Full Circle

FIX the FINALE Challenge

Full Circle

By Surya

Genre: Drama
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own nothing. It all belongs to Paramount. I just write 'em as they should be.
Summary: Following immediately from the events in Terra Prime. I thought it was too cruel of the writers to have T'Pol lose her child AND her husband.

Note: British TV has only shown episodes up to 'The Aenar', so all of my info about Terra Prime comes from spoilers. Please forgive any inaccuracies.

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She had summoned him to the white room again, and he knelt down opposite her and silently placed his hand over hers. Her eyes were downcast and a single tear rolled down her cheek. She slowly entwined her fingers with his.

“It’s bad tonight?” He knew the answer before he asked.

“Yes. Just when I believe my grief for our daughter is subsiding, it manifests itself again.”

“I know.” He gently brushed the tear away.

“Your presence is helpful.”

“You’ve done the same for me plenty of times.” He remembered the times she had found him crying in the night and had simply, silently held him until at last he fell asleep in her arms. T’Pol’s grief was different, but no less difficult. Whenever it threatened to close in on her, Trip’s quiet presence made it more bearable.

“We grieve together,” she said softly.

“Yes. For my sister, your mother and our daughter.”

“And the sharing makes us stronger.”

They sat in silence for a long time, each drawing strength and solace from the other.

“Are you sure you’re ready to go back?” he said at last.

She nodded. “This time alone with you has been necessary, but now I feel the need for more normal activity.” She paused. “As do you.”

Trip’s mouth curved in a small smile as he nodded his assent.

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Captain’s Personal Log:

I told them to take as long as they needed. That was a month ago. Now, after assisting Earth’s authorities in mopping up the last remnants of the Terra Prime organization, Enterprise is en route to Vulcan to pick up Commanders Tucker and T’Pol.

I’m glad they’re returning together. The death of their child was a terrible tragedy, and on top of that these two were violated in a way that few of us can even imagine. I was afraid the experience might tear them apart, but instead it seems to have brought them closer together. If so, some good will have come out of last month’s terrible events. I’ve watched Trip and T’Pol dance around each other for the last four years. So many times they approached each other, only to turn away at the last moment. They’re my most trusted colleagues and my closest friends, and although they come from two different worlds, they seem to have been made for each other. Maybe now they’ll be able to see that.

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Captain Archer was the only one there to meet them in the launch bay, and they were silently grateful to him for keeping the rest of the crew away. They both wanted to slip quietly back into their duties with the minimum of fuss. It would be hard enough to deal with those colleagues who knew about their personal tragedy.

“Welcome back, Trip,” he said, wrapping the younger man in bear hug. When he released him they shared a nod of understanding, and he turned to T’Pol, wanting to do the same to her but knowing she wouldn’t welcome the physical contact. Instead he laid a hand briefly in her shoulder, and she understood the gesture.

They didn’t meet with anyone else as Archer walked them to their quarters, and Trip wondered if he had deliberately cleared the decks. They paused outside T’Pol’s quarters, and Archer tried not to notice that Trip touched his lips briefly to her forehead as he said, “See ya later.” It seemed like the most natural gesture in the world.

“Wait a minute,” Archer said as she opened the door. “I hope I’m not assuming too much, but I thought you two might like to be a bit closer together. Trip, you’re right next door. Malcolm and I moved your stuff over this morning. I hope I did the right thing?”

It was T’Pol who spoke. “That was very thoughtful of you Captain. We appreciate it.”

“I’ll leave you to unpack, then.”

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They sat facing each other on the floor of T’Pol’s quarters as her meditation candles flickered between them. She had taught him to meditate during their stay at her home on Vulcan, believing it would help him to cope with his grief and anger, and it had become a regular part of their day to do so together before retiring.

“Tomorrow is likely to be a difficult day,” she said after they had come back to reality.

“Yeah, first day back on duty. I guess we should both get a good night’s sleep.”

She saw that he was rising to leave. “Trip?”

“Yeah?”

“Will you stay with me tonight?” She sounded very vulnerable.

“Yes, of course.”

They’d spent many nights together on Vulcan, not as lovers, but as two wounded people taking comfort in each other’s presence. But it had always been driven by Trip’s need to be held and soothed. T’Pol had never needed him to be physically there in the same way. For her, sensing him through their bond seemed to be enough.

The bond itself had been strengthened beyond measure by their shared pain, and each of them took comfort in it in their own way. It was too soon to speak of love. That was for the future, when the pain of their loss had been dulled by time, but it was also unnecessary. They were bondmates, and they simply knew.

Trip took off his shirt and lay down on her bunk, preparing to spoon with her as he had so many times before, but instead she lay down facing him, and as his arms encircled her, her lips brushed gently against his. In his mind he could sense what she needed from him: tenderness.

He kissed the centre of her forehead again, just a feather-light touch on her skin. His fingers played in her hair and his thumb caressed the sensitive tip of her ear as he slowly kissed her brows, then her closed eyelids, the bridge of her nose, her cheeks and her jaw before he finally closed his lips over hers. She sighed a little and slid her hand up into his hair as she caught his lower lip between hers and sucked on it, and then she pulled him closer and deepened the kiss.

She seemed to melt into him, and he could feel that she wanted him, needed him, longed for him. It had been a long time since they were lovers, and so much had happened in the time between, but T’Pol remembered those few stolen hours they had spent together in the Expanse and his tender, beautiful, skilful lovemaking. Now that they were bonded she understood why humans called it that. She knew how Trip had felt during that time and how his feelings had been inflamed by their physical intimacy. She wanted to experience that with him again.

Make love to me, Trip, he heard her in his mind. Make me yours again.

“T’Pol,” he murmured through their kisses, “my darlin’.”

A welling of tenderness and desire reached her along with the endearment, and she pushed him back gently onto the pillows, moving with him so that she straddled his hips and lay against his chest. Their bodies were perfectly in tune – another benefit of their telepathic connection – and the pace was slow and languid. They led their excitement build gradually, savouring the sweet sensations they could create for each other, and when at last they joined they were moments away from an intense and powerful orgasm that tore through their bodies and their minds.

“Honey? Are you okay?” he said huskily into her hair as she lay trembling in his arms.

She nodded and lifted her head to look into his eyes, and the corners of her mouth twitched almost imperceptibly into that Vulcan smile that he hadn’t seen for so long. “I wanted us to feel … joy again,” she said quietly as she kissed him.

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Six years later …..

T’Pol lay quietly in the darkness of their quarters, anxious not to wake her husband just yet. As usual Trip had curled himself around her in his sleep, with his front moulded against her back, and she smiled inwardly as she reflected that there was much more of her to curl around recently. She looked down at Trip’s hand resting protectively on the swell of her abdomen and felt his slow, deep breaths like a caress on her shoulder. He had told her that he liked her body this way, that she was more beautiful to him now than she had ever been, and she’d looked into his mind and found he was sincere.

She breathed her way through a muscle contraction, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to shield Trip from her labour pains for much longer as he stirred restlessly behind her.

Sleep a while longer, my love, she soothed him. I will need your strength soon enough.

It was fitting that their son would be born on this day, exactly six years after Elizabeth’s death. With his birth, the day would become one of celebration, even if it was still tinged with sadness for the sister he would never know.

Six years to come full circle. From a child who was created without their knowledge or consent, to a child they had decided to create together. From a child who was designed to deter humans from mating with other species, to a child who proved that such things were inevitable, desirable and beautiful. From a child they had both grown to love despite her origins, to a child who represented their love for each other.

Those six years had seen her tentative bonding with Trip blossom and grow into a deep and abiding love as she finally learned to trust and respect him as her husband. She had gradually learned to anticipate and fulfil his emotional needs, and to appreciate that he also fulfilled hers, even when she didn’t realise she had them. Quite simply they had grown to understand each other, depend on each other and care for each other in a way that she had never imagined would be possible for such a volatile, emotional human and one of her logical species. He was everything a Vulcan husband would have been to her and infinitely more, for he loved her openly and unashamedly, and one year ago, when the pon farr had come upon her he had endured the blood fever with her and matched her ardour with his own in order that they could conceive their son.

She regulated her breathing again as another, stronger contraction pulled at her, but she was unable to shield Trip completely from it, and he woke.

“Honey?” he said sleepily, propping himself up on one elbow and regarding her with eyes full of concern.

She grasped his hand in hers as she looked up at him. “It’s time.”

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Archer paced back and forth across the bridge, visibly tense, as were the rest of the bridge crew. The comm. beeped softly and he glanced at Hoshi hopefully.

She shook her head. “It’s just a routine engineering report, sir.”

“At least they’ve got something to keep them busy down there.” He resumed his pacing.

“It’s been more than six hours. How long do these things usually take?” said Malcolm.

Travis chuckled. The boomer was the only one of the bridge crew who had been through this before. “It takes as long as it takes, sir. My sister was in labour for nearly twelve hours with my nephew. You just have to wait it out.”

“I’ve never been much good at waiting,” grumbled Malcolm.

“Dr Phlox to Captain Archer,” the voice came over the comm.

They all jumped and Archer all but sprinted back to his chair. “Go ahead, doc. Any news?”

“Yes, Captain. I’d like to announce the birth of a healthy 3.5 kilogram baby boy.”

Travis whooped in delight, and Malcolm and Hoshi traded grins almost as wide as the bridge itself.

“Thanks. How are the proud parents?”

“Commander T’Pol is resting comfortably, and Commander Tucker should be doing the same as soon as I can persuade him to put the baby down.”

Archer sniggered at the image of Trip holding his son in his arms and refusing to let him go. “He’s a new Dad, doc. Let’s cut him a bit of slack for now.”

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Captain’s Starlog: 12th September, 2161

This is the final voyage of the Starship Enterprise. We’re heading back to Earth, where the ship will be decommissioned and we’ll all go our separate ways. She’s been like a mother to us over the last ten years, protecting us through all our battles and helping us to explore our corner of the galaxy. Now this grande dame of the fleet is being gracefully retired, and younger, faster ships will take her place.

We’ll be stopping at Vulcan tomorrow to pick up some candidates for the officer exchange program – a product of the more equal partnership that’s developed between our two worlds since the dissolution of the High Command. And there we’ll also say goodbye to Commanders – no, as of tomorrow I’ll have to get used to calling them plain Mr and Mrs Tucker – and their new baby son, heading for civilian life. I’ve no doubt Trip would have been delighted if ‘li’l Charlie’ could have grown up tinkering with a warp engine, but they’ve decided a Starship is no kind of place to raise a child, and I agree with them. It’s been hard enough to accommodate a married couple within the command structure without them being parents as well. Maybe one day crew members will be able to have their families aboard, but that’s far in the future.

After what happened to Elizabeth, Trip and T’Pol are still understandably a little skittish about taking their son to Earth, so two of the most important figures in the creation of the United Federation of Planets will be absent from its inauguration. T’Pol will be taking up a teaching position at the Vulcan Science Academy almost immediately. I guess the Vulcans don’t go in much for maternity leave. As for Trip, I’d never really pictured him as a stay-at-home Dad. All he ever wanted was to be Chief Engineer on a Starship, but he tells me that becoming a parent radically changes your priorities. There’s a sizeable human community on Vulcan now, so he won’t be totally out of place, and I’m sure that before long he’ll find something to fix. It’s been a privilege serving with them and I wish them every happiness in their new life together. All I ask is that they let Uncle Jon pay a visit from time to time.

Dr Phlox will also be staying on Vulcan for a while. I understand there’s young Vulcan diplomat who wants to consult him about the possibility of having a child with his human wife.

Newly promoted Lieutenant Commander Hoshi Sato is also returning to teaching – this time at Starfleet Academy – giving the next generation of communications officers the benefit of her ten years experience in space. You can bet that under Hoshi’s instruction they won’t be relying too heavily on the universal translator.

Lieutenant Commander Travis Mayweather, helmsman extraordinaire, is taking the ops position on the Starship Orion, but they’ve promised they’ll let him fly the ship from time to time. I still think within a few years he’ll be the youngest captain in Starfleet.

As for me, I’ve been offered a promotion to Admiral and a job at Starfleet HQ. But I’ve always been an explorer, and you can’t do much exploring sitting behind a desk on Earth. So I’m taking command of a brand new warp seven ship, and with Commander Malcolm Reed as my XO, we’ll continue our voyages on a ship named Enterprise.

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A whole mess of folks have made comments

Just lovely! It should have been like this... :)

Beautiful! Thank you!

Oh yay, this was nice. Does anybody else get as depressed as I do reading all these finale fics? It's all decomission this and reassignment that. I am having to use some hardcore vulcan repression techniques to forget all memories of the finale. This was a good fic though. Too short mind. I want some EPICS people, *slams hand down on table in boardroom meeting style*

Ah. The way it should have been. #4. :)

Is it my imagination, or did you just slip in a little TOS crossover there? That young vulcan diplomat wouldn't happen to be named Sarek, would he? Or are we still too early in the timeline for that? Great Story!

Beautifully written, as it should have been. Thank you.

Thanks... this was wonderful

Great story!

Great job. I'll never understand what they where thinking when they came up with "These Are The Voyages...."

Wonderful story.
I was waiting for a story that went in to the grief that T'pol was feeling,and have Trip be there for her in their special place,,,sad an touching at the same time. Just a lovely fic.

Very nice! I love the hopefulness that's infused in this story. :)

ahhh very good story, too bad you didn`t stretch it out some longer, as i assume there will be no sequel?

Wonderful story I really liked this one.A more satisfying conclusion the way it should've been done.Dealing with Trip and T'Pol's grief was beautifuly written.I hope you'll continue writting more stories thank you for this story.

Wonderful story I really liked this one.A more satisfying conclusion the way it should've been done.Dealing with Trip and T'Pol's grief was beautifuly written.I hope you'll continue writting more stories thank you for this story.

Beautifully done! I also liked how you deal with Trip and T'Pol's grief. And was that Vulcan diplomat Sarek? Wonderful job!

It's up to the reader to decide who the Vulcan diplomat is.

There are possible 'sequels' dealing with the 6 years between, and T&T on Vulcan. However this story is about how grief and pain can be transmuted to joy, so it didn't need any more padding.

Sweet! That was nice and fluffy, just what I needed! :)

loved it!

Oh, this is such a lovely story! I, too, wish it were longer. I like your background of Tri'Pol taking recovery time on Vulcan - helping each other and becoming closer through that time. Call me a hopeless romantic, but I believe that their Elizabeth would bring them closer rather than drive them apart. I liked this line, "Quite simply they had grown to understand each other..." That's all ya need, in a nutshell.

I hope you write more vignettes on this storyline.

The way it should have been

Really lovely, and exactly the way it should have been. Thanks for sharing this.

Well done

Well done

i hope you continue to write more ff, you write very well and beautifully.

This was wonderful. Really believeable. Just as it should have been for us the fans.