A/N: This epilogue takes place after "Terra Prime" and is a little more serious. But I wanted to give better closure to our favorite pairing. (Also, I should mention that I don't consider "These Are the Voyages" as canon. I always imagine a happily ever after for Trip and T'Pol. Always.)

EPILOGUE
From the Ashes

Less than month after meeting his Xyrillian daughter, the universe had given Trip another surprise child-a second little girl. He had been given a new chance to embrace fatherhood. Only, the universe didn't giggle this time. Instead, Trip believed that the stars wept with him over the unbearable cruelty of little Elizabeth's short life.

Trip had gone to Earth and stood stoically while Jon had rallied the delegates. He had kept his face straight, despite the hollowness that threatened to cripple him. He didn't shed one tear even though it had been only a few short hours since his little girl had died in his arms-his and T'Pol's arms. Two Elizabeths had left this universe, two blond-haired, blue-eyed girls that had been his and had slipped away.

After the speech, he had kept his composure while the delegates visited with him one by one, expressing condolences and a desire to attend his baby's funeral. He couldn't recall what he had said in response. He only remembered that T'Pol had disappeared. Trip hadn't blamed her. He had wanted to disappear too.

Phlox had stopped him when he came back to the ship. Trip had listened numbly as the doctor explained that there had been an error in the cloning process. Without that error, Elizabeth would have survived. She would have lived. She would have lived. That was the only thought in his mind as Phlox suggested that a Vulcan and a human could have a child without problem. Elizabeth would have lived. Trip could have been a father to his surprise daughter. T'Pol could have been a mother.

They could have been a family.

The ache that he'd been pretending not to feel suddenly took his breath away. He thanked Phlox hurriedly and walked away. He needed... He didn't know what he needed. Trip walked the corridors in a daze trying to make sense of this horrible nightmare. He supposed that he meant to go to his quarters where he could collapse and grieve in private, away from the sad expressions from his friends who could not truly understand the pain he suffered now. None of them knew what it was like. None of them had lost a sister or daughter.

At some point, he realized that his feet had stopped moving. He brought his eyes up and found himself standing in front of T'Pol's door. Of course, he thought, she would understand. His entire soul longed to be with her, to share this crushing disappointment and emptiness. He pressed the button and heard her answer a heartbeat later.

The room was dark and she looked so small and fragile in her voluminous robes. He saw in her hand the IDIC symbol that she had hung at Elizabeth's bed. Tears filled his eyes as grief overwhelmed him.

"The delegates at the conference," he said, not knowing the right words for this moment, "they've asked about the service for..." He broke off, pulling at his uniform as agony stole air from his lungs. "For Elizabeth. They want to attend."

T'Pol didn't look up. "She was important."

"There's something else." He walked toward her, needing to be close to her. "I spoke with Phlox," he said as he sat beside her. "Turns out there was a flaw in the technique that Paxton's doctors used in the cloning process." T'Pol turned to him with searching eyes. "Human DNA and Vulcan DNA-Phlox says there's no medical reason why they can't combine." The tears began rolling down his cheeks again. "So if a Vulcan and a human ever decided to have a child," he said, pausing to find his breath again, "it'd probably be okay. That's sort of comforting."

We can still be a family.

T'Pol said nothing, but instead she took his hand in hers and together they held the IDIC. The last of his composure broke with that contact and sobs racked his body. Trip didn't know how long he wept, holding her delicate hand, but near the end he realized that he wasn't just expressing his pain alone, but hers as well. He had been crying the tears that she could not, and, in a strange way, he loved her more for letting him help her grieve.

She leaned into him and Trip let go of her hand to circle his arms around her. It felt right to hold her like this, even in the midst of their anguish. This was home. No matter what the universe threw at them, they were meant to survive it together.

The image of Fe'Tles'Rah came unbidden to his mind, and Trip realized that the universe wasn't always cruel. He thought of playing with his Xyrillian daughter in the holo-room, showing her human games. He thought of T'Pol watching them and the contentment he felt, sharing that moment with them both. Not all surprises were bad, he realized. The universe wasn't their enemy.

"We're gonna be all right, somehow," Trip whispered. Beneath the ache, in the depths of his heart, he knew what he spoke was true. They would find a way.

T'Pol looked up at him, question plain in her stricken features. He wasn't sure if he could explain how he was certain that they would get past this-that they would find happiness again. So instead, he kissed her. Something inside of him burned when his lips touched hers, something hungry and desperate. He tried not to let it overwhelm him but the need was too great. T'Pol didn't resist as he pulled her closer, feeling an urgency to envelop her completely. It was primal, physical, and alive.

They needed to love and be loved.

T'Pol woke with an arm draped across her middle and a leg across her thigh. She was momentarily disoriented until the memories of the previous night came rushing back to her.

Do you think Elizabeth would never want us to be happy again? Or Lizzie? Or T'Les?

Trip had said those words when she had shrunk with shame after giving into her baser urges. Vulcans did not grieve with physical intimacy. Humans sometimes did, he had explained gently before drifting off to sleep. She had lain next to him, pondering his question. Clarity didn't come instantly, but in measured doses T'Pol began to understand what he had meant. They had not dishonored the memory of their daughter by finding a portion of peace in each other. Elizabeth would not have wanted her parents to live in pain and grief indefinitely.

As Trip snored softly beside her, T'Pol marveled that he had managed to find logic in the chaos of their suffering rather than she. Was it because he was human and could allow his emotions to wash over him and recede like a tide? Would she ever comprehend this surprising man? So many conflicting emotions swirled within and she needed to examine them before they overtook her.

T'Pol attempted to extricate herself from the warm body next to her but as soon as she moved, Trip's arm tightened around her waist.

"Where're you goin'?" he slurred in a voice thick with sleep.

"I must meditate."

Trip yawned and propped himself up on one elbow, keeping his hold on her. She twisted to meet his gaze and found sadness lingering in his eyes, even as he smiled down at her.

"Mornin'," he said as another yawn cracked his jaw.

"Good morning."

"You okay?" he asked.

T'Pol opened her mouth to tell him that she was fine, but she couldn't say the words. She was not fine-not yet. "I rested adequately," she answered.

"Yeah, I'm not really okay either." A multitude of expressions passed over his face, and he looked as if he were trying to decide something. "Marry me-officially marry me."

T'Pol raised a brow, stunned by the unexpected proposal.

"Now before you go on and tell me that it's not the right time or try to throw some logic at me, just hear me out." When she didn't respond, he continued. "I've lost my baby sister and now I've lost my..." He paused as his eyes brimmed with tears. "I lost my little girl before I even got to be a real daddy to her. I'm so sick and tired of losing people that I love. I can't lose you too." He brushed her hair away from her forehead. "I love you, T'Pol. I've loved you for a long time. I know that you're Vulcan-that you can't be like a human wife. But I don't want a damn human wife. I want you, T'Pol,Vulcan ways and all."

"Starfleet-" she started to say when he interrupted.

"Starfleet can go to hell. They've taken enough already. This is my life-our life-and they don't get to have a say in it." He searched her face, as if trying to make her understand that this was no whim. "T'Pol, you are the only woman I am ever gonna want to be with. Marry me, darlin'. Let's make somethin' good come out of all this tragedy."

His love mingled with her grief was almost too much for T'Pol, but she could not think of a sound argument against what he was asking of her. She reciprocated his deep affection. She did not want to be with anyone else either. He had given her more serenity than she had ever experienced. In the few heartbeats that it took to ponder his offer, T'Pol knew that life without Trip would be unacceptable.

"I will marry you." Saying the words did not lessen the hurt and anguish, but another brighter, more hopeful sensation swelled within until it warmed her being.

A tear escaped Trip's eye as his mouth stretched into an exuberant smile. He leaned down and kissed her tenderly. T'Pol felt an unwavering certainty in this moment that he had, indeed, been correct the previous night.

They were going to be all right, somehow.

~FIN~

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Before you go, I'd love to hear your thoughts!