"T'Pol to my ready room," The voice of Captain Archer came over the comms.
"You have the bridge, Lieutenant," T'Pol told Malcom before leaving. T'Pol made her way to the captain's ready room. She found the captain looking at his computer screen before looking up at her. He gave her a smile. "You wanted to see me, Captain," T'Pol stood there with her hands behind her back.
"Yes, I have some news, you might take this as good news or bad," Jonathan looked around his ready room. T'Pol nodded waiting for his answer. "They are retiring the ship in a few months."
T'Pol nodded. She didn't know what to say because in a few months Tripp and she were going to leave the ship and raise their family on Earth, but now this. She knew that the ship was Jonathan's love. The ship had seen them through so many things. It has been home to all of them for the last ten years. She found her bond mate here and started a family with him. Both of her children were born on this ship. It is going to be hard to say goodbye to the ship.
"I know that you and Tripp were planning on leaving anyways, but I must tell the others. They are making a way for a new kind of ship to travel to space." Jonathan sighed.
"I'm sorry. I know how you feel about this ship," T'Pol said. She didn't like that the ship was retiring because she knew that if she was on Earth that Enterprise would be in space.
Jonathan nodded. T'Pol watched him for a moment before walking out of the room. She had a feeling that the captain wanted to be alone right now. She made her way to the bridge and had everyone looking at her to see what the captain wanted. She didn't say anything because she thought that it was news that the captain should tell the crew. She didn't know when he was going to do it. She took a seat in the captain's chair and picked up the PADD she left when the captain asked her to the ready room.
"Good afternoon," Jonathan voice came over the comms. T'Pol knew that he was telling the crew. "We have been together for almost ten years. We have travel to places we would only dream about," T'Pol watched the bridge crews faces. Jonathan let out a short laugh. "In a few months, they are going to retire the ship and make a museum of it. I just wanted to say what an honor it was to serve with you. I don't know where the journey is going to take you, but I hope you remember your first ship if you become captains and admirals. Remember the friendships you made on this ship," T'Pol heard him take a breath before saying. "Good luck into the unknown and remember us."
T'Pol looked around and saw tears in the eyes of the other members of the bridge. They were going to miss this place and the people on this ship. Many had friends on this ship. It was going to hard saying goodbye to this ship and the people that made it a place to be. T'Pol looked at Lieutenant Reed, Ensign Mayweather, and Ensign Sato. She would call them friends because they had been through so much together. She knew that she was going to miss them once they left the ship. She always thought that they would be on this ship forever, but now she didn't know where their paths were going to take them.
T'Pol saw that they wanted to say something to each other, but they were on the bridge and it was going to have to wait until later. She watched as they gathered themselves and went back to work. T'Pol knew how they felt because she wanted to find Tripp and start planning their life after Enterprise. She would have to talk to him later about making plans for after they retire the ship. She looked down at the PADD and tried to remember what she was working on again.
"Tripp," T'Pol watched her husband playing on the floor with their children. One of them let out a laugh. Tripp looked up at her with a smile. "Can we talk?" Tripp nodded and stood up. He went and took a seat on the couch next to her. He watched the children for a moment before looking at T'Pol.
"What do you want to talk about?"
"As you heard from the captain earlier the ship is going to retire at the same time we do. We are going to need a place to live with our children." T'Pol said.
Tripp sighed. He knew that his wife was right. It was time to look for a house for their family. Tripp looked down at the children one more time. They needed a place where the children could run and play. "You are right. I'll investigate a real estate agent tomorrow. What are we are looking for in house?"
They talked about what they wanted in the house for an hour. They wanted at least four bedrooms with a backyard for the children to play in. Somewhere close to Starfleet Command and academy. They were going to look in San Francisco for their family home.
By the time they were done, both children were in their arms sleeping. Tripp smiled down at Charlie before picking him up and taking him to bed. T'Pol followed him with T'Mir. Tripp and T'Pol stood there for a moment watching their children before turning down the light. They knew that they were doing the right thing about moving to a home in the city. Their children needed somewhere to grow, and a ship wasn't the place to do it.
Tripp and T'Pol headed for their room. They changed into pajamas and Tripp watched as T'Pol went to mediate. He climbed into bed and watched his wife for a moment before picking up the PADD next to him.
T'Pol climbed into the bed next to her husband. Tripp didn't put down his PADD when she entered. He was used to her climbing into bed. "Tripp," T'Pol said. There was something she wanted to talk about without the children around.
"Hmm," Tripp said without looking up from the PADD.
T'Pol reached over, took the PADD out of his hands, and set it on his bedside table. Her breast passed over his chest and Tripp let out a hiss. She knew that her husband was already for her anytime she wanted. T'Pol thought that it had been awhile since they had sex. Tripp ran a hand over her the edge of her pajama shirt that she let out a hiss. Tripp leaned closer to her ear. "It has been a while for the both of us."
T'Pol pushed away from him. "There is something I want to talk to you about before we get lost."
Tripp sighed because he knew that she was right. "About what?"
"I think that you have a stalker," T'Pol said.
"How?" Tripp asked. T'Pol told him what happen on Earth with the woman who accused her of doing something to Tripp. What he saw in her. Tripp sighed. He knew that his wife was right. Once they got back to Earth, they were going to have to do something about this stalker if they wanted to live in peace. "Now that is out of the way, I can show my wife what I see in her," Tripp kissed the back of her neck.
"Tripp," T'Pol moaned.
Tripp kissed her lips and that were the last words they spoke that evening.
"Commander T'Pol."
T'Pol heard someone say her name. "Hmm," She said but didn't look up from the PADD she was looking at.
"We have come to inhabited planet," Travis traded a look with Hoshi. It seemed that the commander was distracted.
They both looked at Commander T'Pol and Hoshi smiled. She knew what had distracted Commander T'Pol. Someone had a little fun last night with her husband. It must have been a good night because Hoshi didn't remember a time that she was this distracted. Hoshi had to wonder if there was something on her mind that they didn't know about. Hoshi looked around to see how else was on the bridge with them but there was no one else to speak to the commander.
"Commander T'Pol," Hoshi said. The commander still didn't look up. Hoshi looked at her console and saw that the planet was hailing them. "T'Pol," She called out. "Someone is hailing us."
T'Pol looked up from her PADD to the screen in front of her. Hoshi turned on the screen on and alien with red skin appeared on the screen. "May I ask what you are doing in Zophri space?" The voice sound like a woman. T'Pol couldn't make out if it was a female or male.
T'Pol sat up a little straighter. "We were passing through. We are space explorers from a planet called Earth."
The person nodded. "We would like to know if you would like to visit our planet and see our culture?"
Commander T'Pol nodded. "I will talk to my captain, and I will let you know." The alien nodded and the screen went blank.
T'Pol got up and went to the captain's ready room. It didn't take long for the captain to let her in. T'Pol told him what had happened and thought that the crew could use some shore leave if everything went well with them. Jonathan agreed.
"Contact them and tell them that we would be honored to meet them," Jonathan said.
T'Pol nodded and left the captain. She went back to the bridge and told Hoshi to open a channel. Hoshi opened the channel and the alien that was on before was still there. T'Pol told the alien that they would like to meet. T'Pol got a team together to go down to the planet.
T'Pol landed on the planet with Ensigns Mayweather and Sato. They were greeted by the two Zophri. They smiled at them. Their smiles were big, and it showed them their teeth. They didn't say anything as they led T'Pol and the others away from the shuttle. They didn't say anything as they led T'Pol and the team into a building.
T'Pol looked around and saw how the building was built. It looked like it was built of red stone. The stone had something made of marble on the floor. There were no pictures on the wall as they walked down a hall. T'Pol saw Ensigns Mayweather and Sato trade a look as they came to set of doors. T'Pol took a breath as the doors opened. They stepped into a room with many windows on the back wall. Sitting in front of the windows were three Zophri.
The one in the middle smiled at them. "Welcome to Zophr."
"Thank you for meeting with us," T'Pol said. "I am Commander T'Pol and these are Ensign Mayweather," She pointed to her left. "And this is Ensign Sato," She pointed to her right.
"Welcome Commander. I am President Yune of Zophr. We would like to welcome you and your crew here. There are many things happening on our planet that everyone could find of interest."
"I know that my crew would enjoy some shore leave and it would be an honor to do it on your planet," T'Pol said.
"How long are you planning to stay?" President Yune asked.
T'Pol looked at the others. They didn't want to overstay their welcome. "Only a few days," T'Pol and Captain Archer agreed on a few days. If they gave more, they would stay longer.
President Yune nodded. "That is acceptable. Please enjoy your time here."
"There is a fair going on tomorrow," Tripp looked at what was happening on Zophr. "I think that we should take the kids," Tripp looked over at his wife who was sitting next to him on the couch. They had just put the kids to bed. "They need to get off this ship too."
T'Pol didn't look up from her PADD. "I think that you are right," She looked over at him. "Are you willing to spend time with your family?"
Tripp narrowed his eyes at her. He knew what this was about. The last time they were on Earth, and he didn't come down with her and the children. He leaned closer to her. "I told you that I had stayed because of Malcom."
"I know," T'Pol looked back down at her PADD.
Tripp sighed there was something else bothering T'Pol. He reached over and took the PADD out of her hand. "What is really bothering you?" Tripp asked. Being married to her for five years. He knew when to read her.
T'Pol tried to reach for the PADD but Tripp kept it out of her reach. She looked from him to the PADD before sighing. "I feel that you are leaving me and the children."
"Oh," Tripp put the PADD down and looked into T'Pol eyes. "I would never leave you or our children," He leaned down and kissed her. "You are the love of my life. You have given me something that I thought I would never have. We have a family," He ran a hand over her hair.
"Not willing," T'Pol whispered.
"I don't think that I am going to die any time soon," He leaned down and kissed her again. "You are stuck with me until I die. We both know that you are going outlive me. I just want to see a few gray hairs in your head before I go," Tripp hoped to get a reaction out of her but nothing. "Do you feel better?"
T'Pol didn't say anything but reached around him and grabbed her PADD. Tripp sighed and knew that she wasn't feeling better. She was going to have these feelings until she started to believe that he wasn't going to leave her or the children. Tripp took the PADD again. "T'Pol, I promise you that I will never leave you or the children. I will always think of you first."
"You can't promise that," T'Pol up at him. Tripp could see the worry in her eyes. "Because you are still going to work for Starfleet."
Tripp had to reassure her. "If Starfleet wants me for something I will always think about you before making any decisions before getting killed. I will always come back to you."
T'Pol placed a hand on his face. "Just don't come back in a box," It was whispered but Tripp heard.
"I won't," Tripp leaned over and kissed her. There was a promise in that kiss that he would always come back to her even if she didn't believe him.