Home Movies

Home Movies

Disclaimer: Paramount owns them. I just borrow them from time to time.
Rating: PG
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
Spoilers: General
Summary: Trip comes across some old, forgotten videos

A/N: Inspired from March's word prompt at The Delphic Expanse: "Home Movies."  Special thanks to my beta, Honeybee!

Trip happens upon the files by accident. After a couple years of putting it off, he finally decided to move the data from his old, dilapidated CPU to his new one. During the transfer he found engineering schematics, and hair-brained ideas that gave him a chuckle as he looked them over. There were old communiqués from Jon and the gang, and even some from T'Pol which made him a little wistful. He perused through pictures from those green years when Enterprise first launched.

Trip is well steeped in nostalgia when he comes across some video files with names he doesn't recognize.  He opens the first one and his heart clenches at the image.

A tiny blond girl runs in circles in a yard full of deep green grass and tall trees. She giggles as an older boy chases her, hollering, "I'm gonna get you, Lizzie! You better run fast!" Within seconds the boy catches her, and they tumble to the ground, laughing.

Lizzie jumps up. "Again, Trip! Again, again!"

A lump swells in Trip's throat as he watches the pair race through the yard, playing the simple game over a few times before the video fades to black. He touches the screen, opening the next file.

"My name is Lizzie Ann Tucker da fird," a young Lizzie says into the camera. She's wearing a billowy pink tutu.

Boy Trip snickers off-screen. "No, Lizzie. You're just Lizzie Ann Tucker. No 'the third.'"

Her little face scrunches up. "Nuh-uh. I'm da fird 'cuz I'm free years old." She holds up two fingers. "An' I came last. Mama had Berdie, den you," she says, pointing to the camera, "den me. See? One, two, free!"

The camera shakes with boy Trip's laughter. "Okay, Lizzie Ann Tucker the Third. What d'ya want to be when you grow up?"

Lizzie flashes a brilliant smile. "A princess!"

"You can't be a princess, silly."

Lizzie nods her head. "Yes I can. See?" She twirls. "I'm a princess!"

The screen goes dark again. Trip stares at it, remembering how much he loved playing with his baby sister when he was a boy. He sets the last two files on autoplay.

A twenty-two year old Trip fills the screen. "If you're watchin' this, it's because we all died while waitin' on Lizzie to come down the stairs. She's been goin' for the world record on how long a teenage girl can take gettin' ready for a dance. Hell, I think she might even be tryin' to break any records the Vulcans have-and everyone knows they're slower than molasses."

The camera swings around and settles on Trip's older brother, whose brunette hair has yet to go gray. "Any last words, Bert," young Trip asks, "before we all succumb to intolerable boredom?"

Bert shakes his head and bats at the camera. "Shut up, Trip. Quit bein' a jackass."

Young Trip's face is back onscreen. "Well there you have it, folks. The famous last words of the infamous Albert Tucker. That's one for the history books, right there."

The image is tousled as young Trip yelps off-screen. Catherine Tucker's voice hollers, "That's enough you two. I swear, how two grown men can still act like little boys... Oh! There she is!"

The camera straightens again, this time pointed at the staircase as a teenage Lizzie descends, wearing a pink satin gown. She blushes as young Trip whistles.

"Man alive, Lizzie," he says. "Who knew there was a woman hidin' underneath all that girliness?"

Lizzie looks around as if seeing her audience for the first time. Her eyes narrow as she turns to the camera. "What're you doin' here?"

"I'm here to interrogate your date," young Trip answers. "And I brought back-up again." The camera swings over to Bert briefly before turning back to Lizzie.

"Oh no you don't!" She looks aghast. "Last year you ran off Bobby before I even came down the stairs!"

"What kind of fellow gets skittish after a few pointed questions? I saved you a headache, that's all."

Lizzie stalks toward the camera, anger pinching her face. There's another tousle and the image changes to the last video.

Lizzie appears, all grown up and smiling. "Hello, big brother," she says. "You're about to leave on your first mission out there in space and I thought I'd give you a little goin' away present. I had to have Bertie help me crack your password-I'm all kinds of flattered, by the way, that it's my initials and birthdate. Thought it would be Natalie's, but it's nice to know that I'll always be your girl.

"Anyway, since you're gonna be gone for so long, I figured you'd like to have a couple of vids to help you remember me by." She's still smiling, but her eyes are glistening now. "I want you to know that despite you chasing off all my dates, you've been a pretty decent big brother. I'm gonna miss you and the way you always make things sunnier when you're around.

"I'm real proud to be your sister, Trip." She wipes her eyes. "Oh damn, quit makin' me cry, will ya?" Laughing at herself, she continues. "Be safe out there, big brother. And don't forget to come home once and a while. I love you. Goodbye."

She reaches toward the camera and Trip pauses the video before the screen can turn dark. He stares at her frozen image for a moment before he breaks down. His chest hurts, like a vice is pressing against it as the old pain of losing his vibrant baby sister is renewed. He's grateful, though, for this-not for the hurt, but for the opportunity to see her one more time.

He doesn't know how long he sits there, weeping, but after a while the tears dry up. He touches the screen, caressing her cheek. Even after all this time, it's still hard to believe that someone so alive could be gone forever.

"Goodbye, Lizzie," Trip whispers before shutting off the monitor. "Goodbye."

~FIN~