Missing Scenes from Season Four: Affliction

DISCLAIMER: All things Star Trek belong to CBS/Paramount. "Affliction" was written by Manny Coto.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so I lied about how long it would take me to post again. Unfortunately, once this scene occurred to me, I couldn't let it go. It's also quite short. (Might as well get this kind of agony over with quickly.) Thanks as always, dear reviewers.

T'Pol was working at her station on the bridge when Archer exited his ready room and headed her way. "C'mon. Trip's party is getting under way."

She kept her eyes on her station. "I don't plan to attend."

"You're with me, Commander. That's an order."

T'Pol rose stiffly and followed him into the turbo-lift. Archer didn't look at her, just at the door, as he said, "I don't know what's been going on between you and Trip, and I don't want to know. But if you boycott his going-away party, the crew might just conclude that problems with you are what drove him away, and that would not be a good thing for your effectiveness as first officer or for morale in general."

T'Pol could not help but consider this unfair. "Commander Tucker took some pains earlier today to assure me that his life does not 'revolve around' me. Instead of forcing me to attend this event, perhaps you could simply ask him to share that sentiment with the rest of the crew."

Archer smiled ruefully. "That would probably just confirm their worst suspicions." He sighed as the door opened onto the corridor outside the mess hall. "I know this is difficult for you, T'Pol. It is for me, too. Just … see it through as best you can. Appearances matter."

In the over-crowded mess hall, Trip was already the center of a hubbub of well-wishers. Chef had laid out a buffet that included many of Tucker's favorites – T'Pol recognized fried catfish, chili, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, broccoli, pecan pie and peach cobbler.

After the meal, the engineering staff presented their rendition of "Commander Tucker's Rules," a set of ridiculous maxims that frequently provoked the Humans present to laughter. T'Pol failed to see the humor in most, though Trip appeared to find them amusing - and sometimes embarrassing.

Archer spoke more seriously, offering a litany of most (though certainly not all) that Tucker had done for ship and crew. Trip looked both touched and pained. She was relieved that the captain included her by name in their best wishes for the commander, since she had nothing to add, and might not have been capable of it even if she did, for her throat had become rather constricted. Indeed, as the time of his scheduled departure neared, she began to experience a number of unpleasant physical symptoms that she might once have feared indicated an imminent health crisis, had she not already survived them after the loss of her mother and, earlier, her father.

There followed a great many handshakes and hugs, as crewmen departed and the room slowly emptied. Still Archer prevented her from leaving. Finally, Sato, Mayweather and Reed received close embraces, as did the Captain and even Chef, and then Tucker came to her where she was standing, her arms folded tight against her chest, as close to the door as she could get without actually leaving the room.

"It was an honor to serve with you, Commander," he said, and stuck out his hand, his eyebrows raised in sardonic challenge.

Perhaps he expected her to snub him as she once had. However, this was likely the last opportunity she would ever have to touch her mate, so she gripped his hand in return - and was immediately awash in a flood of bitter grief that was not her own.

He snatched his hand back and stared uncertainly at her.

"Live long and prosper, Commander," she managed to say. And then, no longer capable of concerning herself with appearance, she fled to the privacy of her quarters without waiting to hear whether he had any reply.

Once there, she sank down into her meditation posture, though she did not attempt to meditate. Instead, she waited. If Commander Tucker had sensed any part of her own despair in that brief contact, he might yet follow her to her quarters. If she still meant anything to him, he might yet allow her to explain what she had not succeeded in explaining that morning.

She waited, but he never came.

The End