Memory Lanes

Memory Lanes

by myst123

Genre: General
Rating: G
Disclaimer: It all belongs to Paramount. No infringement intended.
Summary: Missing scene from E2.

Spoilers: E2

******

Commander Tucker looked over the schematics on the PADD T’Pol had brought to him. The solution for navigating the subspace corridor was an interesting mix of technology from Enterprise and from unknown aliens. The precision of the presentation and the detail was so reminiscent of T’Pol he felt the person responsible had to be someone she had trained-- or even Lorian. But T’Pol had told him it wasn’t Lorian, who was in the midst of organizing with Captain Archer a plan to successfully navigate the nebula and corridor so that Enterprise could keep the rendezvous with Degra on the other side. Chances were that the style of the report was just T’Pol’s legacy adopted by the ship and crew. *Good to know,* he thought with unexpected pride.

But as he and his crew began to delve deeper into the document and to implement the modifications, a strange feeling overcame Trip. *This is T’Pol.* He recognized her calculations and phrasing. There was no dilution of personality. T’Pol always looked with disfavor upon Trip’s tendency to read her personality into her reports, for, as she would inform him, her reports were models of logic. Trip didn’t reveal to her that, on a human ship, her style was completely unique -- and recognizable as a result. Was it possible that after 100 years someone else was emulating her so flawlessly?

After Trip and his crew completed the modifications to Enterprise, he gazed at the modification specs while he finished rechecking that all had been correctly completed. Again, he felt them too familiar. Yes, it was possible that after 100 years someone could mimic T’Pol, but to copy her so perfectly?

He paused and sat for a moment. A walk sounded in order, and the other Enterprise was just a stroll away. Soon Trip found himself in familiar yet alien corridors, and before a door he knew all too well. He sounded the comm. and the door slid open. He entered. At first, the space seemed empty, but then he saw an old woman near the window. She turned.

“Trip,” she said, no inflection in her tone. He couldn’t decipher her response to his presence.

Looking at her for a long moment, he asked, voice tentative, “T’Pol?”

The old woman moved towards him, and he saw in her faded beauty the T’Pol he had seen just hours before. “T’Pol!” he exclaimed. “What the hell are you doing still alive?”

“Commander Tucker. You believe yourself a gentleman, and yet you imply by your question that, not only am I old, I should be dead. What happened to your dedication to common human courtesy?”

“T’Pol,” Trip whispered to himself. Aloud he said “You are old! Get over it. We apparently have a 100-year-old son, so forget the vanity thing. Why the hell didn’t anyone tell me you’re still alive?” He stopped, slightly stunned by what he had said. He had never been so straightforward with T’Pol. What was he thinking?

But the woman before him came towards him, hands outstretched. He extended his own hands and felt them grasped in a fragile, shaking grip.

“How I missed your sense of humor. How I have missed…you.”

“Not very Vulcan of you to miss someone.”

“No, not very Vulcan.”

Trip felt at a loss. On one level he knew it was T’Pol before him, but on another he didn’t know what to say to this virtual stranger.

“You called me ‘Trip.’”

“I was married to…the Trip of my timeline.”

“So, I guess you and I…he…married and had a son.”

“Yes.”

“Quite the honeymoon, I hear.”

T’Pol looked impassively at him. Trip realized that with more than 100 years of practice, T’Pol had perfected the look to make him squirm.

“I mean, the palm tree, the sand, and…ahhh…well, hmm, yeah, well…you know?… Lorian seems a good kid!”

“Yes, but he has his illogical moments.”

“Tell me about it. He shot me with a phaser – set on stun, the little so-and-so – and stole my injectors.”

“Which was more unsettling, getting shot or the theft of part of your engines?”

Trip tipped his head to one side, studying T’Pol.

“Did you just tease me?”

“About your engines? No, that is not something I do when such an important topic is being discussed. But had it been just a case of getting shot, then I might have addressed the situation with an attempt at humor.”

Trip gave T’Pol a look of mock exasperation, and she lifted a brow in response.

“Very funny,” Trip said. “You probably taught him to shoot me before he could walk, for all I know. Like mother like son. Maybe you taught him to think saying it with firearms is the Vulcan way to say ‘I love you.’ Anyway, why did you say *he has his illogical moments?*”

“I’m the only Vulcan he knows, so much of what he learned about his culture he discovered from the Vulcan database. He is more at ease with his human side, whereas he approaches his Vulcan nature more theoretically.”

“T’Pol, don’t tell me you weren’t the very model of a modern Vulcan matriarch, there to guide Lorian through the maze of Vulcan logic?” Trip asked, tongue in cheek.

T’Pol was silent. Trip realized he had crossed some line. An uncomfortable silence fell over the room.

“No, I wasn’t,” T’Pol said, after a moment. “You, Lorian, and I examined the teachings of Surak together and created a Vulcan environment for him, but with human elements. After you died, Lorian changed. He…withdrew into himself. He was more interested in your engineering logs than Surak, and later he began to explore Vulcan culture on his own, without guidance or input from me.”

“Why? What happened?”

“He missed you, and the affection you brought into his life. Malcolm, Hoshi, Travis and Phlox all gave him affection, but…it wasn’t the same. And it was logical to assume he would be the only one who would still be alive at this time when the two Enterprises would meet up. He was made aware of that possibility.

“His energies became focused on the goal of stopping the Xindi. Almost immediately after your death he ceased being a child and became a man. But he became a focused, inflexible man. His crew is loyal to him, but he can be autocratic. And at times he assumes his Vulcan logic and heritage as a cloak to protect him from his human side.”

“He told me he had balanced his Vulcan and human sides,” Trip said, remembering his conversation with his son in Engineering.

“At times his Vulcan and human sides are at war with each other, and at other times they are compatible. When Lorian is intent upon a task, one part of his nature stops listening to the other, and he makes mistakes. Then he blames the side he listened to and suppresses it.”

Trip was saddened to learn of Lorian’s internal struggles. “I told him I was sorry I wasn’t there for him, that it must have been hard with the Old Man around. I didn’t realize how hard.”

T’Pol almost smiled, to Trip’s surprise. “’Old Man.’ That brings memories back to me. Yes, he did need you. I hope I have not burdened you by relating what I have.”

“Sounds like Lorian’s life has been rough. You aren’t burdening me, but it’s a bitch to hear.”

“Yes, but seeing you now has benefited him. He said you are the man he remembers, and that has helped him trust and value his memories of you. His determination to make this mission successful solidified after your meeting.”

“So you’re saying it’s my fault he shot me and stole my injectors?”

“Yes, that is what happens to Vulcans who become disoriented in your presence. They believe they are acting logically even when engaged in completely illogical behavior.”

“T’Pol, you silver-tongued vixen.”

“I, at least, had thirty years as an adult to absorb the emotions you made me feel—which now bring me peace. Lorian only had fourteen years of your presence and the balance you bring to an addled Vulcan.

“An ‘addled Vulcan?’”

“Yes, that is what you called me, when I wasn’t logical.”

“T’Pol, why did you lose your poise? The T’Pol I know isn’t as stoic as she was when she joined the ship. What’s happening?”

“I can’t speak for the T’Pol of your time. All I can say about my situation is that I became ‘addled’ when I thought I could outwit my Vulcan legacy. I believed I was approaching a situation logically, but the approach I took was not logical… and… my life changed forever.”

“I’m so sorry, T’Pol. That must have been hard for you.”

“Yes. But I could never be sorry because that path unexpectedly gave me something I never envisioned as possible. It gave me my life with you, and with Lorian. I treasure both of you more than anything. Trip, are you ‘becoming emotional,’?”

“No, of course not. Especially not in front of an emotionless Vulcan.”

T’Pol handed Trip a tissue. Trip looked at the tissue with a perplexed expression, then wiped his eyes. “When did you start preparing for emotional humans?”

“I am the one the residents of Enterprise seek out for advice. I must have absorbed your ability to listen and provide comfort to others. As a result, I deal with my share of human, and alien/human, tears. Some who come are more illogical than others.”

“Oh, the places you’ll go when you become a Tucker.”

“Yes. All are unexpected and intriguing places I want Lorian to rediscover – especially the gratification of being a Tucker.”

Trip reached out and touched her hand, not knowing how to help her with Lorian and the burden his son had carried. He began to appreciate why Vulcans denied the possibility of time travel – it was impossible to deal with.

“Well, I sure wish I could get the T’Pol I know to discover that kind of gratification.”

“Ah, if Enterprise successfully navigates the subspace corridor, you and your T’Pol may have a different path to follow.”

“You’re not going to give me advice?”

“No.”

“No?! After all the wonders of life I brought to you, you won’t help me figure out your stubborn counterpart?”

“No.”

“Think of your life without me! Do you want the poor T’Pol of my timeline to live without my charisma and charm?”

“Trip, don’t use your ‘charm’ on me. I know you. When you were alive I never told you how much you affected me because you would have been unbearable to live with. And don’t be so desperate. The only advice I will give to you is to be patient. Your T’Pol will have to make her own decisions. She has to solve the questions she has about her life on her own. You can’t do so for her, but you can try not to be a problem for her.”

“Great. Just great. I hate to wait.”

“Patience is a virtue.”

“Who the hell has been filling your head with crap like that?”

“You.”

“Oh, so now it’s my fault you won’t help me solve a problem called T’Pol?”

“Correct.”

Trip was close to thinking Vulcans were the meanest aliens ever, and that he was sure there existed out there somewhere a human woman who could make him happy. Vulcan women were just too high maintenance and secretive. Yes, an open, angst-free, human woman was what he needed.

“Don’t tell me you are already planning how to find the perfect human ‘Stepford Wife,’ Trip?” T’Pol inquired, with an almost satirical tone to her voice.

Startled, Trip jumped into his denial mode. “No, no, no…no, of course not. I mean, how did you know? And she wouldn’t be a Stepford Wife. How dare you use my movies against me?! Damn, you did than when you threatened to show Soval Frankenstein. I’ll bet you had a big laugh in your quarters after that little bombshell.”

“If you don’t want the Vulcan perspective on human culture, you shouldn’t be so eager to share. In our life, you became just as adept at using Vulcan cultural icons to put me in my place, so don’t expect pity from me.”

“Oh? Such as….?”

“Give it a rest, Trip.”

“You freak me out when you talk like a human! Did I pick up Vulcan phrases as well in your timeline? I hope I gave you hell as well.”

“My Trip did pick up Vulcan, and did disconcert me, but if you do or do not in the future is up to you and your T’Pol.”

“I wish you wouldn’t call her *my* T’Pol. She may never be.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Sure you are, you mean old Vulcan. So, how was our sex life?”

T’Pol raised a brow.

“Huh, you aren’t going to tell me anything, are you? Anyway, I have plenty of ways of getting women to notice me. I don’t need T’Pol, if she doesn’t want me.”

“Not those shirts you wore, the ones with large patterns and various colors all creating a visual statement to attract attention to your person?”

“Yes.”

“Those shirts do not successfully achieve the goal you wish.”

“What do you mean by that? Plenty of women have been fascinated by them and have come on to me.”

“I didn’t.”

“What?”

“I didn’t *come on* to you when you wore such garments.”

“Oh. Well. You must have come to appreciate them after we got married.”

“No, I gave them away.”

“What?!”

“To an alien race in the expanse which used materials with varied patterns and colors as camouflage during their hunting rituals.”

“You gave my shirts away!?”

“Yes. It was most odd to find, in the 2070s those garments had become…notorious. The younger generations in the expanse replicated them. They made quite the rebellious statement across a variety of species and cultures.”

“You gave my shirts away!?”

“Yes, and soon after I auctioned off your engines.”

“You…you…you…oh, you’re winding me up. God, T’Pol, I thought you were serious there for a moment. I don’t see how we could’ve remained married after such a betrayal.”

“You are so easy, Trip.”

“That’s because you’ve known me for decades. The T’Pol I know wouldn’t be able to twist me up like this. Thank god.” Trip was suddenly frightened of a T’Pol who could know him so well.

“I apologize, but for a moment I had my Trip back. That was why I didn’t want to see you. I’m too old to live through the discomfort of losing you again. I didn’t want to risk my peace.”

Trip was appalled by how he had carelessly hurt this woman to satisfy his own curiosity.

“I’m so sorry, T’Pol. I’m selfish. I was curious about who wrote those modification reports. They were so *you.* When I read them I heard your voice and had to know who could sound like you. It turned out to be you. You say we were happy for a while. I never meant to hurt you.”

“I didn’t want to see you. But by seeing you and talking with you, I realize this meeting was useful. Though he knew I had affection for him, I didn’t tell my Trip I couldn’t imagine my life without him. Although you will lead a different life, it comforts me to at least tell you so. So illogical, but my Trip would have appreciated and teased me about the logic of my illogic. I am able to say goodbye to him, which I was unable to do before. Although I didn’t want to meet you, I’m content now that I have.

She reached out and placed her hand against his neck. Trip grasped her hand with both of his. An announcement over the comm. called the senior officers from both ships to the bridge of Enterprise 1. The two Enterprises needed to prepare to enter the nebula and the subspace corridor. Trip looked at T’Pol and saw tears in her eyes. Silently she said goodbye to the man she married and adored. Trip said goodbye to a wife and child he might never have. He touched her face, turned, and left her quarters to return to his duties and a world without this T’Pol.

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A whole mess of folks have made comments

Wow...That was both funny and bittersweet. Wish we could have had a scene like this as well as T'Pol/Old T'Pol's scene. It would have added even more depth to the ep. Thank you.

Myst... and you say you don't have a knack for this! Every bone in my body says differently! This was perfect... couldn't have done it better myself! Just perfect! I'm glad you ended up writing this! And oh my god was it funny!

wow i liked this!!!!!! nice to know t'pol got to meet trip & wind him up so easily haha:-)

Please tell me that this is just the start. I would love to read more to this story.

Sniff…this is so sad…and so wonderful. Old T'Pol and Trip meeting was the one scene I really missed in E2. But as in your story, I can understand why she would want to avoid the pain such a meeting would bring. Wonderfully poignant missing scene.

This would've made a great scene on the show, myst! Bravo!

Marvellous...

Wow, this was great! As awkward as it must have been at first, they seemed very comfortable with one another. The teasing between the two gives us a good glimpse of how their relationhip could be. It's too bad we didn't have this type of scene in E2. Thanks, very enjoyable and poignant story :)

myst123,

You covered the "missing" scene that we all wanted to see but one that never happened on screen! Thanks for putting closure on our curiosity on what could have transpired if Trip and the older T'Pol had that chance to meet!

I absolutely loved this! I think this is probably very similar to what would have happened on the show. They're both a little unnerved and thrown off by each other's presence. T'Pol has learned how to get the best of Trip, while Trip is curious about how his T'Pol changed so much.

Very nice.

snif great story
to bad this scene will never on TV

Nicely done. Excellent addition. I've wondered what that meeting would have been like....

What a wonderful missing scene. Thank you.

This was great! Thanks for writing this "lost scene". It is very much as I envisioned it would be. I really enjoyed the bantering between them - just like old times!!

Enjoyed this story the first time I read it, enjoyed it even more the second time. Well done!

"What the hell are you doing still alive?" Trip, you're really a charmin' boy!
I enjoyed this conversation. I would have loved to see this scene on television. It is really a "missing scene". Thank you for this great story.

What a wonderful missing scene. My favorite part was "I am able to say goodbye to him, which I was unable to do before. Although I didn’t want to meet you, I’m content now that I have." Sniff sniff.

This was superbly excellent and very moving. I absolutely adored the scenes between Trip and the other T'Pol. Wow Myst, they broke the mould when they made you. My thanks barely give downpayment to my appreciation. Wonderful writing, Ali D :~)

Oh yes! I so wanted to see this scene! ANd you gave it to me so beautifully. What a great job!

Really nice dialogue. I wish this was included in the episode on TV.

Trip should have not found T'pol quarters empty and remembered that they were married and gone to his old quarters. It would make sense that she would want to be where the memory of him would be the strongest...like a widow putting on her husband's shirt because it reminds her of him.

correction - Trip should have found T'pol's quarters empty...

Because T'Pol's quarters are larger, I always assumed Trip moved in with T'Pol, and that her quarters were their quarters after they married.