After spending about six hours with her on the way to San Francisco, Carol was ready to strangle Peace Lafayette. The woman had been chatting and smiling all the way, probably in a genuine attempt to make Carol less nervous, but never mind her good intentions, it was unnerving. They had – or rather Peace had – covered every topic from Carol's work to David's teething problems to Starfleet's current policy regarding the Romulans to Jim Kirk's unsuitability as a father.

"He's hardly more than a boy himself," Peace had said, with the sort of infuriatingly indulgent smile that made Carol want to smack her. "I will not dispute that he is an able captain, but where relationships are concerned…? Serious commitment issues. At least, when it comes to women. I think the only female entity he's committed to is his ship. He's slightly better with guys… I mean, he's great when it comes to Chris and Leonard, but they are family… then there's his somewhat strange relationship with Spock. I'm still not quite convinced they aren't secretly a couple, you know?"

Carol frowned. "What makes you say that?"

"Come on, you must have seen the hints, too." She was still smiling, damn the woman. "When I went skiing with them a couple of years ago, I was actually sleeping with Jim, but there were still moments when I felt like an intruder. At times, the tension between them was almost tangible. To be perfectly fair, though, Spock in a hot tub does make for a nice enough picture, so I can't really blame Jim…"

"I could." Carol said.

"Well, but you were seriously dating Jim," Peace pointed out. "To me it was just fun. A fling. Nothing more."

"I don't like being used as a plausible cover story," Carol replied harshly. "And I'm surprised that you don't seem to mind."

Peace cocked her head to the side. "I think our opinions on love and relationships are a bit different, though. I'm not set on being the one-and-only, forever after of the person I'm with. I don't insist on being loved passionately and monogamously. In fact, I think that love is too nice a thing to restrict by focusing it on one person exclusively and forever."

"That's a… very open-minded approach." There, she was being diplomatic, wasn't she? "Does your current crush share your views?"

Okay, so maybe that was mean. Peace's face fell, but it took her only a moment to pull the smiling mask back in place. Huh. Maybe there was more depths hidden behind that empty-minded smile than she had thought…

"No. I mean, Chris is one of the most loving, caring people I know, but he restricts the romantic form of love to a single person. He's head over heels with Leonard." The smile turned wistful. "You'll see what I mean when you meet them."

"I can hardly wait."

Somehow, Peace managed to ignore the sarcasm of that statement.

The house Peace let her to lay in a calm, residential neighborhood. Its front was covered in ivy and wines and it sported a small, well kept front yard with overflowing flower beds and a gravel path. A cat that had been dozing on the wooden porch raised its head at their arrival.

Peace rang the bell. Carol idly wondered what lay ahead of them. She could hardly see a couple of strangers welcome her and David to the family. Such things only happened in sappy comedies or soap operas, and her life certainly wasn't one of those.

The door swung open and a man appeared in its frame. He was wearing civilian clothing, but he could have been dressed up as a clown and Carol would still have recognized him as the high ranking Starfleet officer that he was. There was something in his bearing that radiated natural authority. Apart from that though, there was nothing remarkable about his appearance. He was of average height, lean and obviously in good shape, but far from stunning. His face was not unattractive, but not handsome either. Clear grey eyes, salt-and-pepper hair, and the many small lines and creases betraying his age. Then his smile broke, and suddenly, Carol could understand Peace's schoolgirl crush on Admiral Christopher Pike a bit better. It was a smile as genuine and expressive as Peace's own smiles were empty. His eyes sparkled. Laugh lines appeared around their corners and transformed his face, making him look younger and roguishly handsome.

"Admiral," Peace greeted him with mock sincerity, "I come bearing gifts." Carol watched her as she spoke, saw the hints of nervousness so carefully covered, the smile wavering slightly, the tension in her stance.

"You would have been welcome without those," he replied, "but I'm not surprised. Asking you for a small favor ultimately always leads to being presented with the entire problem solved and wrapped up nicely to be served on a silver platter."

Peace grinned, obviously happy with the compliment. "Your faithful servant."

"You're spoiling him," a second voice drawled behind Pike, "Not much longer, and he will come to expect the same sort of devotion from all of us."

As Peace broke out into gales of silvery laughter, Carol studied the man who had stepped out behind Pike and now stood beside him. She almost did a double-take. Apart from Jim Kirk, this was quite probably the hottest guy she had met in the past few years. Admittedly, hot guys were sort of scarce in her department, but Carol did go out occasionally. She could have fully understood if Peace had had a crush on this one, because, holy cow, he was simply gorgeous.

And quite obviously taken.

She watched as Pike turned to shoot him an amused look and their gazes locked for a moment. It was brief, but it was enough. This guy was lost to the world, no matter how many slobbering female (and possibly male) admirers would throw himself at him.

Peace chose that moment to perform overdue introductions. "Carol, Admiral Christopher Pike and Dr. Leonard McCoy. Chris, Leonard, Carol Marcus. And David Marcus," she added with a knowing smile.

Two sets of eyes, one grey, the other a stormy shade of blue, focused on her and David. More on David than on her, actually.

McCoy raised his brows. "Well, I'll be damned," he drawled. "You were right. He does look like Jim."

Pike ignored the comment, possibly because he thought that this was not the time for I-told-you-sos.

"I am pleased to meet you," he said, his smile a little more guarded, but still warm and friendly, "both of you."

Well, what did you reply to that…? She hadn't wanted to come. She hadn't wanted to meet them. Peace had positively dragged her here.

"I…"

"Jim is not here," McCoy informed her with a wink. "And if he turns up, I'll have Joana show you her secret passageway."

"Leonard," Pike chided mildly, before turning back to Carol with an apologetic look. "Maybe we should step inside," he suggested.

Carol felt slightly uncomfortable, almost like an intruder into their home, but now that she was here, she might as well go through with it. She didn't like to do things by halves, neither regarding her work, nor in private. And so far, neither McCoy nor Pike looked as if they held anything but a friendly interest for her and David. They were certainly not about to bite off her head.

As they stepped into the house, Pike led the way with a happily prattling Peace at his side. Carol followed and McCoy softly closed the door behind her. She could have sworn that she caught him sending Peace an odd look, something of a mixture between annoyance and amusement.

Ah. So he knew. It didn't seem to bother him very much, though, because he obviously put up with her without feeling threatened. Well, from everything she had seen so far and that Peace had told her, he had every reason to feel perfectly secure and relish the fact that he was loved and cherished beyond anything and anyone else.

The house was large, comfortably furnished and for all appearances, it looked like a place for a family to live in. It occurred to Carol that Pike at least was old enough to have a whole litter of children from one or even several earlier relationships. Peace hadn't mentioned it, though.

Pike led them through the living room and out onto a terrace that overlooked a gently sloping lawn. Nothing in the front appearance of the house had betrayed the large backyard, but it was there, spacious, well-kept and green. A hammock hung between two large trees, a second cat sat at a goldfish pond, its tail twitching excitedly as it stared into the water, and on the lawn, two girls were engaged in a badminton match, while a third was climbing the cherry tree.

At their arrival, two blond heads and a dark one turned and the match stopped as both girls came to greet them. The little girl in the tree rushed to follow them, but slipped, and her intended jump turned into an awkward scramble and ultimately, a fall.
"Ow!"
"Freya?" McCoy asked, quickly moving to her side. "Are you alright?"

"Stupid tree!" The little girl fumed, wiping tears from her eyes with one hand and holding her knee with the other.. "I hurt my knee."
"Let me see." He bent down to examine it.

"Is she okay?" The oldest girl asked.

"It's just a scab. I'll take care of it."

"Daddy, can I help?" The dark haired girl asked eagerly. "I can heal her!"
"There won't be much healing needed for this, but yes, you can, Jo." He smiled, then hoisted the squealing child up on his hip. The tears made way for a grin. "We can play hospital!" Freya said.

"Well, you've got a doctor and a nurse alright," Pike commented.

"Make that two nurses," the oldest girl said, following McCoy and the other two as they made their way back inside.
"Oh, so now you're into medicine, too, Elva?" Pike asked her, smiling. "Your Mom will be happy to hear that. She was worried you would end up in deep space."
Elva stuck out her tongue at him.

Pike chuckled to himself, before turning back to Carol and Peace.

"Your daughters?" Carol asked.

He shook his head. "Only Joana. Elva and Freya are my nieces." He waved his guests to a table on the terrace and they settled into comfortable lawn chairs.

"Joana has grown quite a bit since I last saw her," Peace commented.

"That's what little girls do," Pike replied. "Personally, I'm still surprised every time I look at my little sister and realize that she's not a child anymore but a Starfleet officer and mother of three. "

"You seem to have an all Starfleet family, Admiral." Carol noted.

"Well… now that you mention it…" He smiled. "And it's Christopher or Chris, while I'm off duty."

"Duly noted."

Pike leant back in his chair, but his eyes were still fixed on her and on David in her lap. "It's perhaps a good thing that Leonard took the girls inside," he said thoughtfully, "Joana doesn't know yet. About you and David, I mean."

"Who does, then?" Carol asked, a little sharper than she'd intended.

"Leonard and I, obviously. Jim does, too, because I judged it fair to let him know… and I wanted to have a heart-to-heart on paternal responsibilities with him. The fourth person knowing about it would be Spock."

"Because Jim told him," Carol implied acidly.

"No, actually I did. I wanted information about you, and he was the only person other than Peace that I could ask. I couldn't very well ask Jim, because at the time I suspected him of having known about David all along."

"I can assure you, he didn't. I made sure of that," Carol replied, tight-lipped.

"I understand that you're angry with him," Pike said, "and I don't know what has passed between the two of you, even though I can imagine it. I will not meddle in that. But I was nevertheless curious to meet you and your son and I think you should give David and Jim a chance to get to know each other. Every child should at least get to meet both parents. Jim never met his father, and he was affected by that… and not in a positive way, mind you."

"Is that why you adopted the brat?" Carol asked spitefully.

Peace grinned.

"It's one of the reasons. Jim spent most of his teenage years looking for a father figure. I, in turn, knew at a certain point in my life that I was never going to have a son. It was a good match. Besides, I love the brat." He smiled. "Even though I won't argue that he's a horrible nuisance."

He really made it difficult for her to keep up her hostile demeanor. His smile and tone were friendly, understanding, disarming. Carol grudgingly had to admit that she was starting to like Christopher Pike, no matter how much she resented the feeling. David appeared to share her sentiments. He had kept quiet so far, looking about him with large, curious eyes, but like most children his age, he reacted to somebody smiling at him. And his reaction just so happened to be a big, toothless grin.

Pike laughed in obvious delight and leant forward.

"Remind you of somebody?" A dry voice asked behind Carol's back. She turned her head to see that McCoy had returned and was watching his husband and the baby. "He's not two years old and he already knows how to charm people out of their wits. If I ever had any doubts about his paternity, they are gone now."

He walked to over to stand beside Pike's chair and studied the exchange between him and David, who had now gripped his hand and was studying it with all the intense curiosity of a scientist.

"I probably should have warned you," he said to Carol. "Chris has a tendency to adopt and mother everybody who crosses his path. Well, except for badass Klingons and Romulan madmen. But I swear he'll even go paternal on Spock."

"And whyever not?" Pike asked, shooting him an amused look. "Besides, you're exaggerating. As always."

McCoy huffed something that sounded too affectionate to be an insult, placed a hand on his husband's shoulder and asked: "So… what now?"

Good question, Carol thought.