Slow Way Home
Chapter 32
[Day 39 of 45]
Jim Kirk was supposed to be doing paperwork – why it was still called paperwork when no carbon paper was actually used she had no idea – but she wasn't. She was walking through the halls of the Enterprise watching and observing the cadets and guests in action.
Turning a corner she heard a gasp. Stopping she turned her head to the right to see, hidden in a dark alcove two people making out. They were still fully dressed so she knew it was nothing more. If she was Spock she'd be writing them up because it was against regulation. But she didn't mind – really. People needed to find connection and comfort in any way they could.
Moving on a bit farther down the corridor she saw some red shirts fixing a problem with the wiring. Mixed in, dressed all in black, was a Vulcan who seemed to be helping just as much as they were.
Smiling she continued onward.
She moved down the corridors seeing talking cadets who seemed to be off-duty. On-duty cadets were hurrying this way and that. Engineering was seen sporadically throughout the ship's corridors.
At one point she saw a Vulcan woman, a young woman, walking down the hall talking to a younger male cadet. As they walked by she glanced back and wondered if it was possible there was a courtship going on between them. But she brushed that thought away because it was none of her business.
Smiling she walked down the hall and eventually found her way back to her quarters. She needed to get to her paperwork eventually. Might as well.
Slow Way Home
Two Vulcan Elders sat in the Mess Hall. It had been a long time since the younger of the two had been onboard a starship. Still, she could feel the vibrations of the ship beneath her feet. She could see the black outside her window. She could hear the chatter of the crew and she felt more comfortable there than she had on Vulcan for many years.
"I remember the day I met Captain Archer," Lady T'Pau told the other woman who held back a smile. She never had, truly, regained full control of her emotions. But it made her invaluable – her experience with other species. "I found him Rude, Patronizing, and Illogical."
"You told him so, to his face if I do recall," the Vulcan Elder told Lady T'Pau. She nodded her head. "He was impressed with your dominance. Women on Earth still found it difficult to control men yet you did so with great ease."
"He impressed me. Which is why I never fought my son in his marrying Lady Amanda, no matter how illogical," Lady T'Pau admitted. As they spoke T'Pau's grandson and his bond-mate entered the room. She was young, beautiful, and strong. Despite her having blue eyes and blonde hair she was reminded of her Trip. He had dark brown hair and dark eyes.
"Your grandson has followed in the footsteps of his father," the Elder noted though there was no scorn in her voice.
"As my son followed in yours… Lady T'Pol," Lady T'Pau stated and T'Pol nodded her head. She was the first Vulcan to ever build a bond with a human by pure accident. Not that she'd ever told him about the marriage bond.
His death nearly destroyed her. If not for Archer pulling at her, coaxing her to live she would have followed the broken bond. Most never saw those events.
Losing first her child and then her mate had destroyed her.
"It is a difficult road. Scorned by others of our kind for the choice," T'Pol acknowledged. She never bore a child, not after the death of Elizabeth all those years ago. And she had never gone into Pon Farr after the death of Trip. She sometimes believed that the attraction they felt yet denied early on may have been stronger than either cared to admit.
She wondered if they had been T'Hy'La.
"But you and my son, and more of the younger generation are choosing that life and making do," Lady T'Pau stated as T'Pol watched T'Pau's grandson.
"Maybe one day the stigma will no longer scare our kind," Lady T'Pol stated before turning to Lady T'Pau. Soon they would be back at earth where her mate was laid to rest and the memorial for her daughter lay. She would be home.