The BLTS Archive - Halla by Gigi Sinclair (gigitrek@gmail.com) --- This is the slashified version of the gen story that won Best Alternate Reality in the House of Tucker Fanfiction Contest (I wasn't the only person who entered, honest! There was a lot of really good gen fic. You should check it out. www.houseoftucker.com) The epilogue (ie, the part on Mars colony) is the new stuff. Archive: Yes, Kylie Lee, BLTS Spoilers: Unexpected (minor) Warnings: AU Disclaimer: Paramount owns it all (damn them!) Notes: Sappier than my usual fare. Halla: A girl's name of African origin meaning 'an unexpected gift.' --- Trip told the people who asked-the Captain, Admiral Forrest, his parents-that it was the hardest decision he'd ever made. He knew they expected him to say that. In truth, once he had gotten over the initial shock, fear, and physical discomfort, the choice was a remarkably easy one. She was his daughter. Not genetically, that was obvious, but genetics had very little to do with family. Trip had learned that growing up in a small town, where neighbours were more like aunts and uncles and strangers were invited in for lemonade and pecan pie. If they'd found her mother, Trip would have given her up, but they hadn't, so he didn't. He carried her, putting up with morning sickness and mood swings and unusual cravings (although that one was more of a challenge for Chef than for Trip.) He worked with the Captain and, thanks to a little selective omission in their dispatches, Starfleet let him stay on 'Enterprise' long enough for Phlox to deliver the baby. She wasn't what Trip had expected his firstborn to look like, but she was his. After Phlox and Trip, the Captain was the first to hold her. He was uncertain at first, but when she grabbed his finger in her tiny fist, Trip knew Jon was sold. All of the arguments they'd had over her faded into the background, and Trip knew that, once the mission was finished, Jon would be a constant visitor, spoiling his honorary niece to within an inch of her life. By the time Trip had briefed his replacement and had recovered enough to leave Phlox's supervision, the baby, nearly a toddler now, was talking. In an endearing Southern accent, Jon told him, although Trip couldn't hear it himself. Some of the women had replicated a wardrobe for her. Trip was just glad he didn't have to worry about styling her hair. As they prepared to leave 'Enterprise', Trip found himself worrying. Not that this was new. Before she was born, he'd been as carefree and as self-centred as they came. Now, he fretted constantly. Whether she would be happy on Earth. If he should help her keep in touch with her Xyrillian roots, and how he would do that, anyway. If other kids would make fun of her. If he'd made the right decision. "Commander." T'Pol was the last to say good-bye. She glanced down to where the child was playing with Porthos, getting carpet fuzz and dog slobber on her pink overalls. "I feel I should tell you, it is not easy to live in a different culture, isolated from one's own kind." "No." Trip swallowed. "But," T'Pol continued, with a flick of her eyebrow, "I can also say, it is considerably less difficult when one has a supportive family." Her expression was neutral, naturally, but Trip knew what she meant. He felt like hugging her, but he doubted it would be appreciated. Instead, he picked up his daughter. She insisted on waving to "Uncle Jon and Auntie Hoshi and Uncle Porthos and Auntie Sub-commander", so Trip held her up to a porthole as 'Enterprise' left Jupiter Station, ignoring the stares he knew were being shot in their direction. It was another child who first approached them, as 'Enterprise' disappeared. Obviously the offspring of a boomer family, the boy looked to be about two, close to the age Phlox had approximated she was. The doctor had also theorized that the Xyrillians' rapid development was an evolutionary device. Once the first few, potentially dangerous, years of early childhood were past, Phlox thought, her progress would slow, and she would grow more like a human child. Trip hoped so. The longer they could put off adolescence, the better. "Who are you?" The boy asked. Trip felt himself stiffen as the other child looked at his daughter, but she just looked back. "Halla Tucker." She answered, then added: "I'm Daddy's big surprise." Blushing, Trip exchanged a glance with the boy's mother. "Kids, huh? Repeat the darndest things." The woman laughed and, as the boy handed a well-chewed plastic dog to Halla, Trip felt his heart lift. Halla. An unexpected gift. And the best damn thing to ever happen to him. --- "But Dad, EVERYONE I know has earrings!" "You're nine years old, Halla." Or thereabouts. "You're too young to have earrings." Not to mention the fact that she had no discernible ears, but Trip knew better than to mention that. It would only end in tearful reminders that Halla was a "freak", which would result in Trip comforting her with significant amounts of gifts. Halla crossed her arms over her chest. "But Dad..." "Halla, stop it." Trip looked across his desk at his daughter, who was doing her best impression of a courageous individual crushed by an oppressive society. "Don't you have homework or something?" "I finished it at school." "Don't lie to me. You know we'll see Ms. Harris when we go to the commissary for dinner." That was one of the advantages of living in the engineering compound on Mars colony. He didn't have to wait for parent-teacher interviews. Sighing and grumbling about the injustice of it all, Halla stomped off to her bedroom. Trip leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. His mother had warned him about raising a child. "Whatever you do, it won't be the right thing. If you're lucky, she'll forgive you when she's eighteen." It was the only advice she had ever given him. Ever since then, when he commed his mother to complain about Halla's arguing, or her smart mouth, or her inappropriate friends, all his mother did was laugh. Often until she had to go for a drink of water to calm herself. A few minutes later, he was about to ask Halla if she was ready for dinner when there was a knock on the door of their quarters. "I'll get it!" Halla came tearing out of her bedroom at an astonishing speed, leading Trip to believe that whatever she had been doing, it probably wasn't fourth-grade geometry. Trip wasn't particularly worried. When it came to math and science, Halla could think rings around anyone in her class, including Ms. Harris. "Uncle Jon!" Halla cried when she saw who was on the other side of the door. "Hi, honey." Rather than picking her up, Jon bent down to hug her. Trip knew Jon's back hadn't been the best lately. Those last few months of the Xindi war had really taken it out of him, physically and mentally. Trip could sympathize. It hadn't been a picnic here on Mars colony, either. Halla didn't mind. She squeezed Jon hard, then started to natter about her friends and her school and their new class pet, an Andorian tarantula that gave Trip the heebie-jeebies every time he even heard about it. He wasn't looking forward to Spring Break, when, Halla informed him, she had been chosen out of everyone in the class to bring Old Hairy home for a week. "Halla, darlin', why don't you get ready for dinner? We can tell Uncle Jon all about that later." Halla gave him an appraising look. "Can I stay up past my bedtime?" "We'll see." "Till ten?" "Nine-thirty." "Nine-forty-five?" Halla suggested, hopefully. "If you get ready right now." Halla skipped off, leaving Jon and Trip alone. "So..." Trip began, at the same time Jon started: "She's great." Trip nodded. "Yeah." She was a handful, but Trip couldn't imagine life without her. Of course, at one time, he hadn't been able to imagine life without Jon, either, and it had happened. "So the mission's over." "Finally." It had taken longer than anyone had expected, thanks to the Xindi. Trip had wanted to be there on the front lines, battling alongside Jon and 'Enterprise', but he could never have brought Halla into a war zone. So he had done his bit from Mars colony, supporting the crew by reminding them there was a world outside the Expanse. Hoshi told him he'd been invaluable, but Trip didn't feel like it. Jon rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, casting his eyes around the living room. It was a little cluttered, Trip had to admit, his tools spread out alongside Halla's dolls and stuffed animals, next to the engineering journals they both read. "Great place," Jon commented lightly. "Look, we've only got a coupla minutes. She can move real fast when she's motivated." And when she wasn't, like on a Monday morning before school, Halla was the slowest sentient being in existence. "Sounds like someone else I know." Trip didn't have time to get into that. "What do you want, Jon?" A simple question, but one fraught with many meanings. Before he and Halla left 'Enterprise', they'd briefly discussed their relationship. Before Halla, Trip and Jon had been on-again, off-again lovers, best friends who just happened to have a great time in bed together. Once Trip had Halla, that wasn't an option anymore. Distant Uncle Jon was one thing, but if Jon was going to be a big part of their lives, Trip needed him to be committed, to both of them. For good. Trip would have liked that, but whether Jon was capable of it, not even Jon himself had known. "I've had a lot of time to think, Trip," Jon replied. "And?" Trip tried to sound casual, but he was barely breathing. He'd had a lot of time to think, too. Mostly about how much easier this would be if he had Jon with him. Jon would be a good father, Trip knew, and Halla loved him. Trip loved him. But if Jon wasn't interested, there was nothing they could do. Jon looked at him. "I want a family. And, you know me, why bother starting a new one when I can have one ready-made?" Trip didn't need to ask if Jon was for real. He was a child of divorced parents himself, he knew how seriously Trip took this. He held out his arms and Trip hugged him wordlessly, turning his face to catch Jon's mouth. "Oh, gross!" Was Halla's declaration when she emerged, clutching her latest math test. "Dad, I want to show this to Uncle Jon." Trip stepped back, keeping his arms around Jon. "Halla, darlin', we've got somethin' to tell you." Halla looked at Jon. "You're movin' in with us?" "Would you like me to?" Jon asked, sounding a little surprised. Trip would have to tell him to get used to it. There wasn't anything Halla couldn't figure out, often before Trip himself did. It made hiding Christmas presents a real challenge. "Yes. It's about time." She came up beside Jon, taking one of his hands in her smaller, scaly one. "Can I show you my math test? I got a hundred percent, but know what was even better? Becky got eighty, and that's because I helped her with her math at recess for weeks. Dad says I'd be a good teacher, but I think I'd rather be an engineer. Or a starship captain. Or a doctor. What do you think?" Jon looked a little overwhelmed. Trip took his other hand, which he would never have done on Earth. That was why he and Halla had come to Mars colony, there wasn't any of the judgment that was still rampant on Earth. The reinforced, soundproof compound walls between his bedroom and Halla's were just a bonus. --- The End