T'Pol stared at her home world on the view screen as in came into view. She knew that she would never step foot on that world again. She felt a pain her chest because her son was never going to know this world. She took a breath as she tried to control her emotions.
She knew this day was going to happen since they left Andoria, and Vulcan was next on their list. She knew she would be okay, she had Tripp and Charlie. Tripp had held her whenever she needed it and sometimes, she didn't even realize that she needed it until he was holding her.
"Standard orbit," Captain Archer said to Tavis.
"Yes, sir." Travis started to put the ship where it needed to be.
"Commander T'Pol, my ready room," Jonathan led the way to his ready room. He didn't wait to see if she was following him. The door closed behind her as the captain took a seat at his desk. "Are you sure you want to stay on the ship?"
"Yes, I think you will have a better time getting them to go with you if I am not there," T'Pol said.
"Alright, I'll leave Tripp here with you," Jonathan saw that T'Pol was not all there even if she made it seem like she was.
T'Pol nodded. "Thank you, Sir," T'Pol didn't think that Tripp minded. He would rather be on the ship with her and their son.
"I will take Ensign Sato with me," T'Pol nodded. Jonathan smiled. "Is there anything else I need to know?"
"No, Sir, you have dealt with Vulcans before, and you have a Vulcan as your first officer." T'Pol put her arms behind her back.
"You are right," Jonathan sighed. "Good luck up here," Jonathan stood. "I hope it only takes a few days, but I have a feeling that we are going to be here for a while."
"It seems very logical," T'Pol made for the door.
"There is my Vulcan first officer," Jonathan followed her out. "I wondered if you were spending too much time with Tripp."
"Sir, he is my husband and father of my child," T'Pol reasoned.
"I know, I know," Jonathan entered the bridge. "Ensign Sato you will becoming with me to Vulcan."
Ensign Sato stood. "Yes, sir," She traded a look with Travis before following Captain Archer off the bridge.
T'Pol took a seat at the captain's chair with a PADD. Travis and Malcom traded a look. "Is there something on your mind, Ensign?" T'Pol asked Travis.
"Sir, I was wondering why you aren't going with them," Travis said. Hoshi had told him several times to be truthful with Commander T'Pol.
"I have too many responsibilities on the ship," T'Pol went back to her PADD. Travis had a feeling that she wasn't telling the whole truth and he didn't think he was going to get an honest responds from her.
"Commander," Travis said. "You have a visitor who is asking to speak to you."
T'Pol looked up from her PADD. She didn't know who would want to visit her. She didn't make it known that she was around Vulcan. Captain Archer must have said her name to someone.
It had been few days since she saw the captain. She wondered if it was going well. Nothing big had happened on the ship until now.
"Who?" T'Pol asked. Travis said his name and T'Pol knew the name. "Have him escorted to the ready room," Travis nodded. T'Pol stood and headed for the ready room. She took a seat behind the desk and waited for the Vulcan.
He entered like a confidence man, who knew who he was and where he was going. The last time she saw him was just after her father died. His hair was still that dark brown that was almost black. She couldn't read his dark eyes as he looked around the room. His eyes landed on T'Pol.
"Hello, cousin," He said.
"Hello, Sov," T'Pol said his name. The way he had called her cousin was the only way he respected her. She called him by his name to show that she respected him and what he did. "What can I do for you, Sov?" T'Pol asked. "If you are here to see if my son is really mine, then I can tell you that he is."
Anger flashed in his eyes. T'Pol knew that he wished that she wasn't his only living relative besides their foremother. "If you have stayed married to Koss and he was father I wouldn't have to worry about your half-breed child."
T'Pol could feel the anger raising in her. She took a breath. Sov never liked her because she was a woman and her father's only offspring. Sov was many years older than her. She remembered when she was a young girl, he married his wife because her parents didn't have another child. "Please don't call my child a half-breed. I'm sure that Naisi has given you a child by now, so you have nothing to worry about." Sov grew tense and T'Pol knew that he still had no child, and his wife is not as young as she used to be. T'Pol smiled on the inside. "So, I'm still one of the only descendants of Nodav and now Charlie is too." She had a feeling that he would have growl if he let his emotions get to him.
"What kind of name is Charlie?" Sov asked. "It doesn't sound very Vulcan.
"He is named after his father; Charles Tucker and we call him Charlie." T'Pol had to fight the smile. She was spending too much with humans. "What are you doing here?" She really wanted to know why her cousin would seek her out. He wasn't around to help her mother when she lost her job.
"Foremother would like to see you and your family," Sov said. T'Pol raised an eyebrow. She didn't think that her foremother would like to see her. She didn't walk the path of a Vulcan woman. Her foremother was very traditional and thought that T'Pol went off the path when she went to Earth to work for Soval and kept putting off her marriage to Koss.
"Why would Foremother want to see me? I am her least favorite person," T'Pol asked.
There was a light shining in Sov's eyes that reminded her that she wasn't his favorite person. "She is getting older," He didn't finish the sentence because T'Pol knew what he meant. Her foremother didn't think that she had much time left on Vulcan. T'Pol nodded. "She would like you and your family to dinner tomorrow night."
"I will have to talk to my husband," T'Pol said. She didn't know if she should go or not. It was the reason that she gave. She knew that she would talk to Tripp about this and see where she wanted to go with it. Sov nodded. "I will let you know by tonight." Sov nodded again. "I will see you back to your shuttle." T'Pol stood and led the way out.
After T'Pol saw her cousin back to his shuttle, she went to find Tripp. She knew that he would be Engineering. She knew that he was doing a lot of repairs while they were in orbit around Vulcan. She was to see him at dinner with their son, before he went to the bridge for his shift, and she went back to their quarters with their son.
T'Pol found him under some panel, swearing about something. She looked around to see that most of the engineering crew wasn't paying attention to him. She crawled under the panel and saw him full of grease. He was going to shower before his shift.
"What?" Tripp said as he felt someone beside him. "I told you," He turned his head to see T'Pol. She raised an eyebrow at him. He gave her a smile. "Sorry, I thought you were someone else. What can I do for you, Commander," He reached for a tool that was under her butt. T'Pol gave him a look. "No, I did not do that on purpose. I need the tool and you are laying on most of my tools." T'Pol started to feel the tools under her. She reached under her and pulled them out. "Did you just want to see me or was there reason why you needed me?" Tripp asked. He loved seeing his wife, but she usually had a reason for seeking him out in the middle of day.
"I just got a visit from my cousin," Tripp raised an eyebrow at her. He didn't know that she had a cousin. "He and I have been estranged from each other for a long time. Well, he came to tell me that my foremother wants to have dinner with us tomorrow night if we are available."
Tripp stopped what he was doing and gave T'Pol a look. "Wait back up for a moment. You have a cousin and a grandmother still alive. I thought you had no more family after your mother died."
T'Pol looked away from her husband for a moment to compose her thoughts. "My father was a descendant of Nodav, and my cousin and I are the last of the line. My cousin, Sov likes to hold to that. I could care less about it. Everything I did I did on my own and not who my family was. I haven't heard from my cousin since the death of my father and my foremother cut me out of her life when I didn't marry Koss right away and went to Earth."
"Wait," Tripp held up one finger. "Who is Nodav?"
"He was great leader before the teaching of Surak. He had many that followed him and when Surak came with his teachings, he was ready to follow him. I thought that it might be he was tired of fighting. Once he became a follower of Surak, Nodav helped spread the teachings. Nodav had several children at the time and who he arranged good marriages for them. Over the generations several lines died out, leaving one line and the original line from his oldest son. My forefather, my father's father, was the last until he married my foremother and had my uncle and father."
"So, our son and your cousin's children are the last of the line," Tripp said.
"That is the thing, Charlie is the last of line after me," T'Pol said. "My cousin and his wife have no children and they are not as young as we are." Tripp nodded. He didn't know what to say. He couldn't say that his family history went that far back.
"Wow," Tripp felt that was all he could say. "And your foremother wants to have us for dinner."
"Yes, she is getting older and wants to make things right between us," T'Pol said.
"Do you want to go?" Tripp asked. "I mean they haven't been there when you needed them," T'Pol knew that he was talking about her mother and her job and with her running from the government.
T'Pol sighed. "I don't know, I told him that I would give him an answer tonight."
Tripp reached for her hand, brought it up to his lips, and kissed her fingers. T'Pol closed her eyes, she needed to feel his touch. "I'm only going to say this. This is your only family besides me and Charlie. Don't do anything you are going to regret. Once your foremother is gone, there is no way of knowing what could have been. Yes, they haven't been there for you, but don't let that stop you from seeing them. You don't know if you are ever going to see them again and maybe say what you feel to them," He leaned closer to her. "Remember this, I love you and Charlie loves you. And if we are all the family, you need then let that be enough." He kissed her cheek.
T'Pol leaned her against his shoulder. She knew she could stay here for a while, but she needed back on the bridge. She gave his hand a squeeze before letting it go and crawling out from under the panel. She leaned down one more time before she left. "Please shower before dinner," Tripp laughed and let his laughter go to her heart.
T'Pol made it back to the bridge with Travis giving her look. "Everything okay, Commander?" He asked.
"Yes, Ensign," T'Pol picked the PADD that she left on the captain's chair when she went to meet her cousin. She couldn't constraint on what was on the PADD when she couldn't stop thinking about seeing her foremother and cousin. She took to what Tripp said to heart. She knew that Tripp and Charlie were enough for her, but something about seeing where her foremother stood was stopping her from saying no. She also knew that Tripp was going to be by her side if she needed him. Her family was going to test her emotions with what they say to her tomorrow night.
"Commander, we are getting a message from Captain Archer," The ensign that was sitting in Ensign Sato area said.
"Put him up," T'Pol said. She put her family aside and went to work.
T'Pol was waiting for Tripp to come with Charlie. Before dinner Tripp had called and told her that he was going to shower and bring Charlie with him. T'Pol looked up and saw her husband entered with their son. When Charlie saw her his smile grew on his face and held out his arms for her. T'Pol reached for him and held him close for a moment before settling him on her lap. She started to feed him. Charlie was taking to the bottle more than breastfeeding, but T'Pol knew that she couldn't feed him with just her breast milk alone. He was growing and needed more. She still feed him at night before he went to sleep.
She looked up and saw Tripp watching them. He smiled at her. "Have you decided on what we are doing tomorrow night?"
T'Pol nodded. "Yeah, we are going to go. I think this is something I need to do." Tripp nodded.