Chapter Text
October 30th, 2156
It had been a long six months since the war had begun, even if it hadn’t been declared until two months after the first major attacks. Jonathan Archer didn’t feel like he’d had a full night’s sleep since those had begun, and he doubted that he was going to be getting any here, despite the mandate of three days rest before they escorted their next convoy. He was idly flicking through systems reports when he heard Travis cough then speak louder. “Captain, we’re approaching Proxima Colony.”
“Hail the spaceport and arrange our space, Hoshi.” He looked over to the comms officer as she went through the usual procedure. It was second nature to them all by this point. Proxima only had two bays that could fit the NX class ships, and they nearly always cleared them for the same place.
“Yes, sir.” Hoshi said quietly to whichever controller she was speaking too and then smiled before looking between Jon and Travis. “They’ve cleared us into docking bay Gamma.” That stopped them both for a moment and then Jon watched as Travis changed their angle to come in to Gamma instead or Alpha as they’d been expecting. “Alpha is unavailable. It’s apparently occupied. Columbia is here.” Hoshi continued then Jon caught a small smile between Hoshi and Travis, and that reminded him that his happiness when Columbia was around was not a secret among the crew.
The bigger thing for him though was that he had no idea that Columbia was here, even though he’d spoken to Erika yesterday. She had mentioned she was about to leave where they’ve been on assignment, but he suddenly realised he’d never asked where Columbia actually was. “That’s a surprise.”
“You didn’t know she was here?” Travis asked looking back over his shoulder momentarily, and Jon wasn’t entirely sure if his helmsman meant the ship or his fellow Captain. Either way he didn’t want to be dealing with their mild judgement while he spoke to Erika and found out what was going on.
“No, she was supposed to have shipped out yesterday.” He said quietly then looked over to Hoshi as he pulled himself out of his seat. “Hail Captain Hernandez, I’ll take it in my ready room.” He hoped that she’d be in hers already, or her quarters. Somewhere private at least.
The moment between him sitting in his seat and seeing Erika’s face felt like an age to him, but as soon as her worn and drawn face appeared he couldn’t help the smile that spread over him, and when she finally looked up he saw her return it with the familiar shine that always made him smile. “Hello, Jonathan.”
“I wasn’t expecting you to be here?” He smiled, wondering if Erika even knew Enterprise was only a few hundred metres away from where she was probably sitting, also in her ready room. The pictures in her room had far more family than his did, but there was one picture of their entire group from the Project. “Sorry for not knowing where you were.” He admitted, knowing that that was probably pretty good from an operational security perspective, but he still felt a little bad for not knowing where Erika was.
“You’re here already?” She seemed to almost jump up and roll her chair back a little to where he knew she’d probably be able to see Enterprise’s forward hull at least. “Sorry, if I’d known you were ahead of schedule we’d have made extra space for you.” Her little chuckle made him smile, and he realised that this would be the first time he’d seen her since the war was declared. “I’m happy to see you though.”
“Me too. It’s been too long.” He admitted and then took a chance. One he wasn’t sure he would do if she had been anyone else in the universe. But she wasn’t. This was the woman who had pulled him out of the worst moments of his entire life. The woman who had had a hold on him for longer than he’d even realised himself. He couldn’t pass up the chance to drink in her presence again. “Dinner? Unless you’re leaving soon. Just me and you.”
She shook her head a little as he asked if they were leaving and then smiled a little more. “We’re not leaving until the morning. One of our convoy was waiting on a crewman, they should arrive sometime tonight.” Which meant that the new crewman was probably in the convoy Jon had just escorted in. “Dinner sounds great.”
“My place or yours?” He didn’t want to presume which ship they should eat on, knowing that sometimes he just didn’t want to leave Enterprise. Especially when they were about to leave on a mission. Though he would let Erika take her preference.
“Your crew are taking a few days R&R, right?” She asked after a couple of moments thinking it over, and Jon nodded before he realised why she was asking that. Less likely for people to be around and to overhear their conversations. Less people to interrupt them, too, probably.
So that made the decision easier. He also wouldn’t really need to warn the crew that she was aboard, not when they were just getting dinner. Though he would give whoever was on communications a heads up that Columbia may call looking for her Captain. “My place it is. See you about… twenty hundred?” That was an hour and a half away. Enough time for him to finish the paperwork he needed for the dock master and get changed.
“Sounds perfect.” She smiled and as she went to end the call she suddenly stopped and laughed to herself. That laugh was a balm to his soul, and he knew that she was going to soothe so much of himself in just a few hours eating together. “Oh and Jonathan?”
“Yeah.” He asked when she said his name, though his mind taking half a second to catch up, he’d been too involved in just studying every part of her. Damn, they were right… War really did make you notice more of the little things, and feel the positive emotions more deeply.
“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about that bottle of wine you owe me.” She eventually said when he caught up, and this time he was the one laughing, allowing her words to wash over him and remembering that he’d secreted a bottle away in the cargo bay that he would have to go and gather before she arrived. Have it chilled in the galley by the time they ate.
“Wouldn’t imagine it.” He chuckled then remembered the one thing he wanted. This was his equivalent of R&R, and he wasn’t going to let their ranks or careers get in the way, so no uniforms were to be allowed. “Casual dress tonight. I don’t want to be Captains.”
“See you soon, Jon.” Erika just smiled then ended the call, leaving him staring at the screen for a moment, missing her face the moment it disappeared. He then shook his head and started to focus on his work, continuing to get all the paperwork done so that, tonight, he could focus on Erika and nothing else.
A little before he was expecting her he went to change, and then wandered over to the airlock that had Enterprise directly connected to the spaceport and, by extension, to Columbia. That made him feel closer to her as he thought about it. When he saw her coming over his jaw dropped, and he struggled to get his words out. “Captain Hernandez, welcome to Enterprise.”
“Captain Archer. It’s nice to see you again.” Erika smiled and then did a little twirl for him when there was definitely nobody around and he smiled. The form fitting light linen dress was definitely not what he’d been picturing, and he felt extremely under-dressed in his t-shirt and sweat pants. Clearly he’d been staring a moment too long when she ducked more into his view. “Jonathan, is this casual enough?”
“Not the kind of casual I was thinking, but I approve.” He smiled, the dress familiar, one he was sure that she’d worn on a summer night when they’d taken a vacation more than a decade ago. It was just as beautiful on her today as it had been that night. That was the night he’d realised that he was in love with her. The dress was definitely bringing back the happy memories associated with it.
He should have known that as soon as they were alone together their feelings would bubble up to the surface. He had at least managed to get her back to his quarters before he’d pinned her against the wall and kissed her deeply. Not wanting to let her move away, not when he hadn’t seen her in months and when she was wearing something clearly chosen to drive him wild. He lost track of time, and of where the dress ended up, but he enjoyed the time nonetheless. Breathless, spent and happy Jon smiled as he pulled Erika into his arms and kissed her shoulder gently. “You know this is why we shouldn’t go more than a month without seeing each other.”
“Because the instant that we do see each other again we do this?” Erika asked, a lilt back in her voice that she’d been missing lately. Between the recovery from her kidnap by the Orions to the war being declared, Erika hadn’t ever really had too much time to be the explorer she’d signed up to be. He was certain that that played on her mind at times. “Because the moment you see me, you want to fuck me against the closest wall?” She teased, and he couldn’t even pretend that wasn’t true.
“Pretty much.” He laughed and then nodded and leant over her, kissing her deeply and then pressed his forehead to hers for a few moments. “I love you, it’s hard to keep my hands off you when we’re together.” Before the war, he was doing better at that, but now he didn’t want to stop being with her. Though he knew they couldn’t yet.
“I know how you feel, Jonathan.” She replied quietly and then she was the one who moved up to press closer to him before she continued speaking, also keeping her voice quiet, clearly something in her wanting to keep this conversation as quiet as she could, but the gentle smile on her face made him feel much more confident about what she was thinking. “I promise you when all this is over we’ll take that trip we keep throwing at each other.”
“Actually try and take on Everest?” He asked, knowing that they’d been saying that ever since they had learnt that they both loved climbing, though originally they’d planned to do it with their friend AG Robinson as well, though now they could do it in AG’s memory. “It’s a date. As soon as this war’s over.”
“Maybe we should take on K2 first. Do all the big hills.” Erika joked, though he was aware that she knew K2 was the harder climb overall, but he knew that her dream was K2, while his had always been Everest. “Either way, we’ll do them both.” She confirmed and he held her a little closer.
“Do you think about what we’re going to do after the war often?” He asked quietly, something that he didn’t allow himself to think about, but he wondered if Erika did. That might give him more impetus to think about what he’d be doing in a few years when they were all done with this.
“Sometimes. I try not to plan too much.” Erika answered at the same volume as him, and he realised why they were talking so quietly. They didn’t want the universe to know they were thinking that far ahead. After a moment of silence Erika continued speaking. “I’ve thought a lot about what we might do. I think about how it’ll be for Carla and Amelia.”
Erika mentioning her nieces made him smile, and he remembered the most surprising call he’d gotten the day before, a direct consequence Jon now felt of adding Erika’s family to his contact lists with Starfleet. “She got me to call her yesterday, Carla. Asked if she thought I’d be home for her birthday.”
“I’m her aunt! She didn’t ask me!?” Erika suddenly got both louder and managed to sound completely indignant. “I guess it’s not until February, maybe she’ll ask me nearer the time?” Jon didn’t know, but he was just going to agree with her. It was always funny to him that her niece had always preferred him over her. “Ten this time. I can’t hardly believe that.”
“I remember her being three months old and you bringing her around the hangar when Simon and Maria brought her to visit.” Jon smiled again. That had been the first time that he had ever held a baby and Carla would always have a place in his heart because of that. “She was such a sweet baby.”
“And she’s been yours ever since. She still brags on at school about how Jonathan Archer is her uncle.” Erika laughed a little and as much as she pretended to be offended, he knew that she was actually thrilled that he was still a part of her family. After she settled again and there was a few moments of silence before she started to speak again. “Sometimes I think I’m scared to think about the future. So much for us is uncertain right now. It’s why I’m never going to stop when we do this. This is real, this is here and now.”
As she spoke, Jon thought about what she said and then smiled when she said she wasn’t going to stop this, and that she was clearly as happy about their relationship right now as he was. “Erika the one thing I know right now is that you are my constant. Since I was twenty eight you’ve always been there, and somehow you’ve never ran away. You ran to me every time.” He smiled, knowing they had fallen in love the same day, even if they hadn’t acted on it until a few years later. He had looked up their mission profiles earlier, and it had given him an idea to hopefully give them both something to look forward to. “I think I’ll be back here around Christmas, I think Columbia’s route will bring her back about then too.”
“It should if we plan things out properly.” She nodded and then dropped her forehead to his shoulder and then chuckled happily. “We could call the girls together for Christmas. They’d be thrilled.” He loved seeing the joy on her face as she thought about surprising her nieces.
“If it was with you, I’d do anything.” He said honestly, leaning over her to kiss her deeply again, not wanting to get out of this bed and face up to the fact that they were going to have to return to the front lines of a war neither of them ever wanted to see. “So I’ll see you at Christmas?” It was a question, but it was also a promise. It was all he needed at this point.
“You’ll see me at Christmas.” Erika laughed after a few moments and ran her hands over his shoulders, fingers tracing over the scars he had dotted all over from the various minor injuries he’d taken since Enterprise had launched. “You know we really should eat, I am hungry.”
Jon could agree that they were hungry, but he just wasn’t ready to leave yet. “After this…” He said quietly then kissed her again before climbing over her, settling between her legs and once again reaffirming how much he was going to miss her when she left. It was something he also needed to remember why they were doing this.
It was more than half an hour later they finally surfaced from his quarters, their civilian clothes hastily pulled back on, Erika’s hair down in a much more free style than she normally wore on duty. Jon loved her hair down like this. They were joking about something that their friend Rob Duvall had done as they approached the mess hall and they were spotted by Trip, who instantly seemed happy to see his former temporary CO. “Hey, Captain H, glad to know Columbia was here too.”
“Trip!” Erika beamed and Jon remembered how terrified of Erika Trip had been when they were on the NX Project, but he was definitely over that these days. “It’s good to see you as well commander. Do you think while we’re both here could you contact Karl and have a look at the maintenance log on the starboard injector, it’s still causing problems.” Jon remembered that that had been a problem for Columbia on launch, and he wanted to know that if she was leaving on a distance mission that her engines were at their best.
“I’ll call over to him as soon as I’m back in engineering.” Trip smiled and then nodded, clearly much more comfortable than he once had been, and for a moment Jon felt like he was the third wheel. If it wasn’t for Erika’s hand on his back, at least. “It’s always great to see you.”
“Kiona and Veronica are planning a poker game tonight, you should join them if you can.” Erika suggested and Jon just turned to look at her for a moment. It was good to know that Erika’s crew were following in her footsteps. She had always been the one organising the illicit poker games, so he was unsurprised Columbia was in the throws of it too.
Trip grinned at that and then smiled as he was clearly thinking about that and then smiled more. “Oh that sounds like fun. Might take the rest over with me. I’ll see you later.” He looked over the top of Erika’s head and then smiled, Jon also smiled as he saw their comms officer coming out of the mess hall behind them. “Hoshi wait up. See you both later.”
“You couldn’t resist telling him about the poker game could you?” Jon teased down after a moment and headed down to the side entrance to his mess, not wanting to be overseen as the two of them went through the crew mess. As soon as they were in his dining room though he reached out to take Erika’s hand and pulled her to him.
“Our crews being friendly is a benefit to us all.” Erika returned the tease happily and then just shook her head and leant up to kiss him deeply, more than she would normally do when they were in public areas of the ship, even if this was a more private one, “And I wasn’t ready to share you with him, and I’d have felt the pressure to just invite him to eat with us.”
“You never have to share me Erika, not if you don’t want to.” Jon smiled and took her hand, pulling her into the corridor between the galley and the mess that also contained the door to his private dining room before kissing her again. “I’m all yours.”
“I think Starfleet would still have something to say about that.” Another one of their familiar teases that he knew Erika couldn’t resist pressing on him from time to time and every time it made him snort and remember their reunion, and how that had helped change his whole outlook on life.
“I love you.” He said plainly. Long ago he’d learnt that she reacted best when he was just up front about how he was feeling. She was very direct in her communication style and she appreciated it when others were direct with her. It made her a good mission commander, and it made her a good Captain. “One day I am going to marry you, then Starfleet can be mad about it.”
It was a familiar conversation, one that they hadn’t ever really actually settled, not because they didn’t want to, they just currently had different timelines for it. “I love you more than I could ever explain, but right now we’re doing good.” Erika finally responded and kissed him once more before pulling back and going to sit at the table, on the same side he liked to sit on, no doubt so they could be closer as they ate. After a few moments, and a call through to the steward they finally had dinner and Jon felt that it was time to broach the topic of her mission.
“Where is your convoy taking you?” He knew, she knew that he knew, but it was still the best way he could think of to open up the conversation to more professional topics. They were still colleagues, at the end of the day, no matter their personal situation.
“Out to Trillius Prime.” Erika replied and then sighed a little and Jon caught that she was apprehensive. “I’m nervous about going so far but we should be fine. All the ships in the convoy can at least do warp 3.” He was glad that she admitted to it openly rather than making him continue guessing and pressing the way he’d had to a few times over the years.
“Be careful.” Jon said quietly, reaching out and placing his hand on hers a moment as they both paused eating so that they could have this conversation. “We’re just going out to Deneva then back to Earth. Want me to check in on your family when I do?” He always offered, though it wasn’t always something that he was taken up on. Erika hadn’t been back to Earth in almost a year though, and he was sure that her family would appreciate any contact with her they could get, even if it was through him.
She seemed to be considering for a long time, enough that he took another few bites, allowing her to ponder. “Maybe go see my mami? She’s always loved you, more than me sometimes I think.” Erika chuckled but Jon knew that she truly believed that at times. She and her mother had always had a bit of a rocky relationship, but it seemed much better in the last few years than it had been previously.
“I’ll do that, and I’ll stop in with Carla and Amelia too.” If he was going to take the trip out to Tatum he’d make sure to check in on her nieces as well. Maybe this time Amelia would say more than five words to him. As much as Carla loved him, Amelia loved Erika, and it was one of his favourite things to see.
The again drifted into a comfortable silence as they continued eating, Jon didn’t think any more about what was going on. He wanted to be in to moment, just enjoying her company and the calm aura she always had around her. He wasn’t even sure he was entirely there until Erika said his name again. “Jonathan… In case anything happens…” That got his attention nearly instantly and he blinked a couple of times while he let his mind catch up with her. “I’ve left everything to you, the apartment near headquarters, the land in Tatum… but make sure my savings go to Carla and Amelia. It should get them through college or start their adult life well.”
“Erika… nothing is going to happen to you.” He tried to reassure her, knowing that he couldn’t really promise that. Neither of them could. He wasn’t surprised by her declaration that in the event of her death he would get everything, only because his will was the same. She’d get everything, and he knew that whatever he still owned would be in good hands if it was hers. After a moment he realised she was shaking a little and he turned to her, knowing they couldn’t ever be this vulnerable with their crews. This was something they needed to keep to commanding officers and above. “What’s making you think that?”
“Three convoys using this exact route have been destroyed in the last six months. Not one has made it through. It feels almost suicidal that we’re going.” Erika sighed and shook her head a little, a note of both fear and anger in her tone as she continued speaking. “I tried to vary the route, but no Starfleet wants the most direct route.”
“You’ll be okay, and I’ll keep my ear out and if you’re in trouble I’ll set this ship on fire if I can get there faster.” He knew that she was going to an area of space that had been chosen by the Romulans for repeated attacks, it was one of their most dangerous assignments. But there hadn’t been an NX ship escorting before, and Jon believed in Erika’s abilities to keep them all safe. “You’re a smart, capable and experienced Captain with out-of-the-box thinking. You’ll get your ship and crew through anything.”
“I wish I had your confidence, Jonathan.” She admitted quietly and he couldn’t help but just pull her into his arms to allow her to take some resilience and comfort from him in that moment. He spent the next couple of hours just quietly reinforcing that he knew she was going to be alright.
Saying goodbye to her was always difficult, and they spent as much time as they could avoiding that moment, dawdling on the short walk to the airlock so they could keep talking, or commenting about the next mountain they’d both like to try and climb. He knew that she felt the pressure as much as he did, the desire to stretch out the time so much because he knew that this could be the last time. But eventually they reached the space bridge and he watched her walking away until she blended into the crowds on the main concourse and he had to accept she was gone. Back to her own ship, her own crew, and her own mission.
Sleep had been easier, suppressing the desire to call her back over was difficult, but he managed it and as he made it up to the bridge in the morning, only juniors on staff as his senior staff was enjoying a well-earned day off. As he sat in his seat ensign Tanner turned to him from communications. “Columbia has just left dock, sir, and is signaling to leave.”
“Enterprise to Columbia.” He just stood up and smiled as the channel was opened for him to call their sister ship and give them an official send off from the local flag carrier. He smiled a little as the screen flickered from the view of the station over Proxima to the inside of Columbia’s bridge, Erika standing similarly by her chair.
“We’re just about to ship out, Enterprise. See you in about seven weeks.” She said, and he noted the smile on her face as she said that. They had made a great many plans for the next time they were together, and he had every intention of living up to all of them.
“We’ll make sure they keep a candle in the window for you.” Jon had never really been one for superstitions, but he did always want to leave something like this positively, and he hoped that that confidence he had in her made Erika more confident that she’d be able to save her crew.
“Thanks. Good luck, Jonathan.” Erika’s smile brightened a moment and Jon was very aware they both had crew around them, but he felt like she was speaking directly to his heart, and he knew that his would respond in kind.
“I should be saying that to you, see you at Christmas.” Jon smiled as he knew that he would be seeing her again soon, but that she needed the luck. She was the one with the more dangerous mission, the one who wasn’t getting to just go out and explore like she wanted. She needed the luck, he already had more than they would have though.
“I’ll hold you to that, Captain.” Erika continued looking almost directly into his soul for the last few moments before she ended the comms and he took in a breath as he watched the convoy Columbia was escorting begin warping away, and he felt the piece of his heart he left with Erika disappear as Columbia joined the other ships.