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Lineage
A/N: Takes place after "Meld." A lot of people have connected T'Pol to Spock; I wanted to try a different route.
She hoped she wasn't interrupting his meditation, but really wanted to make sure that he was fine after the whole disastrous incident.
"Captain," he said by way of welcome. "Come in." The door slid behind her, and she noticed how, though his quarters were only sparsely decorated, they reflected his personality well. "Would you like a cup of coffee?" He was in his robes, the equivalent of khakis and a blouse for her.
"No thanks, Tuvok. I wanted to see how you're doing."
"I am fine, though the meld has left me with disconcerting memories."
"You were in there the whole time. I saw it- you could've killed Suder but you didn't. You could've killed me, but you didn't." Comfort of a hollow sort to Tuvok, perhaps, but it was true.
"Thank you for your concern," he replied, and she knew that he was thanking her for everything. Her eyes fell on something she'd never seen before.
"May I?" In all the time she'd known Tuvok, Janeway had never seen the picture he displayed on his desk. He nodded his consent.
It was an old picture. In the center were a blonde human man with piercing blue eyes and an olive-skinned Vulcan woman. She recognized the couple as Charles "Trip" Tucker, the man who built the warp 6.5 engine just about single-handedly, and T'Pol, author of several headache-inducing papers on time travel. To either side of them stood a Vulcan-appearing male, probably their children. Though both had T'Pol's pointed ears and coloring, they had Tucker's facial structure. One brother stood next to a curly-haired human brunette, and the other next to a Vulcan woman with skin the color of Neelix's latest coffee substitute. She looked somewhat like Tuvok. In the background, timeless and majestic, stood Stonehenge.
"It is a family heirloom, given to me by my maternal forefather before his death," explained Tuvok. "He is the second individual to the left." The brother with the Vulcan wife. That explained a lot. Come to think of it, Tuvok had never told her about his family beyond T'Pel and their children.
"You have human heritage?"
"My maternal second forefather was fully human." And a rather distinguished human at that, but Tuvok didn't mention that. She hadn't expected him to.
"I never knew."
"The topic has never before come up."
"True." So he'd been contemplating, trying to reason with the emotion that had overtaken him, and turned to his human heritage for inspiration. Of course he wouldn't word it like that. "Did you ever meet him?"
"No, I did not. However, I met my second foremother when I was a small child."
"T'Pol. Some of her papers on time travel were required reading at the Academy."
"Indeed. She was an enigma to most Vulcans. Having met her as a child, when I knew only the most basic of Surak's teachings, I believe I was better able to comprehend her."
She smiled. "I can see why."
He knew that she would understand. There were few people outside his family who would, and Kathryn Janeway was one of them.
"You have relatives on Earth, then?"
"Yes. Distant cousins, some of whom now live in New Berlin."
She handed him the picture, and he placed it in a drawer. It was something he took care of, but not something that he displayed. Just like the heritage it represented, she realized.
"I regret my actions toward you, Captain."
"It's alright, Tuvok. You didn't hurt me. All along, you were there." He raised an eyebrow but said nothing. "If you want to talk, my door's always open," she offered, although it was highly unlikely that he'd take her up on it.
"I will remember that."
"Have a good night, Tuvok."
"Sleep well, Captain." With that, the door closed on her old friend and she walked back to her quarters.