A Friend in Need

A Friend in Need

By Bether6074

Rating: PG-13, for a few words and images
Disclaimer: Paramount owns Enterprise.
Genre: Drama, Angst
Summary: Trip gets some bad news from T’Pol. A little addition for “Home” that deals with Trip’s thoughts and motivations.

A/N: This is just a little piece I wrote that was inspired by TheCursor's “We’ll Always Have Vulcan” challenge. Bittersweet, most definitely. Hopefully the dialogue is all correct. I seem to have misplaced my tape of the episode. Many thanks to Distracted for her beta-ing and dialogue searching help.

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Trip looked over at T’Pol. She stared off in the distance, her thoughts obviously occupied by something other than sight seeing. Trip studied her face for a moment. He felt his enthusiasm begin to wane. T’Pol was being unusually quiet and pensive…even for her. His smile faded.

“Everything okay?” he questioned, becoming increasingly unsettled by her demeanor.

“There’s something I need to tell you.” She paused for a moment, giving Trip just enough time to begin worrying about exactly what that something was. An ominous feeling suddenly came over him.

“I’ve decided to marry Koss.”

“Marry him?”

Trip’s heart skipped a beat. His breathing suddenly became labored, a barrage of emotions leaving his body weighed down by fear and grief. He heard his voice questioning her, but felt almost like an observer listening in on his own conversation.

“If I join his family,” T’Pol continued, “my mother will regain her position at the academy. His father is a senior member and has a great deal of influence.”

“I don’t get it. Are they forcing you to do this?”

“The decision was mine. My mother resigned because of my actions.”

She spoke the words so matter-of-factly. Didn’t she realize what she was saying, what she was committing to?

No! Not this. Not now.

He couldn’t lose her now. He hadn’t even told her. He’d only just begun to realize...

“I’ve been negotiating with Koss’ family…”

“Negotiating?!” Trip interrupted. He felt a seething anger building in his blood. His face began to burn from the heat of his ire. He felt the warmth spreading to his cheeks and forehead, but was powerless to stop it.

“They’ve agreed we won’t have to reside together... not right away. I’ll remain on Enterprise for the time being.”

“That’s real generous of ‘em!”

No one is going to take her away from me, he thought angrily. No one. Not now. Not ever.

“Trip, I have to do this... for many reasons.”

He needed to get away. He needed to get away from her now before he said something he would almost certainly regret.

Trip fought mightily to regain his self-control.

“And how am I supposed to take this?”

T’Pol didn’t look at him, but mouthed softly, “I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry? You brought me 16 light years just to watch you get married to someone you barely know." He stated it as a fact, but one in which he was still having great difficulty believing. Saying it out loud hadn’t helped much, either.

Trip didn’t consciously remember leaving. He didn’t remember walking away. He didn’t even remember taking the path back to T’Les’ house. And yet, here he was in the guestroom all curled up on the bed like a little boy whose dog had just died.

It wasn’t fair. All this time and now he finally knew. He’d had an epiphany at the very same moment he thought he might lose her. Lose T’Pol? How ironic. How could he lose someone he’d never really had in the first place?

Trip laid his head down on the pillow and stared blankly ahead at the wall before him. He blinked several times and tried to swallow all of the conflicting emotions that had settled in the pit of his stomach.

He loved her.

Oh. God.

He loved her.

But what the hell did that even matter now, anyway? T’Pol was walking down the aisle…or doing whatever it was that Vulcans did at a wedding ceremony… the next day with another man—another Vulcan—and there was nothing he could do to stop it. The decision had already been made. She was doing it for her mother. How could he fault her for that? How could he ever stand between her and her family? The answer was simple. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t.

Trip’s body ached from the onslaught of raw emotions. It was emotional pain, but it sure as hell felt physical.

As he lay quietly on the bed, he couldn’t help but wonder what might have been. What might have been if only...

If only he’d seen it sooner. If only he’d gotten his head out of his ass and opened his eyes to the fact that he was in love with T’Pol. What then?

Trip closed his eyes, choking back his emotions. He remembered the touch of T’Pol’s warm body to his…the sensations of pleasure she’d given him…the ecstasy of that night which seemed so long ago. He could never forget.

She was so beautiful. She was more divine than he’d ever dared dream a human could possibly be. And she wasn’t even human. But that didn’t matter. She was T’Pol and she was the most beautiful being he’d ever laid eyes on in his entire life. She’d told him that it was just an “exploration”, but in his heart, he knew it was more to her than that. Clearly, T’Pol was still in denial—the same kind of denial he’d been in until the very moment she’d ripped his heart out.

Ya never know what ya have ‘til it’s gone.

Too bad he never even had the chance to find out. Sulking wouldn’t help. Telling her wouldn’t help. He had to think of her now. If she found out he loved her, she might not marry Koss. Or… she might marry him anyway. Trip couldn’t bear to even think about the possibility.

But it wasn’t really that. Trip didn’t fear rejection. Even if he did tell T’Pol, there was little doubt in his mind that she’d still marry Koss. She’d marry him knowing what she could’ve had…knowing what she’d lost…knowing what she was sacrificing.

One thing became apparent to him. T’Pol didn’t need a lover right now. She needed a friend. She needed someone to stand by her and support her decision. Trip knew she didn’t really want to marry Koss, but T’Pol was Vulcan and she would do whatever she felt was necessary to fulfill her family obligations. T’Pol would never deny her own mother. Trip knew that. Knowing it didn’t help ease the pain he was feeling, but it did help him understand. He knew what needed to be done and he’d do it…for her.

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T’Pol stood before Trip, dressed in a wedding gown that left him in utter awe of her beauty. Their eyes met, but he was rendered speechless. After a dazed moment, he opened his mouth and said the first thing that came to mind.

“You look amazing.” There was an undeniable intensity between them. He couldn’t help but wonder if maybe she did know. Maybe she already knew that he loved her. Maybe she already knew that she loved him. There was no way to be sure.

“I’m grateful that you’re here.”

Even T’Les had urged him to tell her. Even T’Pol’s own mother wanted to be certain that she knew of his feelings. But did she know? A part of Trip wanted desperately to tell her. His body and instincts were fighting the urge to scream it out to her…to call off this farce of a wedding once and for all.

You belong with me! He doesn’t love you! I love you! And you love me. I can feel it. Don’t do this, T’Pol. Please don’t do this!

But it would’ve been wrong and it wouldn’t have changed a thing, except maybe to add to the regret she likely was already experiencing. He couldn’t hurt her that way. He loved her, after all.

“Wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”

He turned to leave, only to feel her hand on his arm and then, before he realized what was happening, her lips to his cheek.

It was a moment of understanding between them. She’d wanted to say goodbye to him…and goodbye to a relationship that had never even had the chance to start.

Trip gulped and watched her walk away as she stepped in line with the rest of the wedding procession. His heart ached with pain and loss, but today, in the face of his very own agony, he’d risen above it all and been a friend. And where there was friendship, there was always hope. He had to believe that.

End

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Three people have made comments

Really, really, nice Bether. Thanks for enhancing this scene.

http://houseoftucker.com/bboard/viewtopic.php?t=5725

Hope I did that right! I'm a bit clueless here.

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