"Zero-one-zero-one-zero-zero-one-zero zero-one-one-zero-zero-one-zero-one zero-one-one-zero-one-one-zero-zero zero-one-one-zero-zero-zero-zero-one zero-one-one-one-one-zero-zero-zero," Jaime said really fast to man across the table.

"Easier said than done," Spock replied. He was on edge and he needed to calm down if he was gonna get through Thanksgiving with the group of family and friends.

"Zero-one-zero-one-zero-one-zero-zero zero-one-one-one-zero-zero-one-zero zero-one-one-one-one-zero-zero-one," Jaime smiled.

"I will endeavor to," her friend said with a small smile.

"Wait. You understood that?" Gaila asked. "It was just a bunch of numbers."

"Ones and zeros, actually, babe," Sam said.

"She said something in ones and zeros. How is that possible?" the redhead asked.

"Binary," Jaime, her mother, Spock, Sam, Scotty and Pavel all said at the same time. Gaila, John, Bones and everyone else at the table looked at them.

"It's a digital language," Nyota said, looking between Jaime and Spock. "One I haven't mastered."

"That doesn't explain what it is," Sara said.

"In mathematics and digital electronics, a binary number is a character expressed in the binary numeral system or base-two numeral system which represents numeric values using two different symbols: usually zero and one. The binary system is used internally by nearly all modern computers and computer-based devices. Each digit is referred to as a bit," Spock told the group, glancing at John's mother when he did.

"Each series of ones and zeros is a character and a string of characters could be anything from a section of code to a word," Pavel said.

"I wasn't listening to her but I counted four distinct pauses in her speech pattern in the first word and two pauses in the second, so it was a five letter word and a three letter word," her mother said with a smile.

"Show off," Sam smiled at their mother.

"Your sister's the one talking in binary," their mom pointed out.

"Relax and try," Scotty added. "That's what the lass said, 'Relax' and 'Try'."

"Why would you tell Spock to relax and to try?" her grandad asked.

"Because Spock doesn't do well in social situations," Bones offered from the seat on her right. "He can get overwhelmingly frustrated at us normal people."

"That's not it," John said from her other side. "Jaime was telling him to relax but it was about something specific. The 'try' was just a reinforcement and insignificant." Everyone, but especially his father, looked at John. "Anthropology is all about the study of humans. Understanding people is what I do and I understand Jim better than she thinks. She was telling him to relax because there's something going on that the rest of us aren't privy to."

"Well, she did take a bullet for him," Jaime's dad offered. "It's not odd for people to form bonds through life and death situations."

"That's not it," John said. "Wanna tell us what's going on, darling?"

"Nothing to do with me," Jaime said with a shrug. She looked at Spock, "You should just do it now. You'll feel better afterwards."

"Very well. If you would be so kind, my friend," Spock said before he took a deep breath and rose from his seat, reaching his hand over to Jaime. She reached into her pocket and handed him the jewelry box he asked her to hold on to back in August. Ny spent so much time at his apartment that he asked Jaime to keep it safe and out of sight.

"Oh, my God," Gaila said as Spock knelt next to Nyota.

"Yes," Ny said.

"He didn't ask you anything yet," Grandpa Charlie whispered from his seat on Ny's other side.

"Oh, right," the linguist said, earning chuckles from the whole group.

"Nyota, will you marry me?" Spock asked. He ran a bunch of stuff by Jaime as to what he should say but he decided to keep it simple and to the point.

"Yes," Ny repeated. Spock slid the ring on her finger and gave her a kiss.

"I knew it," Gaila smiled as she went to hug their friends.

Bones nudged Jaime, "Told you."


"As much as I hate to admit it, I'm exhausted," Jaime said with a yawn. "So, forgive me but I'm gonna go to bed."

"No need to apologize, kiddo," her dad said.

"Just weird… going to bed before grandpa," she smiled as the man in question tossed a throw pillow at her. "I'm kidding."

"Well, as your doctor, I fully support you getting some rest. I better get the little one home anyway," Bones said before he gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Love ya, Jim."

"Love you too, Bonesy," Jaime said as little arms wrapped around her legs. "What do you think you're doing, Miss McCoy?"

"Keeping you," the girl smiled.

"I'm just going to bed. Aunt Jimmy's tired," Jaime admitted.

"I'll see you tomorrow, right?" Joanna asked.

"Of course you will. I need my Lego assistant. Besides, someone's gotta eat all the leftover pie. Do you know somebody who could do that?" Jaime smiled as Joanna pointed at herself. "That's right. Love you, Mini-Bones."

"Love you too, Aunt Jimmy," Joanna smiled before letting her go. Jaime quickly found herself in another goodbye hug, this one with the wiz-kid. It went around like that, hugs and goodbyes, until everyone but the Kirk-Pikes, the Harrisons and Gaila was left.

"Okay, second time's a charm. I'm going to bed. Have fun… but not too much fun," she yawned before heading up to her room. Jaime flopped onto her bed and let out a wince.

"You're stubborn," John said a minute later, shutting the door to her bedroom behind him.

"You just now noticed that?" Jaime mumbled against her comforter.

"No. You've been in pain for hours, you tried to hide it but I noticed. Pretty sure that your dad, Leonard, Sam and Spock noticed as well. Your body is healing itself, darling, and that's going to take a while. This is certainly not the time for you to solider through," he sighed as he pulled her shoes off. "How bad is your migraine?"

"How could you possibly know that?"

"You were rubbing your neck, clinching your jaw and avoiding the light," John said quietly as he undressed her, without her participation, more or less. She was tempted to ask if he watched everyone that closely but she already knew the answer to that.

"You got that from Bones," she chuckled.

"Actually, I didn't. Bed."

"Sir. Yes, sir."

"Smartass."

"Takes one to know one. And it's not a full migraine. Not yet, anyway."

"Here, take this," he said as he handed her a pill and glass of water. "It's just an over the counter medication for your migraine. Leonard said it would be alright."

"I hate these things," Jaime sighed before she took the pill.

"I know," he took the glass and sat it on the nightstand. "I've been warned."

"By who?"

"Everybody."

"You coming to bed or are you going back downstairs?"

"With all the parents? I'm getting a migraine just thinking about it," John chuckled as he pulled his clothes off and got into bed with her.

"Are they bonding? Swapping baby stories about us?"

"I think so. George and Gaila went to bed though."

"Thank God for small favors. Heaven knows what my brother will say."

"He knows more about you than your parents?" he asked.

She smiled, "Most siblings do."


"Mister Harrison, we weren't expecting you," the man said to Richard when he, John and Jaime walked into the –tiny and temporary- Harrison Shipping San Francisco office.

"That was the point," Richard said. "Where are we?"

"As I said over the phone…" the man stared but John shook his head.

"Mister Harrison doesn't like excuses," John stated as he picked up some paperwork off the desk. "Where are we?"

"I'm sorry, who are you?" the man asked.

"I'm your boss, that's all you need to know at this juncture," John said smoothly. 'Not suited for business, my ass,' Jaime thought to herself.

Given everything that happened in the last month, it was good to be doing something. Bones still wants her to take it easy for a few more weeks but he did give her the all clear to join the Harrison men on their trip to check out how the company was doing.

"He's such an idiot," someone muttered from behind Jaime.

"Who?" she asked.

"Jack Harper. The guy their talking to. He has us behind and he doesn't seem concerned since Mister Harrison lives in England," the new guy told her.

"He's gonna regret that. Richard doesn't like mediocrity and John lives here," Jaime said with a smile.

"Another one? The guy behind the desk over there is John Stiles and I'm John Kyle," the man offered at hand. "Everyone just calls me Kyle."

"Jaime Kirk." She reached over and shook his hand. "So, where are we really?"

"Waiting on the equipment to ship in. Some of it is in the storage facility until we get the berthing info for our ships but we should've gotten that already. Harper's twiddling his thumbs," Kyle said.

"Richard isn't going to like that," Jaime sighed. As if on cue, Richard's face contorted. "Oh, shit."

"You been with Harrison Shipping long?" Kyle asked.

"At it's core, Harrison Shipping is a family business and she's family," John said as he walked over. "My father's going to fire that idiot and if he doesn't, I will."

"Fun times," she chuckled before she introduced the two men. Jaime watched Richard over John's shoulder. "Papa Harrison doesn't look happy."

"He's not. Harper is wasting money," John sighed.

"And I know how your dad is about money," Jaime smirked. "You need me to do anything?"

"Yea, can you look though the equipment invoices and at the pier forms?" John asked.

She nodded, "Am I looking for anything specific?"

"No, I just don't trust that idiot's numbers," John said.

"Consider it done," Jaime smiled.

"Use Harper's office, he's not going to have it much longer," John told her.

"Anything else, Mister Harrison?" she asked playfully.

"That'll be all for now, Miss Kirk," John said with a wink. "Nice you meet you, Mister Kyle."

"Sir," Kyle said as John walked back over to his father. "That's the new boss."

"He's tough but fair. You'll like him," Jaime said.

"You're close?" Kyle asked.

"Very."


AN: Kyle, Harper and Stiles are Enterprise crew members. Kyle is the transporter tech in both TOS and the reboot. Harper is an ops officer and Stiles is a navigator.