Attraction- Part 2

"TIMING"
An "Enterprise" story

By Alison M. DOBELL

RATING: PG-13

ARCHIVE: Yes. Just let me know where.
FEEDBACK: Welcomed
EMAIL: AlisonMDobell@aol.com
WEBSITE: http://carlajane.50megs.com/Ali00.html

SUMMARY: "The entity slowly reveals its' form and function. Awakening to need deeper levels of human understanding."
The usual disclaimers apply.
DISCLAIMER: The characters and’ Enterprise' are the property of Paramount. No infringement of copyright is intended.

* * * * *

Chapter Two

Timing

He was swayed by the exotic. Mind numbed with quiet joy but kind of unsettled as well. Colours touched and moved him. Sensed his shadow of abiding sorrow. *Why are you sad?*

*Ma friends are grievin'*

*My body isn't alive any more. Where I come from that means I died*

There was a silence. He felt, sensed, became aware of a subtle mood change. The sunset was imbued with more orange and a colour like burnt cinnamon but a million times more subtle. Hinted at almost. The nature of the cloud formation was changing too as if a light flicker of concern brushed its' periphery. He did not know he was the cause.

Lieutenant Reed was insensate. Knew nothing of waking or sleeping sorrows. His mind was easy to touch, to bring into alignment. The entity knew the two humans were friends. Had tentatively explored that friendship and now reached out to manipulate a deeper joining of minds. Not to experiment. Not to play God with these fragile lifeforms. But to ensure they came to no harm while in her care.

* * * * *

Captain Archer looked as if he had lost all hope. Sub-Commander T'Pol nodded once at his whispered words and turned. Dr. Phlox was checking his instruments and the monitors. After a few moments of frantic activity he became suddenly still. T'Pol's eyes narrowed slightly. "Doctor, what is the matter?"

That made the Captain look up. Slowly, a look of stunned joy stole over the Denobulan's face. "Commander Tucker has life signs again."

The Captain looked shocked. "I thought you said he was..." He could not bring himself to say the word.

Dr. Phlox nodded. "I did. He was. But his lifesigns are back. He is breathing normally and his heartbeat is strong."

Captain Archer smiled, relief just pouring into him. "Whatever you did, doctor, thank you. I owe you, we all do."

The doctor shook his head, pleased but puzzled. "I didn't do anything, Captain."

Sub-Commander T'Pol stepped close to the biobed and looked down at the unconscious Commander. He looked so calm and peaceful. It was rare for her to see him so still. "Are you saying he came back on his own?"

The doctor made a face. "I'm not sure that he *went* anywhere, Sub-Commander, but yes - essentially he brought himself back."

Captain Archer found breathing so much easier now himself. "So how's he doing?"

"He appears to be healthy, Captain." The doctor paused. "They both do. I can see no reason why they will not wake up."

"Perhaps they inhaled something?"

The doctor looked sceptical. "We all share the same atmosphere, Captain."

He nodded but was too happy right now to care if he made little sense. His friend was not going to die and that was all that mattered. If it meant he would sleep for a week so be it. If anyone had earned a rest it was Trip and Malcolm. He would just rather it was in a more conventional manner. He went to put a hand on the Commander's shoulder before leaving but the doctor intercepted him. "I do not think it is wise to touch him, Captain."

An alarmed look shot across the Captain's face. "Why not?"

"There is something else I have noticed about their condition."

He was frowning now. "Which is?"

Dr. Phlox glanced from one biobed to the other then looked at the Captain. He appeared to take a mental breath before speaking. "Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Reed appear to be synchronised."

A pause. "What?"

"Synchronised." Said Sub-Commander T'Pol in her flat monotone. Only a flicker in her eyes showing any sign of emotion. "I believe the doctor is saying that their lifesigns are matching. In co-incidence. Running parallel. Perhaps the Commander did not help himself."

"I know what synchronised means, Sub-Commander." He snapped. Realising what he had said and how he had said it he forced himself to take a deep breath and modify his tone. "I'm sorry, Sub-Commander. I didn't mean to bite your head off."

"No apology is necessary, Captain."

Captain Archer gave her a thoughtful look. "Perhaps you will explain what you meant when you said the Commander did not help himself, Sub-Commander?"

"I was merely saying, perhaps they helped each other."

* * * * *

Trip was feeling happier. Knowing that his friends were not sorrowing over him meant a lot. Not that he minded right now whether he were alive or dead, he just did not want them to suffer on his account. Somehow that felt important.

*What about your friend?*

*Call him?*

He had a mental image and knew exactly what to do. *Malcolm? Can ya hear me?*

He chuckled. *Yeah, it's me. Who were ya expectin'?*

He felt his friend grumble in his mind and little sparks of humour glistened along their mental connection. Immediately he felt his friend's dour mood brighten with curiosity. *What was that?*

*An' no need to bring a dictionary to paradise, Lieutenant* He paused. "Just relax and enjoy the view*

The moment the Commander mentioned the view Lieutenant Reed became aware of the most beautiful sight he had seen since leaving Earth. It was every sunset he had every loved wrapped in one. A shining megallanic beauty of ethereal dimensions. He had mentally glimpsed it before when this strange sleeping sickness had befallen them, but this vibrant visualisation only came to him through Trip. How odd was that? Did that make it less real or more? Or was he finally going crazy? If so, he was sure the American was largely to blame.

*Hey, I heard that! I got feelin's you know, Malcolm*

*Hmmm, sorry. I was just trying to fathom out what we're doing here*

He felt Trip sigh. *We're dreamin', Malcolm. Isn't it obvious?*

*So you say*

A pause. *What do you think we're doin'?*

*Well that's helpful* Came his friend's gentle sarcasm.

Just then Trip felt images surfacing from the past. He fell silent. Memories he had forgotten about surfaced slowly, turning in his mind like a 3D image being turned through a holoprojection. How the hell could you do that with a thought? He accepted it because it somehow seemed the norm here, wherever here was. Then he was lost in the memory. He was a child again. Barely three, or was it four? His brother Danny had fallen out of the tree house leaving him stranded on an upper branch. He was afraid. Concerned for his brother. Terrified that he would fall. Each thought, each feeling, was isolated and amplified. He cried out in anxious anxiety, but the tears were those of a child. The fear the unnamed horror of the unknown. Distressed he sobbed quietly, images bleeding slowly through his mind. Every emotion relived in colour. Every sensation forming mental calluses.

Lieutenant Reed was getting frantic. Since Trip had given him sight he could *see* his friend's distress. Reached out to touch him, to calm and comfort him. He was not someone who liked to touch or be touched in the normal course of events but since coming to Enterprise he had been picking up more and more of the American's relaxed mannerisms. He had actually felt comforted on more than one occasion when his impulsive friend had put an arm around his shoulder or given him a playful punch in passing. It had taken on a subtle intimacy that defined his idea of friendship. Trip had encouraged him to open up more than the rest of the crew put together. He had no idea why that should be except perhaps his annoying persistence. Now it was his turn to try to comfort his friend. As he reached out to him he touched and tasted his thoughts, felt a shock go through him as he experienced his mental anguish and fear. Answering tears pricked eyes that slept. *Trip, wake up! You're dreaming of the past. Come on Trip, don't cry.*

The boy could not help it. Emotions bled from every pore. Lieutenant Reed sensed he would have to go deeper. He steeled himself for the intrusion. Hating to impose further contact on his friend but he was worried about him. Friendship it seemed always came at a price.

Unnoticed the entity watched. Savoured. Drew out Trip's memory in more detail, dissecting the emotions connected to them the better to understand his feelings. Why was the human distressed when he had been unhurt? What was a *brother*? More memories were sifted, plundered. Trip stopped crying, hardly aware of how tightly Malcolm's thoughts folded round him like protective arms. He could see Danny giving him something. Looked down at the harmonica and felt a deep joy go through him. Love even. It was not so much the gift it was the fact that Danny knew what he secretly wanted and had gone out of his way to raise the money to buy it for him. And it wasn't even his birthday. He felt the prick of tears. So damn happy. So proud and humbled to be loved so much. Those feelings touched Lieutenant Reed's mind too and made him feel even more protective towards the engineer. It was odd, as if the ties of brotherhood were now being extended to them. They were friends. Slowly. Inexplicably. They were becoming family.

* * * * *

Ensign Hoshi Sato was getting annoyed with the doctor. He watched as she paced the sickbay floor. "Why can't I see him?"

"Lieutenant Reed is sleeping."

"And has been for almost two days!"

"I will notify you the moment he awakes."

She stopped and faced him, a little lost look creeping into her eyes. "What if he doesn't wake? What if Lieutenant Reed and Commander Tucker never regain consciousness?"

The doctor had already thought of that but he had no intention of sharing those thoughts with the ensign. "If you wish you may sit with him for a while but I must ask you not to touch him and not to try to wake him."

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why?"

He sighed. "Because as humans would say, 'we don't want to add insult to injury'."

She looked alarmed. "Malcolm's injured?"

"No, no, he is in perfect health. I just want to keep it that way, Ensign."

Hoshi calmed down and nodded. Realised the doctor was every bit as worried as she was only his concern was medical. He was simply being cautious. "Thank you, I'd like that."

He nodded and pulled back the curtain. Ensign Sato paused, surprised to see that Dr. Phlox had put the two sleeping patients next to each other. Somehow the sight comforted her as if whatever was happening they would not be alone. She shook her head at the fancy then took a seat next to Lieutenant Reed's bed and looked at his calm face. He was so relaxed and looked, oddly enough, happy. She frowned. Why did that seem strange? She shook her head gently then proceeded to quietly tell the lieutenant everything that had happened since he had fallen into this coma.

* * * * *

Captain Archer could not concentrate on his food. Hardly tasted a thing he put in his mouth. He was staring at the empty chair. The one usually occupied by his ebullient friend. Sub-Commander T'Pol was watching him. concerned that his earlier euphoria had given way to a darker mood. "Captain?"

His head jerked up, a faint guilty expression on his face. His mind had been wandering and the sharp eyed Vulcan had noticed. "I'm sorry, T'Pol. I was thinking."

"About the Commander?"

He nodded. Sighed. Then laid down his fork, abandoning the pretence of eating. "I'm worried about both of them, Trip *and* Malcolm." He gave her an intense look, as if she somehow held all the answers. "What's happening to them, T'Pol? How could Trip die then come back to life like that? I don't understand."

He caught a glimpse of her own mental confusion before the mask was back in place. "I do not know, Captain. Perhaps the one to ask should be the doctor."

"Dr. Phlox?" He sighed again, a more profound expression of his frustration. His frown deepened. "That's another thing that worries me. This is Phlox's area of expertise but I get the feeling he's as puzzled and out of his depth as we are."

T'Pol raised an eyebrow but the Captain was no longer looking at her. He was staring, seeing nothing, memories unfolding. Laughter shared. All his happiest times seemed to involve this one man. His friend. The one person left in the world who knew him better than he knew himself. He could not lose him. He just couldn't. He blinked and focused on T'Pol. "We'll find a way to bring them back, T'Pol." He said quietly but firmly. Not sure which one of them he was trying most to convince.

She just stared at him. Later that day she stopped off at sickbay as her duty shift ended. It had been a long and frustrating day. Emotionally, if not physically, draining. Dr. Phlox looked up from a screen as she entered. He looked subdued but gave her a polite nod. "Sub-Commander." He murmured.

Sub-Commander T'Pol gave him a nod back. "How are Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Reed?"

"Sleeping."

She raised an imperious brow, her look not amused in the slightest. Dr. Phlox felt uncomfortable as if he had somehow caused a breach in a carefully laid protocol. "I'm sorry, that was not very helpful."

"No, it was not. I wanted to know if you had made any progress."

Inwardly he flinched. "No, I regret to say I have not. This is a most baffling case. Physically neither man is harmed but they are not responding either to drugs, physical sensation, sound, light, heat..." His voice trailed off in frustration. He looked at her for a moment. "Perhaps you could try?"

That startled her. "Me?"

"Yes. You."

"What makes you think I can succeed where you have not?"

"Perhaps I am approaching this situation from the wrong perspective, Sub-Commander." He paused. "Or, perhaps I am doing as Captain Archer would put it - 'cluching at straws'."

"And I am a *straw*?"

A smile almost made it to the Denobulan's face but he did not want to alienate the Sub-Commander. He wanted her help. "Sub-Commander, you seem to have formed a friendship with the Commander and I know that you both trust and respect the lieutenant. Perhaps if you sat with them for a while, spoke to them..."

"They are unconscious, doctor."

A look of exasperation crossed his face. The Sub-Commander relented.

"But I am willing to try."

She saw relief flood his face. He smiled gently and gave her a grateful nod. "Thank you, Sub-Commander."

T'Pol frowned and watched him pull back the curtain he had drawn around the two biobeds. she was surprised to see the two beds side by side. Humans really were a most tactile race. Proximity being the next best thing to touch. Curious. Dr. Phlox nodded encouragingly and watched her take a seat in the chair next to Commander Tucker's bed then drew the curtain back around them. Sometimes the illusion of privacy was enough. T'Pol blocked out the sounds of the doctor moving about in the sickbay, her eyes going from the sleeping Commander to the Lieutenant and back again. As she watched them sleep she was surprised to see tears rolling quietly down the Commander's face. Moved by something she could not put into words she reached out and touched his face. Her fingers gently connecting with his tears, her eyes widening as his emotion flooded unexpectedly through her.

* * * * *

Malcolm Reed was gasping. *What the bloody hell was that?*
Commander Tucker's reaction was sluggish. *That wasn't you?*

*No* Snapped his friend. *Do I look like I have four hands?*

*I dunno.* Murmured the Commander with a tinge of playfulness. It helped to ease the terrible ache in his heart. *I never thought ya'd be huggin' me ta death but ya are.*

He began to pull away but Trip did not let him go. After a moment it seemed childish to be so afraid of simply sharing comfort. Then he felt it. Another touch but not his and definitely not the Commander's. Something alien and analytical touched his mind, made him recoil in shock. Yet it also seemed strangely familiar. *Oh my God...*

Trip gave him an anxious look. *Mal? What is it? C'mon, you're beginnin' ta scare me.*

*Your Rottweiler...*

*T'Pol*

He was about to ask him what the hell he was talking about when he felt a brush against his face. So gentle, so soft. He froze, felt the sensitive fingers wiping the tears from his face. *T'Pol? Is that you?*

She was speaking aloud. Her voice oddly gentle. Words hushed. He realised that she was attempting to calm him, offer what limited comfort it was within her gift to give. He was amazed and moved that she would even try. He was Human. She was Vulcan. They would do terrible things to her if they found out. It saddened him that her own people could be so narrow minded and repressed that they would punish her for caring for another just because he was not Vulcan. Hell. They would be the same no matter *who* it was. The straight jacket they forced her to wear chaffed. He could see and touch the wounds it left with a clarity that brought fresh tears to his eyes. Malcolm became anxious at his distress.

*Don't upset yourself.*

How could he explain it to him? In some ways his friend had more in common with T'Pol than the other Vulcans did. Now there was a joke in there somewhere but for the life of him he did not feel like laughing.

*What're ya doin' here T'Pol?*

She did not answer. Could not hear his thoughts. He looked at his friend. *She can't hear me, Mal.*

Lieutenant Reed nodded, his eyes fastened on Trip's face. Trying not to hurt him. *She's awake, we're not.*

That gave him pause for thought. Something occurred to him. *Did I die?* His voice softened at his friend's silence. *I did, didn't I?*

*Technically your heart may have stopped beating for a fraction of a second...*

Trip knew evasion when he heard it. *It was more than that, wasn't it?*

His friend swallowed nosily and pulled back a little. Their hold on each other relaxed yet feeling so natural. Malcolm’s thoughts sounded pained. *If you must know they couldn't revive you. Dr. Phlox and his team were giving you CPR and various electrical stimuli to try to restart your heart.*

*But they succeeded and in the end that's what matters*

Lieutenant Reed was eloquent in his silence. Trip was watching him carefully. He raised a wondering hand and touched the pale china of his expressive face.

*They didn't revive me?*

Much as he desperately wanted to do so, Malcolm could not lie to him. Trip was his friend. He owed him the truth. *No*

Commander Tucker looked confused. *Then how'd I...?*

*I don't know* Responded the lieutenant quickly. Worried by the look on his friend's face. He put his arms around him and hugged him gently, unconsciously starting to rock him. Not wanting him to get upset again. *Don't think about it, Trip. It's going to be alright. We'll stick together and we'll get through this.*

He bit back tears. He was not going to cry. Not again. Closing his eyes, Trip laid his head on Malcolm's shoulder. Felt a hand brush through his hair and knew instinctively that it was T'Pol. He thought about her and was surprised to find that she was talking to him. Her voice so quiet he had to pay close attention to simply hear her. Blocking out the comfort of Malcolm's presence he was able to home in on her. An indefinable part of him awed by the words of comfort that tumbled softly from her lips. His eyes fluttered open. As he concentrated on her he found he could dimly see her face hovering above him. Her liquid eyes were pools of emotion swamping him with feelings that struggled to surface. Emotions reaching out with single minded determination to touch his.

* * * * *

***************

Continue to Part 3

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Four of you have made comments

ah that was sweet

This is very good. I can't even guess where it's going next, so I'm enjoying the intrigue.

Looking forward to the next installment.

What an interesting approach! Malcolm and Trip bonded - I love it! Reminds me of Julian and Miles. I think Malcolm and Trip can be even better friends.

Hmm, is Malcolm a little jealous of T'Pol, however? What is he sensing between Trip and T'Pol? Does Malcolm feel T'Pol is a guard dog who will keep Trip isolated and Malcolm out in the cold?

I hadn't thought of a story which explored the interrelations between these three characters, and am not sure that is you intent. However, I'm intrigued and will keep reading!

Wow!