Finding Home
by Philippe de la Matraque
Sequel to Alien Us

Epilogue

Trip yawned as he dried off after his shower. He'd been elbow deep in EPS conduits for the last three hours after the mix in the warp core got wonky, and two conduits had blown out as they approached the nebula they were exploring. He was beat.

His console beeped so he took a look. He had two new messages. One was from his mother and the other from Malcolm and Hoshi. Things hadn't been the same without them, but it was starting to feel normal again. Carstairs was doing fine at Communications, and Lieutenant Stoica was a good fit at Tactical. She proved herself to be a bit of hustler. Some of the folks they'd tangled with had thought she would be an easy target as a woman. She let them, until she kicked their asses. Malcolm would have liked her.

He opened Malcolm and Hoshi's message first. There was a video. He clicked it.

"Hello, Uncle Trip!" Hoshi called. She was cradling a small human in her arms. Trip forgot about being tried. He stopped the video and called the captain to his quarters. He put on his night clothes while he waited.

Soon Jonathan was there. "What's up, Trip?"

Trip grinned. "Got a message from Malcolm and Hoshi. Figured you'd like to see it."

They went to his desk, and he started the video again.

"Hello, Uncle Trip!" Hoshi called, as she waved the baby's arm.

"Is that a baby?" Archer asked.

Trip chuckled. "Sure looks like one."

Suddenly a bundle of blond fur blocked the screen. "Haruko, down," Malcolm's voice said from behind the cat. He pulled the cat into his lap. "We just got home from hospital yesterday."

Hoshi turned the baby to the camera. It had dark hair like its parents. "Say hello to Madeline Elizabeth Reed-Sato." Hoshi was practically glowing. "The newest member of our family." Trip nearly choked up. They honored both his and Malcolm's sister in the naming. Jonathan put a hand on his shoulder.

"We're going to need a bigger house in a few months," Malcolm added. "This is a short message because I'll have to pick Mom up in a couple minutes. She's coming out to help for a few weeks. Then maybe Hoshi's mom after that."

Hoshi patted Malcolm's arm. "After my leave, I'll be working half time at the Academy and half Starfleet HCD. Malcolm's almost finished with his Engineering degree."

"Two more months and I'll be officially assigned to R&D. Though I may take my paternity after I graduate." Haruko, the cat, leaned over Malcolm to sniff at the baby.

"He's jealous he's not the youngest anymore," Hoshi joked. "Lily is nearly full grown. This one already weighs more than the baby."

"Now you know what we've been up to," Malcolm said. "Write back and catch us up, will you? It's been months."

Hoshi waved the baby's arm again, "Bye bye." The video stopped.

"Nine months, at least," Archer added.

Trip looked at him. "I'm an uncle again! First baby. Owen was a kid when he was adopted." He leaned back in his chair. "Wow."

"Congrats, Trip."

Trip opened the message from his mother. There was only one sentence: We have a grandbaby!

"I don't think she's excited at all," Trip said jokingly.

Archer chuckled. "May be hard after that, but you need to get some sleep. We're still getting power fluctuations in the Armory. Stoica has it locked down for now. You'll need to get on it first thing tomorrow, Uncle Trip."

Trip sighed. "Right." He stood back from the desk to escort Archer to the door. "Did you notice they named her after—"

"Yes, I did," the captain replied. "Night, Trip."

After the door closed behind him, Trip dimmed the lights and lay back on his bed. He wondered if Mom's dream-Elizabeth knew that she was an aunt again. He closed his eyes, hoping maybe he'd dream that same Elizabeth and let her know.