Chapter One

32 years later

"Commander Tucker," cried Phlox in his usual cheerful voice, "what can I do? I thought you would be down on Earth visiting your family."

"Na, mom seems really down at the moment, so I thought I would give her some space." and oversee the refit," replied Trip, perching himself on the nearest bio bed.

"I thought your mother would be glad to see her son who's just returned from such a dangerous mission."

"She is, but I think all these celebrations over our return from the Expanse have dredged up memories of Liz's death."

"That's good isn't it? It sounds like she's finally coming to terms with her loss."

"Yeah, I know what you mean, I just hate seeing like this, that's all," replied Trip looking a bit downcast as he pondered events with his family.

"So Commander," asked Phlox after a few minutes, trying to gauge the reason for Trip's visit to his sickbay. "What can I do for you … not that this hasn't been pleasant but I assume you're here for a reason?"

"It's just a headache, Phlox; it's no big deal--"

"Let me be the judge of that please, Commander," said Phlox, taking his scanner out of his pocket and beginning to take some readings. "I thought Captain Archer ordered you to take some shore leave?"

"This is my kind of shore leave," replied Trip with a smile. "You know I can only relax when I'm tinkering with ma engines."

"How long have you had this headache, Commander?"

"A few hours, till it finally got to a point when I couldn't ignore it anymore."

"Hmmmm…"

"What's up?" asked Trip, "there's nothing to worry about, is there?"

"No, as far as I can tell, it's probably a tension/stress headache. Not surprising after what this crew's been through this past year."

"So why the, hmmmm…?"

"Well my records show that you've had quite a few of these since your operation six months ago--" answered Phlox as he glanced at Trip's medical file.

"It was a stressful time, you said it yourself Doc," replied Trip, getting off the bio bed after Phlox had applied a hypo spray.

"Still, it wouldn't hurt to run some tests now, would it, Commander?" said Phlox to Commander Tucker, who didn't look very reassured or impressed with the idea. "It's not as if you're … officially… on duty now is it?" he said in a tone which implied "don't force me to make this an order and drag Captain Archer into this, Commander."

"So long as it's … just a few," answered Trip, with a look, which indicated 'okay you win. But don't push ya luck."

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After what he considered 'a waste of a two damn hours', Trip finally slipped out of sickbay while Phlox's back was turned. This didn't concern Phlox, as he already knew about Trip's run for freedom when he caught a glance of him slipping out of the doors. Surprised at the length of time that he'd managed to keep Commander Tucker in sickbay, he had finished all the tests that he could think of, so now it was down to tackling the elusive origins of his recurring headache. Contrary to popular belief, a headache was not just a simple disease cured by a quick hypo spray of pain relief. Quite often the simplest of ailments could just be the front or an early symptom of a more serious underlying problem. It was his job to make sure that this wasn't the case with Commander Tucker.

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As he finished the last piece of pecan pie in the near deserted Mess Hall, Trip was feeling at a bit of a loose end. Jupiter stations engineering team weren't having any problems that needed his specific attention and T'Pol was still down on Earth visiting some colleagues at the Vulcan Compound. Strange, he didn't think he would feel this way about any girl, least of all a Vulcan, but somehow through there time spent together in the Expanse, T'Pol had managed to worm her way straight into his heart and he missed her dearly. He was pretty sure that T'Pol reciprocated his feelings, despite the fact that Vulcan's as a species hid their emotions, as her mannerisms towards him certainly showed she cared a great deal.

It was weird, sometimes when he was down in Engineering, and his mind wandered onto thoughts about her, he was pretty sure that he could tell how she was feeling up on the Bridge. He hadn't approached her about this because he was sure that she would say it was highly illogical and that he must be imagining it. Sometime in the near future he definitely needed to have a talk with her about this and where they were headed as a 'couple', but right now he was content to leave things as they were and just enjoy their moments together.

Clearing up his plate, Trip decided that he would go and see if Captain Archer had returned from his week long vacation on Earth visiting his family. They had both been under tremendous stress and pressure during their recent mission in the Expanse, Captain Archer more so than anyone felt the burden heavily, which had threatened to tear their friendship apart on quite a few occasions. Trip was grateful they had both found the time to sit down together after the peace negotiations had ended and reconnect on a more personal level. Finally discussing why they done things during the mission that they now regretted and how they had felt not being there for each other, helped them both deal with their psychological demons and come to terms with their actions.

TBC.

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