This chapter is slightly shorter than the 1st chapter, but we do start to expand what happened in between Home and Borderland. See how he got to functional before seeing T'Pol again.
Dear Mom and Dad,
I am writing you from the transport ship Sarajevo on the way to Earth. She's a good ship. The Captain already gave me a tour. Apparently, he believes that I am a hero or celebrity or something. Not sure if I'm comfortable with that, but it has it's perks. I always enjoy checking out an engine room. Even if it is not mine. They have even managed to get a lot out of that old engine. Their Chief Engineer coaxed warp 2.5 out of engines rated for warp 2. It's kind of impressive. It puts my mind at ease that the people at the helm know what they are doing. It should be a nice, boring trip home. So long as you ignore the hero worship. That's getting a bit old. It seems that humans like me better than the vulcans. Who would have thought?
Anyway, I was wondering if I could spend some time with you. I haven't seen your new place yet. My trip to Vulcan ended sooner than expected and I'm not supposed to go back to the ship just yet. Captain's orders. He said that I needed to relax. And apparently, upgrading warp engines doesn't count. So here I am, stuck with no place to go. So, I thought that I might see your place. Maybe go fishing. You do have a pond, right? It doesn't seem right to live somewhere without a nice pond for catfishing. Few things are more relaxing than just casting a line and seeing what you find. And I am supposed to relax.
I will be in orbit in 3 days. Apparently, Earth ships are slower than Vulcan ships. Not that I mind. I had my fill of Vulcans. I'd rather stick with us slow, stinky, and loud humans. At least I know where I stand with them. Please send me the address so that I can come and see ya.
Trip
Charles Tucker the third left his quarters after sending the letter to his parents. It would take an hour or two to receive a response. The transmission speed was slow, even this close to Earth. And his parents may not know of the message right away. So it could take a while. In the meantime, he was hungry and needed a bite to eat. So he headed to the mess hall. The food was pretty good. All real food is kept in status units. Since they are running back and forth from Earth they can restock pretty frequently. They didn't have catfish or hushpuppies, but the steak and potatoes tasted real nice. So, it worked well enough for him. He had eaten far worse. Starfleet ration packs are not for the faint of heart. Anything is better than that. Even vulcan food. And he had enough vulcan crap to last a lifetime. What he needed was comfort food. Thank god he was on a human transport.
During his meal, a young man sat down next to him. He looked nervous as all shit. Oh no, not this again. Trip thought as the man introduced himself. He was curious about life on Enterprise. What Captain Archer was like. And what it was like in the Expanse. The first two topics, Trip didn't mind. He was happy to talk about his engines and the ship's capabilities. (In general, at least.) And he loved talking about his friend and CO, Captain Archer. But, the Expanse, no. He didn't want to talk about that. It brought up too many bad memories. He lost too many friends out there. And he couldn't help but think about his sister. All things that he didn't want to think about.
"I'm sorry, I don't wanna talk about that."
The young man looked confused. "But that's the best part. You did something that even the vulcans couldn't do: Brave the expanse and save humanity from the Xindi. That's worth talking about!"
Tucker was trying really hard not to go off on his man. He meant well, but this was a touchy subject for Trip. "Look, a lot of people that I knew died. Friends, shipmates, and people we met along the way. They were all murdered. You'll excuse if I don't want to talk about it."
"Sorry . . . I didn't . . . mean." He stuttered.
"You think that the expanse was fun? Well, it wasn't. It was hell on Earth. Something I'm not keen on talking about." Tucker stood up. "You'll excuse me." With that, Tucker left the room.
After that incident, Tucker tried to avoid people as much he could. He took whatever meals he could in his quarters. If he had to go to the mess hall, he ate quickly and kept to himself. As soon as he was done, he either retreated to his quarters or a service area of the ship. The crew permitted him to enter. He could sit there for hours listening to the engine thrum. It was soothing. If he could, he would have never left.
Fortunately, the three days passed quickly, and he was in Earth's orbit. He was one of the first passengers to disembark. After renting a shuttle, he made his way to Mississippi, where his parents now lived. It took only an hour to travel from the port to their house, but it was peaceful. He didn't have to explain himself or listen to the hero worship. He did not feel like a hero. If he were one, then Lizzie would be alive today.
The house itself was pretty nice. It was old, probably at least a couple of hundred years old. There were fields and woods surrounding it as far as the eye could see. Behind it was a manmade drainage pond. Trip hoped that it was stocked with catfish. It was not a grand house by any stretch of the word, but it was nice. It was just what the doctor ordered. Peace and quiet, and no hero worshipers.
His parents, Charles Tucker Jr. and Elaine Tucker, greeted him when the shuttle landed. His mother ran up and hugged him. While his father hung back and smiled at him. She broke the hug and looked him over. "Trip, how have you been?"
"Alright, Mom."
"Really?" She quizzed him. "Because you don't look alright."
His father chimed in. "Your mother has been worried about you."
Tucker shook his head. "I'm okay, Mom. Just a little shook up, that's all."
His mother didn't look convinced, but she dropped it for the moment. Opting to guide Trip into the house.
A few hours later, Trip was at the back pond with a fishing rod in hand. His father loaned his best rod (or so he said). Trip had not spoken a lot in the last few hours. He tried to talk, but he found that he had little desire to speak. He just wanted to be alone with his thoughts. He couldn't stop thinking about what happened on Vulcan and T'Pol. They plagued his mind. They wouldn't leave him alone. He thought that fishing would keep them at bay, but he was wrong.
At some point, his father came up and sat next to him. For a long time, they just sat there in silence. Once his father realized that Trip wasn't going to talk, he started. "So, what's on your mind, son?"
"Nothing, Dad."
"Charles Tucker the Third, do not lie to me. It's obvious that something is eating you alive. Now I would like to know what it is. Is it Lizzie? Because that's not your fault."
"It's not Lizzie." Tucker sighed. "I've accepted that she is gone. I miss her, but there's nothing that I can do about it."
"Then what is it? What's got you in a tailspin?"
Trip looked out across the pond. Suddenly, he was 16 thousand light years away. Getting dumped in the worst way possible.
"I see, girl trouble." His dad said sagely.
Trip dropped his rod. "Dad!"
His father chuckled. "Sorry, Trip, but you are so predictable. Always mooning over one girl or another. I swear that you can't just pick one."
"I did pick one." Trip's voice had an edge to it that he did not intend to have. He stopped a second, took a breath, then continued. "She was great. Smart, funny, snazzy dresser, and real fun to argue with."
"So what happened?" He asked.
He sighed again. "She got married."
"And not to you." His father confirmed for Trip.
Trip threw his hands in the air. "Of course not to me! I would have told ya if I was getting married."
"I hope that I get an invite too." His father joked.
"Of course you will. You'd think that I'd leave you out?" He teased. "Nah, you and Mom would be first on the list. Right after Captain Archer."
"I'm glad that we rank below your CO." His father said dryly. Trucker smiled for the first time since T'Pol's wedding. "That's the boy I remember. Thought I lost him out there."
Trip shook his head. "Never."
His father's expression became serious. "So, you going to tell me who this girl is?"
Trip hesitated. "T'Pol." He finally said.
"T'Pol," His father repeated. "That's a Vulcan name, isn't it?"
"Yup." He nodded.
"And this vulcan, she felt the same way?" His father seemed more confused than anything. It seemed that his father believed the lie that vulcans don't have feelings.
"I thought so, but vulcans are a tough read. They make hiding emotions an art form. Which is real frustrating. Sometimes I have no idea what's going on in their vulcan minds."
"So, you don't know if she felt the same way?"
"I thought so." Tucker shook his head. "It's hard to explain, but even since we . . . you know . . . had sex . . . I just know things about her. Things I shouldn't know. I feel her with me. Even when she's not there. I don't know how. I just do."
"Do you feel her right now?" His father asked worriedly.
Trip closed his eyes for a second as he searched for the familiar tingle at the back of his head. "Ya, I do."
"Trip, you're not making sense."
Tucker looked up towards the sky and let out a breath that he was holding. "I'm honest to god trying! It don't make sense to me, either. That's part of the problem. I want to understand. Just like I want to understand why she married that guy. She didn't give a damn about him. I know that. I could feel that."
Tucker got up and started to pace. "Dad, she didn't take me 16,000 light years just to force me watch her get married. I swear she was taking home to meet the folks. A girl just doesn't do that lightly."
"A human girl doesn't do that lightly." His father corrected Trip as he stood up. "But that might be different for vulcans. They might not do that. You could have simply been a close friend or colleague to her. Maybe she knew about the wedding and wanted you to attend."
His father's suppositions made sense if you didn't know vulcans very well. Or T'Pol, for that matter. If you did then this made no sense. Vulcans are very careful about who they call a friend. They are even more careful as to whom they are intimate with. Trip remembered making love to her the first time. It was overwhelming. It was like her mind was joining with him at the same time as he went inside her. He could feel her thoughts, her feelings, her desire. She needed him. Just as he needed her. It was not logical, to say the least, but it was the truth. She loved him. And Trip loved her more than he had ever loved anyone before. Or ever since, for that matter. Even when he was with someone else, all he wanted was to be back with her.
"She was forced to get married by her family, Dad."
"Son, I know that vulcans are repressed, but forcing people to marry each other? That doesn't seem right."
"It isn't. It truly isn't." Trip shook his head. "Doesn't change a thing, though. Her mom told me that this was arranged when T'Pol was a kid. Just as it was with her mother before her. I was supposed to just accept it as a fact. Like it's normal to marry off kids who don't even know what love is." At the end, Trip was practically screaming. He was so frustrated, so angry, so heartbroken, that he couldn't keep it in anymore.
There was a silence that preceded his rant. Finally, his father asked. "If you find this practice so repugnant, why didn't you try to stop it?"
He turned around and looked his father in the eyes. "How exactly do I go about that? These people have been at this for so long that they consider it a fact of life. They don't give a damn about what T'Pol wants or feels. It's just what's best for them. That's all this marriage is about - her mother. She said so herself. She married him to save her."
His father reached out to touch his son's arm. "I'm sorry, Trip. I really am."
Trip felt tears threatening to break through. He somehow managed to repress them. "Y'know what's the worst of it? I think in the end, her mother wanted me to stop her. This was her benefit, not T'Pol's, so why would she do that?"
"I can answer that, darling." Trip turned to find his mother standing a short distance away. He had no idea that she was there. She looked so incredibly sad. "First and foremost, a mother wants her daughter to be happy. Regardless of what they choose. Even if that goes against their wishes."
"Mom, T'Les is a vulcan."
She nodded sagely. "Yes, she is. That don't make what I said any less true. I'm sure that humans and vulcans can both agree on this. A mother always wants her daughter to be happy. I think that she wanted you to save her daughter from herself."
"How do you know that?" Trip asked, dumbfounded. "You never met T'Les or T'Pol."
She raised her eyebrow in a gesture that reminded him of T'Pol. "No, I haven't. Maybe one day, that will change. Maybe you'll take T'Pol home to see us. I dunno, but that's up to you two. Not us or her mother. She must have known that. Or else, why would she have told you to stop her?"
"I don't know." He said honestly. "I really don't know."
"Son, if you love this girl so much, why didn't you stop her?" His father asked.
"I don't know. I wanted to. I really wanted to, but I couldn't." Tucker sighed. "I was a coward. I was scared that she would run away with me. I was terrified that she wouldn't. I was sure that she would marry this Koss guy in spite of me. So, I chickened out. I said nothing as I watched her sacrifice herself. All while I wished that it was me, not him. I wouldn't care if I got stuck on Vulcan for a year. So long as I stuck there with her. I'd gladly give up my career, my engine, my life for her." He threw up his hands in the air. "Not that it means anything now. I lost her, and I'm never getting her back." He added in morosely as he crumbled to the ground.
His mother sat down beside him and enveloped him in a hug. "It will be okay, Trip. It will be okay."
Trip collapsed into her embrace. He felt like he needed to cry. He lost the woman that he loved with all of his heart, and she was not coming back. After a few minutes, he broke the hold. "Thank you, Mom."
She placed her hand on his cheek, "Trip, you are a fine catch. One day, a lady's going to realize that and snap you up. To hell with T'Pol. Find someone new, someone better. Get her out of your mind."
"Thanks, Mom." He said even though he knew that it was impossible. He didn't know how it was impossible, but he knew it all the same. T'Pol would always be in the back of his mind. He would always love her. No one else would do. That was clear to him now.
He had to return to Enterprise and face her in a few weeks. Somehow, he had to find a way to become just friends and colleagues again. He had no idea how to go about it, but he'd figured there was no time like the present to get started. He would spend the next couple of weeks going on adventures without her. Seeing if he could forget her and the times that he shared her bed. It would be an uphill battle, but Tucker was up to the challenge. He would find a way. He was not going to lose his ship or his engines because of this.
See you next time! Alley