Knocking- Part 4

Knocking at the Gate

By Aquila

Part Four (Conclusion)

Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: If I owned Trip and T’Pol, A Night in Sickbay would never have aired.
Summary: In the Delphic Expanse, complications arise as a result of previous choices made. This is an alternate universe, with spoilers.

==

He held the tent flap back for her. She had to bend at the waist to enter the tent that was only as high as his chest. What might have been mistaken for gallantry, was really an attempt to shield his wife from the gaze of Reed. Once Reed had mentioned his fondness for T’Pol’s rear. Trip had no intention of feeding his pal’s imagination tonight.

Trip still holding the tent flap stumbled in after T’Pol. He had tripped over the pile of clothing they had shoved inside the tent as the shuttlepods had approached. He flicked open a duffel, to begin stuffing them in. They could use it as a pillow. The thought was accompanied by pain so intense he sunk to his knees, the duffel forgotten at his feet, his hands on his ears.

The groan that accompanied his collapse caused T’Pol to look in his direction. She rooted through her personal effects to retrieve a bioscanner. She took comfort in the florescent blue glow that emanated as she passed it over his body. She had to use every scrap of her considerable self-discipline not to scream for help.

“Charles,” she whispered urgently, “Charles?”

“I’m recoverin’,” he whispered back, “What does the scanner tell ya?”

T’Pol scanned again, as if she doubted the readings. “Your symptoms appear to be that of withdrawal.”

Trip struggled to his knees. “Withdrawal? Like an addiction?” Trip gently pulled her down so that they were eye to eye. He looked at the shadows they cast on the wall of the tent. Dang, he thought, and adjusted his position to leave an appropriately professional distance between them.

“Care to speculate?” He held out his hand for the scanner. She placed it in the palm of his hand, taking care not to touch him.

To verify that it was not malfunctioning, he scanned T’Pol. He had a base scan to compare it to, as he had scanned her after she had fainted the day before.

His already pale face grew paler. His mouth became a tight line. A tear trickled from the corner of one eye. He passed the scanner back to T’Pol.

“The Vulcan Science Directorate isn’t goin’ to believe this any more than Jon’s stories about time travel.” As the trickle turned into a stream, he wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his uniform.

“We’re pregnant, T’Pol.”

==

Malcolm glanced at the shadows that were dancing on the walls of his superior officers’ tent. A century had passed since male and female personnel slept in separate quarters. That the Vulcan and human shared a tent was not unusual. That they shared it so matter-of-factly was highly unusual. Commander T’Pol had mastered the art of the cold shoulder and she appeared to prefer to serve it to Commander Tucker above all others. Trip ate it up, then spit it out in teasing and torments aimed directly at her.

Malcolm turned his gaze to the fire. He wished T’Pol had insisted that the incapacitated Trip enter the tent first. The view of her rear wriggling through the tent doorway would have been…stimulating.

Twenty-four hours ago, they had deposited a very ill Vulcan and a healthy Chief Engineer on this planet. T’Pol’s recovery was almost magical. As for Trip’s decline, who knew what unknown toxins this planet held for humankind? Trip had mentioned swimming in the lake. Perhaps there were harmful microbes? He would ask Commander T’Pol to test the water before allowing his people to bathe tomorrow.

The light in the Commanders’ tent flicked off, catching Malcolm’s eye. He turned just as the tent went dark. However, he could have sworn that the two silhouettes he had seen from the corner of his eye had become one just before the light was extinguished.

==

T’Pol was the first to break the embrace. She collected the scanner from the floor where Trip had dropped it. She scanned Trip first. The readings had not changed. She scanned herself. Her womb held life.

“Why did you break our bond?”

Of all the questions that he could ask that was the one T’Pol never expected.

“I touched the darkness in you.”

She lay fully clothed on her sleeping bag. Trip stretched out beside her. He placed a hand on her abdomen, in the region of her womb. Her ovaries had withdrawn inside her body. Her stomach was as flat and smooth, as it had been the day she boarded Enterprise.

For how long, he wondered? Dang, I read everything about making babies, but nothing about growin’ em once they were made. Phlox is goin’ to be guest lecturin’ from Vulcan to Kronos after how ever many months of tendin’ T’Pol.

“You knew about my past. You saw the files.” What could she possibly have found inside his brain that was darker than the 18 months he spent in the counter-terrorism unit?

“You have not resolved your feelings about your sister’s death.”

The darkness T’Pol found during the bond had nothing to do with his past and everything to do with his future. A future that now included her and the life they had created.

“My feelings will not be resolved until every Xin’di in the universe is dead.”

T’Pol shivered. How could the warm, jovial, charming man who had fathered her child be this cold, ruthless killer? If she had not touched his mind, she would not have believed it possible.

“As long as you harbour such hate within you, a bond will be impossible.”

She had accepted the absence of a bond as a condition of their marriage, but she would not accept it as a condition of parenthood. She could not carry the child to term without his total involvement. It was the Vulcan way. It was her way.

“T’Pol don’t ask me to turn the other cheek! She was my sister. It was my job to protect her and I failed.”

“It is your job to protect your wife and child. A path of vengeance will not resurrect the dead and will certainly harm the living.”

Trip hadn’t heard her use that tone of voice for over a year. It was the one she used in the beginning when she did not understand or respect the humans with whom she was exploring space. It was her Vulcan voice and Trip didn’t like it.

“Are you denying us, T’Pol?” Trip pulled her to him. “Are you saying that you will deny my rights as a husband and father?”

“Only you and I know of the consummation.” T’Pol pulled away from him.

“Well, everyone’s going to know soon enough, when ya start showin’.” Trip ran his finger around the ear closest to him, then down her throat. His hand came to rest on a breast. “Damnation, T’Pol, your body knows. Look at ya, you’re tremblin’ and I haven’t even begun to touch ya!”

“Commander, please desist. Or I will have to report your unwelcome advances to the Captain.”

“What in Hawking’s name? You can’t be serious?”

“Shall I have Lt. Reed put you under house arrest? Then will you understand how serious I am?”

Trip rolled away, turning his back on her. Preoccupied by anger, he did not notice the pain until it was consuming him.

He rolled back to find her on her side staring at him with horror. He reached out and pulled her to him, resting his chin on the top of her head. She whimpered against his collarbone.

“You waited too late to severe the bond completely, didn’t you?” Trip raised her chin with a finger. “That’s what is causing the headaches. When you feel an overwhelming emotion, I get a stab of pain.”

“Yes, Charles.” She pulled away for the last time. “There are a great many decks between command and engineering. You will find the sensation less intense when we return to the ship.”

“Your are willing to live alone with an imperfect bond, rather than acknowledge me as your husband and the father of your child?”

“Give up the hate, Charles.”

“I will not rest until every last Xin’di is dead.” With that vow came another. “Pretend all you want T’Pol. I swear to you that one day the universe is going to know that I am that child’s father…and your husband.”

END OF KNOCKIN’ AT THE GATE

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Seven people have made comments

This story was so good! Please don't let it end like this. There has to be a sequel! Please keep writing.

I'm normally not a very patient person but right now I'm holding my breath and trying to be calm until the next chapter of this comes out........kinda blue {g} but thrilled by what I've read so far!!!

I have been most concerned about Trip's need for revenge. Please continue this story and address that issue. Thanks for introducing, and I hope exploring, a realistic conflict that really can separate two people who love each other.

OMG!!! You gotta have the sequel to this coming out really really really soon!

Hurry.

I mean Trip dude! You have gotta get your priorities right man!

OMG!!!

trip, dude where's your brain? please write an epilogue or a sequel please!
aretmis moonshine

i loved the story. please continue and if you do maybe you could add a happy story line like the baby living for a change and the commander giving up the hate and maybe a few jealousy flares from Archer, wouldn't that be nice! Oh and throw in something about the high command having a fit,(but please end it on a happy note).

good fic! I would love to see a sequel, hint, hint!
although I admit to being a little confused whether or
not they are married ie 'bonded' or really married
as in a civil ceremony. Why do you have Trip saying
to Archer that "my wife keeps me informed of her wellbeing"??
I wasn't sure at first who he meant!