Man-to-Man

Man To Man

By ginamr

Rating: PG (for mild adult language)
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the words expressed in this story.
Genre: Angst/Implied Romance (not between Trip and Malcolm though)/Science Fiction
Archive: For all of my stories, any site can archive them. Just email me and ask.
Spoilers: Watch out…this one has Home spoilers!!!

A/N: Prequel to Clarity Upon Reflection and a companion piece to Personal Logs of a Vulcan.

Summary: Malcolm and Trip have a little man-to-man talk after the events of Home.

Date: Sunday, March 26, 2006

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“Are you sure you’re all right, Commander?”

Trip grunted. “Fine.”

“You just seem…agitated. More so than usual.”

Trip paused. “T’Pol got married a couple of days ago,” he growled.

Reed’s head shot up and he gave Trip a surprised look. “Commander T’Pol got married? To whom?”

“Tha’ Koss guy.”

“I thought she broke off her betrothal to him. Why did she marry him after all this time?”

“Her duty,” Trip muttered.

“I don’t understand. What duty?”

Trip hung his head slightly. “He blackmailed her. I jus’ know it. There wasn’ any other way she would have agreed to it,” he continued, ignoring Malcolm.

“Blackmailed her? How?”

“I don’ know how…but he must have been pretty damn convincing.”

“What happened to your relationship…yours and Commander T’Pol’s I mean?”

Trip glared at him. “I told ya. We’re just friends.”

“The way you’re acting sure doesn’t say ‘just friends.”

“What have I ever done to give you that idea?” Trip sneered, tossing his wrench into his tool box so that it landed with a loud ‘Clunk!’.

“For one, you NEVER throw your tools around like that except when you’ve just gotten into a disagreement with the Commander about something. For two,…”

“What?”

“For two, you’re acting like a crazed, jealous madman.”

Trip snorted. “I’m not jealous.”

Reed raised an eyebrow. “Really? Do you want to know what I think?”

“No, not really,” Trip drawled.

“Well, I’m going to tell you anyway. I think you wanted…and possibly still want…to be in Koss’s place.” Trip said nothing, and Malcolm sighed. “Bloody hell, man! Tell her how you feel!”

“It isn’ goin’ ta do any good, Mal. She’s a married woman now.”

“So you’re just going to give up?”

Trip nodded. “Yep.”

“My God, man! Have a spine!”

Trip snarled at him. “Leave it, Malcolm.”

Malcolm merely shook his head slowly. “The truth hurts, my friend.”

Trip paused and sighed. “What in th’ hell do ya expect me to do? Declare my undying love for her in the middle of the bridge?”

“Well, acting like a jealous madman isn’t going to impress her in the least. Besides, if you truly loved her, you would support her decisions no matter how much it hurts you. In the end, it comes to showing her that you still care despite circumstances.”

“What’s tha’ goin’ ta do? Besides, she’s Vulcan. She isn’ ever goin’ ta feel the way about me tha’ I do ‘bout her.”

“And how exactly do you feel about her?” Trip gave Malcolm a look that clearly stated that the conversation was closed. Malcolm sighed. “Let’s move on to the next phase cannon, shall we?”

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Have a comment to make about this story? Do so in the Trip Fan Fiction forum at the HoTBBS!

A whole mess of folks have made comments

I love it. "Get a spine!" LOL! That's exactly what I kept thinking. I wish Trip had gotten some advice like this BEFORE "Home". Seems like the writers all saw him as a door mat, but we know better, don't we?

Great interaction. I loved this very much. I always like talks between Malcolm, or Archer and Trip because they are Human to Human and there is no Vulcan in them. Very nicely done. T...

Nicely done. :)

I absolutely love it! Just wonderfully done! Definitely man-to-man!

LOL. "Get a spine" was my favorite line when writing it as well. I pictured Malcolm going military on Trip's ass when i was writing it. Trip may be his superior, but it has to bug him to see Trip sulking over something he could do SOMETHING about, even if it doesn't get him EXACTLY what he wants, it will still help him earn and keep T'Pol's trust, friendship, and respect.

I just think the Trip-Malcolm friendship is one of the best things Rick Berman did for the show...then again, it was probably Manny Coto's idea as he seems to have written the best of the Enterprise episodes, with the exception of "These Are The Voyages", which he wrote how he did under duress.

It was a good series, don't get me wrong, but I think when Manny Coto wasn't directing, they wandered quite a bit from the show's main purpose. I love writing the friendly scenes btw. Archer and Trip & Trip and Malcolm.

And as you'll see in my next Continuing Adventures of the Enterprise series episode, I believe that a crew like that of the NX-01 can't help but bond together considering what they do and where they are. That's part of what Star Trek is. It shows how much you need to trust your co-workers in a situation like that. You're putting your life in their hands. That's a very trusting thing to do.

For example, even in Taylor's death, Trip was devastated. We didn't Taylor very well, but Trip probably did. It would devastate anyone to loose someone under their command, especially if, as Trip said about Taylor, they had great potential. What made it even harder is that she reminded him of his sister.

So remember when you're writing your Enterprise fanfiction, the legacy of Star Trek is about the love, honour, trust, faith, and good will that can be so scarce in our world. Write to honour the many things those in the ST universe have that some of us don't just as they would honour the things that we have that they don't.

LOL. "Get a spine" was my favorite line when writing it as well. I pictured Malcolm going military on Trip's ass when i was writing it. Trip may be his superior, but it has to bug him to see Trip sulking over something he could do SOMETHING about, even if it doesn't get him EXACTLY what he wants, it will still help him earn and keep T'Pol's trust, friendship, and respect.

I just think the Trip-Malcolm friendship is one of the best things Rick Berman did for the show...then again, it was probably Manny Coto's idea as he seems to have written the best of the Enterprise episodes, with the exception of "These Are The Voyages", which he wrote how he did under duress.

It was a good series, don't get me wrong, but I think when Manny Coto wasn't directing, they wandered quite a bit from the show's main purpose. I love writing the friendly scenes btw. Archer and Trip & Trip and Malcolm.

And as you'll see in my next Continuing Adventures of the Enterprise series episode, I believe that a crew like that of the NX-01 can't help but bond together considering what they do and where they are. That's part of what Star Trek is. It shows how much you need to trust your co-workers in a situation like that. You're putting your life in their hands. That's a very trusting thing to do.

For example, even in Taylor's death, Trip was devastated. We didn't Taylor very well, but Trip probably did. It would devastate anyone to loose someone under their command, especially if, as Trip said about Taylor, they had great potential. What made it even harder is that she reminded him of his sister.

So remember when you're writing your Enterprise fanfiction, the legacy of Star Trek is about the love, honour, trust, faith, and good will that can be so scarce in our world. Write to honour the many things that in the ST universe have that some of us don't just as they would honour the things that we have that they don't.

Conflict Eminent is now running 40 pages...so this will be a long one. The Boss might want to split it into a few chapters. Anyway, I really tried to bring out not just the mission, but the personal relationships and give a general outlook on how this "Earth-Romulan" war is going to affect them. It makes the story more emotionally moving I think. Anyway, I hope to have it finished soon...might take another 10 pages or so...

Awesome! Good for Malcolm, Trip needed a bit of a smack upside the head! Well done! :)

This was a great story! Short and to the point, and I couldn't agree more with what ya said ginamr.

Its too bad Rick Berman didn't have a friend to tell him where HE was going wrong with the show like Trip had here in Malcolm over his relation ship with T'Pol. And your comment about Trip and Taylor - you should write a back story about their relationship! I just can't let go of Lizzy and so had to write about her, but I think Taylor is a good character to flesh out too.