PART 60
Author:
Pairing: A/T
Rating: PG-13
Everything belongs to Paramount/UPN; but what I think up.
(Sorry about the technical difficulties in part 59. I think its all cleaned up now.)
SICKBAY - SHIKAHR
T'Pol watched the controlled activity in sickbay. Phlox was working with the ShiKahr's Healer S'aan on Ensign Watson and T'Pel was working on the injuries that Mantusco had received. She looked up at Reed, who had already been healed, along with Gomez and Torres.
Reed and his team were standing as close to T'Pol as they could get. She was sitting under a bone knitter, which was repairing her broken ribs and wrist. Reed was holding Jon for Crewman Wayne who was assisting Phlox. This was something he didn't normally do much of, but they were making the best of it.
As the bone knitter shut off, the doors opened and Soval walked in. Everyone stopped what they were doing a this entrance.
Soval looked around the room, momentarily studying Reed and Jon, then moving onto T'Pol. They met in the middle of the room.
A moment of silence, "Soval."
"T'Pol."
Another moment of silence, then she asked, "Why have you done it this way?"
Exchanging another long look with her, "He is akaxo (out-worlder). A qomi (human), and I must fulfill my responsibilities as your Father's brother."
He was correct, he was fulfilling his responsibilities as he had done in the past. He and T'Pol had a somewhat strained relationship in the beginning, when she came to him as a child. But their relationship had calmed and matured over the years and had not been effected even when T'Pol refused to leave the Enterprise. T'Pol slowly nodded, accepting the situation, and Soval bowed to her in acknowledgement.
"Mam?"
They both turned to look at Jon, wiggling in Reed's arms, trying to get down. "Lt Reed, thank you for taking care of Jon while I was being healed."
"No problem, Ma'am." Jon started to run over to her, but at a raised eyebrow, he changed to a walk. He took her hand and looked at Soval.
Soval studied him just as intently. Finally, Soval said, "Hello. You are Jon?"
With his miniature version of T'Pol's serious look, he answered, "Ha. Wanimo mekano itisha Jon. Maiya, yanamo mekano?"
Soval blinked, "Wanimo mekano itisha Soval. I am Mam's?" He looked at T'Pol, he didn't know how to explain their relationship to a 3-year old.
T'Pol arched an eyebrow at him. Everyone in the room waited for her answer. Finally, "Father. You may call him Grandfather."
A quickly concealed look of contentment crossed Soval's face as he studied T'Pol. Jon looked up at him, "You're Mam's Daddy?"
That caused two sets of eyebrows to arch up, and Soval looked at T'Pol for an explanation of that term, and she answered him.
"Yes, Jon."
"Oh."
Looking at Soval, he thought about that, "Okay, Grandfather are you going to read to me tonight?"
He walked over to Soval, "Grandfather S'Talen reads to me from my book about Surak."
"Indeed? Then I shall endeavor to do the same."
That pleased Jon and he chattered happily, and continuously, to Soval in a mismatch of both Vulcan and Terran. The Humans watched in stunned surprise as Soval stood there listening and occasionally making replies. They had no idea that Vulcans, and especially Soval, could be so patient.
Finally, T'Pol broke in. "Jon, perhaps you could play with Miss Anne? Your Grandfather and I need to talk."
He sighed, "Okay, but I'm hungry."
T'Pol turned to Phlox, who had also been listening. He nodded and spoke with S'aan about what foods a little human boy needed and would eat.
Soval and T'Pol stepped away to speak privately, even though they had no privacy. With Reed only a step behind them, T'Pol spoke first.
"We are going to have the bonding ceremony on the Enterprise?"
Looking at her with a deep intense stare, "Yes."
"How can this be done? I thought it must be completed on the lands of our family."
Nodding once, "True, but this is an unusual circumstance and S'Talen petitioned for leniency from the High Council."
T'Pol was continually surprised by what her family had done to accept her non-conventional bonding. The very act of S'Talen petitioning the High Council for her bonding with an outlander was something that was only documented once before in the written history of Vulcan. Then it had been denied.
Soval nodded, understanding her thoughts. "Yes, again you are outside the normally accepted Vulcan parameters."
A memory of the past, "Observe, evaluate, and question?"
"Yes."
She looked at him, the Vulcan who had taken over the role of her father. The Vulcan who had walked along with her as she had grown and matured into Vulcan adulthood. She felt much familial emotion for S'Talen and T'Lar and her cousins T'Pel and Storen and their families. But she had been raised by Soval and was his only child. He and his wife were barren and then she had died, passing into the Hall of Souls. He had taken his grief out by entering into the diplomatic arena after the last Andorian attack. Originally he had placed T'Pol into a Vulcan boarding school, but had realized that they both needed the other to excel. He brought her home after six months and she stayed there until she entered the Vulcan Academy studying security and science. When she was accepted at the Academy, he was named as the Vulcan Ambassador to the Mezzia culture, requiring him to leave T'Pol on Vulcan. It was the first time in over 20 years they had been separated.
T'Pol remembered how bereft she felt when Soval had left Vulcan and could tell he was also concerned. But true to his duties and responsibilities, he made sure she had everything she needed, to include his personal comm line, and departed Vulcan. They're last meeting was a dinner where T'Pol was confident that he could tell how she felt at his imminent departure.
As they ate quietly, he studied her. "T'Pol, I would be remiss if I did not tell you how satisfied I am with your progress over the time we have been together."
She looked up in quickly hidden surprise. He continued, "I am also confident that you will continue to do so."
After a moment, "You honor me with your words."
"Not at all." He paused, then continued, "Your accomplishments have brought much honor to the family and S'Talen is much satisfied, as am I. You will be studying both security and sciences, a very unusual combination, but not unexpected from what I know of you."
She nodded, but said nothing.
"To do both, you will need the ability to observe, understand, and question. You already do the first two and you will need to voice your questions - as I have no doubt that you are capable of doing. That is not an easy path to travel, but this ability can take you far. Though where it will eventually lead you is unknown. My only recommendation is that you do not let standard, acceptable thinking pervade your thoughts. You will only grow in both security and the sciences when you question the status quo."
A chime sounded in the room. They looked at each other one.
"My transport is ready."
She nodded and rose from her chair when Soval did. "Come. Let us walk to the Academy together and then I will transport to the ship."
They walked quietly to the ship, but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence though it was a controlled, sad one.
Once they reached the gates, Soval stopped. "T'Pol, I will leave you here as my father did me. But I must again state that you have done nothing but satisfy me as you have grown and I am confident that this will continue."
He put out his hands, palms up. She placed hers on his and they entered the family bond, where they experienced what they could not say. He nodded at her and dropped his hands. She stared at him, and then turned around and entered the Academy. In the darkness, he transported up to this ship, leaving her alone, with the exception of her clan, on Vulcan.
PRESENT TIME
She put out her hands, palms up. After a breath, Soval placed his palms on hers, again experiencing what they could not say. They had not entered the family bond since the night she entered into the Academy. The war with the Andorians, their separate missions and lives, and entering into new relationships with other species such as those that called themselves Humans interrupted into their relationship. Soval was able to attend her graduation, but they were never alone and he had to leave immediately afterwards. He was there after her memory block was completed at P'Jem, though she recalled that he seemed resigned rather than encouraging of this action. At the time, she thought it was because of how she completed her duties, not because of the block itself. She now saw that he knew she would eventually need to work through this memory, but it had occurred sooner than he expected. She also saw that he was not surprised when she accepted the assignment on-board on the Enterprise.
It had been presented by the Vulcan High Command, when he was off-Earth where he was the Ambassador and she had been recuperating at the Vulcan compound on Earth. She had resigned from the Security Division a few years earlier and had been fully immersed into the science-side of exploration. Unfortunately, they had not been able to spend much time together as the High Council had kept sending him to remote locations on Earth and then off-planet. Something he still was not sure that that had not been coordinated.
She saw all that and he saw that she had felt abandoned when he continually left the compound on Earth. They were able to heal old hurts and find the beginnings of a new relationship, building from the past. Thoughts about the bonding ceremony entered her mind as the past was laid to rest.
In the bond he answered, 'Yes, I intend to fulfill the duties as your father-uncle. Therefore, Jonathan Archer will need to comply with all the requirements of a full Vulcan ceremony.'
He felt her trepidation, 'I am certain that S'Talen has informed your intended of what is needed.'
At her surprise, he said out-loud, "Come, your son is hungry and I will not be accused of not taking good care of him."
She felt his amusement and it matched hers. She nodded, "Yes, Jon does need to eat and then rest for the evening."
Dropping hands, she turned back to find Jon watching her, and when he had her attention. "Mam! I'm hungry. Can we eat now?"
"Yes, Jon. Your Grandfather will take us to the Mess Hall." She reached out her hand and he quickly walked over to her. Taking her hand and then Soval's, he turned around, "Come on! Let's eat."
Reed and the other security members quickly surrounded them and the others stepped up to join them. The night passed quietly, and surprisingly peacefully, on the ShiKahr.
Unlike what was happening on-board the Enterprise.
CONTINUED IN PART 61