Children of Enterprise

Estellio

Rating: Pg-13 (T)

Summary: When Archer is kidnapped by unknown aliens and the Enterprise is dead in the water, it seems like there is no hope for rescue but there's more to this than meets the eye and it could have something to do with the child in T'pol's arms.

A/N: Yeah, Savock is the reincarnation of Garth Brooks…ah well, it's a good song. You'll see what I mean at the end of this, the stuff about the fire all stemmed from a really good Garth Brooks song called 'Standing outside the fire' I love this song so much and it always makes me think of Star Trek. Even if you're not a Brooks or a Country and Western fan listen to this song. It's a good 'un : )

IOIOIO

Archer patted Porthos gently on the head before he left to do his rounds. After two months of extensive over hauling and repairs, Rialta's ship was about as repaired as it was going to get in this century and finally, she and Lorian had a way of returning to their respective timelines. Archer wasn't sure why the people who'd given Rialta the ship and sent her on this little misadventure hadn't come to pick her up, even though Rialta had jokingly suggested, with much winking and smirking, that her job wasn't done yet. Archer really didn't think he could take much more of all this time travelling nonsense. Daniels was one thing but really…Rialta was too much! In the two months since the capture of Scaron, who was lying in their brig, strapped down and being fed intravenously not to mention heavily tranq'd, Rialta had begun to show her pregnancy heavily and Archer didn't even try and speculate when she and 'Techie' jammed in the time to conceive a child but where Vulcans were concerned, he avoided that topic like the plague. Trip was still in sickbay. Even though Phlox had done what he could for his body, Trip had fallen deep into a coma and he worried that even if he did come out of it, which was not too likely at this stage, he'd have severe brain damage. In the last week he had been run off his feet.

When Enterprise hadn't turned up at the Andorian Starbase, Corellis, six weeks ago then Starfleet had sent its two ships, The Columbia and The Icarus to find them. Enterprise has spent a week in the temporal null, then the attack from the ships had left Enterprise damaged and Rialta's ship…well…completely trashed. While Enterprise had sustained negligible damage considering the ships they'd been up against, passing so close to the corona of a star had fried about 40 of Enterprises circuitry then the damage sustained on the brief firing by Scaron's ship had blown out the majority of Enterprises systems with the last straw being the damage caused by pushing Enterprises already bruised engines hard to get to the planet on time. They'd barely made it. Long range communications were out, along with propulsion and everything except life support which had power from everywhere on the ship being routed to it. The last two months had meant, not only an overhaul on Rialta's ship but major repairs to Enterprise which would have to be confined to spacedock for the next few months at least. All this was hampered by the fact their Chief Engineer was comatose which left the entire of Engineering and, of course, the rest of the ship with a serious morale low. Actually, come to think of it, John had been so caught up in work that he'd been rather negligent in his duties as a friend. At first he had visited Trip every day, if only for an hour or two, and prayed to any god willing to listen that he'd wake up. The last six days Archer had been so run ragged that from the moment he woke up he was in the thick of work right up until he fell unconscious on the bed, usually still fully clothed. He spent the majority of his time over on the Columbia with Captain Hernandez over seeing repairs on his dilapidated ship. Reed had done a good job, he was planning on recommending his beloved English armoury office for a promotion, but next time he was leaving Hoshi in charge. For the sake of the ship you see. Trip was on the Icarus with Doctor Phlox and Doctor…he refused to even try and pronounce the Felucian's name. Apparently there was a funny story to how she got to be CMO on the ship but Archer really wasn't interested, at least not now. Phlox and his female friend, who Archer thought looked a bit like a hairless bird with a fleshy beak and pinched pink skin, had taken it upon themselves to tend to Trip. With Enterprise in such poor repair, the critical Trip had been sent to the far more advanced sickbay on the Icarus. To be honest it was not exactly what he would have called the peach monstrosity. It had none of his sickbay's charm with Phlox' many, incredible animals that just gave the place a positive atmosphere which Archer believed really did speed up the healing process. The sickbay in the Icarus, he supposed, was meant to be cheery but really just looked like a waiting room for a psychiatrists office. Not that he'd know anything about those but after this he was sure he'd start learning.

Looking around the sickbay appeared empty, something Phlox' menagerie never was, and without Phlox or Birdlady around Archer headed straight for Trip's curtained off bed. A steady, rhythmic thumping resounded through the sickbay and Archer didn't even try to fathom what strange machine they had his friend on this time. Pulling the pink curtain aside John was immediately struck with a ball.

"'Sup?"

"TRIP!" Archer stood there, stunned, the ball clutched in his hands. Pale, gaunt, a little worse for wear but blessedly conscious sat Trip, smirking his usual smirk and the all too familiar glint in his sunken eyes.

"'Bout time you showed up." He teased, indicating for Archer to throw the ball back. In the last two months he'd lost so much weight that John feared passing the ball might break him in two so instead he sat it on a nearby tray and perched himself on the edge of the bed.

"How long have you been awake?"

"Four days." Trip said, easing himself back into the pillows and giving the ball a last rueful look. "Can't feel anything below my waist. Kinda…disconcerting. Doc says that my body took quite the ripping and he's surprised I lived for them to get there at all. He patched me up best he could but until we get to the Medical Centre orbiting Denoblia he doesn't know if he can repair all the damage done to my legs. Says I'm gonna have some pretty wicked scars though. Bet the chicks back home will go right for them." Archer couldn't help but laugh, the laugher bubbling to near hysterics with relief. "Jeese, John, it wasn't that funny."

"Christ sake, Trip. I saw you lying there…the damage you took. I didn't think anyone could survive that but I didn't stay with you, Trip, I didn't stay. I went to find T'pol."

"She was carried away by the stampede, that much I remember. You were right to go find her. There was nothing you could have done for me. M'boy was looking out for me. Did you know that he and Rialta are gonna have a kid?" Trip asked, shaking his head with a grin. "Me, a granddaddy."

"Yeah, Rialta's showing it pretty heavily." Trip's eyes widened but he didn't move, fatigue already showing on his face. He was just out of a two month long coma for crying out loud.

"What in the blue blazes! How long 'ave I been out?"

"She's only two months along, Trip. I don't know why she ballooned like she did and quite frankly, I don't want to know." He chuckled, throwing his hands up in defence and wiping a tear of laughter from the corner of his eye. "I think she's about to crack though, having Lorian practically carrying her everywhere."

"Poor kid. He likes things to go according to plan, making out with Rialta in the back of the ship wasn't exactly on his priority list I don't think. Well, it most likely was but not in the middle of a crisis situation with the lives of all his loved ones hanging in the balance. I mean, he's a guy, sure, but those kinda circumstances preclude even sex." Archer closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Didn't want to know that but thanks, Trip, thanks."

"Anytime." Trip sank back into the pillows. His eyes sliding shut with a small sigh.

"You're tired, I better go." Archer said, standing.

"Hey, 'fore you go. Tell Lorian and…" He faltered a moment, his eyes flickering closed. "And Rialta I wanna see them this evening….and T'pol. She alright? Phlox told me but I can't remember."

"T'pol is fine. You saved her life, Trip." Trip nodded and sighed, finally letting his eyes stray shut and falling promptly asleep.

"He is recovering well." Archer turned to see T'pol standing in the middle of sickbay. He hadn't heard her come in. "The last two days he's been cognitive but tires easily. He's getting much stronger." She took a few hesitant steps forward to stand beside Archer. Her face was still and calm, no doubt she had been meditating every chance she could get between repairs but her eyes shimmered with emotion.

"Trip's a fighter." Archer said, almost to himself.

"He saved my life." T'pol said quietly, so soft Archer barely heard her.

"I know." Archer took a step back and it seemed moving out of her sight put him out of her mind as she moved to stand beside Trip's bed. The decision was made right then and there. He'd forget all about what happened to him and T'pol in the null. She and Trip had had one of these bond things before and there had been no adverse affects. Eventually it would fade from his mind. Surely it would. But until then he'd always have a piece of T'pol with him, too bad the rest was for Trip.

Turning away from the two to give them more privacy, Archer left, only to find Rialta leaning in the doorway. Apparently she had managed to shake her Vulcan shadow for once and the two were alone in the long corridor leading to the turbolift. He hadn't anything to say to her so they walked in silence until they reached the turbolift. Before he could reach out for the call button she placed a hand over the controls and looked over at him with something he couldn't quite identify in her eyes.

"So this is it?"

"What are you talking about?" Archer asked, turning to face her with a raised eyebrow that would have done T'pol proud.

"You're just going to give up?" He realised what she was talking about and all of a sudden he found it difficult to meet her eyes. "She doesn't love him. She thinks she does but she doesn't."

"Vulcan's don't…"

"Don't give me that sand rat bullshit!" Rialta snapped, jabbing him in the chest with a finger. "I don't want to hear it. We both know it's a lie!" Archer turned away and a crackling silence descended.

"You said that Trip died saving my life…He saved T'pol's and survived." Archer said suddenly, studying the controls to the elevator her hand no longer blocked. "How long do I live for?" Rialta bit her lip and ran a hand nervously over her swollen stomach.

"I can't tell you…"

"Give me an estimate." The anger in his quiet voice made her flinch even though he had not shouted.

"You live till after the War, I wont tell you how long cause I don't know, it's shortly after the War in my timeline and you're still alive so…you know that is only as long as you don't do something stupid now that you know this." Archer nodded slowly.

"When I asked you about Trip you gave a very vague answer. You said he stayed on a plot of land all the time. Was that plot of land a grave?" Rialta refused to meet his eyes, blinking away tears. Damn hormones. "It was, wasn't it?" She nodded once and refused to meet his eyes. "How long does he have?"

"I can't tell you, you know that." She whispered.

"Please, how long?"

"Until the Andorian comes back from the dead." Rialta bit her lip, turning back to him, her eyes brimming with tears. "That's all I'll say! Don't ask anymore!"

"And if I try to stop it?" Archer asked, still studying her pale face, yellow blotching the cheeks.

"I don't know." She whispered, tears flowing freely down her face. She turned to face him, reaching out a hand to catch his wrist. "John…"

"I love her, I realise that now, but I love him too. He's my best friend, Rialta. I want to give him every chance of happiness in his life…"

"Even if it means your own heart breaking?" Rialta asked quietly, pulling John back around to meet her when he tried to turn away.

"Even if it means my own heart breaking. You know, the Vulcans have a saying I'm rather fond of. It goes, 'The needs of the many…'" Rialta nodded and suddenly pulled him into an awkward hug.

"John, just promise me one thing. Go to a healer and get that bond seen to. I don't think T'pol remembers, to be honest, I didn't think you did either but I'd get it seen to if I were you. I've got to go, I have to return Lorian to his timeline and I have to get back to mine."

"You're not staying together?" Archer asked, Rialta shook her head slowly.

"I'm fond of that Vulcan saying too." She whispered and reached up on her tip toes to kiss his cheek. "Goodbye Captain, I'll see you in three months, one week, four days, eight hours, seventeen minutes and whatever number of seconds." She smiled at him and pressed the button for the lift, ushering him inside when it arrived moments later. The doors slid shut on her smiling face, silvery tears still slipping silently down her cheeks.

"The needs of the many..." She agreed softly, nodding almost to herself and she turned back to sickbay where T'pol sat holding Trip's hand. "But what about the few..."

IOIOIO

Three months and a bit later…

"Captain's personal log, stardate 17394.5, the Enterprise has never run so smoothly and even though we're still without our Chief Engineer, I hear he's making a speedy recovery. Since the majority of the crew have spent most of their time on shoreleave, Enterprise has been thrown back into the fray with a deep space exploration mission. The engineers at Alexandria Station warned us to take it easy this time but knowing our luck a red alert is right…" Almost as if on cue the Comm. bussed.

"Captain to the bridge, we're picking up a distress signal, Sir." It was Travis' voice over the comm. Hadn't he left T'pol in charge?

"I must have jinxed it. End log." Archer eased Porthos off his lap and jogged the short distance from his cabin to the bridge.

"What is it?"

"We're picking up what appears to be an escape pod, sir, of unknown configuration. It's sending out a distress beacon and we're picking up one life sign, very faint." Hoshi answered, her fingers working over the controls.

"In range?" Archer asked, standing in front of his chair.

"Not quite yet, sir. Another thirty eight seconds." Reed reported which was followed by a thirty seven second silence. "We are in range now Sir, shall I tractor it in?"

"Yes Mister Reed, have Dr. Phlox and a security detail meet me in the cargo bay. Hoshi, got that magic translator of yours?" She smiled up at him and hopped off her chair, falling into step next to Malcolm as he followed Archer in. They kept a professional distance but it was a hell of a lot closer than it was three months ago. A lot of things had changed after Rialta's visit.

"T'pol, you've the bridge."

The ride down to deck 14 was a quiet one and they were met with the detail when the doors opened. They all nodded respectfully to the Captain and Reed, a few smiling at Hoshi. As the bosses girlfriend they had gotten to know her quite well. Loveable Hoshi and strict Malcolm…A lot of things had changed.

The pod itself was egg shaped and about the same height as Malcolm and same width as cook. Archer was able to look down on it.

"Can we open it?" Archer asked, casting a speculative eye over the shiny cobalt exterior. An Engineer who had been on the scene when they arrived nodded and seconds later a hidden panel about the size of Hoshi hissed open, foggy atmosphere rolling out from the dull interior. Malcolm went first, probing the darkness with his phaser.

"Oh my god!" The exclamation itself was enough to set Archer's teeth on edge. Malcolm wasn't the exclaiming type.

"Malcolm?" He asked as the Armoury officer hooked his phaser onto his belt and reached down into the pod. There was a curious keening noise as Malcolm emerged from the smoke, a tiny, wriggling bundle in his arms. Hoshi pushed forward, untangling the squirming mess. A head capped in snow white fuzz shook free and a gurgling giggle sounded in the cargobay, the security officers relaxed as they realised it was child.

"Oh my!" Hoshi breathed, running a finger over the child's forehead. The child clapped its hands happily and giggled, kicking its podgy little legs in delight and cooing. Archer stepped forward and the tiny thing trained its shocking cerulean eyes on him. Three tiny, translucent little horns barely bumped the skin of her forehead and her face was a curious sunshine yellow as she burped and gurgled some more. "Do you think it is…" Hoshi began, cut off when the child reached out and grabbed her finger making a curious bubbly sound. The other hand quested across the red stripe of Malcolm's shoulder and eventually found the pips, tugging off one and thrusting it into its gummy mouth. "No, no! Bad!" Hoshi exclaimed, hurriedly plucking the pip back out and removing the other from Reed's chest before the child's could get it. It screwed up its face and let out a keening wail, its legs and arms like little pistons bashing against Reed.

"Shh, calm down little one." He urged, bouncing her slightly in his arms and rocking her from side to side. "Rialta beag." He whispered.

"What was that Malcolm?"

"It's Rialta, Sir, she told me we'd find her in a pod, this fits everything she said." His blue eyes sparkled with pride as he looked up, the little child still wailing and thumping against him furiously.

"She said she see me in Three months however many weeks, days and seventeen minutes…I didn't know what she meant till now." Archer said, biting his lip. "Malcolm, a Starship is no place for a child. You know that."

"Rialta isn't any child." Malcolm said, cradling the child closer. Hoshi cooed at it, wriggling her finger in front of the wide blue eyes. Instantly the child quietened, entranced by the floating digit.

"True, Malcolm, true." Archer stepped forward and couldn't help but smile as the tiny bundle made mad swipes for Hoshi's finger, drooling and giggling as the finger flew out of reach. A far cry from the Rialta he knew, the Rialta who was with a child of her own. "Still, there is the matter of who'll look after the child."

"I'll do it!" Malcolm and Hoshi intoned almost simultaneously, turning to face each other with almost identical expressions of shock. The doors behind them slid open and Phlox and T'pol strode in.

"T'pol? What are you doing down here, is there something wrong?" Archer asked. T'pol opened her mouth as if to speak then her eyes darted off to one side and her eyebrows shot up. Archer turned to look at what she was looking at but all he saw was the tall, tanned engineer with dark hair that dropped into his eyes and over his ears. He'd need to get that cut soon or he'd have to be reported for breech of uniform. T'pol swallowed, regaining her composure and turning back to Archer.

"I thought you might need my assistance." She said tersely.

"So who's on the bridge?" Archer asked.

"…Travis."

"And?"

"Just Travis." She said, her tone slightly apologetic before she then noticed the bundle in Hoshi's arms. "It is an infant." At the sound of a new voice the child became restless and began to reach up, legs kicking and pistoning. T'pol approached and nearly did a double take when she saw the infant. "Rialta." She breathed and looked to Archer for confirmation. He couldn't help but smile as he nodded.

"Yep," Archer chimed. "Begs godfather."

"God…father?" T'pol asked, narrowing her eyes.

"We'd be honoured to have both you and T'pol as the godparents." Hoshi said, running a finger down the child's podgy arm to quieten it.

"So…you are claiming the child?" T'pol asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I guess so." Hoshi said, smiling up at Malcolm who treated her to one of his rare, charming grins. "After all, who are we to fight fate?" Phlox moved in past them all, his tricorder running over the child.

"She's a little malnourished and has taken a few bruises and scrapes but otherwise appears in perfect health, well…I think. It's hard to tell with new species. Better get her down to sickbay." Phlox' grin was wider than any the humans could manage but it was infectious. Hoshi and Malcolm moved out, tailed by Archer and the security officers who made up the 'honour guard'. The speed at which this would make the rounds of the ship would probably break the record. T'pol hung back, giving a weary look to the engineer.

"I love happy endings, don't you?" He asked with a broad, dazzling white grin.

"Has it been a happy ending? Enterprise was under repair for exactly three months one week and two days!"

"You forgot the hours and minutes but never mind, that always annoyed me anyway." Savock said with a wink.

"Not to mention the fact that Commander Tucker is still under medical care."

"He'll be fine, trust me T'pol. He's got another year or two left in him. I assure you of that." Savock said, solemning slightly. "They remind me of two people I knew once." He said, sadness entering his voice for the first time. "An exiled Romulan named Zakavon and a Betazoid named Ceriaon Brady. Could you imagine an odder pair?"

"Lt. Reed and Ensign Sato?" T'pol asked with a raised eyebrow. Savock looked up and smiled.

"Yes. You know, there aren't many constants in the galaxy, so few in fact that some say there are none…But love is something I have always found. Regardless of the specie or situation. Curious, no?" He turned to T'pol, a satirical twist to his lips. "Even amidst Vulcans. Didn't Surak himself fall in love…haven't you?" T'pol's eyebrows rose and she opened her mouth to say something but it died on her lips. "Good, you're beginning to see now. Denial is the most useless emotion I've ever encountered yet one present, most prominently, in all Vulcans. What a strange irony, don't you think? You know you have emotions but claim to not have them. I tried to purge my emotions once but soon realised what an empty life it would be if I lived the life of a Gol…and what a lie I'd be living. Denying myself the one thing that makes me alive." He smiled, tilting his head to one side. "Go ahead, I know you want to ask."

"Why did you try to purge your emotions?" T'pol asked, hesitant.

"Because I committed the cardinal sin of being a Vulcan…I fell in love and you know what the worst thing was?"

"What?"

"…She loved me just as much, and that's what killed us in the end. Love is a fickle thing, a double edged sword. It can bring you joy that will lift you to the highest places and bring you sorrow that will consume your very soul. My tale is not a happy one, not in the least but I wouldn't change a single page of it." He smiled a small, sad smile and relaxed back against the curved hull of the pod.

"If it brought you such pain then why would you go through that again when you could change it?" Savock shook his head and sighed.

"You know the answer to that question yourself, T'pol. You know the exquisite agony being in love is, but would you change it. Would you ask Soval not to station you here? Would you have left when you were recalled? Life is a fire, sometimes it warms you, comforts you and other times it burns you. But burns heal in time and if you learn nothing else in your entire life from the humans, learn this. Life is not tried, it is merely survived, if your standing outside the fire." Savock extended a hand with a charming smirk. "Play with fire, T'pol but most of all…have fun doing it." He winked at her as she shook his hand. "After you Commander." He said, giving a mocking bow and indicating her to walk ahead. She slipped through the cargo bay doors and turned back to say something but he was gone.

"T'pol, what are you still doing here?" Archer asked, coming to walk beside her as they made for the turbolift.

"Standing outside the fire." She said quietly.

"What was that?"

"Nothing sir. I am curious though as to what is to become of the infant Rialta." Archer grinned over at her and called for the lift.

"Well, Malcolm and Hoshi seem smitten. Seems like we're going to get children on Enterprise or lose two officers."

"Children, as in plural?" T'pol asked, shooting him as incredulous a look as her discipline would allow.

"Well, if Hoshi and Malcolm are allowed have one it'd be unfair to not let anyone else have one. Who knows, Rialta could be the first of a long line of children of Enterprise." Archer smirked, stepping into the lift when it finally arrived, to engineers walking past him. "Don't look so horrified T'pol, you wont be required to change any diapers." He laughed.

"I should hope not!" T'pol said, stepping into the lift.

"Unless of course you have one of your own. Just a suggestion. Time is ticking and the first of Rialta's predictions has come true. Who knows?"

"Rialta never predicted children of Enterprise!" T'pol shot back. Archer smirked as the lift closed and they were sped to the bridge.

IOIOIO

Fin : )

Hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I have. Don't forget to review, I don't care how long I took posting this. lol