The Cultural Addition
a
Star Trek: Enterprise - based fan fiction
by: Joycelyn Solo

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Summary: An unexpected pregnancy has some interesting consequences for Trip, T'Pol, the Enterprise and the future of Humanity.
Author's note: This story takes place Season Three, so expect general episodic references, but with definite AU qualities.
Disclaimer: Star Trek: Enterprise and associated characters are property of Paramount Pictures. I mean no copyright infringement, this story is for entertainment purposes only.
Special Thanks: To Stub, the wonder beta
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Trip/T'Pol Romance; Mystery

Chapter Ten - Recovery room hijinx

As many times as T'Pol had been rendered unconscious during her time on Enterprise, she still wasn't accustomed to the disorientation that came from waking without any true recollection of what put her under in the first place.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and found the concerned face of Enterprise 's chief engineer above her. Noting his drawn features, her first instinct was to touch the reassuring presence of the child within her...

That is unusual, she thought. The bond was intact, but there was something different, almost fragmented, about the presence within her. Not bothering to hide the confusion or concern from her voice, she asked, "The child?"

The commander's features relaxed almost immediately at her question, putting some of her fear to rest. "Everything's fine," he assured, "Phlox'll give you the details when he gets back."

T'Pol looked around the recovery area, finding the doctor's absence unusual. "Where is Dr. Phlox?"

The father of her child attempted a small smile as he said, "I pushed Malcolm down a turbolift to buy us a couple of minutes alone."

She was relatively sure he was only joking, but T'Pol admitted to herself that she still did not always understand the Human sense of humor.

Sensing that his joke fell flat, the commander admitted, "I need to talk to you about something, T'Pol."

"Is there something wrong with our daughter?" she asked, using the child's gender for the first time aloud. Despite the maternal connection she felt, T'Pol had tried to maintain an outward appearance of scientific detachment. At that moment, laying on a biobed after nearly losing the small life within her, she found scientific detachment to be a waste of energy.

"I already told you everything's fine," the engineer reassured, running a hand through his hair. "This is different. I -- You gave me quite the scare, darlin'."

"It was not my intention," T'Pol answered, almost in apology. She attempted to sit up and, finding she lacked the strength, was grateful when he assisted her.

"This has become more than someone's experiment, hasn't it? We could have easily allowed the miscarriage and both gotten on with our lives."

That was true, but T'Pol had a feeling her life wouldn't have been worth getting on with if she'd allowed the child to die. She laid a hand over her middle, protecting the mound that was -- for all that mattered -- their child.

Their child, she thought, looking over at the commander as he struggled with whatever it was he wanted to say to her. Their child.

"We still don't know who did this or why..." he continued, "But I don't think I really care. I've never been more scared in my life than when I thought we were going to lose her."

"Neither have I," she admitted quietly .

"The only thing that scared me more," the engineer gingerly touched T'Pol's chin, drawing her face to meet his. "Was when I thought I might lose you."

Her eyes widened. Of all the things he could have said...that was certainly not expected. "Commander --"

"Don't say anything, T'Pol, please. I've had some realizations over the last couple of hours and I...I really just need to talk right now."

"Very well, Commander," T'Pol said, settling into the pillow and trying to hide some of the confusion she felt. "Talk."

~ ~ ~

Trip took a deep breath.

He ran a hand through his hair.

He took another deep breath.

'Talk,' she says. That's easy for her to say, she doesn't know the hell I've been through.

Though the captain and doctor had urged him to get some rest, Trip had refused to leave T'Pol's side since she was transferred to Recovery. Despite his faith in Phlox, Trip couldn't really believe the Vulcan science officer was going to be okay until she told him herself.

Sitting there, staring at her peaceful form, he had a lot of time to think about how much she'd come to mean to him over the last two years, in particular over the last four months. As much fun as it was to play "dad-to-be," he didn't think he'd be enjoying it nearly as much if it wasn't for T'Pol.

"I know you think my wanting to be a part of this pregnancy is because of some obligation or misplaced sense of duty, but it's so much more than that. I realized today, sitting here, waiting for you to wake up that...sometime, somehow, I fell in love with you. It could have been this morning over breakfast, or it could have been the first time you wrinkled your nose at me...I don't really know, but now that I recognize what it is...it feels like forever."

Trip leaned back in his chair, feeling as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

He'd said it.

He'd really said it.

And he meant every word of it.

He searched T'Pol's eyes, trying to gauge her response to his confession. At her silence, he admitted, "I don't expect you to feel the same -- I'm not even sure if you can -- but I just wanted you to know how I feel. I think it's important that you know that, no matter what, I'm here for the long-haul."

T'Pol tilted her head to the side, as though studying him. At length, she said, "That sounds quite permanent, Commander."

"I mean it to sound permanent, T'Pol. Will you --"

"Ah, Sub-Commander, I'm glad to see you're awake." Phlox announced, coming into the recovery area. He picked up the scanner and proceeded to run it down the length of T'Pol's body -- a motion Trip had watched him perform several times over the past hours. "How do you feel?"

No, T'Pol, Trip thought. What do you feel?

An inscrutable expression on her face, T'Pol focused her attention on the doctor. "There do not seem to be any lingering effects. Commander Tucker assures me the child is well."

"Yes, Sub-Commander, your daughter is just fine," Phlox answered, smiling widely at Trip as he prepared to drop the bombshell he'd informed the engineer of shortly after surgery. "As is your son."

~ ~ ~

"Son?" T'Pol asked, reeling with her second shock since waking. First Commander Tucker's profession of love and now --

"Yes," Phlox replied, somewhat sheepishly. "I warned you it was difficult to properly gauge the progress of a hybrid. It wasn't until I was repairing the damage to the uterus that I discovered your daughter had company."

"We're having twins, T'Pol." The father of her child -- children -- didn't seem at all surprised by the doctor's announcement.

"Twins," T'Pol repeated. That would explain why the bond to her child had felt so different to her now. In the beginning, they were likely of such similar minds that it had been difficult to determine one's thoughts from the other's. It would seem, however, that her children were beginning to form their own minds now.

Her children.

T'Pol laid her hands over her abdomen, imagining she could feel the physical presence of the two lives within her. "Multiple births are an extremely rare occurrence on Vulcan."

"It is likely that whoever created the hybrids wanted to increase the chance of a viable embryo by implanting more than one," Phlox explained. "Now that I know there are two -- and only two -- in there, I've readjusted your supplements. I believe it was an iron deficiency that triggered the uterine instability."

The Denobulan turned to regard the Enterprise engineer. "I expect you'll see that she gets plenty of rest, Commander?"

"I am sitting right here, Doctor," T'Pol reminded both men, wondering briefly why the two insisted on talking about her like she wasn't in the same room as them.

"Don't you worry, Doc," the commander assured, moving closer to the biobed. "I plan on keeping a close eye on her. In fact, I think it's about time we talked about sharing quarters. Wouldn't it be more logical considering all the time we've been spending -- and are going to spend -- together?"

The audacity of his suggestion was enough to render T'Pol speechless as the two males shared a look she didn't even want to contemplate the meaning of.

Perhaps later, when she was better rested, she could talk some sense into the stubborn Human