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SINCE THE BEGINNING OF Trip and Malcolm's official romantic relationship, the two of them had been spending every waking moment they had together. Trip would be returning to Florida one day soon, and Malcolm wanted to ensure he was able to spend every second that he possibly could with his lover before they were separated again for who knows so long.
Tonight, they had chosen to reserve a spot for dinner at an upper class restaurant that happened to be outside of the vintage district that they were both staying in. The reservation system was all digital, and computers had evolved so much since Trip and Malcolm's time spent aboard Enterprise that doing even this simple task was remarkably difficult for them— or, more specifically, for Malcolm.
"No, I do not want to buy the newest model of airbus! These bloody advertisements!"
Malcolm tried to spend his days away from technology and live a peaceful life surrounded by nothing but friendly neighbors and good old fashioned books. It was a life he enjoyed, but the pitfalls of that life were being readily shown.
He seemed to not understand that, if one wants pop-up ads to leave them alone, they'd need to close them. He had been clicking on all the ads in hopes that he had found a way to banish them, when he was actually just visiting the website that the advertisement linked to.
Trip, on the other hand, had never limited his exposure to the newest technologies. Once an engineer, always an engineer. He hungrily searched for the newest models of everything that he could get his hands on, taking them apart and figuring out how they worked. Making that reservation would be as easy as pie for him, but he derived a perverted pleasure out of watching the man he loved struggle so much with technology. It was funny, in a pitiful way.
"Ugh, now it's showing me robot assistants! How do I get off of this page?!"
Trip couldn't keep from laughing at the absolute lack of knowledge Malcolm had when it came to computers. He stepped closer to the monitor and clicked on the X button that showed on the upper left corner, closing the ad and regaining access to the reservation website.
When he finished, he crossed his arms over his chest in a symbol of silent superiority, a smirk on his lips. The confidence of his youth had never left him, even if it may have mellowed out a bit over the years. He loved proving his intelligence and skills to others, especially those he loved.
Malcolm surely was impressed! He stared at the screen in shock, his blue eyes wide as tea saucers. He could not find out for the life of him how Trip had so simply deleted the ads that had been plaguing him for so long.
"How-" he blurted out, unable to grasp the concept of simply clicking the X button.
Trip guided him over to another ad and then pointed out the X button in the corner.
"You just X it out," he commented as if it was the simplest thing in the world.
Malcolm buried his face in his hands, cheeks red with embarrassment. Unlike Trip, he was not a very confident or self-assured man. Knowing that the answer to the problem that had been plaguing him was so simple but he had failed to find it brought him great shame, and he couldn't bear to look up and see Trip's cocky expression right at that moment.
Trip's brow furrowed in concern when he saw how seriously Malcolm's reaction was to simply not knowing something about technology. After all, Malcolm had been purposefully eschewing any kind of technology for years. It was only natural that he would be behind in his understanding of it. Seeing the man he loved being so harsh on himself broke his heart. His cocky expression immediately faded away and was replaced with a worried frown.
"Mal, what is it? Come on, you can't be so upset about the ads! You haven't used a terminal in years, it's completely understandable that there would be some bumps in the road when getting used to it again."
Malcolm's shoulders began to shake, and Trip became even more concerned. Was he sobbing? Over a computer issue? What in the world?!
"Malcolm, what is it?" he asked intensely.
Malcolm raised his head and exposed the fact that he wasn't crying, he was laughing so much that his shoulders were shaking. Now it was Trip that felt like an idiot.
"You called me Mal!"
He giggled.
Trip raised an eyebrow, not understanding why a simple nickname could make his boyfriend so cheerful. Nicknames were just a part of being in a relationship, right? Why was the fact that he called him Mal so special?
Noticing his lover's confusion, Malcolm expanded on his statement.
"Nobody ever calls me nicknames. Nobody. And you called me-"
He stopped to cough for a little while. His lungs couldn't handle all that rambunctious laughter. The coughing caused his chest and back to ache, and he groaned in pain.
Trip gently laid a hand on his back, rubbing little soothing circles over his spine. He knew that both of them were older than they used to be, but it ached in his heart to see the man he loved not even able to laugh with as much energy as usual.
"I called you Mal, yes," he murmured, continuing his gentle caresses. "Now, Mal. Let's make the reservation, okay?"
The two of them linked their hands together and pressed the 'reserve spot' button in unison.
ELIZABETH TUCKER WAS SUSPICIOUS of her father.
Every day they spent in London, he insisted on spending as much time as possible with Malcolm Reed. Elizabeth gladly obliged at first, sacrificing their daddy-daughter time so that he could spend every waking moment of the day with the man that he claimed was his best friend.
But lately the days spent together had turned into day-long excursions where Trip would get dressed and leave in the early hours of the morning and return home late at night. He was swaying in his steps too and smelled of liquor and an unfamiliar cologne, meaning that he was definitely doing more than just hanging out with an old friend.
Elizabeth wouldn't dare to directly approach her father about this. She knew that a stealthy approach was dishonest, illogical, and could hurt his feelings. But she had a great bit of human shyness holding her back from asking him. So she secretly followed Trip when he made his trips to Malcolm's quaint vintage home surrounded by a well manicured garden in the quiet side of town. She watched through windows, hiding in the flower bushes and tall grasses, enduring scratches from thorns in order to gather her information, searching for anything to give evidence to her assumptions.
And one fateful day, she found exactly that. She saw her father touching Malcolm's back and being intimate with him when the Englishman was failing to properly deal with popup ads. The intimacy in question was just a simple back rub and handholding, but that was all Elizabeth needed to prove herself right.
They weren't just "friends". They were in love!
At first, Elizabeth was full of rage at this. She felt as if Trip was betraying the memory of her dead mother by loving another person after her death, and she was uncomfortable with the newfound knowledge of her father not being straight.
Over the next few days, the logical side and emotional side of her mind battled constantly for domination.
Logically speaking, humans felt emotions and were unskilled at pushing them away. Love was an emotion, yes, but it was also a biological process led by pheromones. If her father's... pheromones (putting that word next to the word 'father' felt disgusting for Elizabeth) were attracting Malcolm's, and Malcolm's pheromones were doing the same thing for Trip, there was no stopping that process.
Emotionally speaking, Trip had already formed a bond with one other person- T'Pol. Despite T'Pol dying, that bond still held weight to Trip. It had also produced Elizabeth. How could he now turn his back on the relationship he had with the woman he sired a child with and begin another one with someone else?
In the end, Elizabeth's mind stabilized. She realized that, ultimately, the feelings of betrayal and anger she felt were illogical. T'Pol was dead. As much as it hurt her to accept that, it was the truth. Her death ended whatever bond Trip had with her. Humans were creatures full of marvelous emotions, love being one of them. Elizabeth loved witnessing other people in love, at the joy it brought them. Even the pain it brought was fascinating to her. How could she then reject the fact that her father, old though he may be, was experiencing this marvelous, unique emotion?
When the night came for Malcolm and Trip to go to that romantic dinner they had planned, Elizabeth decided she would tag along with them— without them knowing, of course!
She dressed in a sparkling red cocktail dress, accessorizing herself to look simple yet beautiful. Her long, lithe legs were showing beneath the short skirt, and her tall, sexy silhouette was the spitting image of her mother, T'Pol.
She had already made a reservation for the same night, so it allowed her to go there with no issues. She could feel eyes on her, admiring her body, but she paid no mind to them. All she worried about was finding her father and Malcolm and telling them how she felt.
It was rather easy to find them, as they were seated pretty much at the center of the restaurant. They were holding two champagne flutes in front of their faces, sharing a kiss. Elizabeth approached them as quietly as she could, choosing to wear flat heeled shoes for this even though that was not the classic footwear choice to accompany the dress that she was wearing.
She managed to stand behind her father without alerting him and tapped him gently on the shoulder when the two men had finished kissing.
Trip was shocked to see his daughter there, but recovered quickly from the shock to ask her why she had followed them there.
Elizabeth took deep breaths to stabilize her fluttering heart before finally opening up about what she had been doing.
"When the two of you first began interacting with each other again, I suspected that there was a romance involved between you. But I didn't dare approach you directly, so I watched and waited, looking for signs."
Malcolm was taken aback by the fact that Trip's daughter had stalked them in an attempt to discover their romance. Surprisingly enough, he wasn't angry at her, just shocked.
But Trip? He was furious at Elizabeth's behavior!
"How could you do that?!" he yelled, slamming his hands down on the table.
The eyes of other patrons moved to their table at the commotion, and Malcolm rested his hands on Trip's arms to try and calm the man down. It worked slightly. He stopped yelling, but he was still furious. His eyes were alight with rage, and they were fixed directly on Elizabeth.
"You could have just asked me or Malcolm! We would've told you! But no, you had to surveil us like a... like a damned Romulan spy!"
Elizabeth felt tears come to her eyes at that comparison. Being admonished by her father was bad enough, but being compared to a Romulan? No Vulcan, even if they were only half a Vulcan, could take that comparison well!
She spun around on her heel and began to walk away, trying to chart the path back to the door with tears blurring her vision. As she left, she dared to turn around and look directly into her father's eyes.
"I just wanted to say that I supported you two!" she sobbed.
And with that, she stormed out of the restaurant, leaving Malcolm and Trip there alone.