1. prologue

A/N: Hello everyone I got this idea after re-watching the fourth season. This story treats the series finally as non-canon. Meaning Trip/T'Pol romance abounds.

Prologue- Sometime after the signing of the Articles of the Federation.

The air sang as two metal blades clashed with each other repeatedly. Admiral Jonathon Archer had just materialized beside a modest home on the Florida panhandle. The home belonged to his two best friends Charles and T'Pol Tucker. Archer made his way down a pebble path that led through tall reeds to the Tucker's private beach. The couple was engaged in some sort of duel. Jonathon laughed to himself; they looked quite odd with the long battle instruments in hand. The pole arm weapons they each had looked as if they had come from the prop department of a bad twentieth century science fiction show. They had a thin blade at one end that waved in the wind while the other end held a large blunt instrument that looked padded. Sitting himself down on a log the Admiral watched as they repeatedly took swings at each other with either of the two ends. After several minutes both looked exhausted and ready to fall over. T'Pol over stepped a thrust giving Trip the time to recover his footing and make a wide slash toward her abdomen. It took Archer a second to register the large red gash across his former science officer's stomach. He was about to interject when T'Pol touched her stomach looking at the stain of blood on her hand and looked up at Trip. Archer could have sworn that she looked like a wild cat about to strike. She did strike however not as Archer thought she would. T'Pol lunged forward and kissed Trip like a feral lion. The two rolled in the sand for several minutes until apparently coming to their senses. Helping each other out of the sand they both noticed Archer for the first time.

'Jon? What in the blazes are you doing here?' Trip asked running up to his best friend and pulling him into a hearty embrace.

'I was just about to ask you two what was going on." Archer said pointing to the weapons lying in the sand.

'Trip and I were engaged in Pon Farr.' T'Pol said calmly as if she was completely unfazed by the event.

'Pon Farr? I thought you had to relieve Pon Farr with a mating ritual?' Archer said raising an eyebrow.

Trip nearly buckled over at the overly Vulcan expression. 'Pon Farr isn't that simple since the two of us are bonded it takes a lot to quell the human emotions we share.'

'I suppose that makes sense.' Archer said following the couple trough the rear entrance to their home.

'So Jon what brings you to Florida?' Trip asked pouring two cups of green tea and handing one to his wife.

'I'm here on business unfortunately.' Archer said with a deep sigh. 'You're probably going to say no but Starfleet wants to offer you your own ship.' He said sitting down on one of the kitchen stools.

'They trying to get us geezers to captain the old NX classes so their new poster boys can fly the warp eight ships?' Trip joked sipping his tea.

Archer shook his head. 'Not at all, we're offering you the new NCC-101.'

Trip's eyes nearly bulged out of his head as he spewed tea over the counter. 'The NCC-101?' He asked skeptically wiping the counter with a towel. 'Which one?'

'The U.S.S. Columbia.' Archer stated. Trip nearly dropped his cup at the name of his old ship. T'Pol merely raised an eyebrow as she stood behind her husband.

'You have to be pulling my leg.' Trip said placing his cup in the sink before he dropped it again.

'I wouldn't joke about something like this Trip.' He said getting up from his stool. 'She launches in four weeks so I'll need to get the paperwork finished within the next day or two.' He said walking over to the door. 'Call me in the morning with your answer Captain Tucker.' Archer said with a smile on his face as he left.

Later that night Trip and T'Pol sat on the edge of their giant bathtub. T'Pol was wearing her now customary silk pink pajamas. She held a small white stick in her hands looking at an egg timer in Trips hands. As the buzzer went off they both looked intently at the strip until it turned bright pink. Trip grinned broadly and kissed his wife. T'Pol didn't bother to hide her smile as she let a gasp escape her mouth.

'Guess this answers the High Commands question about whether Humans and Vulcans can mate.' Trip said kissing her neck.

'I want you to take that post on the Columbia.' She said looking into his eyes.

'Are you sure?' He asked holding her in both arms. 'That could mean five whole years apart from each other.'

T'Pol smiled again as she raised her eyebrow to indicate she was disappointed. 'You did not bother to check the Columbia's status did you?'

'What do you mean' Trip wondered not sure where she was going with this.

'The Columbia is the flagship of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers.' She said keeping her smile plastered on her lips.

It took Trip a second to register what she was getting at. When it clicked a smile crept across his face as well. 'That old dog, Jon gave me that post on purpose.' Trip gave his wife an accusatory look. 'You didn't tell Archer we were trying to have a baby did you?'

'Why would you think that.' T'Pol said smiling even broader.

They held each other tightly and dreamed of the future. Neither knew what it would hold however if the past few years told them anything the future never looked brighter.


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: This chapter is a little shorter than I would have liked but I wanted to get something up for you guys. Hope you enjoy, oh and please review.

Chapter 1

The sound of a soft hum filled engineering as Commander Tucker made his morning rounds. His gamma shift team had just finished running diagnostics on the plasma injectors. Trip leaned against the steel railing looking down on the warp five reactor.

'You look positively morbid Trip' said the familiar voice of Jonathon Archer.

'Yeah well she's not top of the line any more.' The Engineer responded.

'Come on trip the warp eight reactor probably won't be ready for years.' The Captain said slapping his friend on the back. 'What you should be worried about is that scratch you made on my paint four years ago.'

Trip laughed in all the rush to get the ship launched he had completely forgotten. 'Yeah well Captain it's not like I didn't have better things to do.' He remarked his trademark grin on his face.

Jon smiled at his friend. They had been through a lot in the past four years. His face sobered when he remembered why he had come down to engineering.

'She's coming back this afternoon.' He said knowing that his friend would understand.

Trip bowed his head. 'Yeah I heard.' That was all he cared to say. Trip had asked T'Pol to marry him after they had been bonded prematurely. She of course had said no.

'Look on the bright side Trip.' Jon said taking in the mortified look on his friends face. 'This gives you the chance to patch thing up.

'Yeah I suppose so.' The engineer slouched against the railing and let his mind wander.

Trip and T'Pol had hardly spoken to each other in months.

'Her divorce final yet' He wondered.

'They underwent some sort of ritual the other day.' Jonathon knew that his friend was hurting. He just wasn't sure how hard to push. 'You know she told me in her message that she's going to defect.'

'Defect, what is this the twentieth century.' Trip mused thinking of a book he had read about espionage.

'Well things aren't great between Vulcan and Earth Command. Ever since that incident with the Andorrans, which you handled perfectly by the way, nothings been the same on Vulcan.' Jon moved over to the hatch leading out of engineering. 'T'Pol told me that T'Pau has lifted the ban on mind-melding.'

Trip raised an eyebrow. 'Isn't that how I ended up in this mess?'

'T'Pau said that Vulcan needed to return Surak's original teachings. Trust me mind-melding isn't that bad when used in moderation.' Archer stepped through the motorized door and headed for the bridge. Trip of course followed him not ready to end their conversation.

'You were a host to Surak. Do you think that she would ever let herself even admit she has feelings for me?' Trip asked catching up to the Captain.

'You're going to have to press her Trip.' He said as he walked onto the bridge and headed toward his ready room with Trip in tow. 'I know for a fact that she's crazy about you. Well ok not crazy, but she does love you.'

'Wait a minute if she's not with the High Command anymore will she still be allowed to serve on Enterprise?' Trip looked down trodden.

'No she won't.' Archer replied. 'She'll stay on enterprise until we return to earth but after that she won't be allowed in Starfleet.'

'What am I going to do Jon?' trip said looking up at his friend hopeful that he would know what to do.

'Starfleet is going to need a local to show her around earth and help her get acquainted with human customs.' The Captain said with a wicked smile on his face. 'The Enterprise will be docked for some refitting for a few weeks and then we'll need to test out the new warp boosters and I'll need to see how our new science officer holds up so you'll be given an extended leave.'

A bright smile spread across Trip's face. 'You're the best Captain.' With that Trip turned and went back into engineering. Trip stood watching his men constantly looking over his chronometer in anticipation.


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: Hello everyone sorry this was so late coming. This chapter is kind of short but that couldn't be helped. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 2

Commander Tucker followed the Captain studiously as they made their way to the main transporter room. The Vulcan ship Ra'Shk had arrived moments before and was waiting to relieve its charge. The Vulcans had seemed anxious to get T'Pol off their ship. Trip was worried for his ex-lover. Archer had told him that T'Pol had broken down during her kholinar ceremony. The high priestess was ready to announce her free of all emotion when T'Pol began to weep. She had been dubbed a social pariah no one on Vulcan wanted to be near her. Trip felt bad for her, he wanted to be able to hold her and kiss away all of her pain. Archer was right though he needed to take his time. T'Pol had to see that he was willing to be more compassionate toward her culture and beliefs.

The two officers arrived in the transporter room just in time to see T'Pol begin to materialize. The Stoic Vulcan looked around the room with a raised eyebrow.

'I see Starfleet has gained a higher level of trust in their transporter technology.' She said as she stepped from the platform.

'It's going to be a long time before we've got everyone in earth command fully accustomed to the idea of having their atoms rearranged.' Trip said smiling brightly at the alien.

'Humans are a hardheaded lot.' She replied with her usual monotone.

Captain Archer shook his head at the pair who had been able to fall back into their old routine despite all that had happened between them. 'Welcome aboard T'Pol.' He said holding out his hand.

T'Pol took his hand and gave it a short shake in greeting. 'Yes it is quite good to be back Captain.'

'Come now there's no need for formalities your not one of my crew any more call me Jonathan.' the Captain said with his usual grin.

'Yes of course.' She said following the two Earthers into the corridor. 'Am I to have any official duties while aboard.'

'Well I'm not in any hurry to get back to earth. Thought we'd take a few days a chart a gaseous nebula on the way.' The Captain said. 'I'd like for you to be in charge of the research team. Give you one last mission for starfleet before you're put out to pastier.'

T'Pol lowered her head a moment before responding. ' Thank you Captain.'

The trio arrived on the bridge within minutes. T'Pol stood back as the two men took their stations. She noticed the young ensign occupying her old station. She looked nervous and kept sneaking glances at the former science officer. Had she still been on the path to Kholinar she would have told the Ensign that she needed to practice control over her emotions. As it was T'Pol couldn't help but think about how Trip would handle the situation. The thought of the engineer's carefree attitude brought a smile to her face. Might as well start acting like a human now rather than denying it, she thought. Resting a hand on the Ensign's shoulder she gave the nervous young woman a warm smile, something she found she liked doing very much. 'Be easy Ensign your only going to make yourself sick if you keep worrying.' She gave the ensigns shoulder a quick pat before making a minor adjustment the display. 'The lower light setting will help you relax.' As she came up from the console she noticed that Trip had been watching her. He had a large grin on his face that she found impossible to keep from returning.

'T'Pol would you like to give the order to embark?' The Captain asked standing up from his chair.

The Captain was pampering her and Trip could tell that she wasn't happy about it yet she still took his command chair as asked. She looked around the bridge and realized that this was the last time should would ever give these people her family and friends an order as their superior. 'Mr Travis set course for the Anarian nebula three quarters impulse.' turning in her seat to the communications terminal she addressed the Japanese-American Lt. 'Ms Sato launch a communications buoy to determine the harmonic resonance of the nebula once we are within range.' swiveling her chair around she came to the engineering station. 'Commander prepare for low warp.' T'Pol tried not to linger her gaze on the southerner. turning back around she addressed Lt Mayweather again. 'Travis begin to slowly increase the warp manifold in increments of point two. Keep the impulse engines at three quarters. We need to stay at low speeds in case the nebula reacts adversely to subspace travel.' Taking command felt good, made her feel like she belonged in that chair surrounded by those people. out of the corner of her eye she saw Trip get up from his station and leave the bridge.

'All right people duty shift.' The captain called out. 'Good job T'Pol you did great in that seat.' the captain said relieving his former first officer.'

T'Pol stood on the deck plating outside Commander Tucker's quarters. She had let herself smile all the way from the bridge. Now outside his door she was having a hard time suppressing the emotional expression. Once she rang the door chime she waited for about thirty seconds before entering the override command. She knew that he was in his quarters and she began to panic when no answer came. Stepping into the small room she saw Trip curled up into a ball on his bunk. For a moment she thought that he was asleep and began to walk out. Taking a backward glance she noticed his chest heaving erratically. Alarmed that he was in danger she ran to his body and pulled him onto his back. Looking down at his face she realized that he was crying. Since loosing control of her emotions she had cried several times and was well aware of the agony she must have put him through. Trip was crying so hard that he barely acknowledged her. She traced a finger along his face and smiled as a small tear ran down her face. Laying down next to him she fell into a peaceful sleep to the rhythm of his heart.

She woke several hours later to find that he had moved to face her. He was clearly awake propped up on his elbow mesmerized by her eyes.

'I believe your are staring at me Commander.' She said stripping her face of all emotion.

'I apologize I could have sworn you were smiling in your sleep.' He said as a smile of his own crept across his face. 'You looked really pretty.'

'Thank you Commander.' She let a hint of a smile cross her lips as she got out of bed. 'We both have several hours before our shifts start, would you like to get something from the galley.'

Trip didn't respond verbally he just stood up and threw his uniform on before jogging out the door. Shaking her head T'Pol followed him as they both proceeded to the galley on foot.

Several minutes later they passed through the double doors of the galley.

'You do realize that we would have arrived here much faster had we taken the turbolift.' T'Pol said arching one eyebrow.

'That was the whole point.' The engineer responded with a grin.

The two officers made their way to the protein synthesizers only to be interrupted by the chef. 'Hey you two wouldn't mind helping me in the kitchen would you?' The nearly two meter tall man asked.

'Certainly you are not understaffed Mr. Riker.' The Vulcan asked in her normal blasé tone.

'No not at all, I just thought the two of you would like a fresh meal.' He said with a triumphant smile.

'We'ed be delighted Chef.' Trip responded leading T'Pol through the kitchen doors. 'So what's the occasion? Starfleet make this official suck up to the first and second officer day?'

'Hardly.' The man said with a laugh. 'I thought I'd spare you guys the looks the crew are certain to give you.'

'Looks, what looks.' Trip declared sitting down at the prep table.

'The captain tried reaching T'Pol from the bridge last night. When she didn't answer he had Reed do a bio-scan.' The middle aged man replied as he kneaded a ball of dough. He laughed at the looks the two of them gave him. 'Everyone on the bridge got a good look at a inferred picture of your quarters Mr. Tucker.'

T'Pol blanched for the first time in Trips memory. She had a far off look on her face that was accented by a string of Vulcan curses. 'I must report to the bridge.' She said and left the kitchen before Trip could argue.

'I'm going to need some help.' He said looking at the chef. the older man simply smiled in reply and nodded his head.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Ok guys sorry that it is taking me a while to put these up. I have had a lot of work lately. Hope you Trip/T'Pol fans out there like this. Some people didn't seem to get that the prologue was set in the future. I though it was pretty self explanatory but oh well. R&R

T'Pol reached the bridge several minutes after leaving the galley. Archer was not in the command seat so the exasperated Vulcan slipped into the ready room as fast as she could. Archer was seated behind his desk as she entered.

'Hello T'Pol.' He said absently. The Vulcan arched an eyebrow in a way that conveyed that she didn't buy his attitude. 'Alright you got me ok.' He said with a grin.

'Much better' she replied and assumed a more relaxed posture.

'I know you must be uncomfortable with your current predicament.' The captain said picking up on her distress. 'I had no idea Trip was going to make a move that quickly. Had I known, I would not have placed the scan results on the main viewer.'

'I know Captain.' She said facing out the port hole. 'I cannot assume command of this survey mission.'

'I understand that you may feel uncomfortable with all of those watching eyes but you can't let something like that ruin your resolve.' Archer wasn't sure he bought it himself but he didn't want his friend to pass up the opportunity to seat in the chair one last time.

'I won't lie to you Captain and say that I don't care about what they think of me.' Her voice cracked and her Vulcan ears could pick up the hitch in Archer's breath when he heard it. 'I served as a Vulcan on this ship for four years. I will not let those men and women see me break my resolve in their presence.'

'I understand but you can't just sit in your quarters the rest of the trip.' Archer hoped that she would see reason enough to look over the survey at least.

'I am sorry to disappoint you captain.' She said heading for the door. 'If it makes you feel any better I will not be spending the rest of the journey in my quarters.'

'That's good.' The Captain said with a smile.

'I will be spending time in Trip's quarters as well.' She said reaching for the lock next to the door and turning back to the Captain's stunned face before leaving. 'Oh, Trip did not make the first move, I did.'

The Captain was left in stunned silence as T'Pol made her way to Trip's quarters as discreetly as possible. She couldn't avoid the looks the crew gave her as she passed in the hall. The Vulcan did not envy what Tucker must be enduring from his co-workers.

Commander Charles Tucker entered main engineering to a chorus of applause. Every officer and non-com on deck turned to applaud him. Many of them made cat calls and shouted various forms of congratulations.

'Alright folks get back to work.' He admonished as he checked on the main warp reactor.

'I knew you two were going to get around to it some time.' Reed called form behind him.

'Not you too Lieutenant' Trip said in frustration, the least his friend could have done was wait until they had some privacy. 'Unless you want me to write you up for behaviour unbecoming an officer I'd shut up if I was you.'

'Alright, alright you don't have to tell me twice.' The weapons officer conceded. 'I didn't think you'd be so jumpy. You have wanted this so long I thought you'd be jumping for joy.'

'Oh I am its just that T'Pol has taken this rather hard.' The southerner admitted. 'She can't shed all of that Vulcan conditioning over night you know.

'So what's the plan to make it up to her?' Reed was more than familiar with the protocol on dealing with distraught girlfriends.

'I'm having the chef whip up a bunch of Vulcan dishes that I can surprise her with later tonight.' The engineer figured he couldn't get any work done that day and headed out to hatch with Reed in tow. 'I was planning on setting up a kind of romantic dinner.'

'Good plan, Girls no matter what species can't help but love a candle lit dinner.' Reed said nodding his head.

'Yeah well you'd be the expert on wooing unsuspecting alien women.' Trip jibbed.

'Oh really, I'm not the one who had the doctors wife after me.' The weapons officer laughed.

'I would really rather not talk about that thank you.' Trip waved goodbye to Reed as he entered the Galley and went to see how chef was doing.

'How are things Mr Riker.' Trip wondered as he sat down at the kitchen prep table.

'Thinks are going well Commander.' The tall bearded man said with a wry smile. 'You owe me big on this Tucker.' The chef handed the Commander a PADD with a list of dishes on it. 'It took a lot to find out what her favourite dishes were.' When the Commander lifted his brow in question the man continued. 'I had to go through every one of her logs to find food that she admitted to enjoying.'

'Well if this works and she feels better after tonight then I will be forever in your debt.' Trip said giving the chef a small salute.

'I'll have some yeomen bring all of this up at sixteen hundred.' The chef said as Trip left.

The engineer had only one task left to do before their dinner that night he just hoped she would accept it.


End file.
