"I am so sorry, babe, it completely slipped my mind. Are you okay?" He reached toward his mate.
Spock shied away from the touch but nodded. "I will be well, Jim. Do not worry unnecessarily."
When they were almost to the city limits, David poked his head forward. "So what's the big secret?"
"Hmmwha?" Jim had almost forgotten. "Oh, secret, secret," he repeated. He looked over to Spock. You're okay with me telling him? he asked.
It will not concern me, Spock replied calmly.
Jim glanced in the rear-view. "Okay, you know how when humans drink alcohol they get drunk?"
David nodded. "But not right away," he reminded his dad.
"True. Not right away. Well, there's a chemical in chocolate that does the same thing to Vulcans." Jim looked over at his mate.
David looked at the shopping bag full of chocolates uncertainly. "So he can't have it at all?"
Jim shook his head. "He can have it. Same way as I can drink. Same difference."
"But you don't drink anymore," David pointed out to his dad.
"And he doesn't eat chocolate. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should." Jim laughed softly. "Parental zinger for the day," he commented to his husband.
They pulled up at the barnyard and David got out with the bag and one gallon of milk. Jim took the milk from him and shooed him inside. The two men carried the milk in themselves and found Winona standing in the kitchen with a huge bowl and mixing spoon.
"Oh, right on time, gentlemen, bring one of those over here." Winona gestured to the counter and set the bowl down.
"What are you up to, Mom?" Jim asked as he did what he was told.
"When's the last time you had cookies fresh out of the oven, not replicated?" Winona asked in sing-song.
David poked his head in the kitchen. "What kind of cookies?" he asked seriously.
"Chocolate chip and sugar cookies," Winona supplied. "Why?"
"Because there's entirely too much chocolate around this house," David groused. He headed back up the stairs to his room.
"Too much chocolate?" Winona echoed in confusion. "Jim, what is your boy going on about?"
Jim sighed and Spock walked in to the kitchen. "Your son informed his son about the effects of chocolate on a Vulcan." He put the other gallon of milk in the refrigerator.
"Mmm-hmm. And speaking of which?" Winona asked pointedly. Her son-in-law was acting rather peculiar at the moment.
"No, Mom, he's just kinda frazzled from being around a bunch of touchy-feely people. Let him meditate and he'll be fine. Hon, you want to go do that?" Jim asked.
"Very well." Spock went up the stairs and Jim collapsed in a chair at the kitchen table.
Jim sat watching his mom as she stirred the ingredients to perfect consistency. She had insisted when he was a boy that cookies mixed by hand were made with love. It had been a long time since he had eaten homemade cookies.
"You told David about Spock and the chocolate cupcakes?" Winona finally inquired crossly.
Jim sat up immediately. "No. God no. I haven't even told Bones about that one. First off, it's cruel and I would never, ever, humiliate my husband like that. And second, he'd kill me if I did." He leaned back again. "No, I just explained the similarity between chocolate and alcohol when it comes to Vulcans."
Winona went back to beating the cookie mixture. "Well I'd rather he hear it from a reputable source than one of his little schoolmates. Do you know what they told him about Vulcans?" she demanded.
"There's no telling. What?" Jim covered his face with his hand.
"That when a Vulcan dies his bondmate dies at the same time." Winona snorted. "I told him that was a bunch of rubbish but he wanted to ask you. I even told him Sarek was still alive after Amanda."
"Y-e-e-a-a-h," Jim drawled slowly. "We've had that little tete-a-tete. It was one of the myriad of questions the little man dropped on me in San Fran."
Winona spooned the dough onto the cookie sheet. "Do you remember when you asked me The Big Question?"
Jim rocked his chair back on its back legs. "Mom, I asked you second."
"What?" Winona put the cookies in the oven and turned to face her son. "Who did you ask before me? Because you had a great many of the facts wrong, if I recall."
Jim laughed. "I asked your second husband, who was kind enough to give me his version of the story between beers."
Winona rinsed out the mixing bowl and washed the spoons for the next batch of cookies. "Well," she admitted, "I guess I earned that. How old were you when you asked him?"
"Six." Jim went silent for a long moment. Ten peaceful minutes passed, then Jim looked up again. "Hey, Mom," he began hesitantly. "Where is the old goat now?"
Winona leaned against the counter and closed her eyes. "Jimmy, I haven't seen or heard from Don since he walked out the door. And quite honestly I'm glad. Lord help me, after Spock's trial I thought about looking him up and giving him a piece of my mind. I couldn't believe he would do those things to two small boys."
"Sometimes I think you still don't believe me," Jim muttered.
"I can assist in that effort," came a deep voice, and Spock walked in the kitchen. "May I?" he asked his mother-in-law. He raised his hand to the side of her face.
"Oh. Um, okay," she relented. He touched his fingers to her face and she sucked in a breath. Then they went still. Over the four minute period of time they were in contact, Winona's face went from slack to angry to horrified. Big tears built in her eyes and spilled down her face. Then Spock released her and stepped away.
"He – that's – Jimmy!" Winona exclaimed in disgust. She looked between the men. "Spock, you mean to tell me that's from Jimmy's mind?"
"Yes. Those are the experiences he faced, and that is his view of the 'incidents' you refused to believe happened." Spock's voice was gravely. He stood protectively behind his mate; Jim reached up and Spock took his hand without even blinking.
Winona turned around and pulled out the cookies, setting them aside to cool. Then she began mixing the ingredients for the sugar cookies. She wouldn't make eye contact with either man. "Jim," she began harshly, "you should have told someone. I didn't love him that much. Not more than you and Sammy."
"Mom, you said he was the first man you loved after Dad. You married him. What were Sam and I supposed to think?" Jim squeezed his husband's hand.
Winona jabbed at the cookie mix violently. "You weren't supposed to think he meant more to me than you. If I had known …." She trailed off and wiped at her drying tears.
"Mom, we we all wrong, okay?" Jim got up and wrapped his arms around his mother. "I just needed you to believe me. I know I was a little shit most of the time but I would have never lied about something that big."
Spock turned around at the sound of footsteps on the stairs. "Jim," he began.
David walked in the kitchen. "What's wrong? Why is Gramma crying?"
Jim let go and approached his son, who flinched away. "It's okay. We were talking about someone who hurt us a long time ago, but he's not here anymore. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make Gramma cry." He knelt down in front of the boy.
"You're talking about Don?" David guessed bravely.
Spock turned to his stepson. "How are you aware of Mr. Barnett?"
David shrugged. "I've heard Dad mention him before. He sounds like he was really mean."
"He was. But it's all in the past now," Jim tried to smooth over. "Gramma's got all of us around and when there's this much love in a house something good is bound to happen." He stood up and hugged his partner, who froze at the contact. "Love love love," Jim cooed.