Reed's Armory -- A Malcolm Reed Fanfiction Archive ..

Title: Mending the Bridge

Author: Qzeebrella

Author's e-mail: [email protected]

Fandom: Enterprise

Pairing: Tucker/Reed

Rating: G

Category: Slash

Series: I Will Not Stand Still

Sequel to: A Friend to Hold On To

Spoilers: Cogenitor

Archived to Reed's Armory on 10/13/2003.

Trip finished the calibrations
The adjustments and repairs
Of his beloved warp drive
And thought of his other beloved
A man so compassionate and true
So strong of heart
So loyal and brave
With dark, somewhat wavy hair
Stormy blue eyes
Sometimes grey
A sexy smirk
And such a gorgeous behind

Then he thought of his Captain
His friend
The man he called brother
He knew he had to try
He had to reach out
To Jonny today

To see if they could be friends
To see if they could repair
Their bond once strong
But now so frayed
He had to see
If they could try again

So now that his shift was completed
Now that the last repair was done
Now that he briefed his replacement
On what to watch for
On what he wanted her to do
He would seek out his friend
Find the one he still called brother
And they would try again

So Trip tracked down his Captain
Trip found his friend
In a storage bay
No other crew were nearby
So Trip locked the door
Put up a privacy request notice
On the communication unit nearby

"May I talk to you Cap'n,
May I talk to you as a friend
Can we talk a little while
On what has happened
And see what we can do
To try to repair our friendship
Your friendship means a lot to me
You are my brother
So can we talk a little while
Now we are both off duty?"

Jon swallowed his joy
Tried hard not to release his tears
His tears of happiness and joy
To have a chance to repair
To mend and bridge the gap
He had so thoughtlessly created
By reprimanding Trip while angry
By tearing into Trip
By being harsh and unyielding

"Of course Trip
I would like that
I cherish our friendship
I am so very sorry
I lashed out at you as I did
I would like to try again."

So they sat and talked
In the storage bay
For hour upon hour
On the things they had seen and did
In the two weeks they had been parted
Not by duty
Not by necessity
But by careless words

Trip told his Cap'n
His friend and brother
Of how he and Malcolm were courting
That he loved the mischievous Brit
The armory officer
The loyal and true and honorable man
That he loved Malcolm
Oh so very much

Trip confided in his friend
That Mal and he had come so close
And yet so very far away
From making love with each other
That he longed to be with Mal
To belong to Mal
And Mal to belong to him

Jon confessed to Trip
On how Malcolm had come to him
Had reprimanded him for his actions
Had let him know
How much a cherished friend
Needed an apology
And that he admired Malcolm's grit
Malcolm's inner strength
Malcolm's courage and loyalty
And that he envied Trip
For finding such a glorious person
To love him for being who he was
And be loved in return

"Oh, that's just like Mal
To refuse to sit still
When a friend is hurting
When a friend is in need
But just try to convince him
To give himself time
To heal from injury
Or to speak up when he wants something
Or needs something

It'd be easier to move a mountain
Than Malcolm when he's determined

That he is 'fine'
That he can work
That to speak of something you need or want Is something you should not do
It's sometimes frustrating to watch him Sometimes oh so hard
To see him so bound and determined
To work when he's not completely healed But I love him just the same
For who he is
And I will be forever grateful
He loves me in return."

Jon smiled at his friend's words
Glad that Trip had found
Someone so suited for him
He sighed wistfully, wondering
If he'd ever find the same
And caught himself
Thinking for a moment
Of Chef so tall and handsome
So creative and supportive
Then shook himself
From his reverie

"Well I hope things work out for you
I hope things will go well
For Malcolm is a good man
And you deserve the best
Would you join me tomorrow
For supper in the Captain's mess
Then to watch a game of water polo
And maybe a scotch or two?"

"I'd like that Jonny,
I'll see you tomorrow
It's really good to know
We are firmly on the right road
To restoring our friendship
And our brotherhood
I'm really looking forward to
Seeing water polo teams play
And imaginin' Malcolm in those trunks
Well that'd be a sight to see."

Trip pictured it for a moment
Malcolm leaving a swimming pool
Wearing water polo trunks
Dripping wet
Eyes glistening with joy and love
A sensual leer on his face
A come-fuck-me grin

And hastily excused himself
From his friend
Unlocked the door
Removed the block to communications
And ran for a shower cool
He had been having quite a few
Cold showers lately
He hoped he'd be able to
Make love with Malcolm soon

Jon chuckled inwardly
Knowing what Trip likely pictured
Then found himself seeing a similar picture Of Malcolm wet and dripping
Covered his eyes with one hand
Murmuring "oh boy"
Then shaking himself out of it
No matter that the picture was so tempting For Trip would likely kill him
If Jon dared to make a move
On the man Trip so dearly loved
So Jon went back to his quarters
Fed his dog
Read a book
Then settled down to sleep

Over the next few days
These two strong men
Did their friendship repair
They met for dinner almost every night
Watched water polo
Confided in each other

They knew they would always have to deal With the separation of Captain
And Commander
But that they could allow
Trip and Jonny to be friends and brothers

And one morning after
Trip had excused himself hastily
After watching a water polo match
Muttering something about a cold shower Jon approached his friend

"Trip you've got to do something soon
Both you and Malcolm are distracted
I think both you and Malcolm are ready
You should take your relationship further Before my armory officer kidnaps you
Drags you to his quarters
Before my armory officer throws a fit
Or goes crazy from desire
I'd really rather not see
What an insane armory officer could do
Especially someone of Malcolm's caliber."

Trip blushed and stammered
Trip hemmed and hawed
"You're right Cap'n
I hope to do something soon
I just am not telling you exactly when
'Cause I don't think you want to hear
What I have planned for 'my'
Armory officer oh so dear
It may come under the heading
Of too much information
If I were to tell you
What I've planned
For my beloved
For Mal."

"You're probably right Trip
I'll be busy the next couple nights
With quarterly reports
So I'll see you only at dinner for awhile I'm glad we are friends again
That we were able to repair
The gap, the tear between us
I am glad that we are friends."

"So am I Cap'n
So am I."
Trip said as he left for his post
Immersed on how he intended
To ask Mal to make love with him
In Mal's quarters

He wanted to make love with Mal
Slowly and thoroughly
He wanted to make love with Mal
Each and every day
Or at least as often as possible
Once age had set in

For once he made love with Mal
He would never let him go
He would want to be with Mal
For as long as both should live
He wanted to be with Mal
For an eternity

So when he made love with Mal
In the very near future
He would do what he could
To make it special, gentle and romantic For it would be their first time together

From that time till Trip's death
He intended to make love to no other
For Mal was it for him
His one true love
His soul mate
His other half

And he wanted their first time
To be special
For Mal.

~the end~