C'est pour nous deux, Pt 5

C’est pour nous deux, la lune qui danse

By Aquila

Part Five

Loose translation of the title: It is for we two, the moon dances.
Note on title: Two lines from Se Rêver, full lyrics can be found at www.brunopelletier.com – once there, click on discographie.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the obsessive/compulsive behaviour.
Summary: A sequel to No More Blackened Catfish or Pecan Pie*

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“T’Pol, honey, why don’t ya give the Cap’n your chair? You can sit on the bunk with me.”

T’Pol did as he suggested, adjusting her robe as she sat. Trip pulled the empty chair out, bowing Archer into the seat.

“Darlin’, you pour the coffee, while I scrounge up a mug, OK?” She nodded, occupying herself with the simple task.

Archer was drawn into the very ordinariness of the encounter. He could be a neighbor dropping by early on a Saturday morning and finding the couple he had come to visit were enjoying a late breakfast. To Archer’s eyes it was as if the pair had been sharing mornings in bathrobes and towels for years.

He took the cup of coffee offered by T’Pol and put it to his lips. Their eyes held over the cup rim. He raised his eyebrow in imitation of her trademark query. She shrugged in reply. Shrugged? T’Pol never shrugged. Her body language had a vocabulary of two: disapproval and disdain. He regarded her again. She was loose. Could it be she was relaxed?

“I found that mug.” Trip passed it to T’Pol to fill. “You’ve been waiting awhile to eat. Why don’t ya serve yourself and the captain? Start without me. I think I need to change my attire.” He grinned, and left the two of them to contemplate each other.

“Is there an ‘interest’ you want to tell me about?” Archer reminded her of her promise.

“No,” she replied, placidly filling his plate with breakfast breads.

He took the plate from her hands, “Do I take it that this…this… (He put the plate down and waved his arm about.) is totally innocent and is not something we should discuss?”

The return of Trip distracted T’Pol long enough for Archer to learn more than he would have had he interrogated her. She slid along the bunk, patting the space that she had occupied. Trip slid in beside her, drawing her back toward him, so that he could sit with one arm around her. Was this the woman who, when they first met, refused to shake Trip’s hand because her people abhorred touching? When Trip picked up T’Pol’s juice glass and sipped from it, he could no longer contain himself.

“Perhaps you would like to explain what is going on, Commander?” He glared, daring Trip not to answer.

“We’re eatin’ breakfast, Cap’n.” T’Pol wiped a crumb that clung to the corner of Trip’s mouth. “Thanks honey.”

Archer bit into his bagel like a pit bull into a postman’s leg.

T’Pol took pity on him, “Captain Archer thinks that he has stumbled onto a relationship that would complicate, if not compromise, ship’s discipline if not the mission.”

“Well, I can see how he might think that,” admitted the Chief Engineer.

Archer rested the bagel on his plate, “I’m relieved. I had begun to wonder if Phlox’s solution to the Expanse Effect was only temporary.”

“Perhaps it is too soon to feel relief, Captain.” She watched as the jaws of both men flapped soundlessly. “Nothing of a nature that would be considered an infraction has occurred…yet.”

Archer blanched and Trip flushed. She had disconcerted them both. With one sentence she had informed Archer where her interest lay and given Trip permission to advance their relationship to the next level. Neither man immediately knew what to do with the information. She began small talk, to give them time to process her declaration.

==

Trip walked Archer out into the corridor. “Thanks for stopping by, Cap’n.” He extended his hand, not sure why he felt a handshake was necessary, but certain it was.

Archer took it, “Keep me apprised of any change in the situation.”

Trip understood that the request was an order and tacit permission to pursue the relationship with the First Officer.

“Thank you, sir.”

“Are you sure you know what you are doing?” Archer had to know.

“No, can’t say that I do. It appears T’Pol has an agenda and I’m on it. But it is her agenda.” Trip grinned sheepishly.

Archer shook his head and turned away.

“Have a good day, Cap’n,” called Trip after him.

Archer raised his hand and waved, but kept on moving toward the lift.

Trip stepped to the door of T’Pol’s quarters and punched in the access code. He breathed deeply as he stepped across the threshold. The cabin smelled like T’Pol, spicy and rich, with an exotic undertone he could not name.

He decided there was something oddly titillating about rifling through her drawers, gathering underclothes and casual outerwear, even if it was Starfleet issue skivvies. As he gathered a handful, his fingertips touched something soft and silky. He put aside the garments he had been holding and dug into the drawer to find the distinctly different textured piece of clothing.

The gossamer wisp shimmered in the low lighting. If he held it just right, it disappeared completely. He was dangling it in the air, when he heard the door slide open behind him. Thinking it was T’Pol come to chide him for taking so long to return, he turned, a seductive smile on his face.

“I should have reported you to the Captain the last time, Tucker.” Hayes kicked, missing Trip by a few millimeters.

“I know this looks bad, Hayes, but it isn’t what you think.” Trip dropped the clothing and backed up, his hands in the air, in surrender.

“You coward.” Hayes was livid. “You won’t even fight like a man.”

“Oh hell,” Trip kicked his assailant in the balls. He dropped like a rock. “I’m sorry Hayes, but you were behaving like an idiot and I don’t want to spend any more time in sickbay.”

Trip pressed the comm. unit.

“Tucker to Phlox. I’ve got a man down in T’Pol’s quarters. Would you send a medic team to collect him? He will need a gurney.”

“Right away, Commander.”

When he was satisfied that Hayes was being properly cared for, Trip gathered the clothes, including the wisp of nothing that he found intriguing and returned to T’Pol.

End of Part Five

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