Timeless Emotion

Spoilers: All Episodes

Disclaimer: If I owned Star Trek Enterprise and its characters, Elizabeth would be alive and Trip and T'Pol would be married.

I cling to life for her, my daughter…my baby girl…my little elf.

I watched her grow inside her mother, I watched her breathe her first breath…I watched her first steps, listened to her first words and now I must watch her go forth into her schooling.

I cling to life for her, my wife…my darling…the other half of my katra (my soul).

I watched her walk into the room for the first time, I watched her grow into a better person…a better Vulcan, listened to her tell me she would marry another and even listened to her say she was no longer married. I watched her beg for my return and I watched her hold our beloved child…even as she was doomed to death. I watched her cry after our daughter died.

I listened to her speak the sacred words of marriage, I listened to her say we were expecting a child. I held her hand through the delivery and watched her hold our child, our daughter.

I cling to life for my wife, T'Pol of Vulcan.

I cling to life for my daughter, T'Rai Catherine Tucker of Terra and Vulcan.

I cling to life for the child inside my wife's belly, our son…our future.

I cling to life after saving Enterprise from raiders…my lungs badly burned and scars upon my face. Others visit and never return…the scars make me look horrid but she stays, they both do.

My little elf holds my hand and speaks to me precious words for her three year old mind.

"Daddy wake up, I love you, wake up."

My wife touches my head and speaks words rare for her, "my beloved you must wake, our son is due any day, you must be there as you were with our daughter."

My Beloved…her words of love, the only ones she speaks. To her 'I love you' translates into 'I cherish thee' and that's fine…it's the Vulcan ways and I embrace that part of her and our daughter.

I cling to life…for them, for our son…but I can't fight the pain, its too much.

Two days later, I am not by her side but I am awake…barely, as she delivers our son into the universe. I hear her speak his name…Charles Anthony Tucker IV but she insists we call him V'Ran after her father…it's acceptable and welcomed.

I cling to life even as the battle is nearly over. I see my son in my wife's arms…the Vulcan I love and loves me back. I see my son, who I clung to life for.

The fight is over…death wins. I die after watching my beloved Vulcan sooth our son's cries, after I watch her introduce T'Rai to her brother.

I regret never showing T'Rai or V'Ran how the warp engine works or help them with a project for class. I regret not giving my wife more then five years, three of them marriage. I regret not telling my parents the truth…that I married for love, to the species they despise.

I know though that T'Rai and V'Ran are going to be alright, they will thrive like their brother before them, like Lorian. I know their mother will teach them human customs as well as Vulcan ones.

Knowing all this, I die but before I do…I send a silent message through the bond to T'Pol.

I'll always love you…my T'hy'la.

The look on her face was peaceful, she knew I couldn't fight any longer…that I held on for V'Ran. She gave a slow nod as I closed my eyes and died.

I would never know my children as they grow up, I'll never know they rejected their humanity…preferring against their mother's wishes to be fully Vulcan. That they'd abandon all the humanity in them because they'd see the grief of their mother and wish it gone. That they'd choose Vulcan mates and never step foot in Starfleet but instead go to the Vulcan Science Academy.

If I happened to have witnessed it, I would not hold it against them because that was who I was...their father and I know they are half-Vulcan and the path of life is their own. I would never hold it against them because I love them and accept any path they choose...that's the father I am. Unlike my parents, I would accept anything my children do.

However, I will not witness it. I, Charles Tucker III, husband of T'Pol of Vulcan and father to T'Rai and V'Ran of Vulcan, perished with peace of mind and few regrets, I do know the love I have for my children and wife will never fade...as it was enough to last a lifetime.

A/N: What do you think? A little AU and nicer take of TATV.