The VIP quarters on Enterprise were small suites with a bedroom, bath and sitting room. Trip knew which one had been set aside for his parents and went there after a quick stop at his quarters to clean up. He hadn't left sickbay from the time he and the others had returned from Coridan and he hadn't had a chance to shower or change his uniform. He wasn't sure just what kind of reception he was going to get. While his parents knew that T'Pol was Vulcan and he knew that they had been studying Vulcan culture, Trip wasn't thrilled that their first real experience with Vulcans had been the scene in sickbay.
Charles opened the door and motioned Trip into the suite. "We need to talk son," he said sternly.
"I know Dad, that's why I'm here," Trip said. He saw that his mother was sitting on the small couch under the porthole. She was knitting furiously and he tried his best not to wince. Catherine Tucker did fabric crafts for fun and to keep her fingers nimble. Knitting was also her form of meditation. From the fast way she was knitting Trip knew that she was very upset. "I'm sorry you had to see that Momma."
"But you're not sorry you did it?" she wanted to know. Her needles never stopped.
Trip sighed; this was going to be harder than he thought. "I'm sorry I needed to do it Momma," he tried to explain. "I never want to have to do that again. But it was necessary for me to do it. That is the only way to bring a Vulcan out of a healing trance and it was my responsibility to do that for T'Pol."
"What's a healing trance and why was she in it to begin with?" Charles asked. He sat on the arm of the couch next to Catherine and crossed his arms. Trip had better have a better explanation than 'it was medically necessary' to hit T'Pol.
"T'Pol is Jon's first officer and she's also the one person on board with the most deep space experience. While a lot of the area we've been exploring out here is new to all of us, some of the planets we've stopped at are known to Vulcans. Coridan is one of the later. Jon went down to Coridan and he took T'Pol with him, leaving me in charge here on Enterprise. None of us knew that Coridan is in the middle of a civil war, one side being backed by the Vulcans and one side being backed by the Andorians."
Trip sighed, "It's a real mess down there and they walked right into it. Lieutenant Reed and I went down to get them out and so did Captain Sopek with a few of his security people. We all ended up in a fire fight but T'Pol was hurt the worst. She deliberately took a plasma bullet for Captain Sopek. She saved his life and Dr. Phlox saved hers. When Vulcans are badly injured or they require surgery they go into something called a healing trance. I don't know the details; just that it allows them to focus their energy on healing the injured area. Phlox explained to me that a Vulcan needs help to come out of the trance."
"So hitting her was helping her?" Catherine asked scornfully.
"Yes and as T'Pol's bondmate it is my responsibility to be the one to provide that help. Dr. Phlox is a good man and a great doctor," Trip told her earnestly. "He offered to provide the necessary stimulation as they call it so I wouldn't have to. But you taught me not to back down from my responsibilities and I wasn't about to start with the very first time I was asked to act like a Vulcan bondmate for T'Pol. She trusted me to do the job and to make sure it was done right without hurting her. I know that there are going to be a lot of times that I'll need to act like a Vulcan for her. Hopefully I won't be asked to do something that awful again. The only way I could get through with it was to think of it as Vulcan first aid."
Catherine's needles started to slow. "It really was necessary?"
"Yes Momma. In some ways Vulcans are really different from us, although they aren't in others. I'm still learning and I probably will be my entire life." Trip watched as they began to absorb just how different Vulcans were. He knew that they would have been focusing their concerns on the idea that Vulcans didn't have emotions. His mother in particular would have been worried about his becoming married to a woman who not only didn't love him but never could. He had hopes of teaching them how wrong that was but they had to get through this first. This incident would be showing them how different Vulcans were physically beyond the pointed ears and green blood.
"Are you sure you want to marry this woman Trip?" Charles asked. The more he learned about Vulcans the more concerned he got. Who knew what else this woman would be having him do and where it would lead?
Trip smiled, thinking back on his and T'Pol's argument over the children's names and their discussion in sickbay. "Yeah Dad, I'm sure. She's a wonderful woman and the more I learn about her the more fascinated I get. Of course, she's as stubborn as a Missouri mule but even our arguments are fun." It was the last that finally reassured the Tuckers that Trip was indeed in love with T'Pol and that he had only done what was necessary for her health. He would never have said that their arguments were fun if they had involved violence. They also knew that as long as he was in love with her he would go through with marrying her. Trip may have said that his bride to be was as stubborn as a mule but that was a perfect example of the pot calling the kettle black!
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Having showered and changed into her civilian clothes, T'Pol was sitting in her mother's quarters drinking tea with her mother and her mother's attendant. T'Lan had been a part of her family for as long as T'Pol could remember, having begun her service when T'Les assumed the position of Clan Mother. They had brought Vulcan Spice Tea, knowing that T'Pol probably hadn't had any for a while and that it was her favorite. "Captain Sopek informed me of your actions. You have carried out your duties in an exemplary manner." T'Les said.
T'Pol bowed her head in acknowledgement and waited for the other shoe to drop. She was momentarily distracted by the thought, but realized that it was only that she had begun to incorporate a few of Trip's favorite sayings into her mental landscape. "I had been concerned that Commander Tucker would not be able to fulfill his duties as your bondmate."
'There it was,' T'Pol thought. "Trip is more than capable and we have been able to compromise on many subjects, although not without vigorous discussion."
T'Les nodded. "I have observed that he has done his duty to you even when it was repulsive to him. It is a fine beginning." T'Pol was merely grateful that T'Les had not entered sickbay earlier. Her mother would have seen Trip caressing her ear. She was going to have to explain to Trip just why he should never touch her ears in public again. Thinking about it now, she should have realized that she was responding to Trip as her bondmate when she had allowed him to coat her ears in decon gel. She could have coated them herself. She wondered if Humans had places on their bodies that were as sensitive as Vulcan ears were. "His parents did not seem to be pleased however," T'Les said.
"I am certain it is only because they were not aware of the necessity of Trip's actions. They will understand once he has had a chance to explain why such actions are necessary to them. They have done their best to raise Trip to be an honorable man and they have succeeded." T'Pol explained.
"Your letter stated that you intended to follow Vulcan tradition for the first year of your marriage. Has Commander Tucker agreed to this?" T'Les asked. She did not want her daughter to be pushed into intimacy that she was not ready for. From what she had been told Humans were a very promiscuous species.
"He has agreed, although like with most things we have had to compromise. He will be moving into my quarters after our wedding. But we have already begun to increase our awareness of each other. We will be dancing at the reception after the wedding and the activity requires more touch than I would normally be able to accept on my wedding day." She was not going to mention that they had also begun neuropressure sessions. Her mother did not need to know that.
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The only room on Enterprise big enough to hold the wedding was the mess hall once it had been emptied of about half the tables. T'Les had been instructed on her role in the wedding and was trying to help T'Pol into the Human style wedding dress, along with Hoshi and Catherine Tucker. The dress itself was simple enough to understand but T'Les was baffled by the veil.
"I do not understand the reasoning behind this item," T'Les said holding the veil in her hands.
"These days it is simply a part of the dress," Catherine explained, "just like the garter and the flowers she'll be holding. Almost everything involved in a wedding has centuries of traditions and adaptations of other traditions behind them. I believe the veil was originally made to hide the identity of the bride, either from demons or her family's enemies, I'm not sure which."
"I can see the flowers but what is a garter?" T'Les asked. This wedding was more confusing than she had imagined when she had been given the details of what was expected of her.
"Garters used to hold up a woman's stockings," Hoshi explained. "Now a single garter is used in the tradition of fortune telling who will be the next man to be married. No one believes in the fortune but it is a fun tradition. The flowers are used in much the same way for the women."
"It's time," Hess stuck her head in to announce and cut off yet another question T'Les would have asked. T'Les settled the veil on T'Pol's hair and Catherine handed her the bouquet. Then they walked to the entrance of the mess hall and waited for Hess and Catherine to slip in and take their seats.
Standing in front of Archer, Trip tugged at the collar of his dress uniform. He still didn't know if T'Pol was going to be wearing her dress uniform or not. Hoshi wouldn't tell him and neither would Malcolm. He had no opinion either way, he was certain that she would look beautiful no matter what she wore.
Then the music started and he turned to watch the ladies come down the aisle. He had not seen T'Pol since she had been released from sickbay. Hoshi and his mother had been determined that they would not see each other before the wedding. As Hoshi laughingly explained, Trip had enough bad luck for both of them, they didn't need any more.
Hoshi wore her dress uniform and somehow made it look like she had spent a fortune at a custom dressmaker's. "Dear Lord!" whispered Malcolm. Trip barely glanced at her. He was too busy trying to get his first glimpse of T'Pol to realize just how taken Malcolm was with the Maid of Honor. Then the two Vulcan women started down the aisle. Trip barely glanced at the traditional robes that T'Les was dressed in. He was completely floored by the vision of T'Pol in white silk.
Her dress was as demure as a Victorian maiden's; with a two inch high collar, sleeves that came down to her wrists and a floor length skirt that was covered in some type of lace. She was the most beautiful thing Trip had ever seen. He could clearly see her face through her cloud like veil, (and where in the world had they found the materiel he wondered?) that flowed down from under a circlet made from something white.
So absorbed in watching T'Pol, Trip almost missed the ceremony. T'Les handed T'Pol to him and answered Archer's ceremonial question before sitting down next to T'Lan and Captain Sopek. Trip didn't hear a word; all he could do was stand there in awe until T'Pol grew annoyed at his lack of attention to the ceremony and pinched him. He started and came back to himself just as Archer asked him if he was willing to take T'Pol as his wife. For him there was only one answer, "I do," and he once more let himself pay more attention to T'Pol than to the ceremony.
Finally Malcolm, seeing that Trip wasn't paying attention to anything other than T'Pol, pried his hand away from hers when Archer asked for the rings. That part of the ceremony went off as planed; although the kiss was the most modest he had ever seen. It looked like he had lost a sizeable bet to Hoshi. He could have sworn the old boy would have really laid one on her, Vulcan or not.