Replies to guest reviews with questions:

Guest 1: Yeah lol the embassy. Honestly, it was a plot device to throw the Grayson family into Iowa...I couldn't really think of a way to make it fit, otherwise. Hope the mistake wasn't too distracting, and thank you for your review!

Sapere: I can't promise to not include Uhura, I just adore her. D: If you just don't like the Spock/Uhura romance, I can say with a fair amount of certainty that there won't any romantic pairings in this fic at all (except for Sarek/Amanda.) Hope that helped :) And don't worry, Jim is always a genius, and he is very much so in this universe.

A/N: Would have had this out sooner, but it started out at 2000 words and ended up more than twice that length. Enjoy the long chapter! I hope you guys like little Jimmy. Please, as always, let me know if you see any errors. I self-edit everything, and there's always a good chance I'll miss something. Thank you for reading!

Also: I am aware of Sam's absence. It does have a purpose. It will be addressed in later chapters.

Iowa had...corn.

Lots of it.

The move had been simple enough, though tiring; Spock and Amanda had collapsed into bed the moment they arrived, exhausted from the ordeal of trekking across the galaxy to their new home.

Two days later Amanda was itching to explore the neighborhood-cornfields and all-and as Sarek seemed disinclined she dragged Spock out with her instead, bundling him into a heavy blue sweater and wool cap. She was in shorts and a T-shirt and loving the reprieve from Vulcan's stifling heat, but Spock had started to shiver the moment they'd arrived.

There wasn't much to explore. Riverside was very different from the city she'd lived in during her childhood in Canada- everything seemed to be covered in a layer of dust, and traffic moved at a sluggish, lazy pace. There was none of the calm efficiency and organization of the Vulcans; transports of all kinds weaved through the streets casually, and laughter rang from corners where humans gathered, chatting about sports and Federation politics and reality holovision.

It was very different from Shi'Kahr.

Still, it was a nice enough neighborhood. The town center had several shops and restaurants that she planned on investigating at a later date, and a fountain in the center with a large, shimmering pool surrounding the spout. To Spock's bewilderment, she picked up a small pebble from the ground and tossed it in, closing her eyes and whispering something under her breath.

"What was the purpose of your action, Mother?" he asked, staring in fascination at the ripples spreading across the surface of the pool.

She smiled, smoothing his hair affectionately. "It's an old human tradition, Spock. People used to toss coins into wells and fountains, and when Earth stopped using money, people began throwing in pebbles instead. You're supposed to make a wish, and if you don't tell anyone what it is, your wish will come true."

"That is illogical," Spock said, baffled. "Why would…?"

She pressed a pebble into his hand, and said, "Indulge me, pi-veh*."

He tossed his pebble good-naturedly, and she kissed the top of his head.

She introduced Spock to ice cream at a small food stand; he stared at in fascination for fifteen minutes until he realized it was melting all over his hand, and then tried to eat it from the cone up. He sulked for a while as Amanda giggled at him and cleaned him up, muttering about how illogical consuming such a large amount of sugar was anyway.

They began to walk, Amanda enjoying the mild air and Spock looking around in interest at the new planet. It was a beautiful day and for the first few minutes Amanda enjoyed herself immensely.

But after enduring hundreds of questions about Earth's wildlife, social customs, climate, architecture, history, and anything else Spock could think of, she guiltily began to wish she'd left the house on her own.

They eventually came to a playground, where a few children were chatting and playing. Spock immediately shifted closer to her side, and Amanda nearly tripped over the bag of a woman who was reading from a PADD on a bench. Apologizing, she wondered if she could maybe strike up a conversation-

"Mother?"

She closed her eyes. "Yes, Spock?"

"Why are the residences arranged in such an inefficient fashion in relation to the town center?"

"I'm not sure, honey."

"Why not arrange all houses equidistant from the business district?"

"I don't know, Spock."

"Why is the-"

"Spock, why don't you go explore a little?" Amanda said, exasperated. She heard a light chuckle and met the eyes of the other woman. They shared a longsuffering glance, and Amanda knew immediately that she had found a fellow parent.

Spock nodded and wandered off somewhere near the slide, although 'wandered' was probably the wrong word for it. He seemed to be walking purposely towards a spattering of wildflowers. 'Examining the flora.' Amanda rolled her eyes fondly.

"Cute ears," said the woman with a soft smile, and Amana turned to face her fully. "What race is his father? If you don't mind me asking, of course."

Amanda swallowed. "…Vulcan," she said, and waited for the shock, the unwanted pity, the low questions of 'but how does that work?' or 'can Vulcans even love?'

Instead, the woman just blinked at her. "Oh," she said, "Are you the Ambassador's wife, then? I'd heard he was moving onto the Iowa base."

Something dark and heavy lifted off her shoulders, and Amanda found herself grinning. "Yes," she said. "That's us. I'm Amanda, Amanda Grayson."

"Winona Kirk," the woman said, smiling a little distantly. Her eyes were on the playground. Suddenly she winced, stood up quickly, and said, "JIMMY! Get down from there!"

Amanda blinked and turned around, searching the playground for the troublemaker. He wasn't hard to find; a small boy with blinding blond hair, balancing precariously on top of the monkey bars, looked up at Winona's call and grinned.

"Mom," he shouted, waving, and Amanda realized almost immediately what was going to happen. "Look what I-"

And then, as his balance was thrown off by the hand he was using to wave, Jimmy's foot slipped.

Amanda was running before she even heard Winona's scream, but she wasn't going to make it, and that fall was too long for Jimmy to survive without a broken bone or God, a broken neck…

And then a blue blur appeared underneath the bars, and Jimmy's small form crashed into it with an, "Oof!" Spock, she thought, and her heart stopped, because both the boys were on the ground and they weren't moving-

Until Jimmy started giggling, and rolled off of Spock with a bright smile. Spock blinked at him, baffled, and sat up, brushing primly at the dirty streaks on his sweater.

"That was awesome!" Jimmy said. Amanda wanted to smack him. She hurried to her son's side and began to check him over, but there wasn't a scratch on him. Bless Vulcan strength, she thought fervently, and started to brush sand out of the dark hair.

"In what way was your near death experience an event inspiring awe?" Spock asked skeptically. Amanda would've liked to know herself. Jimmy just offered them a winning smile, and Amanda thought, damn it, he's too cute to be angry with.

Winona crashed to her knees beside her son with a first aid kit in hand. Amanda wondered just how common accidents like this were with Jimmy.

"You're okay," she murmured, running her hands over Jimmy's uninjured head. "You're okay, you're- how are you okay? How…how did he catch him?"

"Vulcans have three times the strength of humans," Amanda said. "Spock's been nearly as strong as me since he was five."

"Oh," said Winona faintly. "I…good, that's…God, how can I thank you?"

"There is no need for thanks," said Spock solemnly, smoothing his hair back into place. Amanda hid a smile. "I was in the position to catch him; to act otherwise would be illogical."

"Still," Winona insisted, "You saved him from a broken bone, or worse."

"Yeah!" said Jimmy brightly. Sand coated one half of his face, and his golden hair stood straight up on one side. His eyes were bright blue and shining with excitement. "You were like…like the Flash. Whooshing out of nowhere like that. It was cool."

"I…" said Spock uncertainly. "How does the temperature relate to the incident?"

Amanda sighed. "It's a figure of speech, honey," she said. Spock nodded, filing the information away. Jimmy looked at Spock curiously.

"Hey, what's your name?"

"My name is S'chn T'g-"

"Spock," said Amanda quickly, as Jimmy's eyes glazed over. "His name is Spock."

Jimmy grinned. "You're funny," he said. "Wanna play?"

Spock had a deer-in-the-headlights look, so Amanda took the initiative.

"He'd love to," she said, fairly shoving her son in Jimmy's direction. "Wouldn't you, Spock?"

"I-"

"C'mon," said Jimmy, grabbing onto Spock's arm. "Are you a new kid? I haven't seen you before."

"I have never been to Earth before. I am Vulcan."

"Cool! I'll show you the playground!"

And they were off, Jimmy dragging Spock along behind him. Spock cast a vaguely panicked look back at her, but Amanda just smiled encouragingly.

Please let this work out, she pleaded silently. Please make a friend. Please.

"Always moving," Winona muttered, and Amanda nodded sympathetically. She rose to her feet and offered the other mother a hand; taking it, Winona stood and gave her a grateful smile.

"I can't thank you enough," she said. "And I'm sorry. Jimmy's always getting into trouble, I shouldn't have gotten distracted."

"It's not a problem," Amanda assured her, feeling a little sorry for the woman. Winona had dark shadows under her eyes and several PADDs sticking out of her bag; she fairly screamed 'over-worked.' "Spock was right. He was there, and he could help. It's the Vulcan way to preserve the life and health of others when possible."

"Sounds like a pretty good philosophy,"

"The Vulcans have a lot of good philosophies," Amanda said, a little bitterly. "Unfortunately, not all of them live up to those philosophies."

She smiled understandingly. "Is that why you left?"

"Among other reasons," she said.

"Well, it's certainly lucky for Jimmy that you're here now. Hey- let me have you both over for dinner. The Ambassador too, if he can make it."

Amanda bit her lip. "I don't know," she said, and, not wanting to look rude, she quickly explained. "Spock's been having trouble with other children. We moved from Vulcan to see if he would have better luck here, but he hasn't really left the house. I don't want to overwhelm him."

"Well," said Winona, eyes moving toward the playground. She grinned. "I think you might be in luck, there." Amanda looked.

Jimmy was dragging Spock around by the sleeve, chattering incessantly in his ear: "And this is the slide, I like to go down backwards because that makes it more fun. And this is the sandbox where the boring kids play, but it's not all boring 'cause once I found a real live Andorian fire crab in there and boy, was Mom angry when I brought it home-"

And Spock was smiling.

Smiling.

Spock hadn't smiled in three years.

"Yeah," said Amanda faintly. "Yeah. Dinner sounds good."

She was barely aware of agreeing on a time and date, so entranced was she by the change that had come over her son. Jimmy was patient, keeping a firm hold on Spock's sleeve and explaining every part of the playground in extreme detail, accompanied by anecdotes about his various escapades in each location. The conversation was mostly one-sided, but Spock was nodding along earnestly, listening with wide eyes to Jimmy's highly exaggerated (she hoped) tales of adventure.

She hadn't seen Spock so drawn to another person…ever, actually. She had no idea what it was, but the fact was clear:

There was something special about Jimmy Kirk.

Sarek was on his way to San Francisco for a conference, so Amanda and Spock were on their own for dinner. Amanda showed up at the Kirk residence with Spock in tow, armed with blueberry pie and a bottle of wine. The house was about a mile outside of town, and looked old: at least a hundred years, by Amanda's guess. It was a beautiful house, but it didn't seem to be in great shape. Amanda remembered the PADDs in Amanda's bag and reasoned that there probably wasn't much time for yard work.

She rang the bell for the door, which had an old-fashioned lock and handle next to the keypad. Someone hollered, "It's open!" from inside and, shrugging, she turned the knob.

She was hit with a blast of old Earth rock music, which blared from an unidentified source at top volume. Spock's eyes went wide and he clamped his hands over his sensitive ears, stumbling back.

"Winona?" she called warily, wondering if she'd gotten the wrong house.

"JIMMY! Turn that noise off!"

The music immediately cut off, followed by a sheepish "Sorry, Mom!" Spock peeked out from where he was hiding behind her legs, rubbing at his ears. Amanda petted his hair absently and took a look around.

They were standing in narrow hallway. Immediately in front of them was a staircase that led to several rooms on the second floor, one of which seemed to have been the source of their noisy welcome. To the right was another hallway, which led to what looked like a kitchen, dining area, and living room.

After a moment, Winona poked her head out from the kitchen. "One second, I'm putting dinner in the oven."

She ducked away, and they heard several clangs and the sound of water running before she reappeared, pulling her long hair into a frizzy, messy bun.

"Sorry," she said, wiping her hands on her pants. "He just discovered our old music files, I haven't had a moment's peace since. Come in, drop your coats anywhere- I'll raise the temperature for Spock. Jimmy's upstairs-"

On cue, there was a loud bang from the stairs. Winona closed her eyes and took a deep breath; Amanda covered her grin.

"Jimmy? What did you break?"

"…Nothin'…"

"James Tiberius Kirk!"

A door opened, and a pair of blue eyes peaked out from the room at the top of the stairs. When they caught sight of Spock and Amanda, they widened, and Jimmy barreled down at breakneck speed.

"Spock! Hi!"

Spock looked like he'd been caught in a tornado. Amanda understood- Jimmy was everything quiet, reserved Vulcan children were not.

"…Hello, Jimmy," he said tentatively.

Jimmy slid to a stop in front of them, grinning, and grabbed onto Spock's arm without preamble.

"C'mon," he said, "We're gonna go play. I'll show you my books, do you like books? No other kids like books 'cause they're all stupid-heads that can't read."

Spock's eyes lit up. "I enjoy literature," he said eagerly, and Jimmy beamed.

"Cool! I got lots of old books, real books, not on PADDs. You're gonna love 'em."

And they were gone, Jimmy dashing off in his usual whirlwind of energy and Spock stumbling behind, looking a little overwhelmed.

"Jimmy didn't initially strike me as an academic," Amanda said dryly, once the shock of the boy's abrupt arrival and departure had worn off. Winona laughed.

"I get that a lot. He's a little…extreme, but he's also a little bit of a genius. Drives his teachers crazy- he's always getting into trouble at school just because he's bored."

They moved to the kitchen and chatted for a while, discussing everything from the school both Jimmy and Spock would be attending in the fall, to the rowdy neighbors from Des Moines that had set off illegal fireworks the weekend prior, and even the upcoming Riverside Talent Show that would, in Winona's words, be either "terrible, or really, really terrible."

Eventually Amanda's attention turned to the antiques lining the walls and the old-fashioned telephone system still installed in the kitchen.

"Your house is beautiful," she said, admiring the dark, genuine woodwork on the walls. "Did you restore it yourself?"

"…It was my husband's," said Winona, something in her voice changing. "His family passed it to us when…"

She'd had her suspicions, but that confirmed it. "I'm so sorry," Amanda said quietly.

Winona suddenly seemed very preoccupied with the floor tiles. She cleared her throat. "Yeah. Well, it's over. Jimmy's here; George isn't. Live in the present, right?"

"Right," said Amanda, smiling sadly. "If you-"

The timer on the oven dinged, and Winona sprang up, clearly glad for the interruption.

"I made lasagna," she said sounding a little flustered as she set the dish on the counter. "Vegetarian. Spock can eat that, right?"

"That's fine," Amanda replied carefully, keeping her voice light. "He might pick at his food a little- he's still getting used to Terran dishes."

Winona laughed, though she still wouldn't meet Amanda's eyes. "Trust me, I'm used to it. I never know if Jimmy's going to eat thirds of everything or ask for candy instead. Want to grab the boys? I'll set the table."

She took pity. "Sure."

"They'll be in his bedroom- top of the stairs, go straight."

Amanda made her way from the kitchen to the stairs, straining her ears for sounds of- well, laughter or explosions. She wasn't sure which was more likely.

It was ominously quiet, and she quickened her pace and pushed the door at the end of the hallway open a crack, eavesdropping.

"This was one of the last books they ever made from paper," Jimmy was saying. "It's about the First Contact. It's too hard for me to read right now, but I'll read it soon. Mom says I'm getting better with big words and stuff."

"Your command of grammar and vocabulary is very impressive for a human child of your age," said Spock sincerely.

"I think that was nice," Jimmy said. "It sounded like you said something nice. Anyway, First Contact was with Vulcans, right? Like you?"

Amanda decided to interrupt. She pushed the door open the rest of the way and found Jimmy and Spock sprawled next to a pile of hard-copy books. Well, Jimmy was sprawled; Spock sat primly in the meditation position, back straight as a ruler.

"I studied the First Contact in college," she offered, and Jimmy rolled over to face her, staring at her upside-down with interest. "I can tell you boys all about it over dinner. Jimmy, your mother made lasagna."

Both boys pulled almost identical faces of disgust.

"With vegetables?" Jimmy moaned, at the same time as Spock's incredulous "Lasagna? Is that some type of nourishment?"

She rolled her eyes.

"Downstairs, or no pie after."

They followed quickly after that.

Jimmy was very, very smart- it was obvious within the first five minutes of dinner. As requested, Amanda went over the basics of the First Contact with the boys, who listened attentively.

"So Zeeman Corain-" Jimmy started.

"Zefram Cochrane."

"Right. So he met the Vulcans? And Earth had never seen aliens before?"

"Yep," said Amanda, smiling. "And he made Earth a more peaceful place in the process."

"Because when we knew there were other people besides humans, stupid stuff like fighting seemed a lot less important," he said, eyes bright with something indescribable.

"Yes," she said, a little stunned at Jimmy's insight. "Yes, that's exactly right."

"I wanna be a hero, like Zefram," Jimmy said quietly, and suddenly he seemed far, far older than he was. Next to her, Winona's breath caught. "I wanna explore and learn new things and meet awesome aliens like Vulcans."

"You have met a Vulcan," Spock pointed out.

Jimmy giggled, and the spell was broken. "Not you, dummy. Different aliens. New aliens. Ones with five heads and stuff."

Spock blinked. "That would be a highly improbable evolutionary occurrence."

"…But it'd be cool."

"Yes," said Spock wearily. "I suppose by your colloquial definition of 'cool,' it would be."

"You talk funny."

"Eat your dinner, boys," Winona admonished. Jimmy stuffed a final piece of lasagna in his mouth and dropped his fork on his plate.

"I'm done," he said, through his mouthful of noodles. He swallowed, and turned to his friend. "Spock's done too, right Spock?"

"I-yes," said Spock, glancing at Jimmy's encouraging face and setting down his fork.

"Can we go?"

Winona rolled her eyes. "What do you say?"

Jimmy made a face. "May we please go?"

"…Close enough," she sighed. Jimmy beamed and pulled on Spock's sleeve.

"Come on," he said. "I'm gonna show you Peter Pan."

"Are you a teacher, Amanda?" Winona asked, as the boys scrambled down from their chairs and scurried back up to Jimmy's room. "You sounded like you've taught before."

"I used to teach at McGill University in Canada," she said. "Xenocultural studies. I met Sarek-Spock's father- at a convention."

"Love at first sight?"

She laughed. "Not so much. I'm pretty sure I called him an insufferable, cold-blooded asshole."

Winona snorted. "Is that Vulcan flirting?"

"Why, Winona," said Amanda, adopting her haughtiest expression. "Vulcans do not 'flirt,' or engage in such illogical and improper sexual advances."

"Really?" she said, brows drawing together in confusion. "How did you nab him?"

Amanda smirked, and drawled, "Let's just say I could've taught a Vulcan biology course or two."

Winona burst out laughing. "I like you."

"Mutual," Amanda said, grinning. God, she'd forgotten how fun humans could be.

"So you insulted him and he fell in love?"

"Nah. I insulted him and he insulted me, and then we fell in love. He told me he'd never met anyone so illogical in his life, and I told him to fuck off, and then all of a sudden we'd been dating for eight months and were ready to tie the knot."

"And he asked you to marry him?"

"He did. Well, he gave me a list of 'logical reasons for our union in matrimony,' and I threw it at his head and refused. Then I wrote him a different list, with just one thing on it, and showed him how to do a proposal properly: romance, candles, etc. He didn't appreciate it, but he said yes."

"That's wonderful. And you lived on Vulcan until now?"

"Yes, I lived there for eleven years. It was beautiful there, but leaving was the right decision for all of us."

"I understand," said Winona quietly, and Amanda felt a twinge of curiosity.

"What about you and Jimmy?"

Winona's face shuttered, and she gave a tight smile. "Not much to say, really. We've had some tough times, but we're bouncing back."

And that…seemed to be the end of it.

But if Amanda had learned anything from the Vulcans, it was a healthy respect for privacy. She let it drop.

They continued talking for a while, sipping wine and sharing embarrassing stories about their sons. Amanda recounted Spock's ice cream incident from earlier, and Winona dryly shared the many, many adventures had by one James T. Kirk over the short five years of his life.

"He's a magnet for trouble, and I have the feeling he always will be," she lamented. "I love him, but I wish sometimes he'd keep his nose where it belongs instead of sticking it into everything."

"Spock's the same way," said Amanda. "When he was four, he followed a le-matya back to its den- we have no idea how he got out of there alive. Turns out he just wanted to 'observe their natural state.'"

"Budding scientist?"

Amanda rolled her eyes. "God help me."

An hour later, Amanda remembered the pie. "Spock has a special weakness for blueberries," she said. "We discovered it when he went through his 'I won't eat anything' stage- I used to have them imported from Earth on special occasions."

Winona grinned. "Well Jimmy will eat anything with sugar-as if he needs it. Boys! Come get desert!"

While they were eating, Spock and Jimmy sat at the corner of the table, seemingly having an in-depth discussion. Amanda listened in.

"I'm telling you, if Peter sprinkles you with fairy dust, you can fly to Neverland!"

"That violates several physical laws of nature," said Spock, looking genuinely puzzled. "A humanoid would not be able to fly without the assistance of a technological device."

Jimmy rolled his eyes. "It's magic, Spock. Like in fairy tales."

"I have not read any such tales."

And so on. Amanda exchanged an amused glance with Winona, who was shaking with suppressed laughter. Their boys made quite the pair.

After desert Amanda and Winona worked together on cleaning up the table while Spock and Jimmy continued to talk. After a while, the conversation dwindled, and Amanda peeked from the kitchen to find Jimmy fast asleep in his chair and Spock toying with the edge of the tablecloth, eyes drifting slowly shut.

"I guess that's our cue to get going," she said with laugh. Winona peeked out behind her and smiled warmly. Jimmy jerked awake and Spock looked up, actually looking a little disappointed. "Spock, honey, grab your coat."

Spock nodded sleepily and crawled down from his chair, wandering towards the front hall.

"Thank you for dinner, Win, it was wonderful-"

"Wait!"

Jimmy shot out of his chair, raced up the stairs and vanished; Winona and Amanda exchanged bemused looks. After a moment, he reappeared, walking much slower and carrying something in his arms.

It was a book, leather-bound and gorgeous, with gold letting scrolled along the spine: The Hobbit.

"This one's my favorite," said Jimmy shyly. "It's got swords and trolls and dwarves and goblins and elves- ha, I think you'll like the elves - and Bilbo is little, like us, but he's the hero. It was kinda hard to read, but you're real smart, so you won't have problems with the bigger words."

Jimmy held it out, and Spock's eyes widened. He reached out, and Jimmy placed it carefully in his hands.

"I want you to borrow it and read it so we can fight Smaug next time you come over. I know you'll be careful 'cause you like books a lot, like me." Jimmy bit his lip. "You'll read it, right?"

"It sounds fascinating," said Spock, touching the cover reverently. "Thank you, Jimmy. I will read it as quickly as I can."

"Good," said Jimmy, smiling brightly. "We'll beat Smaug and get the treasure!"

"Who is Smaug?"

"He's a big mean dragon! ROAR!"

"Fighting him seems highly dangerous," said Spock, looking a little alarmed. "Would it not be more logical to leave combat to those more qualified?"

"Yeah, probably," said Jimmy, with a mischievous smile. "But fighting him ourselves is more fun. I never got to before, 'cause I never had a fighting partner before."

"I will stand with you in battle," said Spock solemnly, and Jimmy laughed.

"Good," he said. "And you're strong, so we'll beat that dragon no problem. WHOOSH!"

He mimed stabbing with an invisible sword, and Amanda couldn't help her giggle.

"Am I crying?" she asked faintly as she and Winona watched the exchange.

"No," she whispered back, "But I'm pretty sure I am."

She was, Amanda saw, and that made her tear up as well. Jimmy continued swishing with an imaginary sword, and Spock was smiling again, Vulcan control forgotten as he watched his new friend.

"Jimmy's never fit in around here," Winona said. "He's too smart, too different. He's never really been able to make friends."

"I know how that is," Amanda replied, remembering Spock's sullen silence and bloody lips after bad days at school.

"And he never shares his books," Winona continued softly. "They were his father's."

Amanda glanced at her sharply. "Is…is that a problem?"

"No," she said quickly. "I know he'll be careful, and they're Jimmy's books now anyway. Besides…I feel like this could be a really good thing, don't you?"

"Yes," Amanda said, watching as Jimmy demonstrated proper sword–fighting technique to a baffled Spock. She smiled.

"Yes, I think it could be."

Later, as they were driving home, Spock suddenly jerked awake from where he'd been drifting off against the window.

"Is something wrong, honey?" Amanda asked, concerned.

"No, Mother," he said, sounding baffled. "Only I have come to an improbable conclusion."

She frowned. "What conclusion is that?"

"It seems that your ancient Earth traditions do have some merit," he said, and it took her a moment to realize that he was talking about the pebble he'd thrown into the fountain.

"Really?" she asked, surprised. "Why do you think that?"

Spock was quiet for a moment. When she glanced at him, she realized he was gently running his finger along the spine of the book Jimmy had given him, wonder and delight softening his features.

"I believe," Spock said softly, "That my wish came true."

Coming up: Winona and Amanda decide to take a break from their exhausting children, but they need a babysitter. Luckily, Winona knows a certain doctor's son who is up for the job…

*Pi-veh: Literally, "little one"