Okay so here we are, I didn't expect to upload this fic so soon after finishing SWMTR but something just felt right. I don't know maybe it's the fact that I needed a pick me up tonight and this fic is absolutely adorable so I wanted to share it with you. I worked on this fic during April's Camp NaNoWriMo and I'm finishing up the last 4 chapters of it now so I thought today would be a good time to share it.

Anyway I hope you like it, it's certainly a change of pace from SWMTR and is very different, but it's also death free so that's pretty nice.

As usual I'd love to hear your thoughts on it and look forward to any reviews you leave!

- Galia


Chapter 1

here in the second act i'm living in repair.
strange how the heart adapts when its pieces disappear.
and there, on page 28, i'm so tired of drying glue,
i begin my grand attempt at building something new.

"Page 28" by Sleeping At Last (Yearbook: August)

Trip comes to a stop in front of the gym and turns back to look at Hoshi, she's just a few feet behind him and shortly after stops next to him, panting. The last six weeks have been strange, after nearly 10 years on Enterprise being back on Earth feels stranger than some of the alien world's he'd visited. Not seeing his friends daily had been an adjustment too, in fact he found the only one he was able to see daily to be Hoshi, the two of them had a standing evening run every day of the week.

"Not bad Lieutenant." Trip pants, a smile crossing his face. "I'm still winnin' though."

"It's not a race Commander." Hoshi rolls her eyes, stopping to catch her breath before finishing her response. "Besides you have longer legs than me, it's easier for you."

"Oh sure, that's it." Trip chuckles, wiping the sweat off his brow with one hand and reaching for his water bottle with the other. "Keep tryin' though, maybe you'll beat me next week."

"Might not be here next week." Hoshi chuckles, taking a swig from her water. "I'll find out if I got that position on the Intrepid on Friday, if I did I'll have to leave for more training on Monday."

"Well then looks like you'll just have to beat me tomorrow then." Trip teases.

"Looks like I will." Hoshi grins. "You picked an assignment yet?"

"No not yet, I'm gonna teach at STC for a semester or two I think." He says.

"You're looking at a promotion though aren't you?" Hoshi frowns.

"Yeah I mean, I guess I could." He scratches the back of his head. "To be honest with ya I didn't ever think of makin' Captain. Chief Engineer is about as high as I wanted to go." He admits.

"Really? I always thought you'd make a pretty good captain." Hoshi says, brushing her hair back.

"Yeah really, I took care of Enterprise's engine for ten years Lieutenant, that's the crown jewel in my career." He shrugs, picking up his water bottle and starting towards the building. "You said there was that cafe you liked?"

"Yeah the Hephaestus, it's a couple blocks." Hoshi nods. "You really don't want a ship of your own?"

"No ma'am I do not." Trip shakes his head. "Besides, I hear the Vulcan's have a Warp 7 program now, I was thinkin' of applyin' for that." He admits.

"Really?" Hoshi raises her eyebrows. "You on Vulcan?"

"Well I'm a damn good engineer ain't I?'' He says.

"I'm not denying that, I just thought you didn't like Vulcan." Hoshi shrugs. "And you don't speak any Vulcan."

"UT solves the language problem Lieutenant." Trip chuckles. "And what makes you think I don't like Vulcan." Hoshi bites her lip and raises her eyebrows, he know's where this conversation is about to go. "This ain't about T'Pol."

"Are you sure?" Hoshi asks.

"Yes I'm sure." Trip insists. "Now I ain't denyin' I'd like to find her but I'm not settin' out to ruin her marriage." He rolls his eyes.

"I didn't say that, it's just - well you've been a little caught up on her the last few years." Hoshi says.

"I am not caught up." He insists. "I've moved on."

"OKay, fine I'm sure you have." He can tell from her tone that she doesn't believe him, but at least she seems to drop that subject. "You know I bet she'd like to hear from you."

"I have to find her first." Trip points out.

"It shouldn't be too difficult, you said her husband was a prominent architect right?" Hoshi asks. "And she was with the High Command, someone will know where to find her."

"Yeah they will, I just hope it's not infringin' on her life or something by going and trying to contact her." Trip shrugs. "Her husband isn't real fond of me from what I could tell at the wedding."

"Trip it's been years, and T'pol is her own person, she can make decisions for herself." Hoshi says, stopping in front of a cafe. "This is it." She says.

Trip hops up the steps and notices a woman and two small boys, he opens the door for him.

"Thank you." She says in a quiet familiar tone, before continuing down the steps, the little boy next to her talking in Vulcan all the while.

Trip frowns and watches her go, her dark hair is longer then he remember and she definitely looked tired but she looks like T'Pol. He almost calls out but before he does Hoshi comes to stand next to him.

"That looked like T'Pol." Trip frowns.

"I think it was T'Pol." Hoshi says. "Did you know she was back on Earth?"

"No I didn't." He frowns. "Didn't know she had kids either."

"Maybe it wasn't her." Hoshi shrugs, going past him into the cafe.

Trip pauses a moment before going in, maybe it wasn't T'Pol, but it certainly looked like T'Pol. His mind was racing, did she move back to Earth? When did she have kids? Was Koss here too?

"You coming?" Hoshi asks.

"Um, yeah." Trip mutters, turning around and going into the cafe after her. He's not sure if the woman was T'pol at all, but he's certainly going to make a point to come back here, just in case it was and just in case he sees her again.


T'Pol and her eldest son, Avarak exit the school building and walk into the cool San Francisco afternoon. Avarak has the leg of her pants clutched tightly in one hand and his big brown eyes look around. They'd only been on Earth a little over a month and her eldest son was still finding the bustle of life here to be over stimulating. She knew it would be best if they could pick up his younger brother and get home for a short nap before dinner.

"Did you like your school mates?" T'Pol asks, as they board the bus that will take them to the daycare down the street.

"No Mother, they're not very kind to me." Her son's words come quietly as she takes a seat on the bus and lifts him onto her lap. "The teacher only gives worksheets in English and the other students call me names because I don't understand."

T'Pol strokes her son's hair and does her best to calm him through their bond. "Your English will be as good as theirs is one day, for now simply ignore them, it's illogical to confront them. Simply study hard and you'll get there."

Avarak lays his head against her chest and sighs his big brown eyes looking out the window. She can still sense some apprehension from him and she rests her cheek on the top of his soft brown curls. Then looks to the window where she can make out her son's reflection and it strikes her just how much he looks like his father. From the watery blue eyes to the curve of his nose he was Koss in every way. She runs her thumb over his chubby cheek gently, they'd always been her favorite feature on Koss, though Koss had lacked the innocence his round face portrayed.

"Mother?" Avarak says quietly, sitting up and turning to face her on her lap. "Mother, can we get lemonade at the Hephaestus?"

"We must to pick Kuvok up first, but then yes we can, we cannot stay and drink it though. We'll have to take it home." T'Pol says, standing up and putting Avarak on her hip as they get off the bus.

The daycare is only a block from the bus stop and T'Pol sets her older son down to walk, but he immediately grabs onto the sleeve of her shirt. Both children have been clingier than usual since their move to Earth, not that Avarak had been particularly independant to begin with. He'd always been the clingier of the children, crawling into bed with her and Koss even when he was well past the age where co-sleeping was appropriate. His behavior today made T'Pol think it was going to be one of those nights were bedtime was a battle. She runs a hand over his curls and walks up the steps to the day care.

Inside the teacher looks more than a little irritated. "There you are." she says.

"I do not believe I am late." T'Pol says, "Has something happened?"

"He had another accident today." The teacher says coldly, T'Pol looks over to where her youngest son, Kuvok sits on a mat, he's wearing the spare pair of pants she'd packed for him.

"I'm sorry," T'Pol says a little coldly. "He is only three, he hasn't been toilet trained very long."

"He doesn't seem toilet trained at all." The teacher snaps.

"Kuvok, come here." T'Pol calls. Her younger son stands up and walks over to her, looking worried. "Are you alright?"

"She's mad at me." The three year old mutters.

"Why didn't you ask to go to the bathroom?" T'Pol asks.

"I did, but I don't know in English." Kuvok whispers.

"It's alright," T'Pol says, "Come, we'll get you home."

"Here's his clothes." The teacher says, holding out a plastic bag. T'Pol takes it and wordlessly tucks the bag into Kuvok's backpack. She picks him up and carries him from the building, Avarak being pulled along at her side.

T'Pol makes a mental note to speak to the other teachers about making sure Kuvok gets taken to the bathroom regularly and to try to remember that he hasn't been speaking Vulcan very long, much less English. Maybe she should just find another daycare, this is why she wished the Vulcan compound made provisions for families, though she was certain she was the only Vulcan in San Francisco with a family.

She pushes open the door to the Hephaestus cafe and Avarak trots in in front of her, walking right up to the counter. They come here almost daily after T'Pol picks the children up, she's rather fond of the peppermint tea and the boys are both fond of the lemonade. Avarak turns to look at her, waiting on her to order for them.

"One peppermint tea and one lemonade," T'Pol says quietly, setting Kuvok down long enough to pay, though by the time she's tucking her wallet back in her bag he's doing his best to climb back up her.

She leads both boys to the back to wait for their order and rock's Kuvok gently in her arms. It's likely he didn't nap at daycare, he almost never does, preferring to lay quietly on his mat and sleep for an hour when they get home. He's not typically this clingy but having had a rough day T'Pol can sense his anxiety and makes a soft 'shh' noise to try to calm him.

Of the two boys Kuvok definitely looks more like her, as opposed to his brothers dark black hair, Kuvok's is a lighter brown. His eyes are hazel and he has her rather sharp features - unfortunately they suit him as well as they did T'Pol when she was a child, that is to say not very well. Despite being younger he'd always been more independent, likely because he was too young to remember her and Koss' divorce when it had happened.

Oh yes, it's very likely Kuvok doesn't even remember his father clearly, they haven't seen him in nearly a year since he moved to the city of Gol. Though by human standards the divorce had been a clean one Vulcan's didn't often divorce - especially after having children - but it hadn't been for lack of trying. She'd known he was having an affair and had tried to work it out, when he wouldn't she decided divorce would be better for all involved. In all honesty she had to admit to herself, she'd been in the marriage mostly for the children at that point. Had she not gotten pregnant soon after the wedding she'd likely have returned to Enterprise and dissolved the marriage as soon as she could.

Despite the less than stellar circumstances she doesn't think it's the divorce that did the damage so much as their father's abandonment. He'd given her sole custody without much of a fight and moved to be with his mistress as soon as he could, give that the family ties between Vulcans were generally very strong both boys had taken their father's abandonment very hard.

It had been part of her decision to move to Earth in the beginning of the previous month. She'd felt that getting the children off Vulcan and away from their father would weaken the bond between their father and the two of them and make it easier on the two of them. Koss had had little problem with it.

The barista calling out their order pulls her from her thoughts. She hands the lemonade to Avarak and takes her tea, then starts towards the door.

As she's exiting a man pulls the door open, she looks at him for a moment "Thank you." She says, stepping off down the stairs past him and the woman.

She doesn't look back but she knows the man and the woman, her heart speeds up, Trip and Hoshi. She knew Enterprise had been decommissioned last month but she'd thought all her old friends would've already taken Assignments elsewhere. She's not sure why but something in the back of her mind tells her Trip recognized her too.

"Mother?" Avarak asks. "Do you know them?"

"I'm not sure little one." T'Pol says quickly blocking out her thoughts. "Come, let's get you and your brother home, then you can share your drink before dinner." She reaches down, takes his hand and starts towards their bus stop.