TITLE: Full Circle

AUTHOR: DramaLexy

SUMMARY: Third story in my series after "Illogical Choices" and "Blood and Water." Spock and Nyota's family is growing, but there will be bumps along the way.

DISCLAIMER: If they were mine, there'd be another movie already :-)

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This fic starts about six months after the end of "Blood and Water." Reading that story will be helpful to know what's going on. And as always, I really appreciate feedback. Thanks!

Nyota opened the door to her adopted daughter's room, carefully balancing a tray with one hand. She set the tray – which contained a plate of waffles and eggs and a glass of juice – down on Leryn's desk before sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Time to wake up," she told the little girl as she gently shook her shoulder.

Leryn sleepily rubbed at her eyes. "Do I have to?"

Nyota smiled. "Did you forget what today was?"

She thought about it for a moment, and woke up quickly. "My birthday!"

Nyota laughed. They had decided to let Leryn pick her own birthday after her adoption was finalized, a symbol of her new start with her new family. The idea of celebrating a year of age had been a foreign concept to the child, but she'd been excited to have a new tradition and had selected the anniversary of the day she'd arrived on Earth. "Yes it is. Happy Birthday, sweetheart. I made you breakfast," she said, pointing out the plate.

That got a smile. "Waffles?" she asked. Her very favorite Earth food.

"Of course." Leryn sat up to hug her mother.

"Thank you! Where's Papa?"

"Still sleeping. I thought it could be just you and me for a little bit."

"Is the baby still sleeping, too?"

Nyota smiled. "No, he or she is definitely awake. You want to feel?" She placed Leryn's fingers over the right spot on her stomach to feel the baby kicking. The little girl giggled.

"Is Papa going to be mad you're up?" she asked. Nyota was supposed to be taking it easy, and had been spending the majority of the past few weeks in bed.

"I don't care. Today was too special of a day to miss."

A half hour later, Leryn had polished off her breakfast and was trying to decide what clothes to wear. "I don't know if I like red or purple," she told her mother, holding up two different dresses.

Nyota considered the two outfits from her seat on Leryn's bed. "Mmm…I think I like the purple one. It's new, isn't it?"

Leryn nodded. "Uncle Scotty got it for me when he was on shore leave."

They both looked up as the door opened and Spock came in the room. "What are you doing?" he asked his wife.

"Helping Leryn pick clothes for today."

He noticed the now-empty tray that was still sitting on her desk. "You were cooking?"

"I'd hardly call pushing a few buttons on the synthesizer cooking."

"You were advised by Dr. McCoy to refrain from standing for long periods."

"It was just a few minutes, Spock, I promise. And I've been sitting in here ever since, haven't I?" she asked Leryn. The little girl warily nodded.

"It is highly illogical to risk your health for simple task that I could have easily completed."

"Not doing whatever I wanted to make Leryn's first birthday special is also illogical," she fired back. "Sweetheart, go get washed and changed and I'll do your hair when you're done, okay?" she told the little girl. She nodded and scrambled out of the room, not wanting to see her parents get into another 'discussion' as they called it.

"You should have awakened me," Spock told his wife once they were alone. "I would have fixed her morning meal."

"It wasn't just about getting the food made, Spock. It was about us being together. When I was a little girl, my mother used to get up with me at sunrise on my birthday and we would watch it together. I wanted to be able to do something special for my own daughter."

"And what about our other child?" he asked.

She sighed. He was maddeningly calm whenever they had one of these exchanges, and they'd been having them frequently. "The baby's fine, Spock. And I'm fine. I was feeling pretty good this morning. If I hadn't been, trust me, I wouldn't have gotten up."

He knelt beside the bed, carefully considering her appearance. "You seem mildly jaundiced."

"Well, 'mildly' is better than how I looked three days ago," she quipped, "And that just might have something to do with the fact that I've been living with copper poisoning for the past few months."

Spock didn't appreciate the sarcasm in her tone. "I should take you to sickbay this morning."

"No, please don't. I am SO tired of getting tied to machines. We know what's wrong, Spock – apparently being even ¼ Vulcan is a pretty significant thing. McCoy's already doing his best to keep filtering elements from the baby's copper-based blood from my system; going down there isn't going to tell us anything new."

"He should verify that your activities this morning have not had any negative effects."

"I'm fine. I promise. And if it will make you feel better, I swear that I'll stay in bed the rest of the day – until dinner."

Spock raised an eyebrow. "Nyota…"

"It's her first birthday with us, Spock. Leryn has been so amazing helping me recently and I don't want her to feel like we're forgetting her. This is her special day and I want her to enjoy it."

"I don't want anything to happen to you."

She rolled her eyes. "Has anyone told you that you worry too much?"

"Vulcans do not worry."

She smiled. "Of course you don't. I know just about every logical argument you could possibly make. Yes, there will be other birthdays, but this will always be the only one with just the three of us. Yes, I know it's a risk, but I believe it's low and it's worth it. And yes, I am incredibly, illogically stubborn, but I'm human."

"You are indeed."

Leryn cautiously stuck her head back in the room, looking to see if it was safe to return. Nyota was the first to notice her. "Let me see," she told the little girl, indicating with her hand for her to turn around and show off her dress. "You look beautiful."

Spock got up, taking the breakfast tray. "I will clean up and take Leryn to her classroom when she is ready," he said before heading into the main area of their quarters.

Leryn sat next to Nyota so that she could get her hair brushed and pulled up. "I'm sorry Papa got mad," she quietly told her mother. "I should have told you to go back to bed."

"Hey, you didn't do anything wrong. I wanted very much to spend the morning with you. And I'm so glad I did."

"Why can't you make the baby stop making you sick?"

"Well, because it's not really its fault. The baby's blood is what's making me sick, but I can't change who he or she is. Once it's born, I'll be better again, and all this will just be a memory."

Leryn considered that. "When my brother or sister is born, they'll go to school, too, right?"

"Eventually. He or she will have to get a little bigger before they will have their own lessons."

"It'll be fun to have someone else there," Leryn decided. Currently, 'school' meant watching lessons that had been filmed on Earth and completing the corresponding work that was sent to the ship. She could send questions and finished assignments back to her school. Enterprise was the first ship to have a child onboard, but a few others would be following suit soon, and it was possible that the families of a few other Enterprise officers would be joining the ship in a few months.

"Yeah, I think it will be nice for you to have someone to play with," Nyota agreed as she put the finishing touches on the little girl's hair. "Okay, all done. Have a good day, okay? We're going to go to dinner together in the mess hall tonight."

Leryn's eyes lit up; they hadn't had dinner together in the mess in a long time. "Really?"

Nyota smiled, glad to see her happy. "Promise."

TBC...