DISCLAIMER: Everything belongs to Paramount

RATING: PG 13

CATEGORY: A/TP

Jonathan Archer strode onto the bridge of his ship for the first time in almost 5 months. The ships refit had taken longer than they had thought due to new upgrades in weapons and defensive technology that had been made while they were in the Expanse. All in all, Jon approved the new changes, after their battles with the Xindi, Enterprise had usually been the loser, now, things would be different if they faced any hostile action again.

Jon looked around the bridge, noting that with all the improvements to the ship, there seemed to be hardly any changes in the bridge layout. Oh there were a few new monitors at the science and tactical stations, but other than that it was still the same. Jon took a deep breath and sighed. It was going to be good to get back out into space again. 5 months planet bound had been really hard to take.

Of course, not everything had been bad, the time he had spent with T'Pol had been some of the best times he had ever had. Jon smiled at the thought of how she had questioned him over and over on the trivialities of a Human wedding ceremony. Then he winced, recalling that their first trip out with Enterprise would be to Vulcan, where he and T'Pol would be married according to her customs.

Jon walked over to his chair and ran his hand along it and slowly sat down. The Bridge was silent and the ship empty. All the work was finished, the crew was yet to board, this was his time. Jon knew that this time out was not going to be like the first time. He was no longer the same person, hell, none of them were. Jon knew he still carried the same focus and drive he had needed to use in the Expanse. He hoped that with that behind him, he could temper that with his love of space and exploration.

Jon sat back in his chair and thought about the previous 5 months, especially T'Pol's reaction upon seeing his apartment for the first time.

"It is quite, Human"

And that was it. Jon had thought the place was quite neat and organized, but through the bond he shared with T'Pol, he had quickly learned that she felt it was anything but. What followed in the next few weeks was the slow but subtle re-arrangement of Jon's living space into something that T'Pol found to be more "aesthetically pleasing.". And strangely enough, Jon had found he liked it.

Jon had taken T'Pol on a full tour of San Francisco upon their return. Over the next few months, in between the time he or the rest of the crew were being debriefed, they ventured to other parts of the planet. It was Jon's way of reconnecting with his home and T'Pol supported him in it. Jon wondered if they would be doing any sight seeing when they got to Vulcan.

Jon also recalled they day they had been informed that Admiral Forrest had made a personal visit to them to inform them the Command Council had granted their request for T'Pol's entry into Starfleet. It had taken some doing on both Jon and Forrest's parts to keep her out of basic training and to grant her the immediate rank of Commander. The only downside to it was that she would have to wear the standard Starfleet jumpsuit. Jon was going to miss the form fitting catsuits.

Jon once again thought back to the most important day in his life. When he and T'Pol were wed according to Human customs. Jon smiled at the thought of how, radiant, T'Pol looked in her gown. It had taken Hoshi, Amanda, and T'Pol nearly a month and a half to pick a dress that was appropriately suitable for T'Pol's Vulcan tastes, but also adhered to Earth traditions.

The wedding was beautiful, and it had been attended by people from the media, Starfleet, and surprisingly enough, Vulcans and Andorians. Both Ambassador Soval and Commander Shran had arrived with small entourages in tow. Soval had calmly explained that it was an important day as for Vulcan as well. It wasn't everyday that a Vulcan officially wed an off worlder. That remark made Jon think. Did that mean that there were Vulcans who had married an off worlder before, unofficially?

Shran had come merely to see what all the fuss was about. He made a big show of the Andorians sending delegates to Earth, even though they had yet to sigh any treaty with Earth yet, Shran came across as if Earth owed the Andorians something.

Now there was a strange thought, Amanda Cole, former MACO now serving as part of ships security under Malcolm. She and a few other MACO's had transferred from General Casey's command to Starfleet to continue to serve on the ship. This also enable her to be closer to her fiancé, Trip. Jon shook his head at that, Trip was the last person he'd ever thought would settle down and get married.

Jon sat up and looked around the bridge again, he checked the time and saw that it was only a few hours away from the time when the crew would begin to show up. Some would be using the ships new shuttle pods, or shuttlecraft as they were now called. They were a little larger than the old shuttle pod, the held 10 people instead of the 6 the old ones had. The landing bay had to be redesigned and expanded to hold them, at the cost of a storage bay.

Others may be using the newly improved transporter. It had been upgraded to be used at a farther distance and with more refinements over the old one. Jon wasn't sure how many crew would be opting for that method though. He was sure that most crew would be boarding from the space dock like he had done. Jon stood and decided to go get ready for the departure. Enterprise was scheduled to leave the dock in just over 18 hours. That put it a day ahead of the scheduled departure time for the NX-02 Columbia. She was finally finished and her work crews were now busy on completing the other ships on the boards.

Jon thought back to what Daniels had told him at their last and hopefully final encounter. About a coming war and that Earth needed to be better prepared. Jon hoped that the Andorians and Earth would sign their treaty. The Vulcans were still reluctant in giving the Humans better technology. However it seemed the Andorians didn't have such qualms. Jon knew that while the NX class of ships were the best ships Earth had, both the Vulcan and Andorian ships were faster, better armed and better protected.

In this coming war Jon knew that Starfleet was going to need that type of technology if it was going to survive. Jon shook his head, he had been trying to explain the situation to Soval for the past few months. But he kept getting the same thing from him he used to get from T'Pol.

"Time travel has been deemed impossible by the Vulcan Science Directorate."

Jon sighed, it was time to get to work. He looked one last time around his empty bridge and quickly departed for his cabin. The was much still to do, calls to make, requisition forms to fill out. What on Earth could Phlox want with a 100 articulated monitor leeches. Jon shuddered and then decided he really didn't want or need to know.

Jon reached his cabin and took a quick look around, the engineers had done some changes in here as well. They took the original two cabin arrangement that had been modified by Trip and removed the whole thing. They rebuilt it into a much larger single stateroom that took up the previous space. It gave him, T'Pol and Porthos much more room to move around in. Jon smiled and sat at his desk He turned on his monitor and watched as the screen was flooded with requests and logs and all the other fun things that made up the life of a Starship Captain.

The first thing on the list was a request from the maintenance crew for Jon to sign off on the upgrades to the ships defences. Along with the upgraded hull plating, they had incorporated the force field technology that Malcolm had been working on for the past few years. The downside to it was that the new shields took a lot of power to run, were not always reliable, and only protected certain key areas. They were designed to shield the bridge, the engines and the area around engineering. For them to protect the entire ship would take a reactor larger than any in Starfleet. The new Phase Cannons had been finally installed and were rated operational. They packed almost three times as much punch as the old ones.

Jon signed off on that and hoped it would be a long time before they needed to test them under fire. Next up was a form from Trip for Jon to request a larger supply of warp coils and plasma inverters. Jon quickly signed off on that and sent the request to Starfleet supply. T'Pol sent another request for upgraded sensors. Jon smiled and sent back a note saying Enterprise had the best that Earth had, maybe she could get an upgrade from the Vulcans? Jon held back a chuckle as he sent it to the Science station on the Bridge. Jon took any chance he could to rib T'Pol and the advancements held back by the Vulcans was still a running joke between the two.

Jon spent the next couple of hours finishing up the paper work and making sure all requests had been filed with the proper departments. Once he was finally finished, Jon really needed some coffee, He got up and headed for the mess hall. Once he left his cabin Jon was surprised to see that the crew had begun to arrive. He nodded and smiled his way to the mess hall. He entered the room and grabbed a cup from the wall and put it in the resequencer. After a minute he pulled out a hot cup of coffee and went over and sat at one of the tables. Jon pulled his PADD out from his pocket and read the latest dispatches from headquarters. After he read the first story Jon frowned. Apparently Starfleet had been rather conservative on it's estimates of when NX-02 Columbia would be finished. Now they were pleased to announce the ship was fully finished and would be launching alongside Enterprise. The Command Council felt it was significant to have the two ships launch at the same time. Jon sighed and decided it was for the best. He read that NX-03 Challenger and NX-04 Farragut were still at least 10 to 12 months away from completion, their keels having just been laid. Other ships were still on the boards.

The door to the Mess Hall opened and Jon looked up, In the door stood T'Pol. Jon smiled when he recalled the first time he had jokingly referred to her as Mrs Archer. It had also been the last time. T'Pol had quietly informed him afterwards that while she cherished him with all that she was. She would prefer not to be introduced as Mrs Archer, but simply as T'Pol. She never really explained why but through their bond Jon understood it as a 'Vulcan thing'.

T'Pol: "I trust you were being humorous when you suggested I request new sensors from the Vulcans."

Jon smiled: "Of course."

T'Pol got herself a cup of tea and a plate of sliced fruit and sat down next to him. She reached over and laid her hand on his, Something she wouldn't have done if there was anyone else in the room. Even after being together for the last 8 months or so and being married for the last 3, T'Pol still rarely initiated any sort of physical contact when not in privacy. The farthest she would go was the Vulcan two fingered touch. Although she would answer his requests occasionally with a "yes my husband". Jon looked up at her face and then looked again, this time a little closer. T'Pol had seemed to have lost weight. Jon chastised himself for not noticing it sooner.

Jon: "T'Pol are you alright?"

T'Pol took a sip of her tea, her eyes momentarily shifting downward, then back up to meet his.

T'Pol: "I am fine Jonathan, why do you ask?"

Jon: "Well, I feel bad for not noticing this sooner but, it seems like you have lost some weight."

T'Pol paused for a few minutes before answering.

T'Pol: "I assure you Jonathan, I am fine, I however have been feeling unwell and will be seeing Dr Phlox today after I finish eating."

Jon smiled and squeezed T'Pol's hand: "Alright, but if it's anything remotely serious, I want to know about it. I need to know if anything affects you. Both as your Captain, and your husband."

T'Pol nodded and took another sip of her tea. While Jonathan went back to reading his PADD, she thought over her condition. Jonathan was correct in his assumption that she had lost weight, by her calculations she had lost almost ten pounds. She had neither been sleeping nor eating well of late and it had also been affecting her ability to meditate. She had so far been successful in keeping it from Jonathan until now. It was her hope that Phlox would be able to help her with this as he had her previous condition.

Jonathan looked up from his reading and smiled at T'Pol: Sorry dear, gotta run, I have a meeting with Trip before Launch."

T'Pol nodded: "I too must depart to see the Doctor."

Jon smiled again and leaned over to give T'Pol a kiss. He then stood and departed the Mess Hall. T'Pol too stood, deposited her dishes in the bins and headed for Sickbay. When she arrived she noticed Phlox bustling around the room humming merrily to himself. Sickbay had undergone some minor changes along with the rest of the ship, at the cost of some store rooms it had been enlarged, giving the medical personnel more equipment and two new bio beds.

T'Pol stood calmly with her hands behind her back and waited for the Doctor. After a moment she was awarded with one of his trademark smiles.

Phlox: "Ah Sub-Commander how nice it is too see you again, Oh, I'm sorry I guess that would be Commander T'Pol. Congratulations on your new rank. How may I be of service today?"

T'Pol took a few moments to explain to the Doctor her symptoms. While she told him of her condition he began running his diagnostic tool over her, it's blue light bathing her in its rays.

Phlox: "I am detecting some anomalous readings, If you would Commander, please lie down on the bed, I would like to take some more detailed scans."

T'Pol let out a barely audible sigh and did as he asked. The bed promptly slid into the Imaging Scanner and the small gate closed. T'Pol closed her eyes and attempted to enter a light meditative state. Sometimes Phlox's scans took longer than one would wish.

After a time, the gate opened and the bed slid back out into the center of the Sickbay. T'Pol sat up and looked over at Phlox. She was perplexed to see a huge smile on the mans face.

T'Pol: "Doctor, what have you found?"

Phlox: "I am quite happy to inform you that you are not in any type of distress and that your condition is not being caused by any sort of disease."

T'Pol: "That what is wrong with me?"

Phlox: "Oh there's nothing wrong with you T'Pol, I would say there is something right with you."

T'Pol: "Doctor, if you would please tell me what you have found, I have duties to perform."

Phlox smiled again: "Yes you have, and I also have a duty to perform. It is my duty to inform you T'Pol, that you are pregnant."

T'Pol raised both her eyebrows. She stared at the doctor with the closest look to shock that a vulcan could show.

T'Pol: "Doctor, I believe that what you have said is incorrect. The Vulcan Science Directorate has determined that Humans and Vulcans are too biologically dissimilar to be able to successfully reproduce. I I believe you yourself once said it was a likely impossibility."

Phlox smiled, T'Pol always seemed to quote something from the Science Directorate whenever she was faced with something unknown. Even now that she was no longer a member of the High Command.

Phlox: "Now, T'Pol I'm sure you have witnessed enough things while serving with this ship to realize by now that not everything the Science Directorate says is not true. Take for example your continued bond with the Captain. Oh and what I said was that it would seems improbable for Humans and Vulcans to bear children, not impossible."

T'Pol: "I am unsure of how to accept this news Doctor. While I am, gladdened that I am with child, I am reluctant to fully accept it lest there be unforeseen circumstances."

Phlox: "I understand, that is why I want you to report to me here twice a day for checkups. Once in the morning, and then again in the evening. I will do everything I can to ensure that you and the Captain have a healthy baby."

T'Pol: "I understand Doctor, may I go now? I have duties to perform before the launch."

Phlox: "One moment T'Pol, I want to give you something first, it should help your body with the changes this pregnancy is having on it. Because of the mixed breed of the child, your body is having a difficult time in adjusting itself to deal with it, which explains your apparent weight loss and lower than normal blood count."

Phlox quickly filled a hypo with the appropriate medicine and pressed it against T'Pol's neck, after a moment T'Pol was indeed beginning to feel better. She nodded to Phlox and quickly hopped down from the bed and headed for the door. Phlox's words stopped her before she reached it.

Phlox: "So when are you going to inform the Captain of his new status?"

T'Pol tilted her head to the side as she turned back to look at Phlox "Status?"

Phlox sighed: "Yes his new status of being a father."

T'Pol: "I shall inform him when my duties and time permits."

With that she quickly spun on her heel, hit the door button and left Phlox in amongst his half unpacked crates and chattering animals.

At the same time that T'Pol was getting her exam from Phlox, Archer was in his ready room with the other senior staff of the ship. Cdr Tucker, and newly promoted Lt Cdr Reed, and Lieutenants Sato and Mayweather. When Jon had pinned the extra tab onto Travis's uniform he joked that he thought he was going to be an ensign for the next seven years. Normally he would have been right, but with them saving the planet and still being considered hero's to many of its citizen's and with Archers not so subtle urgings, all of the command staff had received fast promotions. Except for Trip, and he was happy about it, otherwise he woulda been made Captain and taken away from this ship and his friends.

Jon was listening as each one of them filled him in on the various upgrades to their respective areas.

Reed: "Starfleet was able to improve hull plating by 12 but combining that with the newly installed force fields our defensive effectiveness has practically doubled."

Jon nodded: "How about offensively?" Jon already knew about each and everyone of the improvements to the ship, as her captain he'd had to sign off on each of them, but Malcolm was having a grand old time in describing each of them so he let him continue.

Reed: "Well, sir, we now have both ventral and dorsal torpedo launchers as well as pulsed phase cannons. We should be equal to or better equipped than most of the races we've come up against in the past few years. And the Columbia has the same load out we do so hopefully they'll be able to take care of themselves as well."

Jon nodded again and looked at Trip, their friendship had been strained during the mission in the Expanse, but over the past few months Jon had made every effort in rebuilding it.

Trip: "Well Cap'n, not much new in my department, with some added improvements in plasma flows and new coil designs, along with a few trade secrets I can now say that Enterprise's top speed is warp 5.8, for sort durations."

Jon: "Good job Trip, give your teams my congratulations."

Trip smiled.

Mayweather: "Sir we were able to come up with new sub-routines and with the addition of a new thrusters system, the ship handles better than ever."

Hoshi: "They've added a new sub-space antenna and transceiver array so we can talk to people from farther distances with less signal loss."

Jon smiled, he was always proud of this crew and it made him happy when they got to show of their areas.

Jon: "Very well, good work people. Now everyone quit standing around like we're still on leave, departure is in 20 minutes, get your butts outta my office."

The others laughed and filed out back to their stations, Jon stood as the now blue coloured door to the ready room closed behind them. He wasn't sure about this new colour scheme. Jon turned and leaned up against the window and looked out at the massive drydock facility that surrounded the ship. He watched for a few moments as shuttles and work pods busily worked their ways around his ship. He turned back to his desk as the COMM went off.

Hoshi: "Sir, it's Admiral Forrest for you."

Jon hit the button and requested it be patched into the ready room. Within moments the Admirals face appeared on the small screen on the desk.

Forrest: "Jon how's things? All ready for departure?"

Jon: "Yes Admiral, everything's fine, we had a minor glitch in the EPS relays but it was quickly sorted out."

Forrest nodded: "I'm sending you your orders for your first mission, we getting you back to what you were meant to do, explore, meet new civilizations. We were originally going to have you shuttle a team of Andorian and Vulcan diplomats to a treaty signing, but we've decided to give that 'milk run' to Captain Hernandez and the Columbia."

Jon chuckled at Forrest's term.

Jon: "So what do you have planned for us Admiral?"

Forrest: "Something simple as well, nothing too strenuous, You'll be heading out into unexplored territory that the Command Council wants to open up. They want you and Enterprise to go and see who's out there and say hello from the neighbours."

Archer: "Sounds good Admiral."

Forrest: "Good luck Jon, and Gods speed"

The monitor blinked off and Jon sat down in his chair and sighed. Finally after so long they were going back to what they had been sent out here to do in the first place. And Jon couldn't have been happier.

After a few minutes he stood and headed for the bridge. He stepped out and looked around, besides the new blue colour to the doors, the railing around the bridge was blue as well. Jon's gaze settled on his favourite improvement so far, his new command chair, it had been installed only a couple of hours ago, replacing the one he'd used for the past three years and which he'd last sat in earlier that day. It was a little larger with angled control surfaces at the end of the armrests. Jon had yet to sit in it. He was a little nervous.

Jon shook his head and looked up as the door to the turbo lift opened and out strode his XO, now wearing her new Starfleet jumpsuit, T'Pol looked as lovely as she always did to him. She noticed him staring at her and simply raised an eyebrow. Jon smiled again.

Jon looked at the view screen and watched as the last of the work pods floated away. He then looked over at Hoshi and nodded once.

Hoshi: "Aye sir. Dock Control this is Enterprise, We are ready and await your permission for departure.."

"Enterprise, this is dock control, all the bees are back in the hive, you're cleared for launch."

Jon smiled: "Alright Travis you heard the man, clear all moorings, thrusters at station keeping."

Travis: "Aye Captain, all moorings are cleared. Thrusters are at station keeping. Impulse engines at your command."

Jon: "Very good."

Jon slowly sat down in his chair and almost lost himself in its comfort. He was brought out of his momentary daze by a mental nudge Jonathan, pay attention

Jon blushed and looked at T'Pol, she merely stared at him. Jon turned back to Travis.

Jon: "Alright Lieutenant, one quarter impulse power."

Travis: "One quarter impulse, heading sir?"

Jon: "Heading 121 mark 12. Hoshi switch the view screen to show Orbital 2"

Travis: "Aye sir, 121 mark 12."

Hoshi: "switching to Orbital 2"

The view screen flickered and showed the other drydock nearby. As Enterprise effortlessly glided from its berth of the past 5 months, Columbia to left it's nest on it's first official mission and shakedown cruise.

Once both ships had cleared their docks, they joined in formation, Columbia slightly aft and port of Enterprise. They remained this way until they left the solar system. At that time Archer sent a message to Captain Erica Hernandez wishing her and her crew well on their journey. Enterprise then turned away from Columbia and headed once more into the unknown