T'Pol woke to a small hand on her back. She turned around to see Charlie sitting in bed next to her. There was only one way that he would get in here. She looked around the room to find Charlie's father. Tripp was standing at the end of bed putting clothes on.
"Why is Charlie in our bed?" T'Pol asked. She looked at Charlie to make sure that he didn't fall out of bed. She didn't like when Charlie slept in their bed.
Tripp smiled. "Don't worry he didn't sleep with us. He woke up and you told me to get him. I did and brought him in here."
T'Pol sat up and reached for Charlie. He was getting so big; she couldn't hold him cradled in her arms anymore. He was very active and couldn't sit still. He was walking at chance he could. Tripp and T'Pol couldn't have anything low, or Charlie would find it.
"Mama," He smiled at her. He placed his head on her chest.
"I was thinking that we just spend the day together as a family," Tripp smiled.
"Tripp, I have…" T'Pol couldn't finished because Tripp's lips were on hers.
"Not today, Mrs. Tucker," Charlie pushed Tripp away from them. Charlie didn't like when he was covered by both ends.
T'Pol narrowed her eyes at him. "Did the captain sign off for this?" Charlie decided it was time to reach for something on bed. T'Pol looked and saw that it was toy that they got for him when they were the planet a couple of months ago. It was Charlie favorite toy now.
"Yep," Tripp said with a pop on the p. "We need a day to be a family and night," Tripp leaned down towards her ear. "It was all about us," T'Pol looked into Tripp's eyes and notice that it has been a while since they had a night alone without Charlie.
"Where is Charlie going to be?" T'Pol asked. When they have been together Charlie was in the other room.
"He is going to spend the night with Hoshi," Tripp couldn't fight his smile growing.
"What do you have planned for us?" T'Pol asked.
"First things first, you are going to get out of bed and shower while Charlie and I go and get breakfast for the three of us," Tripp reached for Charlie.
T'Pol threw her legs over the bed and reached for her robe. Tripp who had one hand on Charlie, reached for it and gave it to her. "What about the rest of the day?" T'Pol asked.
"You'll just have to wait and see," T'Pol didn't like the look that was in Tripp's eyes. He headed for the door with their son. Tripp stopped at the door. "Say goodbye to mama, Four," Tripp lifted one of Charlie's hands and waved to T'Pol. T'Pol watched them leave before going to the shower.
T'Pol was making her way in the living space with Tripp coming back with breakfast. He was holding Charlie's hand with one hand and a tray of food with the other. Charlie let go of Tripp's hand and ran to his toys. Tripp put the tray on table in front of couch. T'Pol didn't think that was a good idea with their son so close. She reached for the tray, but Tripp hit her hand to move it out of the way.
"You do know that we have a child that will grab this," T'Pol said.
Tripp nodded. "I know, but we are going to sit on the couch and enjoy breakfast," Tripp reached for the mug that had steam coming off it. He took a sip and T'Pol knew that it was coffee. She didn't know how he could drink that. She took the other mug and knew it was her favorite tea. She took a seat on the couch with her mug. Tripp took a seat next to her.
T'Pol took a couple of sips of her tea before sitting it on the table. She made a plate for Charlie. "Charlie, come and get something to eat," She placed the plate on the other side of the table that was close to him. Charlie looked up at her before going back to his toys. T'Pol sighed and knew that Charlie would eat when he wanted too.
T'Pol watched Charlie reach for a piece of fruit as she made her own plate. She glanced at her husband to see that he had his eyes closed. She didn't realize how tired that he was. They have been at war with the Romulans for a year now. They all thought that it would be over by now, not going into a second year. Not only was Tripp making sure the engines were running at top peak, but she also knew that he is mentoring some of the younger set of his crew. He was always around when she needed him or if Charlie needed him. Maybe Tripp was right they needed a day just to be a family.
T'Pol gave Charlie one more look before grabbing her book that she had left on the table the night before. She opened the book and was ready to read when she heard a snore from Tripp. She turned and saw that Tripp was sleeping. T'Pol took his mug of coffee and set it on the table so he didn't spill it all over himself later.
"Mama," Charlie called her and T'Pol saw that Charlie was standing next to her. She set her book down and reached for him. She placed him between her and Tripp. Charlie placed his head on her. T'Pol wrapped an arm around him and picked up her book again. It was quiet and T'Pol knew that her husband was right about them needing a day.
"Commander Tucker, Commander T'Pol, Tripp," Tripp woke to hearing his captain voice over the comms. Tripp moaned and looked to T'Pol and Charlie to see that they were sleeping. T'Pol's book was laying on her, it seemed that she had fell asleep reading.
Tripp smiled before getting up and pushing the button for the captain. "Commander Tucker here," He said as he watched his wife and son.
"I'm going to need you to go to engineering and Commander T'Pol to the bridge. I am sending Crewman Edgerton to take care of Charlie."
Tripp heard the shaking. "What is going on, Cap?" He asked.
"We are in a battle with the Romulans, and I need the two of you," Captain Archer said.
"Understand," Tripp watched as T'Pol looked up at him. She had moved her book to the table. She moved Charlie to his spot before getting up.
The chime went off and Crewman Edgerton came in. She gave them a sad smile because she knew how much they deserve this day to be them. She saw that Charlie was sleeping. She picked up the sleeping child. "Don't worry about him," She went to Charlie's room to the secret spot for safety.
Tripp and T'Pol heard the door close before exiting their quarters. Tripp grabbed T'Pol's upper arm to stop her before she went to the bridge, and he went to engineering. He pulled her close to him. He gave her a kiss. T'Pol wrapped her arms around him. Tripp broke the kiss and held on to his wife for moment. He didn't want this to be the last time that he held his wife, and he would want to see Charlie's smiling face again. He gave her one last kiss before letting her go. He watched her for a moment before going to engineering.
T'Pol entered the bridge to see that Captain Archer was pacing in front of the view screen. There was a bird of prey in front of them. Jonathan looked up at T'Pol and gave a weak grin. "I'm sorry that I ruin your day of relaxing with your family."
T'Pol nodded. She didn't know what to say. She took her spot at the science station before looking back at the bird of prey on the view screen. "When did they show up?"
"Five minutes ago," Ensign Mayweather didn't look away from view screen.
"I called you right away," Captain Archer added.
T'Pol took a glance to see who else was on the bridge and she found Ensign Sato and Lt. Reed. She opened her mouth to say when the ship was hit again. The whole ship shook. T'Pol took a moment to not think about her husband and son. The captain needed her on the battle right now.
The captain looked at Malcom. "What was hit?"
"The upper starboard," Malcom frown.
"Throw something at them," Jonathan yelled.
"Aye, Captain," Malcom threw something at them.
After several rounds they heard Tripp on the com. "They hit the port wrap nacelles. We are down to one. Get us the hell out of here," Tripp yelled at them.
Travis tried to find away to get out of this, but he couldn't find a way out of this. "I am not finding away out of this, Captain," Travis yelled over the hit that they got.
"Shit," Captain Archer bowed his head and shook it.
Before they could think of a plan, Tripp was back on the comm. "We just lost the starboard wrap nacelles. We are dead in the water."
Jonathan sighed. This could the last of his ship and crew. He ran a hand threw his hair. He had to think what was best for his crew. He couldn't think about his young crewmember that was the son of his first and second officers. He glanced at the view screen one more time at the Romulan ship and knew they wouldn't leave him alone until they were dead. He looked at each one of his bridge officers. He couldn't let them die.
"What if we play dead?" Captain Archer smiled.
"Play dead?" T'Pol never heard that saying and she has been with human for a long time.
"Yes, it is trick that humans teach their dogs. The dog will look dead even those it is not," The captain looked at each every one of them. He was hoping that one of them would understand what he was saying.
Travis was the first to smile than Hoshi. Malcom gave a confused look. "How are we going to do that, sir?" He asked.
"Turn everything off and put life support as low as possible and make it look like we are dying," Jonathan reached to the comm. "Commander Tucker," He called.
"Yes, Captain," Tripp voice came over the comm.
"We are going to play dead," Captain threw T'Pol a look.
"Like a dog," Tripp sounded worried as to how they were going to pull this off.
"Yes," The captain gave a smile to the crew that had them worried as to how they were going to through this.
Tripp sighed. "What do you have planned?" He knew there was no way out of this until they went through it. All he knew was they were going to get out of this with luck from the horseshoe up their asses or they were going to die.
The captain told him his plans for playing dead. Tripp agreed but he didn't like it.
"Captain, what if they come aboard?" Hoshi asked after the captain got off the comm with Tripp.
"We'll just have to take that risk," Captain Archer nodded towards T'Pol to start turning everything off.
T'Pol didn't like this idea there was no logic in it, but he was the captain and there was nothing she could say that would stop him. She watched as he told Tripp what to do. Malcom got up and started to hand out phasers just in case the Romulans came on the ship.
Everything was off and everyone held their breaths waiting to see what the Romulans were going to do. T'Pol held on to her phaser, trying not to worry about Tripp in engineering or Charlie in the secret place. The view screen was even off, and they couldn't see if the Romulans were gone.
T'Pol didn't know how long they waited until Jonathan told them to turn on the view screen. The view screen came on and there was no Romulan ship out there. T'Pol let out the breath that she was holding and put the phaser down. Jonathan smiled at all of them because his plan had work.
"I say that was successful," Jonathan sighed. Everyone shook their head at him. "I like to have the damage report as soon as possible," Jonathan turned to T'Pol. "You have the bridge," He turned and headed for his ready room. Everyone on the bridge knew that he needed a moment alone.
An hour later, T'Pol entered the captain's ready room with the damage report. She only had bad things to report. Jonathan looked up from his computer where he was sending his report to Starfleet about the battle that they just had.
Jonathan noticed the look on T'Pol's face and realized that he couldn't read it. "How bad is it?"
"We need major repairs and Tripp said that they are going to take weeks to fix and the only place that the can do the repairs is Earth," T'Pol told him all that needed to be fix, so he could make a logical decision about what they needed to do.
"How fast can we go?" Jonathan asked.
"All we have is impulsion drive," T'Pol stated.
"So, it is going to take us weeks to get home to these repairs done," Jonathan sighed.
"More like months," T'Pol said.
Jonathan ran a hand through his hair because he knew that they needed to go home and get this done or they would be hunted by the Romulans. He looked at his first officer. "Alright, set the course for home."