Sins of the Father

Sins of the Father

by Hoshissis

Rating: PG-13
Genre: Friendship/angst

AN: It’s a PG-13 friendship/Anguish story set around the beginning of S4 after they have just got back to Earth, although I have ignored Stormfront. It’s an AU piece that carries on differently from what we got in Season Four, in that I have based the story on an idea of what if Archer/Trip really were brothers, although unknown to each other. Often their friendship did come across as brother like, so I thought I would take it a bit further in that direction. In the story Trip/T’Pol aren’t romantically involved but there is deep feelings between the two that emphasize it may happen sometime in the future. Trip finds out something from Phlox that throws his family origins and beliefs into question and Archer has to rethink his relationship about his friend after a visit from his mother.

Thank you to my beta – pennyforum

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Prologue

Susan was an architect and she’d been, in her mind the luckiest SOB alive, to have been awarded the contract to design the Warp Five complex. It never crossed her mind that she was the best of the best in her field, a gifted artist with a flare for originality and forward thinking. Since this new complex was pronounced ‘Man’s next greatest adventure’, it only seemed fitting that someone of Susan’s talents would be called upon.

Her family wasn’t happy about her uprooting herself over to San Francisco so she could be on hand if any difficulties or problems cropped up, but they didn’t want to obstruct her blossoming career. Charles wasn’t happy either; he’d been trying to convince Susan for the last six months to settle down with him and start a family that he’d always dreamed of. He already had a flourishing engineering job with the new undersea reclamation project that was just starting to get underway. So he didn’t think it would be fair to stand in the way of her career, dreams and happiness. He loved her too much to be that selfish.

“I’ll be waiting here, for whenever you’re ready or if you need me,” he said softly as he gently kissed her on the lips. “Don’t ever forget that.”

“I won’t … thanks for letting me do this,” she replied, feeling the tears start to build at the back of her eyes. “You don’t know what this means, to be given this chance to design something on such a grand scale. I just wish I didn’t have to …”

“Hey, you’re my lobster, remember,” he interrupted, softly brushing her lips with his finger, “no matter how far apart we are or how wide we travel, we’ll end up together in the end.” “Now get ya butt on that bus before I destroy ma macho image and turn into a weeping mess,” he said, trying to laugh and hide his true feelings.

“Real men aren’t afraid to cry,” she said softly, “that’s what I’ll always love about you.” Kissing him on the cheek for the last time, she waved then turned around, grabbed her bag and boarded the transport for what she hoped would be a new chapter in her life.

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That was three years ago.

She’d kept in touch with Charles throughout this time, keeping him informed of what was happening in her life and the progression of her design that was slowly coming to fruition. It was lonely at first being in a new city, but she soon made friends with the men and women who were bringing the Warp 5 dream to life; especially one man in particular – Henry Archer. What started out as an innocent friendship, soon blossomed into a full blown torrid love affair.

Henry was the complete opposite to Charles; ambitious with a passion, serious in all aspects of his life, yet exciting with his dreams of far reaching proportions. He was also married; a quality that would usually automatically exclude him straight away, as Susan upheld strict moral guidelines and being involved with a married man was top of her ‘not to do’ list.

Sheer frustration with the lack of help and guidance from the Vulcan scientists though, soon drew him towards her as he sought relief and comfort from all the stress and tension that piled on him daily. Emphasizing with his passion at trying to reach out and grab his dream, and lonely from being away from her family and close friends, Susan found herself drawn towards him, until a solid friendship grew between them. Fueled by their mutual attraction for each other, this friendship soon grew deeper into passion and then lust as they both sought refuge in each other from her demons of loneliness and his exasperation of being thwarted at each and every turn.

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Nine months later

Susan had been waiting anxiously all day for this moment. It was nearly seven o’clock and Henry was due any time. Looking at the clock, she brushed her sweaty palms against her apron and checked to make sure everything was perfect. She would settle for no less tonight as she’d just found out from the doctor this morning that she was six weeks pregnant, so Susan wanted everything to be just right for when she told him.

She was scared at first about what he would say or do; he was married after all, but Henry had informed her in the early days of their affair when she suffered massive guilt at her actions, that his marriage with Sally was generally one of convenience only. Sally didn’t share his passion for his work and resented all the time he put in to completing it. So by the time he and Susan had started their affair, the private nature of their marriage had pretty much dwindled to one of friends and acquaintances, where each was just waiting for an valid excuse to end their relationship permanently.

Sally’s contract with the Warp 5 complex was drawing to a close; the building was nearly complete and the project was set to take off in full swing, so her work was nearing completion. She was already inundated with offers of new projects within the San Francisco area in connection with Starfleet, so she hoped that this pregnancy would be the leverage that she and Henry needed to make a future together.

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For what she hoped would be the final time before Henry’s arrival, she checked her surroundings once more and mentally ticked off last minute preparations: Dinner was keeping warm in the oven, check. Table was set, check. Lights were dimmed and the candles were lit, check. Wine was in the cooler, check, and the bed was made for them to tumble into after what she hoped would be a memorable night for both of them. All she needed now was for Henry to arrive and the evening could begin.

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Five hours later, there was still no sign as she got up off the lounger and blew out the remaining candle. Henry hadn’t called or rang to cancel or let her know that he couldn’t make it, a fact that worried Susan enormously because it was so unlike him. Scared that he might have had an accident, she pressed the comm. line and began calling all the medical centers within the Bay area. Feeling slightly relieved ten minutes later when her search had come to an end, that at least he was physically alright, she began to comm. her friends and colleagues at the complex to see if they knew anything of his whereabouts. Since they were unaware Susan and Henry were involved, she phrased her questions in a work related manner.

“Hi, Jim.”

“Susan, how’s it going? Decided on which project to take up next in your future endeavors?”

“Not yet. I’m kinda feeling a little overwhelmed at all the offers.”

“They know talent when they see it,” smiled Jim.

“Have you seen Henry by any chance?” she asked, changing the subject. “We were supposed to meet up to discuss some questions he had regarding my final blueprints.”

“Yeah, I saw him earlier before he left town. Didn’t he call you?”

“No!” replied Susan in surprise. “Has he been called out on business?”

“No, he’s taken Sally and Jon off to Yellowstone for a break. She’s been a bit down since she lost the baby and he needed a break anyway …”

“Jon? Baby?” interrupted Susan in confusion.

“I’m sorry, I thought you knew that he and Sally had a son?”

“No, he never mentioned it,” she replied quietly as she tried to reign in her breaking emotions.

“Yeah, they’ve been trying for another child for ages. She was ecstatic when she found out she was pregnant; it damn near tore her apart when she lost it.”

“I’m sorry,” whispered Susan with tears in her eyes. “Give them my condolences,” she said before signing off quickly with shaking hands. Sitting back on the chair with her knees drawn up towards her, she sobbed for the child that he and his wife had just lost. She sobbed with guilt in hoping that her affair with Henry hadn’t played a part in that act. She sobbed with heart ache at being such a fool in throwing her moral upbringing out of the window and giving her heart away so free and easily to a married man.
And she sobbed with despair at what would happen to her and their unborn child now.

It was obvious that she had to get out of Henry’s life and end their affair once and for all. That poor woman had suffered enough; she may or may not have had anything to do with the loss of Sally’s child, but she was damned sure that she wasn’t going to be the cause of her losing her husband as well. The problem was what would she do; she desperately wanted to keep this child, but leaving Henry meant getting out of San Francisco and that alone would place her job contracts with Starfleet in jeopardy. If she had no job, then that made the prospect of looking after her unborn child a hard one, especially if she had to go to a new city and start all over again, career wise.

After a few hours of deliberating these problems over and over again; she could only think of one person who would help her, not judge her in her actions, not that she didn’t deserve it for what she’d done, or lay blame. If she was going to get through this, she needed help and support from a good friend and there was only one person she knew who fit that description.

“Sue, great to see ya … it’s been ages since ya last called. Susan are you okay? What’s happened?” asked Charles, concern building for this silent, trembling, tear stained image of the woman he still loved.

“Charles … I …” replied Susan, as she tried hard to compose herself to speak without falling apart.

“Sue, hang on … I’m grabbing a transport and I’ll be there in a few hours. Can you hold on till then?”

She nodded and gave a faint smile as he signed off. Somehow, she knew deep down that everything was going to work out, Charles was on his way: her rock, her constant in the universe, her lobster ...

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Chapter One

32 years later

“Commander Tucker,” cried Phlox in his usual cheerful voice, “what can I do? I thought you would be down on Earth visiting your family.”

“Na, mom seems really down at the moment, so I thought I would give her some space.” and oversee the refit,” replied Trip, perching himself on the nearest bio bed.

“I thought your mother would be glad to see her son who’s just returned from such a dangerous mission.”

“She is, but I think all these celebrations over our return from the Expanse have dredged up memories of Liz’s death.”

“That’s good isn’t it? It sounds like she’s finally coming to terms with her loss.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean, I just hate seeing like this, that’s all,” replied Trip looking a bit downcast as he pondered events with his family.

“So Commander,” asked Phlox after a few minutes, trying to gauge the reason for Trip’s visit to his sickbay. “What can I do for you … not that this hasn’t been pleasant but I assume you’re here for a reason?”

“It’s just a headache, Phlox; it’s no big deal--”

“Let me be the judge of that please, Commander,” said Phlox, taking his scanner out of his pocket and beginning to take some readings. “I thought Captain Archer ordered you to take some shore leave?”

“This is my kind of shore leave,” replied Trip with a smile. “You know I can only relax when I’m tinkering with ma engines.”

“How long have you had this headache, Commander?”

“A few hours, till it finally got to a point when I couldn’t ignore it anymore.”

“Hmmmm…”

“What’s up?” asked Trip, “there’s nothing to worry about, is there?”

“No, as far as I can tell, it’s probably a tension/stress headache. Not surprising after what this crew’s been through this past year.”

“So why the, hmmmm…?”

“Well my records show that you’ve had quite a few of these since your operation six months ago--” answered Phlox as he glanced at Trip’s medical file.

“It was a stressful time, you said it yourself Doc,” replied Trip, getting off the bio bed after Phlox had applied a hypo spray.

“Still, it wouldn’t hurt to run some tests now, would it, Commander?” said Phlox to Commander Tucker, who didn’t look very reassured or impressed with the idea. “It’s not as if you’re … officially… on duty now is it?” he said in a tone which implied “don’t force me to make this an order and drag Captain Archer into this, Commander.”

“So long as it’s … just a few,” answered Trip, with a look, which indicated ‘okay you win. But don’t push ya luck.”

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After what he considered ‘a waste of a two damn hours’, Trip finally slipped out of sickbay while Phlox’s back was turned. This didn’t concern Phlox, as he already knew about Trip’s run for freedom when he caught a glance of him slipping out of the doors. Surprised at the length of time that he’d managed to keep Commander Tucker in sickbay, he had finished all the tests that he could think of, so now it was down to tackling the elusive origins of his recurring headache. Contrary to popular belief, a headache was not just a simple disease cured by a quick hypo spray of pain relief. Quite often the simplest of ailments could just be the front or an early symptom of a more serious underlying problem. It was his job to make sure that this wasn’t the case with Commander Tucker.

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As he finished the last piece of pecan pie in the near deserted Mess Hall, Trip was feeling at a bit of a loose end. Jupiter stations engineering team weren’t having any problems that needed his specific attention and T’Pol was still down on Earth visiting some colleagues at the Vulcan Compound. Strange, he didn’t think he would feel this way about any girl, least of all a Vulcan, but somehow through there time spent together in the Expanse, T’Pol had managed to worm her way straight into his heart and he missed her dearly. He was pretty sure that T’Pol reciprocated his feelings, despite the fact that Vulcan’s as a species hid their emotions, as her mannerisms towards him certainly showed she cared a great deal.

It was weird, sometimes when he was down in Engineering, and his mind wandered onto thoughts about her, he was pretty sure that he could tell how she was feeling up on the Bridge. He hadn’t approached her about this because he was sure that she would say it was highly illogical and that he must be imagining it. Sometime in the near future he definitely needed to have a talk with her about this and where they were headed as a ‘couple’, but right now he was content to leave things as they were and just enjoy their moments together.

Clearing up his plate, Trip decided that he would go and see if Captain Archer had returned from his week long vacation on Earth visiting his family. They had both been under tremendous stress and pressure during their recent mission in the Expanse, Captain Archer more so than anyone felt the burden heavily, which had threatened to tear their friendship apart on quite a few occasions. Trip was grateful they had both found the time to sit down together after the peace negotiations had ended and reconnect on a more personal level. Finally discussing why they done things during the mission that they now regretted and how they had felt not being there for each other, helped them both deal with their psychological demons and come to terms with their actions.

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TBC

Continue to Chapters 2 and 3

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One person has made comments

UPDATE! You must update! I can wait!(LOL)
Any way, yup, you could easily make Trip Archer's half brother. They both like water polo (sp?),
they both dislike Vulcans (except T'Pol,kind of),
and hello, Trip is the Cheif Engineer!,Henry Archer was one of the designers of the warp 5 engin. Any way, UPDATE!