Chapter 3

They had taken Porthos for a walk, or rather a run. It had taken Trip a lot just to keep up with the dog and boy, who seemed to be reveling in the 'run' Once they got back to Jon's cabin, the first thing Porthos did was go straight to his water bowl...it was empty, so Trip filled it and a happy dog began lapping the water up. Once he was done, he went to his bed and flopped down with his head on his paws. Jonny had come over to the bed and got down and petted Porthos and was rewarded with a lick and a tail thumping.

They had gone to the bridge in the afternoon and Jonny had been overwhelmed. The crew on the bridge had been accommodating to the young boy who was their captain and answered all his questions. Travis had even explained the warp controls on his helm. Trip had smiled and was there to keep Jonny from getting under foot and had been quite surprised at how much he had been interested in Malcolm's tactical console.

"So the phase cannon's can be activated at a moments notice."

Malcolm was showing him the display and Jonny was listening intently.

"And you get to shoot them?"

For a moment the look on Malcolm's face showed surprise, then he looked at Trip and then said

"Well, only if the captain gives the order and only in battle."

Jonny seemed very impressed with the armory officer and said in a very soft voice

"I'm not sure I could blow up anything...I just want to be able to explore the stars. My daddy says that we should meet new people and explore and..."

He stopped and turned to Trip and continued

"He says that meeting new people is what we should do."

Trip smiled and said

"Well we do, we meet lots of new people and learn all about them."

Now he beamed as he went over to Trip and said

"Do you think we will meet anyone new while I'm here?"

Trip grinned and said

"You never know we might."

He had taken Jonny's hand and was moving towards the center as he said

"How'd you like to sit in the cap'n chair?"

Jonny stopped dead in his tracks and looked up at Trip with a slightly apprehensive look on his face as he said

"I don't think I should, he might get mad at me."

Trip looked at the boy as he said

"Don't worry...like I said he's my best friend and I know he won't get mad."

"Why haven't we seen him? A captain should be on the bridge, right?"

Jonny looked up at Trip with inquiring eyes. Trip looked around the bridge and everyone present just averted their eyes. He wasn't going to get any help from them. Finally he said

"Well he's sorta been...not feeling so well, so he's been restin'"

He hoped that would satisfy him. He continued

"Now lets see how you look in the big chair."

Jonny looked at the chair again and said

"You sure he won't get mad?"

That was the second time the boy had been a little scared at something he perceived would be wrong and it had entailed an authority figure. Trip had lifted him into the captain's chair, and watched as Jonny sat there, his feet barely going past the seat, wondering why Jon seemed so uncomfortable whenever he mentioned anything about the captain. Did he somehow know that he was the captain? Trip didn't think so, but he also wanted to get to the bottom of this uneasiness. He was about to say something when the lift door opened and T'Pol walked onto the bridge. When she saw Jonny she stopped and just raised an eyebrow at the child.

No one was quite sure how it happened, but the boy had almost flew out of the chair and had moved behind Trip as if he was frightened. He clung to Trip's leg and barely peeked out from behind, staring at T'Pol. She had not missed the look on his face and had raised both eyebrows and then calmly said

"Perhaps the bridge isn't the place for the child..."

She trailed off and looked at Trip who had a bewildered look on his face. In fact all the bridge crew were shocked. It looked like Jonny was scared of the Vulcan first officer. Trip looked down and saw the look he was giving T'Pol and said

"Maybe we should go check on Porthos, what do you say?"

He took his hand and they moved towards the turbo lift, Jonny keeping Trip between him and T'Pol. Once they left the bridge, the silence was broken by Travis as he said

"What happened?"

T'Pol was silent for a moment and then said

"It would seem that the captain's...distaste for Vulcan's began at an early age."

Now Hoshi spoke up

"But sub commander, that was fear, not...why would the captain fear Vulcan's?"

Hoshi had a concerned look as she said it. She had seen the first look that had come upon his face and it was fear and he had almost fallen when he had jumped out of the chair. She thought for a moment and then said

"It was almost like he had been caught doing something he shouldn't and was..."

She didn't want to say he was terrified, but it reminded her of a child afraid of being punished for bad deeds.

"I'm sure the commander will talk to him."

T'Pol said as she moved towards the captain's chair. This was the signal for them all to get back to work, so they all turned and resumed their duties.

As T'Pol perched on the edge of the chair, she got a thoughtful look on her face. What could have happened in the captain's early life to have caused such fear? Why was he acting this way? She hoped Trip could find out. She had become very close to Jonathan and it bothered her that he was afraid of her. She knew that both of the captain's parents were no longer living, so she couldn't contact them to find out. She knew there was nothing in his records to give her a clue. Oh he had distrusted Vulcan's and even disliked them when they had first launched Enterprise. In fact, he had even threaten to 'knock her on her ass' the first time they met, but in the last five years, they had grown to first be comrades and then close friends. But he had never shown any fear of the Vulcan's he had come in contact with, just the opposite, a contempt of them. Something was buried deeper and she wanted to know what. Maybe if she contacted Admiral Forrest he could shed some light on this. But first she wanted to talk to Trip about this.

It was 2230 and T'Pol was just coming off shift. It had been a long day, and she wanted to meditate, but first she needed to talk to Trip. He had called her a half hour ago and asked her to come to the captain's quarters,that they needed to talk. She had questioned his decision to meet there, but he had assured her that Jon was asleep, that Phlox had given him something to help him sleep.

He had told her that he had taken the captain to sick bay after they left the bridge. He had started to shake uncontrollably and he had been worried. Phlox had given him mild sedative and said it was just an anxiety attack. Phlox still had no answer to what had happened to the captain and how to reverse it, but said he was still working on it. Trip had the feeling that the doctor was on to something, but was not ready to share it yet.

She arrived at the door and hesitated. She still wasn't sure it was such a good idea to talk to Trip here, but she couldn't think of any where else, since Trip seemed content to look after the captain at this time. She raised her hand to ring the chime and almost before she could do so the doors opened and Trip was standing there. He stepped aside to allow her to enter and then followed her into the dimly lit room. She saw the captain fast asleep in the bed with Porthos curled around him his head laying on the boy's chest. She also noticed that his hand was on the dog's back as if he had fallen asleep stroking the dog. Porthos raised his head and thumped his tail a few times at her before laying his head back down. It was obvious he was protecting the child.

"I'm glad you came darlin' I need to talk to you about the cap'n"

Trip said as he sat down on the couch. She perched next to him and said

"What did you find out? Why does he seem...frighten by me?"

He could see the strain around her eyes and knew this was troubling her. In the past few years, she had come to admire Jonathan and he knew it hurt her even though she'd never admit it. He reached for her and drew her to him and she allowed herself to be settled in his embrace. She laid her head on his shoulder and allowed him to begin to gently stroke her arm as he began

"When we got back from sick bay, I was worried at the reaction that he had displayed. He was still shaking some and seemed ready to jump at every noise. Good thing Porthos was here. He immediately attached himself to Jon and would not let him out of his sight. He even kept an eye on him as I got him cleaned up and ready for bed. And you can see, he won't leave him. I swear that dog knows something isn't right."

Trip looked over at the dog who just watched them with his soulful brown eyes.

"Any way, once I had Jon settled I asked him what was wrong. At first he wouldn't tell me, but finally I got this story out of him."

He began to tell the story to T'Pol,who listened with a concerned face.

"So he was playing with his dog and just chasing like any other kid would do, and as he turned the corner of the hall, he accidentally ran into what he said was a very large, stern Vulcan. The force of the collision knocked him down and as he looked up he saw the face for the first time. He said it was the most frightening face he ever saw. The Vulcan raised both eyebrows and stared at him. He said he was scowling at him..."

"Vulcan's do not scowl."

"But to a young child, it could look like a scowl. All he knew was that he had done something bad. Well I guess at that point, Henry Archer came into the room, he had been getting some of his drafts for the engine and he saw his son on the floor and well for some reason the Vulcan began to berate Henry about the behavior of his son. Henry just got Jon up and said he was just acting like any other human child would and shooed Jon off. As Jon was leaving the room, the Vulcan began expounding on Vulcan youth and how they would never act like that and Jon said the sound of his voice was what scared him the most. He was afraid the Vulcan was going to hit his father so he rushed back and started to yell something about not hurting his daddy and I guess the Vulcan shoved Jon and he fell and broke his arm."

T'Pol was shocked. No Vulcan would be so disrespectful to their host, and no Vulcan would hurt a child. On Vulcan, children were regarded highly. She now looked at Trip with what could only be disgust on her face.

"For a Vulcan to do this to a child is unthinkable. It is the height of...arrogance."

She turned to look at the captain sleeping so peacefully and felt a pang of... guilt? Since she had been with the humans, she had not only allowed her emotions to surface somewhat but the captain and Trip had even encouraged it. She looked at Trip and he saw the sadness in her eyes.

"Don't worry darlin' the Archer's reported the situation to the Vulcan Consulate and the guy was sent packin' back to Vulcan. Seems he had an intense dislike for humans."

He said the last with a bit of satisfaction in his voice.

"Jon said he couldn't understand why the Vulcan hated him. He said he was afraid of him and the look in his eyes as he shoved him. I guess as he grew up, he turned that fear he had into the intense feelings of distrust and dislike for the Vulcan's. Funny, he never told me this story before, I never knew his arm had been broken at such an early age. I guess he just sort of buried the incident deep down and now, it must seem so fresh to his mind that the fear is coming out."

She nodded and then said

"What can we do about this fear? I know it is something that happened in the captain's past, but we should do something to help now. I don't like seeing that look..."

She trailed off and Trip knew how much this was affecting her. They had begun a relationship after the death of his sister, Lizzy and it had grown in the years. He could read her like a book and he knew that all the 'no emotions' the Vulcan's touted were not so. This woman had them and she was not afraid to show them when she was alone with the two closest friends she had on this ship. Now one of them was in trouble and she wanted to help him.

"I'll be taking Jon to sick bay tomorrow so the doc can check him over. I'll talk to Phlox about what I found out."

They settled down and didn't speak for a while, each enjoying the company of the other. Finally T'Pol had excused herself stating that she really needed to meditate before she went to sleep. Trip had seen her to the door and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead before she had left him. He turned and walked back into the cabin. They had decided that unless a dire emergency came up, he would be off duty for a while till they could figure out how to fix this. He had complete trust in his team and Lt Hess to take good care of his beloved engines. He walked over to the bed and gently sat down. He looked at the captain sleeping peacefully. He reached out and brushed a lock of hair off his forehead and said softly

"We'll figure this out Jon, somehow it will get fixed."

He got up and tucked the covers in and then slowly got ready for bed.

TBC