A Glimpse

A Glimpse

By: TLR

Rate PG mild adult content
Also Rate 2 B: requires at least 2 boxes of tissues
Disclaimer: Enterprise is the property of Paramount Productions & UPN
Summary: This story..... give it a chance before you get too upset. I think you’ll like the end.
March 8th 2005

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Trip sat over in the side of the room watching as T’Pol cleared the sheets and blankets off their bed. As was her habit she threw all the garments from the hamper into the pile, then exited to the bathroom. One by one the clothes she was wearing came flying out the door and onto the pile.

(It was Laundry day.) Trip thought with a smile and remembered how her funny quirk about doing all the laundry often got him into some embarrassing situations. T’Pol accepted that caring for the house was just one of the many responsibilities she had once they returned to their home on Vulcan. She performed the tasks with skill and precision, never once complaining.

But her one pet peeve was not to have any laundry left in the hamper after she was done. This was such a quirk of hers that she would literally strip down naked and don a robe, rather than have to dispose of her day’s clothes into the now emptied hamper. As for Trip, if he were present, she would also come to him and demand the clothes he was wearing. If he wasn’t inclined to give them up, she would in most cases begin to take them from him. Many was the time a bewildered Trip would be left standing in the middle of their bedroom in nothing but a pair of blue undershorts.

Trip on the other hand, got a kick out of seeing his wife strip down just to get her chores done with Vulcan efficiency. (Gotta hand it to those Vulcans, they do laundry right.)

Trip looked over to the bureau at the hologram of his family. T’Pol as usual stood straight and erect, no smile on her face. However the gleaming faces of his two children all but made up for her lack of expression. Lorian was a handsome one, sandy blond hair and light blue eyes... but his sister Elizabeth with her dark features all but stole the shot. Her beauty was even more evident than her mom’s. Both bore the uniquely shaped ears that were part of their Vulcan ancestry. Many pictures adorned the surface. Shots of them running... of them studying.. Trip was a dutiful dad with a camera. Every graduation, every certification a child of Vulcan had to pass through, there was this human dad standing nervously at the finish line saying “Hold it.”

In their closet were palm padds full of pictures. The hiking trips they took together both on Vulcan and Earth. A picture with the whole family in Florida, the now, rebuild area covering over the scarred earth. Only a monument stood to remember those lost in the devastation. A picture of them at that monument, as dad explained to his little girl about the Aunt that she never got to meet, but was named in honor of.

Pictures of old friends, as they climbed the ladder of advancement. An Admiral Archer at his new post in San Francisco. And one of Captain Reed and his first officer Commander Mayweather aboard their galaxy class NC 1701 vessel properly named Enterprise. But for Trip having the children meant providing them with a safer, more stable life. So he hung up his gravity boots and accepted more stable assignments. First to the Engineering Command design center in San Diego, then to the Head of the Federation Command design center’s branch on Vulcan.

T’Pol spent some time just being a mom and making a home for her wonderfully talented husband, but when he took the promotion back to Vulcan, she agreed to consider a post on the High Counsel. The very same post she had turned down years before. He was proud of his wife. Many of the Counsel’s decisions reshaped the Federation. It made the alliance stronger and made the surrounding space a safer place to explore.

(T’Pol’s really doing it.....) He thought and watched as she struggled to get all the linen tied up into a ball. Trip started to stand to give her a hand and felt a familiar pain in his back and knees.

(Damn Arthritis!) He tensed his muscles and eased back against the cushions.

“Is there anything you require before I go?” T’Pol came up to her husband and pulled the comforter further up around his shoulders.

“No... I’m fine.” Trip returned a smile and touched her hand as it pulled away.

Through their bond he felt the warm comforting feelings he had come to know as love and affection. Given T’Pol’s obvious dilemma over being Vulcan and admitting to feelings, it was often hard for her to speak of them; but Trip came to understand that feelings were identifiable even without the words. A certain look.. a type of touch... even the warmth of a bondmate’s connection told volumes of things that T’Pol found hard to express. Through the years he had come to accept that, though at first his Human side needed to hear what she clearly had a hard time saying.

“Elizabeth called. She will be over to see you today after her morning classes.” T’Pol said lifting the bundle and exiting the room.

Trip smiled at the thought of his daughter being there. He missed his daughter, now 29 years old, since she moved into the dorms at the Shi’Oren t’Ek’tallar T’Khasi (Vulcan Academy of Sciences). Since her Norn-la-hal (status change from child to adult) she was expected to live away from her family to strengthen her emotional control without the assistance of her parental bonds. Trip remembered his greatest fear for both his children was after their respective Kahs-wan rituals ( 10 day desert ordeal, a Vulcan coming of age survival test.)

Because they were half human they were not favored to survive the test. Lorian not only survived, he stopped to help a fellow participant that was injured. Doing so was expressly against the rules, but in Trip’s eyes, his son passed with flying colors. Elizabeth was tough... a real momma’s girl. She struggled through the course in record time and even managed to beat out all the other male participants using only a quarter of her water ration. (Just like her mother.....)

Gone were the days of Krenath ( half breed) and other misgivings. His children etched out a place in both worlds and did it without the benefit of their privileged station. For their mother, T’Pol who became Ko-te’krusu (Queen) upon her mother’s death, had influenced the Vulcan people with her actions, not with her words. She showed them what the true meaning of Federation....acceptance and tolerance meant. She was to be revered, or at least accepted for her logical view of her ancestor’s teachings. For she was a daughter of Surak, a Klan with a long and distinguished blood line. Her mother T’Les had been from that line and passed her title onto her daughter who would pass it to her son upon her demise.

For only the first born of a royal could hold the title. Not even the spouse was honored to the degree a child of Surak ways. In her many lectures, she would argue that all Vuhikansu (Vulcans) were children of Surak as long as they followed and honored his teachings. Trip now understood how T’Pol could get away with standing up to the then High Command so many times and getting them to back off. Funny she didn’t ever mention her status to the Captain.

(That was why she was such a success.) Trip thought... because she finally got to do what she was destined to do: lead by example. He remembered the problems she struggled with trying to build her future after the Kir’shara was found. Whether to go back to Vulcan and lead her people with her words, or to live the Kir’shara and bring forth its’ dream of Federation. T’Pol often tormented over whether she made the decision she was destined to make. It seems now.... she did. For her work aboard Enterprise, getting the Federation started, as well as her defiance in marrying a Human, showed her people how tolerance and acceptance were the only logical way to bring about Federation. It wasn’t easy, they suffered many a disapproving eye, but the love between them brought with it courage that sustained them till acceptance finally came.

Trip’s mind turned to Lorian... now 36 years old and serving a board his first military posting. He was the equivalent of a Vulcan Cadet... otherwise known as low man on the totem pole. He could only enter the military after passing the Tal’oth (Vulcan young adult desert survival ritual). That one was more grueling than the Kahs’wan. But the one thing that scared Trip to his very core was when his 9 year old son contracted the Plak’tau (High Fever/ Flu). There were weeks on end that Trip didn’t sleep,....... didn’t move from his son’s bedside. Many a time the Vulcan healers weren’t sure the little one would survive, given his mixed heritage. But he did and now had dreams of joining the Trahokna t’Ek’Mishan T’Khasi (Vulcan Institute of Technology).

(Yep like father like son.) He thought, turning to adjust his position in the chair. (If he can only get through his years of required service.)

T’Pol returned to the room carrying new bedding. She saw a warm smile come across her beloved’s face and stopped her chores to join him. Kneeling by his side, she gingerly ran a warm hand along his cheek and leaned in to his now caricatured face.

Although 78 years of age, Trip still held a distinguished, handsome quality about him. His hair was now white, his eyes slightly blurred by the beginnings of cataracts and his skin showing a few age spots. His fingers, once so nimble with machinery, were swollen with arthritis and they trembled a bit when he reached out. T’Pol snuggled in tightly to his neck and breathed in the wonderfully familiar scent. Trip used to find it hard having a wife that now looked half his age, but at times like these he didn’t really care. He knew through their bond her love for him hadn’t changed. It hadn’t diminished with his waning usefulness. It had only grown stronger as she now added caring for him to her daily responsibilities.

T’Pol had changed some too. Her normally brown locks had turned a golden blond, on their way to grey. All Vulcan’s hair went through the transition, starting black and ending up white. T’Pol still being a very young woman of 111, naturally won’t show any signs of old age for many years yet.

“What would you like for dinner....” She whispered onto his skin. “ I could make you some Fori-kol (Vulcan vegetable stew) or maybe some Balkra ( an aromatic casserole), you like that.” She leaned out from him and gauged his response.

“Either will be find darlin’.” His smile was warm, but it reflected the truly weakened person he was.

Just two months ago while working in the garden, Trip had suffered a heart attack. Try as they might, all the tests that the specialists did revealed an untreatable heart condition. They told both him and T’Pol his time was limited.... Neither of them wanted to believe it could be so. T’Pol took time off from her counsel seat to stay with him round the clock. Lorian had even been granted a short leave to allow him time with his ailing father, but had to return two weeks ago. Now Trip could only sit and watch as his family tried to live their lives around him.

T’Pol’s eyes would water intermittently as she remembered the words of the doctors. Though they refused to dwell on it, he could see as well as sense it was plaguing her mind. For a Vulcan to loose a bondmate so young in life, the void it would cause was devastating. But T’Pol assured him that she would keep that part of him they exchanged through their bond. Every memory they would ever make together as well. So the fact that she would out live him by many years no longer matter to her. T’Pol eased back into his embrace not wanting to let go. She sensed his condition today was lessened. Hoped he was well and not trying to hide things from her as he always did.

A chirp sounded and T’Pol instinctively straightened. “Time for your medication.... I will get you some water.” She left and silently glided toward the kitchen. While filling the glass a sudden pain ripped through her chest, her breathing was difficult and her voice caught in her throat. “Trip......NO !”

T’Pol ran to the bedroom to find her beloved clutching his chest. She went immediately to his side and tried to ease his pain. With a hand planted firmly on his breastbone, she closed her eyes and tried to draw from him the damage unto herself. With a weak hand, Trip pulled hers from him.

“No darlin’.” He choked.... “It’s okay........You can’t take this from me..... The kids need you..” He forced a smile then jerked with another wave of pain.

T’Pol simply curled up in his arms. She kissed his face and stroked his brow relieving some of the stress that was there. Suddenly his demeanor calmed and it seemed so did the pain. Trip looked at his wife and gave her an adoring grin.

“God you’re beautiful............ Take care of the kids and give 'em lots of hugs and kisses for me....promise....”

T’Pol, tears streaming, simply nodded.

“Remember.... I love you.... I have always and will always love you......Remember.....” Trip’s eyes were tearing too.

“I have and always will love you too.” she stated openly with so much warm and passion that Trip felt he had waited a lifetime to hear her speak those words.

He placed his hand, spreading the fingers onto the contact points on her face. The ones that T’Pol had practiced with him so many times since his diagnosis.......

“Remember.....” He hissed with his last breath and those beautiful blue eyes closed one last time. T’Pol bent into his body and began to sob openly.... She placed his arm over her shoulder and left it lay against the width of her back.

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****Trip awoke on his bunk on Enterprise. Since his decision to leave, his sleep patterns were far from regular and the little time he did sleep he dreamt heavily. This one got to him good. Sitting up he reviewed in his mind what he’d seen. What a life he had with T’Pol and what accomplishments they both achieved. Utmost was the love they both found. It had been so vibrant in the dream, he could still feel the connections to it even now.

(Was he doing the right thing?) He wondered....(If he left could this future ever come to pass?)

He considered a moment longer then stood and walked over to the comm.

“Trip to Captain Archer.”

“Archer here..... Trip..... that you? I thought you’d be sleeping.” the captain voice was groggy, but understandable.

“I know it’s late, Cap’n, but its real important that I speak with ya....” Trip sounded a bit desperate.

“Sure.... Trip come on up.”

Trip changed into old sweats and a tee shirt. As he put on his deck shoes, he went over in his mind what he would say to his oldest and dearest friend.

(Cap’n.... I know I wanted a transfer and you granted it......but I’ve changed my mind..... I gotta stay on board Enterprise..... It’s a matter of life or death....)

And with that he was out the door of his cabin and heading for the captain’s quarters.

The End

All Vulcan terms came from the Golic Vulcan Federation Standard English-Vulcan Dictionary. Swear to the heavens above, there is really a dictionary.... updated yearly with new terms..... Ain’t that a hoot?

P.S. For anyone who was unsure... Yes that first part was a dream..... I would have let you know in the beginning but it would have given away the best part. T.

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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

First, I want to say I really like this story. There were a few things that you could improve upon. The in-text translations, for one, were distracting and on the whole unneccessary. And it might help you to keep track of what's established in the series as well as some of the more important parts of Trek lore. Plak Tow, for instance, is the "blood fever" part of Pon Farr. Lorian would probably not be subject to it at the age of nine.

Keep writing! :D

Beautiful!! 'nuff said.

OK, you were totally right about the tissues. Good story.

Lovely! Thanks for the hankie warning - you weren't kidding, either!! **sniff** I love the images of Tripperazzi capturing his kids' accomplishments - can just hear Lorien, "Aw, Dad, do you ALWAYS have to bring the camera?" Such a lovely family portrait you've painted for us - Hope you write more to sustain us through the pending finale ;)

p.s. The in-text translations were helpful for me.

WOW.. I like everything you write...
that was good. I did cry... trying to type through the tears... NOW.. if only B&B saw this your way... *gets angry again* sorry... they are my mortal enemies now.

Beautiful and sad - love the way he said, "God you're beautiful." (Silently praying that B&B woudld stumble upon this story)

Thanks gang. I actually thought of it while doing my laundry, not that I have that hang up of T'Pol's. No not me. I just thought it would be fun to keep you discovering as the story went along. I got a really cute idea for Lorian and Elizabeth tonight, I am gonna have to type it out really fast. Called "Birthday Party" another really warm moment, I promise. I realized too late about the Plaktou though, the dictionary had another term for vulcan high fever madness, but when I was typing, I couldn't find it in the numerous pages. I know I used a lot of vulcan phrases, but it's Trip's memory and by now he had to have learned a bit of Vulcan. I mean being with T'Pol for 45yrs and all. I too thought it a bit distracting, but using only English terms in the original seemed to cheapen the realness. That's why when I decided to use the terms, I made sure I put the definitions close by to help the reader. Sorry if they were too distracting. I will have "Away Mission " turned in by tomorrow, for those of you who want a bit more of Pon Farr fever. Thanks again.....T

No need to apologize, TLR. I love this story. My criticism is purely constructive.

Hey TLR, I love your stories, and I can't wait for more!
WRITE FASTER!!!!!!!!

WOW Sniff, sniff, Ok let me stop rubbing my eyes.
Just got a say that I dont think a guy could ask for a much better life then Trip had in that dream. TLR you should be giving the B&B boys lessons on writing.

Oh yeah besides Plak Tow I didnt have a clue what the other Vulcan words ment so I kinda liked that you put in the Vulcan words and then what they ment in english.
I realy loved the Idea of Trip sending his Human sole to T'pol at the end of the Dream through a mind meld so that they could be together the rest of her life. Real great moving story.

I really enjoyed this so much and was relieved the first part was a dream. Even though everyone has to die eventually I don't want that but it's forgivable in that it convinces Trip to change his mind about leaving. Oh yeah, this was great! Ali D :~)

That was sooooooo great! I hope it's continued. Man, can you put out stories! Awesome! :)

Ahh! Dammit, you made me bawl! *reaches for kleenex box* but it was great. AHH!!! SO SAD!!! *sob sob*

This story bought tears to my eyes. I truly enjoyed reading the stories.

"Away mission 1" has been sent in. It's good for a Pon Farr comedy fest. Will turn in the latest one "Birthday Party" Saturday Morning. It's a good family piece. Am working on "Goin Fishin" but I promised to get "Communication 102" done first. Is that fast enough for ya. LOL. Glad you'all like em. I am enjoying this a lot. Lots of Love. T.

Wow...beautiful story!!!

I loved it. You were so right about the hankies! Great stuff. :-)

I really really liked this; good writing. I found the dialogue completely believable......but wasn't the Plaktow the fever that overtakes a Vulcan male as he goes into Pon Farr?? Other than that......love to read anything you write.

God you make me mad! I woke up this morning... beautiful day I was real happy then you write this and before I know it im sobbing like an idiot. Thnx!!!

No but really great story. I need a tissue!!!

Dang you weren't kidding about the Kleenex warning, I'm all choked up and coming from ME that's major!
*insane amounts of applause*
Keep making it happen!

TLR, you don't need to apologize for the Plak-tow fever in the first part. After all it was only a dream. But if Trip dreamed all those other terms from the Vulcan-English Dictionary, Does that mean he has already started studying Vulcan to impress T'Pol? How romantic!