The character's name Fessick reminds Trip of Fezzik, from the movie The Princess Bride. This Character's name was a gift from fantasynamegenerator. When I saw it I just couldn't resist. Basically, Trip's response is pretty much what I'd do as well.
Chapter 21: What happens at a Vulcan wedding
Full of panic Trip carried T'Pol over to the low couch and placed her down gently. He knelt down next to her and patted her cold grey cheek.
A Vulcan came over and Trip looked up at him.
"Someone should call a doctor. She just collapsed." Trip tried to keep the fear out of his voice.
"I am a doctor." The Vulcan said as he waited for Trip to move so he could begin his examination.
The rest of the guests and the wedding party had come into the room and all stood passively around the room. Trip rose from his position so the doctor could work and backed away in a daze, coming to a standstill next to a tall, slim Vulcan male who looked to be T'Les' age.
"I am Korrick." The Vulcan said without any preamble.
Trip looked at him blankly for a moment. "Um, Commander Charles Tucker the third." Without thinking, he stuck his hand out for a handshake..
Korrick gave Trip's hand a confused look and after a moment, where neither of them knew what to do, Trip awkwardly dropped his hand and put it behind his back. To distract from his discomfort Trip fell back on some very human small talk.
"It's lucky there was a doctor already at the wedding."
Korrick raised an eyebrow at the comment. "Luck is irrelevant. It would be illogical for a bride's family to rely on chance to provide a doctor for their daughter's wedding. A certain amount of violence is not unexpected at a Vulcan wedding."
Trip looked at Korrick wide eyed before it occurred to him that at a wedding where a fight to the death was considered acceptable, ensuring a doctor was on hand probably did represent good sense. Trip cut his losses at that point and decided that silence couldn't be any more awkward than conversation. So he kept his mouth shut and waited for the doctor to complete his examination.
The Doctor ran a scanner over T'Pol and looked at the results with a raised eyebrow. He administered a hypospray to her neck then looked up at the gathered group. "There is nothing further I can do for her." He intoned, typically Vulcan in his expressionless. "She has Pa'Nar Syndrome."
The effect on room the was inflammatory, if you could imagine someone trying to set fire to water. Trip felt like he could see the emotional suppression. Eyebrows were raising, heads were canting slightly, lips were were being being pressed together infinitesimally. It's like a Vulcan emotional hurricane, Trip thought sarcastically.
The only Vulcan who didn't take the news with equanimity, was Koss.
"She is a melder." Disdain was dripping from Koss' voice. He turned to the man standing next to him. "Father, were you aware of this?"
"It came to the attention of the High Command approximately a year and a half ago." Kurak responded.
"And you didn't think to inform me that the woman I was betrothed to was a deviant." He turned to T'Les who was watching the exchange calmly. "I release T'Pol from the betrothal contract. I was prepared to look past the obvious taint of her exposure to humans but I will not marry a degenerate."
A veil of white hot rage descended over Trip at the insult. Before he even realised what he was doing he closed the space between himself and Koss and raised his clenched hand.
"You son of bitch." He spat through his teeth and drove his fist into Koss' face.
This time Trip missed the typically Vulcan reaction from the room, he was too focused on the fact that he was pretty sure he had just broken his hand on Koss' face. Koss on the other hand had fallen backwards and struck his head on the edge of the low table in front of the chairs. He was out cold.
Trip looked up from his hand to note that the only reaction from the room was the doctor moving over to scan Koss and T'Les going to the kitchen to get something from the freezer unit, after speaking briefly to one of the other guests. He sat down on the chair opposite where T'Pol was lying and winced in pain.
The doctor looked up from his scanner and announced that Koss had a concussion and a broken nose and should recover. He retrieved a bag from the floor next to where T'Pol was lying, extracted a hypospray and pressed it into Koss' neck.
T'Less came up to Trip and placed an ice pack on his hand. He looked up at her sheepishly.
"My temper may have gotten the best of me there. Sorry for embarrassing you in front of your guests."
The corners of T'Les' mouth twitched up. I do not experience embarrassment, and a certain amount of violence is not unexpected at a Vulcan wedding."
Trip snorted and shock his head. "Well that's alright then." He stuck his tongue in his cheek and looked up at her. "So what happens now? If the wedding doesn't go ahead, you don't get your job back."
T'Les gave him an enigmatic look "We shall see." Was all she said. Trip got the very strong impression there was more she wasn't telling him.
He looked over at T'Pol still lying unconscious on the other couch. "T'Pol and I should still go tomorrow. Our ship's Doctor has been pretty effective at treating her Pa'nar symptoms. We need to get back there urgently before any permanent damage is done."
T'Les gave him an unreadable look. "That is unnecessary. The cure for Pa'nar is quite rudimentary. I have asked my colleague to contact the appropriate person to come and administer the treatment."
Trip had no idea what to say to that information and he was finally starting to learn that, among Vulcans, unless you had relevant points to add to the conversation, silence was logical.
There was a stirring of movement from the end of the table and he noticed the doctor and Minister Kurak helping Koss to his feet.
"Koss is coming to." He told T'Les tipping his head in the direction of the three Vulcan men. A disturbing thought occurred to him and he looked up at T'Les again, tongue in his cheek. "Are there going to be any repercussions for me, you know, for punching Koss' lights out."
T'Les regarded him for a moment turning the unfamiliar phrase over in her head before she responded. "The assault occurred under the purview of a Vulcan marriage. As I explained before, a certain amount of violence is not unexpected at a Vulcan wedding." She said all this with a familiar twinkle in her eyes.
Trip snorted with laughter again. He was pretty sure T'Les had just told him that the Vulcan wedding was the equivalent of 'What happens in Vegas...'.
"I believe Koss and his family wish to depart. It is appropriate for me to farewell them. While I do, you could carry T'Pol to her bedroom." She turned slightly to see the doctor, scanner in hand, ready to assess Trip's damage. "Perhaps after Doctor Fessick has seen to your injury." She didn't wait for Trip's reply, it wasn't so much a request as an order anyway. Which was fortunate, because Trip was too busy trying not to laugh at the similarity of the doctor's name to a character in a 20th century, fantasy adventure movie.
Trip watched through the living room windows as T'Les escorted Koss and his parents to the front gate. There seemed to be some sort of discussion going on and Trip wished he had Vulcan hearing so he could know what was being said. The typically neutral expressions on all the Vulcan's faces gave nothing away.
His attention was pulled back to his hand when Fessick (snicker) told him he had a fractured the fourth and fifth metacarpals. They had a brief exchange about his treatment and the doctor assured him that Koss would recover fully. The doctor pressed a hypospray into his neck and extracted a splint from his bag, fitting it over Trip's hand. He had a momentary lapse, when he thought what a coincidence it was that the doctor had brought a hand splint to a wedding, then he remembered 'a certain amount of violence... etc, etc'.
Trip rose from the seat and went over to T'Pol, touching her on the side of her face. Her colour had returned and her skin felt warm to the touch again. He scooped her up and carried her to her bedroom. Her eyes fluttered open as she lifted him.
As he lay her gently down on the bed and she regarded him silently. He sat down on the bed and gave her a wry smile.
"Hey baby, you missed all the fun." He told her softly
She lifted a hand and stroked his cheek with two fingers "You're alive." Was all she said.
"Yep, I'm alive; you're alive; Koss is alive, unfortunately. We're all alive."
She narrowed her eyebrows and cant her head. "Am I married?"
"No, you were unconscious." He kept his face straight. "Koss demanded a wedding though, so I stepped up. It was a beautiful moment. Your mom cried, Koss' dad cried, the desiccated old priest cried. Then we all went inside, got drunk on moonshine and Fessick had everyone laughing at his rhyming. You missed quite a shindig."
An eyebrow went up. "Your levity is not appreciated under the circumstances."
He chuckled. "The wedding is off. Koss released you when he found out about your Pa'nar."
T'Pol took the news so calmly it was like the past week hadn't happened and it was what she had expected all along. "I assume my mother will not be reinstated to her position at the Science Academy?"
Trip thought back to T'Les response when he had asked her the same question. "Yeah, I'm not so sure about that. It seems inconceivable, but I got the distinct impression she had a plan." His lips twitched
"But you did not fight the challenge with Koss."
"Nope, no battle to the death today."
She narrowed her eyes again. "Then what happened to your hand?"
Trip lifted his splinted hand and looked at it speculatively. "Funny you should ask that darlin', because a certain amount of violence is not unexpected at a Vulcan wedding."
"That is correct, but it does not explain your hand."
"He called you a degenerate, I punched him in the face."
"I see. I imagine you broke your fifth and possibly fourth metacarpals."
"Yes, both. But I also broke his nose and gave him a concussion."
"That is acceptable."
He laughed and kissed her. "I love you, baby."
She stroked the side of his face gently and Trip knew it was her way of saying that she loved him back.
"We will still need to depart tomorrow." She told him "I believe I need to consult with Doctor Phlox."
"That's what I told your mom, but apparently she knows someone who can cure Pa'nar."
"That is not possible, Dr Phlox consulted with Vulcan physician's. A cure is not even being researched."
Trip tipped his head in acknowledgment of her statement. "She said she knows someone and they are on their way."
T'Pol lay back on the pillows with a dark look on her face. She wasn't sure how to take this latest development.
Trip took her hand. "Look, don't look a gift horse in the mouth. A cure's a good thing." He kissed her forehead and stood up heading for the door. "Get some sleep, it's been a hard week."
T'Pol lay back on her bed and wondered under what circumstances one would consider looking in the mouth of an equine.
Trip emerged from the bedroom to find everyone pretty much where he had left them except for the main players. T'Les was still out in the courtyard, but was now talking to Solas, the priest. Koss and his family couldn't be seen so he assumed they had gone. He stood at the windows for a moment watching T'Les as she spoke with Solas. Once again he wished he had Vulcan hearing.
He reflected on the day's events. It seemed crazy in retrospect. Kind of like the bizarre negative of a telenovela, all the drama with none of the dramatics. He couldn't believe it had been just this morning that he had woken up next to T'Pol and genuinely wondered if it was the last time he would ever do that. He watched as T'Les apparently finished her conversation with Solas and turned to the front gate as it opened to reveal a Vulcan woman about T'Pol's age. Solas returned to the house while T'Les greeted the new arrival. It seemed like things were returning to normal.
He nearly jumped out of his skin when the tall, thin Vulcan man came up and stood beside him. "Commander Charles Tucker the Third?"
"Yes, um." Trip realised he couldn't remember his name. Yorrick, Derrick, Carrot, something like that. "Sir." He took the safe route. "How can I help?"
"It is my understanding that humans are not bound by a regular mating cycle and that you may engage in sexual intercourse with impunity."
Trip looked at him, mouth agape.
What the fuck!