Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. Thank you to everybody played the guess the Easter egg game the last chapter. Yes, the last chapter really was an experiment/insane, but I will tell you now that our favorite characters are not crazy or at least no more insane then they usually are. Spock is still responding to medication. However, the jury is still out on the mental stability of Alexander Marcus.

The following people found at least one of the Easter eggs I left for the last chapter: SlytherinQueen020, rose, laustic, xXFrostKittenXx, Rose Midnight Moonlight Black, seacat03, and honest critic.

Easter eggs for chapter 16:

Alexis is from my story Starfleet Family Values. The reference to Carol's pretentious guide who goes by the letter of an alphabet is also a reference to this story and TNG.

Shawn is from the series Warning: Assumptions Are Bad, which includes my classic story But I Thought You Were Straight. In that universe, he was Jim's ex-boyfriend and Pike's lawyer fiancé. Jane Barnett, the PR goddess, is also borrowed from this universe. They're essentially the same characters, but their lives are a little bit different in this world due to different circumstances.

The universe where Nyota has the good sense to see that Spock is completely in love with Jim and suggests a threesome instead of breaking up with Spock is a reference to my story Take a Third Option.

There's also a subtle reference to the Dear Spock universe when Carol says that she's going to visit a universe where Jim and Spock don't get together until after the Kobayashi Maru incident, but are still married before the Vengeance Incident.

The pleasure seeker 9000 is from my stories Operation Cheer Jim Up and its counterpart.

Also, bonus points to SlytherinQueen020 for seeing a connection to my story Consequences of the Down Low. I did not even see that as possibly being the dimension where Spock doesn't break up with Nyota, but cheats on her with Jim.

I think I had a little too much fun with that chapter.

Chapter 17: I Was Going to Tell You That Later

Amanda sat in one of the many Starfleet conference rooms with Jim and Spock's anxious lawyer Alexis and Dr. Jackson for Jim, Spock, and David. The room happened to have a beautiful view of the city. She never understood why Starfleet decided it was a good idea to have one of their main conference rooms extremely exposed and surrounded by a wall of glass. Her boyfriend agreed with her. According to him, this room is now usually reserved for unclassified briefings and meetings with dignitaries that they want to impress.

However, during Marcus' regime, this is where they would meet whenever there was a crisis. His successor believes doing something like that is the equivalent of putting a 'please bomb us here' sign outside the building. Of course they're all aware that Alexander Marcus is crazy, has very little common sense, and that was before yesterday's leak of highly classified documents that supported his history of wrongdoing.

She was anxiously waiting here to see her son in person for the first time in nearly 2 years and to kiss her new grandson. Alexis was there to ambush Jim and Spock about the custody arrangement. Doctor Jackson was officially there to speak to Jim because the Enterprise captain wanted to speak with her in person. Amanda believes she's really there because she misses David. For security reasons, Chris felt it would be best if their reunion took place here instead of at the shuttle yard or regular family greeting area.

Amanda is convinced that Chris believes that Marcus is going take a more 'direct approach' now that his lawyer has decided to take a position with the DAs office and his reputation has been besieged by the classified document leak. The judge in charge of the case has already said there was no longer a need for an emergency hearing and wanted to wait until family services has time to 'assess' the situation.

It was obvious that Chris was very wary of Alexander Marcus. Amanda is not stupid. She knows that there were things left out of the extremely classified briefing with their lawyer. Obviously, Chris had a reason to believe that his former mentor would resort to physical violence to get David. Therefore, she acquiesced to his request.

However, what was supposed to be a five or ten minute wait in the conference room has already become a 90 minute and counting wait, thanks to Admiral Kimball. The new Admiral in charge of Enterprise (or rather will be in charge of Enterprise after it resumes its deep space exploration after renovations) wanted to 'debrief'. According to the message she received from Chris 70 minutes ago, he refused to wait until after she had a chance to meet her first grandchild for the very first time and Admiral Lume decided to humor the man for reasons unknown. She already disliked Admiral Kimball.

Now that Chris was in charge of Section 31, Enterprise was put under the auspices of another Admiral and unfortunately the committee chose Admiral Kimball. Actually, because of her romantic relationship with Chris and supposed pending marriage, Enterprise would be receiving a new Admiral regardless.

After the Johnson debacle, stronger regulations to prevent nepotism among the ranks were put in place. First, that meant that an anonymous committee approved all major promotions and assignments. This also meant that an Admiral could not oversee their child's ship, even if that child was their stepson. Admiral Jorge Kimball would now be in charge of Enterprise and he was already trying to show that he was the big boss, according to Chris.

It annoyed her that the man couldn't wait a few hours to let her speak with her son and grandson before the interrogation began. Chris believes that Kimball is already convinced that Jim is behind the 'rising tide' and wants to get his confession before Jim has time to hide the evidence. (She personally would love to be in that room when Kimball is forced to explain why the obviously dirty Marcus survived round one of the great Starfleet purge.)

After 90 minutes of waiting, she was restless. There were only so many conversations she could have with Doctor Jackson and Alexis, with her daughters in the room. The girls were equally restless at this point and educational PADD programs can only keep preteen and preschoolers occupied for so long. She brought the girls with her because Amanda wanted the two to meet their nephew in person as soon as possible. Although now that T'Pay is playing imaginary computer repair person under the table and T'Pan is asking Doctor Jackson questions about her research that most likely have classified answers, Amanda is starting to question that decision.

She finally told the girls about David last night. Chris was with her when she gave the girls a 'cliff notes' version of why they were meeting their 2 ½-year-old nephew for the very first time the next morning. It was quite difficult to explain what happened without mentioning that Marcus is a homophobic, xenophobic, or abusive prick, but she did her best.

"When your brother Spock was at the Academy, he dated a girl named Carol, who he liked very much, and she cared about him to a great extent." She added the part about Carol's feelings for Spock after her conversations with Jane and being forced to read a file containing excerpts from Carol's diary from her time at the Academy. She now knew that Carol did genuinely care for her son even if she was probably under the influence of Admiral Jackson. The diary pages were hard to read because no mother wants to read about her son's college sexual exploits, but she needed to discover who Carol Marcus was in her own words. She was a scared 15-year-old pulled in many directions and maybe she was too young to understand what she was feeling for Spock, but it was real. It also made her feel horrible for most of the things that Amanda has said about the woman over the years.

"At some point during their relationship, Carol became pregnant. Her father was not happy about this for various reasons. Due to pressure from him, she had the embryo frozen and moved to London without telling Spock what happened."

She debated for hours how to phrase this in a way that a four-year-old Vulcan can understand. Finally, she decided it was best to keep things simple with as little detail as possible. Of course, she forgot her too inquisitive daughters loved asking questions.

At this point, she was forced to explain the embryo freezing procedure because her oldest daughter was curious. She was also forced to answer the age-old question of where babies come from for T'Pay. The good thing with Vulcan children is you usually only have to bring out science textbooks and diagrams. She knew this would happen; therefore, she came prepared with the right research and age-appropriate e-books.

Except this conversation was nowhere near as easy as the one she had with Spock when he was three years old. Amanda blames the biggest bully in T'Pay's preschool class for convincing the little girl that Vulcan children come from the replicator because Vulcans are so cold nobody would touch them to make babies the normal way. Chris couldn't help but laugh in the background. It took 30 minutes to successfully provide the three-year-old with proof that her classmate was illogical before Amanda could continue on with the story.

"About three years ago she and her girlfriend Becky decided to have a child together and they used the embryo she created with Spock. They put the embryo back in her uterus and about seven months later, he was born. His name is David and he was born on January 26, 2259."

"Why didn't we meet him before? Shouldn't he go to preschool with me?" T'Pay asked.

"That's because his two moms lived really far away on another planet and he has at least another year before he starts preschool. They were both Starfleet scientists, just like your brother and that's why they live so far away. That's why you haven't met David before." Chris explained for her.

It was only the truth by the Vulcan definition of the term, but she wasn't sure exactly how to explain what Carol did, even if Amanda now understood why she did it. It was the same thing Winona did. Both women ran away to protect their child. Winona faked her death to get away from an abusive lover* and Carol Marcus made a deal with the devil to protect her son from her abusive father. In her 50s she understands this, but this is too hard for a 12-year-old to understand, even one who watched her planet be destroyed.

"Unfortunately, there was an accident where she worked and both she and Rebecca died." Her words were met with classic Vulcan stoicism, even from her four-year-old. That is something that both girls understand all too well. She felt horrible for saying what happened was an accident. She knows that as soon as the media knows about the details of what happened on NCX17, T'Pen will know they lied to her.

"Is he going to be placed in the foster care system?" Her oldest daughter asked and the question worried her. She is well aware that T'Pen does not see the foster care system favorably. A lot of unpleasant things happened to her in the few weeks the two were in the system before Amanda was able to get the girls out of the group home and begin the adoption proceedings. She could tell that T'Pen was afraid something like that would happen to her nephew or maybe she thought that's what happened to all kids who lose their parents. T'Pen was very hard to read sometimes.

"Not if we can help it. He's going to be living with Spock and James." She said to reassure both girls. However, she felt it was not her place to mention the possibility that David could end up living with them. She didn't want to scare either child.

The one good thing that came from the 'Rising Tide' leaks was Alexis was now almost positive no judge in their right mind would give Alexander Marcus custody. The problem was they may not give Spock custody either. Starfleet was going to deny that the Marshall incident ever took place, but it would still raise questions in the judge's mind. Therefore, she and Chris were planning to be that third option to keep her grandson out of the system.

After that conversation, T'Pen was excited about getting to meet David and picked out a stuffed bear to give her nephew. She forced them all to leave an hour early, just so they could visit a toy store this morning before arriving at Starfleet (or at least that was the plan). She was looking forward to being an aunt.

Her sister was nowhere near as excited. T'Pay locked herself in the bathroom this morning and wouldn't leave until Chris promised her ice cream and her own teddy bear. She also held onto Chris the entire way here. Amanda considers it a small miracle that he did not have to take the 4-year-old with him to the world's longest debriefing.

Now T'Pay was much more accepting of the fact that she is dating Chris. There was actual cheering involved. Both girls were okay with the fact that she and Chris were together. Unlike the David situation, they didn't actually tell the girls. They were planning to after they explained the situation to Spock and Jim, but that plan fell out the window last night. Her daughters walked in on the two kissing after the great David conversation.

Actually, the fact that not only did Chris spend the night, but Amanda also spent the night in the guest room with him was probably an obvious sign that the two were no longer in denial. (She doesn't even want to talk about what happened when Dr. Jackson and Alexis noticed a certain new piece of jewelry she was wearing.) It really wasn't that unusual for Chris to spend the night. The only difference is now she sleeps down in the guest room/study with him. (Actually, that's happened a few times before, but she doesn't want to acknowledge what that really means).

Because sometimes a certain four-year-old has nightmares about being swallowed by a planet, she has a tendency to find Amanda in the middle of the night. In other words, no matter what happened, the girls would have found out about the change in their relationship before she had a chance to tell Spock about the truth behind the engagement. (She doesn't have the heart to tell the girls that she and Chris are just dating and they're telling everyone that they're engaged just in case Marcus's effort to get Spock declared an unfit parent actually works.)

Now Amanda understands why everybody already thought that they were dating before they were actually dating (and easily accept the fact that they're engaged) because the only thing that seems different about their relationship was the sexual component. Not that they've actually had sex yet, because they are in the middle of a messy custody fight with Alexander Marcus. However, there has been lots of kissing and other things. The night before they came close, but they were interrupted because of the 'Rising Tide' document leak.

It was for the best, because around 3 AM, T'Pay found her sleeping next to Chris after she woke up from a nightmare that she wouldn't tell Amanda about. She also would not go back to her own bed, which told Amanda it was one of the really bad nightmares. Chris didn't say a thing about it. It was at that moment that Amanda realized how lucky she was too find somebody that could deal with her emotional baggage and children. Chris loved her children.

She knew when she started telling people that she was with Chris their usual response would be finally (that's what Chris's boss said this morning when she saw Amanda's new ring). However, she is worried about how Spock will react, which is why she wanted to tell him first before anyone else found out. Children rarely handle their mom dating someone new very well. The pretend engagement would make things worse. Then there's the fact that her son had a crush on her boyfriend for a good portion of his early 20s. That was just going to make things even more awkward.

Okay, who was she kidding? This meeting was going to be extremely awkward, no matter what. She was coming in with a new boyfriend/sort of fiancé and her son was arriving with his new son that he created when having sex with his then-underage Academy girlfriend. A child that was hidden from Spock since he was conceived and that possible conception was kept from her and Spock by her deceased husband. Then there was the fact that she knows that her son-in-law's mother is not that dead and she's going to have to break the news tomorrow during what will probably be the most dysfunctional family dinner of all time. Awkward was the understatement of the millennium for this meeting. Okay, maybe the real reason why the girls, along with Doctor Jackson, and Alexis were there was to keep things from descending into complete chaos. She is sure Jim and Spock are less likely to make a scene in front of other people, including the girls.

Her nervousness was probably why she has already consumed four of the cookies that she made for James. After the last few weeks of bad things, including finding out your brother is dead and your husband had a child from a previous relationship, Jim deserved cookies. She doesn't know what she's going to give him when he finds out about the Winona and Georgia thing. Maybe Bailey's brownies? Let's be honest, she should probably consider pot brownies.

"Oh god, you actually brought cookies." She was expecting to hear her son-in-law say that as he dove headfirst into a container of double chocolate chip caramel cookies that she made just for him, not the woman that she considered one of her closest friends, Gaila. She was already enveloped in a hug before she realized what was happening.

"They are for James, but you can have one. I have a feeling he's going to need all of them after the briefing he's going through." She said pulling out of the embrace.

"Please, that briefing is going to go so long that you're going to have time to make a brand-new batch." Gaila joked.

"I'm not surprised. I'm sure Kimball already hates Jim, and that's before they met each other." She said pulling her friend to the back of the room. "Let me introduce you to Dr. Jackson. She worked with Carol on NCX17." Alexis was too busy out in the hallway, most likely talking to her associates to be introduced to anyone.

"I got that impression from a text message I received from Jim. When Kimball began his hunt for someone to blame for the 'Rising Tide' leak, he decided it was best to get me off the ship. Jim sent me down with David and my bo-friend because the toddler was getting restless and needed lunch." Gaila said as she extended her hand to Dr. Jackson. The doctor seemed a bit hesitant, but Amanda was more concerned that Gaila almost said the word boyfriend. She did not even think that word was in Gaila's vocabulary.

"It's nice to meet you, Dr. Jackson. I have a feeling that Jim would much rather be speaking with you right now." The woman said with a smirk.

"I think he would rather be speaking to Klingons right now. There's plenty of time for work things later." The doctor said, pulling her hand back with a slight smile before grabbing her bag from the floor. "I just realized I left David's gift in my office, but I'll meet you guys at whatever restaurant you go to. I suggest something with a ball room because David gets restless very easily." Considering she saw a glittery box in the bag that the doctor just picked up, Amanda knew that was a lie. However, the head of Section 31's science department had a lot of secrets that Amanda was not preview to. It was just best to let her leave.

"I'm sure David would want to see you again. And you're probably right about the ballroom. Spock was unbelievably restless at that age." Amanda said as the doctor started to make her way to the door.

"I think your daughter is the same way." She said pointing to the four-year-old who was currently removing the panel off of the conference room hologram unit before quickly leaving the room.

"T'Pay, that is really expensive equipment you're playing with. Please come out from under the table." She chastised the four-year-old before turning her attentions to her friend. "I swore I almost heard you say the word boyfriend?"

"It's complicated. He's an older guy who has a history of very complicated past relationships and I'm pretty sure he's still in love with at least one of those people. I'm not sure if he's ready for something serious. But David adores him and so do I. He offered to take him to the little Vulcans room for me."

"You left him alone with my grandson?" Amanda asked worriedly because everybody is paranoid due to the Marcus situation (and the fact that Carol and Dr. Jackson's husband were gunned down in cold blood).

"I know you're worried with good reason. But you know that neither Jim nor Spock will allow their son to be alone with anybody that they did not consider family and they would kill me if I did that. Trust me they consider my friend family, even if they may not be on speaking terms with him at the moment." Gaila said cryptically.

"You're not dating Leonard again?" She knew about that particular ill-advised relationship. He also has a history of complicated past relationships and even Amanda is convinced he's in love with someone else or rather someone else is in love with him. That particular relationship is her son-in-law's favorite thing to rant about in emails.

"No. I think Ny is finally ready to make a move. It's someone else. He is a diplomat. We've known each other for a while, but with our work life and his past relationship issues, it's been an on and off again thing. Now that we're going to be on the same planet for a while, it's on again. I said it was complicated." Amanda listened to the young woman explain as she crawled under the table because T'Pay was still on the verge of trying to figure out how the conference table computer worked.

"T'Pay, out from under the table right now." Using her mommy voice resulted in her child actually coming out from under the table. She quickly grabbed her by the wrist so that she would not get away.

"Is that an engagement ring?"Gaila asked noticing the new piece of jewelry adorning her ring finger. Really she should've worn the ring on a chain until she had time to explain what was really going on (especially after a very embarrassing conversation with Chris's boss).

Yesterday, Chris gave her his grandmother's vintage engagement ring. Alexis said that if they were going to do a long engagement, despite her legal recommendation, she needed to, at the very least, be wearing a good engagement ring. Chris agreed with her completely and presented her with his great grandmother's engagement ring the night before. Even though it would probably avoid scenes like this, Amanda couldn't bring herself to take the ring off after Chris put it on her finger.

"Mommy Amanda is marrying Admiral Daddy." The child trying to get out of her grip answered for her.

"Do quickie marriages run in your family?" Her friend asked just as her grandson ran into the room. Surprisingly enough, he walked over and hugged her. Maybe because she was so preoccupied with hugging her grandson for the first time she did not realize exactly who brought David into the room until he spoke.

"You're engaged to Admiral Pike?" Older Spock asked slightly shocked. That's when she connected everything to their earlier conversation.

"You're dating my son-I mean my son's great uncle?" She asked turning around to Gaila with David now in her arms and a four-year-old wrapped around her legs. This seems strange because said four-year-old was trying to get away from her just moments earlier.

"Who wants pizza? Pizza can make any uncomfortable situation better." Gaila babbled.

"There's not enough pizza in the world to fix this." T'Pen mumbled under her breath and Amanda agreed with her completely.

Jim was back in Earth's orbit for the first time in so many months that he couldn't even remember the last time he was near the planet, although it probably involved the 'Volcano Incident' hearings. The first thing Jim wanted to do was eat a cheeseburger. A real cheeseburger, the type that would require him to use a ton of mouthwash before his husband would consider kissing him again. (Giving Spock a hand job in the bathroom of said hamburger place was also on his list of things to do now that he was back on earth.)

Okay, the first thing he wanted was to have a non-replicated cookie, or rather Amanda's cookies. Actually, eating one of Amanda's home-cooked meals was high on his list as well, but she rarely cooked anything that contained animal products other than dairy. Okay, her vegetarian lasagna may be the food he dreams about when they're stuck on a strange planet for days at a time with nothing but ration bars and a nice warm Spock.

He wanted to watch David be fawned over by his grandmother and be plied with sweet things. He wants to see the girls be extremely excited, for Vulcans, for their presence and ask Spock all sorts of crazy questions about their missions. Okay, he was expecting to watch Spock be cussed out for the getting Carol pregnant thing and not telling Amanda about David directly, but Jim is sure the cuteness of all three children should prevent anything truly horrible from happening, in public anyway.

Instead, he was stuck in Enterprise's main conference room with the big boss, their new Admiral Kimball and Chris because their new Admiral was trying to show that he had the biggest dick. He wanted to be debriefed on the NCX17 situation immediately. Jim would rather deal with Amanda yelling at him and Spock for the David's situation. Actually, Jim would rather tell Doctor Margarita that he and Spock are pretty sure they were visited by David's dead mother the night before; especially now that they know that the USS Vengeance really does exist. This debriefing was just that painful.

Also forced to participate in the debriefing from hell was Spock, Nyota, Bones and Dr. Margarita. He tried to keep Spock out of the meeting by reminding Kimball that Spock was on paternity leave and Nyota was acting Captain, but the guy didn't care. When the guy started asking lots of questions about David and Spock's relationship with Carol, Jim understood the real reason why Spock was there. Thankfully, the Vulcan and his two doctors were very skilled at telling the guy to go fuck himself without actually saying the words.

The only thing this briefing accomplished was that it made Jim very glad that he was assigned to the Academy for the next year. Jim could already tell this guy was just as slimy and condescending as Johnson and Jackson and Jim really hoped that by the time he was back in space, Enterprise had a new Admiral. Actually, for all they knew this guy could be another crony of Andrew Marcus and he was asking all these questions for the sake of his master (because Jim was sure people like Andrew Marcus did not have actual friends).

He blames Chris for taking the Section 31 job, which Jim is not supposed to know about. It was obvious that Chris is going to be Jackson's successor. The only other logical reason for Enterprise losing Chris was if he and Amanda finally got it together. Now if that were the case, Jim would be perfectly okay with getting a new Admiral. But he doubted it because good things like that rarely happened in his life.

Currently, he was being yelled at for the biggest leak of sensitive Starfleet material in decades, now that he was no longer allowed to ask deeply personal questions about Carol and David under the guise of talking about the research facility incident. Apparently Kimball overestimates Starfleet security and believes Jim may be one of the few hackers skilled enough to break in. Jim would almost find that flattering if it wasn't so ridiculous. Admiral Kimball also conveniently forgets that Jim actually has the security clearance to access most of the files that were leaked to the press, if not need to know. Although Jim believes that both he and Spock have need to know that after the London incident Starfleet uncovered evidence that Marcus was working with Johnson to find a way to get Spock kicked out of Starfleet. Thinking about it now, Jim is sure that the volcano hearings were another attempt. In retrospect, it seems like the volcano mission was purposely engineered to make Jim do something that could get them both in a lot of trouble.

In an effort to get out of this conference room sometime today, Jim decided not to point that out or provide the guy with a list of others in Starfleet that could easily break in, starting with his husband. He also doesn't ask any questions about why Starfleet never bothered to tell Spock that a member of the admiralty was out to get him. Maybe if they had known about this, he and Spock would have started to put the pieces together and tried to contact Carol.

The bastard doesn't even have the decency to wait until they're planet-side for the debriefing on the 'NCX17 incident', not that their actually talking about what happened, but rather focusing on Spock's Academy's sex life (until the big boss put a stop to those questions after Dr. Margarita refused to answer any questions regarding her patient's health). If the bastard was going to force Jim to sit through ridiculous questions, they can at least do it planet-side in a room filled with fresh air and sunshine. Jim hasn't seen daylight since they left the planet of the damned days ago.

Also non-replicated coffee would be good. A latte would be nice, a real latte with a caramel swirl. Any food would be good right now. Jim can hear growling stomachs all around the table.

When Kimball switched his tactics to talking about the Rising Tide break in and document leak, he sent a text message to David's designated babysitters suggesting that they bring the toddler to Amanda and go to lunch/dinner without them. He also suggested lunch at the Mouse's House of Games because David was probably really restless at this point.

Okay, maybe the real reason why he made the suggestion was to get Gaila off the ship before Kimball realizes that Gaila also had the skill set required to access all of Starfleet's dirty little secrets. One of the real reasons anyway, other than getting David away from this guy, who is setting off his 'must protect my child' sensor. Jim is a little happy that he's developed that so quickly.

He honestly does not believe Gaila is responsible for the leak. First, because, they were out of communications range when the documents were released. If Kimball was not a complete idiot, he would have realized that already. Honestly, Jim is starting to wonder if you lose all common sense once you get so many stripes on the uniform. Chris, Barnett and maybe Lume seem to be the exception.

The other reason why Jim knows she's not responsible is if Gaila came across evidence of Andrew Marcus doing evil things such as arranging for the Kobayashi Maru farce of a trial or funneling money to build a secret warship, she would come to Jim first. They were best friends and she would always come to Jim first with this sort of thing. Also, if she was the one hacking into the system; she would have come to Jim for help because that's just how they roll.

Finally, Gaila loves the Federation. She may have been born a slave light-years away, but Earth and the Federation gave her freedom. The Federation gave her autonomy and personhood. She was no longer a piece of property and just a means to get off. She would never do anything that would hurt the Federation. Even though most of the documents released made Marcus look bad, they made Starfleet and the Federation in general look worse. The guy secretly built a warship and nobody figured it out until Carol went state's evidence after Marcus's pet tried to kill her and David because he was nobody's pet.

"Why does everybody automatically blame me when your computer network is compromised?" Jim asked, slightly annoyed as he avoided saying anything that will make this interrogation longer than necessary. Actually, he aimed the question at Chris because he already can't stand Kimball and his condescension. At this point he is sure the guy is another crony of Marcus, Johnson, or Jackson, despite the fact that the guy has had his position for less than six months.

"Well, you are Starfleet's resident hacker and you did break into the Kobayashi Maru." Admiral Kimball mumbled under breath. The guy was making it a little too obvious that the guy did not like Jim or Spock.

"Technically, I never broke into the system. Okay, I did break into the system because your firewalls are shit, but I've reported all the holes in the network to Starfleet IT." Jim just gave the guy his 'I can't stand you' smile. "Not my fault that they were too arrogant to take what I said seriously. If you guys were not trying to cover-up Marcus's dirty deeds, you wouldn't be freaking out about a little itty bitty leak."

There goes all his efforts not to antagonize this guy. Spock was giving him 'the glare' and Nyota was rolling her eyes at him. Oh well, at least David was probably off the ship at this point, being spoiled by Amanda.

"That's not what I'm talking about. You were planning on inserting a subroutine into the Kobayashi Maru that would allow you to win. That's not to mention the 13 times you were arrested for suspicion of hacking before you were somehow allowed into Starfleet." Jim had to choke back laughter. God, this guy was stupid, but thankfully, he stayed focus on Jim.

"Technically, I was the one who changed the test." Spock added.

"Also, since Spock designed the test, that's not hacking. That's making a better test." Jim told him, smirking. "If you want to be an effective Admiral, maybe you should not get your intel from the Academy rumor mill. Also, I was arrested, but never actually charged with any crimes." Okay, Jim was pretty sure he was bordering on insubordination, but he likes to blame that on sleep deprivation and lack of food. You try going back to sleep after whatever the hell happened last night happened. Besides, because of their procrastination Jim had a lot of packing to do.

His big boss seemed to be amused and let it go. Besides, she was actually at the Kobayashi Maru trial and therefore she was already aware of how ridiculous this line of questioning was.

"Even if I actually did break in to reprogram the exam like you're arguing which your colleagues proved was not the case, I was merely planning to protest a ridiculous test that Starfleet is not even using anymore because finally someone in charge realized asking cadets to sit through a exam where there is no hope whatsoever tests nothing except for maybe mental stability of the cadets."

"I will take that as the complement it was meant to be." The Admiral said smiling at him. "Captain Kirk has never broken into the Starfleet system with malicious intent. I doubt he is going to start now. Is there a point to these questions or are you trying to assert yourself over your new charge, because you're not doing a very good job?"

"Yes, well, the documents leaked mostly make his stepson's grandfather look bad. I'm sure that will make it difficult for David's grandfather to receive custody of his grandson."

Jim is pretty sure the guy mumbled something under his breath about children needing to be raised in a 'traditional' family. However, he refused to repeat it when Lume asked him to clarify. Jim is also almost certain his acting first officer asked what the hell a traditional family was in Romulan, but he always got that confused with his Vulcan, so he's not certain.

"You were barely a Captain by the time Johnson was removed from power and Marcus was sent off to mental health rehab. You have no idea what the man did, so I suggest you keep silent on these matters." The big boss said not at all amused. "Although your support makes me wonder if I need to have the forensic accountants look through your bank account?"

"No Admiral." Kimball said not looking at her.

"My predecessors let a lot of things go that I will not." She said harshly. "For example, they would never think of investigating why the committee gave someone like you Enterprise when it's obvious that you're not that qualified. You did make it to the admiralty quite quickly which raises some interesting questions. Marcus would never have personally looked into something like that, but I won't make that mistake." She said glaring directly at Kimball.

"Look, I really don't care what you think because you already don't like me for a reason only you know." Jim said, turning to Kimball. "Alexander Marcus is not one of the good guys, he never was. Those files leaked were all real, even if we can't confirm that to the press. However, contrary to what you assume I'm not some loose cannon slacker that is going to fuck everybody over for my own needs. I would not pull some stunt like this, just to show the world who he really is."

"I don't believe that. Everyone is aware that you only stayed in your position, which was merely to be a publicity stunt to begin with, because you were under the auspices of your mother-in-law's boyfriend." Okay, this guy was obviously trying to get fired because Chris actually looked ready to rip his head off.

Jim first realized that Chris was kind of in love with his mother-in-law the first time T'Pen sent him a file of Chris cursing out a certain Vulcan that they all hate for calling Amanda several synonyms for prostitute on camera.

"Admiral Pike is not dating my mother. They are merely good friends." Unfortunately, Spock is still slightly in denial about it. Lume actually choked on her water at Spock's comment.

"You're right. He's not her boyfriend. He's her fiancé." Chris just looked at his PADD, which told Jim that there may be some truth to what the idiot just said. Although, Jim would hope that the girls would have given him a heads up first so he could break the news to Spock gently (with a blow job). Spock just raised an eyebrow at Chris. That was never a good sign. This was going to be a disaster.

"I guess they were going to break the news in person." Kimball said smugly.

"You and my mother are engaged?" Spock asked Chris directly.

"Time and place, Spock." Jim mumbled just loud enough for Vulcan hearing to pick up before turning back to Kimball.

"I know you think very little of me, but even if I would love to run Alexander Marcus' reputation through the mud for his crimes against his family and Starfleet, I'm not going to do anything that would hurt the Federation. If nothing else, I'm definitely not going to attribute it to an organization that gets its name from an obscure 21st-century comic book television reference." Jim threw that last joke in to break up the tension. It wasn't working. Spock looked ready to kill and he means that literally.

"The 'rising tide' is a comic book reference?" Chris asked, even though he was trying to avoid eye contact was Spock.

"Sort of. It's originally from a TV show based on the Disney-Marvel comic books, you know, Captain America and that sort of stuff. But this was more like a B-side to the main cinematic universe, but eventually the Rising Tide found itself in the 616 universe." Everyone in the room was giving him a really strange look at this moment. "Yes, I am that big of a nerd for 21st-century culture, let it go. There was a rerelease of everything when I was a kid for Captain America/Disney-Marvel 300th anniversary."

Chris and the big boss just looked at each other for a moment before Chris put his head on the table and the Admiral's sighed. She did not look happy at all, but that has been pretty much a constant for this conversation.

"I understand that Captain Kirk and Commander Spock need to meet with their lawyer regarding the custody situation with young David. I suggest we end this meeting now so they have time for lunch. I believe Dr. Jackson is with Amanda at the moment. Please remind her to call me." She said looking directly at Chris.

"I will, Admiral." Chris replied quickly, which meant there was an entirely different conversation going on in the background that Jim was unaware of.

"Kimball, I suggest you schedule an appointment with my assistant." She said in a low voice that Jim could barely pick up as she walked by the Admiral in question. "You and I have a lot to talk about off-line." Kimball followed behind her.

"I think we all have a lot to talk about off-line." Jim said to Chris once the other two admirals were out of the room.

To be continued

*After a note from my beta ureeber, I thought should remind everybody that Winona never remarried Frank, even though she did go back to him. Therefore, 'lover' would be the accurate term.