Rating: PG
Genres: angst romance
Keywords: Koss T'Pol's Parents Vulcan Civil War
This story has been read by 663 people.
This story has been read 896 times.
Author: John O.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Paramount owns Star Trek characters/names/fans’ souls/etc. I call shenanigans.
Genre: Ficlet, Angst, Romance, POV challenge.
A/N: When I found out about this challenge I had to do a T’Les POV, especially since she’s a Syrannite and believes in katra and such. Takes place after Home. If she seems overly emotional, just remember that Vulcans typically are more emotional when it’s exclusively in private with their mate. You’ll have to forgive me if you think it’s crap, I got writer’s block on my Vulcan For… and I felt like I had to write something tonight.
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T’Les moved through the archway towards the shrine. It was nearly midday and only a few hours since her daughter had departed Vulcan to return to Enterprise. Her human… companion, had of course departed as soon as the bonding ceremony was concluded. As she lit a host of candles and dimmed the lights, T’Les recalled the sick looking hue of Commander Tucker’s face as he kindly bid her farewell.
There was a gentle appreciation is his parting salutation. He forced a meager smile when he quickly left before T’Pol could return. T’Pol was still away meditating at Mt. Seleya when the human rose early from bed – far earlier than it had seemed to be his custom in the first few days of his stay at her home. He packed his things quickly, were it not for her Vulcan ears, she would not have missed his departure herself. He rushed to leave but she placed a thoughtful hand on his shoulder and he turned; a single streak across one cheek. She recalled how he forgot his Vulcan etiquette and offered his hand in farewell. She took it anyway.
She knelt before the shrine, filled with thoughts of her own lost mate, and all the years spent as his wife. The powerful memory of her husband’s affection was a clouding one indeed, requiring all the strength of Surak for her to see the path of logic in its wake. Even so, it was a weakness that drove her to give Tucker one last chance to confess his feelings for her daughter. His feelings... A chance he denied himself, for he knew T’Pol’s struggle…
He loved T’Pol. As T’Les had learned long ago, the Vulcan heart was itself capable of such powerful emotions even as stringently as they tried to stifle it. The first day of T’Pol’s arrival she suspected her daughter’s wayward feelings for her “colleague”. It was long before the chaste kiss she placed on his cheek at the ceremony that she became quite sure of it. She loved him.
She closed her eyes, seeking the long-dead katra of her mate, Stov.
My mind to your mind, t’hyla, my thoughts to your thoughts. Our daughter has been here, and with her came her chosen, not of Vulcan blood. He is a human and came no doubt in prelude to her intent to take him as her mate, although I suspect their katras are already bound. In the past she denied her childhood betrothed, but now she is compelled to wed him. It is for the life she has chosen to lead among humans that events forced marriage with her betrothed… and the denial of her true chosen. She chose this action of her own accord, but against her deepest desires. I could have stopped the wedding, defying logic and facing the consequences to our family and our daughter, but I left the choice to him. He is an honorable man, our daughter’s t’hyla, and you would approve, ashayam. He refused to declare his feelings for her, knowing her struggle and enduring the ceremony as he watched her wed Koss. Your daughter wept within, t’hyla, as her unwanted betrothed placed the bonding wreath atop her head. I fear a mother’s duty has broken a daughter’s heart, and perhaps denied her of happiness… because our daughter is in love.
fin
Wow, what an emotional roller-coaster! It also fits very well into the self-absorbed Natalie idea, as she'd have to be to think that Trip wouldn't step up to the plate if something happened. This would also make the Elizabeth situation kill double-bad.
Great work! Now I just need some Cartoon Network so I don't have to be sad any more. ;)
SOOOOO WELL DONE! YOU DID GREAT NC AS WELL AS GREAT PLAIN OLD WRITING! TOTALLY IN CHARACTER....FEELS LIKE CANON! AND QUITE THE SURPRISE BIT OF ANGST THERE. :D yAY "jAY-tEE"
Wow! Just... wow. Very powerful. I agree that the ending is a little abrupt, but I don't really see a better way to finish the story so...
I'm always a little insecure of what to say about a story that contains *in whispers* sex :p but your story has definitively an astonishing depth. And it's so realistic... I really like that you create a 3D Natalie, instead the typical "witch with b" that others see.
Best line... It's difficult, but probably "He didn't know what to make of this. He had come this close to being a father. Heck he HAD been a father, for a brief time there; his first and only offspring had been terminated. Was it violently? Did he even want to know?" Very, very gut-wrenching.
Good job!
Yup, that would explain a lot about the way Trip see a few things. Poor guy. Is he just not destined to be a father? And in such sad/odd/unpleasant ways he is denied that. 4 times if you count this possibility. Very realistic. The end is a bit abrupt, though.
What began as an extremely erotic encounter became a very sad story. I have no problem with seeing Trip have previous relationships, however, this story brings in to focus the fact that career was number one with him at this point in his life. I feel very sorry for Natalie, obviously she tried hard to get Trip to stay of his own free will. Not wanting to trap him with her pregnancy. She made a very hard choice, right or wrong, for herself. Trip was not in a place were he wanted to give up his dreams of space travel so I feel a little less sorry for his loss. His comment about dodging a bullet was very telling. I'm not trying to dump on Trip, we all know what a wonderful man he is, but, the resentment men feel when forced into a course of action they don't want can break any relationship. I feel very melancholy for these two.
I was thinking, "How can any woman not get along with wonderful Trip?" I was playing with the fanfic consenses Natalie is beautiful but kind of shallow. Then a more interesting idea came to me: A woman Trip's age would be getting a little anxious about her fertility. Any boyfriend, no matter how kind hearted and adorable, who isn't ready to settle down, who is in fact flying off into space for years at a time, would be a problem for a woman in her 30s who wants kids. She DOES have a legitimate grip with Trip. And I can very well see a man dismissing her complaints as PMS, especially if she has always been rather difficult.
I can't defend my ending except to say it's possible if not probable that Trip forgives her. Trip seem remarkably kind towwards the "girlfriend" in the next closest situations to this one: when he gets pregnant in "Unexpected" and when he suspects that T'Pol knows more than she is telling about the cloned Elizabeth. And of course Trip MUST forgive Natalie at the end of my story, because according to cannon, though some disaster has ended their relationship (if it is one of the serious ones), a final split doesn't happened until like 6 months into the first season.
An interesting take on Trip and the infamous Natalie, and I think it fits fine. Maybe that's why he didn't even think of getting rid of that Xyrillian baby. The change in tone and distance as you started summarizing at the end was a little startling, though.
When I don't agree with everything in the story, this was a well written story, realistic and very sad. For me, the story would have worked better for me if other persons then Trip and Nathalie were involved. Best line is from Trip when he says that he had been there for the fun and he wanted to be for whatever happens next. You seemed to idealize their relationship at the end, which suprised me.
Am I contagious?:p
Well, difficult for me to imagine or to watch something sexually "evident" about Trip, which doesn't involve T'Pol, but obviously he had other women and Natalie in particular (and T'Pol did cut off his "career";)). And what you wrote in a very masterly fashion has the taste of reality. And explains a lot of things.:)