All the pretty little ponies part 3

by Pegmumm

A continuation of the series. The possibility that Trip was murdered has everyone speculating as to who done it. There's a meeting of command staff to plan their next moves.

Disclaimer: Star Trek: Enterprise is the property of Paramount; I am just borrowing the characters and setting for a little while.

I am new to the Star Trek Enterprise universe, having been without a television since the year 2000. The Dvd's were a recent acquisition and have inspired me to rewrite canon.

This was to be a finale fix… but it morphed into something else.

My series seriously departs from canon and is admittedly AU… as many are.

By the way, this hasn't been beta'd, this is my 11th submission after being away from writing for 15 years. Reviews are welcome.

Feel free to post these to other Trip/T'Pol sites. Just attribute them correctly.

* * * * * * * * *

Trip leaned over the table. "Given everything I have learned about my life here and family... I couldn't understand why I would throw it all away with a dumb stunt like that. Now... the question I am having is…could I, I mean Trip, could someone have wanted him dead?"

"I think the answer is, especially after seeing all this… you very well could have been murdered..."

T'Pol froze. Her mind was a maelstrom of recriminations, guilt, rage and grief. Tears began to well in her eyes; she pushed herself away from where she stood at the counter. She felt her control slipping away as she fled the room hiding her face as she went.

"So Malcolm… what do we do now?" Trip leaned back in his chair gratified that he had come to the same conclusion.

For once his friend was at a loss for words.

Malcolm looked down at his now empty shot glass.

He and Hoshi looked at each other. She nodded and put down her glass. "I think it's time for more bourbon." The front door slammed suddenly and everyone sitting at the table was startled from their discussion. Trip looked up from the table and realized that T'Pol was gone. He rose from his chair.

" 'scuze me, guys. Here we have been shooting off our mouths and my wife just found out her husband could have been murdered. I need to go find T'Pol." Trip went out front searching for T'Pol. He found her outside sitting on the highest step of their front porch. He sat down and looked out over their front yard. Beyond the fence he could see Malcolm and Hoshi wave to him as they headed back home. He reached over and put his arm around her. She remained stiff and unyielding to his touch. He withdrew his arm and just sat beside her, looking out across the bay. They sat in silence for quite some time, sharing their swirling emotions through the bond.

Finally Trip couldn't stay silent any longer.

"I'm sorry you had to hear it this way. I should have said something earlier." Trip looked over at her, watching her face carefully. Tears were starting to trickle down her face one by one. He could feel her emotions, grief… guilt… but mostly rage. She blamed herself for letting this happen. These were the same emotions had haunted him in the week after his wife died. He believed the accident that killed her could have been prevented and felt guilty for not double checking his second's repairs.

"No, don't be sorry. I knew this would be the outcome. It was just difficult to hear it from someone else." T'Pol replied. Trip grabbed with the sleeve of his tee shirt and reached over to wipe the tears from her cheek. She pushed him away as he dried them. "Oh, don't do that", she protested. "You'll ruin your tee shirt."

"It's only a shirt, T'Pol." He pulled back. "Why are you feeling so guilty? You weren't even on ship board and couldn't have stopped it even if you were."

She grimaced. "When Trip told me about the shortages at first, it sounded so trivial. There were always complaints about Kelby; this was just one more thing to add to the list. I dismissed his concerns and after he said he reported it to security, I just assumed it had been taken care of. I should have asked more questions. He kept his findings from me… even through our bond, I had no warning."

"You've been on maternity leave all this time, haven't you?"

She nodded.

"And you were replaced by another XO? Wouldn't Trip have been in his chain of command?"

"Yes, and apparently the XO wasn't doing his job.

"Who was it? Anyone I might know?"

T'Pol looked at him for the first time since he sat down.

"Commander Nelson. He was just filling in while I was gone. I understand he has since been promoted and has taken over Dauntless. That still doesn't explain why Trip didn't tell me he was pressing charges."

"I doubt he wanted to add to the stress of having a newborn. I know that's what I would do if I were him."

"Well, you're not him, are you?"

Trip finally felt a clear flash of anger at him from under the wash of emotions she was feeling. "No, I'm not him. And I can't help that I'm not."

"I thought that once we were settled down here, we wouldn't have to worry about danger anymore."

"So you're feeling angry with yourself?"

"Yeah, mostly… and I thought if I could bring you back, the pain would go away. And it worked, things were going well enough... until now. Finding out he was murdered makes it even more complicated than it was. All I thought about was my family's need for you… and mine. I was desperate to get you back. I didn't even think of what it could mean to you."

"You are going to make yourself crazy with this."

"Trip, face it, I was dying... I couldn't just leave my kids orphaned. I had to protect them. Daniels was my only hope... finding you may have been an accident but your decision was exactly what I had hoped it would be. I'll never regret that; don't ever think that I would. You're here, you're alive and that's all that matters to me." She caressed his chin and blinked away the tears.

"Yeah but I can see you feel like you could have prevented it and you're pissed off that you didn't. And this could have happened just the way they said it did. He could have just done something noble."

She shook her head. "No, it couldn't have. Not now that we know the events leading up to the day he died. It makes any other conclusion but 'murder' suspect."

Trip shrugged. "Yeah, I think he would have put his family first. I can feel you blaming yourself for his death because you were stuck here with the kids and you weren't doing your job. But really… if you had been there, would he still be alive?" He paused. "To tell you the truth, I doubt it would have mattered. When someone makes up their mind to kill another person, it's hard to dissuade them." He made a helpless gesture and stared at his feet. "I know from experience."

Inadvertently his mind went back to the death of his cloned infant daughter 6 years ago and his rage against Paxton. He had worked hard to keep this memory submerged and hidden from her. The event wasn't something he wanted this T'Pol to know about and he had to work fast to get it out of his head. His mind went back to concentrating on the engineering logs.

T'Pol swung around and looked at his bent head. The tears stopped. She stared at him. How could he hide something so important from her? Why hadn't he told her?

Trip turned away looking out over the bay and hoped she hadn't picked up his thought. "I know you're furious with yourself. You hate that Trip might have been murdered and you didn't question a damned thing."

"He could have told me he was charging his second."

"I have news for you… you can't control for every possibility." He knew intimately about the lengths a Vulcan would go to maintain control. Trip's deceased T'Pol was very much into controlling her actions and emotions so no one knew what was going on inside her head, not even Trip. This had come between them time and again, threatening their marriage and causing him to leave her only to return when their bond drove her to him. She had vacillated between being loving and distancing herself. Trip had had years of famine and spent much of his life alone. Being here was like a warm bath after years of cold showers. He still loved his wife, he had had no choice but to love her because of their bond… now he felt guilty that he came to love the woman beside him even more.

She dismissed the remark. "Trip wasn't the least bit paranoid, he trusted everyone. If he had just been more like you, he would still be alive and you wouldn't have to even be here. But you're right in one aspect. When I found out how he died, I thought he cared more about Jonathan than he did about us." Her hands were spread open and ranged out in front of her.

He nudged her again. "So you thought deep down that he abandoned you without even thinking, that saving his drinking buddy was more important than staying with you?" Trip watched her back straighten as he repeated back what she said. He knew that the next step would be physical and he steeled himself for the blows. Trip worked to trigger a response he knew would help defuse the Gordian knot of guilt she had created. "In the end you thought he had sacrificed his life because he was just a selfish jackass just out for his own aggrandizement. Here lies the hero." He made an expansive movement with his hand. "And maybe you hated yourself because you had bonded to someone that you believed didn't love you."

At his last remark she exploded at him and her fists began to fall against him. Trip had to roll himself into a ball to keep her from doing any real damage. She struck out until she couldn't any longer and fell against him weeping. He straightened and held her. He rocked with her until she quieted, lying across his lap in a dejected little bundle. She struggled to regain any control she might have had.

It made him think back to his rage at his sister's death and how his wife had encouraged him to work out his anger and let him cry until he couldn't cry anymore. He shuddered to think what he would have been like if she hadn't. Then Elizabeth had died in their arms... the victim of a terrorist using her as their poster child of doom. He had turned inwards and had fought to keep from hating everyone. At least his own T'Pol was out of the pain she felt for years after their daughter's death. Trip felt his own tears fall for his wife's pain. Slowly he came back to this moment and the woman in his arms. If getting her to release the pain meant he was going to get punched, it was the least he could to do to help her work through her guilt at not preventing Trip's death.

In some ways, Trip knew he was far better equipped to handle grief than this T'Pol was. Being protected by Trip for so many years, she didn't have the internal structure that would allow her to function while carrying the strong negative emotions she now felt. She had had no major losses. Both her parents were still alive. There was no lost infant in this timeline. She had been lucky by his estimation to have been relatively untouched until now.

It became obvious to Trip that his wife had been on automatic pilot for the last week, being driven by their bond to turn to him physically for comfort. She had seen no other choices. He had watched her retreat into a fantasy and he hadn't recognized it for what it was because this was just how his own wife had treated their relationship. He became a refuge to retreat into when the world became too painful… most of the time his T'Pol treated him as if he just didn't exist.

For this T'Pol the dream had all turned into a nightmare she found she couldn't now wake from. Now she knew her husband was murdered by a co-worker. That man had robbed her of her bond mate and her children of their father. At this moment she wanted to tear him into pieces… and her desire for revenge was now driving her deeper into her shell. He just let her grieve without interruption there on the porch for quite some time.

Trip heard the first tentative wails of a scared little boy. He rubbed her shoulder, lifted her upwards off his lap and went in to bring his son out to the porch after she straightened.

When Quaid felt father's hands pick him up, he quieted and tried hard to suck on his own fist. Bringing the infant back out to the steps, he settled down next to T'Pol, rocking his son. She roused and watched Trip calm the infant until he fell back to sleep. Trip seemed oblivious to her presence; he was lost in a world alone with his child.

Leaning back against the railing, she watched them intertwined. Her comments about her resentment of this man for stepping into her life were unwarranted. He couldn't help who he was or the situation she had brought him into. It had been at her instigation that he came with her with no way back. He had come only because he loved her. He was dropped into an untenable situation made worse by the awareness that he was in mortal danger.

T'Pol bit her lip. She had hurt him deliberately and felt terrible that she had lashed out at him that way. But there was something else bothering her about their argument that she needed to get off her chest. She put her hand on his forearm and asked for his attention.

His head swung up away from his son and looked her in the eye.

"Trip... why did you withhold Elizabeth from me?"

"What do you mean, withhold? I don't have a daughter back there."

"The infant that died... you didn't want me to know." It was a simple statement of the truth she knew.

Trip stared out at the bay and held his son closely as tears brimmed in his eyes. "Our daughter died in our arms at 6 months of age. There was nothing anyone could do to save her. We had only known her a few days; she was deliberately created to die as a hostage by a very sick man for a very sick reason."

T'Pol shook her head. "At first you confused the two girls when you met her, yours and ours, I felt it. Then you found out that Elizabeth was conceived by both of us naturally and wasn't a lab experiment. You seemed relieved. I didn't catch the significance until now because of the similar names. You planned to kill Paxton that day; I can finally see the same rage in you that I feel now against Trip's murderer."

"Yeah, well, he murdered my kid... it colored my life for a long time after. She was innocent... just like your Trip." He gripped her hand tightly. "It's not something you have to carry with you. This is my burden to bear, alone."

"No, it's not. That's what marriage is for, to share the load." She made the conscious decision to talk to Phlox about bearing Trip his own child as soon as she was physically capable. He deserved that much and she had planned on a large family anyway. "I'm sorry I got angry at you."

Trip raised his head. He must have heard her thought because he looked at her with a smile. "It's my fault, too. I pushed you into it. If pissing you off gets you out of that self pity party you were having, it's worth it." He shrugged. "It's ironic. We're both feeling guilty…me for liking it here because I'm not missing my wife enough… and you for not questioning the findings and believing that Trip was stupid to die. We make quite the couple." He laughed.

"But I put you in danger by bringing you here. It was unforgivable."

"Excuse me, woman…like I was in no danger there? As you pointed out at the time I was about to kick the bucket… and so were you… so don't go all guilt ridden on me. Case closed." He turned to T'Pol. "Have you ever read Romeo and Juliet?"

"Yes, I did. You gave it to me to read. The two lovers kill themselves at the end."

"I gave it to my wife to read after I made some stupid remark to get back at her for marrying someone else when she knew I was in love with her. She never understood the metaphor. The two teenagers killed themselves when they thought the other was dead. Even though T'Pol married someone else, if she had died, I planned to follow her so we could be together again. But I couldn't tell her that, I was just too hurt and angry." He paused. "It was the height of irony when Phlox told me that her death was triggering mine. Did it occur to you that by today…" he tapped her knee, smiling, "…we would have both been dead if we hadn't found each other? Our children would be orphans and we would have doomed them to listening to Malcolm whine for the rest of their lives. That alone is a fate worse than death."

T'Pol smiled at the thought of teenaged Elizabeth being lectured for staying out late by a pedantic Malcolm. She groaned and put her hand to her forehead and ran her fingers through her hair. If their daughter was a handful now... what was she going to be like when she's older?

Trip snorted, having caught that thought. "Yeah, that occurred to me too. I can just see it now. Quite frankly I don't think Malcolm is cut out to have a kid like her around for much longer than a day at a time. He would rip out what little hair he has left."

Smiling, T'Pol rocked against him with her shoulder and reached over to gather in her son. She could feel the first tummy rumbles and knew it wouldn't be long before he was clambering for her. "Let's go inside. I draw the line at nursing in full view of the public."

"Aww gee... go and spoil my fun." Trip rose and leaned over to help her up from her perch. "Phlox and Elizabeth aren't due for a couple hours... I am going to go in and take a nap while I can since we haven't exactly been sleeping much. That is if you don't mind?"

"We can go lie down on the bed together. That way I can watch my two favorite men sleep."

"Flatterer." He held open the front door for his wife and child.

For now the house was quiet... but it wouldn't remain so and he intended to enjoy the serenity they both felt at that moment.

* * * *

Three days later… their serenity took a little detour.

Phlox and Elizabeth arrived back at the house at the stroke of five just like usual. As always he carried two large grocery bags into the kitchen. They were the makings for the dinner he was planning for this evening. He prided himself on his cooking skills and cooked all the meals whenever he was at the Tuckers as a thank you for letting him stay and making him feel like family.

Elizabeth ran in through the door ahead of Phlox, finally collapsing at her father's feet. She looked up at him with a gap toothed smile. "Hi, Daddy, I got to kill Uncle Malcolm with a ray gun today. He died with all sort of noise and flailing and stuff." She threw her arms around in imitation of his death throes.

"I love you too, punkin'. I trust you left him alive after you were through?" Trip pulled her long blond braid, teasing her with a concerned look.

"Oh Daddy, of course I did." She turned and grabbed her mother's knee. "Love you, Mother." She reached up to give her baby brother a peck on the cheek when T'Pol lowered him towards her.

Phlox walked past and started up the stairs. "Let me put my things away and I'll go start dinner."

There was a knock at the front door. Phlox turned, his foot on the first step. Elizabeth burst past her father's restraining arm and turned the knob, opening the door.

"Gramma... Grampa! " She launched herself at Trip's parents nearly knocking her grandmother over. The couple came into the foyer and closed the door behind them. The two locked eyes with their son as Trip's mother gave a hug to her granddaughter. Trip noted haggard expressions and red eyes holding back tears.

Something was wrong.

Catherine Tucker reached out toward her son's wife. She took her free hand. T'Pol juggled Quaid to the other shoulder.

"Oh..." T'Pol looked over at Trip. He had his hand to his face in obvious exasperation. His own parents had died a year before. First his father of a heart attack, then his mother a week later. In this continuum, Trip and T'Pol had been visiting and had summoned paramedics in time to prevent the heart attack from being fatal.

This would be their first in person encounter since his arrival. Trip had just hoped this would come after he was more in tune with his life here.

Sensing a confrontation, Phlox came forward, picked up Elizabeth and hustled her toward the stairs. "I'll take our Ranger upstairs for a bit. Let me know when you want me to start dinner. If anyone needs us, we'll be in my room watching TV." The little girl waved at her grandparents over his shoulder until they were out of sight.

As soon as he heard the bedroom door close, Chuck turned to Trip.

"Someone from the press contacted us last night to say you were dead." Charles looked Trip square in the eye.

Trip wasn't looking forward to this. He took a deep breath.

"As you can see, I'm fine… upright and able to take nourishment." Trip walked up to his mother and enveloped her in a long hard hug. She hugged him for a long time before allowing her husband to repeat the assault.

"We told them you weren't dead. But when you called the other night we knew that something was wrong, you acted nervous as hell. That reporter called..." Charles was at a loss to explain what he had heard, "...he said something about bravery in the face of danger? We couldn't believe what we were hearing. You'd never ever do something as stupid as that and we told him so. We decided last night that we needed to come see for ourselves that you were okay."

"Come on in... sit down. Let me take your coats."

Trip started bustling around, making them feel at home. He walked into the kitchen, motioning for them to follow and leaned against the counter. T'Pol handed Quaid to his father while she started a pot of coffee. Trip settled his son in his sling, nuzzling his ear and leaned back in his chair.

"Anything I can help with?" He asked his wife hoping for some reprieve.

T'Pol shook her head, keeping her back to her in-laws.

Catherine walked up to her son... and took a good long hard look at him.

Trip tried hard not to change expression and met his mother's eyes steadily. He had missed her terribly in the past year and tried hard not to cry with joy at the sight of the two of them alive. He couldn't help but smile at her; he missed her terribly since her passing. He was also thankful that Phlox had continued to provide medication that would temper the wildly fluctuating emotions he was feeling. He couldn't imagine dealing with this on his own.

Catherine reached over and touched his cheek. "Is there something you need to tell us, honey?"

"Momma, you wouldn't believe me if I did. Just accept the fact that I am here and in one piece. Can you do that for me...at least for a few days until we get this all sorted out? Then we can explain and hopefully this will make a bit more sense." There was no way he was going to ever tell her that her son was dead short of threat of dismemberment or death.

Catherine glanced over at her husband. He nodded and shrugged. There was very little they could do if the kids were unwilling to give them the truth. It was obvious that something had happened... but at least Trip was here in the flesh and not 6 feet under as they had feared. Luckily no calls had been made to inform family of their son's death, preferring to wait to see T'Pol first to get the facts.

Trip's mother stared at her son. Something just wasn't right. She met his eyes and demanded, "Trip… pull up your shirt."

Trip bristled, knowing she was looking for the scar T'Pol had marked him with the day their daughter was conceived, something he luckily shared with his counterpart. He handed Quaid to T'Pol, took off the sling and pulled up his shirt to display the same crescent shaped scar over his heart. She turned and gave a nod to her husband.

Chuck let out the breath he had been holding. When Trip's mother set her mind to something, it was nearly impossible to talk her out of it. He was just thankful his wife was now satisfied enough to let it lie.

"Daddy... Daddy..." A blond haired blur came hurtling down the stairs. "Look what Uncle Phlox brought me from Denobula." Elizabeth held a music box with a holographic dancer cantering on its top for her father to see and skidded into her father's hip. He crouched down. She crawled into his lap and snuggled in.

Catherine couldn't help but smile when her grand daughter handed him the box.

Trip took it and inspected it seriously, giving it back to her to show the others.

Phlox stepped down the stairs and became apologetic for letting the little girl get away from him.

"It's okay, Phlox." Trip stood put an arm around his friend's shoulders.

Phlox locked eyes with Catherine and nodded to her. It was clear the doctor knew the truth from the seriousness of his expression. She would just have to take everything on faith, Phlox would never be involved in anything that would ever hurt her son.

"Gramma?" Elizabeth beckoned to her with her finger, making it clear she wanted Catherine to listen to a secret.

Catherine bent over and her grand daughter whispered into her ear, cupping her mouth to make sure no one heard what she had to say. Catherine got a startled expression and straightened, still staring at her granddaughter.

"Well, I'll go start dinner. I hope everyone likes chicken." Phlox disappeared into the kitchen followed by a little blond Tucker who chattered constantly about her new music box.

"Would you two mind if we stayed here while we are in San Francisco?" Chuck asked. It was their custom to stay with the kids for 2 or three days at a time whenever they came to town.

Elizabeth turned to her father. "You're going to let Gramma and Grampa stay, aren't you, Daddy?"

Trip looked over at T'Pol who was non-commital. He knew that his mother intimidated T'Pol and that she would be uncomfortable the entire time her mother in law was visiting.

T'Pol's expression said it all.

She scares me. But it wouldn't serve us to tell her no. She would just escalate her behaviors as she has in the past.

Trip gave a nod and smiled at his mother. "Sure Momma, the more the merrier."

Catherine reached over and gathered her grandson from T'Pol who was relieved this meeting had passed with no incident. "I just can't get enough of my new grandson and this way we can help baby-sit so the two of you get some quality time together."

Quaid looked over at his dad with a resigned look and gave a sigh. There was no doubt that he would rather be with his father. Trip couldn't help but grin at his son. He nudged T'Pol and pointed to the expression on his face. Luckily T'Pol had regained her composure in light of her mother in laws decision to stay with them. She wasn't about to give her an ounce of ammunition against them.

Chuck grabbed their bags starting up the stairs to the middle bedroom they usually stayed in while they were in Frisco. From the weight of the bags, it looked like they planned to stay more than a few days. Then again it could be more toys for the kids.

Trip followed his father up the stairs, helping with the last bag. He was beginning to understand just why his counterpart had bought such a big house. He wondered who usually stayed in the other corner bedroom but couldn't come up with a face or a name. He called out to his father, "Hey Dad, do you think you could help me finish Elizabeth's play set while you're here? I promised her I'd get it done this trip."

Chuck turned and grinned down at his son. "Hell, I thought you'd never ask."

* * * *

Two days later the comm in Trip's office rang. Trip excused himself from a discussion with his dad and ran up the steps. It was Malcolm. He had arranged for a meeting of command staff for later that evening in the Tuckers' kitchen.

"Malcolm, my parents are still here, they aren't planning to leave as yet."

"What did you tell them when they asked about your lapses of memory?"

"I told them that I had gotten hit on the head recently. Phlox and I talked about it as an explanation before we even met with you two. He even explained it to them in detail. Hey, why couldn't you have given us a bit more time to prepare? This could get pretty awkward." Trip was annoyed at how little warning they had.

"This was the only time Archer could be there. He's got meetings back to back the rest of the week. We need his support to start an investigation of something of this magnitude." Malcolm stated to whine. "We can close the kitchen door and relegate them to the upstairs, can't we? This is a pretty important meeting.

"I understand that." Trip shrugged and gave in.

"He's got to meet you sometime. We can't exactly keep it a secret from him for much longer."

"I'll let T'Pol know and we'll just have to deal with it as best we can."

"We'll be there in about 5 minutes. I have unopened bottles of Archer's favorite scotch and your bourbon here at the house that we'll bring with us."

"See you in 5 then. Oh Malcolm, Elizabeth left her favorite teddy bear there today. Can you bring it with you? She won't sleep without it."

Malcolm nodded and signed off. Trip turned back to the doorway to see his father watching him.

Chuck sighed. "You're having a meeting here tonight and you don't want us listening in, am I right?"

"Yeah, it's just command staff and it's classified. There's an investigation Malcolm needs Archer's support on… it's going to impact many different departments."

"Gotcha. We can stay upstairs for the duration. Just let us know when we need to disappear." Chuck made a dismissive motion with one hand. "We both brought books and paperwork to catch up on to keep us busy. Could we use your comm to make a couple of calls?"

"Sure Dad… anything you need, just ask. I need to let my wife know about the change in plans." He got up out of his chair and started down the stairs. T'Pol walked out of the kitchen, wiping off her hands.

"We are done with the dinner dishes. I heard Malcolm all the way down here whining about a command meeting tonight. If we use the kitchen, we can close the dining room slider for privacy."

A few minutes later, Malcolm stuck his head in the front door after a swift rap on the molding. Hoshi followed closely behind and handed T'Pol the 2 bottles. She still held Elizabeth's teddy bear. T'Pol took the bottles into the kitchen and set them on the counter. Hoshi took the teddy bear down the hall, laid it on Elizabeth's bed in the nursery and closed the door. There was a resigned look on her face as she looked at Trip. No one liked Malcolm's habit of whining when he thought things were out of his control… not even his wife.

Trip started to laugh. "So Malcolm, just when is Archer arriving and what do we say to him?"

"He's beaming in just like Phlox does... he'll be coming in through the mud room any time now. We'll go meet him out in the garage. You need to disappear til we ask you to come into the kitchen." Malcolm and Hoshi disappeared down the hallway and out the back door to the garage. T'Pol motioned for Trip to go into the bedroom and followed him down the hallway. They were interrupted by Phlox's tread on the squeaky fifth step as he came down the stairs.

"I heard Commanders Tucker and Reed talking about a meeting tonight. Captain Archer just called me to ask if I would be there as well. I left Elizabeth upstairs watching TV in my room with her grandmother. She was just beginning to nod off so I doubt we will be hearing much from her anytime soon. Mr. Tucker is in Trip's office making a few calls and promises to stay upstairs." Phlox reached for the banister and continued on down the stairs. "The Captain should be here any moment; he was on his way to the transporter pad." He walked the rest of the way down and stood beside T'Pol. Trip continued through the bedroom door and closed it most of the way.

It wasn't long before all 3 command staff came in through the mudroom.

"Welcome Captain. Please come into the kitchen and be seated," T'Pol motioned them through the hallway. They filed into the kitchen. They took seats around the large rectangular kitchen table, watching Phlox prepare coffee and set out 6 cups.

Archer was the first to speak.

"Six? Who are we waiting for...?"

Phlox sat and looked up at T'Pol standing in the dining room doorway. "Ahhh… just one, Captain, But we can start without him. Do you want me to start the narration?" T'Pol nodded towards him glancing back down the hallway at the bedroom door. She closed the slider softly. "Let's start at the beginning as I know it. During the afternoon right after Commander Tucker's funeral, there was an incident as a result of T'Pol boxing up and cleaning out the contents of Daniels' quarters. She accidentally activated a device that sent her to a timeline 8 weeks into the past. She was returned here 12 hours later unharmed."

T'Pol interjected. "I didn't return alone."

"Yes, someone came with her." The doctor stood behind his chair with his hands on the back. He leaned over with his best serious expression.

Archer watched the doctor, perplexed. He hated surprises. "Who...?"

Opening the slider a crack, T'Pol could see that the bedroom door was open and assumed Trip was listening to their conversation.

Phlox spoke again. "When T'Pol came to me earlier to tell me her story, I was at first skeptical that it was true. I was afraid that my grief would prejudice me into accepting this all too quickly….until I met and examined her companion. He is who he says he is… his DNA is an exact match. I had not yet sent Tucker's death certificate for recording… and Captain… now I won't need to."

Archer exclaimed, "What do you mean you won't need to?"

"Captain..." Malcolm leaned forward. "We know there is no way we can prepare you for a shock like this. We discussed just how to do it but really couldn't come up with any easy answers. The man T'Pol met there, Commander Charles Tucker the third, agreed to return with her to our timeline. He's here now and you are about to meet him for the first time." He waited for a reaction… any reaction from the Captain that he had absorbed the information. All he saw was the same dumbfounded look Archer always got when confronted with something he didn't understand.

Malcolm continued. "Are you ready for this, Captain? Or do you need more time to adjust?"

He wasn't sure how Archer would handle this.

Malcolm knew Archer blamed himself for his friend's death and had taken an emotional nosedive in the week since the accident. Knowing that there was another explanation for Trip's death would free him from the hell he was now in.

"Of course I want to see Trip. I don't care where he came from. Where is he?" Captain Archer sat straight in his chair, watching Malcolm.

Malcolm gestured to T'Pol with an open hand inviting her to bring Trip in from the bedroom. Archer turned. T'Pol walked back down the hallway to the bedroom door. She pushed it open and motioned wordlessly for Trip to join them. He took her hand and the two walked into the kitchen, closing the slider behind him. He leaned back against the doorway, his arms around his wife.

"Ahh, Jonathan." Trip stared at his feet for a minute looking embarrassed before scanning his friends. "I'm sorry for just springing it on you like this, Captain."

"Trip?" Archer stood up suddenly, his chair turning over. He walked over, grabbed Trip's hand and drew his friend into a long hard hug. There were tears in his eyes from the relief he felt.

Phlox cautioned Archer. "Remember Captain, this Commander Tucker is from another timeline. Our Commander Tucker is still deceased."

Malcolm winked at Trip. "Hoshi and I already met him a few days ago. It was more than a bit of a shock."

Trip drew away from the Captain still gripping his hand. "For some reason Daniel's device put T'Pol in the one timeline where I needed her as much as she needed me. T'Pol asked me to come with her and I agreed." Trip let go of Archer's hand, came over to the table and sat down.

Archer picked up his chair and sat down leaning across the table towards the chief engineer. They all sat watching Archer's reaction. T'Pol moved around the table and stood behind Trip, he leaned back and she placed her hands on his shoulders. He took her hand, turned it over and kissed her palm, laying it back on his shoulder.

Malcolm turned. "I think you need to tell the Captain what happened to your T'Pol and to us so he understands why you chose to come."

"Malcolm and Hoshi died in separate accidents last year. My parents died a year ago a few days apart. It was beginning to get pretty lonely... and then I finally lost T'Pol. She died 11 days ago in a shuttle pod accident. You and Phlox were all I had left and Phlox got you to give your permission for me to come with her. Phlox told you that if I stayed, you would have to watch me die since our bond had severed so violently." He laid his hand on T'Pol's and gave it a squeeze.

Phlox kept his head down, pouring coffee and putting out sugar and cream. He handed Trip a cup of coffee. Going to the cupboard, he took out a plate of cookies and left it in the middle of the table. No one spoke for quite some time.

Trip stared at his cup and took a sip. "Oh kay, someone say something." He started to turn red.

Phlox broke the silence after putting the coffee pot back in its receptacle and turned back towards the table. "The Tuckers asked me to stay with them to ease his transition here. Before I arrived here 6 days ago I destroyed the Commander's death certificate I was preparing. Therefore the stasis pod our Commander Tucker is currently interred in is listed as containing an unknown victim. I instead listed him as missing in action. This change in status will allow him to reenter his life and regain his position with Starfleet with no interruption once a suitable explanation for his absence can be agreed on by this group. It shouldn't be difficult to convince the powers that be that he is very much alive and that his skills are needed. His medical files will have to be updated to account for the many physical anomalies he exhibits."

The doctor finally sat down and turned. "However I haven't been told yet why we were all called here other than the desire to introduce our friend to his Captain. T'Pol, why did you ask for this meeting?"

T'Pol moved to the empty chair beside her husband and sat down. "Trip and I have discussed how best to approach each of you with the news he had transferred to this timeline. At first all we thought about was our mutual need for each other. The mechanics of reintroducing him to the people that mean the most to us just did not seem to matter." Trip moved his chair closer to his wife so he could put his arm around her shoulders. Touching her helped the pain he felt from her that broadcast through their bond. It wasn't gone… but it was getting better every day for both of them.

Malcolm turned to Archer. "A few days ago the four of us discussed a situation Trip uncovered and decided it warranted a meeting with you, Captain. I have researched his findings and followed up with research of my own. There's a question regarding the manner of Trip's death."

Trip cleared his throat. "I was checking Trip's engineering logs, just trying to get up to speed with his work. He found numerous discrepancies over the last 4 weeks between cargo manifests, shipments and inventories in preparation for decommissioning the ship. T'Pol brought my current logs with her on her PADD. My last data entry stops in mid sentence. I was betting the timestamp coincided closely with the listed time of death. Malcolm confirmed my suspicions when he checked his security logs and we discovered there had been a lock out of his comm address. Malcolm never got the report of the shortages. The timestamp is my second's signout."

Trip handed Archer his PADD with the final entry highlighted.

Trip continued. "The how and why Trip died concerns me. The reason we decided to call this meeting is that no matter how I looked at it, his actions made no sense. I met my family, listened to T'Pol and Malcolm talk about the last few weeks and saw my office with the plans for a play set for my kids. For Christ's sake, I have a newborn here. Sorry Jon, I know we are friends but... I wouldn't die for you on a bet. You just don't mean as much to me as my family would. T'Pol told me that the sole surviving person who witnessed my death is the same man I was filing charges against for the thefts." Trip gestured for emphasis. "Malcolm says those charges were rescinded within hours of his death by your XO. And my second signed off the log referencing the investigation I requested and the communications lock out of any reports going to security."

Archer was still busy reading through log of engineering shortages. He sat back thinking about the implications of what he was reading and the impact it had. It meant he wasn't directly to blame for his friend's death. "When your second reported to Sickbay with burns to his hands, he seemed almost hysterical. In retrospect he was probably terrified he was going to be charged with murder." Archer's face turned a bit purple. "I'm sorry. I just accepted his word. If I had known, he would have been put out an airlock then and there."

Trip looked over at T'Pol. "Anyway, this puts a whole 'nother light on things. I know my being here has been a shock for everyone. I think that we could have gradually broken it to you that I had transitioned here. But I decided that everyone's comfort wasn't worth letting a murderer possibly go free."

T'Pol interjected. "We all decided… it wasn't just your decision." She gestured to Malcolm and Hoshi. "Trip mentioned the discrepancies to me 6 weeks ago. He dropped the subject shortly after that. I had been on maternity leave for the last 6 weeks before going on bereavement leave. That would coincide with the entire time covered by the logs. I don't understand why Trip didn't ask for my assistance with this."

"I think you answered your own question. You were on maternity leave; he didn't want to worry you with it. You had enough on your hands with a new born son. You didn't need the extra burden." He gripped his wife's hand. "I am betting the XO that replaced you had a hand in the thefts." Trip turned back to look at Archer. "If this guy is a thief and a murderer, he has to be caught and put in jail for this."

Archer sighed, "That's going to be a bit difficult, Trip."

"Why? He can't have gotten too far in two weeks."

"He left on the Dauntless yesterday destined for the Barrens."

"Son of a bitch." Trip exploded.

Malcolm rose out of his chair and leaned over the table. "Captain, there has to be something we can do. We have to warn Captain Hernandez."

"Erica isn't captaining the Dauntless this trip." Archer leaned his chair back on its two back legs. "She's on leave and staying on Earth for medical reasons for the next year," he held up his hand when it looked like the others were about to ask. "I don't want to get into it, it's private."

Trip started to say something but Malcolm shook his head. Jon and Erica had been quite an item on his ship… apparently things had gone sour for them here. "Who is commanding the Dauntless? Anyone we know?"

"No… the same guy that filled in as my XO while T'Pol was on leave. He's newly promoted, Captain Jack Nelson. And he specifically asked for Kelby as his chief engineer."

"Then he is in this up to his neck. That's his signature rescinding the charges." Trip thought for a moment. "We had a Commander Jack Nelson in our timeline. He was court-martialed for assault on a member of his crew couple years ago, a woman who refused his advances. Beat the tar out of her when she told him no. He got 4 years in prison."

"What was Kelby like in your timeline?" Hoshi finally spoke directly to Trip.

"He's a weasel. Lazy, entitled and had no affinity for my engines. Makes me wonder what he's doing to my ship since I left. In my universe, the thefts wouldn't have been noticed for another week. There's now no one to stop them dismantling her one piece at a time and selling it to the highest bidder."

Hoshi leaned forward. "The man has a nasty reputation among the comm officers I know." She realized that everyone was looking at her oddly. "Well, now that I am at Starfleet dirtside, I hear all the scuttlebutt. We have to do something with our time."

"And just what else do you know?" Malcolm started egging her on.

Hoshi gave him a look that said he was going to hear about this when they got home. "He has been seen with that XO and an officer from dirtside spending a lot of money lately. More than what they earn if Beth from the Orion is to be believed."

"Do we know where all this stuff might have been shipped? Or is it still on shipboard?" Trip interjected. "He can't have just made a ton of equipment disappear."

"I doubt he shipped if off via the shuttles… but he was seen repeatedly at the lower deck transporter." Hoshi turned to her husband. "I know Malcolm checked his crew logs, I bet he confirmed his movements."

Malcolm nodded and looked at his coffee cup. "There were 28 visits to the lower deck transporter alone in the 10 days immediately following Trip's death. The manifest lists every occurrence as transport of personal items. But it didn't account for the bulk of the items."

"What were the destinations?" Archer looked up at Malcolm.

"Some went to The Dauntless, sir. Others went to Jupiter Station where the items were beamed directly into Nelson's personal storage area and an adjacent cargo area belonging to a Captain Gary Lockwood. As far as we can tell, it's still there." The PADD in his hand was slid across the table to Archer who intercepted it as it fell off the table edge. "Lockwood is a shrink over at Starfleet Medical. Kelby was ordered to see him once a week when he's dirtside for 'anger management'." Malcolm leaned forward. "There's more. The transporter logs list at least 2 transfers out daily for the 4 weeks prior to Trips death. Apparently these items were simply bundled in nets and beamed out into the space surrounding the station. I am betting they were left at prearranged coordinates for later pickup. If logs were checked by staff they would just have assumed we were just beaming out trash. We have those coordinates and have checked to see if it's still there. We have recovered every one of the bundles beamed out. It was all inventoried as belonging to Enterprise's engineering stores."

"Good work. Do we have a list of what was missing to match with it?"

Trip leaned back and handed Archer another PADD. "It's all there. Everything could be sold readily on the black market. I doubt they meant to use them to augment Dauntless' inventory since it's a different class of ship. You might want to also inventory your volatiles, Captain. It wouldn't be hard to pilfer anything that could go into a canister."

Archer leaned over the table looking at Trip and then at Malcolm. "Malcolm, can you start proceedings against Kelby and Nelson. Do we have enough to go forward with charges?"

"The transporter retains a memory of every item transported, identifies it and logs it regardless of its container. No one knows that we do this routinely with all transports. We can check the patterns and compare them with the already found items and against the missing items in Trip's logs. We will also be checking those storage areas and comparing them against the lists we have as well. That's what we need your okay to do. If we have a high level of matches, we can proceed without having to have Trip become involved."

Trip sighed. "My involvement is going to be an issue. From what Phlox said our timelines share some common experiences right up to the time I arrived but short of another transplant from Trip, I would have no memory of this incident for you to tap into."

Phlox bent forward. "Transplant? What kind of transplant?"

"I had a head injury from an accident a few months after the Xindi attacks out in the Expanse. I was dying and Phlox grew me a mimetic clone from some sort of desert larva and used its brain tissue for transplant. He died in the process. It wasn't ethical… but Phlox offered it as a solution and it was ordered by Captain Archer. We were a long way from home and had no options beyond letting me just die. I retained his... Sim's.... memories. He gained my memories as he grew and became me. Phlox said that my memories were stored in my DNA including my love for my wife. Sim's still in my head... somewhere. We integrated a long time ago."

"But it's illegal to raise a clone for transplant. You raised a sentient being just to put it to death?" Phlox looked horrified.

"I had nothing to do with it at the time since I was dying and in a coma. He apparently agreed to die willingly." Trip came close to tears at the memory and stared at his coffee cup trying to regain his self control. "His sacrifice allowed me to live." No one knew how many times he wished he hadn't gone out into the Expanse and had chosen to stay behind instead.

T'Pol took Trip's hand and squeezed. She knew he had come close to dying. Now her focus was entirely on helping him recover from the trauma he suffered. She was determined not to let the legacies of his former life effect them any more than they had to.

Archer shook his head. "Even in this reality, I committed many unethical acts to save Earth, Trip. I always did what I thought was necessary for my crew's survival. But you're also my friend and chief engineer. I would have done anything to save your life. I couldn't have let you die. You can't imagine how many times I wanted you with us in the Expanse. I hope you forgave me?"

Trip shrugged and nodded. He had long since come to terms with the whole thing. He had gone on to do everything he ever set out to do, including marrying the woman he loved. Courage was something he took from his symbiont… it had changed the way he looked at everything including the people sitting around the table.

Malcolm broke in. "Captain, the Commanders Tucker should stay out of the limelight for the duration of our investigation and prosecution." He continued. "We need to do a complete check on all members of crew and their contacts. If what we think is true, an officer died at the hands of his second. And he didn't act alone apparently. I know his friends… the man had some pretty suspect contacts."

Archer nodded. "T'Pol, you are on indefinite leave, is that correct?"

"Yes, Captain."

"Then let's leave it that way until our investigation yields more results. At some point Starfleet may have to follow Dauntless to apprehend Kelby and Nelson once our case against them is complete. I'll approach Starfleet and start an investigation of Lockwood. For the moment I'd rather the both of you were safe. Maybe your house on Vulcan would be the better choice. I know your security system there is excellent."

T'Pol answered. "Yes, Captain, Vulcan would be more secure. We have to return to Vulcan anyway at some point to file for our son's citizenship. Next week we were scheduled to visit Trip's parents and spend a week there. I was going to be there to explain Trip's accident… but since they have been staying with us, now I won't have to. "

"I'm more than a little worried about my daughter right now." Trip looked at T'Pol. "Elizabeth has been talking about strange experiences and having frightening dreams. T'Pol told me that both the kids knew I had died and were inconsolable for hours after."

Hoshi was also worried about their daughter. "By the way, Elizabeth told me about feeling you disappear a couple of times over the last week... but I didn't understand at the time what she meant. She also said something about her Daddy being stuck in the dark until she can bring him back. She seemed pretty pressured over it."

T'Pol nodded. "That must be how she's interpreting it all. She told us that I brought Trip back to her because Trip told her I would find him for her. She hasn't said anything to us about the dark thing."

"Actually yes she did… the first night I was home when she said I was in the dark talking to her. And earlier she whispered something to my mother about bringing Daddy in from the dark… I heard her."

"Now what does that all mean?" Archer stood and retrieved the scotch from the counter. He set out a couple of glasses on the table and poured himself a shot.

Hoshi shook her head. "She even talked about this the day Trip died. Remember, she and Quaid were in the tub together and they became hysterical at that same moment? That's all she kept saying for hours, that her daddy was in the dark and depending on her to bring him back to us."

"Hmmm…she did mention to me that she knew what to do if she was given permission by Commander Tucker here to bring her daddy to him. She acted as if she knew you weren't really her father. It hasn't made any sense til now. I wonder…" Phlox thought for a moment about Elizabeth's comments regarding the man in the dark. "I'll talk to her later or tomorrow… see if I can get to the bottom of this. She never said anything to me about it before all this happened. It must be a recent development… like invisible friends. By the way, where is that marvelous son of yours? I believe Captain Archer hasn't seen him since the day he was born."

"My son… yes." Trip grinned and launched himself out of his seat. He returned carrying his infant son snuggled against his chest in his sling. He turned him over onto his back, cradling him against his forearm and presented him to his Captain. "I gather from my lovely wife I nicknamed him Quaid."

Archer took him in his arms and gathered him in against his chest. The gentle smile on Archer's face told more about him than any expression he had had during that entire evening. He eventually handed the boy back to his doting father. It seemed to be a bittersweet moment for Archer.

Trip beamed at everyone and gathered his child against his chest. "Isn't he marvelous? I just can't get enough of him."

T'Pol caressed her son's forehead. "He hasn't had to walk him yet when he's colicky or dealt with his daughter when she's hyper and racing from room to room. Catherine said Elizabeth is just like he was as a child, I can only imagine why Trip's parents let him live."

Everyone laughed at her deadpan delivery.

Trip over at his wife. "I love you too, dear. And thank you for this." He motioned to his infant son and drew him in closer. "Can I make an appointment to have a few more whenever you're ready?" He grinned at her.

Archer laughed. "You'll fit right in, Trip. I saw that same look on your counterpart's face more than once. It's nice to have one of you back." He shook his head at the look on his friend's face. "We can't get Kelby on a murder charge for this, can we?"

"There's no way to prove it, especially since Trip is very much alive." Malcolm sounded defeated.

Phlox leaned forward and tapped the table with his finger. "Remember we do have a body that was killed in a suspicious manner. If we can get Kelby to confess... we could make a case for murder. The Commander was pretty badly burned... Kelby hit him in the face and over his heart with the leads. He did survive long enough to get to me and then some... but not much longer than 10 or 15 minutes. I can see how his bonded children would be effected for the time it took to get him to sickbay."

T'Pol stepped forward. "Wait…I felt him die instantly. How could he have survived that long and I didn't know?"

"His consciousness was apparently gone by the time I reached him. But I have no medical reason for that aspect of it. He should have still been conscious." Phlox was bothered by this aspect of his autopsy. "If the two of them felt him die and you didn't, the question I would have is how could a man just vacate his consciousness as you felt him do and yet be aware for long enough to communicate with his half Vulcan children? The two don't make sense."

"Maybe it was the sight of his second coming at him with 2 live conduits and murder in his eyes…" Malcolm snorted. "…it would certainly make me want to have an out of body experience."

Trip suddenly remembered the image of his second in his daughter's dream and the savage look on his face. "Or maybe he was trying to spare his wife and children the experience of his death. Elizabeth keeps seeing Kelby's face in her dreams. The look on his face was savage when it surfaced that first night I was home."

Everyone stared at Trip, comprehension on their faces.

Hoshi leaned forward. "Do you think she's seeing the last thing Trip saw before he was killed? If this proves true and Kelby killed our friend and left… there's no one to dispute his version of events. He killed all 3 witnesses."

"Three? I had no idea that others were killed besides me." Trip was interrupted from his train of thought.

"Yeah, 3 aliens." Malcolm poured shots from the freshly opened bottle of bourbon that Archer had placed on the table and started passing them around. "They didn't live long. You, your second and the XO were the only ones in Engineering when the aliens transported into your section. We were meters away from you when Kelby rushed out yelling that you had killed them all. He was the only witness by his account. Is there any chance at all that you did as he claimed?"

Trip shook his head. "Nope, not a chance. I would never ever leave my infant son fatherless. I would have died kicking and screaming."

Phlox sat with a glass in his hand. "I examined Kelby after the explosion. He was very severely burned…. badly enough to have handled those conduits himself. The acting XO's hands also had severe burns nearly as severe as Kelby's. Nelson dismissed my questions as irrelevant but his vital signs were elevated to dangerous levels every time he visited Sickbay during the remaining time he was onboard. Looking back it's doubtful that it was from shock. The man was probably terrified."

"That's it then. It could have been either one of them." Archer rose from the table. "Does Malcolm have copies of your logs to compare with the transporter manifest?"

Malcolm rose as well. "Already done, sir. I have everything we can get remotely. All we need to do now is recover the remaining parts and compare them with the logs and transporter records." He motioned to Hoshi, "We need to head back home, Captain, it's late and the Tuckers need some time to themselves. By the way where is our favorite tornado?"

Phlox got up from his chair. "She's upstairs asleep in front of the TV in my room with her grandmother. She was outside playing on the playset you finished, then she watched old TV reruns; she crashed and burned the first chance she got." He started up the stairs. "I'll bring her down so you can tuck her in."

"Want us to take Elizabeth with us tonight?" Malcolm asked. He truly enjoyed Trip's little spitfire. She was the kind of child he hoped they would have one day soon.

T'Pol shook her head. "No, not unless you want to. Phlox and Trip's parents are staying with us for the indefinite future and will be helping out with the children. There are enough people in the house at the moment to keep her busy. Elizabeth still seems to need to be near her father, at least for part of the morning."

Suddenly Trip felt tired and was overcome with the desire for time alone with his extended family. Quaid chose that moment to snuggle in closer to Trip's neck… almost as if he was trying to comfort his father. "I can feel my son getting hungry." Trip resettled him into a more comfortable position. No one tried to remove him from his favorite sleeping spot, just under his father's chin where he could listen to his father's heartbeat. Trip thought there was nothing like family to make a man feel at peace with the world.

The group finally said their goodnights and went their separate ways. The Tuckers came downstairs to check out the fridge and returned to their room after giving hugs all round. Malcolm and Hoshi got Archer to agree to spend the night with them and the 3 left to take the trek back to their house up the street. Phlox brought Elizabeth downstairs draped over his shoulder and settled her in bed with her favorite teddy bear.

After all the lights had been turned off and the house became quiet, Trip laid on the bed in their room watching his wife and Quaid as he nursed. His son watched him back with avid attention.

"Do you think he knows who I am yet?" He stroked Quaid's cheek and was gratified to get a smile and a grab of his finger by his tiny fist.

"He certainly knows me." T'Pol smiled down at her son.

"Yeah but you're his meal ticket. No man forgets the woman that feeds him." Trip leaned over and kissed his wife. "Mmmm… can we make a date later for some serious makin' out, oh wife of mine?"

"Mmmm… my Trip refused to have sex while his parents were in the house. He said they always gave him 'that look' the next morning."

"I can just imagine. At first we did the same when we visited but we got over it."

"What happened to make you revise your actions?"

"We caught the two of them makin' out in the garage. They didn't want us hearing them. After that it was all's fair in love and war."

"Have you changed your mind?"

"About makin' out when they are in the house? Heck, no. If they want to not hear us, they can rent a motel."

"I'll keep that in mind." T'Pol smiled and caressed her son's cheek. He looked over at his dad and gave a big smile.

"Yep, he's beginning to know me."

"Nonsense, it's just gas."

"Sure it is."

T'Pol smiled.

* * * *

TBC