I'm really sorry I haven't updated in forever, but I have been realy busy with school and stuff. But I hope this nice long Chapter will help you forgive me.

Ok… here is a rant to all of the rude/crazy/wrong people who think that Archer is, like, 50 years older than Hoshi.

Jon can't be older than 45 and Hoshi can't be younger than 29 – so that would only make a 16 year diff. which isn't a lot for people their age! So there!

Well any way… here is nice plot-changing chappie 14.

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Jon was sitting in his room, quite bored, when he received the letter from Admiral Forrest.

"Damn. I was expecting this." He said with a sigh when he read it.

He called Trip's room, "Trip, come to my quarters as soon as possible." He said, his voice heavy with sadness at what he had to do.

"What's the matter, Jon?" Trip asked.

"Just get here, we need to talk."

Ten minutes later Trip arrived at Jon's quarters.

"What's the matter?" trip asked as he juggled a squirming Emmy.

"Sit down, Trip. The Admiral sent me a letter. I told him about Emily."

Trip froze, anticipating what was coming next.

"He told me… Here, just read it yourself." Jon said as he handed the data pad containing the letter to Trip.

To: Captain Jonathon Archer

Captain, after the news I received from you recently, I have been forced to order you back to Earth as it is impractical to have and raise a child on a starship.

From: Admiral Jack Forrest

Trip stared at the letter, flabbergasted.

"Jon, they can't do this! Everything she knows is this ship! All of our friends are here! We can't just pack up our life and leave!"

"Now Trip, I know what you're saying, but these are orders. It will take us at least two weeks to get back to earth. You've got plenty of time to tell every one." Said Jon with a heavy heart.

"Oh, so you aren't going to tell the whole fucking ship that we're being booted out of here, just like you did when I was with Emmy!?" Trip shouted back.

Jon looked down at the floor, ashamed.

Trip just scowled at his friend for trying to make him feel guilty, picked up his 11 month old daughter, and stormed out of the room.

That night when T'Pol arrived to watch Emily, Trip told her that he and Emily had been ordered to leave the ship as he was stepping out the door. He didn't stop to hear what she had to say.

Unknown to T'Pol, Trip knew she had kissed him. At least he was pretty sure she had kissed him. He couldn't remember if it was a dream or a memory. He was still running the last night over in his mind when he got to engineering.

"Commander!" yelled a young ensign when he stepped though the door. "Is it really true that you have to leave!?"

T'Pol stood rooted in place when she heard the news of Trip's departure. She felt as if her heart had stopped and the bottom of her stomach had dropped out.

They were going to be gone.

Forever.

The irrational side of her brain was yelling at her to tell him, or break down crying like a spoiled little human girl. But the logical part of her brain was futilely telling her to turn a blind eye to the whole situation. 

Her quickly surfacing emotions won, and she fell to her knees sobbing before a very surprised Hoshi.

"T'Pol! Are you alright?" asked a concerned Hoshi as she ran to T'Pol's side.

T'Pol futally attempted to wipe the tears from her face and look relatively normal.

"I am fine, Miss. Sato," said T'Pol, partially regaining her previous calm state, "there is no need to be alarmed."

"Bullshit." Said Hoshi, thoroughly surprising T'Pol, "There is no way that I'm going to believe that every thing is all right! Tell me what upset you enough to make you cry like that!"

T'Pol was shocked by Hoshi's forcefulness. She was so overwhelmed, by Trip leaving and Hoshi being so forward, that she bowed her head and softly said: "It's Trip. He's being forced to leave."

"Commander, is it true? Do you really have to leave?" Asked the concerned ensign again.

All of engineering stopped at that young girl's words. Trip could feel a hundred eyes on him as they waited for him to answer.

Trip stood there motionless, unsure of what to say. He could feel all of their eyes on him, waiting for him to talk.

"Um… Well the truth is…" he slowly said, "Yes. I am being forced to leave… we're being sent back to Earth."

"But, commander, they can't do that! It's not right!" said the ensign form before.

Everyone present heartily agreed with her.

Trip was surprised that so many people were going to miss him.

"We've got to stop them!" Yelled the young ensign who had spoken out before. "Commander Tucker is the best engineer in the world! He belongs here! This is a world class starship and it needs a world class engineer running it!"

The entire of engineering roared in agreement, leaving Trip flabbergasted.

"What?! Why?!" asked Hoshi heartfelt.

"H-He didn't say, he just said that he and Emily were being forced to leave." Said T'Pol slowly, new tears forming on her face. "Oh, *sob*, Hoshi, I can't stand it! I…I…I love him!"

T'Pol gasped at her words, as if she didn't know she loved him already.

"Now *sob* he's leaving. He'll never *sniff* know I love him." T'Pol said sadly, as if she was loosing a piece of herself.

"Well, T'Pol, if you love him as much as it sounds like you love him than you have got to tell him before he leaves. Then he'll know and you'll know how he feels for you." Hoshi said, trying to be as comforting as possible.

T'Pol started to regain her composure, the deep layer of her self that readily expressed her emotions swiftly being covered by the logical part of her brain.

"No, *sniff*, Ensign Sato, that would be very illogical. He would still have to follow both Captain Archer's and Admiral Forrest's orders. He would still have to leave." T'Pol said as she quickly regained her composure.

"So you're telling me that even though your life would be pretty much over if Trip and Emily left you're not doing a damn thing?"

"Yes, it is the only logical course of action."

Hoshi looked at T'Pol in disbelief.

"T'Pol… *sigh*. Do what you want T'Pol, but think, think really hard about how much you love him. Don't make that choice for him, at least give him that." Hoshi said before she left T'Pol to her thoughts.

The young ensign, Erica Fisher, led a small army of engineers to the bridge.

"Come on everyone! We're almost there! We'll save Commander Tucker yet!" she yelled enthusiastically.

Near the back of the crowd Trip was futilely attempting to stop the young ensign.

"Wait, stop! It's okay! Please stop! There are other ways to do this!" he shouted as his voice fell on deaf ears.

Finally to her destination, Erica yelled: "Captain Archer! I, Ensign Erica Fisher, am here to stop you complying with Admiral Forrest's diabolical plan to kick master engineer Commander Tucker and sweet baby Emily off this ship!"

Jon had been sitting in his ready room when he needed to ask Travis a question. He was thoroughly surprised when Erica and her army of engineers had burst through the door onto the bridge.

Trip squirmed his way to the front of the crowd as Jon said, quite confused: "What in the world? Trip what is going on?"

"Sorry Cap. I couldn't stop her." Said Trip, jutting a finger towards Erica. "She got all of engineering all riled up and led them here like a bunch of barbarians."

Erica glared at Trip, astonished that he would deny their help.

"Excuse me Captain, but I was trying to prevent Commander Tucker from being replaced with a person with half his skill. I would be, as would the rest of engineering be deeply disappointed and angered if you, the Captain, allowed something like this atrocity to happen." Said Erica with an air of someone who has been deeply offended.

Malcolm had been standing by when Erica came in and told both Commander Tucker and Captain Archer off. Both are her superiors! She should be ashamed of herself! He thought angrily to himself, I better tell her off before the Captain's gentle nature gets the best of himself and his honor!

"Excuse me Ensign Fisher, but the fact that Commander Tucker is leaving has nothing to do with you. And talking to the Captain like that? You should be whipped for such insolence!" Malcolm angrily yelled at her.

After this display Malcolm was expecting her to cringe back in fear like many of the other men and women he had yelled at like this.

A thing you should know about Erica is that she doesn't like men who think they are better than women just because they won the genetic lottery and were born male. She also definitely doesn't like a ladies man and what she had heard from her co-workers and room mate is that Malcolm Reed was both of these things to a gracious extent.

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!!??" screamed Erica, "I come here, non-violently I might add, to ask nicely if Captain Archer would reconsider following Admiral Forrest's orders! If not that, at least try to negotiate with him! Then here you come yelling and spitting, I might add, right in my face for no good reason, except that you think I was a little forceful in my words when I was talking to the Captain. You are as bad as everyone says you are!!! *humph*!"

Malcolm was taken aback. A normal person, after that display, would have cowered in fear, but this young girl shoved all of his anger and frustration right back at him. He was intrigued. Very inturiged.

"Malcolm that's enough," said the Captain, with a sigh, "now, Ensign Fisher was it? I completely under stand what you are talking about. I don't think anyone wants Commander Tucker to leave, but orders are orders and I am obliged to follow them. Especially when they make good sense."

"What good sense?" Asked Erica, quite confused.

"I guess you missed that part… Well, the reason that Commander Tucker is being sent back to Earth is that the Admiral and others believe that a spaceship of our caliber is no place for a child." Said the Captain

Erica looked down at her feet, then she glared at him with such fire and malice it caused Jon almost to look away and said: "That doesn't make right."

And with that she wheeled around and stormed off, her little army following like a pack of mangy dogs.

Malcolm went back to his station. He had never in his life met a woman even remotely like that one (except maybe his mother, but he would never admit that to himself). Jesus Christ! That woman was damn intoxicating! I want her… she'll have me. Just like all the rest… he thought to himself. What he didn't know is that Erica Fisher would be a much harder catch than he could ever imagine.

Hoshi found the bridge with a haze of exhaustion covering it. She slowed her pace as she saw the haggard faces of everyone.

"Ummm… Malcolm? What happened?" She asked

"This…woman came and tried to stop the Captain form sending Trip and Emily back to Earth." He said with a sense of awe in his voice.

"Ah… Right. So is the Captain in his ready room?"

"I believe so..."

She nodded and continued to where the Captain was. She knocked on the door and heard a soft: "Come in."

"Captain? I really need to talk to you." Hoshi said a little worriedly.

"If it's about Trip leaving, save it. I'm having a hard enough time with it by myself and I really don't need another 'Joan of Arc' preaching to me about how incredibly wonderful he is." he said

 "No, I'm not here to preach to you, I came on the behalf of T'Pol"

"What about T'Pol? Is something wrong with her?"

"No… Not physically at least."

"What? Is she having mental problems?"

"No… not mental…" said Hoshi, sounding like a little girl who has done something naughty.

"I'm confused. How could T'Pol have emotional problems? She's Vulcan."

"Well, believe it Captain. And it's not little either. She's in love."

"How do you know?"

"She told me."

"Why did she tell you?"

"I caught her at a bad time."

"Who is it?"

Hoshi cringed at what she had to tell hem next. She had no idea of how he was going to take the news.

"She… She loves Trip."

Jon froze.

"What?" he exclaimed.

"T'Pol is in love with Trip…But he doesn't know." She quickly added.

"So what you're saying is that I should defy Admiral Forrest's direct orders to make T'Pol happy?" Jon asked cynically.

"No! I'm not! I'm just suggesting that to add on to your list of reasons to not let Trip leave." She added quietly.

"How…" Jon asked, quite flabbergasted.

"Well, he is your best friend isn't he? I doubt that you would want your best friend to leave." She added smugly.

Trip had retired back to his quarters after he couldn't take all of the glares and pitying stares engineering had been giving him. He was sitting at his desk contemplating writing a letter to his family.

 I should probably contact them. Trip thought. They won't be too surprised, will they? Ugh! Who am I kidding? They'll freak!

Trip laughed at his own foolishness before starting to write the letter.

Dear Mom, Dad, and Lizzy

How have you been? I'm all right.

I have some news. A while back, about 14 months ago, the Enterprise found an alien vessel. They needed some engineering help so Jon volunteered me. When I got there, after I helped them, one of their engineers invited me to play a game, but it wasn't an ordinary game. Jeez, I really do not know how to say this. The game…made me pregnant.

It was an accident! I didn't even touch her! The game made us telepathic and we could read each other's thoughts. Lizzy, I know you're laughing your head off, so shut up! But the truth of the matter is, is that I have a daughter. Her name is Emily and she's 10 months old.

I'm being sent home because Starfleet thinks that a star ship is no place for a child so I'll be home soon. I'll be back in about two weeks. We can talk then.

                                                            I love you all

                                                                        Your loving son/brother

                                                                                                Trip

Trip slowly reached for the send button. His hand hovered over it before he gently pressed it, breathing out a sigh of relief and sadness.

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A/N: there you go! What did you think!? This took me forever to write so I hope you liked it. Be sure to give me lots of suggestions for the next chapter – I won't know what to decide if you don't!

Also, do you think that I am giving T'Pol too many emotions? I can't tell and it's really hard to make her all emotionless one minute and then all sad and depressed over Trip the next. HELP!

Next Chapter Suggestions

T'Pol tells Trip that she loves him

Malcolm pursues Erica – unexpected things ensure

Jon tells Hoshi he has feelings for her – or vice versa

Letter from Trip's Family

Arrive at earth