After dinner the kids went outside to play in the snow and the adult sat around talking some more. Jim sat on the floor beside Spock's knees playing with David's Rubik's Cube. Then he looked up.
"Do you think you're going to have any more kids?" Jim asked Aurelan.
Aurelan laughed. "I thought about it after Peter entered school, but then Mark and Justin came along and I thought, how could I just leave them there in the foster care system when we have plenty of love to spare?"
Sam tossed a balled-up piece of paper at his brother. "What about you and Spock? You two want any more kids?"
Jim scoffed and Spock shifted uncomfortably. Jim finally shook his head. "I think David's going to be it for us. But hey, we weren't expecting David, so we're pretty lucky, right?"
Spock nodded. "Indeed, David's presence has been an honor in our lives. I have learned a great deal from the child, more than I could have expected. I see the universe in a different way now that I know him."
Jim laughed. "Yeah, he's learned things like how padds will continue working if you bury them in the backyard overnight."
"There's got to be a story behind that," Winona giggled.
Spock nodded. "The first spring David came to stay with us, Jim made a comment about burying me in paperwork. David misunderstood and instead …." He told the story from beginning to end while the other adults laughed until they cried. Spock was hard-pressed not to smile himself at the memory.
"You'll never believe this," Sam began, "but one time Peter got a hold of Aurelan's makeup bag and when we found him …." There was more laughter at the story. Spock had to ask a couple of questions to get the gist of the story but finally he seemed to brighten.
"Put on your face," he repeated slowly, comprehension dawning.
"You've got it now!" Winona exclaimed.
"It is not as illogical as I first believed," Spock replied.
"So what's next in Starfleet?" Sam asked his brother and his mate. "You staying dirtside for a while?"
Spock looked over at Jim, who smiled. "Until they allow kids on starships, I think I'll be here for a while. Even then, I'd have to convince Father over here to let David on the ship." He pointed at his husband, who raised an eyebrow at him. "I guess you're on Deneva to stay," Jim said to his brother.
"It's home," Sam explained. "Not that I don't enjoy Earth when I come back, but my immediate family is on Deneva, and that's where I'm going to stay."
"Well I miss you guys, but there are comm calls and I can still send care packages. I'm just glad you're happy, both of you. God only knows you had a rough enough childhood." Winona looked down.
"It wasn't all sunshine and puppies but it wasn't torture either, Mom," Sam began.
Winona snorted. "Your brother-in-law gave me the experience of seeing Jim's childhood through his eyes. I think I know abuse when I see it."
Sam looked over at Spock. "Wow." Then he shook his head. "Still, there were good times. Remember when Saint Andrea foaled and we got to watch?"
Jim shuddered. "That was weird. I kept thinking the foal was going to get stuck. I wanted to help somehow."
"That was the summer Jim learned about the birds and the bees," Sam recalled.
"Properly, at least," Jim admitted.
"I have a question," Spock spoke softly.
Aurelan nodded. "What is it?"
Spock blushed. "Why do humans refer to the reproductive cycle as 'the birds and the bees'?"
Jim raised his hand. "I know." He turned to face his mate. "It used to only be acceptable to explain reproduction with animals. You didn't bring humans into it. So you had the birds and the bees. It just became a euphemism and never went away."
"How did you know that?" Aurelan asked.
"I grew up on a farm, obviously. But I was curious about the saying myself and I looked it up one day. I figured David would be the first to ask, but I'm glad I knew now anyway."
"What do they call it on – " Sam paused. "I mean, what did they call it on Vulcan?"
Spock forgave the near slip. "There is not a term for the topic. It is part of the education delegated to the parents during the seventh year of the child's life. I happened to have been eight and a half when my mother let my father tell me."
"You were late in finding out?" Sam questioned.
"Eight and a half in Vulcan years. He was closer to five in human years," Jim explained.
"How old do you think David is going to be when he finds out?" Winona asked, and Jim flushed and looked down. "Oh, that was one of those questions he asked you in San Francisco?" she inferred.
Spock leaned forward. "Jim has given me the same explanation he gave David, and I found it to be age-appropriate. I would have preferred he not ask the question until he were older, however I am still more grateful he came to a parent before going to another child for the information."
"He was asking," Jim defended himself. "I told Spock and I'll say it again: I always knew when he was old enough to ask, I'd have to be ready to answer."
Jim's brother shook his head. "We've had that talk with Peter already. But get this." Sam lowered his voice dramatically. "He came to Mommy, not Daddy."
"What is wrong with approaching the mother first?" Spock began.
Winona shook her head. "With humans, usually the male child feels closest to the father and the female child feels closest to the mother. But that stereotype is breaking, slowly but surely."
"I went to Mom because I knew anything that came out of Don would be 85% bullshit," Sam told the group.
"I went to my mother because my father spent many hours in the office and we were alone most of the evening," Spock admitted.
"I was too ashamed to ask a parent," Aurelan spoke up. "I researched it on the Intergalactic Web."
Jim whistled. "How did you know you were getting the right information?"
It was Aurelan's turn to blush. "I found out years later I had a couple of key ingredients wrong."
