hand.

Together, they sped off to meet back up with the others.

>From the doorway, Spock and Kirk watched their sons race off after that interaction.

"I think history is about to repeat itself," Kirk chuckled.

"You still find our first meeting amusing, Jim?" Spock enquired.

"Of course," Kirk nodded with a wicked grin. "Me in trouble and hiding from my father. You not wanting to have your bath. Us both using the same cupboard to hide in. Good thing we were only six years old. We'd have never gotten in there otherwise."

"What's this?" Bones asked from behind them. "This is one story I seem to be missing out on!"

"Well done, Jim," Spock said as he and Kirk turned to the wickedly grinning doctor.

"Explain, or it's a full physical for you both!" McCoy demanded, his eyes twinkling.

"My parents and I were on Earth for a meeting of the Federation Council," Spock said, his face straight, "Jim and his father were also in San Francisco as Captain George Kirk was involved representing Starfleet. George Kirk and my father started talking, and became close friends at that point. Later that same week, Jim and his father were invited to my parents' residence for a few days. Jim, being Jim, got into trouble with his father. I, being a willful boy, did not wish to be bathed. The rest, as they say, is history."

Kirk nodded, "You looked cute back then. Pity you grew ugly," he chuckled.

Spock raised an eyebrow, "Cute?"

"Well, it was curiosity that made me chose to hide in the same cupboard as you."

"Explain?" Bones repeated his prior question, glee in his eyes.

"I wondered why an emotionless Vulcan boy was running around naked, giggling and hiding from his mother," Kirk laughed. "So I went to find out. I didn't know that until age 7, Vulcans are much as us."

Spock decided to say nothing.

"You were streaking, Spock?" Bones howled in laughter.

"I had an aversion to clothing as a child," Spock said softly, while contemplating an interesting formation on the wallpaper near him.

"He was streaking," Kirk grinned. "And from that moment on, so did I. Was fun."

"Next thing you'll tell me is that you two were boyfriends for a while," Bones laughed out as he landed on his backside as his legs gave way, he was laughing so hard.

Spock glanced down at the doctor, then over at Kirk. Kirk's face coloured up ever so slightly.

Bones stopped laughing. "You were?"

"No," Kirk answered with a soft smile. "We were, and are, friends. Best friends. Brothers. Closer than brothers. We do love each other, but it is not, and never was, romantic. We are both straight."

"Then why the blush?" Bones pressed curiously.

Spock shrugged. "We grew up together as much as possible, Doctor. When we were teenagers, we grew curious regarding our bodies and our sexuality. Even though I was walking the Vulcan path, that part of our development still mirrors Humans for curiosity. We experimented. Then, at the age of 14, I went into Pon Farr..."

"And he was in trouble," Kirk continued for his friend. "He had been training for the meditation needed for his first, weak Pon Farr; yet due to his human side, his Pon Farr triggered near to the level of an adult's."

"I would have died had Jim not been there," Spock said softly, his eyes distant.

"Ah," Bones nodded, his face now soft with compassion and understanding.

"We had sworn blood brotherhood as little children. I, for my part, proved it on that day," Kirk said, just as softly as Spock. "I would never leave my brother to die and the love I had and have for him meant I didn't feel weird doing what we had to do. I would do so again in a heartbeat should I need to. And since then, we have each always been there for the other."

Bones smiled and stood back up. He joined his two friends in the doorway, and together they looked out to where Joel and Jimmy were happily playing tag with a number of the others. "I think you are right. History tends to repeat itself."

"That doesn't match what... uhhh..." Jude said from behind them, then he blushed. "Sorry, Pop," he whispered to Spock as he bowed his head, "I shouldn't have been eaves-dropping."

"There is no problem, Jude," Spock replied as he pulled Jude into his arms. "What did you mean by 'it does not match'?"

Still blushing, Jude half grinned up at his new father and said, "There was an episode of 'Star Trek' where you were going to Altair VI for an important meeting, and you had your first Pon Farr. Uncle Jim didn't know what that was... but that seems different here."

"It is," Spock said calmly as Kirk and Bones exchanged puzzled glances. "I went through Pon Farr at that time, and we did go to Vulcan so that I could be joined in marriage with T'Pring - which did not come to pass, as you know. However, in this Universe, I experienced Pon Farr as an adolescent, and Jim was there to help me."

"Why's it different?" Jude asked curiously. "And how is it that you understand what I'm saying without more explanation?"

Spock nearly smiled, "I have joined my mind with my son. What he knows regarding 'Star Trek', I know. Remember, Jude, that Star Trek takes place in the 23rd Century in that story - and maybe in fact in another universe. In this Universe, however, events are bound to be different due to the difference in time."

"Oooh. Okay, Pop," Jude smiled as he hugged himself tightly around Spock's waist before giggling. "I think I'll join Joel in that game, now. Thanks, Pop."

"You are welcome," Spock said before kissing the teen's upturned forehead. He watched as Jude made towards Joel and the others at a run.

"Well, now that more temporal nonsense has been cleared up," Bones grouched, "I have five or six children to poke, prod, catalogue and identify, as well as spoil rotten. Will you join me?"

Kirk was about to ask what his friend was going on about when a group of kids appeared in between them all, giggling.

"Ah," Kirk said with a smile as Tyler shimmied up into his arms. "Now I understand!"

Bryce giggled as he cuddled into the doctor's side, "Can we call you Gran'pa Bones? You're too smart to be an Uncle!"

Bones wrapped his arms around the eleven year old, "Agreed - I am too smart. I think you and I will get on just fine!"

Bryce smiled up at Bones. "Leev says you hate those transporter things too... it scares me knowin what'd happen if it was tried on onea us. Can I take us to go get all checked out?"

"I'm right - I will like you! However, how do you manage to do what you do - to just appear wherever you want to?" Bones asked, as he hoisted the boy up and onto his hip.

Kyle and Tyler were each on one of Kirk's hips, leaving Spock with Levi and Dylan in his arms. Spock added, "I am also curious. How do you accomplish this feat?"

Bryce giggled. "I just think about it... it's like walking to the next room, only faster."

"Short, sweet, to the point - yet utterly useless to sate Spock's thirst for understanding," Kirk laughed. "Anyway, Mr... Bryce, is it?" Bryce nodded. "Well then, Mr Bryce. If you please, can you take us to Sickbay?"

"This one?" Bryce giggled as they all suddenly found themselves in front of Bones' desk.

"Fascinating," Spock murmured as he walked to the nearest biobed and placed the giggling seven year olds on it. Kirk, laughing, did the same with his arm full.

Bones was the last to add the child he was carrying to the growing mound of giggling imps. He then looked at Spock, "What test shall we do first? Tickle tolerance, or food consumption, or story endurance?"

Spock never had a chance to reply.

"COOKIES!!!!" Dylan giggled as his purple eyes lit up in anticipation.

"Did you pass on this fetish for that particular human food to my son, or did you catch it from him?" Spock asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Both!" Bryce giggled as he poked Dylan in the ribs.

Kirk went to the dispenser and started putting in an order for the children's treats while Spock resisted the urge to smile.

Bones, laughing, looked at the five children cuddled together closely. "Well, you are related, that is for sure. Kyle - I take it that these three are your offspring? Yours and Tylers? Isn't that what Joel said about Levi?"

"Uh huh." Kyle giggled. "Levi is our oldest, Bryce is the middle one, and Dylan is our youngest... so far. Unless you want another one to make sure; I'm sure Ty and I could think up one on short notice if we really need to."

"DAD! No makin whoopee in your heads while we're watchin!" Dylan exclaimed. "Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!"

Bones blinked, then chuckled momentarily. "No, that is quite alright, Kyle. I will be happy if you can explain what happens when you both make a child verbally. Doing so just to satisfy mine or Spock's curiosity would not be fair on the child that would be produced. He might well be made in love, but done so 'on order'. That is wrong, in my book. You should have another child when you and only you want one: not when asked just to have a bit of a 'wow' factor. Does that make sense?"

Kyle nodded as Tyler broke into giggles. "Don't worry Uncle Bones, we really wouldn't do that. You shoulda seen him tho; he looked just like you as a kid. We just didn't give the image life. We kinda think of what our offspring would be like, then we put energy and the stuff he needs to survive into the image and then we have a new kid."

"Very interesting," Bones said as he snatched up a datapad and started inputting data. "I feel like asking what you experience while doing that, but I think it'll be too personal with your children here."

"Don't worry, Grandpa Bones - Daddy and Poppa don't make whoopee in their heads to make us," Levi explained as he smiled up at the man. He then looked at his two brothers. "I was watching when you and Bryce were made!" he giggled as he poked both his brothers in their stomachs lightly. "It felt wonderful. I could feel all the love and all the energy being pulled in to make my two little brothers!"

"Ewwwwww!" Bryce and Dylan chorused at their big brother, playing it up for all they were worth. "You watched us bein' born? Groooooosssssss!!!!!!!"

"Yeah. It was sweet," Levi giggled, then looked at his parents and smiled innocently, "Doesn't mean Daddy and Poppa don't do 'whoopee' at other times. It's very noisy, isn't it, Grandpa?"

"Too much information, child," Bones roared with laughter as he watched Tyler and Kyle cover their glowing faces with their hands.

"Grandma Teri's right; Daddy and Pop are cute when they blush!" Levi commented with a smile.

As Kirk returned, with a wicked grin on his face, and placed a tray of snacks at the foot of the biobed, Kyle tried to regain some of his dignity, "Uncle Bones, do you want to see how it's done?"

"I thought I said..." Bones started, but Kyle shook his head quickly - still blushing furiously, mind you.

"No, don't mean Ty and I'll make a new kid. We can show you what happened with Levi," he explained. "We can form images and illusions. Wanna see?"

Bryce and Dylan started giggling, expecting Levi to begin his own blushes, but their elder brother simply looked intrigued.

"As long as you do not mind, then we would be interested in seeing this. Would it be acceptable for us to record it?" Spock asked politely.

"Sure, Dad," Tyler smiled as Kyle echoed him with, "Sure, Daddy Spock."

Kirk moved quickly to the nearest console and set up the recording system. "Okay, all ready here," he smiled.

An image formed in front of them all as they settled down to watch. In the image, Kyle and Tyler were asleep with the sheets practically covering them both. All of a sudden they both started to glow - faintly, at first, then brighter.

Kyle whispered softly, "We were thinking about what our first son would be like. We wanted him to be perfect, someone that all of the grown-ups would tell us that we did good and they were proud of us."

In the image, another image overlaid itself. "That's what we were thinking," Tyler explained. The image expanded and they could all 'see' what both young children had been dreaming about. All the best parts of themselves seemed to come away and duplicate themselves, then merge together.

"We didn't know we were doing this at the time," Tyler added. "We just thought we were simply thinking about what a Mikyvis child should be. I... we think our instincts took over and this then started..." he trailed off as the image changed.

Now, it showed both boys asleep, and the second overlay disappeared. Between both boys, a brighter glow started to form. "I'm slowing it down so you can see. It happens too quick for humans to notice," Kyle said helpfully.

The bright glow took on a tiny, human form and suddenly expanded to Levi's current size. Kirk sat there in wonder, for he could see energy being pulled in from all around the two still sleeping kids and being funneled through them both and into this new, third child.

The glow went out an instant later, and all that was left was the early morning sunlight coming in through the window. The lump under the sheets that had been still and only two kid sized was now moving and three kid sized.

A caramel blond haired boy poked his curious and excited face out over the top of the sheets before throwing them off and bouncing off the bed onto the floor. He turned and shook Kyle, "Daddy! Wake up; I'm hungry!"

The image faded away, and Spock glanced at Tyler and Kyle. At first, he was concerned at the tears in their eyes, but he quickly understood that they were tears of joy. Remembering this event was obviously special to them both - sharing it with others...

"Whoa!" Dylan said softly, Bryce nodding his agreement. "I never knew the birds and the bees talk would be so awesome to watch!" Dylan added.

"It's kinda different from what our brothers have to do," Tyler giggled as he wiped his and Kyle's eyes. "The OTHER talk - the whoopee talk - we'll save for later... although I think that it is a bit late for one of you... isn't that right, Bryce?"

Bryce blushed and looked anywhere but at his parents and brothers. Levi looked at him quickly, "Xandor?"

Bryce nodded slightly, still blushing.

"SWEET!" Levi giggled before hugging him.

Spock looked hard at Kyle. "You are aware that, from the reports I have, this Xandor is twelve years old. As a Lo'Garn, that means he is an adult. Your sons are still only a few days old - are you sure no coercion was employed? I have not yet talked with Xandor to ascertain his personality in that regard."

Kyle nodded. "You know what all I carry in my head from growin up and listening to everyone's heads since I was a baby. You helped me learn to control it even. When Bryce decided he wanted to be eleven, I dug out all of the stuff that eleven year olds usually know and made sure he knew it. We did the same with Dylan, just more suited to the age he wanted to look like. Levi is kinda unique; I don't know for sure what he got since it was just a mix of stuff from me and Ty."

Levi looked into his fathers eyes, and tears sprang to his own. He trembled out, "Only the good stuff. You made me good and didn't give me anything that was bad. I... I didn't kn...know 'bout you and... and..."

Kyle pulled his first born over and into his arms, where upon Levi shrunk himself down to about the size of a three year old and simply sobbed loudly. "I'm sorry you had to find out about that the way you did," Kyle managed to say around his suddenly constricted throat. "Not even your brothers knew that. But if me and Ty'd planned you, we'd have prepared you better for some of this sh... uh, stuff."

Tyler brushed his fingers through Levi's hair and added, "You're completely innocent, Leev. Don't lose that over finding this stuff out. We love you exactly as you are. Please don't cry," he finished, crying a bit himself.

Bones and Spock exchanged a look, then they both looked at Kirk. Kirk nodded, and pushed his way onto the biobed with the other two adults. They scooped up the five kids and, somehow, managed to form a mass hug with them all. Kirk said, "We'll start the tests later. Right now, just be kids..."

---

"But you want to give us a full physical, Grandpa," Dylan giggled from his own bed as his clothes vanished. "We saw inside Poppa's head - we know what you're gonna check!"

Tyler wiggled as he remember his first check up by Bones, and his face twisted slightly before he giggled, "You're not... you won't...?"

"Only if you're willing," Bones laughed.

Kyle and Tyler exchanged a long, resigned expression, then sighed. "Okay, Uncle Bones. We'll do it," Kyle said as he play pouted.

Levi was rolling around on the floor, laughing.

"As the first born of the Mikyvis, Levi will get a double length test... unless he stops laughing at his parents, that is," Kirk teased, and Levi went quickly silent. Well, he had his hands clapped over his mouth, so the giggles were muted at least.

Spock picked up Kyle, who squealed in shock, and took him over to a deep-bio scanner. "Hey! Ask first, Daddy!" Kyle giggled as he was plonked gently down by the scanner.

Spock winked at him before starting up the machine. "You were the first human to transform, and did so on your own. We need to run a full comparison between what you were and what you are. We cannot ascertain that from your offspring as they were never human."

"Figures... you could check Tyler as well, though. He was human too... I think," Kyle giggled. He then caught the cookie that his equally miniature husband threw at him.

"Heart, lungs, kidneys... everything is here. Even blood... at least, I think it's blood. What is this stuff?" Bones murmured to himself as he ran the tricorder over Dylan's chest and stomach.

"Change the settings to scan for an atomic comparison, Doctor," Spock called over as he pressed a hand-held device from the bio-scanner against Kyle's belly, making the cherub giggle.

Bones did so. "Ah, anti-matter... no, anti-energy... wait a minute, matter? Dylan? What the hell are you? This is fluctuating!"

"I'm special!" Dylan sniggered.

"Dylan, stop messing with Uncle Bones!" Tyler giggled at his son.

"But I'm not doing nuffin'!" Dylan protested, although the fake halo he had created for himself was hanging off one foot at the time.

"Dylan!"

"Okay, okay!" the boy pouted, his eyes dancing in mirth, "you're no fun, Poppa!"

"So sue me!"

Kirk, meanwhile, was deep in discussion with a blushing Bryce. "It felt real funny, Grandpa Jim," Bryce said in a near whisper. "I was a little scared. Is that normal?"

"Quite normal the first time," Kirk replied just as quietly as he was using his own tricorder to scan Bryce' head.

Bryce sighed out in relief. "Xan said the same, but..."

"But you wanted to be sure. It's perfectly natural. At least there's one thing that is almost the same between our two races."

"I don't make anything to... you know..." Bryce blushed harder as he made a motion with his hands. "I tried growing up older, and still nothing, not like Xan can."

Kirk thought for a moment. "You don't need sperm to make babies, though. Maybe that is why."

"No," Levi said quietly as he wiggled over closer and winked at his 'big' little brother. "I just asked my Friend, the Guardian. Sorry, Bry - wasn't listening to make you feel bad. I was just lookin' out for my Lil' bro. My Friend said it's 'cause we're anti-energy. Unless we are in an anti-energy or anti-matter Universe, our bodies won't squirt stuff... it would have made things explode if it touched it..." Levi finished with a blush.

"Oh... okay," Bryce smiled, obviously far more happy now. "How does my body know that, though?"

"Dunno," Levi shrugged before making ready to move back to Dylan to help Bones control the Mischievous Mikyvis. "My Friend says it's the same for all the High Races. We'll find out as we grow."

As Levi got back to Dylan's biobed, he asked Bones, "When's it my turn?"

"Right now, if you'd like," Bones smiled down at him. "I've finished with your little terror of a brother," he added, giving Dylan a loving hug.

Dylan giggled and jumped down from the bed to run over and cuddle in with Kyle, who had swapped placed with Tyler. Spock was so deeply immersed in his studies between the old and new reading of both boys that he was completely oblivious to the faces they were making at each other.

Levi hopped up on the bio-bed and stripped quickly. "I like being naked," he explained with a sunny smile.

"And clothes don't mean the same to you as to us, correct?"

"Yeah. We just dress 'cause it's custom. We don't need clothes."

Bones nodded with understanding as he started scanning the far more manageable Levi. "Your stomach is empty. You just ate a ton of cookies..."

"Watch," Levi said as he reached for the plate on the cabinet by the bed and started eating.

Bones did so, and whistled. "Your stomach is breaking it down rapidly... it's passing into your intestines and... gone. Well I'll be... Where does it go? There's no change to this... this 'blood' of yours..."

"Made into energy," Levi explained helpfully.

"How do you know when you've eaten enough to be 'full'?"

"Well... we don't NEED to eat at all, Grandpa. We just eat because we like the taste," Levi said with thought.

"Where do you get your nourishment from, then?"

Levi replied after a brief pause to formulate his thoughts into something Bones would comprehend, "Everywhere. We pull anti-energy from everywhere. All places and times and Universes and dimensions and timelines... everywhere. We just... are, I think."

Half an hour later, and all five boys were back on the same bed in a mass cuddle.

"We promised you stories, yet we didn't get to them," Kirk said with apology. "I don't want to keep you up here longer as you'll miss the fun of the party. Tonight, though, I promise you five that I'll give you the best story I can remember."

Kyle started to giggle. "Uncle Jim, we've ONLY been here five minutes," he sniggered.

Spock raised an eyebrow.

"I thought Dylan's idea to slow down time really was a good one!" Kyle explained with a grin.

"STORIES!!" Dylan giggled, bouncing up and down. "No excuses! STORIES!!"

Bones laughed as he pulled a chair over. "Yes, Jim. A promise is a promise."

Kirk laughed briefly, then nodded. "Okay. Stories. What would you like?"

Levi raised his hand, "Can you tell us about how you rescued Grandpa Spock from that Genesis world?"

Kirk glanced at Spock, who nodded peaceably. Kirk smiled at Levi and patted his lap, onto which Levi simply popped. He then began, "Okay. Well..."

---

"DADDY! You're back! I was lookin' for you!" Jimmy yelled as he and Joel came charging up to the three Starfleet officers and the five Mikyvis that had just appeared by the playing fields. "Aunty Teri wants to see Uncle Spock, and me and Joel couldn't find you anywheres!"

Kyle giggled, "We weren't gone that long!"

"Seems like days," McCoy retorted as he checked his watch. "Only one hour?! I need a drink."

Jimmy giggled as he swarmed into Kirk's arms. Kirk hugged him close and said, "I think I'll join you, Doctor."

"Where is your mother, Sa'ren?" Spock asked his son as he picked the boy up to hold him over one hip.

"Over there, Sa'mi!" Joel giggled as he pointed off towards Teri's house.

I-Cheya and Blackie came speeding up to them at that point, and Joel slipped from his father's arms and onto his Sehlat's back. Blackie pounced up and into his arms just as the large bear-cub started ambling alongside the Vulcan Captain.

"Do you know why Lady Teri wishes to speak to me, Sa'ren?" Spock asked as he laid his hand against his son's back.

Joel, enjoying the closeness with his dad, shook his head. "Nope. Not sure, Daddy - but it does have something to do with my big brothers," he answered with a smile.

Once they reached Teri's house, Spock entered first, followed by the Sehlat and his light Joel-ish burden. "MAMA!!!!" the boy yelled at the top of his voice, "I'VE FOUND HIM!!!"

The sound of a dish breaking from the direction of the kitchen made Spock increase his pace. I-Cheya, however, seemed only amused and huffed softly as he strolled up the hallway with a puzzled Joel asking Blackie if anything bad had happened.

As the Sehlat pushed his way into the kitchen through the door, Joel looked up and asked, "What happened?"

Teri mock glared at him before chuckling, "You did, you little noise maker! I was daydreaming and doing the dishes, then you near yelled the place down! I jumped out of my skin!"

Joel's eyebrows raised, then his face clouded up quickly. "Sorry, Mama," he whispered as he started to shake slightly. Blackie started to clean his face to calm him down, which worked remarkably well.

"Don't worry, my lovely little man," Teri said gently as she came over and kissed Joel's cheek, "you're not the first to make me do that. THAT was your big brother Mikey - and he used a live spider!"

"Really?" Joel asked curiously.

"Yes. He found one and wanted to keep it as a pet, so he ran in from the back yard and showed me. I think I dropped the plates I was carrying when he just dropped it on my arm!"

"You don't like spiders?" Joel queried.

Teri shrugged, "I've gotten used to them, but at the time, no. Now, I deal with Timmy and his 'ark', so I don't mind as much." She shuddered slightly with the memory, making Spock place a hand on her shoulder. She smiled at him, then faced Joel again, "That thing that Mikey brought in was the most... hairy, large - I swear it tried to bite me!"

Joel started to giggle. "How old was Mikey?"

"Three! I thought he was so bad then that no child could ever outdo him, but Cory and Sean proved me wrong on that. But that spider... I'll never forget that..." Teri shuddered.

"But he was cute, Mom!" Mikey's voice announced from nowhere.

Spock glanced around, then raised an eyebrow. "Is this what humans refer to as beauty being in the eye of the beholder, Michael?"

"Timmy agrees with me!" Mikey's voice replied, the pout heard in the tone.

Joel giggled, "Are you going to appear? Or are you playing a game of hide and go seek?"

"Count to a hundred, and then come find me. I'll be somewhere in this building!" Mikey giggled before his voice disappeared.

Joel started to mentally count while slipping down from I-Cheya's back and hugging both his parents together. Another feeling came to his awareness at that moment, and he stared between his Mam and Dad. "You... you both..." he whispered out, his eyes growing wide. "I thought it was just you, Mama!"

Teri blinked, then coughed. "I think you better keep counting, Joel," she smiled.

Joel looked suspiciously at her then shrugged and giggled. "I never stopped! Fifty! Fifty One..." he called out loudly as he went to stand by the doorway.

Teri looked up into Spock's eyes, her face unreadable.

---

Later that afternoon:

"Tommy?" Joel asked hesitantly as he tugged on the back of his brother's tee-shirt.

They were both inside the Rec Room, and Kelly had just gone off to talk with his new brother Xandor. Joel thought now would be a good time to ask his brother for some help: if he would, of course. "T...Tommy?"

"Yeah li'l bro; what's worryin ya?" Tommy replied as he turned around and saw Joel's pensive looking face.

Joel smiled nervously up at him before taking a deep breath. He then rushed out, "I love all the food here, and you helped make it all, and I don't wanna seem like I'm greedy or nuffin', but I really, really liked helping ya cook on Tuesday and was wonderin' if me and you... if we could cook somethin' together... please?" The catch that came to Joel's voice at the end of this request seemed heartbreaking.

Tommy pulled Joel over to him and draped an arm over his shoulder as he held him to his side. "You ain't gotta do no worryin' 'bout being greedy. There's always cookin ta be done with this crew, an' if you wanna help with it I'm happier than a hawg with a full slop bucket ta let ya join me an' make up sweet treats or anythin' else you're pinin' for."

Joel grinned happily, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small sheet of folded paper. "I read a story in that other place - called 'Dragon Earl'. Not sure if the story's here or not, but... there was somethin' called Cinmon Crumbles and all the kids in the story loved them. The person who wrote the story put the recipe on one of the chapters... here - I wrote it down exactly as Mr Story lover had it... do you think we can make it?"

Joel handed Tommy the paper, and then wrapped both his small skinny arms around his 'big' brother's waist while Tommy read it out:

'Cinmon Crumbles'

>From "Dragon Earl" by The Story Lover

Ingredients:

1 cup soft Butter

1 1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 3/4 cups flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar (Fresh if possible)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoons salt (optional)

Directions:

Cream butter, sugar and eggs till fluffy. Sift together and stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt (optional). Then chill dough for about 30 minutes to an hour. If making a double batch when removing from refrigerator split dough in half and return one half to refrigerator. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll dough into balls the size of small walnuts. Roll into mixture of 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon (Gourmet or Fresh Ground is Best). If dough starts to melt or become gooey place back in refrigerator. Place about 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet (you can also use aluminium foil). Place in preheated oven for about 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Do not over cook, edges should be golden brown and slightly crisp centers should still be slightly puffy.

Once Tommy had finished, Joel looked up and smiled softly, "Think we can make it? For real?"

"Ain't nuttin we can't do if we gotta recipe!" Tommy giggled. "This here one's easier than kissin a cousin at a family reunion!"

"Brilliant!" Joel bubbled, and his eyes danced with joy.

Tommy giggled and together they ran out of the Rec Room for the Kitchen. They spent the first couple of minutes clearing an area for themselves and collecting the ingredients.

"Mmm... I think we're missing something," Joel murmured as he knelt on the stool Tommy had brought over for him. Without that, Joel would have had some serious issues with helping at all. With Tommy's arm around his waist to steady him, Joel checked against the recipe and then counted out the ingredients again. Then he giggled. "Look, Tommy! Mr Story Lover forgot to put the toppings ingredients in! The extra sugar and the cinnamon!"

"Figgers; adults kinda have probl'ms remem'brin stuff!" Tommy giggled, then quickly ducked to avoid the oven mitt Helen threw at him from across the kitchen.

"Be careful, Tommy, or you'll get a dunkin' - And I've had practice with Kelly, so it'll be 'mom-style'!" she called as she turned back, grinning, to the fresh batch of brownies she was making.

Joel giggled, then said as his eyes flickered as if reading something, "Mr Story Lover's editor musta missed it as well..."

"Who was that?" Tommy asked as he threw the mitt at his aunt's back before assuming an innocent expression as she turned to glare at him.

"Someone called 'Sleeping Beauty'," Joel answered absently as he practically crawled onto the workbench top to reach the mixing bowl and pull it over towards them both. "Maybe he fell asleep when editing?" he added with a shrug as he grasped the bowl.

Tommy giggled, but the look that Helen was giving him let him know that running with the comments he was thinking about would not be the best way to stay dry.

Once Joel had the bowl in front of him, he turned his sweet face to his brother and said, "Think we're ready. Can you show me how ta cook, now? I've never made somethin' like this before... and you're not like her - she would make me h...hurt when she had me h...help her cook. You don't. You make my belly feel good," he finished, as a single, happy tear trickled down his cheek. "I love you, Tommy," he added with a whisper before kissing his brother's cheek.

"I love you too lil' bro." Tommy replied as he positioned himself behind Joel so that his arms were running alongside Joel's arms. "Let's be startin' by makin sure you're knowin' what the words all mean. We're gonna go through it one line atta time an' anythin you ain't sure of I'll learn ya so that you're sure."

"'Kay," Joel murmured happily, then both brothers started to have fun.

It took far longer that it would have done had Tommy been doing this alone, but then, Tommy had never had as much fun learning a new recipe before. What with the mix of Joel's enthusiasm, energy, weird comments involving knowledge of things that didn't exist here, and his extreme childlike wonder and natural 'five year old' attraction to getting messy, both Tommy and Joel were laughing and completely covered in the mixture they had prepared.

"Half hour in the fridge now?" Joel bubbled as he shook flour out of his now gray seeming curls.

"Yeppers!" Tommy giggled as he carefully put hand prints all over the front of Joel's shirt.

Joel giggled happily as he slipped down from the stool and picked up one of the many trays with the dough on them. Tommy grabbed two more and together they walked over to where Helen and Teri were holding the fridge doors open for them both. Both women's faces were red with suppressed laughter, and as Joel slid the first tray into place to chill, Teri couldn't help but ask, "Are you cooking yourselves as well?"

"Mama!" Joel giggled as she pulled him close and tickled his ribs.

Once all the trays had been put to chill, Tommy sat on a nearby stool and Joel crawled up and sat on his lap. He sat chest to chest with his brother and snuggled in happily. "Tommy?"

"Yeah, Li'l bro?" Tommy murmured into Joel's flour covered hair.

"Can you tell me a story?"

"I c'n do that," Tommy replied with a smile. "What yer wantin' ta hear?"

Joel raised his face and kissed Tommy's lips. "If it's okay, can you tell me how you and Kelly met?" he asked as he coloured up shyly. "I liked it when Sammy asked Vish to be his boyfriend. I like happy stories, and I'm curious."

Tommy smiled at Joel, kissed him back, then began 'the story'...

---

Adam Casey, Logan and Chang walked into the Kitchen looking for some blood wine. Juan, Koth, Korris, Billy and Will followed behind while animately discussing the duel between Chang and Spock earlier, comparing it to the one between Jason and Nathan.

"Are you sure there's wine here, Kor?" Adam asked as he checked the fridge.

Korris nodded, "Top shelf. We made sure it was okay with Aunt Teri. As long as the little kids don't get hold of it, then those of us with the tolerance can have it."

"Got it," Adam said as he pulled out two bottles. He moved to the nearest table, glancing at Tommy and Joel who were seated nearby. "Want some, Tommy? Joel?"

Tommy broke off from his tale and made a face. "Nope. Hate it!" he said.

Joel, however, nodded his head curiously. "I'll try some." He looked back at Tommy, "That's okay, isn't it?"

"Help yerself, Joel. That junk makes 'shine taste good!" Tommy smiled at him. "I'll be checkin' the Crumbles."

As Tommy moved off towards the fridges, Joel ran over and got pulled onto Chang's lap.

Adam poured out nine glasses of blood wine, the smallest of which he handed to Joel, "Just in case you don't like the taste."

"And don't worry about the alcohol content," Koth added. "Vulcan's don't get affected by the 'weak' stuff humans and Klingons make."

"'Kay," Joel smiled as he took a sip of the drink.

"Anyone seen Jory lately?" Will asked suddenly. "I've not seen him since little Kevin was crowned by the Queen," he added.

Adam shook his head, "Nope. Not seen him. I'm not worried, though. He's probably off with one of the Clan. I can't feel him in danger."

"I'm okay, and no I wasn't in danger," Jory sniggered as he sauntered into the Kitchen, looking like the cat who had the cream.

"Where have you been?" came the question from most of the guys there.

Jory smirked at them all as he bounced lightly on his heels.

Joel placed his now empty glass down and licked his lips. "Yumm, that was nice," he said to Adam, who refilled the glass for the little Vulcan.

"You missed a great afternoon," Juan said as he studied his brother's face closely. "The duel between Captain Spock and Chang was amazing!"

"I had my own fight," Jory said, his smirk growing wider.

Chang raised an eyebrow. "Indeed? Did you win?"

"No," Jory giggled, his cheek's colouring. "I lost something - oooooooh boy, did I lose something!"

Adam choked on the drink he was taking, and Logan hammered on his boyfriend's back to help him. Logan was staring at Jory closely, however.

Joel looked concerned. "You lost something? Want me to help you find it?" he asked helpfully - innocently.

Tommy, just returned from checking the Crumbles, started to laugh.

"Uhh... no, Joel," Jory giggled. "I wanted to lose it."

Joel raised an eyebrow, while comprehension came to those others who had so far missed their little brother's meaning. Joel's face was a mask of confusion, however. "What did you lose?"

Jory blushed and said, "Something you and Kevvy will be losing tonight, I think."

Joel blinked. "Losing tonight? I don't wanna lose nothin', though! I don't wanna make someone feel bad by losing their presents to me! Why'd I lose someth...thing... oh... OH... you mean... my... errr..." He trailed off.

Adam looked at him while grinning, expecting to see Joel's face turn a nice emerald shade of green. Instead, he saw something that made him feel uneasy. Joel's face had paled. He was almost ghost white.

"I, errr... I've gotta get back to cooking... thanks for the wine," Joel rushed as he pushed off Chang's lap and moved quickly over to Tommy. He then pulled his brother off back towards the fridge where the Crumbles were.

Adam shrugged and left whatever was bothering Joel to Tommy to sort out - being Joel's brother, Tommy was likely to help better than himself, he felt. He turned back to Jory, who was also looking at Joel's retreating back. "So," Adam said, pulling everyone's attention back from Joel and onto Jory again. "Who was the lucky guy or girl?"

"Yes," Jory sniggered, his eyes dancing with mirth once more. His face was still glowing with his blush, though.

Koth tilted his head to the side, then his eyes widened. "A boy AND a girl?!"

Jory grinned and nodded his head foolishly.

"You greedy little pinkskin!" Korris roared with laughter. "Who did you manage to rope, then?"

"Us, Kor," Donna said as she and Tristan waltzed through the door and pulled Jory in between them both.

Adam's jaw hit the table.

Logan spluttered, "Aren't you two already going together... I... I..."

"Yes," Tristan smiled. "But we both fancied Jory since we first saw him."

"We thought we were being unfaithful to the other, but then we talked and..." Donna shrugged. "Jory's so cute."

"Hot too," Tristan sniggered.

Jory continued to look like the cat who ate the canary.

Koth giggled, "Matthew is going to shit his pants, Trist!"

"Let him. He's too straight laced for his own good. He needs to spend more time here than at the Nest - I'm getting frightened for him," Tristan said, trailing off towards the end.

Koth shrugged. "If you think it'll help, I can assign him here for a while. He's under my Command section, after all - but his darkness is carried in the heart, bro. Moving to a new place won't help."

"But maybe he'll find someone here to give him hope," Tristan begged with tears now in his eyes. "He just won't let anyone at home near. Here, someone may have a chance. No-one here knows him, so he may feel easier in opening up."

"Then I'll assign him to Night Patrol here," Koth nodded. "I just want you to know it may not help."

"Thanks, Koth," Tristan smiled as Jory wiped the tears from his eyes.

Jory then yelped, for Donna had just pinched his behind.

"So... the three of you... you're, ummm," Adam started, but didn't quite know how to phrase what he wanted to ask.

"Maybe," Tristan answered, giggling.

"One step at a time," Donna added.

Jory grinned. "We'll see!"

---

Meanwhile:

Joel slipped from Chang's lap and got back to Tommy as fast as he could. His heart was racing, and fear flowed through his veins. Trembling, he pulled his brother to the fridge and opened it to check the crumbles for himself. He quickly glanced back at Logan and Adam and the others, and once their attention had moved back to Jory, he looked up into Tommy's face.

The horror and terror in his own made Tommy frightened.

"What's the matter?" Tommy asked quickly, his accent gone due to the fear he could feel rolling off the now very frail seeming Vulcan child.

Joel violently shook his head, shooting a look back at the group of happy brothers who were now teasing Jory, Donna and Tristan.

Tommy glanced back at them, then picked up the near catatonic Vulcan. Casually, he carried his brother out of the Kitchen and into Main CIC, heading for the nearest room where they would have some privacy.

As they were almost to the nearest Meeting room, Tommy saw Kevin and Kenny enter quickly through the north doorway. They both noticed Joel's face and Tommy's expression, and Kevin ran over fast. Tommy looked directly at Kenny and said, "Get Mom and Pop. Fast!"

Kevin stopped at Tommy's side and grabbed Joel's hand. A second later he yelled out to his fast departing brother, "Poppa too, Ken!"

"Okay!" Kenny shouted back as he raced from the room.

Closing the door behind them, Kevin watched as Tommy sat down while holding Joel tightly to himself. He then moved over and cuddling in with his husband on Tommy's lap, and asked, "What triggered this?"

"Dunno what's been triggered," Tommy answered, his face clearly showing his concern and his confusion.

The door opened before Kevin could elaborate on what he'd picked up through his bond-link when Joel had first panicked, and Teri and Spock entered.

"What has transpired?" Spock asked as he came and laid a finger on his son's temple.

"Dunno," Tommy said again as he shrugged.

"Joel? Sweety? What's wrong?" Teri asked as she laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently.

Joel screamed at her touch and flinched away, crying out as he fell from Tommy's lap and Kevin's embrace, "I won't do nuffin'! I promise, Mama! Please don't hit me! Don't hurt me! I promise! I won't, I really won't!"

"Joel; this is Momma Teri. You know I won't hurt you," Teri said softly as she glanced at Spock for support. "Remember where you are now, Son; you are not in the old place any more."

"Sa'ren," Spock added as he laid a hand on Teri's shoulder and sent his calming influence and support through his touch. "You have nothing to fear from us. Nothing you do or say will mean pain for you from us - ever."

Joel simply remained curled up in a tight ball at the far end of the sofa, and looked at them fearfully. He then flicked his eyes towards Kevin.

Allen quietly slipped into the room, along with Kenny, Xain and Jake. They saw the looks being traded, and the fear from the ball Joel had become was evident to them instantly. They remained silent and watched.

Kevin's own eyes grew distant for a second as he and his husband communicated silently, then Kevin trembled nervously, "He found out that Jory lost his virginity earlier. That's not a problem for him. It wasn't when Sammy made love with Vish either earlier. It's... it's that people are expectin' US to... to... well..." Kevin started to tremble as well. He looked nervous and embarrassed, yet not terrified like Joel was. He sucked in his breath and continued, "He's afraid that everyone expects us to lose our virginity tonight, and he's still real afraid about sex. He's still nervous when we... we jack off," Kevin whispered shyly before continuing, "but he knows we can do that with your blessing, Aunt Te... Momma. But... he's still scared of you. He thinks if he does anything more then you're gonna whip him good..."

"Joel, listen to me," Teri said softly yet firmly, "You are my son, and I don't hurt my sons for doing what is natural to them. You and Kevin are married, and that means I have no right to say anything about what you do in private. Even if you were not married, I understand a lot more than I'm given credit for. It's not like when Cory was five and he kept 'accidentally' elbowing Sean in a certain area then innocently asked Sean if he needed his owwie kissed. You both know what you are ready for and I trust you to take care of each other and only do what you both are comfortable with."

"But it's wrong..." Joel's voice was a near whisper, yet the terror it expressed was clearly heard. "It's wrong to jack off, but you let me... Kev wanted to gimme a blow job earlier, but he said he won't force me... it's all wrong... why do you let me do anything that's wrong? Are you waiting to get me on something big, then kill me?!" he sobbed and hid his face completely from view. "I want to believe you..." he sobbed piteously. "I really want to believe you... but I can't... she won't let me... he won't let me... why can I get rid of Sammy's demons, but not mine? It's not fair... it's not fair..."

"Demons?" Spock asked suddenly.

Kevin looked up at him and said through his own tears, "That wound in his mind... there's something in there that hates my Sa'r..."

"Wound?! What wound?" Spock asked, clearly surprised, and more than a little angry.

Teri looked at him. "Didn't you learn that from the meld you had with Joel?"

Spock shook his head as he pulled in his temper. "No. I saw all that lead up to his rescue by Michael. No more. Can someone explain to me what has happened?"

Xain moved over with Jake and Allen, "I can, Uncle Spock. Meld with me, for I was the one through whom Joel was saved on Tuesday."

As Spock did so, Allen moved to Joel, "Little Heart, will you allow me to hug you? And will you allow your mother as well?"

"You won't hurt me?" came the whimpering tremble.

"Never," both Teri and Allen answered.

Joel uncurled and flung himself at them, to be squashed as a sandwich between them both.

A moment later, Spock broke the meld with Xain. He turned to find his son buried in a hug with the other two adults.

Teri looked over into his eyes, "I'm sorry, Spock. I thought you knew, or I'd have told you earlier."

"That is quite all right, Teri," Spock said, his voice now as calm and even as ever. "It was logical to assume that I would have found that out from my meld with my son. There is no blame to be cast, here."

"Will you be able to rid Joel of this wound?" Allen asked before continuing to murmur softly into Joel's hair.

Spock shook his head, "Not before I meditate. Such a task is difficult. What the Mikyvis, Jason and the others did with Xain is enough to last until tomorrow. Longer, even. I shall meditate tonight, and tomorrow I shall repair my son's mind."

Allen sat down with Joel on his lap, and Teri sat next to him. Tommy got pulled onto her lap quickly as Kevin moved onto his Poppa's to cuddle in again with Joel. Spock then sat beside Teri. "Little Heart," Allen said quietly as he looked up at Jake and Xain. "You won't get into trouble, but I'd like you to answer some questions for us, okay?"

"'Kay," Joel whispered into Kevin's neck as they hugged tightly.

"You are afraid of us hurting you for making love, yes?"

"Yeah," Joel answered as he squeezed his eyes tight shut. "Yeah."

"Do you want to make love to Kevin?" Allen asked.

A pause, then a whisper. "Yes."

"Do you want to make love to Joel, Kev?" Allen asked his son.

Kevin blushed and answered, "Yes. I do."

"Will you feel better if I give my permission, Joel?" Allen whispered softly, again looking at Xain and Jake and this time asking them a question with his eyes. They noddded.

"Yes," trembled Joel. "But..."

"Shhh, Little Heart," Allen smiled. "When Jake and Xain wanted to start down that path, they asked me first. I told them a few things, and I'm going to tell you the same. Will you pay attention?"

"Yes," both little boys whispered.

"One, respect each other's wishes. Don't push if the other says no. When you are both ready, then do things together. It doesn't matter what others think or expect, just because you are married. This is a Vulcan marriage, and no Vulcan expects anything other than for you to respect the other," Allen said softly. "Two, play and have fun when you make love. Don't push yourselves to copy others, nor think you have to do things 'the right way', for there IS no right way. What you both want is what is right. As long as you both want it, and you both enjoy it, and you both love each other through it and with it, then it is right."

Teri reached and brushed a hand through both boys' hair, "Three, if you have questions - ask. Don't be embarrassed, for we've all been there. If you need to ask, do so."

"Four," Spock added, "you have our blessing."

"For everything?" Joel trembled, locking his eyes with his mother's.

"For everything. Do you want me to list them?" Teri asked, hoping he wouldn't.

No such luck.

Jake decided that he and Xain should leave them all to it, once Joel shook his head and asked the three adults to be specific.

Tommy, ten seconds later, decided that the Crumbles should be put in the oven to be baked at this point, and fled - blushing.

After a minute or two, Teri came to the conclusion that Joel would keep asking until either her knowledge ran out, or she too fled blushing. "One moment, sweetheart," she said to her Vulcan son.

Joel nodded slowly, "Okay..."

"Ark?"

<Yes, Teri?>

"Can you produce a data-pad containing all non-harmful sexual activities that two males can engage in, please?"

<I thought you might ask that, judging by the direction your discussion was headed. I have already prepared it for you.> A padd appeared in Teri's hand. <The data is detailed, yet not even close to exhaustive. Joel, I will not give you all the details, to honor what Allen Thompson has just told you. I have found through more than 50 thousand years that humans prefer to discover things in lovemaking for themselves. You and Kevin should do the same. What is on that padd will give you an overview of lovemaking only; along with a few examples.>

Teri handed the padd to the two boys as Joel said, "Thanks, Ark."

<You are welcome.>

Kevin's face was bright red, but he pressed himself close to his little husband as they both started to read the padd, and to look at the stick figure images that were portrayed therein.

Joel's eyes began to get wider and wider, while Kevin's grew more and more curious. Joel looked up and asked, "All this is okay, Mama?"

Teri glanced at it before quickly looking up and into Spock's eyes. Keeping her voice steady, she said, "Yes, sweetheart. All of it."

A moment or so later, Joel held the padd out again and squeaked, "This too?!"

"Yes, that... Oh My God!" Teri choked out, and blushed.

Spock, his eyebrows vanished into his hairline, came to the rescue, for even Allen's eyes had widened considerably, "Yes, Sa'ren. That is acceptable if you both want to do so."

Kevin giggled as he tilted his head first one way and then the other to look at the image. "How'd we...? Ah, I see... that could be fun, Sa'r!"

---

Ten minutes later:

"Cory?" Joel said as he and Kevin ran up to the blond Patriarch.

Cory smiled down at the two boys, both of whom had curious expressions clearly seen on their faces. "What's that, Elf?" he asked, pointing at the padd.

"Something Ark gave us. Mama said that we can do anything on here, and that we can experiment too. But there's this one thing that Kev and I don't see how is possible. Ark said, though, that you know. Can you show us?"

Cory, not having the slightest clue what was ON the padd, nodded his head. "If Ark says I can help, then I'll help. What is it?"

Sean walked over and cuddled in next to Cory as Joel turned the screen of the padd towards them. "Ark says that you and Sean've done this lots and lots of times, but I don't see how two humans can BEND that far... can you explain? Or better yet, show us?" Joel asked innocently.

Sean fell on his butt and hid his blushing face quickly, while Cory gaped at the padd. He then tapped his comm and said, as calmly as possible, "Ark, if you EVER tell ANYONE else about that, I'll personally downgrade you to Windows ME!!!!"

---

"You know something, Bones? I don't think I've ever seen Spock this afraid before," Kirk chuckled as the three men watched the two Harrier jets zoom over doing a barrel-rolls.

Bones opened his own dried mouth and tried to respond, but failed. He spat once, then muttered loudly, "Playing games with life... If anything happens to my god-son and his friend, Jim, I will personally skin those other two kids, then you for allowing it!"

"Peace, Doctor," Spock said calmly, although the fists his hands had become as he held them at his side showed that he was anything but calm as Will took his jet, and therefore little Joel as well, on a loop-the-loop. Billy, with Jude along for the fun, did the same.

"You scared, Gran'pa Bones?" Timmy asked with concern as he came up and tugged on McCoy's hand. Obviously, the new name given to him by Kyle's three kids had taken off somewhat.

"Nervous," Bones answered as he lifted up the small red head and plonked him on his shoulders.

Timmy patted the doctor's head and said, "Unca Will's a good flyer, Gran'pa - so's Unca Billy! Unca Joel an' Jude'll be okay."

"I know, Timmy," the man said softly. "I know," he repeated under his breath as the jet went screaming past.

"Cap'n? Is what I've heard true? Ye be leaving the Fleet?" Scotty said to Kirk as he walked up behind them. He had to raise his voice somewhat louder than usuall as now the two jets started a mock-dogfight in the sky above them.

Kirk turned and nodded, "Yes, Scotty. I have a son, and I'm not going to miss his life as I did David's."

"You too? Is there somethin' in the water?" the engineer chuckled. After Bones had finished chuckling as well, Scotty added more seriously, "The old girl'll not be the same without ye, Cap'n - but she'll be in good hands."

"I know she will," Kirk grinned. "Admiral Morrow has given her to me for as long as I want to keep her."

Scotty gaped for a second, then his face grew red. With a little heat he said, "Ye'll no be taking my ship from me, Captain! I'll resi'n meself and come with ye, but..."

"Scotty!" Kirk laughed, "Do you think I'd take the Enterprise and not you? She'll still be staffed and crewed by the Fleet - and still the Flagship. I'll either take her out on special missions for the Fleet myself, or the new Captain will with my blessing. The rest of the time, she's mine to do with as I see fit - mostly, assisting the Clan Short Fleet."

"Oh," the now deflated Scotsman mumbled, "oh, I see. Well... good! That's good. Who's getting the chair?"

"Not decided yet. The admiral said I'd be the one to choose, so - we'll see," Kirk smiled as he turned back to watch the two Harriers come in for a vertical landing. "Who's going to make a bet that young Joel will be a bit hyperactive now?"

Scotty snorted briefly as he watched the jets touch down. "No bet. I got better things to be doing with me money, Cap'n!"

---

"So, why're we all going in dress uniform?" Adam asked JJ as he helped his boyfriend adjust the jacket properly.

JJ shrugged, messing up the way the jacket sat on his shoulders, "Dunno."

"Stop that!" Adam grouched as he slapped JJ around the back of the head.

"Ouch! Then stop asking me stuff I don't know the answer to!"

Cory and Sean entered the hallway outside of the Auditorium, and just behind them came Jude, Joel and Kevin. All five were in Full Dress Starfleet uniforms. Jude's, Joel's and Kevin's lacked rank insignia, and their polo-shirts were in cadet red, though.

JJ whistled, "Very nice!"

Joel did a little twirl on the spot before bouncing up and down excitedly. "Daddy gave them to us! Don't they look great?"

Adam and JJ both nodded. "You look even better in uniform than Cory does!" JJ replied.

Joel glanced at Cory, who filled his uniform out in a far more flattering way than he did himself, then turned back to JJ, "I make mine look baggy..."

"I don't think so -- I think Cory's is getting too tight." JJ replied seriously. "It must be all of those cookies he keeps eating!"

Cory quickly looked down at his belly, then glared at JJ. "One more word, just one more, and you're going swimming," he muttered.

Joel giggled, "No more of them Cinmon Crumbles for you, Big-Bellied-Blondie!"

"I'm not fat!" Cory protested with a pout, but Joel could see the amusement in his big brother's eyes.

"Oh, I don't know," Sean commented lightly as he grabbed a nice handful of Cory's butt, "means more to cuddle if you are, Hon."

"If you have quite finished, gentlemen," Bones said from the doorway to the Auditorium as Cory blushed and fended off his amoras husband's rather welcomed but ill timed advances, "then we can begin." He was in full dress uniform as well, and behind him the boys could see everyone from the Compound seated and chatting to themselves. On the stage, Admiral Morrow, Spock and Kirk were seated and also talking in hushed tones.

"Okay, what's happening, Uncle Bones?" Adam asked curiously as he peeked into the Auditorium.

"You'll see," Bones replied with a grin. He looked down at Joel and Kevin, then over at Jude. "You'd make the captain proud. So, all y'all ready?" he asked them all again.

Joel joined the others by nodding silently.

"Then come with me," Bones continued, before turning and leading the way down the aisle and up onto the stage. As the boys followed him, a hush fell on the room as everyone followed their progress to their seats on-stage.

Once they were all seated, Admiral Morrow stood and went to the podium. It was then that Cory noticed the live TV cameras dotted around the Auditorium. "Hoooo, boy. What is going on?" he whispered subtly to Sean.

Sean shook his head slowly, his face just as puzzled as Cory's.

"Good Evening. As this is a live broadcast from the Clan Short Orlando HQ to all of Earth and the United Federation of Planets, I will begin with a brief introduction. I am Fleet Commander Starfleet, Admiral Morrow, and I am here tonight for two reasons: to honor three Starfleet Officers who have fought, bled and worked tirelessly for the benefit of the entire Federation, and to recognize and honor the actions of seven extraordinary young men who took part in the rescue of the Officers and crew of the USS Newton yesterday," the Admiral began.

Admiral Morrow continued to speak and explain the events of the previous evening, but Sean and the others were now too busy to listen.

Cory gulped. 'The entire Federation?!' he sent to the other six.

Joel's jaw was hanging open, but Kevin slowly closed it. 'You're on TV, Sa'r! Don't do that!'

'B...but... he said...' Joel sent back.

'Yeah. I'm crappin' my pants too, but jus' don't LOOK like you are - okay?'

Joel nodded, not even trusting himself to send a response.

"... and so, I call Captains James T Kirk and Spock, and Commander Leonard H McCoy to the front!" Admiral Morrow finished as he gestured behind him and stood to one side.

The Clan watching broke into applause as the three men stood up and came forward.

Morrow waited a moment longer, then raised a hand to regain control. Once the large room was silent again, he turned and faced the three men. "Captain Kirk - You have saved our worlds and this great Federation more times than I can conveniently count. It is with great regret that I accept your request to retire from the Fleet, but it is more than well earned. In recognition of your outstanding achievements, I hereby raise you to the Rank of Vice-Admiral and award you full Command of the USS Enterprise-A for as long as you wish to keep her. When the time comes that you no longer feel able or willing to Command her, she shall revert to Starfleet Control."

Kirk took a single step forwards, and Morrow removed the Captain insignia to replace it with the Vice-Admiral one. "Congratulations, Admiral Kirk," Morrow said clearly, as he shook Kirk's hand.

"Thank you, Admiral," Kirk replied with a warm smile.

Morrow had to wait for the better part of five minutes as the Clan exploded in cheers and applause. Once silence had been regained, he moved before Spock. "Captain Spock - wherever Admiral Kirk has gone, you have always been there with him. You have supported and helped your 't'hy'la' through all those trials and tribulations, and in your own right you have saved Earth and the Federation countless times. I also regret your decision to retire, but I also fully understand it. It is with great pleasure that I recognize your own outstanding acts of sacrifice and achievements by raising you as well to the Rank of Vice-Admiral. You shall, as you have always done, have your place on the USS Enterprise alongside Admiral Kirk - for as long as you wish to retain it."

Spock moved forwards, and he too had his rank insignia changed by the Admiral. "Congratulations, Admiral Spock," Morrow smiled.

"My thanks, Admiral," Spock nodded politely, while Joel bounced up and down on his seat behind him - all thought of decorum gone totally from the overexcited youth.

This time, while the Clan were shouting and cheering, those watching via the television witnessed one of the most famous Vulcans in the Federation get pounced by a tiny Vulcan child, who seemed to be crying and smiling at the same time.

After Spock had returned Joel to his seat, and made sure that both Cory and Kevin had a tight hold on the ball of energy his son had become, he returned to his position next to Kirk.

Morrow, fighting to keep his laughter inside, turned to Bones. "Commander McCoy - if ever a doctor existed that held to the oath 'Do no harm', it is you. Your compassion and gentle soul surrounds a skilled mind, and use a skilled pair of hands. Though you have hidden behind a gruff exterior, all who have been helped by you have nothing but praise and even love for you. The Enterprise would not be the same without you, and nor will the Fleet. At least the Enterprise gets to keep you for now, but sadly the Fleet will lose you - With regret, I also accept your request for retirement, but with deepest pleasure I raise you to the Rank of Commodore."

Once Morrow had changed Bones' insignia, he shook the doctor's hand. "Congratulations, Commodore McCoy."

Bones smiled and nodded, "Thank you, Admiral."

As the Clan cheered themselves hoarse for a third time, Morrow gestured to his side, and the three men moved to stand there. He handed each a box, and they nodded seriously. However, both Bones and Kirk each ad a knowing smile on their faces as they glanced at the still seated seven boys on-stage.

'Okay, now I've really crapped myself,' Kevin fretted down his link with Joel.

Morrow moved back to the podium, "Now, for these remarkable young men seated behind me. Some of these children you will recognize either from news vids, or from the Clan Short Funeral that took place yesterday. One of them, however, was not quite what he appeared yesterday when you saw him. Please, watch..."

At the back of the stage, the screen that had been used at the Wedding on Tuesday flickered to life. On it was the image of Joel in his Vulcan armour speaking in Vulcan at the Funeral.

"At the time," Morrow said as the image froze, "this child was known only as 'Joel Short', a rescuee that had been adopted by the mother of the Patriarch of the then Sub-Clan Short. However, it turned out that he was more than just an abandoned child. Many of you will remember the Great Transwarp Disaster. There were no survivors, as we sadly know. Well, that information is not entirely accurate. One child survived. A babe in arms. He was unregistered for his very existence was hidden at the time under a now defunct 'Red One' Vulcan code.

"The babe whom we thought had died was the only son of Admiral Spock. Joel Short is that babe. His true name is Sa'ren, child of Spock, child of Sarek. He has upended Sub-Clan Short by his very presence as one of their own. There IS no Sub-Clan Short any longer. This is now a new Vulcan Family - The Family 'Clan Short'. Also Sa'ren is one of the reasons for Admiral Spock retiring - he wants to discharge his duties as 'Father' - something he has sorely missed for nearly thirteen years.

"Sa'ren, please come forwards," Morrow said as he turned to look at the stunned and shocked face Joel was sporting.

Joel stood shakily to his feet and started slowly forwards. Morrow had to repress his chuckles, for the little Vulcan was dragging both Cory and Kevin along with him, so strong was the grip he had on both their hands.

Glancing back to the cameras, Morrow stated as he pointed at each of the boys in turn, "This is Sa'ren Joel Short, brother of Patriarch Cory Patrick Short, and husband to Kevin Charles David Thompson. Ambassador Sarek asked me to make this formal introduction for his grandson - the reason is, surprisingly to some maybe, emotive. House Surak has long held grief in their hearts at the apparent loss of Sa'ren. Now, joy has replaced that grief. Before, they could not speak of it as Sa'ren had been unnamed - Forsaken, as it is known on Vulcan. Now, they want everyone to know."

As Morrow stood to one side so that Joel was centre-stage before the cameras, Cory whispered to his little brother, "Just be yourself, Lil'elf."

Joel blinked at Cory, then looked at Morrow. "You big meanie!" he whined before starting up a classic Timmy-pout. His eyes, however... they were dancing with repressed laughter.

"Not quite what I meant by 'be yourself' when on live TV, Elf," Cory muttered under his breath.

Joel grinned at his brother before turning to face the nearest camera. "Hiya!" he giggled as he released Cory's hand and waved.

Morrow gestured for the other, still seated boys to come over and join them. He then moved back to the podium. "As you can tell, they are all in Starfleet Uniform. Three of them, however, are not a part of the Fleet. I am about to change that."

He turned and moved to Jude first, and fixed something to the shoulder strap. He then moved and did the same to Kevin's, followed by Joel's. "I hereby grant Jude Lee, Kevin Thompson, and Sa'ren Short the commission of Ensign, Cadet Class."

More cheers.

"As for you four," Morrow said sternly to Cory and the rest, "why are you out of uniform?"

JJ looked down quickly and checked his fly.

"We are?" Adam uttered as he glanced at the other three and them himself in utter confusion.

Sean blinked and mumbled, "I was told Starfleet Uniform, not Vulcan!"

Cory just grinned, for he had guessed. "And you three call me blond?!"

In unison and three part harmony, the other three retorted loudly, "You're going swimming, Cory!"

Morrow allowed himself a chuckle, seeing as the entire room was laughing as well. He then pulled out a box from the shelf on the podium. "Please remove those old Rank insignias, for they are now in error."

They did so, and the Admiral moved up to Cory first and attached a Captain's insignia. He did the same for Sean. JJ and Adam both received the rank of Commander.

"Congratulations. For your actions last night, and in recognition of all you do for this planet and now even for the entire Federation, you have earned it," Morrow said seriously before saluting them.

After saluting back, all four boys pulled each other into a hug with Jude, Joel and Kevin.

"We have not yet finished," Kirk said crisply. "Attention!"

All seven boys jumped a mile before quickly forming a line. Bones moved to take the podium and opened the box he carried. He took out a small card and read it aloud, "For acts that brought honor to the Uniform and to the Service while others were in mortal peril, I award Captains Cory and Sean Short, Commanders Adam Short and James Jacob Richardson, and Ensigns Jude Lee, Sa'ren Short and Kevin Thompson the Prentares Ribbon of Commendation."

In the stunned silence, Bones turned and fastened the medal and bar to each of the boys' chests, just below the Starfleet badge.

"Congratulations," Bones said formally as he saluted them, while the room exploded in yells of congratulations and cheers.

Cory just managed to salute back, so bad was the shaking in his hand. As Bones moved away, Cory was also about to seek his seat, but then Kirk moved to the podium.

"Captain Cory Short, Ensign Short and Ensign Lee - step forwards," he said crisply.

As they did so, Bones gestured for the others to join him and Spock to one side of the stage.

Kirk faced the packed and now silent auditorium, "For three separate yet complimentary feats of outstanding engineering, the Cochrane Engineering Academy of Starfleet Command awards each of these young men with the Cochrane Medal of Excellence." Turning back to regard the three gob smacked boys, Kirk continued, "Due to your skill and knowledge, you saved the lives of the officers and crew of the USS Newton, you took the USS Excelsior into mortal danger yet preserved both the Ship and the Crew, and you brought honour to yourselves and the Federation you serve. Accept these medals as a legacy to the effect."

He then copied Bones, and fixed another medal on each of the three boys' chests. "Congratulations."

Cory really felt the need to sit down now, and it was with relief that Kirk motioned for him and Jude to move to one side.

Joel made to follow them, but a subtle signal from Kirk told him to wait.

Kevin was soon at his side, for Spock had led the other small boy over.

Spock regarded his son's rather nervous looking face before leaning down to kiss his child. "Do not be afraid, Sa'ren," he whispered.

As Spock moved to the podium, Kevin took and held fast to Joel's hand, making the little Vulcan smile.

"Captains of Starships have great responsibility, both to the ship, their crew, and to the Federation that Starfleet represents. It makes no difference what rank you are, when you sit in the Command chair, you are the 'Captain' of that ship," Spock began. "Last night, Captain Sulu of the USS Excelsior was incapacitated during the early part of the rescue, as Admiral Morrow has already explained to you. Both Ensign Sa'ren Short and Ensign Kevin Thompson had been given Command Access, Captain's level, to the Ship's computer less than five minutes before the rescue began. Once Captain Sulu had been laid low, they both stepped up to the responsibilities of the Command Chair, and more than fulfilled the obligations of 'captains'. They commanded others with more years and experience than they held, yet did so by the book, and with care and forethought.

"There is an award that reflects such acts. It can only be given to a 'Captain of a Starship' by the definition I have explained - one who commands a Federation Starship. It can only be given if that 'Captain of a Starship' discharges his or her duties above and beyond all reasonable expectations when others are in mortal peril, but not in a combat situation. That award is the highest non-combat award that a 'Captain of a Starship' can receive."

Spock opened the case he held to reveal two silver crosses, decorated with stars, bearing the Seal of the Starfleet at their centers. A blue and white ribbon was attached to each. "That award's name," he said softly, with respect and even reverence heard in his voice, "is the 'Starfleet Star Cross', and it is with honor that these two young officers have gained these medals - and I too am honored to be the one to bestow these upon my two sons."

With that, Spock turned and placed one medal each around Joel and Kevin's necks.

"I present to you: Ensign Sa'ren Joel Short, SSC, and Ensign Kevin Charles David Thompson, SSC."

---

Joel had never been hugged so hard in all his young life.

Cory had never cried so much while being so very happy in his young life.

Kevin had never rolled his eyes so much at the antics both were engaged in before in his young life.

There were a lot of firsts happening as the film crew packed away the cameras, and as the Clan mass pounced the seven boys and three men who had been so honoured that evening.

"The Star Cross..." Cory wept into Joel's neck, "...my brother has the Star Cross!"

"You've said that," Joel managed to squeak out, barely able to get enough breath in to keep himself alive, never mind be overly vocal. "Twenty three times already!" he added breathlessly. "Umm... can I breath now, Cor?"

"Sorry," the emotive teen giggled as he loosened up on his hug, yet refused to release his Vulcan brother. "It's just... wow, the Star Cross..."

"I'm gonna have ta tickle ya if you carry on with that!" Joel sniggered as he squirmed about in Cory's lap, trying to get comfortable.

Kevin had to agree, only it was his twin who was making a fuss over him. "Kenny... I know... we're close... and every...thing... but this... is just too... close!" Kevin managed to say from the bear hug Kenny was giving him.

"Don't care! You're MY twin, so I'll squeeze you if I want to!"

"Help!" Kevin giggled as he locked eyes with Jake. "Help, Jake! He's gone nuts!"

"If he lets you go, I'm getting my share of hugs in," Jake told him seriously.

"Xain?" Kevin asked plaintively, turning his eyes on his Vulcan brother.

"I must agree with my t'hy'la, and I bow to his logic. Once both Kenny and Jake have had their share of familial bonding with you, I shall claim my own. Then, I believe, our father will want to do so as well," Xain stated, his face completely void of emotion - but Kevin knew better.

"Mom!" Jude blushed as Teri made a major fuss of him. "Look, Sean is free! You can get him, now!"

"Sean can wait," Teri said softly as she hugged the teen close for the umpteenth time. "You are new to the family, so you have more hugs to catch up on than Sean does. Besides, I think Spock has first go with Sean at present."

"Oh yeah..." Jude giggled as he gave in and enjoyed the attention.

JJ and Adam had been mass pounced by their kids and the Mikyvis, the latter having made themselves adult age so as to be able to pick up and cuddle the two teens.

"I don't know who has it worse," JJ giggled as Levi tossed him into the air again, "Sean with Spock, or us!"

---

After watching Adam Casey and the others vanish by transporter beam, Joel and Kevin ran off in search of Cory. They had been discussing something for the past hour over the Bond-Link, and now wanted to see if it was possible.

"So, can we?" Joel bubbled as he squirmed in Cory's arms after rapidly explaining their idea. "Can we, can we, can we?"

Cory giggled, "We can ask if he's willing to do a review, Lil'elf."

Kevin's smile grew even broader as he sat on Sean's lap. "You'll like the Ark Compound, Sa'r. And Tyne's great too."

Xain asked, "Shall I ask the other Council members to meet here now, or wait until after you have spoken with Tyne, Cory?"

"Might as well gather them now, it'll save one of the Mikyvis pulling them out of enjoying something... or napping, like Danny was last time," Cory grinned.

Xain nodded and tapped his comm-badge. "Council Medicus, Council Nitor and Council Ingenium - please come to the Dining Room in CIC."

Kyle popped in a second later, his face serious. "What's wrong?" he asked quickly.

"Nothing, lil'bro," Sean smiled. "Joel and Kevin want to go for Socius Review. We're about to ask Tyne, but wanted the rest of you guys here first."

"Oh! Good!" Kyle smiled as Joel jumped down from Cory's lap and pulled him into his arms. Kyle started to purr.

"I like having little brothers," Joel said to no-one in particular as he cuddled one of the only brothers he had that was smaller than himself.

Xain tapped his comm-badge again, "Council Ambassador to Council Scientia - Daniel, are you available for a possible Founder meeting?"

"If it's urgent, yes. KC has fallen off his skate-board again, and we need to get him patched up... again! What's going on?" came a harried reply.

Sniggering, Cory tapped his own badge, "A possible Socius review, bro. If it happens, I'll ask Tyne if you can sit it out."

"Thanks, Cory. Who might be getting the review?"

"Joel and Kevin Thompson," Cory answered.

"Good luck to them both, then."

Joel giggled and moved closer to Cory, before speaking at the badge, "Thanks, Danny. And thanks for your present! I'm gonna learn how to skateboard tomorrow - Kelly said he'd show me!"

"I'm glad you like it, kiddo - just don't do stupid stunts like KC, okay?"

"Okay," Joel giggled.

Cory asked, "What did he do this time?"

"Tried jumping off the roof... go figure!" Danny snorted before the signal closed.

Everyone who had met KC started laughing: a lot.

Antonio and Brant walked into the Dining Room a minute later, and Cory said quickly, "Don't worry. Possible Socius review for Joel and Kevin pending, guys."

They both looked at the Vulcan and his husband and smiled. "Sweet. It'll be my first review!" Brant giggled. He then grabbed Joel and Kevin and gave them a noogie each, "I've got my fingers crossed for you!"

Cory smiled and then called out, "Ark - is Tyne available to talk right now? We have something to ask him."

<He is currently talking with the leader of the Time Lords. The Doctor wished to speak to Tyne, one leader to another, as a diplomatic courtesy. I believe they shall be finished soon.>

"That's good. We'll be down to visit you shortly, then," Cory said with a smile.

<I will look forward to it.>

"Daddy?" Timmy called out as he ran in, William perched on his shoulder.

"Hey, Munchkin! What's up?" Cory giggled as his son swarmed into his arms.

Timmy regarded his father seriously, "William says that him and me haveta come with ya."

"Did he? I think we can manage that," Cory giggled. "Pop can keep you company when I'm in the meeting."

Timmy grinned.

Joel looked puzzled, however. "Cor - if we don't know if we can have the review, why are we going down before hand? What if we can't? Wouldn't it be a waste of time?"

"No," Sean smiled. "The Ark Compound is our home as well as here, Lil'elf. Even if we can't do the review with you right now, then we can still visit our family."

"Oh, okay!" Joel smiled with understanding.

Kyle giggled, "Ready, guys?"

"When you are," Cory smiled as he held Timmy close.

The next second they were 'elsewhere', and Joel looked around curiously. He did giggle when a purple eyed boy practically jumped out of his skin in fright at their sudden appearance.

"Sorry, Javyk!" Kyle giggled, a mischievous smile on his face.

Javyk picked up the tools that he had dropped and grumbled as he went back to work on a strange door frame he had mounted on the wall, "Mikyvis just popping around wherever they want, teleporting into System Control should be banned!"

Joel raised an eyebrow. "This is the Javyk Ark mentioned last night?" he asked Sean.

"Uh huh," Sean sniggered.

"Do you think it's safe to ask him if he liked the tricorder I made?" Joel asked again. "He seems a little... grumpy..."

<He just had to have his hand reattached so he is not really in the best of moods. I suggest you wait until Kendall returns from the Technical Storage unit down the hall before you try, he is not as grumpy when Kendall is around.>

"He had his... hand reattached?" Joel squeaked. "What happened to it? Are you okay, Javyk?" he asked both Ark and the boy working on the door-frame.

"The phase emitter wasn't aligned correctly, so it didn't line my arm and hand up after I stuck my hand through the doorway," replied Javyk as he pulled a small cylinder shaped object out of the frame. "I ended up with no hand and a few fried emitters. I also have to recreate a few of the prototype modules I created to make the constant connection work. It isn't the first time I've lost my hand."

<Had he listened to Kendall and just threw something else through the door then he would not have had to have his hand reattached.>

"No one asked you," Javyk said as he removed another cylinder shaped object from the frame.

Joel looked at the doorway, the wall, then the boy. He reached and tapped the wall. Solid. "You put your hand through? Oh! Gateway technology! Like the Iconians! Cool!"

Javyk eyed Joel, almost glaring at him, "Whatever helps you understand it better I suppose."

Joel shrugged and patted Javyk's shoulder. "Glad you're better, though. I'll talk to you again when Kendall is here," he said before moving back to stand by Sean. "Hope Ark's right - I like him, but he's very grumpy right now."

Sean's face turned red as he tried to keep his laughter in.

"Shall we move on?" Kyle managed through his giggles.

They moved off through the doorway towards the Council Chambers, but Sean found himself guiding Joel completely - the little Vulcan was so caught up with all the interesting items around that he'd have wandered off if left to his own devices. In the end, Sean picked the boy up and sat him on his shoulders.

"Long corridor," Joel commented as he looked ahead. "How big is this place?"

<My entire Compound, not including my Memory Bays, is a little over a mile each direction. If you include my core then my compound is also a mile deep.>

"Nice. I like this place," Joel bubbled as he ran his fingers through Sean's hair.

"You're not walking it, Elf," Sean giggled.

"You picked me up, Ted! I would have walked it!"

"And I'd have walked double just running after you each time you saw something new!"

"But I'm interested in Ark! It's nice! It saved me... is there any way I can hug It to say thanks?"

<I would rather you not try, a simple thank you will do just as well. I am sure that Nyo could give you a tour at some point, if you would like, though.>

Joel grinned, "Okay, Ark. Thinking about it, hugging a processor might be dangerous - to either you or me! I'll like a tour, though. Thanks, Ark. Love you!"

Sean smiled and reached up to tickle his brother briefly, "You're a softy, Elf."

"Thank you!" the boy giggled as he fended off Sean's attacking hand.

They continued on until they came to the Council Chamber door. Cory looked up at the Vulcan and said, "You'll have to wait here for a moment, Lil'elf. Since Tyne's talking with the Doctor officially, then I think only Council Members can enter right now."

"Okay," Joel nodded as he was lowered to his feet.

"You too, Timmy... AND you as well, William," Cory giggled as he herded his son and the bird over towards Kevin. "Stay with your Pop and uncles. We won't be long."

"'Kay, Daddy," Timmy smiled.

William ignored him, however.

"I mean it, William!" Cory said as he gently snatched the bird from the air as it flapped around Brant's head.

William clucked his beak at Cory a first times in what Cory recognized as eagle-laughter. "And I love you too," he said as he plopped the bird back on Timmy's shoulder.

Cory then looked at the others and nodded, and together they entered the Chamber to find the Doctor talking with Tyne, Nyo, Rusty and the Holo-image of Cyna. Brant moved closer to Cory and whispered, "Are you thinking a certain Time Lord has arranged for most of the Council to be here, or is it just me."

"No comment," Cory grinned as they moved towards the centre of the room.

The Doctor's back was to the approaching group, yet he giggled and said, "You're five seconds late. Was William being a pain?"

"How'd you... never mind," Antonio sighed. "You're worse than Kyle!"

"I'm older. Had more practice," the Time Lord grinned as he turned to look at them. "Give the imp another millennia, and he'll be more my match!"

"Oh, a challenge!" Kyle smiled wickedly.

"No," Cory said firmly.

"What?"

"Just 'no', Kyle," Cory repeated, this time with a grin.

Tyne looked over at the group that had just entered and frowned, "Is there a reason that just about everyone on my Council is here now?"

Cory nodded, "Kevin Thompson and my brother Joel Short have requested a Socius Review. I gathered the others in case it could be done now to save time. Danny sends his apologies, however, as there is a mini-emergency with KC - again. If this is a bad time for a Review, then we're here to visit as family anyway. However," Cory looked meaningfully at the Doctor, "maybe someone was pulling the strings here?"

"Not really," the Doctor replied seriously. "You are aware that my first meeting with anyone from the Clan happens in your future. I am here now as I am meant to be here now to meet with Tyne and the Founder Council. Since my race is about to return Home, it is only good manners to introduce myself to the leaders of the Great Peoples. The Founders are such a one, as are the Vulcans and a few others. That has now been done, yet there may be one other reason I'm here. We shall see what Time brings in that regard, however."

"Ah, I see," Cory nodded. He turned back to Tyne, "In that case: Seer, would a Socius review be possible, and if so, would now be a good time?"

"I don't see why not," Tyne said as he walked over to his chair and took a seat. "Now is as good a time as any."

"You're able to see past that block in the future?" Kyle asked curiously. "I thought that that darkness might stop a review."

"No, what I see is darkness coming, I see the end of choice and our options become few," Tyne said slowly. "I can't see what will happen in that gap of darkness but I can see that what comes out of the darkness gives us two options. Now I'm supposed to be optimistic so I'll go with the one that doesn't have everything ending."

"I can't see anything from that darkness onwards," Kyle commented as he shot a look at the Doctor.

The Doctor nodded to himself. "I explained it to the Seer just before you came in, Kyle. What is coming blankets that point in Time. To those of Middle Race and higher level, it also shadows everything after. The One who is causing it has power and defence against all High and Middle races, but not against Younger. There is no need against the Younger, for there isn't enough power from all the Young Races in all the Universes combined to hurt Him. So, a Founder cannot see inside the Darkness - the Choice. But they can see beyond. That may be of use to you as you face that Time."

"Oh," Kyle's reply was oddly subdued. He then muttered softly, "Everything ending... not good..."

"However," the Doctor said as he now turned to Tyne, "you will find a normal review of Joel and Kevin to be... difficult."

Tyne frowned, "Difficult for what reasons?"

The Doctor smiled sadly, "This is that other reason for me being here - Sa'ren Joel Short is what the Time Lords call 'Ki'Melai' - The Shaper. He is a Flux in Time. He 'shapes' Destiny. He can create or recreate a Destiny, destroy it, or ignore it. He has no control at present of this power, yet it is still under control by the 'Person' who made him Shaper. He clouds the mind for anyone wishing to read the future. I see everything possible as being equally, 100% possible when he is interacting with me. Same for Kyle. You, however, are Young Race. You won't even see that, for your mind will not take it all in. For me, once Joel enters the room, I will see him kill us all, or feed us cookies, or kiss us, or even have a heart attack and die instantly. It is all valid - all equally possible. He is without Destiny, save for one thing - and that is IN the Darkness that lies ahead. That, and only that, can he NOT change. 'To change Destiny for everyone, except for himself' - that is the problem. You will be able to scan his mind, run all your Review tests and mental simulations, but once he enters the room and starts interacting with you, the Future becomes hyper-fluid. You will never be able to read his future. Only the present and the past."

"Then I can not allow for him to be reviewed," replied Tyne. "To not know the future of how this relationship may turn out goes against one of the key elements involved in the Socius review. If I were to review him and then allow for them to become Socius then I am taking the responsibility for that relationship's success on myself. If it were to fail then I lose my ability to be a part of the review process in the future."

Cory looked around at them all, then asked softly, "There is no alternative? Could another take that responsibility in Joel and Kevin's case?"

Tyne stared at Cory for a moment before replying, "Another Council member could take on the responsibility, but they would be held to the same rules I am, meaning that if the Socius relationship fails they can no longer take part in these reviews. In addition the Council member may be subject to review if I think it needed."

Cory looked around at them all again. He looked back at Tyne and said, "I am willing."

"As am I," Kyle added.

Xain stepped forward. "I have shared Joel's thoughts, and I too am willing."

Cory smiled, "I think only one of us is needed, guys. But thank you." He focused back on Tyne and said seriously, "He's my little brother. I shall take responsibility in his case. If their bonding should fail, then I understand the consequences, and I accept them willingly."

"Very well, Council Crafter, then the record shows that you are directly responsible for the success of their relationship if they pass the review," said Tyne. "Did you want me to preform the review or did you want to direct it? The choice is yours since it is a review under your record."

"I'll take responsibility, but can you run it as normal, Seer?" Cory asked.

Tyne nodded, and gestured for them all to be seated.

"Since my Time is done here, I'll send him in for you as I leave," the Doctor smiled. He held out his hand to Tyne, "I'm glad I made a few new friends. Be well, Seer."

"You too," replied Tyne as he took the offered hand.

The Doctor shook hands with Rusty and Nyo as well, gave Cyna an old fashioned salute from the time of the First Cycle, then walked to the door and left. A moment later, it reopened to admit Kevin and Joel. As it closed again, Timmy could be heard calling, "Good luck, Unca Joel! Unca Kev!"

As they made their way into the Circle, Joel murmured, "Wow... now THIS is a big, round room!"

---

Sean stood to his feet quickly as the Council doors reopened, and a subdued Kevin came running out and slammed into his chest. He held the trembling boy tightly, and whispered comfort to him while watching the others leave. Still inside, he could see Tyne and Rusty talking with Nyo and Cyna, then the doors closed.

"It went badly?" he asked Cory as his husband walked up to them, carrying a shaking Joel.

Kyle half smiled, "No. They passed. They can get married under Socius. It's just... well..."

"The stuff they saw," Cory sighed. "Tyne was not easy on them. Since he cannot scan Joel's future, and by proxy Kevin's as well, he put them through one hell of a review."

Sean exhaled slowly as he kept a tight grip on Kevin, then he said softly to the now crying child, "It's over, Kev. What you saw may never happen. It's over, now."

"But one thing will," came a hollow sounding voice from Joel, and it sent a chill through Sean. "I'm going to lose Kevvy... I'm going to lose Kevvy..."

Sean shared a look with Cory, and Cory sent to him, 'Joel's realized the obvious problem. He's Vulcan. Kev's human... the aging difference...'

'Shit!' Sean sent back as Xain came to pick up Kevin to carry him.

Kyle sighed. "Come on. I'll pop us over to the Morph room... I think that'll take their minds off it..."

It worked.

It took less than five minutes for Joel to pull himself out of his dark thoughts, and Kevin as well due to the Bond-link. The purring mass in the nearest pool had drawn his attention completely.

"What're they?" he asked, his face inches from the pool and it's squirming inhabitants. Whatever they were they were all as attracted to this emotive Vulcan as a moth is to a flame.

"They're fuzzymores!" Timmy giggled.

<P-H-A-S-E-N-M-O-R-P-H-S. Phasenmorphs. I do wish you would call them by their correct name.>

"Are they dangerous?" Joel asked as Timmy poked his tongue out at the celling.

"Technically, yes," Sean laughed, "but that is because they are living weapons. If one chooses you, it links with you. They act as shields and weapons, and do a lot of other stuff as well."

"I have one. This is Red!" Timmy giggled as he rolled up his sleeve to show Red to Joel.

Joel looked at it, then at the pool. "Would one link with me? They all seem very interested in me."

<I am unsure. You are half human, but your nervous system may be too far out of their ability to link with. The only true test would be for you to put your arm into the water and see if one will try it. You will need permission, though.>

"From who?" Joel asked as he removed his jacket to leave just his tee-shirt on.

Nyo walked into the room just at that moment, and over heard them. He walked up to them and laid a hand on Joel's shoulder. "Just checking in on you, Sa'ren. You okay?"

Joel smiled up at him and nodded, "I'm not hurting right now. I've locked what happened away. I... I'll have to deal with it soon, but... not now. Not today."

Nyo nodded and gave Joel's shoulder a squeeze. "If you want to talk, we are here. Anyway, I see the 'morphs are interested in you - if you want one, and if Cory believes you can be trusted with one, you can try."

"Go on, Elf," Cory giggled. "Fingers crossed!"

Joel wasted no time. His left arm was in the water an instant later. "They tickle," he giggled.

But that was all they did. Each one took a turn to rub themselves against the Vulcan's arm and purred, but none tried anything else.

Timmy's brow creased, and he seemed to be talking to someone. "Red says he'll talk to them," he said as he put his left arm in the pool, letting Red get completely covered with the water.

Joel pulled his arm back out and just watched.

After a moment longer, Timmy sighed and removed his arm. "Red says sorry, Unca Joel. They all like you, but you're confusing to them. They MIGHT be able to join wif you, but... they'd have lots and lots of trouble. Might not work right."

"Oh... okay," Joel said with a sad little smile. "They're real nice, but... okay."

"Red did say that if he wasn't my fuzzy, he could do it. It's jus' that red fuzzies ain't born often," Timmy said by way of apology before stripping off and slipping into the pool to play with the other 'morphs.

Joel watched him for a second. "We allowed to play with them?" he asked Nyo.

Nyo grinned and nodded.

Joel wasted no time - his clothes went flying and in he slid.

Soon, everyone was laughing, for Joel was floating on the surface of the pool covered in morphs... and all of them were purring.

Kevin was laughing so hard that he slipped and fell into the pool, splashing Xain and Antonio as he did so. As he came up and spouted a ton of water from his mouth, Xain reached over and pulled him out quickly. "If you wished to have a bath, you could have waited, Kevin," he said, his eyes twinkling.

"Ha ha," Kevin retorted as he shook the water out of his hair. He then paused, "My arm feels dead."

"Ah, Kev?" Brant pointed at Kevin's left arm. "You have a stowaway!"

Kevin raised his arm quickly and gasped. A morph with greeny blue strips was finishing off it's linkup with his arm. "Ummm... Cor???"

Cory covered his eyes with his hand and shook his head. He then looked up at Kevin and grinned, "Kyle-bear - can you take our newest member of the Short family to the training room, please?"

"Well, we weren't gonna let you train him, Cor," Kyle giggled as he ran to take Kevin's hand. "If you trained him, then we'd have TWO brothers who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn!"

"One second, Kev," Cory stated as he lunged for, and captured, Kyle. "Just one second."

*Splash*

"Now he can train you," Cory stated with a satisfied snort as Kyle's head popped to the surface of the pool.

"Kyle?" Joel asked as he helped his little brother to climb out.

"Yeah?"

"How'd you manage to get your foot in your mouth all the way to your nuts, yet still walk?" Joel giggled as he kissed his tiny brother before slipping back into the water.

Kyle blew a raspberry at him, "I'll get you back for that, Elf!"

"As long as you love me," Joel smiled happily, before he removed a morph that had squirmed up and onto his head, and started to stroke it.

Joel looked at Kevin and saw his husband was looking at the creature on his arm with concern. 'What's up, Kevvy? he sent down their link.

'I'm not sure I wanted one of these things,' Kevin sent back as he linked his eyes with the boy he loved.

Joel shrugged, 'I have armour that protects me. You have a 'morph. We're both safe, now.'

Kevin smiled. 'Yeah, looking at it that way, you're right. What shall I call him?'

'Huh?'

'Everyone else calls their morphs names. What shall I call him?'

Joel shrugged again. 'Dunno. What name would suit him?'

'I'll think about it when training,' Kevin decided as Kyle, now Mikyvis dried, came back and took his hand. They then both followed the laughing Nyo out and into the training room.

Joel waved him off, then splashed Cory.

"What was that for?" his blond brother protested.

"Dunking Kyle!" giggled Joel. Then the Vulcan reached out of the pool and pulled both Sean and Cory into the water.

Being a Vulcan, and being stronger than humans, had perks sometimes.

"See what you got us into?" Sean giggled as he playfully slapped Cory's exposed butt.

"It was YOUR idea, Chicken!" Cory giggled back after coming up for air and rubbing his butt.

Joel raised an eyebrow at Sean, "You told Blondie to dunk Kyle?"

Sean grinned as he removed his tee-shirt, and a 'morph that had started to crawl up his arm, and threw the tee-shirt out of the pool. "Yeah," he giggled as he sat down near the edge next to Cory and started to pet the wiggling creature.

Joel poked his tongue out at him, then picked up three more 'morphs and handed them to Cory before squashing himself in between his brothers. Timmy was still busy swimming about on his back with five more 'morphs on his stomach for the ride. "You're mean to poor Lil'bear!"

"No, mean was him talking Josiah into making every wall in our house into one-way glass... you could see in, but we couldn't see out!" Cory replied with a grin.

Joel smiled, but looked confused. "Why'd that be a problem?" he asked innocently, his eyes showing his complete lack of understanding about privacy.

Sean let the morph he was cuddling swim away and pulled Joel up and onto his lap. "People need their own space, Lil'elf. When boyfriends and partners want to be alone to make love and be together in other ways, they all want to be in a place that's private - just for themselves. We get embarrassed when we do personal things and others catch us or are watching."

"Oh... modesty, yeah?" Joel asked sadly.

"Yeah," Cory answered as he kissed the back of Joel's head.

"Oh... sometimes I wish... never mind, doesn't matter," Joel murmured. "I can't undo the past, can I? I'm never going to really understand what was taken from me... am I?"

"Don' worry Unca Joel; it's a big kid thing that's kinda stupid!" Timmy giggled as he started another lap.

Joel started to giggle. "Then I don't wanna ever grow up! Like that story 'bout Peter Pan! Yeah!" he grinned. Then his eyes grew mischievous, "Hey! I must be Peter Pan! I have pointy ears, AND my own fairy!"

"Who's your fairy?" Cory asked with a smile.

"You are, Daddy!" Timmy chortled as he came to a stop with three 'morphs now on his head. Joel was nodding with a wicked smile on his face as he turned to smirk at his big brother. Timmy continued, still giggling, "You've just left your fairy wings somewhere!"

"I'm going to kill Dylan," Cory grouched as he tried not to giggle at the amused look he was getting from both Sean and Joel. "Juan too, I think," he added with an afterthought.

Joel grinned and reached over to snuggle in with Cory briefly. "Just teasing ya, ashayam sa'kai," he whispered, before helping Cory out of his completely soaked shirt.

As Joel reached to dump it out of the pool, he saw the comm-badge attached to it. "Won't that be damaged by getting wet? Did I break it? Sorry..." he started to say, his voice becoming frightened.

"Don't worry, my Aussie cousin knows us... they are completely waterproof," Cory replied quickly.

Joel relaxed visibly, then brought the badge closer to have a look at it. "Just like in The Next Generation," he murmured. He looked up at Cory, "Can I have one?"

Cory smiled, "Of course." He turned his head and looked over to where JJ, Xain and Antonio were giggling together while talking to Ark. "JJ! Can you get a badge for our Elf?"

"Sure thing, bro! Joel, do you want the Clan crest on it, or shall I have one made with your House Crest?" JJ asked as he moved a little closer to the pool - just not too close to the mischievous Vulcan who seemed to like pulling in others he wanted to play with.

"House, please," Joel smiled joyfully.

JJ moved away and started speaking to Ark. A minute or so later, a new comm-badge was in his hand, with the seal of House Surak on the front. He attached it to the front of Joel's shirt that was lying on the floor and winked at the boy.

Joel then snuggled in tight with Cory and asked, "It's really for me... just for me?!"

Cory nodded. Words just didn't seem to be required, for Joel was skin to skin with him. He knew his Vulcan brother would sense the truth and the love.

Joel closed his eyes and just relaxed as both his beloved big brothers snuggled him and kept him safe. He knew they always would - he would always be safe and protected from all the 'monsters' his mind would so easily bring to remembrance to frighten him, so long as he was held here.

Timmy made three more laps, and even a cuddle pit-stop, before Joel spoke again. "Daddy and Mama like each other," he whispered with a happy smile as he watched Timmy see how long he could hold his breath. "I mean really like each other!"

Cory grinned, "You might be right, but Mom believes that if you're married once it's for all of your life, so she won't ever get married again."

Joel twisted to look into Cory's eyes. "Why?" he asked, confused to the core. "My Mother is dead - kinda. She wouldn't mind Daddy getting married again. She told me just now as I was thinking about what I felt from Mama and Daddy earlier. Would your... umm... no, not daddy... who's Mama's blood son? You or Sean?"

"I am," Sean giggled. "And it was my Dad. Cory's dad was my dad's best friend."

"Would your daddy mind if Mama got married again?" Joel asked, as he turned to look at Sean.

"I dunno, I'm not lucky enough to have him in my head; I barely remember him, because I was so young." Sean said wistfully. "Mom's always told us that marriage is forever, though."

Joel had so many more questions, but he felt Sean and Cory getting upset, and knew that asking more might be the wrong thing at this time. He reached and pulled Sean's hand to his lips and kissed it, "He's not away from you. Mikey can appear, and that means your daddies are here too. Don't think they'd ever leave you as long as you needed them around. S'why my Mother stayed in my head and didn't go to Daddy's."

Both boys just smiled lovingly at their little brother and simply continued to cuddle him.

After another five minutes had passed, Joel whispered again, "I'm gonna try getting Mama and Daddy together. If I can... it's logical - they like each other, and they are friends..."

Sean met Cory's gaze and both rolled their eyes, but said nothing. Joel didn't notice, for he was still murmuring to himself about what he'd do to get their parents together.

A while later, and Kevin and Kyle came back into the room. The four in the pool climbed out and got dressed, while Kyle giggled and helped dry their clothes first.

"Ready to go?" Kyle asked with a grin.

Cory and Sean both replied in unison, "Oh, yes. Time to get home!" They were both thinking the same thing - hoping that they could distract Joel from his forming plans.

"Umm, no not yet," Joel said shyly. "If it's okay, could I ask Ark to make me a teddy bear?"

Cory blinked, then smiled, "Sure, Elf - but why? You had loads for your birthday."

"Not for me - for Juan. There was this real special one that he was given a long time back, but he was made to destroy it. He misses his Rambo. I was gonna ask Kyle to read me mind and make an image for Ark to copy," Joel explained.

Kyle giggled as he focused on his big brother's memories. "I got the picture, Big Bro, but Josiah will make a real good one if you want him to!"

Joel smiled, "Okay. He's at the party, right?"

"Not right now," Nyo smiled as he pointed at the door where two boys could be seen walking passed. "I think he and Gavin are back here now."

Joel grabbed Kyle's hand and they ran out of the Morph Room like a shot. "Gavin? Josiah?" Joel called excitedly.

Gavin turned with a smile and grabbed his brother for a hug. "I was hoping to see you before you went home. Did you enjoy your big day?"

"More than anything ever!" Joel giggled as he wiggled happily in Gavin's arms. He then blinked over at Josiah, "Can I ask you somethin'?"

Josiah grinned, "You just did, but you can ask me something else as well, if you'd like."

Laughing, Joel quickly explained what it was he wanted, and Kyle showed the image he had taken from the Vulcan's mind.

After looking at it for a long moment, Josiah said, "Won't take long. Wait here, Joel." Then, he turned and headed back towards the Control Room.

"What's he looking for?" Joel asked curiously.

Gavin grinned, "A trash can - he can turn rubbish into whatever he likes."

"Oooh," Joel smiled before wiggling some more in his Rigellian brother's arms.

Less than five minutes later, Josiah returned with a small Teddy Bear in his hands. The Bear had combat fatigues on, and looked exactly like the one Juan once had.

"That's perfect!" Joel exclaimed. "Thanks, Josiah!" he yelled as he ran and hugged the bigger boy tightly.

"You're welcome," Josiah murmured. "And happy birthday, Joel. I hope all your other ones are as wonderful as this one has been."

"Thanks," Joel smiled as he took the little bear into his hands.

Josiah and Gavin waved at both Kyle and Joel briefly before continuing on towards their quarters. Joel smiled at Kyle, "Now we can go home!"

Kyle giggled and snapped his fingers, copying Q in showmanship.

---

"Decided yet?" Joel asked Kevin as all the boys reappeared in CIC.

"Yeah," Kevin giggled as he patted his phasenmorph.

Kyle asked, "Tell us, then!"

"The BFG!" Kevin giggled again.

"Huh?" everyone there grunted at once.

"The Big Fuzzy Gun!"

Cory picked up the small boy, "Another dunking coming up!"

"Hey!" Joel protested, stamping his foot. "Put my husband down, Blondie! It's late, and I have plans for him!... uhhh, did I say that?"

"Yup, you did!" Cory giggled as he placed the now furiously blushing Kevin back on his feet. "I'll get Kev tomorrow, then. You horn-dogs going to say good night to our parents first?"

"Uh huh!" Joel nodded, also beginning to blush as he realised how easily his mind had turned to what was now ahead of him. There was no small measure of relief there as well, for he didn't feel as afraid any more. He had permission, now.

They all ran out of Main CIC and into the Rec Room, to find the nightly nest in mid construction. Teri, Spock and Allen were doing the rounds and hugging various little kids good-night when Joel and Kevin sped over to them.

Jason was grinning at them from the sofa, where he and Nathan had called dibs. "I'm guessing that you two ain't joining us tonight," he giggled as Joel stopped by him and waited at his father's side.

Joel blushed further and shook his head.

"Have fun, sweeties," Nathan sniggered.

Joel grinned and pulled Kevin closer to himself before tugging on the back of his father's uniform jacket. "Daddy?"

Spock turned and knelt to be on their level. "What can I do for you, Sa'ren?"

"We're gonna go to bed, now..." Joel stammered, smiling shyly at his father. Over Spock's shoulder, Joel saw Teri turn and move over. "Just wanted to say good night to you and Mama first."

Spock nodded his head knowingly, then pulled them both in for a hug. After, he passed them both to Teri, who, in turn, did the same. Then Allen claimed his share.

"Just remember what we told you," Allen whispered. "Don't worry at anything. If you both enjoy it and have fun and love each other, then we'll be happy, too. Okay?"

Kevin nodded his head as he hugged his Pop tightly around the neck.

Joel smiled and looked about the room, trying to be nonchalant but the grins he was getting soon had him giggling cutely.

Kevin finished his hug and turned to his husband. With his voice shaking, he held out his hand and said, "Time for bed, Sa'ren?"

"Y...yeah. Yeah, Kevin..." Joel answered as he took the hand.

Together, they began to walk out of the room, but Joel stopped near to the door. He saw the last few items from his birthday presents there, and saw that the nice back-pack from Mr T. was with them. He quickly packed everything inside it, and added in the new Bear he had had made for Juan. Then, giggling, he slipped it onto Kevin's back.

"Figures," Kevin giggled as he linked his arm with Joel. They both continued out of the room, only to find they were being followed; by Cory and Sean.

Joel stopped walking. "What's wrong, Cor?" he asked as he looked up nervously at his brother.

"Nothing. Just wondering if you want a private apartment for tonight, or your own room at our house."

Both small boys spent a second to discuss it mentally before Kevin responded. "Could we have an apartment, Cor? Might feel more like a honeymoon," he said with a giggle.

"Then it's room number 10, in the north east of the second floor of the Pool building," Sean smiled. "Kyle thought you might like it, so he got it ready for you."

"That would overlook our house," Joel smiled happily.

"Yup," Cory said, his heart nearly bursting with joy. Joel had said that it was 'his' house. A big step for him. "Good night, my little brothers," Cory added as he pulled them both into his arms. "I love you so much."

"We love you too, Cor," they said in unison, before being pulled into Sean's arms. "And you too!" they giggled, still in unison.

Sean looked at Cory as a tear trickled down his face, "How did we ever get by without these two in our family?"

"Badly, I'd imagine," Kevin giggled cheekily before taking Joel's hand. "Go sleep... get some for us too!"

Cory sniggered as they both ran outside. He and Sean walked to the door and watched as they slowed and started walking down the pathway hand in hand. They didn't seem to be heading for the Pool building yet, but rather going on a starlit stroll first.

"Come on, Hon," Sean murmured as he pulled on Cory's hand. "Let's go to bed."

They re-entered the Rec Room and made towards Jason and Nathan, who were now stripping down to get some sleep. Jason grinned over at them as he kicked his shorts and underwear off and into a fast growing mound of clothing. "I hope they'll be okay," he said with a smile as he grabbed his tee-shirt and started to pull it over his head.

Jason never heard the response, for he suddenly vanished in a shower of golden sparkles.

---

Not long after, Joel was staring up at the moon as he stood before the Pool building door with Kevin's hand in his. Kevin was pressed tight to his side, and their shared body-heat was enough to ward off the slight chill the Vulcan could feel. Kevin, however, felt no such chill - but he was human, after all.

"I'm nervous," Kevin whispered.

Joel nodded, still looking at the moon. "Me too. Very," he whispered back.

"We... we don't have to do anything, do we? Remember what Poppa said?" Kevin trembled.

"Yeah. And remember what Sean and Cory said yesterday morning?"

"Ummm... no, not really."

"About just going with the flow and seeing what happens?"

"Oh. Oh yeah, now I remember."

"We should do that, k'hat'n'dlawa," Joel said finally as he turned his eyes from Earth's satellite to look at the love of his life. "Just see what happens."

Kevin didn't answer at first - he just smiled at the ancient Vulcan term of endearment - 'half of my heart and soul'.

"Oh - Sa'ren," he whispered eventually as he moved his lips closer to Joel's and started to kiss him.

A dual transporter beam caught them at that moment, and they vanished - the last thing being seen was Joel's panicked eyes popping open in fear...

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To Be Continued...

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Editor's Notes:

Why do I suspect that something is happening? That WAS a cliffhanger. Don't you dare tell us that it wasn't. This was a very good chapter, at least till that last paragraph. GRRRRRRR.

As always, I eagerly await the next chapter.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

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Clan Short Archivist Review Notes:

I don't know where to start this was a very interesting and intriguing chapter that did not go where I thought. I am definitely looking forward to more of this wonderful story.

The character development continues to make this a very good story and Ilúvantír deserves a pat on the back.

I am going to check my inbox for the next chapter and it better be here soon.

The Story Lover

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Author's Notes:

What? A cliffhanger? You don't like it? Shame, really. Don't worry - I'll answer the question and resolve it... soon... maybe...

Iluvantir

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AC's note:

Wisely Says Nothing...