"Bridge to Tucker or T'Pol." Hoshi had to page them because Captain Archer had let them have shorter shifts to care for Elizabeth.
"T'Pol here." She and Charles had been observing Elizabeth amuse herself with a rattle he had crafted.
"Admiral Ross wants to talk to you. I'm routing him through to your quarters."
"Oh boy," muttered Trip, regretting the day that he'd installed viewscreens in senior officers' quarters. "We don't get much warnin' now, do we?"
"Very well," assented T'Pol, ignoring her husband's comments.
Trip lifted Elizabeth out of her crib and headed over to the viewscreen. "Think they've decided already?"
"We will soon find out," was all T'Pol would commit to.
"Commanders," greeted Ross. That seemed to be the only way he ever greeted them.
"Admiral," replied T'Pol at the same time Trip said, "Sir."
"I have news for you regarding the child." He looked at Trip, who was cradling Elizabeth in his arms. "How is she?"
"Excellent, sir," replied Trip impatiently.
"The adoption board has narrowed it down to five couples. You two are one of them." Relief flooded through both Trip and T'Pol. They'd made it past the first hurdle.
"If you don't mind, Commander Tucker, I'd like to ask you about how you found the child."
"It's in the report, sir." He'd written a thorough report, which naturally Captain Archer passed on to Starfleet.
"Indulge me, Commander."
Trip handed Elizabeth over to T'Pol, who propped the girl up on her shoulder and began to rub her back. "Well, we got the distress call from the Tradewind, an' when we found the ship it was flooded with radiation. There was a biosign, so Cap'n Archer sent Travis an' me over in E.V. suits. We traced the biosign ta the mess hall. When we saw it was a baby in the stasis unit, we called Phlox over right away."
"He told you that it would be safe to remove the child."
"The stasis unit needed a little tweakin' first, but yeah. Then we took her straight ta Sickbay."
"Did she require treatment?"
"Not much. The Doc looked her over, gave her a hypospray with some vitamins. When he said she was healthy, an' Cap'n Archer said it was okay, we took her here.
"'We,' Commander?"
"T'Pol an' I."
"You had not previously mentioned Commander T'Pol's presence in Sickbay."
"When her shift ended, she came down ta see the baby."
"Did you ask your wife before assuming responsibility for an infant?"
"Not exactly." Trip admitted. He knew that the Vulcan marital bond was an extremely private issue, and T'Pol had requested when they bonded that he not tell anyone about it.
"You either did or did not, Commander."
"Well, sir, it's-" He stopped because he knew T'Pol was about to speak up for him.
"He did not ask me in a verbal manner, Admiral," broke in T'Pol, just like he knew she would. "However, I was aware of his actions and approved of them." She did not stop rubbing Elizabeth's back.
"You knew what he was doing, even though he didn't tell you? What is this, some kind of telepathy?"
"Yes," answered T'Pol calmly. "This information is of a sensitive nature, and I must request that you tell as few individuals as possible."
Ross nodded. "Go on."
"Vulcan mates are called 'bondmates' because of a shared telepathic bond."
"And you share one with Commander Tucker?"
"It is considerably weaker than the bonds of most Vulcan bondmates, but present nonetheless. The bond I share with Charles is empathic in nature, but proximity increases the strength of the bond. Thus I was aware of Charles assuming responsibility for the child, and was pleased."
"I've never heard about this bond, and relations with Vulcans have improved greatly," frowned Ross.
"It is a personal matter, Admiral, and does not affect diplomatic relations."
"We've gone all this time without anyone bein' bothered," commented Trip, trying to persuade Ross not to tell anyone.
"The crew of Enterprise doesn't know? What about Archer and Phlox?" The admiral was clearly trying to make up lost time and find out as much as he could.
"The only individual on board who is aware of this bond is Ensign Sato."
"Why Sato?"
"She is my friend." Trip had to suppress a smile at the way T'Pol refuted Ross's expectations of her.
"Well, I take it you've had a positive experience caring for the child."
"Yes, Admiral."
"Tucker? Anything else about finding the child?"
"We call her Elizabeth." Trip was sick and tired of referring to Lizzie as "the child."
"You've named the child?"
"We needed something by which to call her." Again, T'Pol kept the pattern of her hand smoothly rubbing Elizabeth's back, uninterrupted by Ross's questions.
"Thank you, Commanders. I'll keep you updated about the ch- Elizabeth." Ross caught himself. "A nice name, Commanders."
"Thank you, sir." Trip smiled.
"I'll be in touch. Ross out."
Trip smiled. "I think that went well."
"Indeed. I believe that we have left the admiral with a favorable impression."
"We're one step closer to lettin' her decide for herself if tomato soup's better than plomeek soup." Archer had compared the two dishes, setting off a rousing discussion in the captain's mess several nights previously.
"Whichever soup she prefers, I will appreciate the fact that she has the opportunity to decide all the more because of this struggle."
Trip looked at the baby in her arms. "We're gonna get her, T'Pol."
"While I believe that Admiral Ross will favor the idea, we are not 'out of the woods' yet." He really didn't like it when she used his colloquialisms against him.
"Almost," he replied, taking the baby he already considered his daughter. "But I just think they're gonna let us keep ya, Lizzie. We love ya too much ta let you go."