Past Present

A/N: I had this idea rolling in my mind a while ago but I was recently inspired by Lunabeegood A Snapshot #36 to write this. Thanks for the inspiration Luna.

Writing Trip's southern twang is exhausting, especially for the spell check. We all know he has a twang so please forgive me that I didn't write it out. Thanks... y'all.

Chapter 1

Enterprise had been running her paces breaking in the new upgrades for two weeks now and the crew was delighted that they had a top-notch, state of the art ship under them. No one was more pleased than Archer and he was ready to really open her up to see what the new engines could pull out.

Trip wasn't so sure about it, he never really liked pushing the ship too hard, but acquiesced to his Captain's request and grit his teeth when he heard Archer give the order to Travis. "Hit it!"

From his bridge station, Trip watched the warp speed climbing. "Warp 4.7...4.9. Warp 5.0...5.3...5.5." The ship didn't even so much as shudder. He was getting excited now as he continued to count out the speed. "5.8...5.9." If Enterprise were a woman he'd have a raging hard on by now and snuck a glance to make sure he didn't. "Warp 6.0! 6.1...6.2!" Enterprise shuddered and so did Trip. He suddenly had an overwhelming need for a cigarette for some reason.

Archer had a huge grin. "Alright Travis, let's not push it too hard. Bring her back down.

Trip let out a huge southern holler. "Wooo! Hell yeah! Now that's what the fuck I'm talking about! Yee-Haw!" In his excitement he ran over and gave Jon a quick high five. "Warp fucking six baby! In your face Vulcans!" He looked up and saw T'Pol with a raised brow. "Uh. Present company excluded. We need to celebrate!"

Normally, the Captain would give Trip a good dressing down for acting in such a manner on the bridge, but he understood the engineer's excitement. After years of hearing Vulcans saying that humans couldn't break the warp five equation, here they were, eleven years later, breaking warp six. Jon decided to let it slide as he chuckled. "I agree. Captain's mess 1930 hours for drinks, you're all invited. You to T'Pol, this is as much as a victory for you as it is for us."

"Vulcans broke warp six decades ago." She replied flatly.

"Maybe, but I'm betting you weren't there for it...just think of it as toasting human achievement of advancement. Captain's mess 1930." Jon smiled at her in the way that he knew she couldn't say no. She tipped her head.

"Captain... I'm getting an incoming message." Hoshi sounded a little confused.

"Command watching us? Congratulating on breaking warp six?"

"No sir, it's for Commander Tucker. Marked urgent, confidential."

Jon and Trip looked at each other. "You can take it in my ready room." Once Trip left the bridge, Jon turned to Hoshi. "Who's the message from?"

"An attorney. Private sector."

"Attorney? It came through on Starfleet channels?"

"Yes sir. I don't know how it got through on Starfleet channels. It should've come through the civilian channel. Do you think the Commander is in some sort of trouble?"

"I don't know...oh God." Jon didn't go any further than that. His heart sank for Trip fearing the worse and that it had something to do with one of his parents.

A few moments later the comm beeped. "Tucker to Cap'n Archer."

"Archer here."

Jon could hear the shaking in Trip's voice. "Can you come here...please?"

Jon walked into the ready room. Trip was sitting at the desk looking stunned. "Trip? Everything okay?"

He shook his head. "Natalie died."

"Oh Trip. I'm sorry. What happened?"

"Her architect firm is contracted for the Florida rebuild project. She was at one of the building sites and a piece of equipment broke loose. Including her, seven killed, eleven injured. I have to go back to Earth to handle some things and make arrangements." The entire time Trip spoke, he fiddled with a data card in his hand.

"No offense Trip, but I was under the impression that you hadn't spoken to Natalie since she called it off with you. Why does it fall on you to make funeral arrangements?"

"No. Not funeral arrangements." He swallowed. "Nat had a son. Ten years old. She claims he's mine."

"Is he?" Jon tried to stay as calm and understanding as possible. He never really liked Natalie Lawson and when she sent Trip her "Dear John" letter a few weeks after Enterprise left for their first mission, breaking his friend's heart, made his dislike for her deeper.

"I don't know. As far as I know, when we split up...she wasn't pregnant. The timeline fits though. She would've told me...I think."

"What's that?" Jon pointed his chin at the card in Trip's hand.

"A recording Nat made. Part of her will. The attorney downloaded it to me...I haven't watched it yet."

"Do you want me to stay and watch it with you?"

Trip nodded and handed the card to him. As the image of Natalie appeared Jon had to bite his lip to keep the word "bitch" from escaping. He really didn't like this woman.

Hi Trip. I know I'm the last person you expected to hear from. I'm sorry about that letter and waiting until after you left to break it off with you, but I hope you'll understand. About a week before you left, I found out that I was pregnant. I was trying to find the right time to tell you, but with the Klingons and Enterprise leaving ahead of schedule...everything happened so fast. I know you, Trip. If I had told you, you would've gotten a transfer to stay on Earth or Jupiter station and passed on Archer's offer of chief engineer. It was such a tremendous opportunity for you and your career...I couldn't let you be held back. I'm sorry I didn't tell you that you were going to be a father and I pray that someday you'll forgive me. She held up a baby to the camera. This is David. David Charles Tucker. He's eight months old now and he's smart...very smart like his daddy. He has your eyes and smile too. Don't worry though. When he gets older, I'll tell him all about his daddy in space and what a great person you are. I won't let him hate you for not being around. If he's going to hate anyone for it...he'll hate me. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. Please forgive me. I hope someday I'll have the courage to send this message to you. Take care of yourself. The recording ended.

Jon sighed. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. Right now all I know is that I need to get back to Earth and deal with this. If I go by shuttle it'll take a couple days to get there, and a few more days to get things sorted out. I guess I'll need a week...maybe two to get everything together. I would like to ask one thing though and I hope you're ok with it."

"What's that Trip?"

"I'd like Phlox to go with me. After everything I've been through, I want to make sure that he's not some genetically engineered clone or something and to make sure that he's really mine. I don't trust anyone but Phlox to do that."

"I think a genetic test is a good idea, but you don't need to go by shuttle, Trip. Enterprise will take you home."

"Cap'n, we just left Earth. I can't ask that you turn around just for me."

Jon put his hand up. "Already done, don't worry about it." He reached over and tapped a button to order Travis to head back to Earth at warp six and gave Trip a little wink.