Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. Your encouragement keeps me going. Look an update in less than two months.

Chapter 14: Fucking bastard

"Fucking bastard," Chris mumbled into his personal communicator as he spoke with Amanda about the latest crisis made worse by certain idiots on the Council. He's going to owe Jane Barnett, the PR goddess, two boxes of good chocolate for keeping anything from getting out about the future Vulcan representative to the Federation Council having an illegitimate grandchild created by an illicit union between her war hero son and the underage daughter of the now disgraced former Admiral Alexander Marcus. If anybody had any chance whatsoever to keep this mess from blowing-up into a public relations nightmare/potential security incident it was her.

Somehow, most likely through a security breach that will be fixed immediately, a certain dick on the Vulcan Council found out about Enterprise rescuing a half Vulcan kid on NCX17. That asshole was trying to assert that the child was a ward of the Vulcan state, should be placed in the custody of a Vulcan family, and was currently using Council lawyers to make that happen. Under normal circumstances, this would have brought about a very angry discussion between Amanda and her counterparts about the necessity of non-Vulcan foster parents and how the Council should not intervene directly especially when a child is not in danger.

However, in this case, it resulted in Amanda accidentally divulging classified information about the child in question's parentage. Rather, she pointed out the fact that the child in question would not become the ward of any state, because he has two fathers who love him very much along with a grandmother, who will not let anything happen to him. Immediately after her faux pas, she called him. Actually, she called her lawyers and put her assistant in touch with Jane the PR goddess before calling him. Chris is perfectly okay with her doing that first. Actually, that quality is something that he loves about her.

"Of course, he is. I know he was just trying to elicit some emotional response. Part of me even thinks that he already knew David's paternity but I just couldn't…" She started to explain, but he stopped her.

"I'm not mad at you for telling the idiot that David is your grandson and therefore would be raised in a proper Vulcan home. He's a close minded prick and I probably would have told him the same damn thing, just with more cursing." Chris tells her trying to make her feel better, even though he was worried that someone from the Council will contact Marcus and let him know that his grandchild is alive because of a "wonder drug" that he has apparently been trying to get his hands on for years.

Chris now knows more about his former mentor Alex then he ever wanted to. For years the man has been stockpiling weapons and building warships, long before Vulcan was ever destroyed. Misappropriations of funds was just the beginning of the illegal activities that he was involved in during his time as head of Starfleet and before that, as head of section 31. The one thing Chris knew for sure now is he doesn't want Alex anywhere near David.

The worst-case scenario would be if the story was all over the net in the next two hours because certain Vulcans just love feeding Amanda to the paparazzi. Not only would they have to deal with Marcus knowing about David, but the general public, along with whoever was responsible for NCX17 too, which would be problematic (especially if Marcus is one of the people responsible for the massacre that killed his daughter).

They were trying to keep the details of what happened on NCX17 out of the media for national security reasons , including the identity of the one survivor. The fact that most news outlets still respect the privacy of minors, especially those that were the victim of very violent crimes, was working in their favor.

David being publicly identified as the only survivor was problematic for the investigation at the very least. At worst, it could put David's life in jeopardy. There are many theories about why the planet was attacked and somebody doing it to gain access to the technology that brought David back to life was a distinct possibility. Protecting David is the most important thing right now. He was already typing out an e-mail to his boss about this.

"Close minded is an understatement. I'm not going to repeat what he said regarding my proper Vulcan home or my xeno-sexual son." Amanda said bringing him back to the conversation at hand.

"It's probably best that you don't. I already have enough reasons to deck the guy as it is." Amanda laughs at that. "Even if David was not your family by blood, I know for a fact that he would be much safer with you and Spock, then anyone that Vulcan would find suitable." Although at that moment he was wondering if Jim and Spock would be okay with him stationing armed guards outside their temporary quarters when they arrive planet-side.

He doubts that armed security guards surrounding David will make him worry less in the long run. He doesn't even want to tell Amanda that there's a pretty good chance that the particular Vulcan in question probably wants David for the sole purpose of turning him into his own lab rat.

They don't know how the elder learned of David's existence. It's possible that Starfleet has a leak. It is also possible that he knows about this because the Vulcan was involved the secret and illegal 'build a better Vulcan' project. Starfleet suspected that someone on the Vulcan Council has been siphoning large amounts of money to pay for the non-Starfleet sanctioned research on NCX17 and Elder Sank seemed the most likely candidate in Chris's mind. Actually the only two members of the Council that he didn't suspect where Amanda and Elder Selek, everyone else, including Spock's great-grandmother, was a possible suspect. The woman is a little obsessed with getting grandchildren and rebuilding the Vulcan population.

"I still worry and I'm sure he's going to spend the rest of the day trying to talk the Council into seeing things his way." She said nervously. He didn't even think of the possibility that the Council would do something like that. He was too busy worrying about all the other possible scenarios.

"Over my dead body," Chris mumbled so low that he doubted Amanda heard him."

"It will be fine, Amanda. I'm glad you called me and I will take care of things on the Starfleet side of it. I will even suck up to Ms. Barnett so she will keep this out of the media. You said you already called the lawyers?" He asked.

"It was the first thing I did when I got out of the meeting with the idiot. I'm meeting with them after. In addition to keeping the Council away from my grandson, I want to make sure that Alexander Marcus cannot get anywhere near David." Now this is why he adored this woman. He couldn't even tell her most of the reasons why David should not go within 100 m of his grandfather, but she was preparing to protect him from the monster all the same.

"Considering that it was pretty much Carol's wish that her father have nothing to do with David, it should be easy. Do you want me to go with you? Normally, I would love to but I…"

Actually, he wasn't sure what he could tell her. He couldn't exactly tell Amanda that he was leaving in 15 minutes to visit another one of the things Marcus left behind that he now has to deal with. His first trip was to the starship formally known as the Vengeance, yesterday . Jane suggested renaming the ship the USS Mahatma Gandhi for pure irony now that the ship was mostly going to be a research vessel and Chris's pretty sure the Admiral may actually take the suggestion seriously.

It doesn't surprise Chris at all that Jane arrived at his office earlier than expected at that moment. He knew that she didn't like being by herself right now. When she is alone, she has too much time to think about what she has done. He motioned for her to sit down as he continued talking with Amanda. This conversation is important, anyway.

"Actually, I need you to pick up T'Pay. My assistant has threatened to quit if she has to deal with Cheerios all over her front seat again." Chris couldn't help but laugh at that.

"I can't. My next meeting has already walked into my office and I'm currently ignoring Dr. Jackson for you." He explains, and hopes that Amanda doesn't ask any more questions. She doesn't know that Jane had anything to do with the research on NCX17 or the fact that the woman has spent more time with her grandson then she has.

"I know you're busy, but I don't have any other options. How long will the meeting be?" Amanda pleaded.

"Several hours, unfortunately," Jane said from beside him. Did he mention that the call was on speaker? However, I'm here 12 minutes early because Admiral Pike's assistant wandered off somewhere and I just came in."

"That's not good. I don't think the lawyers' office is child friendly." Amanda sighed.

"You always have Miss Rivers…" He said before everything snapped in to place.

"You're avoiding Winona?" He asked as he took the call off speaker. He knew that such a move would be suspicious, but Jane had too many of her own secrets to ask a lot of questions.

"I prefer to call her Whitney, it makes things easier." She whispered.

"I thought you were the one who was trying to get me to be less angry at her and see things from her perspective," he told her poignantly.

"Yes, but you don't have to deal with a Jim Kirk, who was starved for a mother's attention for the last three years. Jim is absolutely terrified of being a dad. According to Spock. David locked himself in the closet yesterday and he freaked out." Chris couldn't help but chuckle at that. A ship full of fresh out of the Academy recruits Jim can handle, but one 2-year-old scares the hell out of him. "Also, there's…"

"You don't trust her with your child right now?" Chris prompted.

"No, I'm pretty sure that if I see her right now, I may deck her and that would just be bad for everyone. If she stays after school with Ms. Rivers, I'm going to have to speak with her one-on-one and that just means more of a chance of me knocking her out." Amanda confessed.

"With a possible custody fight on our hands, getting arrested would just be bad." He doesn't realize he says "our" until he notices the smirk on Dr. Jackson's face.

"Not that there aren't enough inappropriate things about me circulating the net already. Do you know that we attended an orgy last night?" She joked.

"Okay, you just mentioned that so I would avoid asking you more questions about "Whitney". Trust me as much as I would love to pick up T'Pay and be there for macaroni night, I can't."

"I was so sure that an orgy would distract you." That's when he choked on his glass of water and Jane grabbed his personal communicator from him and was already talking to Amanda before he even recovered.

"I know I said things are going to take a while, but I'll see what I can do the cut the meeting short. However, you're probably going to need your backup babysitter to take care of your daughter for at least an hour. You guys don't eat till seven, right?" Jane asked. Chris looked on in complete shock. "We can be done by then. I promise to have him back home in time for macaroni night. Also, thank you for not saying you're sorry for my loss. If I hear that phrase one more time, I'm going to go as insane as certain people think I will." Jane said with half a smile. Yes, somebody did mention that possibility at a meeting yesterday.

"Especially from people who actually threw a 'thank god, he's dead' party." Chris mumbled under his breath which resulted in him getting the look.

"No, it's okay. It's easier if I focus on work," she told Amanda.

"No, I couldn't possibly impose on your macaroni night. Maybe we could do something after the funeral? I promise that he will call you when we're done." She said, ending the call.

"She invited you to macaroni night?" He asked, slightly surprised. Chris did not think that the two women really knew each other that well.

"Yes. It's about the 20th invitation for dinner I have received since getting my membership card for the Starfleet widow's club." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, but that was only a mask for her pain.

"I always thought they had T-shirts," he quipped.

"No, just the card and lots of people taking you to dinner to make themselves feel better for being happy that your husband was murdered in front of you. It's not like it's the first time I've seen someone murdered. I'm almost happy that it's too much of a security risk for me to be out and about. Let's be honest, the only reason why I'm being allowed to leave this afternoon is because you're going to be with me. Half of the people in Starfleet who know what's really going on believe I am the target. The other half, think I'm going to go crazy and turn everybody into my slave after I become the new queen of the Federation." Yes, somebody actually said something like that to her.

"Even in the wheelchair, I am still a good shot." He said, placing his hand on the phaser that he always keeps with him. "Also, I don't think I would make a very good slave, so I doubt you're interested in that."

"I don't know, Amanda would probably think otherwise. You don't need working legs to go down on somebody." She quipped for the sole purpose of making him twitch; however, Jim had him well-trained. He doesn't even bother to blink anymore.

"Where are we going this time?" He asked, not even bothering to give his regular 'Amanda is just a friend' line. If he doesn't even believe that, he doubts Jane will.

"This is one of those 'it's better to show then tell' things. You only agreed to take over section 31 if I told you everything and you know most of the worst secrets we have. What you're about to see is one of our worst secrets."

"I don't see how much worse it can get. So far we have covered frozen bodies, secret warships, and a drug that may actually stop death." For the sake of keeping the peace he did not mention the fact that she tested this drug in a practically newborn infant. He can only forgive her, because if she had not done what she did, Amanda wouldn't have spent the last few days buying toys for her grandson. She was hoping for at least one kid who did not find teddy bears illogical.

"More like slow it down." She said sadly.

"If you don't want to tell me what's going on, you don't have to. I'd rather spend time with Amanda and the girls. I can always bring you with me to macaroni night. She did invite you, and honestly, Amanda is a better interrogator then probably half of your Section 31 colleagues. I'm sure she would love to know exactly why a DNA test shows that her grandson is 50% Vulcan."

Is it wrong that he hopes that some information pertaining to the exact particulars regarding David's conceptions stay classified? No mom wants to find out that her son got an underage girl pregnant. The fact that fertility drugs, psychological manipulation, and aphrodisiacs were involved will not make the situation any easier for her to take. Actually, if that particular information ever becomes declassified, he's letting Spock deal with that conversation. He doesn't even want to be on planet at the time.

"I prefer not to have that conversation with anyone, least of all, a woman most of the admiralty is terrified of."

"Not all of the admiralty is terrified of her." Chris shot back."

"That's because you're actually in love with her. Everything regarding David is in your files. The person you're about to meet is not. All things related to his true identity have been scrubbed. Even a lot of things related to his fake identity have been removed, except for the things tied to me. Jonathan did not even know what I'm about to tell you."

"This is about your past?" He asked.

"Jonathan knew exactly who I was or rather what he thought I was. He was the one who woke me up from stasis to keep..." She pauses for a moment as she grabs her bag from the floor of his office.

"Even if I didn't tell him anything, and this was all some marriage of convenience to keep up my cover in this century, he would've figured it out eventually. You can only be married so long before the fact that you were alive when the first Star Wars film came out and that's why you like it better than episode XLIX becomes painfully obvious to your spouse." She joked halfheartedly as he followed her out of the office suite down to what is referred to as the admiralty transporter room (because, really, there should be some perks to being an Admiral).

"However, he didn't know everything about me. I'm glad for that because I would have end up under the microscope next.

"And who are you?" Chris asked cautiously.

"A human being who managed to get superhuman powers because of a blood transfusion, but I am just a human being, flaws and all."

"But you still have blood on your hands. You confess to that. You allowed a dictator to slather…" He started, but Jane cut him off.

"I'm not saying that my brother's hands are bloodless because they're not." Jane said, shutting her eyes. "He did some horrible things, but so-called ordinary men did much worse. Most of the information about the eugenics wars is inaccurate. History is written by the winners." His response is to scoff at her.

"The books say that the Rwanda genocide was the tipping point in the Eugenic Wars. What they don't say is that the individuals responsible were all ordinary people."

"But the books say…"

"I was there. There is no absolute truth, only various versions of that. If this entire mess on NCX17 teaches you anything, it should be that."

Since losing her husband 3 ½ years ago, Amanda has gotten used to dealing with 99 things at the exact same time. Her current list of duties include:

1. Tell the girls that they are going to be aunts.

She tried to cross this one off at the zoo. She figured junk food and baby animals should make it easier to break the surprising news. Besides, their grandmother has been using both girls in an attempt to convince Jim that he would be a good father. Except to explain David, she needed to explain Carol first and that meant talking about the incident on NCX17. However, this is not where you want to begin a conversation with two girls who lost both their parents because of an act of genocide. Instead of actually telling the girls about David, they received a toy elephant and a digital copy of the history of the San Francisco zoo, respectively.

She's going to try again tonight during macaroni night if Chris is there because she is really going to need Chris for this conversation. She's halfway tempted to give them chocolate chip cookies just to make this easier on her. However the way things are going, she's probably going to end up telling the girls five minutes before Enterprise is in Earth's orbit.

2 a. Finding a four bedroom apartment/condo in her current neighborhood that is wheelchair accessible.

It's stupid for her to keep staying in Jim and Spock's townhouse when she's probably going to be settling in San Francisco permanently regardless of whether she's going to be able to take the position as Vulcan representative to the Federation Council. Staying in Spock's house gives the impression that they're just there temporarily until they actually move to the colony.

Besides Spock's house is not wheelchair friendly and she wants her new place to be easier for Chris. Contrary to what her friend Gaila believes, that's not for the sole purpose of making it easier for Chris to get to her bedroom. (She refuses to acknowledge that a part of her mind does see that this is an actual advantage).

This is Jim and Spock's home and they should live here with David. Even if they are going to be spending most of their time in space, David deserves a place that's home.

2B. Telling the girls that they're moving.

Because she has been thinking about this for a while, even before she found out about David, she asked both girls how they felt about finding a different place to live. T'Pen asked her if they are moving so that "Admiral Daddy" no longer has to sleep in the downstairs study when he spends the night, but in her bed.

That question makes her realize that Chris sleeps over at her house a lot, although in her defense, a few of those times she was out of town and he was filling in for the most recent babysitter to quit. She is almost certain when she tells the girls that they are actually moving they're going to ask if Chris is moving in with them. She is also almost certain that Jim or Gaila are feeding these types of questions to the girls, but she can't prove it.

3. Preparing for David's arrival.

She wanted this to be all about buying toys and baking her famous sugar cookies. Instead, it was her assistant making temporary housing arrangements for her son and long conversations with the lawyers. The fact that Carol put it in her will that she wanted Spock to have custody of David worked in their favor. The fact that Carol conceived David before reaching the age of consent was not very good, even though she lied about her age. Chris was trying to keep that fact from her, but she was very good at reading between the lines. She and Spock will be having a very long conversation about that.

This also meant that she would be having a very long conversation with her almost teenage daughter about safe sex and interspecies reproduction. She never wanted to give the "Pon farr and you" talk and now would be several years before she ever wanted to. She is not dealing with a teen pregnancy. No way.

The final thing on the list was finding a new nanny, preferably somebody who could also watch David. She knew that once her son and son-in-law arrived, their days would be filled with Starfleet meetings and lawyervisits. Childcare was going to be crucial. Unfortunately, this thing fell to the bottom of the list and she was seriously regretting that now as she called around trying to find somebody to watch her daughter when she and the lawyers tried to strategize against a certain Vulcan who she wished that Spock had never rescued.

Of course, she called Chris. He's the person she trusts the most with her children, all of them. Unfortunately, Dr. Jackson just had to take over the call. Chris, she could easily talk into ditching his meeting to spend time with T'Pay. (Amanda doesn't want to examine too closely what that says about their relationship.)

But she couldn't do that to a woman who lost her husband just mere days ago. Especially one who was kind enough to send her pictures and videos of David, despite dealing with her own grief (as well as providing her with a special video file that Carol's girlfriend made after Andrew Marcus beat the hell out of her for getting pregnant. It's a miracle she didn't miscarry.)

She's played the file of David's first birthday at least three times. The vision of a happy and smiling Carol Marcus doesn't exactly fit her image of the woman that she used to have, but she is now very aware that Carol only did what she had to do to survive. Amanda cannot fault her decision because in the end, it saved her grandson's life. Dr. Jackson's only condition was that Amanda does not tell Chris that she has the video files.

Because Chris was not an option, she had no choice but to contact Ms. River, which was something Amanda did not want to do. She has been successfully avoiding the preschool teacher all week by having her assistant or her other daughter pickup or drop off T'Pay from school. What she told Chris was true; she did not think it was possible for her to be around the woman formally known as Winona Kirk without punching her out. It wasn't because of anger at her abandoning Jim or for lying. She was mad at Winona Kirk for being a good mom to Georgia and a horrible one to Jim.

Amanda has seen her first-hand with her daughter and with young Georgia. She's great around children and it was obvious that Georgia wanted for nothing. She always had the most beautiful dresses and the latest toys. Also, according to her own daughter, Georgia has two moms that love her and she had a real home.

Jim did not have that. During the first part of his childhood, his mom was off planet and she left him with a guy who bludgeoned a 14-year-old to death. Yes, she did leave eventually, but the second half of Jim's childhood involved jumping from planet to planet. Although he spoke fondly of the month he lived on Vulcan and spending time with his mom, that was not the childhood Jim deserved. He deserved Georgia's life and he didn't get it.

Intellectually she understands why Winona did what she did. If she was in the same situation, she probably would have made the same decision. Of course Amanda prides herself on being smart enough to have never got in such a situation in the first place.

However, that doesn't mean that she doesn't feel anger on Jim's behalf because he's her son too and she wants to protect him. If she sees Winona right now she is going to let her know all about the panicked conversations she's had with Jim about his own fears of being a father because he had such a screwed up childhood. It just doesn't seem right that Georgia gets the good childhood.

However, she couldn't be indignant with Winona at the sake of her other children. That meant asking the woman to watch the girls while she deals with the lawyers. In the end she was too cowardly to call. She was less likely to say the wrong thing in a text message.

I have an emergency meeting with the lawyers. Can you keep the girls? I still don't have a new babysitter and Chris is working.

Just as she sent the message, her assistant walked into the room looking slightly worried. Considering the fact that her assistant was Vulcan, this was particularly disturbing.

"Please don't tell me that our favorite Xenophobic council member has talked the other Xenophobic council members into filing a motion to take my grandchild away from his fathers?" Amanda asked immediately because this seems like the most logical cause for distress.

"After you left, the elder was chastened by the majority of his fellow council members. Your son saved many lives and has many allies among the Council. Most would never consider taking his child away from him." What was left unsaid was that some would.

"That's good." Amanda said as she started breathing again.

"However, while you were on the phone with Admiral Pike, your lawyer called. 18.3 minutes ago, Alexander Marcus, formerly of Starfleet, filed a motion in San Francisco Family Court to gain custody of the minor child known as David Spock Marcus-Murakami and to terminate all of Spock- Kirk's parental rights on the grounds that the child's conception was the result of nonconsensual sexual acts between an adult and a minor."

"Fucking bastard," Amanda mumbled under her breath before she picked up her communicator already dialing the number for the lawyers. Andrew Marcus just declared war on her family. He would find out firsthand that people who declared war on her family usually lost.

"Are we even still on earth?" Chris asked, as soon as they arrived at the stark white facility. The only signs of life were the heavily armed guards walking the hallways.

"I can't tell you that." She said with half a smile.

"You're supposed to tell me everything." Chris shot back without menace.

"This is for your protection. You have been tortured for information before. They can't torture you for information that you don't have." Jane remarked, as they kept walking.

"You may have a point." He mumbled under his breath.

"I'm not 100% sure if the people who killed my husband and my friends just wanted me, or were hoping I could lead them to what they really wanted or rather who they really wanted." She said, placing her hand on a biometric reader.

"Who do they want?" He asked as the door opened and they walked into what at first seemed like a normal hospital room. Of course, usually patients aren't strapped to the bed.

"They originally wanted a warrior to aid in their personal war against all the gray shadows of their irrational fears. Now that they realize that he is not some docile puppet, they want the man who gave me life and turned me into a superhuman without all the nasty megalomaniac side effects, or rather his blood."

"You're definitely not a megalomaniac," Chris said as she walked over to the bed and ran her hands lovingly through the man's hair.

"I'm also no super soldier, but I think Marcus and my husband thought that I was. Jonathan did call me his little Captain America." She remarked, as she rubbed the man's cheek gently.

"This is what you brought me to see? Who is this?" Chris asked already 90% sure of what she will say.

"My brother. Admiral Pike, meet Khan Noonien Singh, but you know him best as John Harrison." She kisses him on the forehead, which seems odd because Jane or rather Jaya is responsible for his current state of unconsciousness and incarceration.

"He looks nothing like you." Chris joked, not sure what to say.

"I blame plastic surgery, highlights, colonial imperialism, a little British DNA, and Alexander Marcus's preference for all things that are not the other."

To be continued.