They were late.
Trip and T'Pol entered the Captain's Mess nearly an hour after Jon had commed Tucker, without even a word of apology for their tardiness. It wasn't hard to figure out why they were late; between griping Jon out for slacking off on his recovery regimen, Phlox had relayed that he had lifted the Vulcan's light duty restriction and Archer had little doubt they had been making up for lost time. The Denobulan gave both of them an appraising glance as they entered, noting without comment that their hair was still damp; he didn't even try to hide his amusement.
Archer wasn't doing such a great job either.
"My ship, my rules," Tucker said in response to the unasked questions, before in true Southern gentleman style he made sure T'Pol was seated and served. Archer grinned even more when he realized that his old friend was having the same mushroom risotto as the Vulcan instead of the steak that Jon himself had. Only T'Pol could get him to eat rabbit food and enjoy it, he thought to himself as he cut into the T-bone.
They spent most of the meal catching up: Jon filled them in on how Hoshi was doing and the strategic overview of the war while they gave him a front-line perspective that he couldn't get from reading reports in his San Francisco office. Midway through their discussion, Phlox was summoned to sickbay to deal with an injury - something about the chief engineer and plasma burns - which left the three of them alone.
"So," Archer said after dessert was served. "I suppose you're wanting to know why we're heading to Vigrid."
"There has been some speculation on the mission's objectives," T'Pol replied flatly, giving Trip a look that left no doubt who had been doing the speculating.
"Starfleet has instructed me to open a dialogue with the Boomers," Jon explained as he sipped his coffee. "They need protection, we need bodies and ships."
"Toldja," Trip muttered to T'Pol as he finished his pie. Fighting a smile, Archer glanced away, suddenly finding a need to need to look someplace, anyplace else.
She hated it when he was right.
She wouldn't tell Trip that, of course, probably wouldn't even think it, but, after nearly seven years, Archer figured that he knew T'Pol pretty well. Even without looking at her, he could visualize the tightening of her face, the subtle grimace she always made when the realization sank in that Trip's ... instincts had prevailed over her logic. She would frown ever so slightly before shooting Tucker a brief glare as if it were his fault that she had been wrong, that, once more, he had guessed the correct answer without having all of the facts. Trip rarely tried to hide his amusement, didn't make an effort to conceal the smirk on his face as she glanced at him, and, on most occasions, would make a smart-ass comment that would spark an argument.
This was just such an occasion.
He tuned their argument out, paid no attention to their words or the passion in their voices, and allowed himself to reflect on the unlikely relationships that had sprung up since Enterprise had first launched. The year in the Expanse had seen the biggest changes in all of them, indelibly altering the survivors in different ways. No one had emerged unscathed but for some, like T'Pol and Tucker, the change had been for the better. It had brought them together, forged a bond between them that only death could break, a bond that Jon could barely comprehend. He'd seen their mutual attraction in the beginning, had noticed - and used - how well they worked together despite, or perhaps because of, their constant bickering. For a time, he'd harbored a romantic interest in T'Pol himself and unexpectedly found himself in an unspoken, unacknowledged competition with his best friend. When the mission into the Expanse began, he withdrew to focus entirely on the mission, ceased monopolizing T'Pol's time with "ship's business" and, like a moth to a flame, she had drifted right back into Trip's orbit. Their relationship struggled for a while, through her undesired marriage, her mother T'Les' tragic death, Trip's transfer to Columbia and finally the death of an unexpected child. He had honestly been worried that T'Pol's injuries would cause them problems and was glad to see how wrong he had been.
If anyone deserved happiness, it was these two.
"Before I left," Jon said into the momentary silence; their argument had turned into a staring match as it always did now. It seemed that they had forgotten he was even present. "Hoshi told me some things about the two of you." Trip at least had the decency to look embarrassed as he returned his attention to Archer.
"Like what, Cap'n?" The old nickname fell from his lips without Trip even being aware of it, and Jon felt himself unaccountably cheered at hearing it.
"Commodore Archer is no longer a captain, Trip," T'Pol said with the closest thing to a smirk Jon had ever seen.
"Old habit," Tucker replied. "Sorry." He didn't sound sorry and Jon didn't mind anyway.
"As I was saying," Archer interrupted before T'Pol could respond; sometimes she could be as bad as Trip was with their verbal foreplay, especially when she was in a playful mood as she was tonight. That was a weird thought: a Vulcan in a playful mood. "She confirmed that she knew the two of you were ... uh ... bonded before Elysium." The unique couple exchanged a glance and he wondered what they were discussing as he continued. "How many knew? Off the record."
"Just three," Trip said. He reached for the coffee pot but hesitated when T'Pol discreetly shifted in place. Without a word, he grabbed the water instead and Jon bit back a comment about Tucker being housebroken, deciding to reserve that for a later date. "Phlox, Malcolm and Hoshi," Trip finished.
It hurt that they hadn't trusted him and Archer knew it showed on his face. Trip seemed to realize that he deserved an explanation.
"Telling Phlox was ..."
"... necessary," T'Pol finished for him; they had been doing that all night and Jon doubted that they were even aware of it.
"Yeah. I mean, I'm human-"
"My human," T'Pol corrected in a soft voice and Trip gave her another look even as Jon grinned. He felt an unexpected surge of emotion that she would let him see this side of her.
"-and there's not a whole lot of information on how humans take to bein' bonded to Vulcans." Jon nodded; it made perfect sense to bring the doctor in on this.
"Logical," he commented, trying to keep the hurt from his voice, but Trip had known him for far too long to not hear it. For that matter, so had T'Pol. "Why Malcolm?" It wasn't the question he wanted to ask, but grown adults didn't ask if one friend - even if that friend was no longer among the living - had supplanted another in 'best friend' status. Not if that adult wanted to keep at least a modicum of self-respect.
"Uhhh ..." Trip was stalling, his face flushing with something that could only be embarrassment. T'Pol shot him a glance and Archer thought he could see amusement in her eyes. "Malcolm's involvement was-"
"Inadvertent." Yep, T'Pol was amused. Jon's curiosity was abruptly piqued; anything Trip didn't want to talk about had to be good.
"Yeah. He found out by accident." Tucker refused to make eye contact as he rushed on, clearly hoping his old friend wouldn't push. "Malcolm brought in Hoshi to help spread disinformation and how did he put the other part, T'Pol?" Jon jumped in first.
"Wait. How did Malcolm find out?"
"Ummm ..." Again, Trip stalled. And again, T'Pol stepped in to elaborate, her eyes dancing.
"Commander Reed interrupted us during intercourse."
"Dammit, T'Pol!" Trip's face turned bright red as Jon started to snicker.
"You were going to lie to him," she replied calmly.
"I was gonna make something up, yeah!" Archer's snicker was threatening to degenerate into a full-blown laugh. "I sure as hell wasn't gonna tell him that Malcolm walked in on us during sex!"
"I believe your expression at the time was 'barged,' not walked."
"This I have to hear," Archer commented between chuckles. Trip shot him a look that promised vile retribution if the matter wasn't dropped. Ignorant of his embarrassment or more likely amused by it, T'Pol continued.
"Mister Reed entered Trip's quarters fearing for his safety." At Jon's surprised look, she elaborated. "Enterprise had only recently repulsed an Orion boarding party and there were concerns that some stragglers were still aboard." Jon remembered that; it had been three or four months after little Lizzie had died and a large number of the crew had still been on edge, none moreso than the chief tactical officer. At least this explained why Malcolm had gotten even more ... British around T'Pol at the time. Tucker suddenly snorted with laughter.
"You should have seen his face, Jon! He jumped into my quarters with his pistol drawn and just froze!" He made a face, eyes bugging out and mouth hanging open; Archer could easily imagine Malcolm Reed's face making those very same facial contortions. The two humans started to laugh.
"Commander Reed did turn an interesting shade of purple," T'Pol commented with laughter in her eyes.
"And then," Trip choked out through his laughter. "And then ... T'Pol looked at him ..." He broke down, laughing so hard that he couldn't continue.
"I merely asked him to reschedule his appointment with Commander Tucker to a more appropriate hour," T'Pol deadpanned. Their laughter echoed around them and, for the first time in a very long time, Jonathan Archer felt as though he had come home.
It was a good feeling.