A/N: Thank you to Bookdragon01 for managing to beta this chapter while reconstructing her own work. I'm not sure how you did it so fast so thank you. I'm still plugging away at the courtroom testemony. So please be patient, my muse is being erratic at the moment for several characters.

Thank you to everyone who's reviewed or even just read this I really appreciate your reviews and that you're enjoying the story enought to keep coming back for the next chapter whether you leave a review or not.

take care

Dinner preparations started just after 3:00 that afternoon. Christine quickly rounded up and drafted McCoy, Joanna and Winona to help get things started. Once the major prep work was mostly finished, and the cooking started, several of the others started to drift in, drawn by the smells to talk and watch what was going on.

"Damnit Chris, there's no way in hell I'm lettin' ya put that much damned cayenne in anythin' let alone the jambalaya," McCoy's irate voice interrupted the pleasant buzz of conversation.

"I'm not putting all of it in, you jack ass," Christine shot back glaring daggers at him. "This was the only measurin' spoon I could find, so I'm gonna have to eyeball one and a half teaspoons, Leo."

"What did ya expect me to think when I see you with the tablespoon clear full and holdin' it over the pot?" McCoy shot back though his tone was more normal. "I'm no mind reader Chris, and it looked like it was all goin' in."

"Are they always like this?" Winona whispered to Uhura.

"Off duty a little bit, but you'll have to ask Jim about what goes on in the Medbay. He's in there more than I am," Uhura replied softly, grinning at her friends' antics.

"Oh yes they go at it, Mom. Why do you think I pop in so much when there's nothing else going on and I need a break from paperwork?" Jim replied from where he'd been eves dropping on the knitting vs crocheting debate between his mom and Uhura, smirking at the pair still glaring at each other. "It's better than some of the vids in the rec rooms sometimes."

"Glad you think so, Jim. Now that I know why you're always takin' up space I'll be sure to toss you out on your ass next time you come in without some injury," McCoy deadpanned with a semi mock glare at Jim. "And I don't want you getting' hurt on purpose just so you can show up either."

"Come on, Bones, that's not why I drop in and you know it," Jim said trying to look hurt, but the laughter in his eyes gave him away.

"If you're done, Leo? Can I get back to cookin' or do you want to chew on me some more?" Christine asked sweetly, sending McCoy a slightly disgusted look.

"Sorry, Chris, I'll leave ya to it," he replied turning back to the last of the vegetables on his cutting board. "Just let me know when you need these, alright?"

"Don't worry I will." Christine replied with a smirk as she carefully tipped cayenne into both pots.

Martin ended up filling in for Spock as taste tester, because Spock was deep enough in meditation that Uhura didn't want to disturb him until it was time to eat.

Everyone had at least seconds that night and after a communal clean up they separated again to kill time until bed.

McCoy, Joanna, and Spock headed again for the library. Once they were settled again on the couch, Spock picked up a small foot stool and moved it so he could sit facing Joanna. "It will not affect the meld for you two to be in contact with each other; in fact it might be best if you were as it will give you, Joanna an anchor other than myself if you need it, though your father will not be a part of the meld," Spock explained as he got settled on the footstool, and was relieved when Joanna snuggled up against her father's side. "Doctor I will appear to be meditating, I know that you have seen me in that state several times while in your care; Joanna will appear to be asleep, any reactions that she displays will be as if she were dreaming; at least that is the way my father described the appearance of a human participating in a mind meld. I only rarely saw him meld with my mother while I was a child. I asked him before we left San Francisco as I wished to verify what I remembered from that time."

"Alright I'll trust you and your father to know what you're talking about," McCoy grumbled as Joanna got settled and gripped his hand.

"You will be aware of my presence but I will be shielding my mind from yours, so you will feel very little, if any of my thoughts. Relax Joanna, nothing will harm you, you are completely safe," Spock gently placed his fingers on the psi points on her face, quickly bringing up his own mental shields as strongly as possible. "Your mind to my mind," he murmured looking into her eyes as he slowly initiated the meld.

Even using the afternoon to meditate and reinforce his mental shields, Spock was still almost overwhelmed by the sheer chaos of her mind, the strongest emotions he could feel were a tangled mix of curiosity, fear and surprise. He carefully took a moment to reorient himself since there was no chance of her mind being able to do any serious harm to his. 'You are safe Joanna relax,' he sent the thought to her. Slowly the chaotic barrage subsided and he could discern individual thoughts and emotions. Spock 'looked' around at the familiar kaleidoscope of color, muted sound, and emotion that was the human mind searching for the root of Joanna's fear.

Her nightmares stood out vividly against the shifting background of her memories and thoughts, making them easy for him to follow. As he carefully moved through her mind, following the 'trail' of nightmares, a flash from a phaser in one of them caught his eye. It took a moment to figure out that what he was seeing was from Joanna's perspective as she was being pulled backwards down a familiar corridor. It was the main one outside the Medbay, only now littered with bodies and shrouded in smoke. After a quick look he identified the bodies of the command crew, including his own, as well as the senior crew, the last bodies were the Captain, Nurse Chapel and the Doctor. 'See you should've kept your mouth shut' a voice declared as the nightmare ended abruptly.

A quick 'glance' at the other nightmares confirmed that several of them were similar scenarios always ending with the threat against talking; while the others concerned mostly Victor. Now Spock was getting worried; it seemed that someone had managed to threaten Joanna, and if the increase in her nightmares was an indicator it had happened within the last 89.56 hours. How that had been accomplished was something that would have to be investigated at a later time, now he had to locate the initial threat and convince Joanna to allow him into that memory, or at least disclose the method and or location of the communication so that he could discover it for himself if her fear proved too great at the moment. Spock realized that there was a strong probability that he would need several melds with Joanna to help her overcome her terror of both being in Atlanta and whatever threat had been made against her and the Enterprise.

Following the trail of her nightmares, Spock found at least part of what he was looking for, a nasty tangle of terror surrounding one memory. 'Joanna, there is nothing to fear, let me see what's in there,' he requested gently.

The only response was a contracting of the memory.

'Joanna, it will be easier to protect you and the ship if we know what to watch for.'

This time Joanna's response was a zipper.

It took Spock a moment to remember what that human symbol meant: that the one making it would not tell. 'If you cannot tell me, will you at least give a clue to allow me to locate the information on my own? If I find it, then you have not told me therefore the stricture that was placed on you against talking will not have been broken,' Spock suggested, hoping that she'd give him that much information. Spock decided to let her have time to think about that as he moved on to the matter of her original nightmares.

McCoy was getting antsy; it had been almost fifteen minutes since Spock had started the meld with Joanna. Both had looked like they were sleeping for the first ten minutes or so then Joanna had gone stiff with tension, while Spock's only change was a steady lowering of his eyebrows. Now every so often she'd twitch and her grip on his hand was getting tighter the longer the meld went on. 'Damnit, I should have told the hobgoblin to forget it or made Jo wait till tomorrow,' he thought darkly as Joanna's arm twitched violently. 'At least I should have found out what to do to bring them out of this damn hocus pocus of his.'

A minute later Joanna relaxed as Spock sighed, opened his eyes, slowly removed his hand from her face, and closed his eyes again as a slight tremor shook him as he tried to bring his emotions back under control.

McCoy quickly checked his daughter's pulse and breathing, then looked over at Spock. He was shocked to see that Spock's head was bowed and his hands were white knuckled fists. If it had been Jim sitting there McCoy would have said he was trying to keep his temper but with Spock he wasn't so sure.

"Spock?" he said softly trying to figure out what was wrong, Joanna was sleeping, and McCoy figured out there was a reason for it; most likely Spock had something to do with it and he wanted to know what. But McCoy wasn't quite ready for the fury in Spock's eyes when he looked up.

Before he could react, Spock's left hand had closed tightly around his right wrist and his face was inches from McCoy's. The fury he could feel coming off the Vulcan held him immobile long enough for Spock to grate out, "When she awakens send for me, find her green PADD, but do not say anything around it". By the time McCoy recovered from the shock of both the contact and the rage burning in Spock's eyes making them appear black instead of their normal dark brown, Spock was gone.

"That green blooded bastard," McCoy muttered in frustration gently shifting Joanna, laying her down on the couch. As he was covering her up with a throw, Uhura burst in.

"Len, wha-?" she started but stopped seeing Joanna asleep and the anger on the doctor's face as he crossed the room towards her. "What's wrong Len?" she asked again softer when he joined her.

"That goddamned green blooded hobgoblin you're engaged to is what the hell's wrong Nyota," McCoy snarled then glanced back at Joanna to make sure she was still asleep.

"What happened?" Uhura demanded, knowing that her friend needed to blow off steam but that they might not have time to go through his list of epithets at the moment.

"He somehow put Jo to sleep before he ended the meld then turned around lookin' like he was gonna kill me right then, grabbed me, snapped out some damned orders, and stormed out!" he explained heatedly.

"What did he say?" the urgency in her voice stopping any further ranting.

"To get him when Jo wakes up and to find her green PADD but not to say anythin' around it," McCoy replied absentmindedly rubbing his wrist where Spock had grabbed him. "And he was more pissed than I've ever seen him, including when he tried to strangle Jim," he added. "How'd you know somethin' was wrong anyhow?"

"I could feel it," she replied looking slightly embarrassed. "It's part of the bonding. I can feel if he's alright and a bit about his emotional state. He can feel the same from me though it's a lot fainter since I'm not a telepath. After the ceremony the connection will get stronger and we'll be able to tell more about where the other is and what we're feeling," she quickly explained.

"Is he alright?" McCoy asked starting to get concerned about Spock himself.

"Yes, from what I can tell; he probably left so that he wouldn't hurt anyone with his anger before he could get it under control again. Also so no one else would see his loss of control," Uhura replied after a moment's thought.

"Alright, any idea why the hell he had to scare me like that?" he growled still upset by the whole thing.

"Most likely something his learned from Joanna upset him enough that he was reacting as a human rather than a Vulcan. He couldn't hide his anger and probably gambled that seeing it would keep you from asking questions, because he would be trying to get away so he could regain control in private," Uhura explained slowly, thinking her way though Spock's actions. "Do you want me to go find the PADD or stay with Joanna while you do it?"

"If you want you can go get it, it should be in our room, probably in her backpack. I really don't want to leave Jo till I know she's ok," McCoy replied. Then hurried to add as he saw the outrage flicker to life in Uhura's eyes; "I know he wouldn't hurt her, but havin' him lookin' through her memories of those nightmares won't have been easy on her. If you see Jim can ya tell him what happened?"

Uhura nodded, relieved that McCoy was calming down. "I'll let him know and then go find Spock. She'll be fine Len, I'll be right back," she replied quietly leaving the room.

McCoy went back to sitting beside Joanna and trying to calm his own temper at Spock's actions, now that he had at least a reason behind them. But the memory of the pure fury in those almost black eyes made him shudder.

Uhura was back in five minutes with the PADD. After seeing that Joanna was still sleeping peacefully, she left to try and find Spock. McCoy glared at the PADD for a few minutes wondering if whatever was on there was what set Spock off or if there was something else.

"Uhura to Kirk," Uhura said into her communicator as she headed for the front door.

"Kirk here. What's up?" Jim replied a moment later.

"Len asked me to let you know that Spock found something and stormed out of the house after his meld with Joanna," Uhura said as she reached the door and stepped outside.

"Do you have any idea what he found and if he's ok?" Jim asked worried about all three of them now.

"Not specifically but whatever he found upset him enough that he almost lost control. It's serious Jim; I felt his reaction clearly and from what I can tell it's at least as bad as his reaction two years ago. Before he left he told Len to get him when Joanna wakes up and to find her green PADD. I got the PADD for Len because he didn't want to leave Joanna. For some reason we aren't supposed to talk around the PADD, my guess is something he found out led him to believe it could be bugged," she explained looking around the yard trying to figure out where Spock might have gone. "I'm looking for Spock right now; he most likely went to find a quiet place to meditate until he's back in control."

"Thanks Uhura, Mom and I'll go check on them right now. Let me know how Spock is when you find him," Jim told her.

"I will, Jim. Uhura out," she closed her communicator, and headed for the garage, since that was the closest place of solitude she could see.

Jim knocked softly on the library door before opening it. Bones looked up at him and Winona from the chair beside Joanna relieved that they'd showed up before he did something about that PADD.

As they entered he pointed at the PADD on the table. Jim nodded and carefully picked it up keeping his thumb over the camera lens. It only took a moment to find the mic pick up, and the stylus. There was a sharp 'crack' as he shoved the stylus into the mic as hard as he dared and gave it a couple twists and wiggles, before doing the same to the camera, leaving the stylus deeply embedded in the lens.

"How you holdin up, Bones?" Jim asked, gently clapping him on the shoulder as he set the PADD back on the table.

"Are ya sure you want me to answer that right now, Jim?" Bones answered as Winona hugged him.

"She'll be fine, Leonard, you'll see," she assured him as she stepped back.

"I hope so, Winona," McCoy replied as Jim gently brushed some hair out of Joanna's face.

"Will you tell us what happened?" Winona asked as she settled on the footstool Spock had used and Jim took the floor leaning back against the couch by Joanna's knees.

McCoy filled them in on the events of the last half hour, surprising Winona with the description of Spock's reaction.

"Sounds familiar, Bones," Jim said nodding. "It spooked me a bit when he was looking at me like that too. JoJo and Mom were the main reasons I managed to keep going with my insults. Well them and revenge for everything."

"I know, Jim. It's the damn not knowing what that hobgoblin found out that's killin' me right now," Bones replied testily.

"We'll get our answers soon enough, Leonard," Winona reminded him with an understanding smile.

Before he could reply Joanna murmured in her sleep and shifted, bumping Jim in the shoulder with her knee. That slight contact seemed to wake her up and a few moments later her eyes opened.

"Daddy?" she murmured sitting up, as Jim stood so her Dad could sit on the edge of the couch.

"Right here, Darlin'. Are you alright?" McCoy asked worriedly.

"I think so, Daddy, though I had the weirdest dream after Mr. Spock left my head," Joanna replied rubbing her eyes and seeing the others. "Hi Uncle Jim, Nana," she smiled at them.

"Hey JoJo, we were just keeping your dad company while you were asleep," Jim said smiling back at her while McCoy called Christine to bring him a tricorder.

"How long was I asleep?"

"Around twenty minutes countin' the meld, Jo. What was so weird about your dream?" McCoy asked as Joanna sat up to make room for him.

"I was in a room with a big, live teddy bear type animal, but with fangs, restin' its head in my lap, and we were watchin' the sunset over a desert, outside the window. It wasn't bad weird, just odd but peaceful, and beautiful," Joanna explained slowly trying to put what she'd seen into words as her dad checked her pulse.

"It does sound peaceful, JoJo," Jim said standing up. "I'll be right back," he told them, quickly scooping up the PADD as he left the room and pulled out his communicator. "Kirk to Spock," there was no reply, "Spock come in," Jim repeated starting to get worried.

"Spock here, Captain, what can I do for you?" Spock finally answered a slight strain evident in his voice.

"Nothing for me, Spock, Bones told me you wanted to know when Joanna woke up," Jim told him. "Are you alright?"

"I will be, but I will require more meditation tonight," Spock replied. "We will be there shortly. Will you advise Admiral Pike, Lt Cmdr Rhymer and Lieutenant Martin that their presence will also be needed?"

"Sure, Spock, we'll be waiting, Kirk out," Jim replied and went in search of them. He had only taken a couple steps when Christine hurried up to him.

"Kirk, do you know what's goin' on around here?" she asked shifting the bag of medical supplies on her shoulder.

"Yeah, but Bones will have to fill you in, I've got to find Pike, Rhymer, and Martin," Jim replied apologetically. He hated blowing off his crew, especially those he counted as friends.

"Not even a hint?" Christine asked with a smirk; she knew he hated not being able to answer questions; almost as much as she hated surprises.

"I'd love to Christine, but at the moment Bones knows more about it that me," he replied with a grin.

"Ok, I think Pike and Rhymer are in the sun room; at least that where I saw them headin' after dinner."

"Thanks Christine," he replied changing directions as he opened his communicator to contact Martin. Christine shook her head and opened the library door.

Pike and Rhymer were still in the sun room, deep in conversation. Jim hated to interrupt but this was urgent."Kirk to Martin."

"Martin here, Captain, what's up?" Marin asked from Jim's communicator.

"Admiral, Rhymer, Martin, I hate to interrupt but Spock found out some things from Joanna, and you need to hear them," Jim told them quietly.

"From Joanna?" Rhymer asked surprised that Spock had managed to get her to talk.

"Kinda, he got her and Bones to let him try a mind meld on her, that's how he got it. Whatever he found is important, he nearly lost his temper over it, and managed to spook Bones pretty badly before he left to calm down. Uhura's with him, and they're gonna be coming back shortly, as soon as Spock has his temper at least under control enough to tell us," Jim explained. "Mom and Chapel are with Bones and Joanna right now."

"Do you have any idea what he found?" Pike asked looking worried.

"Only that it's on this PADD of hers. Spock only stayed long enough to tell Bones to get him when she woke up, to find the PADD and that it might be bugged, so I took care of that," Jim said quickly as he showed Rhymer and Pike his solution to the 'bug'. "I just talked to him to let him know Joanna was awake and he said that 'your presence was needed'."

"Where are they and I'll meet you there," Martin said sounding slightly worried.

"They're in the library," Jim replied a small smile on his face at the idea that his tough as nails security officer might be getting attached to Joanna.

"We'll meet you there, Martin," Pike answered standing up as Rhymer picked up the PADDs they had been looking over.

As they headed down the hall from the sun room they were joined by Martin coming from the security room in the middle of the house. They were met at the library door by Spock and Uhura. Spock definitely looked more human than the rest had ever seen him, his emotions were clearly visible in his face and he was very slightly unsteady. Uhura stood beside him watching worriedly as the rest reached them.

"Spock, are you alright?" Pike asked slightly alarmed by the amount of emotion on his normally stoic former First Officer's face.

"I apologize Admiral, Captain, and Lieutenant, unfortunately I have suffered a serious breach of my control, and while I am back in control of my emotions I beg your indulgence for the time being. I will be my customary self after a more thorough session of meditation," Spock said apologetically.

"Don't worry about it, Spock," Pike responded waving the apology away.

"Thank you, Admiral. If you will be patient I need to speak with Doctor McCoy concerning getting Joanna to sleep tonight. I will return to report on what I learned from her during our meld," Spock replied "I should not be more than ten minutes."

"Take as long as you need Spock," Jim assured him. "What do you want me to do with this?" he asked holding up the PADD he'd taken from the library earlier. "Don't worry I took care of the mic as well as the camera."

"We will need it for it contains part of the reason for her fears, the one that she would not reveal to me, other than that it is located on that PADD," Spock replied looking at the device with an expression of mixed disgust and anger that surprised everyone.

"We'll wait for you in the living room, Spock," Pike said. Spock nodded and opened the door as the rest of them headed for the living room to wait where they were joined a few minutes later by Winona and Christine.

Ten minutes later Spock, Uhura, and a scowling McCoy, carrying a sleeping Joanna, entered.

"She's fine, Spock had me give her a mild sedative, so that she'd sleep through this," McCoy replied to the general look of alarm on everyone's faces as he carried her towards the far corner of the room. "Jim, can you grab that bench so I can lay her down?"

"Sure Bones," Jim replied, picking up the wide, padded bench and following them. A moment later Jim looked back over his shoulder, "Can someone toss me a blanket? Thanks Mom," he said a moment later as Winona tossed the one from the back of her chair.

"Ok, you Hobgoblin, I want to see that hand to make sure ya didn't actually break somethin' as well as stop ya from getting' blood all over everythin' when the scabs crack open the next time you seriously try and use it!" McCoy growled out giving Spock the look he usually reserved for Jim for hiding injuries as he walked back to the group while Jim struggled to hide a smirk behind his back.

"Doctor, it is a minor injury and does not require medical care," Spock replied calmly, but his answer seemed to incense the doctor even more.

"Oh really, Spock, and when did you become a doctor in the last three weeks? 'Cause I seem to have missed it," McCoy snarled quietly, for him. "Unless you want me to knock your green blooded ass out, I'd suggest you let me see it."

With a small sigh Spock held his right hand out for McCoy's inspection.

"How the hell did you manage to do this?" McCoy asked more calmly, running his tricorder over the scraped skin across Spock's knuckles and the deep green bruise across the back of his hand below his first three fingers.

"I, unfortunately, acted on my anger after I left you by punching one of the large punching bags in the workout room over the garage. I am afraid that in addition to injuring my hand my blow sent the bottom of the bag, which for some unaccountable reason was unsecured, into the wall, leaving a sizable hole," Spock explained, in what, in a human, McCoy would have called a sheepish tone.

McCoy's response was an irritated huff as he ran the dermal regenerator over Spock's hand and then released him to take his seat beside Uhura, while McCoy dropped onto the couch between Jim and Winona.

As soon as they were seated Spock took a deep breath and began, "What I found out from Joanna during our mind meld was unexpected and unsettling. Though I do not know the total extent of what has caused her night terrors, however, what I was able to convince her to reveal indicated that she has been threatened by Donovan prior to the events that brought us here originally. It appears that as soon as he found out about you being allowed to take Joanna with you for leave, Doctor, he began to plant the idea in her head that if anything happened to interfere with his marriage to her mother and adoption of her he would make sure that she had no further contact with you." As he continued to relay what he'd learned everyone's expressions darkened.

"That goddamned bastard!" McCoy managed to grate out through clenched teeth as his hands tightened into white knuckled fists.

"What else did you find Spock?" Jim asked quickly as he, and Winona reached out to lay their hands on his shoulders to keep him seated and help him calm down.

"There is not much else that I can tell you for certain. I have made a few hypotheses concerning what may be on her PADD. During the meld I saw several of her more recent night terrors; they all contained the apparent deaths of everyone she knows on the Enterprise as well as her abduction. From what I witnessed, it appeared that our deaths occurred while attempting to stop her removal from the ship or some other location," Spock explained gravely. "Every scenario ended with a voice admonishing her for talking about something. I fear that some of the images were what weakened my control, to the point that finding out about the threat from Donovan managed to cause me to- I believe the term is- 'lose it."

"What do you know about this PADD?" Pike asked looking at it darkly while various scenarios ran through his mind.

"She got it for her birthday last year I think. I can't remember who she said gave it to her though, sorry. At the time I'd been dealin' with the whole damn Barengaria VII Dragon mess and hadn't gotten much sleep for the last week," McCoy explained, still growling slightly at the whole situation.

"I was only able to convince Joanna to show me the location of what was causing her terrors. All she would tell me is that they relate to something on it. Even though I could have compelled her to reveal it to me, I was unwilling to push the issue both because she is a child and she has been through enough; I could not in any sense condone such an invasion of privacy unless there were no alternative and the matter was life or death," Spock replied gravely. "She would only add that something was odd about the PADD that involved it knowing things that should not be possible."

"Whatever is on that thing will wait till morning," Winona said firmly, causing everyone to stare at her.

"Why on Earth do you say that, Winona?" Pike asked puzzled.

"I assume you're going to go looking through it for the information," Winona explained calmly though everyone could see her anger at whoever had threatened Joanna. "By morning everyone will be rested and calm enough to make sure nothing's missed that might nail this bastard. Also it might be a good idea for Joanna to be out of the house while you're doing it. She certainly doesn't need to be around for all the legal discussions about how to use whatever you find, or the explosions that are sure to erupt when you find it"