Home- Contrivance Corrected

Home – Contrivance Corrected

By pennyq

Date: January 4, 2005
Rating: G
Genre: Scene addition
Disclaimer: I own none of this and make no money from it. Paramount owns everything Enterprise. Me? I just make up stories for the fun of it when they leave things out.
Archive: Yes. No need to ask.
Spoilers: “Home” and a tiny one from “The Augments”

A/N: This quick little scene takes place after the big Welcome Home in “Home” but before anyone leaves. That scene of contrivance in which T’Pol invited Trip to Vulcan bugged me, and I felt the need to fanwank it. Honestly! Something had to happen before that which would make Trip ask T’Pol what she had told her mother about “us.”

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T’Pol found him at a table by the windows in the corner of the spacious cafeteria in Starfleet Headquarters. As she approached the table, Trip looked up from his mostly finished meal and smiled.

“How was the debriefing?”

As T’Pol placed her tray on the square table and took the seat adjacent to Trip, she replied, “It was… long.” She said the last word with an arch of both eyebrows, prompting a chuckle from Trip.

“I shouldn’t laugh. Mine is at 1300 hours. I’m not really looking forward to discussing the new warp coil, among other things.” Then his tone changed to one of tired frustration: “Still, your morning couldn’t possibly have been more frustrating than mine.”

T’Pol raised an eyebrow in question as she took a bite of her butternut squash.

Trip took a drink of water and went on to explain:

“I spent the better part of this morning trying to track down my parents. I honestly didn’t think that I’d be the one to have to find them. I finally got a hold of my brother in Ireland. Apparently, some of their friends convinced them that since their new house isn’t going to be ready for a couple of weeks, this would be a good time to go on an African safari in the Serengeti. They’ve wanted to go for years, but just never found the time before. They probably don’t even know the Enterprise is back.”

“I’m sure they’ll be disappointed that they missed your homecoming.”

“It’s all right. They’ll see me when they get back. They deserve the vacation. They’ve been through a lot.”

“As have you.”

“I lost Lizzie, but they had to worry about whether I’d come back too, but yeah, I guess we all have. But that’s why we have two months of leave,” Trip said with a bright smile, determined not to become mopey. He changed the subject: “What’s on your agenda for this afternoon?”

“I’m expected at the Vulcan embassy later this afternoon for another debriefing.”

“You don’t seem too happy about that.”

T’Pol amused Trip with a raised eyebrow and decided not to bother with a comment about Vulcans and emotions. Instead, she replied carefully, “I’m not looking forward to relating events that the High Command will no doubt be skeptical of.”

Trip looked up at her, a serious look on his face. “Lorian?”

“Among other things,” she replied dryly, repeating his earlier comment.

Trip decided to take the first leap. Now was as good a time as any. Wrinkling his brow, he began, “T’Pol, speaking of Lorian… well… where do we stand?”

T’Pol struggled with how to answer, and decided to right a wrong she had done to their relationship.

“Trip…”

The use of his name brought Trip to immediate attention. All his attention was now focused on T’Pol, who was currently looking down at her plate.

“You weren’t an experiment.” Then she focused her gaze directly into Trip’s eyes. “You aren’t an experiment.”

A wide smile spread over Trip’s face that only Phlox could top, and he reached out to touch T’Pol’s hand. His smile was only briefly marred by a frown when he noticed the time. “Damn! I have to go. When do you leave for Vulcan?”

“Tomorrow.”

Trip’s eye’s widened. “So soon? Will I see you later?”

“I’ll be on the ship this evening.”

Trip’s smile returned. As he stood up, he said, “I’ll see you later then.” Then, on impulse, he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. Cheered up quite a bit by the last fifteen minutes, he walked off to go to his debriefing.

END

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Seven people have made comments

I like it. I didn't think the scene was contrived, but that's because I enjoy seeing Trip get the better of T'Pol. It happens to infrequently.

This was cute, and well done. :-)

Very nice, a cute little fic!

This was sweat. It be a whole lot sweater if a certin unwanted marriage hadnt happened. Nice litlle fic.

That was just lovely. Thank you. Now we need a scene in the transport on the way back from the lava fields.... that missing scene has been bugging me for a long time. Excellent job!

Loved this, just wished it had been longer! Great stuff, Ali D :~)

Lovely! Excellent job!

Very nice......wouldn't have minded seeing it expanded a little, but I'll take what I can get. LOL.