Home of Jonathan Archer
Hartford, Connecticut, Earth

Archer paced his living room floor with a water polo ball in hand as several scenarios ran through his head. His home was a large building on an equally-large estate. Most Starfleet officers lived in apartments in the San Francisco area near Starfleet Command, but on a trip visiting a friend in the Central Connecticut, Archer fell in love with the area and wanted to settle there. T'Pol felt the same about the area and enjoyed her visits to Archer's home. As he kept pacing, Archer figured this would end up not be one of those times.

Archer wouldn't characterize his feeling as terrified. That was closer to the way he felt some months ago when he delivered the speech at the Charter signing. Archer was more alarmed than anything. He wasn't worried about how T'Pol would react to him, but rather how she dealt with the news. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt T'Pol, and that was what he was about to do. Certainly, she would be thrilled to find out Trip is alive, but to have been deceived all these months…that's going to hurt her and be the strongest of the emotions for sure.

The door chime rang, at the same moment, a chill ran down Archer's spine. Just a second later, the slow pitter pat of feet came down the stairs. Archer didn't get too many visitors, but when he did, they were usually people connected to the ship, and Porthos loved them all. He came to stand beside his master and wagged his tail. Archer looked down at his dog.

"Oh, boy," was all he could say. Porthos wagged his tail more, probably thinking the "boy" referred to him. Realizing that, Archer managed a very slight smile. He put down the ball and walked to the door. Opening it revealed T'Pol. She smiled. The exchanged the traditional Vulcan two-finger greeting. T'Pol then bent down and gave the excited beagle a rub on his head. "Hello, boy." Again, the word "boy" excited Porthos.

T'Pol rose and made her way into the house as Archer closed the door. He spun around to look at T'Pol and nervously pressed his fingers against each other with a suppressed grin. "Thank you for coming on such short notice."

T'Pol look at him curiously. "You don't have to thank me, Jonathan. I always find it agreeable to come see you…I mean…I enjoy coming to see you…" she looked down at a happy Porthos. She was definitely one of his favorites. "…and Porthos."

Archer nodded and led T'Pol into the living room. They both sat on the couch next to each other as Porthos took his place on his bed and quickly fell to sleep.

"Can I…get you anything, T'Pol? A drink? Something to eat?"

"Jonathan, what's wrong?"

She knew the moment she saw him something was bothering. Archer knew there was no point in trying to delay what he wanted to say.

"Well…ah….we need…to talk. We need to talk about something that I have been wanting to talk with you about for a while. The reason…ah…I haven't…is ah…orders were, I mean I was ordered to not…"

T'Pol put her hand on Archers hand and grabbed it in an effort to make him relax, but looked at him with all seriousness.

"Jonathan. This is me. I'm not only an officer who understands orders, but also your best friend who understands you. Just take a deep breath and tell me what's on your mind."

Archer somehow managed to chuckle. T'Pol saying "on your mind" was her continual attempts to speak with him on a more human level, and that meant the world to him. She knew exactly why he reacted that way and gently squeezed his hand.

"Ok, then. I have to warn you that this is going to shock you. I just hope you don't react in a way that I'll regret," Archer said as he strained his neck to see if there were any objects on the table next to T'Pol that might become flying projectiles in the next couple of minutes.

"I assure you whatever it is, I will be fine. You need not worry. Perhaps this is not the proper time to be discussing this? Do you need more time?"

"No, no…no. This is good. It needs to be now. Um…" Archer continued to search for the best way to tell T'Pol the news. He finally thought of a possible angle and quickly sat up straight, still holding T'Pol's hand. "Admiral Williams."

"Admiral Williams." T'Pol repeated. "What about Admiral Williams?"

"Admiral Williams called me into his office today and gave me some pretty surprising news," Archer continued. "It seems he has temporarily recommissioned Enterprise because he wants me to go on a courier mission…not unlike our very first mission. He said it was like a reward for the great service we provided Starfleet. So Enterprise is coming out of the mothballs and we're going to take her out one last time."

T'Pol looked at him surprised. "That's unprecedented, but I'm sure you are delighted. Is that why you asked me over? To see if I would like to join you? You should know the answer to that."

"Well yes…and…no," Archer said "Kind of."

T'Pol raised an eyebrow.

"The reason you're here is I need to tell you what kind of courier mission this is," Archer said and then looked down and sighed.

"Jonathan, please. I think you're making this a bigger issue than it is. What is the nature of your mission?"

Ok, fine, Archer thought to himself. Here it goes. He grabbed both of T'Pol's hands and looked right at her.

"We're on a mission to Risa. Our orders are to pick someone up and bring him back to Earth."

T'Pol looked at him almost blankly and shrugged her shoulders…another human gesture. "Whom are we picking up?"

Archer signed.

"It's Trip, T'Pol. We're going to pick up Trip and bring him home."

Archer said the words in such a solemn voice that the only logical conclusion T'Pol made was that Trip's body was somehow on Risa and they were going to bring it home. She was confused, not so much for the fact she thought his body was on Earth, but for the nature of the mission.

"Admiral Williams wants to reward you by having you take Enterprise to Risa to pick up Trip's body?" she asked with her voice slightly rising. "I find that illogical."

Archer signed again.

"No. Admiral Williams is not having me go pick up Trip's body. He's having me go pick up Trip."

T'Pol looked at Archer. She stared for just a moment, and then her eyes widened.

"Trip…Trip is alive? He's alive?" she asked with just a hint of excitement in her voice. Archer couldn't help but smile. Some, at least some, of the tension he's been tortured with these past few months were lifted from him. There was more to come, of course, but at least he could smile.

"Yes, Trip is alive," Archer said. "He barely survived the explosion, but Phlox worked his wonders and was able to save him. The reason they couldn't tell anyone was of security reasons. As long as the aliens thought the man who killed their soldiers was still alive, there would surly be retaliation. But those people have been eliminated, so it's safe to being Trip home."

T'Pol got up and looked down at Archer. He got up to meet her. "You are right, Jonathan. This is most surprising…but logical. I must say that I am quite pleased to hear he is alive." T'Pol walked to Archer and hugged him…something still quite uncharacteristic of her, but this was not a normal moment. "You must be very pleased to find this out. But who is 'they'? Who are the people who knew?"

Archer almost laughed. Here we go, he thought. He turned and walked a couple feet away and turned back to meet her. "That's the thing, T'Pol. That's the thing that's been bothering me."

"Why? Who are the people?" She asked. Archer almost wished she would figure it out, but she wasn't getting it.

Archer signed one more time.

"Among people like Admiral Williams and Admiral Leonard…and of course Dr. Phlox, there was…me, T'Pol." Archer paused. "The 'they' includes…me." Archer paused again. "I have known all this time that Trip has been alive, and I was under orders not to disclose that information to anyone." He looked down at the floor. "Not even Porthos."

The mention of his dog was an attempt to take some sort of pressure off the situation; any kind of pressure. The attempt was futile.

"What?"

T'Pol said the word with such a hard staccato it reminded him of when he told his mother he flunked shop. Nobody flunked shop. But Archer flunked shop. And now he wondered if he had just flunked Vulcan Relationships 101.

"It wasn't my choice, T'Pol. I wanted to tell you," Archer said as he crouched down slightly and extended his arms. "I wanted to tell you so much…you can not imagine."

"Then why didn't you, Jonathan?" T'Pol said with the same staccato, and said his name like it was a universal vulgarity.

"Because I was under orders. I told you that."

"You may have been under orders, but you were also my mate. There are some things that go beyond the uniform. I never thought I would…feel that way, but it's true. Sometimes things between two people are more important than duty."

As T'Pol spoke, her voice rose slowly. It almost became shaky. Archer was shocked to see that kind of emotion coming from her. He knew she would react in some manner unfamiliar to a Vulcan, but he wasn't sure what to expect. It certainly wasn't this.

"Damn, you're right, you're right."

"Yes, of course I'm right."

"T'Pol, you have to believe me. It's been killing me this whole time. I know…I KNEW I should have told you."

T'Pol continued to stare at Archer. "That time right after he…supposedly died as we were cleaning out his cabin. How could you just watch me holding back all those emotions? You should have told me right there."

Jonathan nodded exaggeratedly.

"Yes, yes, I know. I should have told you right then."

Then something came to T'Pol She had requested and was granted the opportunity to meet Trip's parents. Shortly after Archer's speech, she was introduced and they consoled each other.

"Trip's parents; do they know? Were we there together supporting each other when they knew as well?"

Archer's eyes rose and he pointed right at T'Pol.

"No! No…Trip's parents didn't and still don't know."

Somehow, that was comforting to T'Pol. If Trip's own parents didn't even know he was alive, then at least that takes a little of the sting out. T'Pol looked up and Archer again.

"It doesn't make it right," she said in a more calm voice. "It doesn't make it right at all. You should have told me. Trip was…is…a close friend of mine. I should have been told."

Archer exhaled. He was holding most of his breath the entire time, but he realized the worst was over. T'Pol was beginning to calm down. Even for a Vulcan, he was impressed. She looked at him again and her eyes changed slightly.

"This must have been awful for you, Jonathan."

She's forgiving me, he thought. He laughed just a little, tears began to build in his eyes, and the rest of the weight was lifted from his shoulders. He almost couldn't speak.

"You have no idea how horrible it's been…looking at you every day…seeing your pain over the loss of your friend…and knowing I had to keep it all in. It was awful."

Archer couldn't hold it together anymore and began to break down. T'Pol walked over and embraced him. Archer lost the strength in his knees and slowly fell to the ground, with T'Pol maintaining her embrace the entire time. As they sat on the ground, Porthos walked over, sniffed Archer's face, and licked the tears away from his eyes. Archer laughed and T'Pol grinned as she slowly stroked the back of his neck, and Porthos lay next to his master.

"I forgive you, Jonathan. I know you didn't want to do that, and I know you didn't want to hurt me. I know."

"You do. You…know?"

"Yes, I know. You love me, Jonathan. And I love you."

It was the first time the words were exchanged between the two of them. They looked at each other, and the whole universe opened up to them. They then leaned forward, closed their eyes, and their lips met. For the first time, they kissed.