Fur and Fathers

Chapter Twenty-One

“Hoshi!”

She was sitting up in bed looking down at the little linen-wrapped bundle in her arms and crooning to it softly.  At the familiar voice she looked up quickly, and a smile spread across her face.

“Trip!”  She extended a hand and he put his into it as he reached the bedside.  “How are you?”

“More to the point, sweetheart, how are you?  And hey, I finally get to meet the little princess!”  He leaned down to drop a kiss on her forehead, and took his first look at the sleeping baby.

She smiled and produced her husband’s favorite line.  “I’m fine.”  It probably wasn’t true, but it wasn’t as much of a lie as it could have been.  Then she pushed the embroidered edges of the linen open to let him have a good look at Malcolm’s daughter.

The tiny fingers were clenched into fists under the chin.  Wisps of dark hair covered the scalp.  Surprisingly long dark lashes lay on the soft cheeks.

Even as he watched, she must have been dreaming.  A small frown furrowed the brow and pursed the tightly folded mouth.

The resemblance was … well, horrifying might not be the most appropriate word, but it was the one that sprang into his mind first.  He had visions of her running checks on her doll’s house in a couple of years’ time and going into a royal British tizzy because the tea-service wasn’t laid out properly.

“She does look like him, doesn’t she?”  Her mother’s voice was laughing, rueful, proud, answering the startled exclamation he’d swallowed.

“She sure does.  But she’s a whole lot prettier’n he ever was.  Must’a got that from her mother.”  He twinkled at her.

“Trip, you don’t get any better.”

“I sure hope not.”  He grinned.  “Mind if I hold her for a minute?”

“Go ahead.”

Gently he picked the baby up.  It no longer hurt like it had, not any more.  He would never stop loving Elizabeth, or missing her, or grieving for her, but now he had something to look forward to.

“Agnes Elizabeth Sato-Reed, I’m Charles Tucker the Third, an old buddy of your daddy’s. Known to my buddies as ‘Trip,’ but you can just call me ‘sir.’”

Hoshi called him something in response to that which wasn’t either ‘Trip’ or ‘sir.’  At a guess she’d learned it from Malcolm.

“Hey, little ears listenin’ here!”  With mock indignation he pressed the linen against the side of the baby’s head.  Then, sobering, he sat down on the bed.  “I’ve got a few things to tell ya, Hosh.”

“Please.  I don’t remember – well, I don’t remember much.  Not after the battle.”  Her mouth trembled ever so slightly, but she controlled it.  “They told me the captain’s here.  And he’s getting better.”

“Yeah.  Shiránnor’s lookin’ after him.  She hasn’t changed any ‘cept that she’s the top gun around here now,” he added with a grin.  Then he went on to tell her everything that had happened since Cheron.  He hadn’t meant to mention it, but somehow he found himself telling her even about the beach and her husband sitting lost and divided and desperate on the sand.   “If it really happened, which I’m pretty sure it did.  He sure loved you, Hosh,” he finished gently.

Her head was up.  Her eyes were wet, but it was easy to believe now that she numbered samurai among her ancestors.  “I already knew that, Trip.”

“It’s … it’ll all be okay for him now, if it’s all right for anybody.”  His free hand closed on hers.  “Now you’ve gotta look after yourself and little Agnes here.  And that reminds me….”  He looked down at the baby, who had woken up in the meantime and was looking up at him with the unfocused gaze of the newborn.  Her eyes were the darkest blue he’d ever seen.  “Yeah, sweetheart, you’ve gotta pay attention to this, too.  What happened was, when I came back to the cave you’d just given birth and there was so much pushin’ goin’ on, what with people wantin’ to see, I fell forward by accident.  And I … I put my hand on this little lady here.”

“I hope you didn’t squash her.” Hoshi was astonished but amused.

“’Course not!” he said indignantly.  “But what I didn’t find out till afterwards, was that by Kerriel law doin’ that made me her … ah-somethin’ or other.  Ahexy, that was it.  Anyhow, what it means is, I’m responsible for makin’ sure she’s okay, just like her real daddy would be if he could.”  He looked at Hoshi a little tentatively.  “I didn’t mean it to happen, hell, I didn’t even know it had happened, but I … I’m real happy it did.”

“He would be too, Trip.  I know I am.”  She squeezed his hand.  “So you’re her honorary daddy.”

“Yep.  I guess that’s about the size of it.  And while I’m on that subject….”  He couldn’t help it.  The huge grin he’d been holding inside almost split his face in half.

Her eyes were like saucers.  She and Malcolm had been helpless witnesses to their friends’ grieving too often when the IVF attempts failed; it would naturally amaze her almost as much as it had them to learn that the ‘miracle’ had finally happened.  “Trip!  You don’t mean….?”

The expression on his face was obviously answer enough.  Hoshi sat forward and threw her arms around him.  “Oh, I’m so glad!  But how did it happen? … apart from the obvious, I mean!” she added hastily when his eyebrows waggled suggestively.

“I know you’re not gonna believe it, but there’s this sacred waterfall…”

“TRIP!  You didn’t!”

He had the grace to blush.  “It wasn’t my idea!” he protested.  “Shiránnor pushed us into it!”

“Trip Tucker, you ought to be ashamed.  But you’re not, are you?” she added with a grin.  “How far along is she?”

Laughing, he checked his chronometer.  “Well, ‘bout a day.  Give or take an hour or so.”

“A day?”  She sat back, chuckling and incredulous.  “You’re serious?  How can you tell that early?”

“You’d better believe it.  We didn’t even think about it bein’ possible, but Grenyal was checkin’ her out and she saw it.  Said it was definite, looked fine to her and everything. The doc said she needs to rest a while longer, just to make sure everythin’ carries on fine.  Otherwise she’d be with me, but she sends her best.  She’ll be here herself as soon as she can.”  He looked down as the baby in his arms started to fuss.  “Hey, now, that’s a hungry little girl!”

“Well unless you happen to have any milk on you, Trip, you’d better hand her back.  Or believe me, it’ll only get worse.”

“Damnation.  She’s even worse’n her daddy wantin’ more power for the armory.”  As a Southern gentleman should, he politely averted his gaze while supply and demand were carefully united.  The fussing ceased abruptly, to be replaced by the sound of busy, contented suckling.

“This’ll be T'Pol’s and yours to do in … how long, for a Vulcan?”

“The honest truth?  I haven’t a clue.  I never got around to askin’.  But however long it is, as long as they’re both okay, I’m just fine with it.”  He put out a finger and gently stroked the infant’s steadily working jaw, wondering at the strength and purpose in something so tiny and vulnerable.

“So.  From zero to two in one day!  Seems like you’re going to have to brush up on your parenting skills in a hurry, Trip.”

“Sure seems that way.  But hell, I’ll just pick it up as I go along.  And if I want any advice, hey, I’ll ask my mom and dad.  Everyone else in the family goes to them, so it’s not like they’re not used to it!”

“You’re lucky to have them.”  Her voice was warm, amused.  “And T'Pol’s lucky to have such wonderful in-laws.”

He opened his mouth to agree, then had a thought that made him close it again and look at her somberly.  “I guess from a few things I heard Malcolm say over the years that you’re not as lucky, Hoshi.”

“Not everybody has parents like yours, Trip.  Being an ‘infant prodigy’ with languages didn’t exactly give me much chance to bond with mine, and as for Malcolm’s – well, the fact that he didn’t invite his father to the wedding sort of gives it away.”

“He invited his mother? I didn’t see her there.”  Though he had the impression that Mary Reed had the sort of personality that might be overlooked in any gathering unless you specifically looked for her.

“She didn’t come.  He didn’t say why, and I didn’t ask.  I don’t think he was really surprised, though.”  She was looking down and stroking the baby’s head.  “I’ve sort of had the idea that I might try to contact her when I go back to England.”

“You’re going back?” he said, surprised.  He’d assumed she’d come back to America, perhaps rejoin Starfleet or take up another teaching post.

“Oh, yes.”  She looked up.  She was smiling, but her eyes were luminous.  “He left us the house.  And there’s Great-Grandmother Howard, you see.  And the books.”

“Hoshi.”  He took her hand again.  “I see you’ve got all your plans made, though I sure don’t recall Malcolm mentionin’ any great-grandmothers.  But I’m this baby’s honorary daddy.  If you need any help, whatever it is – wherever you are, wherever I am – you’ve only gotta call me, or my mom and dad, or any of us.  ‘Cause that makes her an honorary Tucker.  An’ once you’re in our family, you’re in it for good.”