Disclaimer: I disclaim.

AN: there are so many things going through my head right now that I can't possibly summarize them here. I am disgusted, inspired, disappointed, moved, miserable, nauseous, motivated, aggravated, and, for the record, if Gene were still running the show, Elizabeth Jr. would not have died. We all know that.

For Elizabeth

It's been six years and it still hurts like hell. It will probably never stop either, he knows. He named her after his sister, secretly thinking that when she pulled through, it would somehow validate Lizzie's life. But Trip's daughter didn't pull through. She died six years ago.

About the same time she died, another child was conceived. Shran's daughter, beautiful little aqua-skinned sprite. She should grow up to be just like her father. She deserves that chance.

It's kind of stupid, and he knows it. There's probably another way out of this, but for once in his life, Trip has stopped looking. He's going to die before dinner tonight.

He's fine with that.

On the first layer, he's doing it for Shran, his daughter, and Archer, too. Archer who deserves a chance to watch his alliance grow. Archer has to be there. Trip knows he's not as needed.

A little deeper inside, he's doing it for T'Pol, his wonderful T'Pol, who knows what they could have been if their daughter had survived? They'd both cried at the burial service. He'd never seen her cry before.

He's doing it for Lizzie, of course, his sister, who deserved some kind of memorial too. He'd missed the memorial for the Xindi victims a few days after the attack. This is Lizzie's validation.

And he's doing to for Elizabeth. Elizabeth, who would have been six years old by now. Would she have been like her mother? Or would she have been like him? She had his eyes, after all. Would she have worn that little medallion- Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations- everyday? He hopes she would have.

The cap'n still has to write that speech… it's like him, to put it off to the last minute. Trip wonders if he'll be mentioned in the speech, but he doesn't really care. Caring would imply that he's doing it for himself, but himself is the last person Trip is doing this for.

Those bastards can go to hell. They can go to hell along with the Xindi, and Terra Prime, and pain, and grief, and everything else that's ever hurt him.

Would his daughter and Shran's have played together? An Andorian and a Vulcan/Human hybrid. If that wasn't IDIC, what was?

There are probably other ways out of this situation, but that doesn't matter, does it? Not anymore, not after all this. He's already made his decision.

The tubes are in his hands; he brings them together.

He does it for Elizabeth.