Chapter 7

It was getting towards the end of his week and Trip still hadn't heard of Starfleet's decision concerning David. He would contact them each day and each day the reply would be the same. "We will contact you when a decision is made." He put into his head that it was time to take the bull by the horns and set off for San Francisco.

As he burst into Admiral Burke's office, much to the protest of the Admiral's aide, he started in. "Admiral, I need a decision right now. I've tried to be patient, but my time is running out and I can't stay stuck in this holding pattern any longer. I need a decision."

The Admiral looked at Trip with a mix of irritation to his intrusion and awe of the moxie in his demand. He gestured to the other men seated at his desk. "We were just discussing your situation, Commander."

Trip looked at the other men. It was the first time he truly noticed the other two Admirals and...*gulp* Captain Archer. He suddenly lost his nerve and made a slow backwards movement towards the door. "I'm just going to uh..."

"At attention, Commander!" Burke snapped at him. From years of conditioning, Trip's body snapped into a rigid stance, arms firmly to his side and eyes straight forward.

Archer stood up and stepped towards Trip. "We are working on this. Right now is not the time for you to blow your top. Trust me." Trip visibly relaxed a little until Jon snapped at him. "Did you hear an 'at ease' Commander?" Trip snapped back into his rigid pose as Jon continued. "As you unceremoniously burst into an Admiral's office during a meeting, we were making a plan for David's academic curriculum. He will receive the most advanced educational program ever put together. Of course between myself, you, and the rest of the crew, we will all make sure he stays on track. He will have plenty of free time, he is still just a kid after all. He will need to be versed in safety and emergency protocols, and understand the areas off-limits to him. Any mischief or trouble he gets into...being a Tucker I'm sure he'll get into plenty of that, it's your head that will roll. Do you understand, Commander?"

"Yes sir. Understood."

"Good. Dismissed."

Trip quickly left the office and was in the hallway when it hit him. He turned around and rushed back into the office with a stunned look on his face. Jon had a wide grin and addressed the Admirals. "Told you he'd be back."

"Y-you mean...David's...David is really...?"

Jon smiled at Trip. "Yes. David is going to live on Enterprise." Jon saw the look Trip gave and quickly stopped him. "Not here Trip. Wait until you get outside. Oh two more things."

"Yeah?"

"When's the wedding?"

"T'Pol told you? Never mind. I'm sure she even quoted the regulation number informing command of two officers being involved and engaged, didn't she?"

"The moment she came back on board."

"And the other thing?"

"Did you bag an alligator?"

Trip gave a wide grin. "Now you know it's illegal to hunt gator Cap'n. But I did by chance have to shoot one that attacked me while I was fishing. It was life or death."

"Oh well...if it was life or death. Just bring back some of your mother's stew for me."

Trip waited until he was outside. "Yee-Haw!"

XXX

It was late evening as Jon paced outside of the Vulcan consulate building. T'Pol had requested that Trip allow her to spend the day with David while he was at Starfleet HQ. She wanted him to know more about her world and culture, hopefully putting aside any misconceptions he had learned about Vulcans.

Jon noticed a hooded figure in Vulcan robes getting out of a hover cab and dismissed the figure as he continued his pacing.

"Jon!" He heard someone calling and looked around. The only person in sight was the hooded Vulcan. He could've sworn he heard Trip's voice.

"Hey Jon!" He looked around again for Trip as the Vulcan approached him. The Vulcan put a hand on his arm. "You haven't been out here too long I hope."

Jon, squinting his eyes, looked hard into the hood that shrouded the face of the Vulcan. "Trip? Is that you?"

"Yeah. Who else would I be?"

"Uh." Jon made a gesture around his head to mimic the hood.

"Oh yeah." Trip dropped the hood from his head. "Sorry I forgot about that. Ready to go in?"

Jon looked Trip up and down surprised at his Vulcan garb. "Why are you wearing Vulcan robes?"

"T'Pol insists that I wear robes whenever I'm at the consulate."

"You've been here before? I thought they didn't like having humans in there that much. We're just waiting for T'Pol out here aren't we?"

"No. We're going inside. They don't like humans inside too much, but I guess I'm kind of a special case. You know they once tried to make me a Vulcan/human liaison?"

"Are you serious? What did you tell them?"

"I said hell no. I'm no diplomat. But every now and then they still try."

"Maybe a liaison is something we need. You should consider it."

"Next you'll tell me to consider giving up T-Bone steaks and eat rabbit food. I don't think so."

"You lead an interesting life Trip, you know that?"

"Yeah...and to think it all started when I met a test pilot commander and a smug-ass Vulcan ambassador. As much as it pains me that I wasn't around for David in his early years...I'm glad I was along for this rollercoaster ride. Come on, let's get in here."

When they walked through the doors Jon was amazed. He had to turn around and look out of the glass doors to confirm he was inside of a building. There were tall trees and foliage growing. He heard noises of exotic and alien animals and could feel a warm breeze on his skin.

Soval approached them and Trip put his hand up in the Vulcan salute. "It is agreeable to see you again ambassador."

Soval returned the salute. "You as well, Commander. I have met your son and I must say he is a remarkable young man."

"Thank you. We're supposed to meet T'Pol. Do you know where she is?"

"I believe she is with David in the Surak wing. If you'll excuse me, I have pressing matters to attend to." Soval again raised his hand in the salute. "Live long and prosper."

Trip raised his hand. "Peace and long life."

As they went into the Surak wing David ran up to him excited. "Dad. This place is amazing! I never knew Vulcans were this interesting. Do you know they like music and the instruments they play are so cool! And their artwork...wow! T'Pol gave me a book about Surak, the father of Vulcan logic. It's written in english but there's a Vulcan side too and she said she'll teach me how to read it. And the written Vulcan language is like works of art too! And the animal noises are animals from Vulcan. And some of the trees here grow Vulcan fruit that is really good. I could spend the rest of my life here and still not learn everything! This place is so cool!"

Trip chuckled at David's excitement. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself and learned some things. Do you still think Vulcans can melt a person's brains?"

"Well...I know one Vulcan that melts your brains." He snickered.

"Yeah...well...let's not get into that discussion again, ok? And I'm sorry to say that you can't spend the rest of your life here. You'll just have to be content with learning about Vulcans from T'Pol and Enterprise's database."

"Y-you mean Starfleet said yes?"

"Yep."

"Cool! Wow! I get to live on Enterprise and get to see Cap'n Archer every day! Bet that's going to make a lot of kids jealous."

"I'm sure it will."

Jon cleared his throat. "There's going to be a lot of rules you'll have to abide by and don't think for a minute that just because you're on a starship there won't be any school work for you. We already have that base covered."

"Aw." David pouted.

T'Pol took Trip by the arm. "While we're here, there is something that you and I are required to do. Captain, if you wouldn't mind keeping an eye on David while we take care of some matters?"

"No. Not at all. How long will it take?"

"I estimate an hour."

"Ok. We'll meet you in the lobby at that time then. David can show me some of this Vulcan artwork."

Before they walked away Jon grabbed Trip by the arm. "What was all that melting brains stuff about?"

"Never mind Cap'n. You really don't want to know."

As they walked down a series of hallways Trip tried to reach T'Pol through their bond to get some kind of hint as to what was going on. She had her walls up high. "You going to tell me what's going on?"

"We need to meet with the elders."

"Elders? Why? What for?"

"All will be explained."

An hour later they met Jon and David in the lobby and Trip looked stunned.

"What happened? What's wrong?" Jon asked.

"I-I think we just got...married!"