Chapter 5: An Apple a Day
Trip/Voras walked brusquely into the Vulcan High Council chambers and calmly asked the attendant at the desk to alert Minister T'Pau of his arrival. The attendant inclined his head and asked him to take a seat while he waited to be summoned by T'Pau. Voras, he needed to think of himself as Voras now, nodded curtly and took a seat on one of the uncomfortable stone benches that were available for the few visitors to the High Council. You would think people who spend a large portion of their days sittin' on the ground meditatin' they would have more comfortable chairs. Yeah right. They probably consider comfort to be illogical. Well, T'Pol doesn't, but she's hardly a normal Vulcan. He inwardly smiled as he thought of his wife. She was probably still in bed. She had been needing more and more sleep lately as her pregnancy progressed. I'm going to be a dad in four months. I never thought this would happen. The thoughts going through his mind made it dangerously difficult for him to maintain control over his facial features. I need to focus. T'Pau asked me to help with this eight months ago. I didn't expect it to take such little time to discover who was responsible for leaking classified warp drive schematics to the Romulans. As it turns out not everyone in the new High Council was as enlightened or loyal as we were led to believe.
"Men-hilsu Voras" Investigator Voras. "Minister T'Pau will see you now." Trip stood up and made his way through the double doors and into the minister's office.
T'Pau looked up from a PADD in her hand and gestured to the chair in front of her desk. "Investigator, have a seat." 'Voras' complied and took the seat with a nod. "I understand that you have information for me regarding the arrangement we have made."
"Yes minister. I have here a PADD with all of the information you need regarding our, arrangement, and will thus terminate our arrangement as per the agreed upon terms." 'Voras' handed T'Pau the aforementioned PADD and awaited dismissal. He really wanted to get home and begin preparing the noontime meal before T'Pol overexerted herself again. The last time he was away from home during the meal preparation time he came home to find her winded and sweating over a post of plomeek soup.
"I have reviewed our original terms and believe that you have indeed fulfilled your part of our agreement. I will now fulfill my part of the agreement. Your marriage to Lady T'Pol is officially recognized and you are now a citizen of Vulcan. Your child, which will be born on Vulcan, will hold both Vulcan and Earth citizenship. I find it curious that this is your only demand considering the great risk you have taken. "
The words barely registered with Trip. He could hardly believe that T'Pau had managed to do what he had asked. Her implied question hung in the air for a few moments before Trip answered. "It is all I desired." He nearly smiled. I'm officially married! I'm going to be a dad! T'Pol is going to be so excited!
T'Pau inclined her head and stood. This signaled is dismissal and so 'Voras' stood as well and offered the ta'al. "Live long and prosper Minister T'Pau."
She returned the gestured. "Peace and long life Men-hilsu Voras." He nodded and turned away quickly walking out of the office and towards the transport that would take him home to his wife and unborn child.
"Welcome home t'hy'la I was about to prepare our noontime meal." Trip walked into the door and kissed his wife on the cheek. She looked well rested but he could tell that the pregnancy was taking a toll on her body. She wasn't standing up as straight and her skin wasn't a bronze at it usually was.
"No adun'a, I will prepare the meal. Perhaps you would like to send an invitation to Soval inviting him to our home for dinner tomorrow night while I prepare our meal?" He smiled charmingly down at her knowing that she would put up a fight.
"Very well." She nearly sighed aloud. Trip could sense resignation and fatigue through the bond. She turned to walk toward the communications terminal on the other side of the room. He reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Ashayam, what is wrong? Are you feeling well?" His concern was evident not just in his words but in his tone. He felt surprise through the bond. T'Pol turned around and placed a hand on Trips left cheek and one on her fairly large stomach.
"Do not worry Trip, I am only tired. I believe that this is a normal development in pregnancy. I have already left a message for Dr. Phlox. He is currently serving aboard a medical transport en route to Vulcan. I have asked that he visit when he arrives to perform a check-up. I will let you know when he is to arrive so you may be present when the examination takes place." She looked up into his eyes. He knew she was worried about the baby. He was worried about the baby.
"Alright T'Pol, but if anything happens between then and now you must promise me that you will seek help from a Vulcan physician." He gave her a serious blue-eyed stare. She acquiesced almost immediately.
"I will agree to that. However, they will undoubtedly find it difficult to treat me or our child. They will have no experience with a Vulcan/Human fetus, nor with a Vulcan carrying such a child to term. Phlox is the only one who has intimate knowledge of our unique situation. Though I would prefer to only allow him to examine and treat me I will not risk our son's life nor my own. I promise Trip, I will do all I can to keep him safe." She closed her eyes struggling to maintain control of her emotions.
"I know darlin' I know." He pulled her into the best hug he could considering just how pregnant T'Pol was. He kissed the top of her head and felt her relax in his arms. The feeling of love radiated through the bond and he broke the embrace. "Now adun'a go and extend the invitation and then join me in the kitchen. We need to talk about some good news I received today. We can chat while I make us lunch." He smile down at her warmly and watched as she nodded and moved back towards the communications terminal.
"Welcome to our home Doc!" Trip smiled as he opened the door for Phlox.
"Thank you Mister Voras." Phlox emphasized the last two words to indicate that he thought the ruse should be upheld. He was simply met with laughter from Trip.
"You don't have to address me that way in my own home Doc. We don't have any neighbors within earshot and a security device is affixed to the roof that only allows transmissions with a verified transmission code to go through. No one is spying on us Phlox, we're all safe here. You can just call me Trip." He smiled a big smile which was oddly pleasing on his otherwise Vulcan face. "T'Pol's in the kitchen fixin' some tea, would you like some? She's been drinkin' iced tea like it's going out of style for the last two weeks." He just chuckled.
"Thank you Trip that would be lovely." He watched as Trip nodded and then his gaze turned more inward and he smile.
"She's got it." He smiled gesturing towards the sofa. 'Have a seat."
After a quiet afternoon spent with Trip and T'Pol catching up about Phlox's family and what several of the Enterprise crew were doing now that the ship had been decommissioned.
"Lieutenant Commander Reed finally popped the question. Turns out he and Lieutenant Sato had been dating for more than a year. I had no idea they were in a romantic relationship." He laughed a happy laugh. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the amount of relationships that formed among the staff of the Enterprise. You two are hardly alone. I can only imagine what reunions will look like." He chuckled again. He suddenly became all business. "Should we begin the examination. T'Pol where will we be doing the examination?"
"Trip has set up a medical station in the guest bedroom. We will be doing the exam in there." T'Pol answered calmly.
A medical station in the guest bedroom? I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the engineer would want to use his skills to safeguard the health of his wife and child. Especially what happened to poor baby Elizabeth. "Show the way." Phlox smiled a big Denobulan smile.
"Your son is doing quite well." Phlox smiled up at them. The scans showed that baby boy Tucker was developing normally for a Vulcan fetus. "I would say you have another 2 1/2 months until you need to worry about preparing for labor. It would seem you are having a perfectly normal Vulcan pregnancy. Your son should being to alert you to when he is ready via the parental bond." Phlox looked at them expectantly. "Have you experienced this bond?" He finally asked after they didn't say anything.
"Forgive us doctor such things are very private. However, since you are our physician I see no reason why we should keep this from you." She looked to Trip for reassurance, and he smiled at her. "Our bond with our son is remarkably strong though our own marriage bond is also unusually strong and so it should be no surprise that our parental bond is also strong. After the first trimester of my pregnancy we were receiving a slight interference in our bond which alerted us to the presence of our child. Since the initial bond development it has grown stronger and stronger. Recently, "T'Pol stopped, unsure of how to continue so Trip stepped in to help.
"Recently T'Pol and I have been experiencing dreams. These dreams have been strange to say the least Doc. It would seem our little guy is a pretty talented telepath already. He has shared his consciousness with us while we are sleeping. We've heard his heart beat, we've seen his face, and we've even had conversations with him. I guess the reason we're telling you this Doc is, well, we're wondering if you might be able to stay around for the next two weeks or so because the little guy seems to think it's time for him to be born." Trip had a sheepish look on his face as if even he thought it sounded silly.
"You're telling me that your son thinks he's about to be born? Well, I have a difficult time believing that, but with what I've seen in my time aboard Enterprise and in my experience with you I would say that I would listen to our little fetus." He smiled. "So where would you like me to stay? Hmmmmm? Perhaps I can arrange for a room in the Human Sector."
T'Pol answered, "That won't be necessary doctor. You may stay in this room. Trip will remove the medical equipment and store it in our spare office on the other side of the garden." Trip smiled and helped T'Pol off of the bed. "You are welcome to come and go as you please doctor but our meals are served on a regular schedule."
"Yeah Doc, and just wait until you taste T'Pol's pecan pie. The woman has a gift." He smiled down at his wife whose lips upturned ever slightly in the imitation of a smile.