Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter.

Warning: Some flash back S/U in this chapter but it is for a good cause. I will make up for it in a later chapter by flashing back to how Jim and Spock got together. If asked nicely I may be willing to flashback to the wedding.

Note:

Italicize words signify mental communication

Also in my vision of the 2009 alternate reality, I believe that Christine Chapel would have started her medical training earlier. In this story, she is already a doctor by 2267.

Revised as of 6/11/2012

Chapter Four: Family Dinner Torture

12.2 weeks earlier

"When am I going to get more grandchildren?" Her Mother Alexis asked as soon as she popped up on screen. This is now how their conversations always started. Her mom would ask about more grandchildren and she would change the subject to her father's health. The technique of avoidance doesn't work with a lawyer.

Technically Alexis was her stepmother, but Alexis was the one who raised her. She doesn't remember her biological mom at all. Her mom was a lawyer for Starfleet and has been stationed at the San Francisco offices ever since her father got sick last year. When she was little, her mom worked out of the Pretoria and Nairobi offices of Starfleet. There were better treatment facilities in San Francisco for her father's condition, which was why she was transferred there. On the bright side, her position meant it was possible for them to occasionally have a real time chat even when in deep space under the guise of some official conversation.

"You don't want to say hi to your only daughter after not speaking to her for months. How's dad?"

"You e-mail me daily. You already know your dad is as well as he always is. I know what is going on with you. If something was really wrong Jim or Spock would have called me." That was true enough.

"You're the only one I know who refers to my commanding officers by their first names."

"They are the fathers of my only grandchild. I'll call them whatever I want. How is my grand baby? Did Amanda get the box of toys I sent? Trying to calculate what starbase you will be stopping at is quite difficult. "

"Tell me about it. Yes. I love the hat. I have to send you a picture of a very stern Vulcan trying not to frown when wearing the thing." She said smiling.

"Now let's get back to the important question. When am I going to get another grand baby?"

"When the current mission is over, I agreed to be a surrogate for baby number two. We have a little less than three years to go." Hopefully that will pacify her for the moment and she will not ask about her lack of boyfriend as usual.

"I meant from you." Of course, she did.

"At the very least that means that I need to be having sex. The last time that happened was sometime during shore leave. I told you how bad that turned out."

She decided to go clubbing with Dr. Chapel one night on shore leave where she met a supposedly nice guy that she took back to her hotel room for some casual yet protected sex. (STIs are bad.) After he got off, but was not skilled enough to do the same for her, she received an urgent call telling her that her favorite niece was in the hospital. She left immediately without thinking.

"Yes I heard the unedited story from Jim." Why did she tell him what happened? He always falls victim to Alexis's interrogation techniques. "That ended badly because it was a random hook up. You need to find someone who appreciates you and that you can have a real relationship with."

"You do remember that I work on a starship? I'm not planning on changing that any time soon. The only people I can start a relationship with must also work on that starship. The last time I dated someone on that ship we almost lost our engineer. Jim did lose his assistant."

After the nasty breakup with Scotty, things were so bad she couldn't even be in the same part of the ship with him. She was sure Jim was considering transferring one of them. Fortunately, after the special breakup therapy things were better. Maybe that's why he went along with it.

"You can't assume every relationship will fail because of one Scotsman with commitment issues who did that thing we will not speak of. Not all relationships end badly or at all. Your breakup with Spock went very well. You're still the best of friends. You're the best of friends with his husband. You gave birth to his daughter whom you treat like your own kid. They see it the exact same way. Otherwise they wouldn't let her call me grandma."

"That's because even when we were technically dating, we were really just friends who slept with each other." Why is she telling her this? "I loved him more than a friend but less than a lover. I figured out that we were better as friends right about the time I figured out that he was head over feet in love with Jim." She said with a laugh.

"I didn't get married until I was in my thirties. Just like you I thought it would never happen, but it did eventually."

"The truth of the matter is, mom, I really don't have the desire to live the white picket fence dream. I like it here in space. I liked the work I'm doing. I don't need a man to make me feel loved or worth something. If you can't see the value in yourself, then how do you expect anyone else to see what you're worth?" There's no way she will argue with that point.

"I will concede the point that you don't want to be Miss Mary homemaker on Earth." She finally won one.

"Thank you. Now can we have no more talk about children or husbands? I want to talk to you about coming to visit for shore leave in three months."

"However, you still want children and you can still do that in space." She can never win with her mom.

"Mom…" she started but was cut off.

"Do not even start arguing with a lawyer that you don't want children. You left that guy the moment you knew that Amanda was sick. You love that baby so much. You're a wonderful mother to her."

"But I'm not Amanda's mom. Unless I have an accident on shore leave, which is pretty unlikely considering the advancements in modern birth control, I never will be a mom." She can't decide if that's good or bad.

"What about a friend? You could just come to some sort of arrangement. Lots of people do stuff like that now."

"The only two male friends I have that I am close enough to do something like that with are married to each other. Also if I somehow got pregnant, I would have to leave Enterprise. Until the test period with Amanda is over, there not going to let any more children live on starships."

"Not if you accidentally got pregnant by the right person." She said cryptically. She never got to hear the end of that conversation because her mom dismissed her when her favorite grandchild and Jim burst in on the call.

Later that night after she read Amanda a bedtime story she was sharing a cup of tea alone with Jim because Spock had gamma shift by himself.

"You won't believe what your mom asked me when Amanda ran back to her quarters to get the painting she made for your mom to show her." He started.

"When are you going to give her another grand baby? Nothing like a meddling mom." she said with a little laugh that was forced.

"Not quite. You know you should be thankful for having her. It's better than having a biological mother that completely ignores you unless she wants something and an alcoholic stepfather that hates you and used you as his own personal punching bag. She only meddles because she loves you." Compare to Jim's childhood, she know she won the stepmom lottery.

"You have a point. What did she ask you?"

"It was close to what you suggested. It was, 'When are you going to get my daughter pregnant?' Suddenly all the tea in her mouth was sprayed over the surface of the table.

"Why do I have a feeling she was not talking about artificial insemination?" She asked as soon as she could speak again.

"She wasn't. One of the benefits of having a mom who is very familiar with Starfleet regulations is she knows all the loopholes. She is very handy to know in a crisis. If you were to accidentally get pregnant the old-fashioned way by me or Spock, you could not be kicked off the ship, especially if you got pregnant by Spock because of the endangered species thing. You would be covered by the same policy that is allowing the test case with Amanda. Between the need to re populate New Vulcan and the command shortage, they are not going to kick us out. In addition, Amanda has been begging for a brother or sister."

"You want to sleep with me just to keep my mother and your daughter from bugging you about a new baby?" She asked incredulously.

"I want to watch you sleep with my husband so that your mother and our daughter will stop asking about a new baby. It would be really hot." She was too busy slapping him for what he said about her having sex with Spock to really pick up on his use of the word "our".

"Okay, I won't mention it again. She is right. You would make a really good mom. You are really good with Aman..."

Fortunately for everybody involved, a red alert was sounded, putting an end to the highly awkward situation. She tried not to think about what was said as she took Amanda to sickbay to be safe.

The Present

So far, in his relatively short life (in Vulcan terms), he has never experienced such an uncomfortable ride anywhere. The ride home after he decided to decline the offer to attend the Vulcan Science Academy was less uncomfortable. After his husband made a strategic retreat to the car along with his stepmother and half siblings he was left to explain the circumstances of Nyota's current pregnancy.

It would be a much more tolerable situation if he could lie to his father. Instead, he was forced to tell the entire truth as they knew it. At least the parts that were not classified.

His father must have been unaware of the fact that Nyota could speak fluent high Vulcan otherwise he would not have asked his son if she was his concubine. He learned from that exchange that it is possible to curse in high Vulcan.

Thanks to that exchange, the car was completely silent except for his daughter singing an old song from an ancient Earth children show about a toy purple dinosaur who can come to life.

"Why can't she sing the Sesame Street song? At least that show still makes new episodes and has Vulcan puppets. I'm going to kill whoever on the crew let her watch that show. The creepy dinosaur speaking about peace and love is disturbing." His husband said mentally.

Spock was too upset at his husband to reply or even let him know that Sulu was the one who exposed their daughter to that ancient torturous dinosaur. After 3.8 years of marriage, he is willing to admit that his husband can make even a Vulcan angry. Actually, he was aware of that within the first 48 hours of their acquaintance.

"I am not speaking to you. If it would not cause my father to look into ways to end our marriage, I would have you sleep on the couch tonight. You left me to deal with my father alone. You left me to explain everything to my father alone, when you promised to do it with me." He gave Jim what his husband refers to as his "angry glare of death".

"I thought if I took Amanda to the car it would have prevented that conversation from happening." He picked up his husband's sincerity instantly.

"Unfortunately, your strategy did not have the desired effect. Although I'm grateful that Amanda did not hear the conversation that I had with my father." Although their daughter was bright, he did not want her to learn about the specific mechanics of what happened until she was older. He also did not want Amanda to hear certain things that her grandpa said about her favorite aunt. Not that he said much. He just raised an eyebrow as he asked logical but inappropriate questions.

"I know, but knowing our luck, she probably overheard the conversation I had with your stepmom. She asked the same question, just more directly."Of course, she would. Due to her years on Earth, she has lost the Vulcan tendency to keep everything bottled up inside until meditation.

"What did you tell her?"

"I told her the truth."

"What version of the truth would that be?" He has discovered a long time ago that his husband has a very liberal definition of truth. This has come in handy during crisis situations and during diplomatic negotiations.

"We got completely wasted on alien aphrodisiacs and fertility drugs without our knowledge which resulted in us getting your ex-girlfriend pregnant. I also pointed out that it actually happened with a member of the crew we actually like and respect. At least it wasn't Dr. Chapel." His husband visibly shivered when he said that mentally.

"That would have been most unfortunate considering Dr. Chapel has I believe what is referred to on Earth as a 'crush' on me." At that moment he noticed that Amanda finally stopped singing the ancient purple dinosaur song about love and family. He physically sighed in relief. It was an unfortunate habit that he picked up from Jim.

"It's less creepy than your sister having a crush on me. She asked me to sit next to her at dinner."

Not wanting to talk about his sister's obvious crush, he decided to redirect the conversation. "How did T'Pay react?"

"She handled the entire situation rationally. She also said having a child naturally would be more logical. At least someone other than Alexis is happy. You know she's going to literally jump for joy when we tell her. I told you about the conversation a couple of months ago where she essentially asked us to knock up her daughter."

As he listened to his husband's response, his daughter started singing that old Earth song that supposedly does not end but usually does after he achieves a rare headache. Currently he was mentally planning on how to get back at Sulu for exposing his daughter to ancient children's songs that can cause a Vulcan to get a headache.

"I remember that conversation. T'Pay's response is logical due to her time on Earth."

"I'm sorry for what happened earlier and I promise to make it up to you as soon as all children and parents are asleep. I brought massage oil and the edible chocolate body paint." Jim sent a mental image of exactly what he wanted to do with that body paint that would have caused him to start coughing or have some other visible reaction if he were not Vulcan.

"I find your proposal agreeable."

"On the bright side, this dinner can't get any worse than it already has. What more could go wrong besides your father accidentally finding out?"

At that moment his sister grabbed one of Amanda's stuffed animals and threw it at her as she requested that she stops singing that illogical song that says it does not end but usually does. He should be happy that she didn't throw something harder as the obligatory lecture about control began.

He never should have said that nothing worse could happen. He is pretty sure he just jinxed this dinner. Things kept getting worse as they arrived at the restaurant. Apparently, the smell of Vulcan Earth fusion cuisine can trigger "morning sickness" very easily. Nyota threw up in the fake plant that Sarek was standing next to as they were waiting for their table.

For once, he was happy for the Vulcan ability to keep a straight face no matter what. Although a few of the other humans there did not react so kindly.

The second time she threw up she ruined her outfit. T'Pay drove her back to the house to change. Now they were stuck dealing with Spock's father without a buffer. Despite disliking her originally, Sarek absolutely loved Nyota if such a thing where possible for a Vulcan or at least he liked her more than him.

In addition, because she was gone Jim had to order for his daughter. Between all her food allergies that she inherited from him and the food sensitivities that she inherited from her other father, taking her to any restaurant was difficult. Add the fact that like most three-year-olds she didn't like trying new things, you have one "fun" combination.

Nyota can usually find that perfect dish for her within 5 minutes. Spock can usually find something within 10 minutes that would be safe for her to eat but not necessarily be eaten without resorting to bribery. Unfortunately, Spock was too busy getting a thinly veiled lecture from his father on all the things he is doing wrong such as raising his eyebrows too high in public.

The last time he ordered for his daughter at a restaurant they got to know how great the hospital system was on the planet they were visiting. It turns out although not allergic to seafood from Earth; Amanda was allergic to seafood from almost every other planet in the federation.

She also inherited his allergies to all members of the lagoon family. That right there was about half the menu at this place. In addition, she could not eat anything with nuts, strawberries (from any planet), or red dye number 722. Because she is three, she will not eat anything that is orange, not completely liquid, or comes from the fourth replicator from the right in the mess hall on Enterprise.

Because she was her other father's child she will not eat anything that resembles Italian Food. During his academy time, due to the fact they serve bad Americanized Italian food, Spock has developed an intolerance for all similar foods. Jim has tried to convince his husband that what they served at the academy was not an accurate representation of Italian cuisine on any planet, but the stubborn Vulcan will not listen to him. Because dad will not eat the pasta with cream sauce, she won't.

"Do they have McDonald's on this planet? She's not gonna eat anything here." He said in his head to his husband.

"I am unsure because we haven't been here for so long. I believe we passed a Starbucks on the way here, so it is highly probable that other Earth corporations have set up shop on new Vulcan. However, I am sure the McDonald's would serve only 'veggie burgers'."

"The existence of Starbucks on a planet really does not mean anything. Sometimes I think Starbucks has a representative on our ship. It seems like two weeks after we do a first contact they are already opening up a Starbucks on the planet."

Of course, at that moment their daughter just had to ask if she could have a cheeseburger. This led to explaining to Sarek why his granddaughter was not a vegetarian. The logical answer was she was allergic to practically all non-animal sources of protein. Logic for some odd reason was not really winning against sentimentality.

As usual, Sarek mentioned something about the fact that they chose not to genetically engineer Amanda not to have these problems. If they were not surrounded by other individuals, he would mention the fact that his counterpart in the other dimension can eat a soy burger without his throat closing up. (Also, his counterpart can kiss Spock after he eats a soy burger without his throat closing up.) In other words, being genetically predisposed for something doesn't necessarily mean you'll develop a problem.

Spock explained to his dad that they want Amanda to be as normal as possible and therefore they chose not to play around with her DNA profile extensively. The only thing they did was make sure she was exactly 25% Vulcan. Maybe it was a good thing that those aliens did whatever they did because these babies will be a complete mystery genetically.

What Spock didn't say to his father was he didn't want his daughter to be like him. There is a little resentment on Spock's part about the extensive genetic engineering used to create him, including extra gifts of telepathy.

Every time he comes here he realizes how good his husband's diplomatic skills are. Because if he was the one being yelled at, a physical altercation would have occurred the moment Sarek suggested that Amanda was behaving inappropriately for a three year old because she was surrounded by human adults instead of Vulcan children her own age.

His obsessing over the menu was for nothing because before she left Nyota ordered Amanda a grilled cheese sandwich with purple carrot sticks. (How was he supposed to know you could get grilled cheese at a Vulcan restaurant when it was not even on the menu?)

Although Amanda was eating, no one else was. They were still waiting for the others to return. At least if he had food to distract himself with he would not be 2.6 minutes from hiding in the restroom for the remainder of the family dinner torture. He wondered if Spock would be amenable to a quickie in the men's room.

"If it means I will no longer have to listen to my father logically explain why I am a complete disappointment because I cannot live up to his illogical standards, I would be willing to have you orally or digitally stimulate me in the facilities." He swallowed hard at that.

"You heard that thought? Wait, you are willing to do that? How much chocolate have you eaten?"

"You projected an image of you pushing me up against the wall of the bathroom stall. However considering the circumstances when we return to the house I will be the one throwing you against a wall." That was Spock-speak for "we will be having very rough sex tonight so I can work through my daddy issues."

"If you are insinuating that I am inebriated, you are incorrect. I only consume enough chocolate so I could deal with my father."

"Then you must be completely smashed." He was expecting to feel a little of bit happiness from Spock at his joke not anxiety and anger. That's when he noticed the woman and an older child talking to his father-in-law. A few moments later, the woman and the child took a seat next to Sarek.

"Spock you remember T'Pring. She is a member of my staff. This is her son Sunk. He is 10.5 Terran years old."

"She is the T'Pring?" He's never met the woman but has heard interesting stories from Spock and Nyota. His personal favorite was how Nyota convinced Spock to sleep with her right after he discovered T'Pring was cheating on him.

"It is a pity that she was off planet when it was destroyed." He replied mentally to his husband. He could definitely detect animosity.

"Considering I have a perfect memory it would be impossible to forget your existence. No matter how hard I try to forget." The last part was added mentally for Jim's benefit.

"I would assume because you are a half-breed your mental faculties would be somewhat faulty. It has been a very long time."

"Actually, it's been 11.3 years."

She looked at herself one last time before walking back out to the transporter. In this outfit the baby bulge was actually noticeable even if it was only to her. She did not start showing with Amanda until she was 13 weeks pregnant. However, with twins she was already at the point she could not fit in half of her clothing. At least this time she will actually get to buy her maternity wear in person instead of by digital catalog.

As soon as she got into the transporter, T'Pay asked her the one question she did not want to be asked. "James told me what happened. How are you handling the prospect of being a mom again?"

"I'm not. I'm not a mom. I was not even a mom the first time around. I'm not Amanda's mother. The children that I'm carrying our Jim and Spock's children, not mine. They are great dads that deserve to have another child and I'm happy to be doing this for them. Even if the circumstances were different, I'm too concerned with my career to have children." Even as she spoke the words she knew that everything she said was a lie. She was offered the opportunity to be the first officer on a newly reconstructed ship but turned it down so she could play Barbies with her niece whenever possible.

"I believed the same thing, except in my case it was true. If it were not for the fact that my species was endangered I would never considered having children." If it wasn't for her time around Spock she would not be able to pick up uneasiness in her voice. She was surprised to hear uneasiness in a Vulcan that was not Spock.

They did not speak again until they reached the restaurant. She arrived just in time to see Jim get in to a verbal sparring match with Spock's ex fiancée.

When the two-faced little bitch called her a certain Vulcan word that translates to a derogatory standard word that is used to describe women who engage in sexual relationships with gay men she had the desire to throw up on her. Unfortunately, for the first time that day "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" Decided to behave.

She quickly took a seat next to Spock on the other side. Amanda was upset because she did not sit next to her. She could not believe that Sarek was being so nice to the woman after what she did to Spock.

"How can your father be nice to that bitch after what she did to you?" She asked in a language that she knew the others did not know.

"Vulcans do not do nice." He replied in the same language.

"You know what I mean."

"I do. My father is under a misconception about why I ended my relationship with T'Pring and I choose not to enlighten him."

11.3 years earlier

He honestly wondered why he volunteered for this assignment. It was his friend and student Nyota who convinced him to do this. He was serving as the faculty adviser for a group of cadets that were participating in a cultural exchange of sorts on the planet.

Personally, he'd rather be surrounded by Vulcan eating plants then surrounded by people who felt he was inferior because of his mother or his decision not to go to the VAS. Yet for some reason, Cadet Uhura had the ability to convince him to do many things that he'd rather not do.

His mother was very happy that he was back on Vulcan even if it was only for two weeks. He has had lunch with her several times at her favorite Vulcan Earth fusion restaurant. Although Vulcans looked down on humans in general, there's much respect for some aspects of their cuisine.

She was not happy that he chose to stay at the hotel with the other cadets instead of coming home. It was hard for him to explain to her why he could not think of that place as home. It was illogical, yet he never felt comfortable in his father's house. However, comfort was a feeling that he was not supposed to have.

It was his second to last night on the planet of his birth and Cadet Uhura insisted that he take her to a restaurant away from the hotel. If wishing were not so illogical, he would have wished he chose another restaurant. They were sitting three tables away from his perspective bond mate with another man, one of the tormentors of his youth. She was running her fingers over his hand in a way that was practically obscene. His body became tense which was uncharacteristic for someone of his heritage. He felt anger even though he should not, coupled with an odd sense of betrayal.

"What's wrong?" She asked instantly picking up on something.

"It is nothing, Cadet Uhura."

"How many times do I have to tell you when we're not in the classroom it is Nyota?"

"So far, this has been your 54th attempt.

"Yet you're still not listening to me. Who is that girl over there that has you so tense?

"That is T'Pring. She is my intended." At that point, he switched into Vulcan so he could convey the right word that describes his relationship with T'Pring.

"She isn't exactly acting like someone who is engaged. If I was your intended, I wouldn't be making out by Vulcan standards with other guys in public. You deserve better than her."

"Most Vulcans do not agree with you."

"Fortunately for you I am not a Vulcan.

"It is unseemly." Spock said during their meal as he noticed the two continuing to touch in a manner that was more appropriate for the bedroom.

"You need to break up with her. Also, I think I see a baby bulge underneath those heavy robes."

"That is probably what she wants. I know that she is aware of my presence here."

"So she is putting on a show for you?"

"That scenario is highly probable considering she is engaging in behavior that is causing the other patrons extreme discomfort, if Vulcans felt such a thing as discomfort. She never wanted to be engaged to me in the first place. It was an arrangement struck between our two clans without our consent."

"I say good riddance to someone like her. If she is putting on a show then I think we should too." That's when he felt Nyota kiss him as if he were human. It was the first time he ever kissed anyone in such a way. He did not know what to think. It was pleasant, if nothing else.

26.8 minutes later after the Vulcan equivalent of screaming, T'Pring, who was in fact pregnant, agreed to dissolve their preexisting bond. He felt relieved. He should not be feeling anything.

The fact that he felt anything in relation to the entire process was why T'Pring chose to be with someone else. At least that is the message his father left him after he found out about the end of their engagement bond.

Apparently, in an effort to gain "sympathy" she told his father she broke the bond because he was carrying on with some human. He deleted the message without calling his father back. He chose not to correct his father's fallacy.