Halloween Spooktacular

Halloween Spooktacular

By: Valleygirl

Rating: PG-13ish
Disclaimer: Enterprise belongs to others (Paramount), I just like to add bits and pieces to the story…
Genre: Humor w/ a little fluffy romance thrown in for good measure.

A/N: This story falls within the realm of my “Snapshots” universe…but, you don’t have go back to understand what is going on. Basically the storyline goes AU somewhere around the time of Bound. Trip and T’Pol join the rest of the crew in a 5-year deep space mission during which time they marry and have daughter T’Lissa Beth. After Enterprise’s decommission in mid-2060, the 3 settle on Jupiter Station, where Phlox is the new senior medical director and Captain Tucker is in charge of the new warp 8 program and the JS repair/upgrade team. Son Charles Sa’Jon, IV (CJ) arrives in February of 2061 and has chronic (but not serious) problems with asthma.

October, 2061 Jupiter Station

“Frankenstein!” Trip announced with glee. He was carefully showing his mask and the rest of the costume to his 3-year-old daughter in the hopes of not “freaking her out” on the actual night of the upcoming Jupiter Station Halloween Party.

“I don’t understand the purpose of this ‘dressing up’ as you call it.” T’Pol interjected. “It was certainly not an activity that was deemed necessary on Enterprise. ”

“Aw, C’mon, Darlin’. It’s fun...Halloween is mostly for the kids anyway.”

Her eyebrows furrowed slightly as if in deep thought. “As I understand it, it is a pagan holiday that celebrates death by using grotesque and ghoulish imagery, while encouraging juvenile pranks and massive tooth decay.” Trip just stared at her in speechless shock for a moment.

“What you gonna be, Momma?” T’Lissa excitedly asked.

“A witch!” Trip answered for her with equal enthusiasm, displaying for both of them the costume he had picked out for his wife.

He tossed T’Pol a hopeful look and his best smile as he plopped the black pointed hap on top of her head. She was not amused. Her folded arms and stoic expression communicated a simple and clear message. “Not if your life depended upon it.”

“Well maybe you can pick somethin’ else…” he sighed dejectedly.

“I wanna be a cabbage patch,” a small voice announced. T’Pol looked at her daughter in confusion.

“Uh, I think it’s some kind of retro doll that was first popular back in the late 20th Century,” her husband volunteered.

T’Pol nodded gratefully, before turning back to the little girl “I thought you wished to be a large fowl.”

Trip started laughing. “No, no! Big Bird…you know yellow…tall…Muppet? …Never mind…How about ‘Tickle Me, Elmo?” T’Lissa shrieked in laughter as her father playfully pounced on her.

“Trip.” T’Pol attempted to approach the previous topic more logically. “Someone needs to stay home with CJ. He is much too young to be among so many strangers.”

He was ready for that one. “That’s why my parents are coming. They can stay with the baby for a few hours, while we attend the party with T’Lissa. Look with all that’s been goin’ on the past 6 months, she needs some time with just us.”

Having little argument for that remark, T’Pol decided to bid a hasty retreat in the hopes of being able to regroup rather than risk suffering what surely would be an undignified fate.
***

One week later
It was the night of the big party. For the past week, Trip had suggested costume ideas to T’Pol, only to be blocked at every turn. He had finally resigned himself to the fact that she would wear what she would wear and that the family time together was the important thing. His parents came in on the afternoon shuttle, eager to spend some alone time with their newest grandson, despite some unfortunate encounters in the past. Trip was putting the finishing touches on his own costume in the bathroom, when he realized he couldn’t find the nut bolts he was going to attach to his face mask around his neck.

“Honey?” Trip called as he walked into his & T’Pol’s bedroom. “Have you seen my---Whoa! Hot Momma!” He swallowed hard, quickly squashing any further verbal comment as he heard a vivacious giggle coming from a previously unseen mass of plump orange pillows sitting cross-legged on the bed.

“Hey, Pumpkin!” He was speaking quite literally as he scooped up the green-capped little girl and tossed his wife a “whoops!” look over his daughter’s head and beyond her field of vision. He distractedly kissed T’Lissa Beth’s cheek while his eyes were still roaming the petite Vulcan’s accentuated curves.

“Daddy…you ruined my face!” T’Lissa wailed indignantly, wriggling out of his arms and examining her now smudged makeup in the mirror.

“Oh, sorry…Hey, I bet Gran’ma could fix it for ya…” Her expression brightened as she trotted out of the room.

Having gained a moment’s reprieve, Trip now took the opportunity to fully appreciate his wife’s costume from head to painted toe. A bright, colorful scarf was wrapped tightly around her hair, and left a long tail spilling over her shoulder and mid-way down her back. Large, silver hooped earrings dangled saucily from her ear lobes. The scoop necked ¾ sleeved white top hung loosely over her shoulders and arms until it gathered at her waist just above the top of her low ridding skirt. The ankle length, sheer silk was just short enough to reveal a pair of black, strappy, high heel shoes.

*I take it you approve of my change of costume?* T’Pol innocently asked.

*Um…Let’s just say I’ll be helpin’ you outta that outfit a little later tonight...*

She quirked an eyebrow at him. *I don’t know what you mean.*

“Daddy, Momma! C’mon! Let’s Go!” a little voice piped up at the doorway

*Right.* Trip replied smirking, knowing full well he was the only person she would put an outfit like that on for. “Coming!”

“Alright, Mom,” Trip addressed the Tucker matriarch in the family sitting room, “The baby’s been fed and changed and probably won’t wake up while we’re gone…but we’ve got a communicator with us if there are any problems.”

“Oh.” Katherine Tucker said, mildly disappointed. “Well alright, Honey. Have fun…all of you.” Charlie patted his granddaughter on the head as she skipped out the door.

Trip smiled and nodded at his mother. He understood, but it was better this way. “Thanks…have a good night yourselves.”

***
One of Jupiter Station’s large cargo bays had been converted for the costume party aptly titled the “Halloween Spooktacular” and was now bathed in black lights and crepe paper as the Tucker family walked through the door. The room also had a somewhat smoky quality to it and eerily appropriate music wafted through the makeshift speaker system that Trip had been all too happy to help install earlier that week. Off to one side were ballot boxes, where one could vote for the best costume in several categories. A snack table dispensed freshly baked donuts and other assorted treats as well as take home bags of candy for the kids. The school children had set up a place to bob for apples and designed a haunted house, which Trip had also helped to construct. As he passed by the dunking booth he was slightly incensed to discover that he was on the list of ‘dunkees’. The smug satisfaction that suddenly washed through him gave him a pretty good clue as to how he had gotten on that distinguished list.

Even T’Pol, who had obviously decided that giving in to the illogic of it all on her own terms was substantially better than anything her husband could have come up with, had gotten into the spirit of things. She had come up with her own unique twist on the gypsy with the crystal ball. Curious partygoers lined up at the ‘Chamber of Wisdom’, eager to hear Lady T’Pol dispense an uncannily appropriate tenet of Surak.

After several robust games of phaser tag, cosmic bowling and pumpkin carving, Trip handed T’Lissa over to her mother, as he gamely took his turn in the dunking booth. A short while later damp and slightly chilled thanks to the strong arm of one of his lieutenants, he gratefully accepted a mug of warm cider from T’Pol.

“Where’s T’Lissa?” he questioned looking around.

“She is bobbing for apples with some of her playmates,” T’Pol calmly replied, but then suddenly glanced in the direction of the small group of children.

“I don’t see…” At that moment a blood-curdling scream pierced the air, and a small orange blur was racing across the room and into her father’s open arms. He cradled her tightly as the tears streamed down her face. He and T’Pol made their way towards a dark corner somewhat out of the public eye.

“Hey, Babygirl. It’s okay…I’ve got ya.” Trip glanced desperately at T’Pol trying to figure out what had frightened the little girl so badly. Underneath the shared concern for their daughter he caught a stray ‘I told you so’ on the illogic of the human holiday and the potential damage to young children’s psyches. After a slightly disapproving glare, Trip put all his focus on comforting T’Lissa. He planted a lingering kiss on her head and nudged her cheek with one finger, garnering her attention as she calmed somewhat.

“You wanna tell Daddy what happened?” he asked. “Hmm?” He cocked his head sideways to look her in the eye.

Struggling to speak through the gasps and whimpers, she pointed a trembling finger towards the ‘Haunted Mansion’. Both parents were shocked.

“You went in there?!” Trip asked surprised.

“Alone?!” her mother demanded. T’Lissa nodded her head against Trip’s shoulder.

“Why?” he asked.

T’Lissa Beth sniffled. “Tommy Larson dare me…said Vulcans shouldn’t be ‘fraidy cats’.”

“Oh,” Trip audibly groaned, rolling his eyes. T’Pol looked over his shoulder searching the crowd for Mrs. Larson. She was somewhat satisfied to see that the other mother, having obviously figured out what had happened was currently giving the boy a severe tongue lashing.

Trip, feeling somewhat guilty for the situation himself, knew he had to somehow make it right with both his daughter and his wife. “Babygirl, I’m sorry…the Haunted Mansion was meant for the older kids…you had every right to be scared…and don’t let anybody tell you any differently. Vulcan or not, that kind of fun isn’t supposed to be for 3-year-olds. I should have told you that.”

A raised eyebrow told him T’Pol wasn’t completely satisfied with him, even though their daughter seemed to have found a measure of comfort in the safety of her father’s arms.

“Hey…I’ll tell you what…I help to build the haunted house…so I know lots of secrets. The party seems to be breaking up…how about once they turn the lights back on, I show you what some of that stuff you saw and felt and heard really is.”

T’Lissa frowned, as if questioning his logic.

Trip gave her an encouraging smile and nodded his head. “Trust me.” He sent a raised eyebrow plea to his wife hoping against hope she would be satisfied with the compromise.

*I still believe it would have been easier to avoid this situation all together rather than do ‘damage control’ as you call it, after the fact.*

*It is illogical to celebrate a holiday intended to frighten children,* she replied simply.

Trip grimaced slightly. *Getting scared is supposed to be fun…age appropriate fun anyway…*

He sighed as all he got was another eyebrow… *I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree…at least until next year…*

*Perhaps.* T’Pol thought to herself. Or perhaps her husband needed a little more convincing…

The lights flickered once then came on as everyone started cleaning up from the party. Trip took a somewhat reluctant T’Lissa Beth back through the haunted house. He showed her that peeled grapes and cooked macaroni where not really eyeballs and brains and that what appeared to be Phlox’s bat on the loose, was really just a mockup on a wire and string. Towards the end he even had her laughing at the funny voices he had recorded and then distorted using a small disc player.

Both of his girls apparently appeased, Trip accompanied them home, with a sigh of relief. T’Pol peeled a sleepy T’Lissa from her costume and put her to bed, while Trip escorted his parents to guest quarters and made sure they were settled in.

“It is a shame you didn’t win any anything at the party,” T’Pol mildly commented, when she and Trip had retired to their own bedroom for the night.

“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Trip grinned. “After all, I got to go home with the girl dressed in the ‘Sexiest Costume.”

***
2 days later
After Katherine Tucker subtly suggested she didn’t get enough time to spend with either of her grandchildren, T’Pol decided to accompany her in-laws and the 2 kids to Mississippi for a few days. Trip, having to work on the newly docked Intrepid, would come to pick them up at the end of the week.

Sleeping alone he soon discovered, was not as much fun as he remembered. He tossed and turned and kept hearing noises he thought were coming from across the narrow hallway. But as soon as he started to get up to go check on one child or the other, he realized it was only his imagination playing tricks on him. So true to form, he dove into work, hoping against hope that would bring the weekend there sooner.

By Wednesday afternoon, he had snapped out of his funk, and was relatively sure his staff did not think he was going crazy anymore. He then received an odd message from one of the Jupiter Station Technicians requesting to meet him in Cargo Bay 2. It seemed he was having trouble tracking down some kind of weird energy fluctuation. Since the actual operations of the station was outside of his domain, Trip usually tried to steer clear. Commander Madison was just as touchy about his space station as Captain Tucker had once been about a certain starship’s engines. Still their paths crossed often enough and Trip was happy to try and lend a hand if he could.

The large room looked empty compared the last time Trip had seen it. All remnants of the Halloween party had been swept away. Still, the dark, lonely bay looked just as eerily foreboding as it had that night. The doors closed behind him, the low hiss startling him slightly.

“Hey, Ben?” he called out, expecting Lieutenant Orson to answer him. He was greeted with silence. On the far side of the room, a wall panel was left open and flashing a bright bluish-white light. Knowing that it wasn’t standard protocol to leave open panels unattended, he went over to investigate. There was a strange pattern to the energy, when Trip scanned it with his tricorder, and then suddenly there was nothing. A few seconds later the flashing started again, and the tricorder reading reappeared also.

Trip pulled out his communicator from a sleeve pocket. “Tucker to Commander Madison…Captain Tucker to Commander Madison.” Still nothing.

“Tucker to Jupiter Ops…Tucker to Sickbay…” From what he could tell the communicator was working, he just wasn’t getting a signal out.

*Okay…I’ll go find him…* Trip thought as he hurried back across the room. Just before he got to the door he looked back…he wasn’t sure of what he was looking at or for, but something wasn’t right…he could feel it. He moved forward again, but had to stop short, when the door didn’t respond. Again and again he tried…it was reading unlocked…but the doors wouldn’t budge. Not even a crack so he could muscle them open and slip through.

All right this was getting damned frustrating…didn’t Madison keep anything on this station in working order? As if answering his silent question the lights suddenly flickered, once, twice, then pitch blackness. *Great…just great! At another time and place, this could be funny.* He wasn’t laughing, as hands on hips he contemplated his current situation.

Trip knew the maintenance panel was to the right of the door; they were pretty standard…if it was just a short or a blown fuse, he could probably re-route the power flow by touch. If it was something worse though, it might be hours before anyone thought to come looking for him.

He took a deep breath. *All right, Tucker, one thing at a time.* He still hadn’t forgotten the random energy pattern. And with 10 years of deep space experience feeding his imagination, he had come up with some pretty wild possibilities…none of which ended well. Thank heavens T’Pol and the kids were off the station.

Trip found the panel and released the clamps. *This is where the scary music starts,* he randomly thought as he lifted the panel up and away from him. At that moment an avalanche of what felt like thousands of tiny hairy legs descended upon his head and spilled down his neck.

“Argh…Sonofabitch!” he yelled, furiously batting away the spiders that seemed to engulf him. In reality there were only a dozen or so, but in the dark he could have no way of knowing that.

He gingerly reached up inside the panel and tried the reset button, bellowing “Thank you!” when the lights flickered on. After a quick once over to make sure he had no lingering guests on him, he started to notice the odd behavior of the 8-legged demons. The animatronics were already winding down, coming to a complete standstill on the floor. In reality, they were not very big, but Trip shuddered again just thinking about the creepy crawlers

Having no pressing deadlines, Trip Tucker decided to call it a day…in fact a long hot shower, not to mention getting out of his clothes, was looking very good. As he made his way back to his quarters, he was eerily suspicious of the fact that the door and his communicator had started working soon after he had opened the maintenance panel. And the random energy reading? Gone, never to be heard from again.

The door to the Tucker cabin slid open and Trip swore he heard voices inside. *Great…maybe I really am goin’ crazy.*

“S’prise! Hi, Daddy!” T’Lissa Beth’s voice rang out.

“Hey! Welcome Home! I wasn’t expecting you 'til Friday!” Trip laughed in relief as kisses and hugs were shared all around.

“We decided to come home early, as the weekend transport was full.” T’Pol told him. She narrowed her eyes at him. *Are you well, T'hy'l'a, you appear a bit flushed.*

*Yeah, I--*

Suddenly, it was crystal clear. Only one person could have a set up a trap for him to fall so neatly into, right down to her leaving the station, so she wouldn’t give herself away. With some difficulty he squelched all of the colorful, yet impolite adjectives he wanted to shout at the moment and settled for an icy glare and deep grimace.

*All right, all right…point well taken…but just you wait, my dear lady of logic…revenge as they say is sweet indeed.*

T’Pol eyed her husband curiously as he grinned to himself. For Trip Tucker knew that the best prank of all was the one that was threatened, but never actually came…

BOO!

The End

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Half a dozen of you have made comments

T'Pol as a gypsy... and animatronic spiders. Heh. Very imaginative. I like it.

I enjoy your work very much. It is extremely well thought out and consistent. Excellent. Thank you. This is very, very good.

Nice Halloween story for the Tuckers. Would have liked to know what T'pol was wearing that got such a positive reaction! LOL!!

^^Hmm...thought I did! :op
"Having gained a moment’s reprieve, Trip now took the opportunity to fully appreciate his wife’s costume from head to painted toe. A bright, colorful scarf was wrapped tightly around her hair, and left a long tail spilling over her shoulder and mid-way down her back. Large, silver hooped earrings dangled saucily from her ear lobes. The scoop necked ¾ sleeved white top hung loosely over her shoulders and arms until it gathered at her waist just above the top of her low ridding skirt. The ankle length, sheer silk was just short enough to reveal a pair of black, strappy, high heel shoes."

I enjoyed this very much, and I hope everyone had a happy Halloween/Samhain/All Saints' Day, or at the very least, a great October. :)

Cute story! The American Halloween is great fun, Pagan Samhain, the Celtic New Year - the time of the thinning of the veil between the worlds, is also fun but with somber overtones. I can see T'Pol as a sexy witch: the maiden or mother rather than the Cailleach (crone) whose time we celebrate at Samhain. I guess you could call Vulcans Pagan, by part of the definition anyway!