Disclaimer: we all know I don't own any of this.

Summary: An alternate timeline from where Susan Khouri approaches T'Pol in Demons, will TnT get their happy ending? - I know its been done before.

Authors note: Thanks soooo much to all of you who have reviewed. Because you asked and so many of you asked so nicely, I will try and give you a proper ending and even multiple chapters.

Please note it has been ages since I watched Enterprise so forgive if there are inaccuracies, let me know and I shall edit.

Compatible

Chapter 2

The beep of the scanner acted like a spoon on a champagne glass calling for silence. It was quiet now, apart from the small vibrations from the engines and the slight hum from the lights that weren't detectable by human ears, a calm silence had blanketed the walls of sickbay.

"Phlox?" Archer called out trying to get his attention, "Is there something wrong, with this baby?"

"mmm?" Phlox seemed distracted, "Oh it's nothing too serious just an elevated white count and slight fever."

T'Pol felt worry crawl through her, her child was sick. Maternal instincts that she thought she would never possess awoke in fierce surge of protectiveness,

"She WILL get better." It was a demand, not a request, T'Pol fixed the Doctor with a stare he could not escape .

"Oh yes, it's just a cold, or slight infection maybe, easily sorted." Phlox was brought back to reality as the tone of T'Pol's words shook him out of his revere. He turned to retrieve the appropriate hypospray and set down the scanner.

"So what was with that look." Trip said, he'd been quiet for a while, feeling a bit out of place.

"Bemusement I believe would be a good word for it. I was running the baby's DNA and I can indeed confirm that she is part Vulcan and part human."

Soval's eyebrows rose disappearing under his fringe, Archer hid a smirk as he could practically hear the objections to such a statement running through Soval's mind as his eyes moved back and fore as if shaking his head. 'The Vulcan science directorate has determined...The Vulcan genome...incompatible...Physiological differences...Vastly superior ...evolutionary primitive...iron...cooper...IT IS NOT POSSIBLE.'

T'Pol felt Trip's stomach plummet, as his unease and apprehension mingled with her own. Their thoughts both running along the same lines, two thirds of Enterprise's crew were male, could either of them handle it if someone else were the father. An addition of a third party into the already tenuous bond would be a disaster, there would be no hope for a renewal of their relationship. But if he were the father, could they make it work? Get past all the differences and past wrongs and hurt they had caused one another and be a family? Given how he had treated her since her marriage to Koss, T'Pol thought it rather unlikely. She looked to Captain Archer, he could be the father.

NO!

Her mind revolted, Trip it had to be Trip, neither she or the bond could accept anyone else as the father of her children. She turned to Phlox in need of answers, to find him already looking at her, as was everyone else. Thoughts ran through her mind, they didn't think that she had actually been pregnant did they? That she had mated with a member of the crew? Well she had but they didn't know that. She looked at Trip again and saw doubt across his features, he couldn't possibly believe that ...No he couldn't the woman had said the DNA was stolen.

Phlox cleared his throat to bring attention back to himself, "The results show that this child is a binary clone, the product of Commanders T'Pol and Tucker." He grinned widely.

T'Pol looked intently at Trip when phlox made his announcement, she felt a series of emotions run though him, disbelief, suspicion and then overwhelming joy and concern. That was when the mantra started, his loudest thoughts projecting right through her mental shielding repeating over and over.

A daughter, I have a daughter, we, we have a daughter, its just a fever Phlox said she'll be fine, she'll be fine, just a fever...

It was going to give her a headache.

"So this woman was telling the truth then?" Hoshi asked to break the silence, "The DNA was stolen?" It sounded innocent enough but T'Pol could hear the query in her voice and sighed internally, it looked like she'd have to volunteer the private information.

"I have never been pregnant." she said resolutely, putting an end to anymore speculation.

"So someone broke in and stole your DNA samples from sickbay, when we were in dry dock or something?" Travis said

"More likely we have a spy on board, someone that's in league with that Terra Prime movement."

"Someone on Enterprise in league with those xenophobic bigots? This is a ship of exploration Mal. why on earth would they join up, if they were in line with those backward thinking, hill-billy hicks."

"Exactly Trip, why would anyone like them create a Vulcan/human hybrid, she goes against everything they believe in. This has got to be part of some bigger plan."

"We're sure it was them then, Terra Prime, the baby is the result of some sort of experiment." At those words from Travis, T'Pol felt Trip's temper flare, and could even feel his fingernails digging into his palms as clenched his fists.

"We cannot accurately speculate without further information, I believe Lieutenant Reed is correct, there is likely to be a spy aboard Enterprise that needs to be found and questioned. Equally pressing is the unknown threat posed by the organisation who created this child, if their plans are now ruined or they intend retaliation." Soval's voice remained as calm as ever.

"Malcom," Captain Archer turned to his third officer, "get on to those old contacts, get me anything and everything you can about Terra Prime and what Paxton might be up to. The rest of you are to look into the backgrounds of everyone on board and their families. I know it's hard but we don't know what's at stake here. Once you've cleared the security personnel, get them to help you. Soval, a word."

And with that they all left, Phlox excusing himself to give the new family some privacy. Trip and T'Pol were finally alone with their daughter.

The silence had descended then, neither of them knowing what to say. Trip stepped in closer to the sickbay bed and looked down at his daughter. Her head was turned towards her mother as T'Pol continued to caress her hand, the baby, his baby looked calm and contented gazing at her mother. Trip was feeling a bit awkward, T'Pol had yet to look up at him, or acknowledge his presence, she seemed completely absorbed in their daughter. He was starting to feel like a bit of an outsider, like he was intruding on a private moment, but gradually he inched closer, she was his daughter too.

Though he did have to admit that when Phlox had announced him as the father, despite what the woman had said his first thought had been that T'Pol had kept him in the dark, that she had gotten pregnant in the expanse or on the transport to Vulcan (because that had been one whirlwind of a trip) and not told him because it wasn't logical to tell him and she had somehow had the foetus removed on Vulcan and then this Terra Prime had found out and stolen their baby. Part of him hated that his first thought was that she'd betrayed him and he berated himself for thinking so badly of her and another part thought this was exactly the sort of thing T'Pol would do as a logical solution to a problem. God this was a mess.

He broke the silence, "We gotta talk about this."

At the sound of his voice she finally looked up at him and met his gaze, she didn't speak at first but her eyes drew him in, preventing him from saying anything else. It is said that the eyes are the windows to the soul, a truer statement had never been said, especially when it came to T'Pol. There was a whole world behind her eyes, something most people would never notice, but for Trip it was a world of emotions. When her face revealed nothing sometimes, if you looked hard, and Trip did, you could see beyond that calm Vulcan exterior to the fear and sadness, the frustration and amusement hidden under layers of repression and control. Right now they seemed pained, but perhaps also hopeful.

"You do believe me, don't you?" Her voice was soft, he waited for her to continue, "I would never have your child without telling you."

She knew, somehow she knew where his first thoughts had taken him and she was hurt, damn that bond, great now he felt like a complete dick.

"Yes, I believe you."

He reached out with his hand and squeezed her upper arm and gave her a half smile in reassurance. He instantly felt tension leave his body, he hadn't even realised he was tense. T'Pol too seemed more relaxed now, maybe it wasn't his tension after all, god this was confusing.

T'Pol, satisfied by his answer and turned her attention back to their daughter.

Jeez was that her version of a talk? That couldn't be all she wanted to know. He had millions of question flying around his head, hundreds of concerns about her, about them, about their daughter, what was going to happen, were they in danger? While the mother of his child seemed to just want to make eyes at their daughter!

OK, deep breath, the last thing he needed to do was explode. He followed T'Pol's gaze down to their daughter, her attention still focused on her mother's gaze. Trip admitted he was awed by his daughter as well, she was perfect. He moved his hand to her free one and brushed the back of his index fingers against hers. At the moment of contact Trip felt a rush of love, protectiveness and belonging breeze through his mind and settle right over his heart. He gasped at the power of the emotions and looked up to find T'Pol looking right back at him with a soft look in her eyes, full of emotion but not one he could identify. Looking back down to the bed where his daughter lay, blue eyes met blue eyes as his daughter gaze at him intently.

Trip slipped his thumb into the palm of her hand as T'Pol had done and his daughter gripped it tightly, an instant grin broke out on Trip's face and his daughter pumped her legs and gurgled a smile in return.

All previous thoughts, questions and worries fled Trip's mind. He felt ecstatic, he turned to T'Pol who was already looking at him

"What was that? When I touched her I felt...What was that?"

"You are her father." T'Pol stated as though that explained everything

"I'm gonna need a little more than that, T'Pol."

"She is half Vulcan. She recognises you as her father and has formed a bond with you."

"A bond? Like you and me, one of those telepathic, physic bonds?"

"A bond, yes. One like ours, no." T'Pol took a breath trying to find a way to describe something she had never described before, there was no need to on Vulcan, bonds were simply a natural part of life understanding them was innate.

"Vulcans live their life in a bond in some form or another. Children are conceived by a husband and wife who share a mate-bond, the strength of which is variable depending on the couple. When the child is conceived the mother is physically and mentally link with the child growing inside. The father, through the mate-bond also becomes tenuously linked. This parental bond is solidified at birth as the child recognises its parents and vice versa. As an infant the bond facilitates communication of the needs of the child and alerts the parents the child is in danger. The bond works to keep the family unit together and heal disharmony. As the child grows older the bond fades in intensity but the presence of the parental bond is always there. When the child comes of age and is married a year is spent with the spouse to facilitate the formation of mate-bond, which takes over as the primary psychic connection."

It was a simplistic explanation, but accurate. Trip nodded in understanding.

"But I'm not Vulcan, humans aren't telepathic."

"But I am and so is our daughter, your mind maybe more receptive than most given our past relationship."

"So what happens if say a Vulcan suddenly finds themselves bonded to the wrong person, say like after that year these Vulcans spent together you've had enough and want to go your separate ways, find yourself a new bondmate?" The second the words came out his mouth Trip wanted to take them back. It suddenly felt as though someone had punched him in the stomach and he was slowly dying.

T'Pol felt like she was dying, grief was swallowing her whole, he didn't want her, his badly disguised hypothetical question did nothing to hide the true meaning of his words. She let go of her daughter's hand not wanting to transmit her sorrow and distress to her daughter. She didn't want to fall apart not now, he deserved an answer, their situation was largely her fault. She promptly shoved the upsetting emotions behind a door and closed herself off to Trip.

For Trip it was as though someone had slammed a shutter closed, his head rang and it was almost like a physically pain. When the ringing subsided there was a deafening silence in his mind, no calm, no more breeze, T'Pol was gone. Had she not spoken Trip would've thought she'd left the room.

"That would not happen." Her voice had no softness to it, she was full on Vulcan, "Mate-bonds only form when both parties desire it, if they have mutual affection and respect for one another. If a bond has not form after one year then the couple is free to dissolve the union and find a new mate."

Well that wasn't exactly a declaration of love, but he hid a Smirk and what she had just revealed. She cared for him, at least she had, whether she did now was a different issue entirely.

"So you can't break a bond?" Trip knew he was treading in dangerous waters but he needed to know.

"It is very rare, I have never heard of someone in my lifetime severing a mate-bond. To be done successfully the severing must be done by a priest of the highest order and be the expressed wish of both parties." She told him, she had to tell him he had the right to know to choose. "It is not done without risks, the bond's natural state is to keep people together. Once it is formed a bond works to keep the people involved together, increasing their desire for one another, rewarding closeness and making it difficult to be apart. Without intervention only death will break a Vulcan bond."

"The daydreams."

"The bond trying to get us to communicate. Allowing us to be close mentally when we could not be physically."

"You talk about it like its alive."

"Research has been done on the anthropomorphic qualities of the Vulcan bond, but results have been inconclusive. Some believe that it is the ruled by the sub conscious desires of the parties, but it is highly controversial."

"Cos Vulcans don't let their sub-conscious direct their decisions, y'all logical beings."

"Exactly."

T'Pol had done well keeping the emotion from her voice, but now she knew she must continue, away from the generalised and back to the specifics of their own situation. T'Pol could feel the door buckling under the weight of her emotions. Trip was quiet, thoughtfully mulling over the new information, rolling his tongue around in his mouth, looking down at their daughter who was now asleep once again.

"I do not believe such a procedure would work on us." Her voice was quieter but level, T'Pol was pleased with this small victory.

Trip looked up at her, "What now? What procedure?"

"The severing of our matebond. Even if it were possible you would never be free of me, not now that we have a daughter. No Priest would perform it, breaking our bond could hurt her. The parental bond we now share with her will link us forever. I apologise if I had known before you wish to sever the bond, we could have taken action sooner, but you said it was not a big deal, I misunderstood I am sorry. Though if you wish I can take steps to block you from the effects of the bond, which should prevent it from getting any stronger, I know at times you are frustrated by it and you feel its an invasion of privacy"

"Blocking it, you mean like you're doin now?"

T'Pol raised an eyebrow, she had not thought he would notice.

"Ya know, when I asked that question bout the Vulcan couples I felt like I'd been punched in the gut, then all of a sudden, nadda. It was like you slammed shut our adjoining door, I have ta admit it kinda hurt."

"I'm sorry, I did not mean to cause you harm, I was more forceful then I intended, I was just.."

Trip cut her off, "gettin overwhelmed by your emotions n didn't want me ta know I hurt ya."

"yes. I see I was unsuccessful." He grinned stupidly at her. "It can be done more gradually, I can teach you techniques.."

"Thanks but I'll decline, for now at least." T'Pol raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Look, when ya cut me off, apart from the pain, it felt, I dunno, I felt kinda empty and alone. Like I was suddenly missing my right arm or something, it was just wrong, b'sides I kinda like it, it's like I getta sneak peak at the real you no one else gets ta see, my own private viewing. It's helpful as hell, ya don't have ta tell what you're feeling cos I already know. Ya know thats probably where these bonds came from in the first place, ya Vulcans are so repressed ya can't talk bout your feeling, so ya gots some sneaky little bond ta do it for ya."

Trip was still grinning, wondering how long it would take T'Pol to get her bearings back and drop the simply stunned face she was currently sporting, apparently she needed another little more time to be able to respond in any manner of dignity.

"B'Sides, I'm pretty sure that procedure wouldn've worked for us anyway." That got a reaction, a curious tilt of the head and slight raise of the eyebrow, "Ya see, I'm not ready ta get rid of ya."

T'Pol drew in a shaky breath, "You do not wish to break our bond?"

"No, looks like we're stuck with eachother." He smiled at her, suddenly a little unsure, he let go of his daughters' hand to step forward and take T'Pol's delicate hands in his, "That's what you want? Right? T'Pol?"

"The bond would not have formed if I did not. But I am concerned, you do not know everything surrounding the circumstances in which our bond formed, I may have pushed this on you more than you realise..."

"Hey, we're a family now, I'm not saying that this isn't something that we shouldn't talk about but lets just take a moment here and enjoy it. Let me back in T'Pol, please, let us be a family."

He squeezed her hands and T'Pol opened the door and slowly let her katra join back with his, Trip gave a contented sigh, it was like a warm breeze spreading throughout his body, making him feel deliciously euphoric.

"mmm now that's one hell of a reward."

"It is most pleasant." T'Pol agreed.

They stood still for a moment simply gazing into each others eyes. Trip smiled at T'Pol, joy, happiness and what T'Pol believed might be love radiated from him. She gazed back, her eyes smiling filled with a light moisture, she never believed he would still feel this way about her, it was beyond her hopes.

Trip had never felt so connected to another person, he felt as if he was looking into the depths of her soul, and god she was beautiful. T'Pol felt an urge to embrace him, to bury her head into his shoulder and inhale his scent. But before she could act they were interrupted by a gurgling from the bed next to them.

The new parents immediately turned their heads towards their daughter who started to wriggle around on the bed. Trip let go of one of T'Pol's hands and placed it on their daughters chest, his fingers gently massaging her.

"Hey now, its ok, mummy and daddy didn't forget you, we're right here."

T'Pol put her now free hand on her daughters head and started smoothing her hair.

"Listen to your father my ko-fu, we are here, there is no need to worry."

The response was immediate, the wriggling stopped and their daughter calmed, a smiled replaced the distressed features.

"You should hold her."

"What?" T'Pol announcement startled Trip.

"You haven't held her yet. You should hold your daughter."

"I.." Trip was suddenly nervous, he didn't have a lot of experience, what if he did it wrong, what if she cried, Vulcan babies could cry right? Oh God what if he dropped her! "She seems happy where she is."

"There is no need to worry, you won't drop her." Her voice was soft and her eyes looked at him with affection but Trip couldn't shake the feeling that she was highly amused by his ramblings. "sit down."

Despite his reluctance he hopped up on the biobed as T'Pol took their daughter in her arms and transferred her to Trip. Their daughter let out a small squeal as she was finally placed in her fathers arms.

"Wow. She's amazing, she's .."

"I know." T'Pol said softly as she joined him on the bed, sitting so close that there could not be more than a millimetre between them.

Trip felt a wave of elation as she rested her head on his shoulder and put her hand through the crook of his arm, they were a family.

"Hello ko-fu, I am your ko-mekh and this is your father."

"Ko-mekh is mother? Ko-fu is daughter?" T'Pol nodded, "What's father?"

"Sa-mekh."

"Sa-mekh, I am your Sa-mekh." Trip said gently to his daughter as he gently traced the shell of her ear. As he did so Trip and T'Pol felt a rush as she squirmed delightedly and let out a laugh. Trip grinned pleased with the reaction.

"That is something a Vulcan parent would do, the tips of the ears are very sensitive."

"So it's like a tickle then?" Then after a moment thought he added, "How come I got no reaction from you in decon after our first mission?" Trip was slightly annoyed she hadn't laughed, he bet her laugh would sound lovely, like a melody. Oh boy, he was whipped.

"We suppress the urge to laugh, it is a reaction to a physical stimulus that can be controlled, like pain. It takes years to accomplish we are not born the way we are."

"I hope she doesn't learn, laughing is one of the true joys in life."

"Perhaps she won't, maybe she can find a balance between her human and Vulcan heritage. I believe Lorian smiled."

"Yeah, yeah he did." Trip felt instantly uplifted and started imagining watching movies with his daughter, laughing with her, it was all so perfect.

"Trip, get Phlox."

"What?" Trip was sluggish to respond, still wrapped up in his daydream.

"Get Phlox, something is wrong." T'Pol said taking their daughter from his arms and holding her to her chest, something didn't feel right. It wasn't just the fever, the woman had said they were going to kill her, what if Terra Prime had already done something to her, something they hadn't detected.

"T'Pol calm down, Phlox gave her medicine, she's ok." Trip was really worried, T'Pol was pacing back and forth, worry clearly etched on her face.

"No it something more, it hurts, she hurts." T'Pol could feel her panic rising as she desperately tried to suppress it.

Trip was about to try and calm her irrational panic, Phlox said she was fine. When the alarms on the monitor above the bed started to go off.

Trip instantly slammed his fist into the call button.

"Phlox, get in here now!"

End

Next chapter in the works. Would love a vote for baby girl Tucker's name should it be Elizabeth, T'Mira , T'lizzie... Send in your suggestions please!