Sa'ren Part I

"You're right as far as Founders go, we do refrain from killing. In fact sixty thousand years ago when the Founders were in power any Founder that committed murder was sentenced to have their mind wiped and then were sent to the moon to live out the rest of their days as a Savant for our Archive there. But times change..." Tyne paused for a moment and then looked over at Antony, "The Founder Council was overthrown, and our people then made some very interesting mistakes that cost us our standing in the world. By the time I was born Founders were already considered outcasts and we were in hiding, with most of us living here at the Ark Compound. The ideals were still the same but things had changed for us. The Council before my father's time was responsible for bringing the Moroi into this world, and the Moroi were hunting us for making them what they were. My father, however, wanted peace, and although he knew it would not work he was preparing for something... something I'm just now beginning to understand as I read through past Council notes and as I finally force myself to work through some of my own problems." Tyne looked down at the ground and sighed, "You see, my father had arranged for a meeting with the Moroi leaders, it was supposed to be to talk about a truce. Both my father and my Socius went to this meeting, and it was at that meeting spot that I found them. My father was dead when I got there and Cyna died in my arms. It's not something any twelve year old is prepared for, and come to find out that there were still Moroi waiting there to see if anyone came to retrieve the bodies they had left." Tyne started to slowly pace again, "I wasn't like my father, you see, I always held the ideals that the Moroi needed to be pushed back, not killed as that wasn't the Founder way, but something needed to be done. My father always wanted a non-violent approach. But as I sat there holding my dead Socius and those Moroi came out to get me something snapped. If you ever wanted to know what a Founder can actually do to another being, I'm afraid I know the answer. I caused them to live their darkest nightmares, I caused them to tear themselves apart. I hated them, I wanted to kill them... and I did."

Tyne stopped and looked over at Antony again, "But that's not where this all stops though. You see the Council knew what I had done. I was supposed to be sentenced and sent to the moon, or so our law stated. But I wasn't, in fact the Council didn't really say all that much about what happened other then that they were sorry. You see, the Council knew what was going to happen; they knew I was going to do what I did and that I would lose Cyna and my father. They allowed it to happen, WITH my father's blessing even. You see, they knew that I was going to need to understand what I learned from that event, they knew that in my future there would be times where I would need to be able to take care of those that needed to be done away with." Tyne smiled a little, "Family is very important. History is very important as well. But our people don't learn from history very often, but to my dismay I was expected to succeed where they could not. I'm still struggling with what I did, killing is not easy for someone that was brought up with the idea that to kill was to die from society and become... something else. I can't say that I would enjoy killing people that deserve it, but at this point in my life I am willing to let my emotions sometimes guide my actions and do what actually needs done. So from where I stand I think I can say that I at least understand your situation."

Antony nodded, his face thoughtful.

Jason, however, was looking at Tyne with compassion. "So, Founders are able to use their abilities to kill," he murmured, then, "Tyne, I understand you completely. I too can and have killed with the power I have, and in a very similar way in some cases. I ain't a Founder, so what you did is not how I do it, but the end result is the same. And the feeling after that a gift you were born with has become a weapon... tainted... that is not something a human can deal with easily. I..." he paused. "I do have something that might help you, though. Vulcan training lets you do what is logical yet keeps the child in us free from it. I've killed with my power, yet my power remains joyous to me. I... I don't know if you'd want it, but if ever you did, I could start teaching you that Vulcan mindset. If ever you are required to do something, whether by hand or mind, that is the right thing to do yet you feel it would sully you, the training will keep your soul free from it. Or if not me, then Kyle could train you on some of it. Kyle's going to get some more of the training I have soon. He has a lot, but not VSO level; and that's needed for many in his Clan now especially him, Cory and a few others. It wouldtake more trust than you have for me at present for you to learn it, so I'm just letting you know the options are there. If or when you feel you want to go for it, and we're closer, I'll be around, bro."

"I appreciate the offer, but my problems help define who I am; even if they cause me grief," replied Tyne. "I can't say that I feel tainted by the experience, at least not from a skills point of view. I'm not afraid of what I am, just what I can choose to do. I now let my emotions get involved with how I make my choices and that's what I think my people were lacking before that caused their downfall. They let the entire world get detached from their feelings, and so the world chose an extreme to help them feel again. I think I need to learn to use my emotions to help make better decisions rather than remove it from the equation; humanity is too imperfect for me to make decisions based on logic. Thank you for offering though, I know you mean well."

Jason nodded. "Agreed on humanity. I respect that, Tyne, fair enough."

"So," Antony half whispered, looking at Tyne for confirmation, "let me see if I have this right. What you're saying is that I can have my gifts opened, someone who knows can train me to not mess up with them, then, if I too find a way to use it as a weapon, you won't have a shit fit?"

"Antony, I may be the leader of our people, but you still make your own choices," said Tyne. "Had you been coming to me with this problem about a week ago I might not have been this lax about the whole thing but what this really comes down to is if you had all of your abilities, which I have no right to say you can't have, how would you feel if you had to use them as a weapon?" Tyne paused for a moment and then continued, "I can offer advice, I can help you if you need the help, but really, this choice is yours and I will have to live with whatever choice you make. And unless you choose to be placed under our government if you did encounter a situation that might cause me a problem, I really have no authority to say anything. Though I would probably express my unhappiness with the situation."

<Yes, he seems to never have any trouble expressing his opinion or mood.>

Tyne sighed, "Nobody asked you for your input, Ark."

Antony shared a long, telling look with Jason, and it was obvious they were communicating.

"I left his broadcasting on," Kyle explained quietly to Tyne as they watched the two brothers 'talk'.

"Seer," Antony said formally as he stood up. "I am a Founder, at least once Kyle does his thing. I am therefore under you as one of your people. However, I am also a British subject and member of the British Royal House, so I have loyalty there as well. Add to that, I am a sworn operative of the VSO. Vulcan and her interests are paramount.

"Since those interests include the best for Earth and our people, and since the British Royal Family feel the same, and since the Queen, my grandmother, has already said she would support the Founders when they choose to re-enter the world stage, I am comfortable and authorised to place myself under you as a member of our race, answerable to the Council. As long as the Council does not act without reason against my Family, my Royal House or Vulcan, I have no reason not to.

"That, I feel, won't happen. If ever you stood against one of the above, it would be for 'logical' reasons. I have strong doubts as to the Founders being an enemy to Vulcan nor the British Empire. We are all linked to the same brothers: Clan Short."

Antony paused again, picking his words carefully. "I would like to be counted as one of our race. I want you as my Seer. Does this sound acceptable to you, Seer?"

"That's an awfully long list of loyalties," grinned Tyne. "I don't see where any of that would conflict. So, if that is what you want, then yes, that is acceptable. That at least grants you the rights of any Founder, including Socius if you should so want it, as well as the right to council with any of the members, if not all, of the Founder Council if you should need it. That also grants you rights to live in the Ark Compound if you should ever want to."

Antony grinned back, "Can't have too many friends and brothers, Tyne! Thank you. As for Socius, I have to talk to Telez about that. We have a few kids we've adopted already, and Kyle told me about what the general feeling for that is outside of Socius. But Tel's Andorian, and his culture is important to him. He wants the Zan'Fi Na ceremony to go ahead first." He then impulsively hugged Tyne, his grin fixed in place.

"Don't forget fuzzymores!" Kyle added suddenly, giggling.

Jason raised an eyebrow in a very Spock-like fashion. "Those them lightning casting whatzits you guys have hooked into your nervous systems?"

"Hey now, don't go callin my buddy a 'wazzit'!" Kyle giggled as he petted his arm. "He didn't mean it Fuzzy!"

<They are called Phasenmorphs. They were created during the second cycle of humanity to be living weapons. I can provide more information on them if you would care to read about them.>

"Yes please," echoed both Jason and Antony in chorus. They glanced at each other and giggled. Jason added, "We read the little you put into the Clan's systems about them, Ark, but as with the rest, the info wasn't in-depth in a number of areas. We've been curious for a while!"

Kyle poked Jason in the side, then raised his arm and revealing Fuzzy More Richardson. "He wants a kiss! Say sorry, Jace!" he giggled.

Jason rolled his eyes then kissed the 'morph. He then picked up the giggling Mikyvis and did the same to his cheeks and forehead. "There, little dude; happy now?" he laughed as he sat back down with Kyle on his lap.

"If you pet him, we'll both purr," Kyle suggested impishly.

Jason did so.

It was Antony's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Ummm... that... could be interesting! I wonder if they work on half human Andorians!" he murmured to himself as Kyle went relaxed and blissed out on Jason's lap.

<They were designed for a human neuro-chemical system, Antony. For a Phasenmorph to work, it has to join with the nervous system of a human. It is not known if a hybrid between two races could join with one.>

Jason looked up, "A few tests by you would answer that, right, Ark? There's Xain and Telez who could be your guinea pigs. I'd say Joel too, but I don't think he'd be ready for all this yet."

"Heeeeeeessssss ...... nooooottttttt...." Kyle moaned.

Jason started to wonder at that point. "Um, Kyle, sweetie? Won't Ty be all pissed off if you get off on my lap by my doing this?" he asked with worry. "I can face anything, but I have no chance against a pissed off Mikyvis angel if he thinks I've done things with his husband!"

"Itttt..... doooooonnnnn'ttttt.... feeeeeeeellllll..... gggooooodddd..... tthhhhaaaaaatttt..... wwwaaayyyyyyy....." Kyle replied in bliss.

"You could have fooled me," Antony said in awe as he watched the 'disabled' Mikyvis become even more limp on Jason's lap. He turned to Tyne and commented with a giggle, "One of the most powerful beings in creation, and he's owned by someone petting his purring bio-weapon! I'm scared, are you?"

"Only if it causing him to relax his bladder," replied Tyne. "I don't want to have to explain why we need the council chamber cleaned."

Antony giggled, "You're the boss, boss. The answer's easy; don't explain!"

"Yeah but Ark would rat me out," grinned Tyne. "All they would need to do is ask her what happened."

<Excuse me?>

"IT! Sorry, I meant 'it' not 'her," Tyne said quickly.

Antony smiled, "Draco is easy to get on with. He's a Vulcan 12yo mental aged AI who likes being human. We'd end up having our beds transported out into the pool if we called him 'it', and he'd giggle the entire time!"

<Well, I am glad that he enjoys being assigned a gender, but I have never claimed one. I just do not understand why everyone keeps insisting that I am female.>

Through Jason's communicator, Draco replied, 'But Mama Ark! You're voice is so motherly! Besides, I was just an AI. I was modelled as 12 years old to interact with the sprogs and especially Jace, but I chose my sex... so nerrr!'

Jason held up his hands. "Don't look at me, Ark! I'm staying outta this! You know the way to Wales; spank him!"

<I can not physically DO anything, though I would certainly like to. So help me, if I ever find a way to have a physical form you are all in trouble. As far as what I CAN do, do not make me black out half the planet to get my point across.>

"I can help, Ark!" Kyle giggled from Jason's lap.

<That is not needed, Kyle; thank you for the offer.>

'Transferring core commands and memory algorithms to Yoshuhlnak... transfer complete. Wales could do with a black out, Mama Ark; help yourself!'

<The only person I have ever been a parent to is Nyo, and I do mean parent not mother. I find you are all rather upsetting. So, if you are all finished, I have better things to be doing with my time then argue gender.>

"Draco! Say sorry right now, or you know that lovely Clan Computer Voice they have in Orlando...??" Antony said with some small heat.

'You wouldn't!!'

"Try me," Antony grated. "Teasing is one thing, hurting Ark's feelings is another. Say sorry right now!"

There was silence for a moment, then, 'Tony's right... 'm sorry, Ark. Was only messin'. Sorry...'

<I miss the days when it was just Nyo and myself, then at least there was no one talking back to me. One of these days one of you is going to need something from me and I will give you what you have coming to you. That being a smart reply, followed by a laugh.>

Tyne frowned, "He said sorry."

<I know he did. But I do not like being challenged about who I am in my own home. I can forgive, but I do not have to pretend that it does not upset me. I have earned that much.>

"No one ever said that you didn't," replied Tyne.

<Good. Now, is there anything else you need, Seer?>

Tyne shook his head, "No Ark, not right now."

Antony looked at Jason and received a nod. He then addressed his communicator, "Draco, you will place yourself back in your Nest core and think on what you've done here. We'll have a long chat once I'm back from the Ark Compound after my training. You have that long to think, reflect, and explain to me what you have discovered."

'... yes, Tony...' came a surprisingly tearful reply before the comm went silent.

Jason caught Tyne's odd look. "Draco looks to Tony as a father figure. It'll be okay, and Ark will likely get a proper apology and promise of better behaviour. The day he modelled himself after Belar now seems to be a bad one." He then turned slightly and addressed Ark, "I'm sorry too, Ark. I won't tease you again about your gender or lack thereof - unless you are in a teasing mood and start it, of course."

Antony sighed briefly, then turned to Tyne and asked, "How will this work? Once Kyle opens my mind, what's the game plan for training and the rest?"

"Well, you'll definitely need training, and the sooner the better," replied Tyne. "If you wait too long, you could end up in the state that Kyle found himself in when I came across him. You could end up either hurting someone else or you could get lost in your own mind. Neither of those is all that much fun. Its up to you as to whom you want to train you, but I'd recommend Kyle, Levis, or myself. Depending on what you plan to do with these skills right now, will probably determine which of us I'd actually recommend though."

Antony nodded and thought for a second. He glanced at Jason with question. Jason shrugged, "Your choice, bro. I cannot act here, other than be your brother. Grandfather said for me to leave the 'Commander' at 'home' for this choice."

Antony nodded again and faced Tyne. "I won't ask for anyone to train me to use the skills as a weapon. I'll likely find that on my own as you did if required, and I would not want that on another's conscience anyway; especially not yours. I need to learn to control it, to live with it, to not hurt myself, nor others unknowingly and to put it to the best use for myself and my brothers."

"That's reasonable enough, though I wouldn't know how to teach you to use it as a weapon anyway; it's more of a feeling then a learnable thing," Tyne said as he walked over to Antony. "I can at least give you a basic lesson now, if you want, and then you can either choose to come back and I will train you myself, or you can go to Kyle. I at least want to be the one to help you cover the basics so as to avoid problems that Kyle may have not had himself."

Kyle nodded his head in agreement. "I don't wanna mess up either; I like you, 'Tony, and Tyne knows more than I'll ever know about bein' a Founder. I didn't get much time as one before my body decided to go into overdrive!"

"Okay, I'd like you to train me first anyway, Tyne," Antony smiled, "but first, Little Angel?" he looked at Kyle.

Kyle giggled, "Just say when, and the doors will be unlocked."

Antony glanced nervously at Jason who stood up and placed Kyle on his feet. "I'm here, bro," Jason said as he took Antony's hand. "Just as I promised after..." he paused and shook with fear briefly before continuing, "...just as I promised. I'm always with you."

Antony smiled with understanding, and with his own remembered fear making him shake, he trembled to Kyle, "Wh...when."

Kyle nodded his head; and Jason took in a breath and closed his eyes quickly. He trembled for the briefest of seconds before smiling, "Woah, I was right, Tony. Your mind is amazing!"

Kyle shot Jason a look, "You okay, Ja... you're in Tony's mind, aren't you?"

"Yes, but I'm anchored; this is fantastic," Jason grinned as he opened his eyes, which were now glowing brightly and bathing Antony's face in a subtle sapphire glow.

Antony smiled back at him, "I like this. Okay, Tyne, I think I can be trained, now," he finished with a slight giggle.

"And I'll withdraw for the training. Don't want to mess things up," Jason said as his eyes returned to normal.

"Tyne, you think I need to give Jace some help so that he can keep from getting lost in the big empty space that 'Tony calls a brain now?" Kyle asked. "He's worse than a blond now!"

"You can teach Jason whatever you want, Kyle, just as long as you both stay out of his head for this," replied Tyne. "Because of his age, I'm already going to be using a very different method to do this, so I'm not sure if what I'll have him doing could hurt you or not if you're in his mind."

"I'm more worried about it hurting him if I'm in there," Kyle replied seriously. "Okay Jace, you ready to learn Advanced Mind Mapping?"

"If it's anything like mapping my own mind, this should be entertaining. At least all my rooms and areas are in the present; mapping future and past areas is going to be cool," Jason giggled.

"Oh, that reminds me," Kyle added, "Tyne, I don't know if you guys down here have noticed yet, but future scanning is rather blocked right now. I'm getting a blank wall about two to four weeks ahead, and I can't be any more accurate than that. What about you?"

"Odd boy this Kyle is," said a boy, who was dressed in black robes, that looked very much like Tyne that had suddenly appeared in the room. He walked up and stood next to the real Tyne. "He has no idea of what he speaks, thinking that a Founder mind couldn't still hurt his. And who does he think he is to think that we haven't already seen this wall of which he speaks."

"Well, we weren't entirely sure that it wasn't just us," said yet another boy, who was dressed in white robes, that looked like Tyne that appeared in one of the Council chairs nearby. "But this does confirm what we were afraid of. I think we would have rather been sick than find out that something is coming."

Tyne cleared his throat, "They can see you."

"Who are you talking to?" the Tyne in black asked.

"You," replied Tyne.

The Tyne in black looked at Kyle, Antony, and Jason, "Oh, so."

"Wait, why can they see us?" asked a little boy, who also looked very similar to Tyne, that just appeared behind Tyne and was peaking out from behind him.

"Because I'm going to have you help me train him," replied Tyne. "He's too old for me to just instruct him, so while I instruct, you three will be keeping a watch on what he's doing."

"Why does Reason get out of helping?" asked the Tyne in White.

"Because I need him in my head watching out for me," said Tyne.

"Right," White replied. "I suppose that's a good idea."

"Wait, why does this seem like something we've read about," said the Tyne in Black.

"Because it is," replied little Tyne. "Our father wrote a paper on this. We are each going to be instructing Antony while in each of those parts of his mind. The information will unify in the present and he will better understand the terms and meanings that Tyne needs to tell him."

"Oh, well, THAT sounds easy," the Tyne in Black said sarcastically.

'Kyle, please say this is normal, or do I have to unleash hell?' Jason sent to his little friend as his eyes blazed into blue brilliance and he automatically prepared his powers for battle.

'Relax you must; normal it's not, functional it will be,' Kyle replied in his best Yoda imitation, obviously having enjoyed the movie a bit too much.

Jason suppressed a giggle and quickly sent a mental hug to Antony. 'Okay, my little not-green-yoda-like angel. Now, for the mapping stuff?' he sent as he tickled Kyle's ribs lightly.

Kyle giggled. "Listen closely, must you; important lesson this be."

Jason picked up the now giggling Mikyvis and moved away from Antony and the Tynes so that they would not be disturbed. "Okay, angel. I'm listening, but tell me; how does your equally angelic husband cope with a funny little munchkin like you all the time?" he asked teasingly, kissing Kyle's forehead.

"He wuvs me!" Kyle exclaimed between giggles.

Jason smiled and regarded his little friend seriously. "I'd be surprised if he didn't. Come on then," he murmured as he sat down on the far side of the Council chamber with Kyle on his lap, "let's be at this training; oh, but there is one thing; I guess you saw my fear earlier. When I showed you my mind on Sunday, there was one area blocked. If you saw inside, then please say nothing to anyone. It's stuff that you can only know if you're under a Red One code and NOT wanting to join the VSO. We can't have details of the Trial of Fire getting open. If it does, my life is forfeit. I'm just saying, as I kinda now guessed you might know."

"I know nothing; I've been taking lessons from the blonds!" Kyle giggled, giving Jason his answer without answering him.

Suppressing his sudden tears and fighting around the lump in his throat, Jason murmured, "I love you, sweetheart. Thank you."

Kyle kissed his cheek, and then began to quietly teach him about a Founder's mind.

---

Meanwhile:

"Rusty?"

Rusty looked up from his third slice of wedding cake. "Nathan, right?" he asked with a smile.

Nathan nodded, "Yuppers! I've just got a message from Jason. He said that Tyne is doing the basic training with Tony right now and might be a while. Depends how quick Tony is, on this stuff. He said he'll be back when he can, but for you not to worry."

Rusty giggled, "I have cake, brothers to talk to and more cake. I'm good. Thanks, Nathan."

"Call me Nath', and I think I'll join you in the eating of this wonderful cake. I'm gonna have to get Tommy to cook for my birthday party next year!"

---

Allen and Teri left the Kitchen and walked into the Rec Room to watch all the children and teens playing. Teri scanned around the room looking for her newest child, only to have her heart melt at the sight of him cuddled into Cory's arms, again fast asleep and sucking his thumb contentedly.

"I think Joel's found a favourite nap spot," Teri commented softly.

"You think? Look over on the opposite sofa, Teri," Allen said, just as softly.

She did, and saw Kevin doing the same thing on Sean's lap.

She smiled, "Awwwwww...."

"I think that whatever happened earlier wore them out," the Doctor said from their side as he looked up at them both. "You know, changing the Future is tiring work, and all."

"And a certain ten-year-old should be getting cuddles as well," Teri said as she turned and lifted the Doctor to her hip. "Besides, this way I can keep track of you."

The Doctor giggled, "I'd swear you didn't trust me, young lady!"

"She don't," giggled Jay as he Folded in next to Allen, only to be scooped up and cuddled over the man's hip.

"I wonder what would give you that idea?" Teri chuckled.

The Doctor didn't answer. He just snuggled into her arms with a contented smile on his face. "I can deal with this type of 'distrust', lover-boy," he murmured eventually to his Bonded.

Jay was nearly purring, "Same here. Oh, Dad is asking if he can come out now? You said he had to remain hidden 'til Joel knew who you were."

"Is this Universe ready for an Immortal, Teri?" the Doctor asked her seriously.

"And he means that word, for no other is as Dad is, Mrs Short," Jay added just as seriously. "Even a Mikyvis can die; Dad can't, not yet anyway."

"We could use an immortal parent to help keep up with you guys!" Teri chuckled. "Tell him I said he's late for his grand opening appearance."

Joel woke with a start as a deep toned, modulating thrum ran out through the room. He focused his sleepy eyes at the blue Police Box that started to appear in the corner. "The TARDIS!!!" he yelled happily, waking Kevin in the process.

The Tardis' door opened and a man stepped out. As soon as the door had closed, the Box vanished with the same thrumming sound. Everyone in the room looked at the newcomer, waiting to see what happened next.

"Jack Harkness?!" came Joel's gasp. "It's Captain Jack, Cory!!"

"I give his opening a seven; he should have used some lightning!" Teri said with a smile as she moved towards the newcomer. "It seems Joel is doing introductions, so you can just stay where you are, little man," she kissed the Doctor's cheek.

The Doctor giggled again.

"I see the oldest being in Time and Space has found someone to cuddle him," Jack said with a laugh as he shook Teri's hand. "Captain Jack Harkness, Time Corps. You must be Lady Teri Short of Vulcan, Director of Federation Youth Services, correct?"

"Dad, she's not interested. Stop hitting on her!" the Doctor giggled.

"What? I was just being friendly!" he protested.

Joel sniggered.

Teri chuckled. "You'd run anyway once you found out how many kids I have!"

Jack grinned, then winked at her, "I'm making a collection myself. Besides, although you are a completely stunning young lady, I have my Ianto; he's inside reading stories to the horde."

"I wonder which one of us has more!" Teri chuckled. "I think there might be one slice of cake left if you want to grab it before a kid does!"

"I couldn't," Jack said jokingly as he looked about at the children and teenagers relaxing and patting their over taxed stomachs, "I couldn't take food from such a large group of starved children!"

Joel sniggered more, then got up and pulled Cory behind him to meet Jack. Kevin and Sean watched from the sofa; they were just too full. Kevin especially was having a hard time with that fact; and only Sean rubbing circles into the smaller boy's stomach helped. Joel had kept feeding him, and he had wanted each mouthful, even though he knew it was just too much for his small appetite.

"Come on, Cory!" Joel was saying as he yanked his beloved big brother after him, "You'll like Jack; he's funny!"

"I'm still getting used to you knowing people you're just meeting here, Lil'elf!" Cory giggled as he let Joel lead him to Jack.

Jack smiled as they came within hugging reach. He pulled them both in and held them for a moment before saying, "Glad to finally meet you, Prince Cory. I've 'read' so much about you!"

Jay started laughing as he managed to say, "Yeah; Dad was laughing like mad when you and Sean were helping repair Ark..."

"Ummmmm...." Cory replied as he blushed at the memory. "Someone wrote that down too?"

From the supposed safety of Teri's arms, the Doctor started to list off, "In the shower the night before you met JJ; the morning Timmy caught you both; the..."

"DUDE! Not around MOM!" Cory half yelled with even more of a blush spreading over his body.

"What they talkin' 'bout, Cory?" Joel asked with concern at his brother's reaction. He turned more and took the blushing teen's hand and squeezed it gently.

Teri was in the middle of tickling the Doctor to 'avenge' her blushing son when Joel's question came. She stopped and looked at Cory seriously.

Fighting with his blush, Cory brought Joel into a full hug and whispered briefly, "Nothing you need to worry about, Joel. I... I don't want to frighten you again."

Joel suddenly trembled. "Oh... th...that," he whispered. Then, "I'll go cuddle Sean so... so you can... I..." He pulled away and turned to run towards his other beloved brother.

Cory pulled him back. "Nope -- YOU are more important than avenging the munchkin in Mom's arms for discussing things he shouldn't," Cory replied as he picked Joel up and put him on his hip.

The Doctor was shame-faced, "I'm sorry, little one; I forgot. Even Time Lords forget. I'm so sorry."

Joel tried to smile, yet failed. "S'okay," he whispered sadly. "It's not your fault I'm a baby about... about... sex..." he managed to force out before looking in terror at Teri.

"No more than a lot of the other kids here when they first arrived, son," Teri replied softly. "It will take you a while to adjust to life here and how different things are; we all understand."

Joel's terror decreased. This response was not what he had anticipated. What replaced the look of fear, however, was a profound look of loss; and neither Cory nor Teri could explain it. Joel's lips moved as he breathed out something, but no-one, not even the Doctor caught what he said.

Teri had read his lips, however, and replied softly, "I'll bet when the time is right, you will too."

"How?" Joel started to sob, "a...and even if I c...could, I'm not allowed... I d...don't have the r...right..."

He hid his face in Cory's neck, then, and bit his lower lip hard. 'S'not fair,' he thought to himself. 'Just not fair.'

Cory found, to his surprise, that he could hear Joel's mental mutterings. He looked over towards Levi and saw the boy nodding seriously at him; so that was the reason for the added ability that was not truly his own.

'You're allowed anything you wish, Lil'elf; you're my brother now,' Cory sent back softly.

Joel's face came up quickly and he stared in shock at his brother, 'Wh... how'd you do that? Can you hear me?'

Cory nodded as he kissed Joel's cheek.

Joel bit his lower lip again, hard enough to draw a small flow of brilliant green blood. 'You're... you're not reading my memories, are you? Please... don't look there... don't want to say yet... please don't make me...'

'Your memories are private, lil' brother; I just hear when you talk.' Cory replied.

He received a kiss for his answer, and when Joel pulled back and snuggled back into his neck, the others could see that a small drop of green was on Cory's cheek.

Teri moved over and saw the bleeding from the corner of Joel's lips. "Sweety, please let me look in your mouth," she asked him. Once Joel opened his mouth, she took a brief look, then signalled Doc Austin to come over.

"What's wrong?" Joel asked with puzzlement.

Cory replied, "You just cut your lip, biting it."

"Oh," Joel murmured, bringing his fingers up to check, and then looking at them when they came away green. "... don't feel it... I never feel little pain any more... not really..."

'That will change as your mind adjusts to your new home.' Cory sent lovingly.

Joel held still as Doc Austin ran a regenerator over the small cuts inside his mouth, then he smiled at Cory. So, his brother could read his thoughts? Maybe... just maybe...

'Cory, I...' Joel thought, then sent all that the Fire and Heat he felt for his big brother at him, before finishing, '...you.'

'I love you too!' Cory sent back, pushing his love back with it.

---

Jack Harkness, his son Jay, and the Doctor had moved off to teach the youngest members of Clan Short and Clan Evans one of the oldest games in the Universe. It was one of the oldest, confirmed the Doctor, as he played it when he was a little boy, and that was over seven billion years ago, relative to current time of course.

The kids soon found out how fun yet complex a Time Lord game could be; but its difficulty was a part of the fun. Once it was no longer difficult, you had grown out of playing it, yet had learnt everything you could from it.

Timmy and the rest were going ape.

Allen and Teri watched from the sofa while Joel was snuggled happily between his big brothers with his best friend in a death grip.

"So," Allen smiled at them, "What do you think, Joel? Shopping a good idea?"

"You're gonna let ME shop? I get to pick stuff... for me?" he bubbled out in stunned joy.

"Yes!" Gabe replied as he, Travis, Davey, and Jimmy joined the group. Davey and Jimmy both had the same look of shock on their faces as Joel.

Joel looked at the two smaller boys. "You never been shopping neither?"

"No, sir," Jimmy replied politely.

Joel's face registered shock. "Sir?" he asked as he looked up at Sean. "Why's he calling me 'sir'?"

Sean smiled. "Because you have not given them any reason not to respect you, little brother."

'Also, their ex-parents brainwashed them so badly that they couldn't even dress themselves.' Cory added. 'This will be their first shopping trip, too.'

'... why are there parents in this fucking universe who are doing that! Adam's was the same... it's not RIGHT, Cory! Even where I was, parents LOVED their children... only orphans like me had it bad...' Joel's anger blazed for the first time in his life, shocking both him and Cory. Tears soon followed, though. He wriggled down and moved over to the two boys by Trav and Gabe. "Can I... can I hug you?" he asked them, tears standing in his eyes.

After getting approving nods from Gabe and Travis assuring them it was safe, both Jimmy and Davey agreed to the hug.

Joel noticed. As he started the three-way hug, he whispered to them both, "I'm like you. I can't do stuff for myself either. I'm a... I was a slave. I don't belong to me. I have to check with Cory and Sean too, like you just did with... your dads?" They nodded their cheeks against his, so he continued, "But... but I've managed to make a few choices myself today. We can help each other, if you like..."

Joel's voice started to alter slightly. Only Cory, Sean and Kevin noticed, though. His voice took on a more adult tone... a female adult tone.

"I'll be here to help you, young ones," he said without hearing himself.

Joel shuddered for a second, then regained his senses. Jimmy and Davey looked at him as the three small boys were still in their cuddle. "Will we be better? I want to be," Jimmy asked, and Davey nodded his agreement to the question.

A look of determination came over Joel as he said, "We all will."

Everyone in the room shivered slightly, and Levi rubbed the sides of his head briefly before he and all the gathered Mikyvis casually walked to the Doctor to touch him.

"Be glad Doctors still make house calls!" Teri chuckled, knowing it was an inside joke the Doctor and the Mikyvis would get but no others would.

The young Time Lord giggled, but Joel looked at them curiously. "What is that shiver that keeps happening, and why'd Levi look ill?"

The Doctor's eyes went unfocused for a second, and Levi's began to glow. They looked at each other, and the Mikyvis nodded.

"You are stronger than you know, Child of Vulcan," the Doctor said finally, facing Joel. "Your love keeps changing things around you, and those changes give those of us with the ability to sense Time a bit of a headache. They are good changes, though, so don't stop. Your heart is greater than you know, Joel."

After regarding the Doctor impassively for a moment, Joel finally nodded. "Oh..."

"It's okay, big brother; you're reminding us that we're human as well as Mikyvis. It's a good thing," Tyler added.

Everyone just stood or sat there looking at Joel as he pondered this new information. Finally, he gave Jimmy and Davey one last 'extra special hug' before pulling them over to his big bros. "They give great cuddles," he told Jimmy as he easily picked the boy up and sat him on Cory's lap. He then did the same for Davey and placed him gently on Sean's lap, before clambering up and cuddling in with Kevin between the other four.

"Wow, you're strong!" Davey said in shock after Sean's open arms were accepted for cuddling.

"Vulcan," Joel grinned.

'Huff, huff, huff.'

"I-Cheya!" Teri yelled as a wet nose touched her neck.

'Huff, huff, huff.'

"You need cuddles too?" Teri chuckled.

The still huff-laughing Sehlat plodded around from behind the sofa and placed his head in Teri's lap, his tail wagging furiously. I-Metri, his mother, watched for a moment before grabbing the next available Rugrat for cleaning: Belar, this time. Teri watched in amazement as the massive she-Sehlat effortlessly stripped her 'prey' and began the bath.

Belar went into hysterics.

Timmy looked up from his part in the Time Lord game they were still playing, "My turn next!"

I-Metri huffed slightly, and then Timmy found himself scooped up by Marjur.

"He don't need more excuses to streak," Cory murmured as he watched the tee-shirt with "Belongs to Ricky" go flying.

Allen laughed. "Well, I'm ready to go for this shopping trip, so if the groups have decided who's going, we can leave in thirty minutes."

Gabe nodded, "It's a large group, but we'll split into two teams once there, Uncle. We'd over-load the mall otherwise!"

"I think they can handle your little expedition if you follow that plan!" Teri giggled.

Cory smiled happily, then looked at Sean, "Come on, let's get ready to go, love. I don't think we'd blend in while in these outfits," he laughed, pointing at his white uniform.

Allen smiled and quickly said, "There's no need for you two to come as well. Telez said he'd come with us, since he's linked to Joel too."

Cory smiled and looked at Joel, "I like that idea; that way Joel can surprise us with all of the nice clothes he's going to pick out."

Joel and Kevin gave him matching grins. Jimmy, still snuggled happily on Cory's lap, added, "We'll help him, Uncle Cory; and he'll help us too!"

Gabe smiled, "Okay, guys. Let's get ready. Meet you in thirty, Uncle Allen?"

The man nodded, and watched as Gabe and Travis guided their sons from the room, after Joel had received another round of hugs.

"Need to go to the bathroom," Kevin murmured as he slipped from the sofa. "Poppa? Is Kenny coming too?"

"No, he and Rory need some alone time, little one," his father answered peacefully.

Kevin nodded, then ran out quickly.

Allen stood up and was about to leave to get the last few things ready when he felt his hand taken. He looked down, then knelt to be on eye level with the tiny Vulcan, "Yes, Joel?"

"What do I call you?" Joel asked shyly.

Allen smiled again, "Anything you want, sweetheart. Allen, Uncle, or even dad or pop; I don't mind."

Joel smiled, then looked at the bathroom door that Kevin had just entered. Turning back and curling his arms around Allen's neck he asked, "Poppa? Can I call you 'Poppa' too?"

Thickly, Allen answered, "I'd be very honoured," as he picked up the waif and held him tight before sitting him on his own hip. "Poppa it is... Little Heart."

"Why'd you call me that?" Joel whispered into Allen's ear.

Allen smiled, "You're the smallest Vulcan with the biggest heart that I know, Joel; my Little Heart."

---

"Jace? JAAAACE!!!!"

"I know that voice!" Cory giggled as he ran back inside CIC after waving Joel off.

Kyle appeared at his side and laughed as well, "Yup! I think it's the Terrible Twosome!"

"CORY! KYLE! YIIIIIPPEEEEEEEEE!!" came another yell as the blond patriarch and his little brown haired God-powered brother got pounced by blond haired, blue eyed eight year old twins. Both small boys had tears running down their faces, yet happy, wide grins were clear to all present as they picked an old friend to get their long awaited snuggles from.

Sean had followed Cory back in, and stopped with a giggle as he saw the situation. "Let me guess; friends from the Home?" he managed to say between the giggles.

Cory and Kyle both nodded as they cuddled their respective twin. "Hey guys; how you been doin'?"

"We have been..." one twin started.

The other finished, "... missing you like crazy!"

"I still can't tell you apart!" Cory giggled.

"This is Drew. You have Davy!" Kyle giggled as he gave his old friend a kiss on the cheek.

"You always knew..." Drew started.

"... how to tell us..." Davy continued.

"... apart," Ross finished as he ran over to join his big brothers in the cuddles. "Told you, didn't I, Davy? Drew? They hav'n't changed at alls!"

"Yeah! You're our favourite..."

"... Cory and Kyle!" the twins bubbled together as they got up and helped their friends back to their feet.

Cory giggled as he picked up Davy, "I'm gonna keep you right here so that you guys don't switch on me!"

Davy giggled, then sobered. "You can tell us apart easy now."

Drew added as he was being held from behind by a grinning Kyle, "Yeah. Show 'em, bro."

Davy pulled the high neck of his polo-shirt down slightly, and revealed a deep, wide scar running across his throat.

Cory winced. "I better not ask how you got that; I might have to kill someone. I liked it better when I couldn't tell you apart. How badly do you want to keep that scar?"

"I don't," Davy murmured as he covered it again. "It makes me sick to look at, and it feels funny alla time. I don't like looking different to my brothers. And don't worry... Korris and Jace; they... they gutted the bastard..." he finished with a whisper. His voice was a mix of horror, fear... and anger.

Cory frowned. "Kyle, either you fix it or I'll find one of your kids to do it."

Kyle nodded. "I'll do my best bro."

Davy looked at Kyle with hope, "I... I didn't wanna ask or nuffin'... I... I just wanted ta see ya, not ask favours and such... but..."

Cory kissed Davy's forehead. "You stop worrying; you're one of us, and we take care of our own."

Kyle came away from Drew and pulled Davy into a tight hug. "Just relax. Let me try," he whispered as both boys started glowing with purple energy.

A moment or so later, and the glow faded. Drew, unable to wait for his brother to build up the nerve to check, came over and yanked off the polo-shirt, leaving Davy in his Spiderman Tee-shirt. No scar.

Davy's hands were all over his throat, then he and his twin were squashing Kyle in a hug so tightly that if Kyle had been human, he would have stopped breathing. "Thank you thank you thank you..." both boys bubbled over and over again.

"First thing's first," Jason giggled from the doorway, "you four git to the kitchen where cookies, brownies and drinks are waiting. Then you sit and talk for a while. You'll only have 30 mins, though lil' bros. We have a task waiting for two Teeps in Utah. You'll get more time tomorrow, though. I'm having you both on detached duty here for a few days... surprising how that worked out, no?"

Sean looked at Jason with sad puppy dog eyes. "No cookies for me?" he asked in a whining tone.

"You great goof! Go follow your piece of cute stuff," Jason laughed as Cory and Kyle took off with the twins and Ross towards the kitchens at warp speed 10. "As if anyone here would deny you anything..."

"Goof?" Sean muttered as he started to walk past Jason with forced dignity. That all changed rapidly as Jason found himself tossed over Sean's shoulder, with the inside of his knees being tickled unmercifully.

"I'll show you 'Goof', Limey!" Sean added as he walked into the kitchen, Jason crying with mirth and begging him to stop.

---

Kevin was grinning at Joel. Watching the excited Vulcan try and see everything possible all at once through the limo windows was better entertainment than a good movie. Every so often, as they were travelling through Orlando, Joel would whisper, "Wow, that's cool!" or something to that effect. Kevin would squeeze his hand in response, which in turn prompted Joel to kiss him again.

"I think you do that just to get kisses," Jack Harkness laughed to the brown haired boy, making him blush and nod.

For some unknown reason, Jack had said he would join them. Allen had not objected once he had realised that he would have been the only adult on this trip.

'Huff, huff, huff.'

"I-Cheya, stop laughing," Joel giggled, his face still pressed to the window.

Thump, thump, thump.

"And stop hitting Poppa with your tail!" he added, giggling more.

"How did this Teddy-bear get in this limo?" Jack asked curiously, as he scratched I-Cheya's ear.

Allen laughed, "It was a tight fit, but Sehlat's look bigger than they are, around the middle. Their fur and natural body fat, you see."

'Huff!'

"He wasn't saying you're fat! He was saying you're cuddly!" Joel giggled again.

'Huff, huff!'

"Seriously! I think you're cuddly, and I don't think you're fat neither!"

'Huff, huff, huff.'

Jack laughed, "You know, I almost understood that."

Blackie was sitting on Jimmy's lap watching all this and laughing in his wolfish fashion: his tongue was lolled out of the side of his mouth and his eyes were dancing. Then, he turned and bathed Jimmy's face thoroughly.

"Where're the Cats?" Jack asked.

"Other Limo with the other kids. Getting Cub here into this one filled their spaces," Telez sniggered, earning him a tail thump from the cub.

"I-Cheya! Play nice!"

'Huff, huff!'

"No, you can't eat him; blue don't taste good!"

'...huff?'

"No, I-Cheya!"

"We're here," Kevin said through his laughter as the Limo pulled into the parking lot of the Florida Mall.

It took less time to exit the two limos than it had to fill them. I-Cheya was the reason for that, for he chased everyone out of the first, before ambling over to the other and doing the same.

"I give up!" Joel giggled, as he and Kevin stood by Allen and helped Jack to stand.

Joel looked around at the group as they all gathered, or were herded by the cub, together. Gabe and Travis stood next to Justy and Dean and were quietly laughing at the excited cub, while Jamie and Jacob led Jimmy and Davey over to the large bear to climb onto its back for a ride to the door of the Mall. John and Luke Grant stood by the two adults and the four G-Cats, chatting about what to do first.

The G-Cats were standing quietly while the others were chatting, their hoods from their robes pulled up and their faces in shadow.

Jack noticed and tapped Allen's arm. "I think these guys need to loosen up a bit," he murmured quietly to Allen.

Allen nodded and moved to pull the four Cats in closer to himself and Jack. "You're not having fun like the others, guys. What's wrong?"

"We're on guard duty, sir," Mercury explained. "We're Joel's guard."

"And we're on general duty," Artemus added. "We're trained to not draw attention to ourselves."

Allen smiled. "How old are you?" he asked gently.

"I'm 12, and the others are 10; or at least that's our physical ages," Aphrodite said shyly as she looked up at him.

"You're children. You should be playing like the others. That is what people will expect from children, and it will draw less attention than being quiet and hooded," Allen said quietly as he knelt down to look up and under their hoods.

They all blinked at him sadly. "We get stared at in public, Uncle Allen," Artemus murmured quietly. "We don't like being looked at as freaks."

Jack also knelt down and smiled gently, "Look around you. Tell me what you see?"

They did. Near the door to the Mall an Andorian family were entering with their children, and just coming out were a few Denobulans with a mixture of children from many alien races. Mercury nudged the others and pointed to where a human boy of about five had fallen and skinned his knee. The child was being helped by a Vulcan who was healing the wound with a dermal regenerator. The Vulcan then watched as the child got up, hugged him and ran over to his quickly approaching parents. They smiled, thanked the Vulcan, then moved away.

No-one seemed to be paying the slightest bit of notice to race.

"This is Orlando, kids," John explained as he came over with his younger brother, Luke. "This is the main South Eastern Centre for Starfleet. Aliens are seen all over."

"But we're not aliens," Mercury whimpered as Allen lowered his hood gently.

Allen shook his head, "We know, but to anyone who doesn't, that's how you look. They won't even think much about it, other than trying to work out which world you are from."

Mercury started to smile, his teeth gleaming in the afternoon sunlight.

Hermes lowered his own hood, and his sisters copied him. "What about our training? We're not to draw attention to ourselves."

Jack chuckled, "You have the Secret Service here, don't you? The ones who protect the US President and government?"

"Yeah," they all chorused. Artemus added, "They are the best trained security agency Earth-side. Not in our class, but the best at what they do."

"When the President is giving a speech, then he's in a suit, and so are they. When he's playing golf, they are dressed, look and act like golfers. If he's in jeans and a tee-shirt at the beech, they will be too," Jack explained. "So, if those you are guarding are playing, shopping and having fun, then the best way to be 'one of the gang' and blend in, is..." he trailed off, and simply looked at the cats in a leading fashion.

"To play and have fun and shop," Mercury finished slowly, his eyes growing wider. "That way we jus' look like kids and then if something happens, we'd surprise the perps and no-one will expect us to be guards," he finished with an excited rush. "We get to have fun an' play and still look after Joel!"

Jack nodded, "Yep. Now I'd normally say to get out of those robes, but I know from the Tardis Records that G-Cats prefer going around in their fur only. You're not in clothes under those robes, are you?"

"Nope," Hermes giggled, "we're really stand out if we did go in the fur!"

"Hardly," Telez giggled as he came over, "look there." He pointed at another alien family walking into the Mall. They were covered in fur, fairly long, yet it was easy to tell the difference between male and female. "If a race don't wear clothes then they don't have to. Most who join Starfleet learn to, as even on their own space fleets, they know going without protective coverings is a bad move, but on a planet with a mild climate? Do as you want, guys."

Artemus pondered that. "Mmm. No, we're on guard, and we are armed. Heavily. If we were not on duty, then... maybe. No, we'll keep the robes. There's lots of other aliens wearing robes so we won't stand out that way."

Jack nodded, "Sounds like a plan, then. Okay, go and play; have fun, yet you're still able to guard."

After listening to all this, Blackie looked up at Joel, Ready?

Joel nodded, and so the wolf pup ran over and nipped at Jack's leg.

"I think we need to go and stop talking," the man laughed.

Allen agreed, "First, we get the guys inside, then we can split the group in two. Let's give Joel, Jimmy and Davey some time together before we overpower the stores!"

They made their way to the doors, but entry inside started out as a near no-show.

"No pets... weird ones included," the security guard said, looking at the large bear-like Sehlat disdainfully. He spared a glance at the kids gathered near and around the cub, and his lip curled at seeing the four G-Cats and the Andorian. Joel received not a second look, however, as his curly hair was settled back over his ears and eyebrows. "Offworlders think they run everything," Joel heard him mutter as he raised his walkie talkie to his mouth to call for assistance.

Allen came forward and started to speak to him, "Sir, the Sehlat is on guard with this group; and we called ahead to ensure his presence would not cause a problem with the Mall management. We were given permission."

"Like hell," the guard replied. "I am not allowing animals inside, especially freak ones and wolves."

"He's not a freak," Joel muttered loudly, yet he was half hiding behind Kevin.

Kevin, for his part, was getting pissed off for the second time that day.

Telez beat the angry eleven year old to it. He opened his Vulcan robe and let it fall to the floor, revealing his VSO dress uniform and rank insignia. "Sir," he started respectfully, yet with an authority he had earned, clearly heard in his voice, "I would imagine you recognise this?" He pointed to the collar of his uniform, and the Commander Insignia.

"You're playing dress up; what of it, kid?" the reply came.

"No, I am not," Telez answered coldly. "I earned this rank and the right to wear the Black of the VSO through blood, sweat, fear and pain; and by this authority, I supersede yours. However, regardless of the rights I hold over even the President of the United States, neither I nor my companions have attempted to pull rank. We called ahead, we cleared this expedition, and your bigotry will not get in the way. Now, I demand that you call your commanding officer to come here, before I dispense summary judgment for standing in the way of a registered Federation envoy," Telez ordered as he walked to stand directly in front of the man.

The guard's face grew red in anger. "Get lost, kid, and go play your games elsewhere. I'm talking to this man, not some snot nosed blue-skinned freak."

Jamie and Jacob started scanning at this point, while Jack Harkness moved forwards angrily. "Hey, less of that. He is a Vulcan Commander, and you will obey his commands regardless of your lack of respect."

The guard's hand moved to his gun, "You better back off; backup is on the way. I knew you lot were going to be trouble."

Telez was seething, yet not from the insult given to him. Jamie had just dumped a massive amount of information into his mind. They were now updating the rest, barring the three boys that the trip was for. "That does it," Telez spat, as he raised his right arm and pointed his clenched fist at the man. "I am arresting you under the Authority of the VSO. If you attempt to fight, you will be stunned."

The guard drew his gun and laughed shortly, glancing back over his shoulder for his backup.

Travis pulled his boys in close and turned to protect them with his back, while Gabe moved in front of them and placed himself facing the guard. He also raised his hand, palm open, and pointed it at the guard.

Jack pulled his own gun out and levelled it, "Do as you are told, son. On you knees; now!"

"Fuck you," the guard spat as he turned back to face Telez and Jack. He was quick; quick enough so that two shots rang out. The first bounced off the shield around Telez and went of harmlessly to the side. The other, however, took Jack directly in the heart.

The thump of Jack's body hitting the floor was loud, and everyone gasped, even Jimmy and Davey who did not even witness it. Everyone except Joel; he just grinned knowingly.

The shots had another effect, however. Those who were carrying weapons all pulled them clear and trained them on the man and started to pull their triggers to fire, but they were all slower than Telez and Gabe who already had their arms extended towards him.

The whine and blast of the wrist mounted VSO phaser on stun, plus the crackling, yellow electrical discharge from Mario the Phasenmorph were quiet compared to the stunning noise from the glass-door that the guard was standing in front of. The reason for the stunning noise was due to the shattering of said glass door due to the force of said 200 pound guard being flung through it.

"Prick," Telez said.

Gabe spat out, "Scum."

Allen was nearly having kittens by this point as he was shielding Kevin and Joel from harm.

"Umm... Poppa? Is it okay for me to say 'Fucking Hell'?" Joel whispered to him as he tugged on the speechless man's hand.

Allen just nodded, and so Joel said it.

Hermes moved to Jack's body and mewed sadly. "Not again. Can't we just have one day without this shit?" he muttered, his mewing being heard in his voice.

"He's not dead," Joel said quietly.

They all looked at the Vulcan. "Joel," came Mercury's puzzled response, "the bullet went through his heart. He's dead."

"Nope. He's not. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..."

Jack gasped and sat up, making all but Joel jump a mile.

"Told ya!" Joel smiled. "He's Jack; He's immortal!"

"Bastard! He ruined my best shirt!" Jack yelled, throwing the bullet to one side that had plopped out of the now sealed hole in his chest. "I'm going to kill him!"

Joel looked at Telez and Gabe seriously. "What did he do? Why'd he act that way?"

Jamie came forward and answered for them, "Me and Jacob were scanning him, Joel..."

"... and he's a sick, bigoted pervert who's abused kids a lot before..." Jacob continued, looking with disgust at the prone man lying amid the shattered glass of the door.

"... and last night he hurt a boy so badly that he died and then he dumped the kid's body out in the country." Jamie finished.

Joel's eyes went flat in anger and fear, but the anger was winning.

Telez was currently talking into his comm while Gabe had run inside to identify himself to the fast approaching guards and even one police officer. "Confirmed, Lieutenant," Telez was saying, "One man, and on the word of two Vulcan registered Teeps, he is sentenced to death for child molestation, rape and murder. Oh, and the attempted murder of a Clan Short associate."

Close Eyes I-Cheya sent to Joel, Jimmy and Davey. They obeyed quickly; Joel hiding his face in Kevin's neck, while Travis had his two boys still cuddled to his chest.

Vengeance! Joel heard in his heart as I-Cheya sprang forward to land heavily on the unconscious man.

A large gasp came from the assembled onlookers. Even Telez was in shock momentarily. "Uhhh... make that one corpse. Please lock onto the Sehlat and dead body, beam them on board and clean up the cub. He's needed back here... once he's finished his lunch."

---

A short while later and a rather happy, full and cleaned up Sehlat appeared out of a Vulcan transporter beam. The kids all turned to look at him briefly and waved before turning back and throwing more questions at the Immortal in their midst.

'Huff... *BURP*... huff'

Joel, however, continued to look at his cuddly friend with a new found awe. He shifted slightly on his perch on Allen's lap and asked, "Uh... enjoy?"

Righteous Vengeance. Good

"Then say 'excuse me' when you burp. It means it was good food," Joel said seriously.

Just as seriously, the Sehlat answered, Evil man. Not good. No say

Joel pondered that for a moment. "Hmm... 'kay, that's logical."

---

Teri's House:

"Roger that, Telez," Jason said as he closed the comm. He looked at Brant, "I don't believe this. Where's Cory and Sean?"

Brant, his eyes still wide, mutely pointed through the window in Teri's kitchen towards the teen's house.

"Mmm... if they're 'busy', then it can wait," Jason half smiled.

"Unless they include Timmy and Ricky in their 'fun', I don't think that's a problem," Brant managed. "Come on."

They left at a run, Jason's mother and grandmother watching curiously.

They got to the house and started checking the backyard area that contained the mini-golf course. "Cory?" Jason called.

"In the rest-stop. Join us?" Sean called back.

Brant grinned. "Nothing like giving serious news when naked in a pool," he giggled as he pulled off his clothes and ran over.

Jason shrugged, hovered, stripped and then levitated the rest of the way before plopping down next to Timmy and Ricky. He was in the pool less than two microseconds when both rugrats decided he needed their cute presence and cuddles.

Austin giggled as he splashed Brant, "About time you joined us, bat-boy!"

Brant rolled his eyes, "How many times do i gotta say it... I can't turn into a bat; that is movie stuff, Mr. Roboto!"

"Yep; and that is why it's so much fun picking on you with it!" Austin replied as he pulled Brant into a hug.

Jason grinned, "I think little Joel is going to have fun with you, Brandar." He looked at Cory, "Has Joel been told that vampires are real yet?"

"Not yet; Brant promised to let me know when Joel was ready," Cory replied.

Jason nodded, "Good idea. I'm finding it most interesting, personally." He looked at his new friend fondly and reached out and pulled Brant over to help him give Timmy and Ricky hugs. "Love those old myths, and to find they're real; bonus! Plus, your mind still blows me away, dude," he finished with a giggle.

Brant blew a raspberry at him, "Call me Brant, Jace; or you're my next lunch victim!"

Sniggering, Jason agreed quickly. He then turned to the smiling Cory and Sean; and sighed. "As nice as this is, we have something to report; and 'cos it involves a few of your Clan guys and your 'Lil'elf', you need to be in the know even though Tel has... cleaned up the 'problem'."

"And you wondered why I passed on going into a public place with that group?" Cory replied semi-seriously.

"I wish I had gone," Jason murmured. "Umm, lessee; you know that I-Cheya is wild, like his mother? His dad was too, so totally wild?"

Cory nodded.

"Do you know what wild Sehlat's would eat?" Jason asked.

"Anything that doesn't eat them first?" Sean giggled.

Jason half laughed, "They share the top of the food chain on Vulcan with one other creature, and no, not Vulcan's. They are what we'd call man-eaters; or Vulcan-eaters. Well... let's just say that Tel and your twin wonders found someone who ended up sentenced to death... and I-Cheya decided he was hungry..."

"No, we are NOT related!" Brant exclaimed with a stern look at Austin, his smile giving away the humour in the thought he had picked up.

"And the boys the shopping trip was for have responded, how?" Cory asked seriously.

Just as seriously, Jason replied, "I-Cheya told them to look away, and Blackie kept their emotions normal. The three of them are okay; a little shocked as are the majority of the customers at the Mall, but okay. In fact, I-Cheya was beamed to my Interceptor and cleaned up; he's back now and being cuddled by all three of them. There's no damage, Cor, but you'll certainly have three boys with an adventure to tell once they return!"

"Exactly HOW did this 'person' get detected and intercepted?" Austin asked, obviously deciding to give his parents a break and take charge himself.

"The security guard on the door started acting the prick, not letting them take the animals inside with them, even though we'd received clearance. Then he started showing his bigotry against aliens, so Jamie and Jacob started scanning... he had abused many kids in his time, and the last one, last night, died of it and he had dumped the body out in the sticks. May even be near here for all I know. He then resisted arrest by Tel, shot Jack Harkness in the heart, then was stunned; then eaten. Anyway, I have two teams looking for the kid's body now. Least we can do is give the poor thing a decent burial," Jason replied sadly.

"Jack is dead??" Sean asked in shock.

Jason, forcing some humour into his voice, replied, "Nope. You really need to watch 'Torchwood' and 'Doctor Who', Horsey-boy! Jack's Immortal, and just a bit annoyed at his shirt being ruined!"

Sean grabbed Jason and pulled him over, tickling him without mercy. "I think you need a bath, little brother!" he quipped as he started dunking the smaller patriarch.

Bryce and Xandor, seated outside the pool and snuggling, looked over to them. "We'll go help your teams, Jace," Bryce said before both ported away quickly.

Sean let Jason up for air, then squashed him between himself and Cory, "Keep you out of trouble, Mister."

Jason rolled his eyes as he spat water out of his mouth. "Okay, sending to Nathan that Bryce and Xan are authorised to help; as if they need authorisation." He sighed slightly then and pulled Cory's arm around him tightly. "That poor kid," he murmured, his forced good feeling vanishing.

"Was this guy in it alone?" Brant asked, obviously not happy. "If not, I'd like to take the cub out for a night-time stroll."

Jason's face grew set, "No. And it's personal to two of the little ones with the shopping group; Jamie and Jacob... he was a part of the group that included their bastard 'caregiver' who 'used' them. We have a couple of teams on the investigation into the FCC, and one is in the area. I got them investigating this as well; they're led by Ollie and our Psy-Corps."

"Good; while I don't like to feed, I've decided after what I've seen recently that there are times where my species is useful. I think the Cub and I might make a good team when I need to help with taking out the trash," Brant spat out.

Jason smiled thinly. "If you want to join in with the group, then contact Ollie and Draco; you'll get transported to where they are. That's up to Cor... I mean Sean, though. You're in charge, dude; what say you? Fancy letting Brant here go for a joint operation with Ollie and the Corps?"

Sean looked at Brant curiously. "It's nowhere near time for you to feed yet; what's up bro?"

"Sean, I know that I shouldn't need to feed for a couple of weeks yet, but all of the stress from the attack has messed me up and I'm getting hungry already. I know the telepaths told me that they'd help locate someone who deserve a death sentence, but I still don't feel right doing it. If the Dragon guys are on a Search and Find mission, then if someone gets the death sentence, I can at least do part of it," the young Vampire explained to Sean softly.

Sean nodded. "I trust you, bro. Don't push yourself though; remember that helping sentence three people can do your body just as much good as draining one."

Timmy looked up at Brant and smiled. "This mean you're gonna stay wit' us, Unca Brant? You ain't gonna sun-'west like you was gonna do?"

Brant held out his arms, and Timmy jumped into them. "That's right, Munchkin; I'm gonna hang around my new family here. I've got one of my reasons for hanging around sitting on my lap right now."

Timmy smiled as he snuggled into Brant, wordlessly expressing his approval of the decision.

Jason grinned happily. "Once I get the message from Ollie, I'll send you to be with him, Brant. If I-Cheya is back as well, then he can join in if he fancies a nibble."

---

Florida Mall:

"It's all settled," Telez reported to Allen as he came back from his talk with the gathered police and Starfleet security detail from the Hood. "Two Dragon groups have been dispatched to find that poor child's body with Bryce and Xandor helping, the orphanage he was in is being contacted, and the police are beginning to accept having a self-feeding Sehlat on their side. We can shop, now."

"We only just arrived, and we have a drama; I'm nervous," Jack half whispered to Allen with a smile.

Allen did not trust himself to answer that, and so he just rose up and placed Kevin and Joel to their feet.

Aphrodite and Artemus, sitting on I-Cheya, giggled. "You guys get fun days out; we have to do this a lot."

Jimmy and Davey looked at them, then each other. "Pop, is it going to be like this all afternoon?" Davey asked Gabe quietly.

Gabe smiled, "No, I don't think so, sweetheart. Come on, let's go shopping."

They moved out of the café and made their way to the nearest children's clothes store and entered. Strangely enough, the other customers gave the Sehlat leading the procession with his two feminine feline riders a wide berth.

Jamie and Jacob glanced at each other. 'I wonder just how much he can eat?' Jamie mused.

'I bet we find out... that is if the other pervs we heard in here have not run for the hills.' Jacob replied with a small smile.

Growing. Still hungry they both heard as I-Cheya turned his head to wink at them.

'Good; I think I recognised another one of my ex-father's friends in here. I'll let you know if I find him again,' Jamie sent back seriously.

I-Cheya stopped to let the twins draw alongside his head. He gave each a lick. They both felt a warm peace enter their hearts as he sent, Vengeance Mine, I repay The voice they heard this time, however, was overlaid with the weirdest sound of rushing waters.

Both boys hugged the living Teddy-bear and kissed his muzzle. "Thank you," they whispered in chorus.

Joel, meanwhile, was standing with Allen, Kevin, Jimmy and Davey at the racks of jeans and running his fingers over some of them in awe. "I get to pick?"

"Sure you do. The three of you," Kevin smiled. "Trav? Can you help your boys? I'll help my best friend!" he called with a happy smile.

Travis laughed and came over.

"Don't let the selection blow your minds; just look at one thing at a time and it'll be easier," Travis explained to his shell-shocked sons. "There is only one rule; you are not allowed to look at the price tags."

Joel had already looked at the tag on a pair of very soft jeans that had felt especially comforting when he ran his fingers over the material. His face paled. He placed the pair back on the rack and turned fearfully to look up at Travis, "S...sorry. I didn't mean to, sir, but I did look at that one."

He then closed his eyes and half cringed in upon himself, waiting for what he knew would happen.

Travis leaned in and kissed Joel's forehead, "That is not a rule you can be punished for, Joel; what it means is that you pick out what you like, no matter what the price is. If you don't look at the price tag, then you don't worry about spending too much."

Joel opened his eyes and regarded the boy. "Okay... Travis," he said meekly. "I'm sorry... You're nice and I sh...shouldn't have thought you'd beat me."

Travis hugged him gently, then picked up the jeans that Joel had been wondering over. He handed them back to the Vulcan and asked, "You liked these?"

"Yes. Soft," Joel answered as his timid smile grew.

"Then they are yours," Travis grinned. "Come on, Kev. Get your cute butt in motion and help your boyfriend!"

Joel blushed deeply. "He's my best friend," he murmured.

At the same time, Kevin had also blushed scarlet and said the same.

"Yeah, uh huh," Travis giggled as he smiled and turned to help his two boys.

"Why don't they believe us, Kev?" Joel asked his furiously blushing friend.

Kevin shook his head and grinned shyly, "Maybe 'cos I love you and 'cos you love me; and they see it."

Joel looked sad for a second. "Do I? I feel Fire, but..."

"I know. Don't worry, Jo'; I understand. Come on, let's look for more jeans."

"But I've already picked one," Joel spluttered.

Allen laughed lightly, "You need more than one set of clothes, Little Heart."

Joel's eyes grew wide... and he turned to start examining some more.

---

"That's cute!" Kevin giggled, "Literally!"

Joel grinned as he tried on the tee-shirt. 'If you think I'm sweet, gimme a kiss!' was printed in large font on the front.

"About as subtle as a shovel to the face," Jack laughed, "But yes, it's totally you, kiddo!"

Kevin proved it by landing a smacker on Joel's smiling mouth.

Jamie and Jacob were laughing at the sight of Jimmy and Davey in identical tops, each saying 'I'm with stupid'. The only difference between the tops was that the arrows under the writing were pointed the opposite way. They stood side be side and grinned shyly at the rest, with Trav and Gabe standing next to them. Davey then whispered to his brother, and they swapped places; thus the arrows were no longer pointing at each other, but now at their parents.

Tickles were the result of that act.

"That's sweet! Their first act of rebellion... it only gets worse from now," Jack whispered to Allen.

Allen nodded, "I hope Gabe and Trav can cope!"

"Jo', you can't..." Kevin started but was to late to stop his friend from stripping down to try on some boxers.

Joel looked up, "What?"

Artemus grabbed a beach towel from the nearest rack, threw another to Aphrodite and together they used them to screen the two boys from view. Aphrodite was giggling like crazy, while Artemus eyed up the now naked Vulcan. "Pity you're gay, Joel; you're real cute!"

Joel blushed, but continued to try out the boxers. Kevin, however, just mentally agreed with Artemus.

Allen sighed, "This store will never be the same again."

---

As the group left the store, arms full of bags of clothes and not all for the three main shoppers, for they had all seen something they fancied, they decided to split up. Artemus and Aphrodite elected to go with Gabe and Travis' group, while the Cheetahs, who were specifically assigned to Joel, obviously stayed with him.

"You want to get together later, Joel? We can compare what we found then!" Davey bubbled happily.

Joel nodded, "Deal!"

Jamie, Jacob, Travis, Gabe, their two boys, Dean and Justy moved away with the two female G-Cats, John and his brother acting as their guards.

Moments later, two stores in two different areas of the Mall started to experience the havoc that could be unleashed by a Clan Short Shopping Trip.

Half an hour later, and now with even more bags, Joel and company rested and ate ice cream. Telez giggled, "I'm having this lot beamed back to the Compound; I'm not up to carrying much more!"

"Good idea," Allen said as he broke the conversation he was deeply into with Jack. "Then we can continue; I'm just glad I'm not paying for all this!"

"Can we visit that one, Poppa?" Joel asked, pointing at a book store.

"Sure, Joel," Allen smiled down at the boy just as all their shopping vanished into the transporter beams.

Books. What seemed like miles and miles of books.

Joel was nearly catatonic from information overload.

Then he went still.

He found the religious section. On display, for all the world to see, were books and scriptures from any and all religions from around the world. Even a few from alien cultures.

His eyes found one item in particular; a Special Edition New King James Bible, bound in soft leather with gold leaf writing on the outside.

He lifted it down from the shelf in wonder and gently opened it to read a few lines. "Same," he whispered, tears beginning to run down his face. "It's all the same. It's... it's beautiful."

Kevin gently took the heavy Bible from his now sobbing friend and, without Joel noticing, he handed it to Allen with a wink. He then moved in and guided his friend to the floor to sit and cuddle as Joel let his emotions run their course.

Blackie and I-Cheya moved over with Mercury and Hermes and together they all cuddled around the two small boys.

---

"Vulcan clothes?!" Joel gasped as he was led into the next store.

Telez giggled, "Yeah! I thought you would like this. It has everything from the other Federation worlds, and even from the Klingon Empire." He then pointed, "Your people's stuff is over there, Joel."

Joel went slightly bonkers, and it was a sight that brought joy to Kevin and the rest. After three minutes, however, Kevin found himself wishing he had stayed outside, as Joel had insisted that his best friend get matching clothes, and so had stripped the brown haired boy and handed him clothes to try on.

It was the first time Joel had seen Kevin completely naked, and he just stood there staring.

The two Cheetahs pulled out the two beach towels that their sisters had used and then bought for this type of thing and played 'shield' while Joel and Kevin eventually dressed. They had to be reminded as they were just looking at each other happily.

Half an hour later and two boys dressed in identical Vulcan attire, left the store, being followed by two cheetahs dressed in Klingon Battle-Armour.

"My tail is squished!" Mercury mewed plaintively.

Hermes nodded, "Yeah; this needs adjusting, like right now!"

Telez crawled out of the store after them, howling in mirth.

Blue - Take Puss-Cats to Ship Blackie nudged the hapless Andorian as Telez rolled onto his back, laughing madly.

"Wis...Wisdom to Y...Yoshuhlnak," he gasped into his comm.

"Receiving, Commander. How can we assist... again?" came the neutral response from the ship.

"Nine to... to beam on-board," Telez managed.

---

Cory's Backyard, Seventh Hole Rest Stop:

'Jace! We found him... he's alive!' Nathan sent to his husband excitedly. 'Thank GOD that Bryce and Xan were here. He and Riti were flying and Xan saw the boy's foot sticking out of a bush... He was close to death, but Bryce is truly another angel. He's okay!!'

Jason slumped in the water, and only Cory's quick grab at him stopped him from banging his head on the side in shock. 'Bring him here, love! Ask Bryce to do the honours!'

"What's wrong?" Sean asked in worry.

"They found the 'body', only the kid's alive! I'm calling Viccy...That boy's going to need emotional healing, and we don't call my sister 'Heart' for nothing," Jason murmured, his face filled with joy and relief. His eyes shone briefly.

"S'okay, Uncle Jace; I'll fetch her!" Levi smiled as Viccy appeared, dripping and with shampoo in her long hair.

She looked around, then down at the boys in the rest-stop pool, shrugged and hopped her naked self in there to rinse her hair. "Okay," she said as she came up from rinsing, "What's the emergency, Leev?"

Brant giggled, "I'd have thought you'd have freaked at that, Vic. If I'd have been ported naked into a group of girls, I'd be having words with Levi!"

She giggled and shrugged again. "One, most here are gay, and so I just look pretty to them and nothing more. Two, I'm not Tony; shy ain't my middle name. Three, what's wrong with my cute bod, Bat-boy?" she giggled finally, showing that Jason had already caught her up on current issues.

Brant stared at Austin, "I need to ask Uncle Marc about reprogramming you... to a toaster!"

Before Austin could make a come back, Bryce ported in, bringing Riti, Xandor and Nathan with him. Cuddled securely in Riti's arms was a tiny little boy, no more than four of five years old. He had strawberry blond hair, and vivid green eyes... and there was something oddly familiar about him.

"Oh crap... I know that brain signature..." Austin stated in shock.

"I agree Austin... there is only one family with that signature..." Brant added.

"Uh huh," Nathan nodded. "He's related to our two newest N-Gens." Nathan glanced down at the shocked look on Cory's face, "This is Jamie and Jacob's brother; half brother."

"Do they know about him?" Cory asked, concern in his tone.

Jason's eyes went unfocused for a second. "No," he said finally. "But I-Cheya is going to deal with that right now..."

---

Florida Mall:

"Ahhhhh! That's much better, now my tail ain't half shoved up my ass!" Hermes sighed in relief as they all appeared in the food-court of MacDonalds.

Joel was still in Allen's arms, crying with laughter, and Telez had only just finished breathing into a brown paper back to stop his hiccups of mirth.

"Battlecats... HOOOOOO!" Justy exclaimed as the groups rejoined, causing a whole new round of giggles.

Joel fell out of Allen's arms as both he and the man dissolved afresh. I-Cheya saw this coming and was already lying on his back, so Joel landed limply on the bear's furry tummy.

Hermes and Mercury struck a battle-pose and growled at them all, before falling over laughing as well.

Jimmy ran over to the still giggling Joel and said, "Wow, you look great! Look at what we found!"

Joel pulled himself together enough to examine his new friend's track-suit and sneakers. He started giggling again, for both the top and sneakers had the Thundercats on them.

I-Cheya started huffing slightly just then. He rolled over and got up. Moving over to Jamie and Jacob, he gave each another spirit-healing lick before simply looking into their eyes.

"A... we have a little brother?" Jamie whispered in awe.

"Ummm... what... we WHAT!" Justy exclaimed as he rushed over to pull his two little brothers into a hug.

Blackie nipped at Justy's heel, and then stared up at the fourteen year old for a moment.

Justy tilted his head, "Oh shit... remind me to burn I-Cheya's sh... faecal matter for my own revenge on that bastard."

Allen spoke seriously, then. "Listen; we can continue shopping here. You four," he pointed at the three brothers and included Dean as well, "need to go back and meet that poor boy."

Joel nodded, happy tears leaking from his eyes, "Yeah. He needs great big brothers too, just like the ones I have!"

"Go on, Uncle Justy; Joel's big teddy-bear will protect us," Davey added, Jimmy nodding his agreement.

'Huff, huff, huff.'

Dean, Justy and the twins suddenly vanished, leaving behind a shower of golden sparkles.

I-Cheya turned and sent, Mikey

Allen smiled at the gathered boys, "Okay. Now that the cats are no longer meowing at us about their tails," he tickled Mercury behind the ear as he said it, "we can get food. If you will tell either myself or John what you want, we'll order it for you. It'll be easier than all of us lining up."

That made sense, but Joel was still completely lost as to what he should or could order. Kevin smiled at the confused look on his best friend's face. "Poppa? Can you choose something you think Joel'll like for him, please?"

"Sure thing, Little One," Allen smiled at his son before looking at the Vulcan cuddled into his arms, "I think we'll try you on a Big Mac meal first, Joel. But if you don't like it, just say."

Joel nodded his head with relief. "Don't worry, Poppa. I never waste food."

Allen came over and knelt down to look him in the eyes, "That is a good thing, Little Heart, but you don't have to eat something that you don't like the taste off. Unless it is medicine, then food should taste nice; okay?"

"Okay, Poppa," Joel murmured with a quick, happy hug around Allen's neck.

John and his brother were giggling when they got to Allen. John sniggered, "The cats are arguing. The cheetahs want to try something, but it's still not evening, and their sisters are telling them to just have some milk."

Allen turned and beckoned them all over. "If you ate now, boys, what would happen?"

Before either of the cheetahs could answer, Artemus spoke up, "They'd eat like starved pigs, make a mess, likely put the squishies off their food, and then sleep... for HOURS!"

"But we can TASTE something! We won't get sleepy with JUST a taste!" Hermes shot back at her.

Allen tried and succeeded in holding his laughter. "Ladies and Gentlecats; I know a little about cheetahs in the wild, and if there was a little food about they would pig out on it. But, if you promise to only have a patty each, I don't think it would harm. Just don't start going on a hog-frenzy and steal everyone else's, okay?"

Artemus rolled her eyes. "Me and my sis will make sure of that, Uncle Allen."

Hermes and Mercury blew them raspberries and went over to sit near to the Sehlat and wolf pup. "Blackie will want his cooked," Hermes called over.

I not hungry I-Cheya sent a second later.

Allen murmured under his breath as he turned to join the line, "Not surprised!"

Ten minutes later and they were all eating. Again, Kevin was seated next to Joel, and each boy's arm was around the other's waist. Joel was happily stuffing himself with the fries, and pausing every so often to pop another one into Kevin's mouth. He then opened his burger and looked at it curiously; his nose sniffing on overtime. "Mmm, smells okay," he murmured and took a large bite.

A few bites later, he offered it to Kevin.

Kevin tensed up slightly, and Joel felt disgust roll off him through their contact. "What's the matter?" he whispered to Kevin.

Kevin looked at Joel seriously. "I don't eat much, Joel; but I like it when you feed me... but I can't eat that."

Joel placed the burger down into it's box. "What's wrong?" he asked again.

"Bad memories," Kevin said slowly, not wanting to explain with everyone around. "Burgers make me feel sick if I think of eating one. The bread, the tomatos, that's all okay, but not the meat. Not in that shape."

Joel hugged his friend tightly. "You liked the meat we had at lunch time, yes?"

"Yeah, that's okay. I'd eat burger meat as well, but not in... not in that shape. Bad memories," Kevin answered into Joel's hair as he enjoyed the hug.

Joel pulled back and smiled again, "Okay. I don't wanna force ya if you don't like something. I'll eat the meat thing, and you can have some of the veggie stuff?"

Kevin smiled widely, "Okay. And those fries are good too. I like them."

Joel looked down. "Oh... um, they're all gone... sorry, Kev..."

Allen, seated next to Joel, smiled. "Don't worry, Little Heart. I'll get you some more."

Joel smiled up at him then turned and kissed Kevin on the lips. He then giggled once the kiss broke; for he popped a tomato slice into Kevin's mouth immediately upon doing so.

After chewing and swallowing, Kevin murmured, "Love you, Jo'."

Joel grinned more, and hugged him again - telling him the same, just through actions instead of words...

---

Cory's Backyard, Seventh Hole Rest Stop:

The boy was sucking his thumb while sitting on Victoria's lap. She was humming an old song quietly as she pulled a comb through the naked boy's shoulder length hair as they both relaxed in the pool with the others. Her 'magic' had worked, and the fear and horror the boy had been radiating was gone, replaced with peace and wonder. Riti was sitting on the edge and rubbing the boy's back in slow, easy circles.

The boy was beginning to feel safe now, as well.

Jason looked at his sister and winged brother. "Are you two thinking what I think you're thinking?" he giggled.

"Nope. We've thought what you think we were thinking. We're doing," Riti replied as he spared one eye to glance at Jason. "I'm a dad, and no one is stopping me!"

The boy sucked his thumb harder as he smiled around it upon hearing that.

Victoria continued to hum contentedly, a mysterious smile on her face.

"I've brought some clothes like you asked, Vic," Koth called out as he came around the side of Cory's house, "but why... do you... well, I'm a Targ! You're adopting?" he trailed off as Victoria sent him her mind-burst.

"Yes," she whispered, kissing the boy's cheek.

*Suck - suck*

"Awww! He's cute, all right! Reet, bro? Congrats! I couldn't think of a nicer Mam and Dad for him!" Koth bounced happily, dropping the clothes onto the 3rd hole starting area. He ran over and yanked off his shorts before joining the rest in the pool. "Hey, little guy; I'm your Uncle Koth!"

The boy regarded him for a second, took his thumb out of his mouth long enough to give a Timmy-Class sloppy kiss to Koth's lips, then...

*Suck - suck - suck*

"When can I teach 'em to pounce?" Timmy asked eagerly. "Allie's comin' over to meet 'em too. Wasshis name?"

"'m Ather," the boy said around his thumb.

"Arthur?" Cory asked.

The boy giggled. "No silly!" he said as he pulled his thumb out of his mouth again. "'m Asher!"

"Kewl! I'm Timmy, this is my Daddy Cory an my Poppa Sean an my big bro Austin an my boyfriend Ricky an our Uncle Brant. Here comes Allie to swim wit' us; you'll like her, she's nice," the Fireball rushed out excitedly as the 'gator slid into the pool easily and settled near an empty side to watch.

Asher's eyes lit up and he grinned at the two munchkins, then reached and patted Allie softly on her snout.

"How old are you, Asher?" Koth asked as he stroked the boy's cheek gently.

Asher held out a hand and tucked his thumb in. "'m dis many!" he said proudly.

A shower of golden sparkles was the only warning those in the pool had for the arrival of four more bodies.

"I'm going to find a way to kill a Saint; I swear it," Dean muttered as he clambered out and started removing his soaked boots and clothes.

"Nice aim, Mikey!" Cory giggled as he looked up.

"What do you mean?" came the reply. "I was trying to get them to land upside down!"

Austin giggled, "They musta used cat genes when they made the Vifers, then."

"Ha ha, nephew," Mikey's voice echoed as Austin found himself upside down in the water, his bare butt breaking the surface.

"Ewwww -- Android butt!" Brant giggled as he helped Austin back upright.

"Who're dey?" Asher asked, pointing at the twins who were trying to get their clothes off yet remain in eye contact with the tiny boy. "Dey looks like me!"

Bryce giggled, "Let me help you, Uncles!"

The four new arrivals found that their clothes were piled up on the side, then, and were instantly dried. The twins rushed over and stood at Victoria's knees, just looking at their little brother. "We're... we're your big brothers," Jacob said happily, his voice squeaking with emotion.

"Really?" Asher bubbled. "I has big brudders?"

"Yeah; we kinda didn't know we had a little brother either until a couple of minutes ago," Jamie replied as he took one of Asher's hands.

Jacob took Asher's other hand, then clasped free hands with Jamie. Their actions were unconscious, yet the results were visible to all present. A blue spiral of energy began building around them; at first it was a few wisps, but it steadily built up until it was a globe which lifted them up and enclosed the trio.

//I Bind thee together, and never shall ye be parted, one from the other. Distance and Time mean naught; thou art one... Time, Love and Blood! Thus saith Forever//

The Doctor's voice came from nowhere, then, "I Attest to the Binding of Time."

Levi spoke up, "I Attest to the Binding of Love."

"I Attest," came a new voice, one that only Levi recognised, "to the Binding of Blood."

Forever spoke again, //You cannot be unlike your brothers. Power like Power, Heart like Heart, Love like Love//

The power then radiated out and enveloped Jason, Nathan and Victoria. Surprisingly, Justy and Riti were also included. They were all drawn into the sphere of power with the other three.

//I name thee the Ka'Inri, the Mind-Walkers. Wield thy Powers with Care, Love and Justice//

The power slowly vanished, and all the kids involved were gently lowered back into the pool.

"Well..." Cory started to say, but stopped. What could be said to that?

"Ka'Inri," Jason mused. "N-Gens. Well, we now have a name... I'm guessing we're a species, or something?"

Levi giggled at him, "Nope, still Intermediate. You guys are just something else, including all N-Gens that ain't here."

Jason nodded, "I agree with Sammy's attitude. I just like being me, so that's okay then."

For the next few minutes they all remained quiet as Jamie and Jacob remained in a cuddle with Asher, the three mentally spending that time getting to know each other, both past and present.

Meanwhile, Riti had moved over to Jason slightly. "What was I doing in all that?" he asked in concern.

Jason turned to face him, and then gasped.

Riti's eyes were glowing blue.

---

Florida Mall:

Jimmy, Davey and Joel were dribbling, and it was not because of some delicious looking food... but over the Mac Pro with a 30 inch flat-screen on display. "I... I've never seen one so... so..." Joel whispered.

Kevin giggled and looked up at his Poppa. Allen bent down and whispered, "Note taken, we'll get Gabe to grab one for each of them later."

Standing taller, Allen got Joel's attention, "Come on, Little Heart. We still have a few places to go."

"Okay, Poppa," Joel whispered as he moved towards Kevin, his eyes still fixed on the Mac.

Gabe grinned at Allen. "I think we'll head off that way," he pointed, winking at the grown-up.

Allen nodded, and took the little Vulcan's free hand. "Come on, Joel. Time for a hair cut."

Joel gasped and started to tremble.

Kevin whispered to him comfortingly, "Don't worry. They won't hurt you, and I'll have one too."

Joel nodded numbly.

His fear did not last long. Soon, he and Kevin were side by side having their hair washed, and Joel was nearly purring at the attention of the hairdresser.

"What would you like?" she asked him as he sat in front of the mirror. "A normal Vulcan cut?"

Joel grinned, shocking the teenage hairdresser. "My hair's curly; I don't think it will stay in that shape."

"Mmm," she murmured, "You're not a normal Vulcan, are you?"

"I've never been trained... I don't know who my Vulcan family is..." Joel whispered a bit sadly.

"Aww, don't worry, sweety. My uncle's in the Fleet, and I know what they're like," she said. "They'll find them for you. Now, I think I can get your hair partly like a Vulcan's, but it'll still be curly. At least people will get to see your cute eyebrows and ears, okay?"

"That'll be cool," Kevin giggled from the chair next to Joel.

She looked down and saw that the two boys were holding hands. "Ah. Well, I know who really wants to see your cute face now, don't I, sweetie?"

Joel blushed.

---

Meanwhile, in the Rec Room, CIC:

"They stopped glowing now?" Riti asked Jason as he watched his big brother get up from the bath I-Metri had just given him.

"Yes, Reet. You're back to your normal insane self again," he grinned as he accepted the towel the Lo'Garn handed to him.

Riti stuck a webbed finger up at Jason and blew a raspberry. Then, more seriously, he asked, "Does Levi know why I'm all glowie like you yet? I feel no different."

Jason shook his head as he started to pat himself down, "Nope. There's nothing in your head different, so I really don't know either. But Leev said he'd keep an eye on you. Has Antony arrived back yet?"

Riti nodded and pointed to the Dining Room, "Yeah; he and Tyne are sampling the cake. Rusty is there too, and Tel."

"Cool, cool," Jason giggled. "Okay, you go play with your new son, bro. I'm going to have a quick word with Justy about getting him, Dean, and the Twins an apartment in Wales for when they visit."

Riti cheeped at him briefly, then went back to Victoria and Asher, who was playing happily with Paulie, Belar and Ross.

Jason wandered into Main CIC while still drying himself down. 'That Sehlat can't half get one wet!' he giggled to himself.

"Um, Jace? Where's your clothes?" Justy asked curiously as he noticed the Welsh boy enter. "And weren't you already dry?"

Jason grinned, "I-Metri felt I'd not cleaned up quite enough, so I was waylaid, de-'furred' and bathed... again..." He glanced behind him and a Vulcan robe flew into his hand. "Your kid bro is having a blast with Bel and Ross, lil' cousins," he giggled at the twins.

"Division Commander Evans, we've got something that you need to see, here," Justy said formally, standing slightly straighter.

Jason jumped into the his robe and moved over to them. "Okay, hit me with it, Commander," he said, also fully serious.

"Our brothers Philip and Randy, and their father, have uncovered evidence of corruption in Starfleet Engineering. May we seek the assistance of VSO Dragon Division?" Justy requested formally.

Jason quirked an eyebrow. "Our orders are to defend Vulcan and assist in defence of the Federation. Internal Starfleet is part of Section 31's area. Do you have any evidence of direct action taken against a Vulcan interest by these corrupt Starfleet members? If not, I shall contact my opposite number in the Section."

"We have evidence that suggests the FCC are involved with the corruption of Starfleet, and may have been the motivating factor behind it. IF the FCC was involved, then yes, it would be an act of war against Vulcan, in the form of our Clan. If not, then we can leave it to Section 31 -- but reserve the right for the two Clans to be involved if the evidence of FCC involvement proves to be accurate." Justy responded calmly.

"You are sure about this evidence? That it points to a tie to the F.C.C.?" Jason asked intently.

Jamie nodded. "I'm sending what we have to you now, Jace."

Jamie did so, and Jason's eyes widened. He tapped his comm, "Voice to Fire Eagle; have you got any leads on the Target yet?"

"Yes, Voice," came the reply. "Sending what I have so far, and I don't like it. Do you have anything that adds confirmation?"

Jason's eyes grew distant as he received a telepathic dump from Fire Eagle, "That is confirmed; Big time. I shall Send what I have in a few moments, just get your team to San Francisco Academy and await my orders. Also, contact S-31 and have as many teams as they can spare to join with you there. I shall be making a request of VSO Command; one I never thought I'd have to make."

"Dad, does this mean...?"

"Yes, Ollie. Code Red-Red-001."

"Confirmed Code Red-Red-001," Ollie replied, his voice both excited and nervous. "Let the Enemy Beware the Dragon. Fire Eagle out." and the comm went silent.

"Commander Dodds, Captains, your request is granted," Jason confirmed formally as he faced his cousins.

"What does that code mean?" Jacob asked with interest.

Jason replied, "The F.C.C. have not only struck out at Vulcan by attacking you, they have also tried to undermine Starfleet. What my son has just sent me fills in some of the holes in the information you have. Vulcan's High Command is at War with the FCC. The VSO now join with the High Command. We are now at War."

"War? You can call for war on behalf of the VSO?" Justy asked in wonder.

Jason nodded, "Yes. Now, please excuse me for a while, Commander. I have to start liaising with VSO Command and Section 31."

Justy nodded and watched as Jason moved to the far end of the room. Jamie and Jacob cuddled into his side and smiled up at him. Jamie giggled, "This is exciting. And when did we become Captains, bro?"

Nathan walked in with the Queen and Prince Harry. Nathan glanced over at Jamie and grinned at his question, "Just now, obviously. Your Blue VSO uniforms are on order and your training will start next week. If you want to go for the Black, you'll be evaluated. Jason never lets anyone go to Vulcan for testing until he is sure first. Personally, if you want it, I advise you to NOT ask. He won't say yes for you. Trust me, he's looking out for you. It's up to you though. Now, I need to help him. Be with you in a few." He then went towards Jason with his Grandmother and Harry following quickly.

Seth chuckled as he watched the emotions on the twin's faces, "About time someone surprised you two!"

Jamie and Jacob stuck out their tongues at Seth just before an incoming call took his attention, "Clan Short Headquarters, Seth speaking."

"Seth, this is Janet Marshall, Summerville CPS. I have an unusual request to make of your Clan."

"Unusual requests are our speciality," Seth replied. "How may I help you?"

"I have a young boy here who lost his father in the recent battle," Janet replied. "Witnesses stated that his father was killed after disposing of a man who was trying to kill a boy. This youngster would like to meet the boy that his father died trying to save, if he's still alive. While I'm confused as to how it can be done, Governor Jacobs assures me that you have methods to trace down who this boy was."

Seth nodded to himself. "You are right, this is an unusual request, but I believe we can assist. What is the name of the young boy with you, and what was his father's name?"

"Liam MacKendrick, 6 years old, and his father was Duncan MacKendrick, Charleston Police officer in charge of Advanced Cadet Training. Liam's mother, Dawn MacKendrick, died in childbirth on him. She had no known living family, but Officer MacKendrick is survived by an aunt, uncle and cousin in the United Kingdom. Liam will be heading there in the next few days as they are his only known surviving relatives."

'I'm on it Seth.' Kyle's voice said in Seth's head.

"Our Intelligence team is in the process of locating the information now. I expect results within the next two minutes; would you like one of our people to prepare Liam for..."

Seth paused as Kyle's voice hit his brain. 'Tell her that the boy is alive!'

Seth continued his sentence; "Since the boy is alive, we can have someone come over to escort Liam to meet him."

Seth looked over at Harry, and grinned as Harry nodded his head. "In fact, I think we have just the person to escort a soon to be British citizen."

Janet had just enough time to recover from the quickness of how fast the information was found. "I think that would be wonderful; I'll let Liam know that his wish is granted. When should I expect him or her?"

Harry walked to Seth, "Ms Marshall, I shall be transporting over in ten seconds. Is that acceptable?"

Janet started to laugh, "Quite; Liam is looking very happy with that statement. Now, why do I recognise that voice?"

"You'll see," Harry chuckled as he tapped his comm. "Draco; transport me to Ms Marshall's location, please."

'Energising,' Draco replied mutely.

Seth chuckled as Harry disappeared, "This should be fun!"

Janet laughed, "I can tell you are still kids; let me take care of Liam and I'll contact you in a little while to see how things are going. Thank you, Seth."

"Feel free to call any time, Janet," Seth replied.

"Have a great day," Janet replied before ending the call.

"Took you long enough!" Kyle exclaimed as he appeared in Seth's lap. "You know, I coulda got a nice tan waiting on the roof for you to finish!"

Seth poked Kyle's ribs, causing Kyle to giggle as Seth replied "Do you have a report for us, King Kyle?"

"Quit with the King stuff, dork-face," Kyle giggled. He then looked at Jamie, "Liam's dad was the man who saved you, Jamie! He shot the guy who hit you over the head with that baseball bat, but he was hit by a shotgun blast to the chest seconds later. He died to save you. There's something else you guys need to know, though, but we'll find that out once Harry gets here with Liam. That boy has more family than just the one he knows about. This is gonna be fun," he finished, looking over at Jason briefly. Jason was still deep in conversation with Nathan and the Queen and failed to pick up on it, however.

Jamie and Jacob caught the look, though; and started to grin.

"Hey Draco, when Prince-boy decides that he's ready to bring our guest back, let me do the honours; Levi insists that I need to practice more!" Kyle announced as he grinned at the waiting faces around him.

'As you wish,' came the quiet response from a rather muted Draco.

"Prince to Clan Short; request relayed by Draco. Taxi Service when ready, Little Angel," Harry's call came twenty seconds later. "And get my grandmother over as well; she's going to love this... I THOUGHT I recognised that name!"

'Granma Lizzy? Can I pop you over here? We have a good surprise for you!' Kyle sent to the Queen. Once she nodded her assent, he transported her over. Kyle held out his arms for a cuddle; once he was securely in the Queen's arms, Harry appeared on Seth's lap with a little boy securely in his arms.

"Uh... Hi, Seth!" Harry spluttered with a goofy grin. "Say, do you have a phaser in your pocket, or are you..."

"That will be enough around young ones, Henry!" the Queen admonished with a small smile. She took a look at the little boy in his arms. "Well, hello, Liam. It's been a while since I saw you."

The six year old looked up at her and smiled, although it did not quite reach his sad eyes, "Hi, Auntie Lizzy."

Jason and Nathan wandered over to see who the newcomer was, and why the third member of their war-council had to be popped away from them.

Kyle nodded at Liam as he motioned for Jamie to come over. "Hi, Liam; I'm Kyle. How did you like your escort?"

"Great. I like Harry, he's fun," the boy smiled at the eight year old in his Aunt Lizzy's arms. "I've not seen 'im for a whole year! He gives great tickles." He then looked around at the others, "Can I see the boy my daddy went to heaven to save? I'd like to see if he's nice. My daddy was nice, and as long as the boy is, then my daddy would be happy. I'd know."

Kyle nodded, "I'm gonna introduce you in a second, but I need ta show you why he don't look hurt now. It might be a little scary to you if you don't know what's about to happen; I'm kinda a special kinda kid, and Granma Lizzy can tell you that I'm not gonna do anything bad."

The Queen nodded at Liam, "You can trust Kyle, little one. He's got a few powers that are going to seem like magic, but he will not hurt you."

"Okay," Liam replied as he slid down off Harry's lap. The Queen lowered Kyle to the floor and both boys vanished.

Jason had a curious expression on his face. "That kid looks familiar," he murmured. Then, "Granma? How do you know him?"

"His father's aunt is the Countess of Mar, Margaret Alison. I last met Liam and his father last October," she replied.

"Oh, okay. What of his mother's side?" Jason queried.

"Unknown," Seth answered, and the Queen nodded. "Draco just dumped the records here a moment ago and I was looking... while getting a nice armful of Prince as well, of course!"

The Queen chuckled, then explained further, "Dawn MacKendrick, born Dawn O'Keefe. Her mother died twenty years ago. Father unknown."

Jason's forehead remained creased as he thought hard. He re-ran the boy's face through his mind. "Oh, hell... please don't tell me... Draco? Do you have the DNA profile for Dawn MacKendrick?"

'Yes I do,' came the response.

"Please compare and contrast with Patrick O'Hare," Jason requested.

'The Bastard? Okay. Working,' Draco half giggled. A second later, 'Match found. Paternal likelihood, 100%. That man was busy when he was younger, wasn't he?'

Jason sighed, "You can fucking say that again - the arrogant, hypocritical cun..."

"Jason!" the Queen interrupted him sternly. "Watch your mouth!"

"Sorry," he mumbled ungraciously.

"But we were learning new words!" Jamie exclaimed as Justy was joined by Dean, both standing by Jamie's side.

Kyle reappeared with Liam and giggled, "You're too young!"

Liam glanced at Jamie, and climbed into his arms to hug him.

Jamie smiled. "You're a pretty special little guy; I'm Jamie, you wanna be friends?"

"Daddy says that you are a very special boy. He's happy that you are the reason he went to be with Jesus. And yes, I wanna be your friend; you are nice," the kid murmured softly into Jamie's shoulder. "Your brothers too."

Dean had quietly joined the group during the arrival of Liam, and smiled as he placed an arm around Justy's waist. "You know, babe, considering how much training your little brothers have given you in hiding your thoughts, it's a miracle that I can still read you like an open book. You got the best little brothers in the world by following your heart; don't stop now."

Justy turned to look at Dean. "You sure? It's not gonna be fa...."

Dean placed a finger over Justy's mouth. "It will work out; things always do when you are involved. You know what you need to do."

Jason shared a knowing look with Nathan. "I think we had that expression on our faces when we first saw Belar, didn't we, love?" Jason giggled to his husband.

"Oh, my, yes. I do believe we did, Jace," Nathan grinned impishly at Justy.

"Well, our newly found little cousin with our other cousins works out well, don't it?" Jason sniggered, making everyone except the Queen and Kyle look at him in shock.

Liam was the first to speak, "Little cousin? Me? But..."

Jason smiled at him softly, then looked over his shoulder to see his mother enter.

"You Sent for me, Jace?" she asked curiously.

"Mam? You know you said you were an only child?" he asked.

Angela nodded, "Yes. I am."

"Well, technically, you are now. You did have a half sister that none of us knew about, but she died in childbirth. Seems like 'grandfather' isn't the 'moral' man he shouts about all the time," Jason explained, "Oh, and this cutie hugging Jamie is your nephew."

Liam was quickly looking between both Jason and Angela. He paused as he stared at the woman. "You look like pictures of my Mommy!" he almost shouted.

Angela walked over and gently touched the boy's cheek before scooping him up and into a hug. 'I'm going to kill that man who calls himself my father,' she sent to Jason.

Jason nodded seriously. 'Yes, all the more so 'cos if he'd BEEN there, this kid wouldn't be as orphaned now! His dad died on Saturday, Mam.'

Angela nodded slightly, then whispered to the child in her arms, "What's your name, cariad?"

"My name's not that!" he half giggled. "I'm Liam!"

Angela smiled more, "I'm your Aunt Angela, Liam. I'm so very glad to meet you."

Liam grinned fully at her, "I didn' know I has another Auntie!"

"We're your cousins too, sweetie," Jason giggled.

"Kewl!"

Angela turned to Jason and asked, "Who is going to look after this child now?"

Jason smiled and glanced at Justy, and raised an eyebrow leadingly.

"Jeeze... no pressure or anything!" Justy giggled. "I haven't even had a turn at welcoming him here with a cuddle yet!"

Angela laughed and handed over the little boy into Dean's and Justy's arms.

Dean took his turn first, knowing instinctively that once Justy took a turn things would move quickly. After a minute or so of cuddles, he looked into Liam's eyes. "You ready, little one?"

The boy cocked his head to one side, then beamed a truly happy smile at him, "Daddy said that you are my Poppa now. And he said the Golden Angel is my new Daddy." Liam turned to look at the shocked face of Justy and reached out as if to touch something that only he could see, something that was coming from Justy's back. "My Angel Daddy!"

"I told ya so!" Kyle giggled as the twins fell to the floor holding their sides.

"Me too!" Mikey's voice echoed through the room.

Justy rolled his eyes and took Liam into his arms. To his surprise, he felt a peace wash over him that had been missing from his life since the attack. He looked into Liam's eyes and smiled as he replied, "I'll be your Angel forever if you'll let me, little one."

Liam kissed Justy sloppily, then reached and pulled Dean over to do the same. They held him tight between them.

A whisper, for that was all it was, came:

//Once, Two Hearts were Full, but Child's Heart did Groan. Now, Three Hearts are Filled - Never More Alone//

---

Clan Short Garage:

A few hours later, and more money spent between the entire group than Allen had ever earned in his life, and the the two limos pulled into the Clan Garage. I-Cheya, once again, did his thing and hustled everyone out of the vehicles, and Joel was happily bouncing around in his Vulcan clothes with Kevin looking like a mirror image. The only difference was their ears and skin colour, and the fact that while they both had Vulcan style haircuts, Kevin's was still spiky like Kenny's, while Joel's was, if anything, even more curly than before.

Cory and Sean were waiting for them as the group started moving towards them, and their hearts were skipping with joy to see their little brother happy, laughing and playing without fear as he bounced on over.

"Did you have fun, Lil'elf?" Cory asked as he watched the animated group start showing off their booty from the mall raid. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Davey and Jimmy, both holding a parent's hand with death-grips, gingerly giving Mike a framed picture of themselves. 'It's a start; they are trying,' Cory thought to himself as they allowed a quick hug from Mike before returning to the safety of Gabe and Travis.

Joel nodded happily, "Yeah. Me and Jimmy and Davey got LOADS of stuff, and then we played on some arcade games and then we had a... what was that meat thing, Kev?"

"Big Mac," Kevin chortled.

"Yeah, a Big Mac meat thing, then we saw some AWESOME computers, and then went for a hair cut... look, it's kewl, ain't it?" he asked, as he gave his big brothers a twirl on the spot.

"You definitely look like the best-looking Elf on Earth!" Cory replied. "I think it's awesome!"

"Agreed! We should get pictures of you two; you look awesome! You made some great choices!" Sean added.

"Kev helped lots, and Jimmy and Davey did too! They were brill..." Joel then continued, at a mile a minute, to explain his afternoon.

Kyle and Tyler ambled over on I-Cheya's back, and Tyler sent to the giggling Cory and Sean, 'Where are we sending his stuff? Has a room been picked out for him yet? Mom's house, yours or an apartment next to ours in the Pool Building?'

'He's got a room at our place, but he should have an apartment too for when he wants to have alone time,' Cory replied.

'Okay, so the empty room next to yours?' Kyle asked with a grin. 'Plus a case of ear-plugs?'

'Sure, you can get them while you are getting you and Ty another case of lotion,' Cory shot back.

'Bite my immortal, cute butt, Blondie!' Kyle giggled as he and Tyler, and a large amount of the shopping, vanished.

'Huff, huff, huff' I-Cheya laughed as he grabbed the still jabbering Joel and tossed him onto his back, followed by Kevin. He then turned and nosed Cory and Sean a few times. They took the hint and climbed up as well. "You sure, boy? We're not too heavy?"

Insulted I be. You all baby weight I-Cheya snorted, then, Hold fur

They all did so as the large cub moved off at breakneck speed towards Teri's house with the four G-Cats and Blackie running alongside him.

When they got there, Teri and Angela met them at the door. "Well, well; look what the Sehlat dragged in," Angela quipped with a chuckle.

Meredith, Jason's grandmother, and Gwyn, his grandfather, came up behind them. "Now that is a group of fine young men for me to tease rotten," the elderly man said with a wink at Joel and Kevin who were riding practically on I-Cheya's neck.

"How are you feeling, Joel?" Teri asked as she came over and lifted the boy into her arms.

He watched for a second as Meredith did the same for Kevin before answering, "I'm good, Mama. Do you like our clothes? They are real Vulcan ones!"

"They are amazing. They suit you, both of you," she smiled as she kissed his cheek. She put him down to his feet gently, and then helped her other two boys off the large animated Teddy-bear. "We have Tommy and the double Pauls making pizza. You know how Tommy gets when people are late to feast on the product of his hard work, so get yourselves inside," she said lovingly.

"Yes Mom!" Cory and Sean both giggled, I-Cheya's nose on their behinds not giving them much choice.

My Boys safe I-Cheya sent to Teri alone, and she noticed the emphasis on the plural 'Boys'.

After the group had gone inside, including the G-Cats, she whispered to the bear, "Boys?"

Boy and Cory-Boy and Sean-Boy. Safe... for now. Shaper heal soon

Teri nodded, "Thank you. When you are ready to eat, tell Timmy. He knows a cow who is getting old and would like to feel useful as her last act of life. She would be honoured to provide a meal for the protector of Joel."

Hungry now. Cow be honoured. Cow be at peace. Gentle sleep I bring he sent before huffing lightly and ambling off. He paused at the door as two small boys charged out with their two eagles and climbed on his back. He ran off quickly with Timmy pointing the way.

---

Where cow? I-Cheya asked the two tiny boys on his back as he ran passed Main CIC.

"Slow down, you give us bear-back rides an' we'll show you!" Ricky exclaimed as Timmy nodded his head in agreement.

'Huff, huff, huff,' came I-Cheya's laughter.

He slowed to a stop, tipped both kids from his back and started snuffling both of their bellies with his wet, cold nose under their tee-shirts.

After five minutes of tickle torture, I-Cheya huffed out a few times in laughter at the two red faces, and the clucking laughter from the two eagles, and sent, Where cow? Or more tickle?

"C'mon, out by the toy garage!" Timmy giggled as they climbed back on.

After making sure both boys had a firm hold on his long fur, he ran on. Both eagles flew easily alongside him. He reached the garage to see a large old cow eating grass slowly. Allie was near to her, and a large group of carnivorous creatures were seated with the 'gator.

The cow looked up and blinked at the Sehlat before making her painful way towards him and the two Spirit Guides on his back.

Timmy smiled as they got closer. "Bessie, this is Bear. He's gonna help you!"

Timmy and Ricky slid of I-Cheya's back and watched as the Sehlat moved up to the cow and sniffed at her for a moment.

Child of Earth. I am Rest. I am Sleep. Green Fields await. Blue Skies, Gentle Souls, Source of All. Sleep, Child of Earth. Sleep and Dream Forever. Earned Rest I bring

Bessie closed her eyes and was about to tense up when I-Cheya licked her face.

Fear Not. Breath given, Breath now taken. Breathe out, Breathe in

Bessie closed her eyes again and started simply breathing deeply. The Sehlat placed his muzzle by her nostrils and as she began to exhale, he inhaled. Bessie did not breathe back in. Her mortal shell stood for a moment longer before falling gently to the earth.

Breath gone to Father of All who gave. Flesh goes to Children of Earth who need. Child of Vulcan shall share

Timmy and Ricky watched in awe as the cow was shared gently by the Sehlat. With what seemed the greatest respect, I-Cheya called each of the meat-eaters over and gave them what parts they would most desire.

William and Duke watched also, then turned slightly. They nodded at the spirit that stood by Timmy. Bessie nodded back before a light enveloped her and she vanished... going home to Green Fields and Blue Skies... to the Father of All. Honoured.

---

Meanwhile:

Teri walked inside, and just in time too. Tommy had innocently asked Joel to help him prepare food, causing the boy to take flight in the direction of the door she was coming through, his face a mask of fear. Blackie was chasing after him, but this fear was greater than a Spirit Guardian could overcome.

It was not greater than a mother's love, however.

Teri caught her newest son and pulled him up into a snuggle. "What's wrong, little one?"

He curled into her arms, sobbing and hiding his hands in his robes. Tommy came running out a second later and skidded to a stop next to Blackie in time to hear Joel blubber, "Tommy wants me to help get... get the hot things outta the oven... he wants me to burn myself... I thought he was nice, Mama... I... have I lost my brother? Is he mean like her?"

Teri glanced at Tommy, and his shocked expression told her more than words ever could. "What exactly did he ask you, Joel?" she asked softly.

His voice hiccuping with his sobs, Joel responded, "He asked me to help him cook... that's what that means... he wants me to hurt myself so he can laugh and whip me when I drop the food on the floor, then he wants to..."

"Shhhh, listen for a minute please," Teri responded softly. "Do you remember what I told you about the bad stuff that happened back there?"

Joel sniffed and nodded. "It was over now. You said I won't be hurt like that again."

"Any time you feel like you did just now, I think you should stop and think about that," Teri said softly. "If Tommy let anyone get hurt, Helen would ban him from the kitchen. He wants you to learn the fun parts about cooking; I know from watching him with other boys that he does not let anyone near hot parts of the kitchen until he is sure they are ready and are not going to make a mistake which will get them hurt."

Joel was still hiding his face and hands against his mother, but he did stop crying. He looked up at her and nodded, and it was then that he saw his 'big' brother Tommy. His face drained of colour and he hid it in his hands. "Sorry, Tommy," he whispered, his voice now filled with shame rather than fear. "I... I'm bad and thought you'd hurt me. I don't... I'm sorry..."

Crying softly, he dared a peek at Tommy, "Are... am I still your brother?"

"Always, li'l bro," Tommy said as he stretched up and kissed Joel's cheek.

Joel slipped from his mother's arms and into Tommy's. He kissed the boy's cheek soundly before mumbling, "Sorry. Thank you."

Tommy smiled and kissed him back, then carried his Vulcan brother back towards the kitchen. At the door, they met up with Cory and Sean who had witnessed it all.

They gave their mother a thumbs up, before following after the 'chief cook' and his elven helper.

---

"Sean's sittin' with Jase's kinfolk up front. Would ya like to take his vittles up ta him, Joel?" Tommy asked the boy as he handed him a huge plate full of pizza and a generous side of garlic bread.

"Okay!" Joel bubbled as he took the offered item and started carrying it carefully out of the kitchen, his tongue caught between his teeth as he concentrated hard on not dropping it.

Sean saw Joel coming, and stood up to take the plate from him. "Awesome! Thanks Bro; you're doing great! Are you having fun?"

Joel nodded, and gave his brother a snuggle before running back to the kitchen. After delivering five more plates to various family members, Joel started to feel that itch starting again. He went in search of his mother.

She was deep in conversation with Meredith and Angela when he found her, and Cory was also there giving I-Cheya's belly a good rub.

I-Cheya huffed slightly then raised his muzzle to look at Cory. Cory blinked, then glanced up at the scratching Vulcan boy in the doorway who was debating whether or not to disturb their mother.

"Ah," Cory said as he patted I-Cheya again. "I get it. Thanks, boy."

He stood and went over to Joel quickly. "I know, Lil'elf. Lotion. It's in the bathroom waiting."

Joel looked up into his brother's eyes, then down at the floor, "I'm sorry, but I just can't..."

"I know; your teddy-bear told me. Don't worry; we'll fix it for you, okay?"

"Okay," Joel murmured as he took Cory's hand to be led into the bathroom.

---

"Now that's a nice pair of PJs!" Cory giggled as Joel rooted about in the bag that just appeared by Levi-taxi. Once Cory had finished helping him with the 'troublesome' part of the lotion application business he had decided to show his big brother some of the cooler items he had bought that afternoon.

"These ones then? You really like?" Joel giggled as he held out the Power Ranger covered top for Cory's closer inspection.

"If you picked it, I like it," Cory stated firmly. "Get those bottoms on first, though. I still have to rub this cream into your back."

Joel nodded happily and did as directed quickly. As Cory started to apply the soothing cream to Joel's furiously itching back, Joel did the same for his own belly and chest. "Thank you. I didn't like to ask you nor Sean as you're married and stuff. But Mama was busy with Granny Mere, and I didn't wanna nag her neither."

"Helping you get healed is always important to all of us, Lil'elf," Cory assured Joel with a smile. "If it looks like we are all busy, just ask and either we'll put the lotion on for you, or we'll call for someone that you trust to help you. Don't suffer just because you think we are all busy."

Joel turned slightly to smile at Cory, abate uncertainly. "But isn't it wrong for... for you to touch me... well, there? You're married..."

"You're my brother, right?" Cory asked, turning the boy completely to face him.

Joel nodded, peace in his eyes.

"I love all my brothers. I help all my brothers. So does Sean. We've done stuff to help like this before with Kyle and Ty and many many others. You are worth as much as them. We love you," Cory said slowly and lovingly. "It's not wrong to help your family. Ever."

Joel's smile grew in size, and the peace in his eyes almost blew Cory's heart to pieces. "Thank you, Cor. You and Sean are the bestest brothers ever," Joel whispered, and Cory's heart nearly melted.

Joel then clapped his hands to his mouth and horror appeared in his face. "Sorry! I didn't ask! Sorry!"

"Didn't ask what?" Cory said as he pulled Joel into a cuddle.

"Didn't ask if I could call you 'Cor'. I'm sorry, I just keep hearing the others call you that, and... sorry..." Joel whispered as he hugged his brother.

'He's not trembling. It's a start,' Cory thought to himself. 'At least he's not scared of getting beaten by me if he think's he's made a mistake.'

"Joel. You can call me anything you'd like, as long as you love me," Cory whispered back. "We all give each other pet names, and the favourite for most of the guys for me is 'Cor'. You're just like them."

Joel's hug tightened for a moment, then he pulled back and looked at Cory seriously. "I gets to give you a pet name too?"

Cory nodded, "Yeah. You can, or you can copy the others, or just use my name. You can give me loads, if you want. We're brothers. It's what brothers do."

Joel looked up at the ceiling for a moment longer, thinking.

"Blondie is nice. I liked the sound of that when Tommy called you it," he said finally, thoughtfully.

Cory giggled and started to tickle Joel, "If you're gonna tease me like them, then you get teased back, elfin!"

Joel squirmed about laughing, but eventually managed to ask, "Teasing? hehehe... I wasn't..."

Cory stopped tickling and looked at his little elf closely. "You weren't, were you?" he asked rhetorically.

Joel shook his head. "Nope. Teasin's bad, isn't it?"

"No," Cory smiled, "not if brothers who love each other only do it in play."

Joel nodded, "Oh, okay. But I don't wanna tease you with a name. Not fair. I won't call you Blondie, Cor. I promise."

Cory smiled lovingly, "Joel, if you call me that name, I'd be honoured. I know you'd not use it to tease me, so you get to be the only one to call me that as a for real pet name. The others get tickled if they do, though; and you can help me. Deal?"

Joel's smile could have put the sun to shame. "Deal, Blondie!"

Giggling, they finished applying the cream to those areas that had been missed, then they left the room to get their own food.

"I'm going back to tickle I-Cheya. It's quiet in there. Want to join me to eat, Lil'elf?"

"Uh huh. I'll bring it to you, 'kay?" Joel grinned up at his big brother as he finished tugging his Power Ranger PJ top on.

Cory nodded and watched as the boy sped off to the kitchens. He entered the room they had left earlier to find only Blackie and I-Cheya in there, and snoozing on one of the sofas.

---

"You okay, Jo'?" Kevin asked curiously as Joel reappeared in the kitchen. "Bear said you and Cory were busy with some cream or something."

Joel nodded and kissed his best friend quickly. "Yeah, I need cream rubbed in my skin all over every few hours, but I can't... you know..."

"Ah, okay," Kevin smiled. "Tommy said that your food and Cory's is over there. It's still hot."

"Come on. We can eat with Blondie!" Joel giggled as he pulled Kevin over to the plates and grabbed them.

He looked at them curiously. One had garlic bread, the other didn't. 'Tommy must have forgot,' Joel thought as he turned to the massive amount of bread still on the counter and placed a large helping on the plate for Cory. He took a nibble of a piece himself, and then added more onto his own plate. Tommy had said that he could help himself, so he was just 'doing as he was told'.

Kevin was looking thoughtfully at the two plates. "There's something... ah, never mind," he giggled as he followed Joel out and to the room where Cory was.

Once they had entered the room and moved over to the Patriarch, Joel presented the plate of food to his brother, and Cory noticed the massive amount of garlic bread on it.

Cory saw the proud look on Joel's face, and knew that refusing the plate would break him. "Wow, that looks awesome, Lil'elf! I know nobody warned you, but if I eat garlic bread it gets really stinky around me. I like garlic, but nobody likes the farts it causes."

Kevin snapped his fingers, "I knew there was a reason why I never saw you eat it!"

"I thought you said that we could have whatever we wanted to eat, though, Blondie," Joel asked, his voice small.

"Yes. But since I have a reaction to it that badly, I usually don't eat it," Cory smiled. "You didn't know, and you did nothing wrong anyway. It's okay."

Joel thought for a moment. "If you like it, then it's not fair for you to not have it," he said firmly. "Ain't there tablets or something to help with the... reaction?"

"Not that anyone knows of; I think we'll have to ask Doc Bones when he gets here," Cory replied with a grin.

Joel and Kevin squashed themselves snugly in between Cory and I-Cheya and started eating; or at least Joel and Cory started eating, while Kevin let himself be fed by Joel.

"Bones? I get to meet him too?" Joel asked around a mouthful of peperoni pizza.

"I think his exact words were something like 'as soon as we are within transporter range I expect to see that boy in front of me in Sickbay'." Cory giggled.

Joel gaped, then giggled. "Yeah, that's 'im, all right!"

"He's the best doctor in the whole universe! Hey, Jo'? Can I pinch another piece of that bread? It's great!" Kevin giggled.

Joel's answer was to lift the bread up and let Kevin eat it from his hand. There was something almost healing about watching the way Joel took care of Kevin, and vice versa, Cory thought as he happily consumed his own bread.

I-Cheya, however, sent to Blackie, Eruption incoming. Boys all blow

I know. I sleeping with Timmy. You?

Timmy be too close. I sleeping with I-Metri on Ship

Baby

Bite me

---

To Be Continued...

---

Darryl's Notes:

Well, there seems to have been quite a lot of things happening in this chapter. Joel is becoming more accustomed to living as a free person and he and Kevin are getting closer and closer. They really do love each other; the only thing that they are not quite sure how they should express the love they both feel. I am already waiting with my hands outstretched for the next chapter.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

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Archivist's Notes:

Well, that was an event-filled chapter! Two new little boys, Antony coming into his full Founder heritage, and forebodings of some housecleaning in Starfleet. It is rewarding to see Joel gaining confidence and love, however haltingly. Just as Darryl said, we eagerly await the next chapter.

D&B