Reflection - Ch 4

Reflection

By Triplover

Disclaimer: I don’t own a thing.
Rating: R
Summary: Trip must face some old demons when a friend from the past reappears asking to stay on Enterprise as a member of the crew.

Chapter Four

“Is it just me or are Sim and T’Pol working together a lot lately?” Travis asked Hoshi who sat across from him in the mess hall.

Hoshi shrugged. “It’s just you,” Hoshi said smiling.

Travis shook his head sighing. “I’m being serious, Hoshi. Sim and T’Pol have been spending a lot of time together. I think Sim has feelings for her.”

Hoshi rolled her eyes. “Oh come on, Travis. Does everything have to be ‘who likes who’ around here? It’s bad enough people were starting all those rumors about the commander and T’Pol, now you want to start something too?”

Travis smiled. “I’m not starting a rumor Hoshi. You have to admit that Sim has shown signs of having it bad for the Sub-Commander. Just look at how he acts around her. I’m just beginning to wonder if maybe there’s more going on than what meets the eye.”

Hoshi looked up at Travis. “But what if Trip really does have feelings for T’Pol? I don’t see T’Pol cheating on him.”

“It’s not cheating if you're not together,” Travis reminded her.

Hoshi folded her arms. “If T’Pol knows how Trip feels I doubt she’d do anything with Sim.”

“How do you know she knows?” he then questioned.

“I don’t. But I also don’t believe anything’s going on with between Sim and T’Pol. And neither should you,” Hoshi muttered before going back to eating her food. And poor Trip if there is something between Sim and T’Pol. Hoshi thought to herself. She watched as Sim and T’Pol entered the mess hall together. Sim was laughing lightly.

Travis’ eyebrows rose. “Still think nothing's going on Hoshi?”

Hoshi glared at Travis.

==

Trip silently watched T’Pol and Sim interact, his chest tightening every time Sim would laugh. What the hell could they be talkin’ bout? And what’s so damn funny? Trip rolled his eyes as Sim laughed a third time. Damn was this getting annoying! Trip looked down at his food and pushed it away from him. Suddenly he wasn’t hungry anymore. He looked back at Sim and T’Pol one last time before leaving the mess hall. He couldn’t take it anymore.

He quickly walked towards engineering. Once he was there he went to the top level and let out a sigh of relief that no one was around. He raked his hands through his hair slowly. “Calm down Trip, they’re friends. Nothin’ more. Just friends. And what do you expect even if they aren’t? You haven’t made much of a move even once since that night when T’Pol hit on ya. Besides, that night when something did happen it was T’Pol that did it! Trip, ya couldn’t even make a move then! Did you think that night just suddenly made her unattainable by others or somethin’? “If ya did, then you’re an idiot! A damn idiot!”

“Who's an idiot?”

Trip jumped, whipping around to see the captain standing before him. “Uh, nobody. Ya need somethin’ Cap’n?”

Archer took a few more steps closer to Trip and smiled. “Not really, just checking up on you. Things have been really uneventful on the bridge so I thought I’d take a stroll.”

“A stroll eh?” Trip grinned. “Well then, don’t let me keep ya from your stroll there, sir.”

Archer folded his arms. “You okay Trip? You seem a little on edge today.”

“I’m fine. I’m just dealin’ with somethin’ right now,” Trip told him.

“Want to talk about it?”

Trip shook his head. “No, I’m fine. I don’t need to talk. I just need to get through this day and I’ll be fine.”

Archer nodded in understanding. “One of those days, huh? Well, here’s to hoping tomorrow's better.” Archer moved past Trip then stopped to turn and look at him. “You know, Sim might be here for a while Trip, maybe for as long as we’re out here. I know it’s difficult for all of us to get used to him being here. It’s a little strange for me too.”

Trip frowned. “Yeah, I know.”

Archer put his hand on Trip’s shoulder, “don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll get easier as we go. Adjustments are always difficult at first.”

Trip looked down at the floor and smiled lightly, “aye sir.”

==

Captain Archer had just gotten back from his stroll when Travis’ console began to beep. “Sir, sensors have detected a solar system nearby.”

Jonathan was always quick to make contact but first he’d have to know just where they were technology wise. He wasn’t about to make the same mistake he’d made before with the other pre-warp civilization. “Any hint that they have warp capability?”

Hoshi nodded. “I’ve scanned the planet, they have starships. It’s a warp civilization.”

Archer smiled. “Hail them.”

Hoshi moved her hand to the earpiece inside her ear. A frown formed on her face before she looked up at Jonathan. “They’re hailing us sir.”

“On screen,” Archer commanded.

“I am Okoric of the planet Zarkon. And may I ask who you are?”

Archer gave the man his most charming smile. “My name is Captain Jonathan Archer of the starship Enterprise. We’re on a mission of exploration.”

Okoric’s eyebrow rose. “I see. And I’m guessing you’d like to ‘explore’ our planet?”

Archer gave a short nod.

“I’m not sure if that will be possible. Our leader has his hands full at the moment. Perhaps you should ‘explore’ our planet later.”

Archer let out a short disappointed sigh. “Oh.”

Okoric smiled. “Then again… perhaps it wouldn’t be such a bad idea. I will have to talk to my superiors before I can give you a decision though.”

“That’s fine with me.”

Okoric cleared his throat and straightened slightly. “Please hold, Mr. Archer.”

At that the screen went blank. Archer frowned and looked over at Hoshi who was smiling at him. “Guess we’re being put on hold.”

==

Okoric walked down the many halls until he reached Parlif who stood looking out the window at the lake nearby. “Leader Parlif… there is a ship called Enterprise in orbit around our world.”

“What does it want?”

“The captain wishes to meet with you. He says he’s on a mission of exploration.”

Parlif folded his arms frowning. “I will speak with them. But not now, there are things I must do first. Ask them if they would be willing to wait a few hours. And remember to warn them about the condition of our world. I would hate for them to come here unprepared.”

Okoric bowed in respect before leaving the leader of his world in peace. He then headed back to his console. “On screen.”

==

“Captain Archer.”

Archer jumped to attention as soon as the screen flashed back to Okoric. “Yes Mr. Okoric?”

“My leader Parlif has agreed to meet with you, but there are a few things I must explain to you first.”

“What kinds of things?” asked Archer.

==

Trip was having a hard day. Engineering got busy almost as soon as the captain left to finish his stroll. People were complaining of all kinds of things. It was beginning to drive Trip nuts. He spent most of his time under consoles getting electrocuted and at one point had to put out a fire in engineering. He still hadn’t figured out the cause of that one. It was just one thing after another today and when Trip finally got a break away from Engineering he gladly took it. He needed a shower bad. He was covered in things he didn’t even want to think about and his fingers were fried from being shocked by all those wires he had to rearrange and repair. Then he’d gotten burned in the fire.

He’d gone to Phlox to see what he could do but there really wasn’t much. The doctor did a little eel therapy but that was it. Trip let out a sigh of relief when he finally reached his quarters. After the day he was having he didn’t know how he was going to get up the next morning. He didn’t want to face anyone at this point. He didn’t want to see Sim. He didn’t want to see T’Pol and he didn’t want to see the captain. He just wanted to crawl in some hole and be alone for a while. Life was beating him down again and as always he wasn’t handling it well.

He struggled out of his uniform and pulled his undershirt off over his head. He stripped the rest of his clothes and folded them before dropping them on the bed. After stretching slightly he walked into his bathroom and turned on the shower. He wanted a nice hot shower. When it was hot enough he walked inside and let the water burn his skin, he ignored the pain. He thought back on the day he’d had. Seeing Sim and T’Pol together had been a real big blow for him.

For some stupid reason he’d thought that maybe things were different between T’Pol and him. They’d made love for god’s sakes! And Trip didn’t care that T’Pol called it an experiment. Sex was sex no matter how you looked at it. And when two people do something like that emotions get involved. It didn’t take long before he realized that perhaps a friendship was the better course of action before they jumped into anything else.

So he tried to get to know T’Pol as a person. He tried to develop a real relationship with her. One based on the intimate knowledge they would possess regarding each other. He’d learned a lot about T’Pol in that time. It had made him love her more than he would have thought possible. And now he risked the chance of losing her forever. The sad part was it would be to himself. His own clone would be the one to take her from him.

It was ironic. He spent all this time trying to develop something real with T’Pol only to have someone else exactly like him sweep her away. There was nothing he could do about it. If T’Pol wanted Sim what could he say? Would he really want to get in the way of T’Pol’s happiness? He already knew the answer to that question. Love meant more than caring for a person. It meant making sacrifices. It meant giving up things you wouldn’t give up with anyone else. Even if what you were giving up was your own happiness. If he truly loved her he’d be willing to give all that up. And he did love her.

Trip closed his eyes and turned off the shower. For now he couldn’t jump to conclusions just yet. How did he even know something was going on between them? But he did know. He could see it in T’Pol’s eyes. He could see it in Sim’s eyes. Both looks gave off the same show of emotion: tenderness.

==

He tried to fight it but there was no fighting what would be his fate. There was no fighting the torture that was upon him since day one. “On your knees animal!” he would shout in anger. If he did not obey he knew the pain would be worse. He wanted more than anything to get away. To hide from these heartless men but he would find no refuge in the place he was forced to live in. He was alive because of the mission set before him. That was the only reason. He sank down to his knees and shut his eyes tightly as he felt the knife cut into his flesh. He could feel pain shoot all throughout him as he screamed.

He then turned and grabbed the rod that moved to hold a silver ring at the end that had been stuck into the fire for at least an hour. The man grabbed his finger and forced the ring on his hand sending a new wave of pain far worse than anything the man had done before. He fell to the ground as the man walked out of his cell to leave him alone with his thoughts. He looked down at his hand, his eyes wide as he thought of the man’s last words. “Betray us and you will feel worse pain than what I could ever inflict. The ring’s connected to you now. If you fail, it will kill you.”

Sim sat up with a start gasping from the horror of his dream. It took a while for him to realize he was not in the cell anymore. He was on Enterprise. He was home. That had happened a long time ago. The past must stay in the past. Sim took a deep breath and wiped tears that had fallen down his cheeks. He had to get a grip. He couldn’t let that dream do this to him. “It was just a dream. It was just a dream…” he repeated to himself over and over again until his breathing normalized. But it wasn’t just a dream. It was real. It had happened. It was a memory from his past, and perhaps a reminder of his future.

Chapter 5

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Seven people have made comments

Oh poor Sim, he hasn't had it easy so far, probably didn't think things could get much worse after giving up his life for Trip. Who are these evil aliens you tortured him and what do they want him to do. It must be pretty awful for Trip too watching Sim and T'pol together, bad Polly doesn't she know how much she is hurting Trip.
Please update soon, thank you.

Well, now we know why he can't sleep,and where the silver ring came from. Great chapter... still so many questions. Keep it coming.

Oh wow, this story is really starting to hit its' stride and I am very impressed. Poor Trip, Poor Sim, and what in the universe do they want Sim to do? I have a sneaky suspicion and if I'm right I won't be sleeping either! Great tale, keep going, Ali D :~)

This is a really gripping story -- well done! I'm looking forward to the next installment.

Well Ali, I think it's safe to say you'll be pretty surprised by what I'll soon be doing. Just wait and see... I have a feeling you'll like it though. Bwahahahahahahah

This is a great story, Triplover. Very original, I love the whole premise! I hope you will shed some light on T'Pol's thoughts in one of the next chapters? I'd love to know what she thinks about this bizarre situation. Anyway, your portrayal of both Sim and Trip is great. I am hooked.

Wow.

That's about all I can say. That and I just about died from shock when I saw sim's name at the bottom of the first chapter.

Now get on with the T/T' goodness! No Sim/Polly, please? I want our Trip to get the Polly lovin' he needs. :D

Great story!