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In Between Days

Author - Amok2 | Genre - Angst | Genre - Episode Addition | Genre - Vignette | I | Main Story | Rating - PG
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In-between Days

By Amok2

RATING: PG
GENRE: T/T Romance, Angst, song-inspired fic, vignettes, Missing scenes
DISCLAIMER: The usual deal – I’m only in it for imagination fulfillment while Paramount and UPN own the real deal and always will.
SPOILERS: Post-“Home,” “Borderland,” third season

NOTE: Seems like it’ll be a long time before we have another episode like “Home” with so much T/T interaction and movement on their feelings, so consider this the first in a series of fleeting episode fill-ins and meaningful T/T moments.

Maybe, just maybe, I’ll craft another full story outta this…

And yes, I am revisiting my youth in referencing a Cure song…I was also inspired by “The Scientist” from Coldplay and a whole mess of songs I’ve made into a T/T playlist, so if you think you’re reading what sounds like song lyrics throughout the story, you’d be right on.

==

After the wedding ceremony, Trip and T’Pol returned to the Enterprise, and though neither wanted things to change between them, of course it did.

Although their plan had been to return together to Enterprise after the rites, T’Pol was obliged to spend time with Koss and his family before she could return.

Trip was helpless to do anything as he saw her walk away with the rest of the wedding party. She looked back at him once, pain coloring her features. Trip turned around, packed and left on the next transport to Earth.
==

Once he was back on Enterprise, Trip began to taste the bitterness of this new life. Refits and improvements took up his days, but at night his thoughts would drift to the woman who had stolen his heart in the last year.

Nobody said it was going to be easy, but no one ever said it would be this hard, he thought.

He wished he could tell her he loved her, needed her and set her apart from all others. He wanted to hear her secrets, answer her questions and share closeness three years in the making. But he had just walked away once her choice was made, even though everything in him knew it was wrong to be in-between days without her.

A fine romance they had, he thought, with no kissing.
They were lovers in a dangerous time, made to feel like their love was a crime.
He was possessed by thoughts of her. What was his was now in her possession, but he doubted she knew that or how scared he was of losing her.

He tossed and turned in his bed. The usual remedy for sleep was no longer an option. Thoughts of neuro-pressure only served to aggravate him. Trip took to wandering the halls of Enterprise, drawing the attention of the crewmen who were starting to drift back on board.

==

When the Captain received orders from Admiral Forrest to redeploy and recall the crew for an emergency mission, T’Pol returned as a Commander.

She did not seem different to the rest of the crew, aside from her new uniform, which looked similar to the brightly colored catsuits she’d taken to wearing after she resigned from Vulcan High Command, but with Starfleet piping and pips. She came on board and it seemed to be business as usual. But for her, it was far from it.

T’Pol was now joined to Koss and his family, but the union seemed hollow to her, as she’d expected it would. They performed the traditional rites, but Koss had still not guessed she suffered from the Pa’nar Syndrome. All she would say when he asked her about her illness was that the Expanse had a negative effect on her neural pathways, causing her difficulty in suppressing her emotions.

He was polite enough to her, and she to him, but there was no connection. She only stayed long enough to go through the formalities of the union before she left for Mt. Seleya, where she meditated – alone – for the remainder of her stay on Vulcan.

When T’Pol was recalled to the Enterprise, she was immeasurably relieved. She knew her mother was disappointed at her for accepting the Starfleet commission and for choosing to remain with Trip. But to her, there was never any choice. It had always been Starfleet, and lately Trip. T’Pol hoped that somehow they could recapture the closeness they’d spent three years developing. But she soon found out that despite all everything they’d been through, there was a chasm between them.

It was the little things at first. They would pass in corridors and on the bridge in awkward silences, neither sure what to say to the other. Neither sought the other out as they had become accustomed to doing before and they avoided the other at the Mess, on duty rotations and even in corridors.

Although she did not express it to anyone, T’Pol felt the loss acutely. She would wait until she had returned to her quarters and collapse nightly onto her bunk. She would attempt to meditate, only to have images unbidden disturb her peace. Mostly they were of Trip, his hurt expression embedded in her nearly photographic memory.

“Marry him? How am I supposed to take this? You’re sorry? You brought me 16 light years to watch you marry someone you barely know?”

Before Trip, she did not know the full range of emotions a person could experience. Although she’d experienced sensuality with Tolaris, she had never experienced it with the trust Trip had inspired. But then again, she had never noticed the rain until he came by. Now whenever he was away, she couldn’t sleep nights and suffered all day.

He troubled her with his cares and worries, but she had grown used to their late-night conversations. She had healed him, and she knew he could do the same for her. But now he spared her by building a wall to protect her from those feelings and the truth was his silence was her greatest fear. She wanted to be disturbed by him, but he did not come to her door.

==

Dr. Soong had guessed the real nature of their relationship, Trip realized, as the insufferable mad genius transported off Enterprise. He had probably read about them in any number of tabloids circulating on Earth. When two of the top three officers on Enterprise disappeared to Vulcan, it did not go unnoticed.

But it had startled Trip more than he let on. He had been silently distraught since T’Pol had been abducted. The idea of her being a slave on an auction block was almost more than he could bear, but he knew the Captain would bring her back.

When she returned, Trip couldn’t have been more relieved. He almost ran to Sickbay and once the doors swooshed, his eyes went right to her, sitting pristinely on a biobed, punching a PADD as though it was a regular day at the office.

Trip made a cursory stop to the Doctor, smiling and nodding to him as Phlox handed him a PADD. Then Trip made a beeline to T’Pol.

When the explosion happened, Trip had just finished leaning toward T’Pol, telling her it wasn’t any of his business what she did – or didn’t do – on her un-honeymoon on Vulcan. He hadn’t meant to prolong the conversation with her, but he had felt a need to continue the connection, any connection, with her. She seemed to want to do the same with him, or else why would she bother with the explanation about how she hadn’t spent any more time with Koss than necessary?

The intimate tones they used weren’t lost on either of them.

But before they could allow their feelings to take hold of them, the explosion from the Orion Syndicate ships threw them both off balance. Trip instinctively threw his left arm around T’Pol, pulling her down on top of him as he hit the floor of the Sickbay, an oomph of breath escaping him at impact.

It took a second or two before it registered to either of them how the blast had positioned them – her perfectly aligned horizontally with Trip, his right hand resting possessively on her left hip. T’Pol rose up on an elbow, her right hand gently pressing up from Trip’s chest. She looked down at him as smoke filled the room.

“Are you all right Commander?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

He coughed and weakly nodded at her through hooded eyelids. She focused on him, unrelenting in her gaze until she felt his eyes were focused properly.

“I’m ok, T’Pol,” he said, still hoarse. He started to rise, then felt her body still entwined with his and her palm pressing down on his heart. He had so missed the feel of her. He did not want to get up right away if he could help it. This was the first time he had been concerned for her out of a sense of love, and he treasured the sensation of knowing she was out of harm’s way and that for once, he was there to make sure she was safe. To him, her eyes seemed more expressive, as though she was also trying to convey the feelings recent circumstances had prevented either from expressing publicly – or even privately.

“The threat to Sickbay seems to be contained, Commander,” said T’Pol, whose eyes had taken in a quick assessment of the damage to Sickbay, which Phlox had handled most adroitly by putting out the one fire that had resulted from the explosion that threw them to the ground. None of the injured crewmembers seemed any worse for the wear.

“We should still go to battle stations. You’re needed on the Bridge and I should go to Engineering,” Trip said, now mostly upright with his palms pressed flat to the floor balancing him. T’Pol looked uncomfortable as she straddled him, as if deciding whether or not to release him and the brief physical contact they’d been forced into since they’d returned from Vulcan.

They were so close to one another, almost at eye level, when the two made the slightest non-caress nearly cheek to cheek on their way up to a standing position.

“Maybe after we deal with this latest crisis, you and I should talk,” Trip whispered to her as they rose, his breath tickling her ear ever so slightly.

T’Pol looked at him with those baby browns for a few beats and gave him an almost imperceptible nod before she said, “I’d like that, Trip.” He allowed himself a smile as they walked out of Sickbay and to their respective stations.


FIN – until the next scene filler

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A whole mess of folks have made comments

well done, the next chapter please...!!

YAY! i obviously wasn't the only one who thought that they must have fallen into each other there...so are you going to continue with the promised CONVERSATION? (Thank God for fan-fic land)The next scene filler doesn't have to wait 'till the next ep does it?

Wait, i guess that's tomorrow...well I guess I can be THAT patient if I must - but it is hard.

I'm waiting for a scene-filler for after they leave the fire-plains in Home while they are going back to T'Pol's house. they must have said something to each other.... but i'm not a good enough writer to do it...

Fantastic job Amok2. keep up the good work!

mmmm, i like in between times, that way i don't have to do all the work ... great start.

Do it! DO IT!

It won't be the end of the world if they comfort each other.

LOL Jenna, you're soooo bad! However I feel the same way. DOOOOOOOOOO IT!

I'm with Jenna and foxfire! Comfort is good! Yes, it's bad... but it's so very good too! I think Trip and T'Pol deserve a little comfort! LOL Great story... but we need more!

I could *so* see this happening. They both used remarkable restraint in not taking things any further. Could almost feel the heat from here! Can't wait for the sequel. Ali D :~)

OOOHHHH When are you coming out with the next scene. TEEHEE

Nice! They are so sweet! The akwardness is so sad and cute at the same time.

IT WAS GREAT !! KEEP ON GOING !!

IT WAS GREAT !! KEEP ON GOING !!