I am the teller of tales, the spinner of stories **Version 6**.

Title: Broken Promises
Author: Cassie Valentine
Fandom: Star Trek: Enterprise
Paring: Trip/Hoshi, Hallee
Feedback: Yes please
*****

Trip stared at the form before him When had registering a kid for school been this complicated? He flipped it over and looked at the other side before letting out a low whistle and considering his options. He could slink off and leave this for Hoshi and face her wrath later, or he could just suck it up and do it.

He decided that he was a Tucker and the Tucker men never shied away from a challenge.

"Name, address, date of birth," he muttered as he read over the form and hesitated at the section for last name. He and Hoshi had fought with several people in Starfleet to keep her last name as McLean, but they had all insisted that she take one of their last names and, of course, they couldn't get a straight answer as to why they needed to do this. Tucker had finally told them to put his name down on the forms.

Tucker looked at the blank space again and decided to put down Tucker, keep it the same as her official papers, but he hesitated again as he remember those big green eyes.

***

"But why!?!" Hallee asked as she looked up at Trip.

"I dunno Darlin'," he said patiently. "They wouldn't give us an answer."

"But I'm not really yours," she said with a shake of her head. Trip sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Hallee was still having a hard time with the idea of never going home again. T'Lin and all her buddies from the future had tried, but in the end, the Suliban had altered the time line just enough that she couldn't be sent back.

"It doesn't really mean anything," Hoshi tried to reason with her. "It's just a name on a paper." Hallee sniffled and looked at Hoshi for a moment before flinging herself into her arms.

"I still don't like it," she whispered to her.

"I know, kiddo," Hoshi replied as she took her off to get her ready for bed, casting one last look at Trip. He managed to contain himself until he heard the water running in the bathroom to throw that vase across the room.
***
Trip shook himself out of the memory and returned his focus to the sheet. There would be questions to answer if he didn't put Tucker on that line, he rationalized to himself.

"She wants to know if you're done yet, she needs to put her stamp of approval on things," Hoshi said with a smile as she came into the kitchen of the small apartment they had. "You're not done yet?" she asked, a little frustrated, but not surprised.

"What's her name?" he asked calmly.

"Hallee Rebeka, surely even you would remember that," she said with a smile.

"Last name Hosh," he said. She started to reply, but hesitated.

"Hyphenate it?" she suggested.

"And when they go to check with Starfleet about it?" Trip watched her face. "Fergot about that, didn'tcha?" he asked with a smile. She shrugged as she sat down in a chair next to him.

"She'll fit in better with Tucker," Hoshi rationalized.

"She'll be mad."

"She'll get over it." Trip looked at Hoshi. "She will, really. It might just take a while."

"Fine, say she gits over it. What happens when she's asked what her daddy does fer a livin' and she doesn't say engineer?" Trip asked. They sat for a long a moment.

"What has she answered before?" Tuckers brow furrowed as he thought about this. After a few moments, it occurred to him that when they met new people, they recognized him first and knew what he did. He also realized that they always introduced her as Hallee before they could ask if she was theirs.

"She's never been asked before," he said. Hoshi sighed.

"I'll go tell her it's not done yet, that she can see it in the morning." Trip sighed as he watched Hoshi leave the table and he looked at the form. He sighed and penned in Tucker, Hallee Rebeka. As he filled in the rest of the form, he tried to work out an explanation for the little girl that he knew was going to want one.
***
"But why? You said you wouldn't use it again," Hallee said as she stood in front of him. Trip was regretting that he had started this conversation sitting down so she was at eye level with him. "You promised!" she insisted.

"I didn' have a choice Darlin'. They were official papers again, I had to."

"But I'm not Tucker," she told him and whispered something else. Tucker hesitated for a moment before asking her what she said. He swallowed hard as he watched something flicker across her face. "You're not my dad," she said as all the frustration of the last few weeks came bubbling to the surface. "You're not! You're a liar! You promised to get me home and you didn't and now you lied about this! I hate you!" she announced as she lashed out at him, swinging her little fist at him and connecting with his arm. Trip was more than a little shocked by all of this, but Hallee didn't hesitate to continue to hit Trip. Sato moved in to stop this and Trip shook his head, letting the little girl keep going. Hoshi left the room after a minute, not wanting to watch this.

"She's askin' for ya," Trip said quietly when he found Hoshi on the small balcony.

"Why?"

"Why what?" he asked as he sat down beside her.

"Let her go on like that?" she asked as she looked at him. Trip chuckled a little.

"Because it's been buildin' up fer months. I remember you telling me that you were surprised she wasn't more upset when we finally explained she was stuck with us and that was part of it."

"I still don't really understand. Why didn't she just come and talk to us?"

"Because she was mad at us!" he said with a smile. "With everyone. She was right, we did promise to get her home and we didn't. We promised to keep her safe and we both know how that one turned out and we promised her that she wouldn't have to change her name or anything about who she was when she got here and that was the first thing we did. I think she's feelin' a little lost and couldn't figure out how to say it."

"So she beat you up," Hoshi said as it all came together in her head.

"So I let her beat me up. Better me than you, I figer." Hoshi chuckled as she pulled herself up and headed inside.

"I'll go smooth things over now," she said as she patted his head and headed off to do just that.
***
Hallee look at the form for a moment. "I guess it's not that bad," she admitted as she stared at her name on the sheet. "It's not really my name though," she said as she turned to look up at Tucker. It had taken almost a week for her to start talking to him again.

"No, it's not," he agreed with her. "I think Hallee Rebeka McLean looks much better anyways," he told her as he pulled her onto his lap.

"So this is me from now on?"

"'Fraid so Darlin'," he told her. She gave a sigh and looked at the form again.

"How come I didn't get Hoshi's last name?" she asked. Trip chuckled.

"'Cause my patience was wearin' thin and I was tired and wanted to get back home to you." Hallee giggled at his answer, but grew quiet after a moment.

"People are gonna think you're my dad now, aren't they?"

"They might," he told her. "But you can correct 'em." Hallee looked at him. "Just say 'no he's not' an' keep goin' with what you were doin'." She nodded as she thought about this before slipping off of his lap to go play.
***
"You're awfully quiet tonight," Hoshi commented as she tucked Hallee in. School had started a few weeks ago and Hallee was usually a little chatterbox about what she had done and what she had learned. She shrugged and played with her blanket. "What happened kiddo?" Hoshi asked.

"We started talkin' 'bout families today," she said, not looking at Hoshi. "An' Zoe started talkin' 'bout how her parents had adopted her baby brother and changed his name and that now they're his mom and dad." Hoshi heaved a heavy sigh; she had a feeling that she knew where this was going. "Are you an' Trip gonna adopt me?" she asked.

"Would you like that?" Hoshi asked.

"I don't think so," Hallee said after a long minute.

"What if we really, really had to?" Hallee looked at her for a long minute before asking for clarification. "Well, to make sure that no one could take you from us." They hadn't said anything yet, but she and Trip had been talking about it, just to make sure Starfleet couldn't push her into the social system or do anything else.

"But I have a mom and dad," she said quietly. "And T'Lin said that maybe they'd find a way to get me home again." They looked at each other for a moment. "I don't like this idea Hoshi."

"Then we'll save it as a last resort," she assured the little girl. "I think it might be kind of neat though, having two mom's and two dad's." Hallee shook her head. "It would just be on a piece of paper," Hoshi tried again. "It wouldn't change anything with the three of us."

"No Hoshi," Hallee said again. Hoshi agreed and left, hoping that this would be a promise they wouldn't have to break.

*****

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