Title: You Will
Rating: K+
Summary: Post 'Home'. Enterprise is all-but repaired with her Chief Engineer back aboard, but Jon knows that Trip isn't quite fixed yet. T/T'P.
Disclaimer: If I owned Enterprise, TATV would never have existed and 'Terra Prime' would have been the finale. As you can see, that's not the case. Therefore, I own no Enterprise, mores the pity.
I was depressed, okay? And I re-watched 'Home' last night. So sue me. Please R&R, I need cheering up now… so I'm off to watch 'Bound'!
You Will
Jonathan Archer was walking the corridors of Enterprise aimlessly, his mind unusually blank. He couldn't sleep for some reason – probably the fact that they were still in spacedock at Jupiter Station and wouldn't be able to leave for a while. It didn't seem right to sleep without the stars streaming past the window. So he'd gotten out of bed at 0230, careful to avoid the happily slumbering Porthos, and stepped out to do a few circuits of his ship.
He paused and lightly touched the bulkhead, reverently stroking his fingers against the metal. Enterprise had definitely taken a beating in the Expanse. She'd been battered out of shape and was only now being slowly, laboriously, fixed. But she was being fixed, and that was what mattered. A tiny smile flickered across his lips, and Jon started walking again. The smile faded though, after a minute or so.
And it wasn't just Enterprise who got beat up in there, he thought regretfully. The mission had been hard on the crew and the ship, forcing people to go above and beyond the call of duty when they might not have wanted to. But the toll had affected one man possibly more than anyone else. Jon might not have been the most communicative of people in there, but he had seen that Trip Tucker was falling apart, affected deeply by his baby sister's death.
And of all people, it was T'Pol who managed to get him to pull himself together.
Remarkable, the Captain mused, a light-hearted mood slowly reappearing. When we started they were at each other's throats night and day. And now… Well, now, the pair were pretty much inseparable. Or so Jon had thought. The happiness faded, just as quickly as it had come.
They'd gone to Vulcan, to T'Pol's mother's house, intending to spend their leave there. Together. That little snippet of gossip had certainly made the rounds, most taking it as firm proof that something was going on between Enterprise's two most senior officers. Archer hadn't expected to see either of them before theyleft spacedock again and resumed their mission.
But it had reached the Captain's table that Trip was back onboard, and T'Pol was nowhere to be found. And that worried him.
Jon stopped. His wanderings had led him to a familiar door, and without a moment's hesitation he reached out, hitting the chime. He heard a muffled summons in a tired voice, and, suppressing his worry, transferred his touch to the door release. He stepped inside and his eyes sought out his best friend, the source of his concern. "Trip."
"Cap'n." The engineer blinked up at Jon. "What's up?"
Jon reeled momentarily at how monumentally tired Tucker looked. The Captain had expected everyone to be well rested and happy this long after they had saved Earth. But no. Apparently Trip was being awkward with expectations. Again. "I just wanted to see how the repairs were going," he bluffed, using the stolen time to watch his friend.
"Wouldn't it have been easier to head to Engineering?" Trip shrugged slightly, his shoulders moving barely a centimetre, too tired. "Things are on schedule," he replied. "Enterprise should be up an' runnin' again soon." He delivered his words in a dull monotone, his accent unusually thick.
Jon folded his arms. He was actually scared now. "What happened?"
The engineer's face closed off. "I don't understand, sir," he answered guardedly.
"C'mon Trip. I'm not stupid." Jon searched Trip's face. He almost sighed. He was going to have to spell it out to his stubborn friend. "Something happened with you. And T'Pol."
It was the Vulcan's name that did it. Jon saw a tiny tear glint in the corner of Trip's eye. Archer felt a sudden rush of fear and sympathy. Something had happened. "It's nothin', Cap'n." Tucker's voice was dull, almost hopeless.
Jon seated himself next to Trip on the engineer's bunk. "Trip, you can talk to me," he said softly, not-quite touching his old friend. "I know I was kind of… unavailable in the Expanse—"
"Not your fault, Cap'n," Trip interrupted. "You had the weight of the world on your shoulders. I knew that."
Jon smiled slightly. "I'm not worried about me Trip," he countered softly. "Something's happened." He searched his friend's face. "Tell me. I'm available now. Let me help."
Trip sniffed. "You can't help," he replied, his voice a shaky whisper. "Unless you can wind back time."
Jon just waited.
The engineer stared straight ahead, his blue eyes obscured by tears. "She got married," he whispered. "Right in front of me." Another sniff, and then Tucker turned to face Archer, a lone tear making its way down his grimy cheek. His eyes were haunted with grief. "I love her," he whispered brokenly, so quiet Jon could barely hear him. "An' now she's married to a guy she doesn't even know." Two more tears joined the one already on his cheek, glistening in the dim light of the stars. "What am I gonna do? She's comin' back to Enterprise. What am I supposed to do?"
Jon felt his heart twist in sympathy. "Are you going to leave?"
Trip shook his head furiously. "No. But…" He sniffed again. "I don't think I can stand seein' her day after day, knowin'…" He couldn't finish.
"You've got to try," Jon murmured. After a moment, he smiled slightly. "You've got it bad."
Trip managed a tear-stained half smile. "Yeah. I do."
"You'll get through this," Jon offered softly.
"I'll try," was the younger man's heartbroken reply.
Archer glanced down at his hands, resting loosely on his knees, and then back up at Trip. "She'll need a friend when she gets back," he suggested quietly. "This… It'll have affected her too."
"How can I?" Trip was hurting inside; he needed to let it out. Jon sat back and let it flow. "How am I supposed to work with her every goddamn day, knowin' that I can't touch her, knowin' that I can't have her?" He swallowed, crying freely, silently. He continued, softer now. "How am I supposed to cope with knowin' that I can't let myself love her?"
Jon couldn't stand it anymore. He reached over and wrapped his arm around Trip's shoulders, holding his best friend as his body shook. Trip stiffened for a moment, and then relaxed into the embrace, needing someone to lean on, a shoulder to cry on. "I'm burnt out Cap'n," he whispered. "Inside. She's got my heart. An' it's burnin' now."
"Situations change," Jon said softly. "Times change. People change. It might not last."
"I know Jon," Trip replied, his voice a bare whisper. "But it might."
"And it might not." Jon pulled back slightly and studied Trip's face. Their gazes locked. "If there's anything I've learnt from our time-travelling friend Daniels," Archer said softly, "it's that the future's never certain. Anything could happen."
Blue eyes blinked softly, a tear breaking free and slipping silently down the engineer's already damp cheeks. "I'll keep that in mind," Trip whispered.
Jon pulled his best friend in for a tight embrace once more, feeling Trip silently cry into his shoulder. He let out a shuddering breath; more affected by his lovestruck friend's plight than he realised. The fabled Captain of the Starship Enterprise closed his eyes and sent a silent prayer to whatever gods might be listening in the dead of the night.
Let them be alright. Please, just give them this one thing. Everyone else hurts, everyone else burns, but let there be just one spark of hope in the universe. Please. Please, just let them be together. Give them each other. Let them be happy.
But all he was able to say to his mourning friend was, "I know you will."
end