" My Heart Is Hurtin’ "
Author's e-mail: keattrin@hotmail.com Category: Angst (Trip) Rating:
G Beta: stubadingdong Spoilers: Cogenitor Note: Thank you to
pookha_hare and MoulinRouge for giving me the idea for this one.
Disclaimer: Enterprise, the series, concepts and characters, are the
property, copyright and trademark of Paramount/Viacom. No ownership or claim on
said property, copyright or trademark is made or implied by the use of these
characters in this story. This story is non-commercial, not for sale or profit,
and may not be sold or reproduced for commercial purposes.
In other words, I like using these characters in stories I’d never see on
TV.
This is a section from the last scene in Cogenitor:
**Trip and Jon
are in Jon’s quarters- Trip has just been told of the Cogenitor’s suicide.
“It’s time you learned to weigh the possible repercussions of your actions.
You’ve always been impulsive. Maybe this will teach you a lesson.” Pain and
anguish are evident in Jon’s face
At a loss for words, Trip utters, “I understand…”
“Do you? I’m not so sure you do. You knew you had no business interfering
with those people. But you just couldn’t let it alone. You thought you were
doing the right thing. I might agree, if it was Florida…or Singapore. But it’s
not, is it? We’re in deep space and a person is dead-a person who’d still be
alive if we hadn’t made first contact. I guess I haven’t been very successful in
getting through to you. If I had, you would’ve thought a lot harder before doing
what you did.”
Trip searches Jon’s eyes. “You’re not responsible…”
Jon looks at Trip, not sure what else to say. “Dismissed,” he whispers and
turns toward the window.
Trip wonders why Jon won’t talk to him anymore. “Cap’n?”
He waits a few moments, but when Jon doesn’t turn around he leaves.**
Trip could hardly believe what had happened. He replayed the conversation
over and over in his mind, and kept seeing the anger, frustration, and profound
sadness in Jon’s eyes as he conveyed to Trip of his disappointment in him.
Leaning against the wall for support, he focused down the long hallway. He was
afraid to go back to his quarters, where the Cogenitor had been a few hours
before. He felt a burning in his heart and emptiness in the pit of his stomach.
Where could he go? Who could he talk to about this? Unbidden, an image formed in
his mind. An image of a man who knew all about regrets and anguish.
****
Malcolm was in his quarters, getting ready for bed. He straightened out the
books on his night table. As he was doing so, the chime sounded. Who could it be
at this time of night?
He went to the door and opened it. Trip was standing in front of him;
ashen-faced, with shoulders hunched, and a haunted look in his eyes. Taken
aback, Malcolm quickly grabbed his wrist and pulled him inside.
“My God, Trip, what’s happened?”
Trip looked around Malcolm’s quarters, not focusing. Malcolm took him by the
wrist and led him to his bed, sitting him down. Malcolm rolled his desk chair
over next to Trip and sat down.
“Did something happen to your family? Trip, please tell me what’s going on!
I’ve never seen you like this.”
Trip sighed and looked over at Malcolm. “The Cogenitor. She’s dead. She
committed suicide…”with that word, Trip’s voice broke, and unable to contain
himself, he buried his head in his hands. A strangled sob came from deep within
him.
Suddenly, he grabbed Malcolm’s front shirt. “I killed her Malcolm. I just
wanted her to be free, to learn to think for herself. How could I be so…?” A
pained expression crossed his handsome features and he turned away, letting
Malcolm go.
What a shock. Malcolm hadn’t expected anything like that to come out of Trip.
He had heard about how Trip was no longer welcome on the Vissian ship, and the
Cogenitor’s request for asylum, but he didn’t know how much Trip had to do with
all of it. They hadn’t talked in quite a while, not since first contact with the
Vissians. Malcolm had been busy with the Vissian tactical officer, showing her
the Armory, and other, more personal things. He hadn’t been available for Trip,
even if Trip needed to talk him. He reddened at the thought that Trip might have
wanted to talk to him about his involvement with the Cogenitor, yet he had been
unavailable. Shifting in his chair, Malcolm wasn’t sure what to say to Trip to
make him feel better.
“Trip, you’ve always looked out for the underdog. Look at me. You’ve taken me
under your wing, so to speak, and helped me come out of my shell. You did this
out of kindness – or maybe I was a good project to work on. Whatever the case,
because of you I’m starting to come out of my shell and have friends-I finally
feel like I belong somewhere. You just wanted the best for the Cogenitor. You
just want the best for everyone. I’m just so sorry that it had to end like this
for you…and her.” Malcolm hesitantly put his hand on Trip’s shoulder.
“Malcolm, you should have seen him. The Cap’n. He was so angry and hurt that
because of me someone took its life, and someone else won’t be born for a long
time. Maybe it’s time I stopped fightin’ for the underdog. Just leave well
enough alone.” Trip ran his hand through his hair, letting out a loud sigh. He
looked around the room, agitated, restless.
“I don’t believe that! You had only the best intentions in mind…”
Trip interrupted Malcolm. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions,
Malcolm. Ever hear that sayin’? I never believed it ‘til now.”
“Your friendship with Captain Archer will survive. It may get stronger, since
both of you have learned from this awful mess.”
“No, Malcolm, there was somethin’ in his eyes that I just can’t explain. What
am I going to do, how am I goin’ to save it? I embarrassed him today with the
Cogenitor’s suicide-the buck stops with him on everything this crew does.” Trip
shook his head, and looked up to the ceiling, as if asking for help from God
Himself.
Malcolm gathered up all the strength and courage he had, willing it to
transfer over to Trip. “Listen to me. You will survive this. Your friendship
with the Captain will survive this. We don’t know why the Cogenitor took her own
life. You don’t know what those people said to her, or may have done to her, for
her to come to that conclusion.
“Captain Archer is feeling badly right now, but he will come around. He knows
the responsibilities that a captain must face. He know there are things that a
member of a crew will do that he doesn’t like or agree with. But he has to learn
that he can’t always control his crew’s actions.
“I can only imagine what you must be feeling like right now. But I’m here
now. I will support you in any way that I can.”
Tears rolled slowly down Trip’s face. “My heart is hurtin’, Malcolm. I’ve
never felt like this before.” He mustered a smile. “You’re a good friend
Malcolm. Thanks for bein’ here to listen to me.” Trip started to get up from the
bed. He really didn’t want to go, but he didn’t want to burden Malcolm anymore.
“Where are you going?”
“Somewhere…maybe engineerin’. I’ll try to tinker with something. Get my mind
off it.”
Malcolm was afraid to let him go. He didn’t know why. He just knew at that
moment not to let Trip out of his sight. “Stay here. You can sleep in my bed.
I’ll grab a sleeping bag and crash on the floor. Don’t leave, Trip. It’s not a
good idea,” he implored.
Trip looked at Malcolm intently, his expressive eyebrows slightly furrowed.
It occurred to him that Malcolm was afraid that if he let Trip go he would do
something he regretted. What, he didn’t know, and he suspected that Malcolm
didn’t either. It didn’t matter. He would stay.
“Okay,” Trip nodded his head.
Relief spread across Malcolm’s features like a ray of sunshine. It felt good
to comfort his friend; it felt good that out of everyone on the ship, Trip had
come to him to talk about this. Strange, it was the same satisfaction that he
felt after working on his weapons’ upgrades.
As Malcolm got his sleeping bag out of the closet, Trip undressed down to his
blues. He watched Malcolm for a minute, wishing he could hug him to thank him
for being such a good friend. He got under the covers. Malcolm turned out the
lights and got in the bag. He lay there, in the dark, listening for signs that
Trip had fallen asleep.
“Hey, Malcolm? Thanks for bein’ such a good friend. I really appreciate
it.”
“You’re quite welcome, Trip. Now go to sleep; we’ll talk more in the morning.
Good night.”
“Good night.” Trip let out a slow breath, grateful he had made the right
choice by coming here.
FINIS ************* Please do not repost this material without
permission directly from the author.
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Nine of you have made comments
On 15 May 2003 at 01:47 PM Alison M. DOBELL said:
I loved this. Malcolm is so in-character and his reaction to Trip is
heartfelt and endearing. I can really imagine these being his thought
processes as he tries to find a way to reach out and help Trip. Lovely. Hope
to be reading more of your stories on this site. Thank you, Ali D
:~)
On 15 May 2003 at 02:07 PM sweet said:
Malcolm's a sweetie. :)
On 15 May 2003 at 02:09 PM MoulinRouge said:
I can easily picture Malcolm being exactly like this with Trip. As much as
he loves Jon, Trip needs a friend whose expectations he doesn't have to live
up to. A joy to read.
On 15 May 2003 at 03:30 PM annie said:
Excellent! Pain and comfort - only a true friend would do this for
another!
On 16 May 2003 at 08:39 AM Dirk said:
What a wonderful scene. This Writing caliber/ character development is what
the series needs! I believe good story telling deals with people’s interaction
with each other and how they share their feelings. I think you also have to
love the characters to truly understand them and that means being a fan. I
wonder if Paramount still allows script/story submission. Just a thought
J Look forward to more stuff from you perhaps some NC17 Slash stuffJ
On 28 May 2003 at 10:38 PM Briar said:
Wonderfully done. I can definately see Malcolm reacting to Trip hurting
this way. (even more so since I saw Expanse *grin*) I enjoyed this very much.
I hope to see more from you in the near future. ^_^
~Briar
On 29 May 2003 at 06:01 AM Li said:
Thanks for all the wonderful feedback, everyone! I'm so glad you enjoyed
it. I enjoyed writing it!
On 31 May 2003 at 07:30 AM Woaca said:
This was a lovely story, and felt very real to me. I liked what Malcolm
said about the way Trip took him under his wing and helped him come out of his
shell- so true! Looking forward to more of your stories.
On 28 January 2004 at 11:03 AM Neo Getz said:
that was amazing simple friendhsip through hardness which followed so well
off the real ep, gr8 work really gr8
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