Chapter 8
The music began and the guests all stood as they watched Trip and Jon enter from opposite sides and descended the double stairs until they met in the middle at the bottom of each staircase.
They stopped a moment, each giving the other a loving look before linking their arms together and slowly walking down the aisle, smiling at their beaming guests.
Trip had to chuckle a little when he noticed his sister nudge their mother to silently ask for a tissue so she could wipe the tears from her eyes. Of course his mother was prepared with plenty of tissues, and for a second, Trip thought he may need one as well.
As they reached the altar, they turned to face each other, locking their hands together.
The Admiral smiled and waited until everyone was seated before beginning. "Today we are gathered to celebrate a union of devotion and the love these two have for one another. There is no greater moment than when two people come together and share that love with family and friends. Jonathan Archer and Charles Tucker III have honored us all, to allow us to be witness to their matrimony. If there are any among you that objects to this union, speak now or forever hold your peace."
Trip and Jon smiled at each other as the guests lightly chuckled, knowing that there wouldn't be any objection.
The Admiral nodded as he continued. "I believe the couple have written their own vows." He nodded to Jon. "Captain."
Jon took a deep breath as he looked into Trip's eyes. "My love for you is never-ending. There was a time when I lost sight of you, I traveled alone through the darkness, lost without you at my side. Then you came back to me, brought back the light in my life. I know we've been on a long, winding road with detours along the way, and sometimes have gone in opposite directions, but now those roads have brought us together again. Today, the best part of our journey is beginning. My promise to you is that we will walk the road together, take each turn, each detour at one another's side. Never again will I lose sight of the light that is your love."
Trip gulped a few times and swiped a tear away from his eye. "That is the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me."
Jon smiled and nodded as he waited a moment. He leaned towards Trip and quietly whispered. "I think it's your turn to say your vows."
Trip gave a startled blink. "Uh. Oh yeah. Um… uh."
Malcolm quickly pulled the PADD from his pocket and tapped it against Trip's hand. Trip looked down at the PADD. "Yeah. Uh… well…" Trip huffed as he handed the PADD back to Malcolm. "You know what? What I wrote completely sucks compared to what you just said, so I'll just speak from the heart. I know that I'm not the most patient person in the world, and sometimes that causes me more trouble in the long run. My impatience caused me to lose you for so long, and caused more pain than what either of us should ever have. Jon, there aren't enough words in this universe to express how much I love you, how much you mean to me. My promise to you, with your guidance and love, I will devote myself to be a more patient person and to know, that no matter how many light years that might physically be between us, as long as I have you in my heart, we are truly never apart."
Jon smiled as a tear ran down his cheek and he squeezed Trip's hands. The Admiral nodded. "Do you, Jonathan Samuel Archer, take this man to be your husband until death you part?"
Jon's voice slightly cracked. "I do."
"The ring."
Tony handed Jon the ring and gave him a clasp on the shoulder as Jon placed it on Trip's finger.
The Admiral turned to Trip. "And do you, Charles Tucker III, take this man to be your husband until death you part?"
Trip took a deep breath, smiling widely and nodded. "Absolutely I do."
"The ring."
Malcolm started patting at his pockets. "Uh… oh bloody hell."
Trip spun in shock. "You lost the ring? You said you had-"
Malcolm grinned as he presented the ring. "Just joking."
Trip gave Malcolm a growl as the guests and Jon laughed. "I'm gonna get you for that."
After Trip placed the ring on Jon's finger, the Admiral declared the marriage official as the newlyweds kissed.
The couple posed for what seemed like a thousand pictures between the guests and reporters. Neither Jon nor Trip was too happy about the reporters, but they understood that Jon, being the captain of the first deep space starship, his marriage would be newsworthy, and the fact that he was marrying not only a member of the crew, but the chief engineer to boot, made it even more so.
So they endured the pictures and questions by the reporters, hoping that it wouldn't ruin any privacy for their honeymoon. One reporter asked the question that might threaten that privacy. "Where do you plan to go for your honeymoon?"
Jon smiled politely as he answered. "That location is classified. Now, if you'll excuse us, I'd like to dance with my husband."
Trip smiled and whispered to Jon as he led them to the dance floor. "You're really turning into a good diplomat."
Jon nodded. "Good thing too. I have a feeling we'll be trying to shake these reporters off of us for a while. Sheesh! You'd think we were some kind of major celebrities or something the way they're acting."
"Vultures." Trip mockingly grumbled.
As they danced, Jon noticed one of the flower arrangements and scowled. "Phlox lied to me."
Trip looked at him, confused. "What?"
Jon tipped his head towards the flowers. "He said the flowers weren't wilting. He lied."
Trip looked at the flowers and noted that a couple of them were starting to droop. "So they are. Huh. I didn't even notice, doesn't matter anyway."
Jon smiled. "You're right, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that we're married, and that's what made this day perfect."
Trip cupped Jon's face. "It is a perfect day, my dear husband. Jon, I want to tell you, I'm so proud of you."
Jon's brows furrowed. "Ok. Why?"
"Tony told me what happened in your dressing room before the ceremony, the reason why you had a panic attack."
Jon stopped dancing and gave Trip a hard look. "Trip, I swear, I didn't drink anything. I swear to you that I didn't."
Trip nodded. "I know, that's why I'm proud of you. I know how stressful this past week has been on you, getting ready for today. I also know that today has been the most stressful, for both of us. Honey, I know how tempted you've been this past week, but you never gave in to that temptation. You're doing so well to overcome this demon of yours."
Jon gave Trip a tight hug. "Honestly, it's because of you that I haven't given in. Everytime I think about taking a drink, all I see is your eyes looking at me with disappointment. Seeing that look in my imagination is bad enough, I don't want to see it in real life."
Trip smiled and nodded, expressing his love and understanding without words as he gave Jon a deep kiss, not caring about the room full of people, or the reporter's cameras, which would have that moment plastered on every newsfeed around the world within hours.
§§§
Back at the hotel, the newly married couple kissed their way to the room, stumbling through the door, fumbling for the lock and more than eager to start their marriage with passion and bliss.
Trip pulled himself away from Jon, with a playful gleam in his eye. "Nuh-uh. I think there's a little promise I made to you that I ought to keep."
Jon looked at him confused and curious. "Really? What's that?"
Trip grinned as he pulled out a chair towards the middle of the room. "Sit down and you'll see."
Jon sat, still perplexed, but very intrigued as Trip selected a particularly seductive musical piece.
Jon couldn't help the wide grin as he watched his husband gyrate his hips and the oozing sex appeal in his blue eyes as he slowly, sensually began removing his clothes bit by excruciating bit, making the area between Jon's legs throb so hard it was almost unbearable.
As Trip divested himself of his pants, seeing the white silk boxers with red hearts printed on them, Jon chuckled. "Cute. Very cute."
Trip sauntered to Jon, his legs on either side of Jon's knees to give his husband an up-close and personal view of the boxers. "You like them?"
Jon nodded. "Mm-hmm."
"Show me how much."
Jon ran his hands along the sides of Trip's thighs, his fingers slipping under the bottom edge of the boxers, slowly working his hands upwards, then around the back to cup and squeeze at Trip's cheeks, gently pulling the man closer to him and placing small kisses on his bare stomach.
Trip let out a soft gasp as Jon captured the waistband in his teeth, using his teeth and hands to pull the boxers down.
Once the fabric got to the knees, Jon moved his hands away as Trip stepped back to allow the silk to flitter to the floor, then kicked his feet out. He sank himself to Jon's lap, straddling him, as he slowly began unbuttoning Jon's shirt.
After the shirt was gone, Trip worked at getting Jon's pants off. He howled with laughter when he saw Jon wearing red silk boxers with white hearts printed on them. "Well damn! You snuck a peek at my little wedding night surprise, didn't you!"
Jon laughed as he shook his head. "I swear I didn't know about your boxers. Great minds I guess."
Trip smiled. "Mmm… let's see what else our great minds can come up with tonight."
Jon grinned. "Shall we move this to the bed?"
Trip gave small kisses along the side of Jon's neck, softly whispering. "We'll get there eventually, babe. Maybe."
Jon smiled as he gave a long, passionate kiss to his husband. They both startled when there was a knock on the door. Jon groaned. "That better be room service."
They both stood, Jon going to his bags to fish out his robe as Trip headed towards the bathroom where he had already hung his robe.
Jon cringed and blinked a few times when he opened the door to a bright flash of light greeting him and several voices asking questions at the same time.
"Captain Archer! We just have a few questions. How long have you and the Commander been involved?"
"Did your romance begin while on board Enterprise or prior to that?"
"Are there others aboard the ship romantically involved?"
"Will the Commander continue to serve on the Enterprise now that you're married?"
"Any comment about the rumors of special treatment due to your relationship with the Commander?"
Jon stood stunned as more flashes from the cameras went off. He realized that these were more reporters, who did not get the privilege of being invited to the reception to take pictures and ask questions. Obviously they had somehow tracked them to the room, taking advantage of them being alone. "Uh…"
Trip quickly rushed up to the door, speaking sternly. "No questions. No comment. Please leave and give us our privacy." Trip pushed the door closed, cutting off the reporters.
Trip turned to Jon, the shock clear in both of their expressions as the knocking continued. "What the hell is wrong with these people? They act like we're the first couple to ever get married!" Trip bellowed.
Jon shook his head. "Captain of the first deep space vessel getting married is in of itself something to cause the news hounds to feed on. But the captain marrying his chief engineer? Even more so."
Jon wrapped his arms around Trip's waist. "I'm sorry, honey. We both knew that the reporters would buzz around, but I didn't expect it to be like this. It'll be better in the morning when we leave for the resort."
Trip gestured to the door where the knocking and muffled shouting of questions continued. "That is if they don't follow us! What are we going to do?"
Jon raised a brow then went to his bags, digging out the communicator. "Archer to Lieutenant Reed."
Jon could hear the slight confusion in Malcolm's voice when he answered. "Reed here."
"Where are you? Are you in the hotel?"
"Uh… yes sir. I'm in my room. Is something the matter?"
"You could say that. We got a group of reporters banging on our door. Could you come to our floor and get rid of them?"
Malcolm chuckled. "Yes sir, I'm on my way. Reed out."
Both Jon and Trip paced the floor. Trip huffed. "This is ridiculous! Are we going to need a security detail for our entire honeymoon? I gotta tell you Jon, I don't like that idea. I plan to not only make you scream my name so loud, I expect strings of obscenities and other dirty phrases out of you that would make the devil himself blush! You really want to have an audience for that?"
Jon stopped his pacing as his eyes popped out and jaw dropped open. "Uh… no."
Trip nodded. "Neither do I. So Cap'n, how are we going to get out of this mess?"
Jon smirked when he heard a light knock and Malcolm's voice through the door. "It's me."
Jon opened the door and rushed Malcolm into the room. "Are they gone?"
Malcolm nodded as he held out his hands, a phaser in one and a grenade in the other. "Didn't take too much convincing for them to get the idea that staying here, bothering you, would be a very bad idea, sir."
Jon chuckled. "Thanks for coming to the rescue again, Lieutenant. Is Enterprise still in orbit?"
Malcolm shook his head. "No sir, they headed out to Jupiter shortly after the ceremony. I was asked to forward the crew's gratitude for allowing the wedding to be transmitted to the ship, for those still on board to watch."
Jon nodded. "I really didn't want to exclude anyone, but the banquet hall couldn't accommodate the entire crew. Besides, couldn't leave the ship deserted, could we?"
Trip laughed. "She might have gotten lonely."
Malcolm scowled. "Don't tell me that you want to go back to the ship because of those wankers! Captain, enjoy your honeymoon, I'll keep them away."
Jon smiled. "It won't be necessary Malcolm, and there's no way in hell I'm cutting my honeymoon short. I have an idea…"
