Pathways

TRIP/T’POLERS MU FANFIC CHALLENGE

Pathways

By Energy4TripnT'Pol

Rating: PG, I think – warning, I don’t use cursing or swearing in my stories
Disclaimer: ~ an episode of “Star Trek: Enterprise”: $ on Paramount’s budget. Getting Trip and T’Pol together: priceless for us desperate fanfic writers. So no, I’m not making money and Paramount owns the series and all the characters involved. ~
Genre: Of course romance, slight angst, some mystery, just a hint of everything else . . .
Summary: When Enterprise comes upon a “mirror” Enterprise, they keep tabs on them from afar and T’Pol is sent for recon. However, taking her counterpart’s place makes her learn a lesson about the man in love with her. Meanwhile, Trip wonders why he is feeling telepathic in regards to T’Pol.
Archiving: I would prefer that people don’t archive my story.

* * *

CHAPTER ONE

A lone man was wandering the hallways on an Enterprise he had been on for four years. He was slightly limping as he walked, but he found it only made the crew avoid him more. If someone stopped too long to talk, it was a strong possibility that a certain tactical officer with a dark goatee would round the corner, draw his phase pistol, and shoot both parties.

He shook his slightly blonde hair. In his life, Vulcans and humans weren’t exactly the best of friends, and if you were on this ship and seen with one, the tactical officer would shoot without hesitation.

And Malcolm Reed seemed to like it a lot. Too much, the man thought.

So in a way, he was sneaking around. It wasn’t visible to the crew, but they didn’t know where he was going.

It was for the best. If they knew where he was going, Malcolm would have a clear shot at him.

He approached the quarters of someone from the shadows. He waited to make sure that everyone had emptied the corridors before he approached the door.

His hand instinctively went to the doorbell. He was always quick outside the door; even though there were only 73 people on this ship – 71 after Malcolm’s last known incident – it seemed like someone was always walking. It was better for them to stay in their quarters. It was definitely safer and eliminated a risk from his personal life.

A distinctively feminine voice quickly replied, “Come,” with as much authority as she could muster.

The man took one last look at the corridors, all around, and entered. As he did so, he slipped his left hand into his pocket and found his ring, trying to wrangle it clandestinely on to his finger.

Immediately, the woman inside – the Vulcan woman with the upswept brow, the pointed ears, and sable colored eyes – noticed the limp. She rose from her bed, laying the book she had been reading on the desk, and went to him. Her closed satin robe showed she had been expecting only him as company this evening, brief at that – yet on this ship, whenever the captain decided she was needed on the Bridge, there was never any warning.

The person standing before her was the only stability in her life.

And sometimes, she reflected that he lived up to another definition of his nickname.

“Trip, what happened?”

Trip Tucker shrugged as if he had a normal day, very unlike his life. “Got shot in the leg. That’s all.”

She raised her hand gently to his face. “Trip,” she said, slightly reprimanding him while she stroked his cheek.

He smiled at her. “It’s okay. Just that Malcolm decided I was leading a mutiny or something. If it hadn’t been for the captain . . . .” He trailed off, looking towards the window. He saw a star going by and turned back to the woman he loved, the only one he could ever love now. He knew that in her case, being as how Vulcans were usually unemotional beings, he was the only person – not to mention human – that she was ever capable of loving. “Doesn’t hurt that bad. Not anymore.”

T’Pol looked sharply at him. “Did you go to Sickbay?”

“Nah. Only thing I need to make me feel better is being around you.”

A slight smile came to her lips. Trip leaned down slightly and kissed her gently, then deeper as her hands went to the back of his head. She broke off. Trip looked worried at her. “T’Pol? What’s wrong?”

“Everything,” she whispered, burying herself in Trip’s protective arms. “You have to move quietly around the ship, always checking to make sure you are not being followed.” She slightly shrugged. “Even then it’s not a guarantee.”

Trip looked down at her, moving his hand to her chin. He tipped it upwards. “People do crazy things for love.”

She nodded. “Agreed.”

Trip leaned back down and kissed her once more, and then released her. “I’ve gotta go. Otherwise some people may be suspicious.”

“Besides our cynical captain?” she said stoically, raising an eyebrow.

“Hey, it’s not really his fault. But – oh, forget it. I’ll see you soon.”

“Not soon enough,” she said, terminating the conversation with one last kiss for the night.

“I love you, always,” he said, as he held up his left hand slightly and let the light gleam off the ring.

“I know,” she answered in a soft whisper after looking at it.

Had his life not been in jeopardy for being in her room, he would have stayed longer, just to stay with her and hold her. But knowing how jeopardy was a part of everyone’s lives and how T’Pol might be called unexpectedly to the bridge, he took one last glance at her, turned around, and left her quarters.

Leaving was the worst part: not only did it leave T’Pol unprotected to a degree but he couldn’t have an all clear until he got outside. Trip’s hand slipped back into his pocket and he loosened the ring until it fell off his finger, then continued his walk through the corridors, back to the other side of the ship to his quarters, and entered solemnly and apprehensively.

A piece of pecan pie was sitting untouched on his desk, complete with a fork. A note lay next to it; Trip picked it up. He smiled as he recognized the handwriting. “T’Pol.”

Knowing she was the last person on the ship that would poison his food, he picked up the fork and plate and dug in.

* * *

CHAPTER TWO

On the NX-01, Commander Trip Tucker was trying to settle into a fitful night of sleep, something that didn’t require much effort now.

He pulled his shirt off and laid it over the chair, just in case he needed to run to Engineering in the middle of the night or something else. Like a pecan pie run to the Mess Hall.

Trip groaned. He realized he was only kidding himself. The real reason he left his shirt there was because if T’Pol needed him, he would dash up and grab his shirt and run to her quarters and –

Do what?

Trip shook his head. She had told him that she didn’t really need him. He made a quip about how “at least the warp engines still need me.” She had given him one of her glances, and it made him chuckle.

The point was valid; she decided that while she finished reevaluating her life, she didn’t need his support. But when she came crumbling down, on the verge of an emotional breakdown as Trip had a feeling she would do, he would be the only one there.

He loved her. And if she wouldn’t let him say it, then he would still show it in every way he could.

Moving the blankets on his bunk aside, Trip lay down and closed his eyes, knowing it was the closest he would get to sleep.

* * *

Jonathan Archer thought he had seen his share of weird anomalies in space.

And boy was he wrong.

The rest of the senior staff with the exception of Trip Tucker were standing on the Bridge, looking at a mass of nebulae clusters. T’Pol had made an unexpected announcement during her scans. “I’m detecting another ship. NX-class.”

Reed crossed his arms. “I’m not saying anything.”

“Columbia is still running test circles between Vulcan and Earth,” Archer noted. “Is it a sensor glitch?”

“No. Commander Tucker’s last assessment of the sensors showed that they were functioning flawlessly.” She swiveled in her seat and looked into her visual scanner. “I’m detecting something else.”

Hoshi turned in her seat, looking slightly concerned. Archer glanced back at her and walked to her station. He said, “Weird is part of the job nowadays,” attempting to make her smile, and succeeded. Looking a bit less worried, she turned back and he maneuvered around to the science station.

“I believe there is a temporal anomaly in the nebulae. The ship I’m detecting is the Enterprise from a different timeline.”

“I thought Vulcans don’t believe in time travel,” Archer said to calm his spinning head.

T’Pol narrowed her eyes and Archer suppressed a smile. “They don’t and this is not time travel. However, the concept of alternate timelines is one that the Vulcan Science Academy attempted to investigate years ago.”

“If we can detect them, can they detect us too?” Travis Mayweather asked from the helm.

“Indeed. I believe Commander Tucker’s expertise is needed.”

Archer nodded. “Head on down to Engineering and give Trip the heads-up.”

Although she appeared briefly unsettled, she answered, “Yes, sir,” and rose from her station. She entered the turbolift and headed down to Engineering.

Archer sat down in his chair and ordered, “Travis, take us a light year away until they jury-rig something.”

Travis nodded and turned the ship around.

Hoshi looked up from her station and tried to calm her mind.

Malcolm Reed sat back in his seat with arms crossed, clearly uneasy.

Archer leaned back and silently wondered what else would go wrong.

* * *

T’Pol found the chief engineer standing on the railing in front of the warp engine. Apparently, Trip had overheard the conversation on the Bridge and was already working on something. Or, T’Pol thought, he was trying his best to avoid her.

Someone climbed the railing up to where he stood and told him something, and Trip turned around – too fast, she noted. He climbed down and approached her with a slightly apprehensive smile. “Hello, Commander. What can I do for you today?”

Another option flashed in T’Pol’s mind. If he hadn’t heard the conversation and was somewhat happy to see her, he was hoping nothing drastic had happened and she was here for another reason. Some days, the seeming “bond” irritated her.

Almost regretting to disappoint him, she shook her head. “Not now.”

Trip hung his head playfully, as the smile was still not disappearing. “Oh, fine. What’s up?”

She handed him a padd with information she had loaded from her console. “The nebulae cluster we just encountered contains a temporal anomaly. As a result, the Enterprise in that reality is visible on sensors. As they can detect us as well, Captain Archer asked if you could reconfigure the warp coils to render us invisible to their sensors.”

As Trip’s mouth hung open aghast, T’Pol made a mental note. Give humans time to digest information that will surprise them, as drooling is most appalling to watch.

“Oh, sorry, what? A temporal anomaly?” Trip asked, slightly scratching his right temple.

“A temporal anomaly is reflecting sensors from an Enterprise in an alternate reality. As a precaution, Captain Archer wanted to know if you could reconfigure the warp coils to render us invisible to their sensors,” she said, speaking a bit more softly and slowly this time around.

Trip nodded and grinned. “Ya don’t have to go that slow. I heard you fine.” He walked to the stairwell leading to the upper level in Engineering and as she followed behind, T’Pol found her eyes were looking at the way he was walking. It suggested that he had been weary lately. She thought perhaps she should ask what was wrong, but it would either ignite an argument or start a very long synopsis about how he had been feeling like this for a long time.

At the moment, neither option sounded good. She would talk with him later; the captain was still waiting for her to report back.

Trip began talking as he reached the top step. “I figure I can pull something together.” Shrugging, he mentioned, “Might take a few hours.”

“I anticipate that the captain is already aware of that after our last incident involved altering the warp coils.”

Trip nodded. “Well, we are traveling away from the cluster at warp one. Looks like we aren’t going too far.”

“Perhaps the captain wishes to stay away a reasonable distance and still be in position so that if a situation arises—“

“You’ve been hangin’ around Malcolm too much,” Trip quipped. “Call the Bridge. Tell Travis to drop to impulse as soon as he can.”

T’Pol reached for the comm. “T’Pol to the Bridge.”

“Go ahead,” Archer answered.

“Commander Tucker can modify the warp coils; however he needs the ship to drop out of warp.”

“Dropping to impulse,” Travis answered.

The warp engine flickered and as Trip and T’Pol looked at it, he moved next to her side. She tried to turn away, remembering one of the last times the warp engine was brought up in conversation. Just after she had tried to talk to Trip about the Kir’Shara and what she couldn’t make time for, he had said, “Least the warp engines still need me.”

T’Pol had descended down the stairs without saying anything. She assumed by the small smile playing on his lips at the time that he was joking, but the way he had acted afterwards suggested otherwise.

She felt a small pain tugging in her chest; her hand instinctively went to it. Trip looked somewhat sideways at her. “You okay?”

“I’m unsure. I’m needed on the Bridge.”

“I swear, that has to be your favorite excuse to get away from me,” Trip said again in a joking manner.

T’Pol looked at him and gave him a small reprimanding glare. “And I will stop by Sickbay on my way.”

“That’s more like it. I’ll get on these modifications and we can move back to the cluster in a few hours.”

T’Pol nodded at him then descended back down the stairs. She quickly made her way to the hatch and let herself out of Engineering; she paused in the corridor, leaning against the bulkhead. She had a fleeting image of something Trip had once said to Kov when his ship docked with Enterprise.

“Regret’s one of the hardest emotions to live with.”

Regret. She was feeling a new emotion that she might end up living with, one that was related to Trip, and part of the regret was from knowing that Trip likely wouldn’t help her deal with it.

T’Pol continued to the Bridge. She would visit Sickbay later and perhaps vent to Phlox. For the moment, all she could think was that she was a fool to push Trip away.

She was a fool.

And she was stubborn enough not to admit it.

Perhaps Trip did know her better than she knew herself; after all, she thought, much stranger things have happened.

* * *

CHAPTER THREE

Jonathan Archer was mad.

Tucker had appeared on the Bridge one minute too late. He forgave his friend, but not by much.

Hoshi Sato was looking at him, slightly worried. As he was worried that it might hint at their relationship off the Bridge, he gave her a warning glance.

Malcolm Reed had stroked his goatee again on the Bridge. Archer considered having him shave it off.

And last of all, the new helmsman was nervously executing what Archer ordered. Archer really wished Reed hadn’t begun his mutiny hunt and shot off the last one; Travis Mayweather was a good person. He could have grown into Archer’s position as captain. He cocked his head; maybe Malcolm had been on to something there.

All in all, Archer was having a bad day. Ever since his father’s death, his hatred at the Vulcans had only grown. Maybe our ancestors were onto something, he thought. They had warded them off during “first contact” and the Vulcans later returned, under the impression that humans had changed.

Archer showed them how.

Instead of running them off with his ship, he took only one of them hostage and made use of her as a science officer. She did her duty, and lately he allowed her free access around the ship. However, while off duty she was not allowed on the Bridge or Engineering. He didn’t want her on the Bridge, influencing opinions while he was in his ready room or his quarters.

And he didn’t want the Vulcan around Trip.

Trip was an excellent engineer; some could praise him as a genius. But she was a Vulcan; he was a human. And Trip was the last person on the ship he hated to see floating out the airlock, frozen at Reed’s order.

Archer was mad. That and some of the crew called him cynical. He only laughed it off and chased it with some bourbon. He wasn’t cynical.

Who exactly was calling him cynical?

Hmm, Archer thought. Another job for Malcolm. Maybe, just maybe, this ridiculous accusation might do him some good.

* * *

On the NX-01 Enterprise, T’Pol was sitting at her station as Trip Tucker stepped out of the turbolift. He sighed softly, apparently looking for the captain. Seeing as how the chair was vacant, he walked to the ready room. He pressed the button, and waited on Archer to acknowledge him. T’Pol assumed that Captain Archer was hiding the cheese that he had just fed part of to Porthos.

The engineer turned and saw T’Pol was the only one watching him. She had noted he was still walking as if he had been missing sleep. He motioned for her to follow him. “You’re probably gonna want to hear this, too.”

She rose from her station. As she approached, she asked, “Did you experience difficulties with the warp coils?”

“Nah, they’ll come online in a few minutes. But,” he said, holding up the padd he was carrying with him, “there’s a bonus.”

“Come in.”

Trip motioned for T’Pol to enter first, and he followed behind her. T’Pol had surmised correctly; Archer was still in the process of putting his cheese away while Porthos lay on the floor, content and at peace. Trip chuckled. “That dog eats better than me some days.”

“Not tonight,” Archer replied. “Chef is making chicken parmesan and a salad. But I imagine you aren’t here for the menu.”

“Even though I did feel like a steak, no. I just got done with the modifications to the warp coils. It’ll take effect in a few minutes. However, I did a little side project for you. Their sensors are just off the frequency ours are, and I found a number of visual recorders positioned at different points on the ship. I was gonna start recording and cataloging the differences.”

He glanced at the Vulcan standing next to him. “Thought T’Pol might appreciate it, having something new to report about one of the many spectacles of the universe.”

“I would,” she replied before Archer, pointing out, “Alternate realities are a physics topic that the Vulcan Science Academy has considered a possibility but have never seen any evidence of it.”

Archer had heard this on the Bridge, Trip could tell, by him looking up something on his computer and chuckling ever so slightly. He glanced back to T’Pol as she finished speaking. “Right. Trip, go ahead and get started on the visuals.”

Trip nodded and began to walk out, T’Pol right behind him. Archer spoke up again. “T’Pol, would you hang back?”

Trip and T’Pol exchanged a glance. In her mind, she knew that Trip was working his own mind and trying to find an excuse to get her out of a talk with Captain Archer.

They both knew what the conversation was about. She shook her head in a soft motion that she hoped Archer would miss, and Trip caught the signal. “I’ll get to work again on that. I’ll be in the observation room if you need me.”

He took one last glance and left.

T’Pol turned back to the captain.

“Is there something on your mind, Commander?” he asked, slightly putting emphasis on her rank. Archer probably thought as Trip had a week after her mother’s death: that her “emotions” were getting the better of her.

In her usual stoic way, she replied, “No.”

“Are you sure?” he pressed. “You’re always missing movie night. Sometimes you miss dinner with me and Trip and you sneak into the mess hall to eat after everyone else has gone to bed.”

T’Pol’s eyes widened. “How are you aware of this?”

“Let’s just say, someone is worried about you and has been keeping tabs on you.”

T’Pol narrowed her eyes and tried to appear emotionless, yet she didn’t succeed as she slightly groaned. “How long has Commander Tucker been following me around?”

“From what he’s told me, since your mother died. But he’s not stalking you, he’s just worried.”

T’Pol sighed and wished she would just disappear. “My whereabouts,” she informed him, “are none of his business.”

“Look, don’t go blaming Trip and getting all mad on us,” he said. T’Pol silently thought the latter statement was an overstatement but said nothing. “I think it’s warranted. I know you’ve been a little emotional since the Expanse. But when your mother died, you shut everything up inside and buried yourself in the Kir’Shara. I understand what it means to Vulcan, but it’s not worth loosing everything else.”

“Meaning?”

“Do you remember how Trip got after he lost his sister?”

T’Pol tried to shrug it off by saying, “That is an illogical comparison. He is not Vulcan. He is human.”

“You’re right. And he’s a very strong willed human. But despite that, he nearly went crazy. If it hadn’t been for you, he would have lost it. Now, the same thing is happening to you. I have a feeling that if you don’t let Trip help you, it’s not going to be a happy ending.”

T’Pol stood silent after he spoke. She appeared to be thinking it over, but just as quickly she asked, “Is that all, sir?”

Archer groaned, frustrated, yet he nodded her out.

T’Pol turned and went out the door.

* * *

CHAPTER FOUR

Trip was still on the Bridge when T’Pol exited, and she looked green with rage. He glanced after her. She looked like she was going crazy.

And as she entered the turbolift, she glared at him and looked like she wished he would die.

The doors slid shut; Trip turned back to his station as Archer came out of his ready room. “Travis, take us back in. Warp three.”

“Aye, sir.” The helmsman turned the cruising ship around and flew back towards the nebula.

“And remember, this doesn’t work if we get within 8000 kilometers of the anomaly,” Trip reminded the helmsman.

“I’ll drop out of warp well by then, believe me, Commander.”

Trip slightly smiled, and Archer could tell something was wrong. He glanced around the Bridge and noticed that the science officer was no where to be found.

Archer walked behind Reed to the engineering station. “Trip?” he quietly asked.

The chief engineer swiveled in his seat. “Yeah?”

“Something wrong?”

Trip made an excuse for the Bridge crew to hear. “I think something is going on in Engineering.” He shrugged. “Mind if I go down there?”

Archer nodded, leaned in closer to his ear, and said, “Go get her.”

Trip made a quick dash for the turbolift and left the Bridge behind.

He searched every possible hiding place he could think of; first was her quarters and she wasn’t there. The mess hall; there wasn’t even the smell of chamomile tea in the air. He even checked in the captain’s mess; but still didn’t find her. Finally, his physical strength caught up with the mental determination and he gave in just outside of the lower entrance of Cargo Bay One.

He propped his hands on his thighs, taut from nearly running around the ship to find T’Pol. He began to wonder if an extra session in the ship’s gym was in order but his thoughts were disrupted by noise inside the cargo bay.

Assuming a mindset similar to Malcolm’s and Phlox, he cautiously entered. A mantra combined with a saying characteristic of both officers chanted through Trip’s mind: Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. He left the door open behind him, just in case a quick escape was necessary, and began to examine the contents from the balcony. He made it as far as the railing before he heard a voice that made him wish he had closed the door.

“Is there something wrong, Commander?” the always quirky doctor Phlox asked him, staying in the corridor.

Trip turned around. “Hey, Doc.” He turned back around to the railing and put his hands on it for support.

Phlox walked in towards him. “I realize that I’m only a doctor, but you seem a little despondent.”

Trip continued his visual scans in silence.

Phlox shrugged. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Normally, the engineer would have gone and talked with T’Pol first, but seeing as how she was hiding from him and Phlox understood the situation partially, he looked back at the Denobulan and nodded.

“It’s T’Pol.”

Phlox stopped walking next to Trip. “Has she been having problems lately?”

“Yeah, mainly me.” The engineer sighed and he had run out of places to look and ways to vent. “She’s lost her mother, her husband left her unexpectedly, and she’s been wrapped up in the Kir’Shara so much that I can’t get her to say anything. I barely get a word in edgewise when I’m around her.”

Trip took one final glance at the containers then looked at Phlox. “I know how it feels to lose someone close to me. Took me almost a year to get over Lizzie and move on. If T’Pol hadn’t been here for me, I would’ve gone insane.”

He gently bit his lip. “And then when Koss divorced her, I don’t know. I guess I hoped there was something between us, but she got so wrapped up in reading the Kir’Shara instead. Said she had to do it on her own, she kept pushing me away . . .”

Quietly, Phlox interjected, “Commander, T’Pol is a unique individual. And you helped her to become like that. But right now, she is learning what it really means to be herself, to be a Vulcan. And that’s a point that she will always be farther from than closer to.”

Trip looked at him, slightly skeptical about Phlox’s words. He sighed. “Ah, you’re right. And I admit, I probably did push her a bit too much about talking. But she’s been pushing me away so much that I don’t even know if the effort is worth it.” He moaned. “I love her, Doc.”

Phlox nodded. “I think most people on this ship know that, Mr. Tucker.”

“Yeah. But she hasn’t even said anything about us. About whether there will be an ‘us’ after she gets done with this.”

The doctor chuckled. “Well, keep in mind that it took a little prodding to get you to do neuro-pressure, eh? Give T’Pol time. Eventually, I think she’ll open up to you about everything.”

“What don’t I already know?” Trip asked with a glint of humor in his eye.

Phlox smiled for a brief moment, turned and left.

Trip balanced himself on the rail again. “Better get back to work,” he said quietly, turning and following Phlox’s motion.

Behind a box that toppled earlier as Trip came in, T’Pol wrapped her arms around herself, nearly shocking herself. She had heard Trip’s words. She had heard him say “I love you” and the emotions it lit in her scared her.

She lowered her head onto her arms. Perhaps she really was a fool.

She didn’t need time. She needed Trip.

* * *

CHAPTER FIVE

Mirror universes were beginning to confuse Trip Tucker; besides the occasional engineering glitch and T’Pol, nothing much did.

He stood in the observation lounge, filing the visual images he was receiving. Captain Archer had asked him to review the visuals they were getting for the undercover mission; after all, Tucker figured the voice inflections were just about the same. The others might notice if someone was missing a scar or something. From what he could tell, they were in full abundance.

The doors moved aside and T’Pol stepped in. Trip silently groaned, hoping that T’Pol wouldn’t hear him. In spite of her exceptional hearing, he was positive that she wouldn’t hear him. But somehow, she did.

“Is something wrong?”

“Nah,” he said, turning around from looking at the screen. He glanced at T’Pol for one moment, and then turned back around before he got any more ideas. “Everything pretty much seems the same, except for one noticeable difference.”

T’Pol was studying a console of her own, yet she looked up.

Trip slightly smirked. “Well, whenever the other ‘me’ is in my quarters, I’m wearing a wedding ring, but secretively. Like I don’t let other people see it.”

“Meaning?”

“Ah, come on. It just means that—“

“Our counterparts in this universe married. It doesn’t imply—“

“Never mind,” he said abruptly, whirling back around to his console. “After all, I may not be married to you. Or your other counterpart person,” he said, almost fumbling for the words.

“Are there any noticeable differences with other members of the crew,” she asked, almost coldly, “or have you been fixating on yourself all this time?”

“Why are you being so stubborn?” he asked, emphasizing the words and looking at her.

T’Pol appeared almost insulted – something he hadn’t been trying to do and he felt a twinge of guilt. “I wasn’t trying to.”

Trip bristled, frowned, and turned back to his console. “Never mind.”

“Trip . . .”

Memories flooded his mind, but oddly he wasn’t thinking it. All the things that he was seeing, all the memories of things that had happened between them . . . some were down right shocking. He saw a visual of one time when he had missed two neuro-pressure sessions in a row and he tried to get back into her good graces by giving her peaches. He mentioned something about not having a shower and it brought an image of him in the shower. He hadn’t been thinking that . . . he could almost imagine T’Pol thinking it. It was almost like she was projecting onto him in some weird way.

He shook it off inside, replying, “T’Pol, I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to gripe at you. It’s just . . . you haven’t been acting like yourself lately. I mean, I know you finished reading the Kir’Shara but it’s like nothing else has settled yet.” He set his console to record the video feed from the other Enterprise and walked over to T’Pol. “I know you’re probably going to be a bit stubborn and say that you’re fine, but do you need to talk?”

T’Pol looked shaken, more so than he had ever seen her. Trip stood two feet away from her as he gripped her shoulders gently. “Hey, you okay?” he quietly prodded.

She shook her head, and then glanced up to him. “I don’t know.”

Trip stood motionless, dropping his hands to his sides, as she began to speak. “When I finished reading, I discerned that there were many things revealed in the Kir’Shara that will be beneficial in a typical Vulcan’s life.”

Trip looked lower and then raised his head as he closed the distance in between them. “And you aren’t a typical Vulcan.”

“Nonetheless, I need to discern how to use this information in my life. But even though it is a better way of living by the true knowledge of Surak, I’m still having difficulty controlling my emotions. And I doubt that I ever will completely.”

Trip looked her over. “You know I want to help you. And I’ll help you with this however I can.”

“I appreciate that. But right now, I’m still adjusting.” In a purely un-Vulcan move, she raised her hand to his cheek. “Soon.”

“So that means . . . that you . . . you still?”

“Yes.”

Trip breathed a sigh of relief and knew now that everything he had fretted about was worth it. He knew that she loved him. She still loved him.

Just like he did always.

“That’s all I need to know,” he said, reaching up for her hand and bringing it down. They looked at their entwined hands, and he sensed that she was comfortable. It was something she hadn’t been for a while, Trip had a feeling. “I gotta get back to work. But can I meet you later, just to talk more?”

She nodded enthusiastically. “I need to report back to the Bridge.”

Trip nodded, and then broke off from her. “Then you’ll need this. These are basic differences between the senior staff, visually. I have a feeling the captain’s gonna need this.”

“I’ll be sure to mention your wedding ring,” she said with a slight glint of humor.

Trip cocked his head. “Ya don’t have to do that.”

“I’m sure the expression it would illicit from Captain Archer would be worth it.”

“Only if I was there. With my camera.”

T’Pol gave him one last look and walked away.

Trip went back to his work with a new vigor. Now he knew that everything he had tried on Enterprise was worth it. He knew that someday soon, T’Pol would be his. She would be there for him, just as he wanted to be.

And sometime soon, he would ask T’Pol about this weird notion in his head that he was telepathic.

* * *

In the situation room, Jonathan Archer was gathering his senior officers from the turbolift as they exited. Trip was the last to arrive and he settled in comfortably – Archer personally thought a bit too comfortably – next to T’Pol, waiting for her to begin the briefing.

Her hands went to the console. “There are noticeable differences between the senior crew. Captain Archer,” she said, pulling his picture, “has a scar running down one cheek and—“

“I think we get the picture,” Archer said, a bit of a pun, and the senior staff eased a bit with the exception of Malcolm Reed.

Even T’Pol eased as she continued. “The most noticeable is Lieutenant Reed. He has a dark goatee and a tendency to carry weapons on his person in hidden positions.”

“Not much of a change,” Reed mentioned off-handed.

Trip chuckled and looked at T’Pol, almost pleadingly.

“Commander Tucker has no physical differences, except for a slight limp,” she said in response.

Archer frowned as Tucker eased. There was definitely something up between those two, he thought to himself.

“Ensign Sato has one notable difference. She wears her hair long and is extremely flirtatious.”

Hoshi replied immediately. “Captain, please don’t put me on the away team.”

The officers chuckled slightly. Archer was having a hard time trying to restrain himself, yet he said, “Sorry, Ensign, but you might be needed. Next?”

The officers remaining looked expectantly at T’Pol as she spoke. “Dr. Phlox and Ensign Mayweather haven’t been seen. I believe it is a safe assumption that, due to the hostility that was shown to the Vulcans during First Contact, Denobulans never entered the Interspecies Medical Exchange. As a result, Phlox never came on Enterprise.”

“What about me?” Travis queried.

T’Pol looked at him. “I believe that you were never born.”

“Well, that just brightened up my whole day,” Travis muttered underneath his breath.

Trip chuckled. “And I know what’s up with me.”

“I have a question, sir.” Hoshi crossed her arms. “If humans were showing hostility to the Vulcans at first contact, then why is T’Pol aboard the other Enterprise?”

Trip looked at T’Pol out of the corner of his eye. She glanced to the console. “I don’t know.”

Archer began getting worried. In the four years he had known her, she wasn’t sure if T’Pol had ever said that. So he figured he would use that to his advantage. “Then, I propose that T’Pol be sent over on a recon mission.”

“Captain,” she said in slight desperation.

“You can access their computer banks, find out everything. Emotional differences between humans can be different to the extreme. I would assume they aren’t that different between Vulcans.”

T’Pol nodded. “I need to look closer at some imagery before I transport over.”

Archer nodded. T’Pol took off from the Bridge like a speeding bullet, and Trip looked worried. He glanced around and Archer held his gaze and nodded at him. Trip ran off the Bridge too, catching the turbolift before T’Pol had a chance to close the door.

The captain dismissed the rest of the senior staff; then acknowledged that those two were so stubborn, so thick-headed, and so right for each other, Archer realized with a sudden pang of worry.

He narrowed his eyes and walked back to his ready room. He just had to figure out a way to make this all work. He had to figure out how to stay out of their business.

He shrugged it off. There was a reason Starfleet had a no fraternization rule, and he would leave it alone until it got to be an overwhelming problem. Unfortunately, he reflected, that might be too soon.

Part 2 (Chapters 6-10)

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Nine of you have made comments

luv the fic please write more

wow i just realised that the clock on this site is different than mine. it says that i posted at 10:50 but I posted at 5:51pm. mabe a european site dunno im baffled different time zone than atlanta.

I love this when can we expect the sequal?

WOW great MU Fic! I cant wait till the next chapter!

Very good. Look forward to more.

Wow, good myth! Love the story, bit peturbed by the alternate Malcolm having shot and killed Travis without a pang of remorse. Maybe it's not him but that darn goatie beard of his? Evil beard, shave it off! Seriously, this is good and the anticipation is building nicely. I do think the Captain has made a major mistake though insisting that T'Pol do a recon on the other ship. Ali D :~)

Thank you, everyone, for the comments so far received. I'll take some ideas into consideration, and the rest of it is coming soon, be assured.
Thanks!!! :o)

To Alison M. DOBELL,
Did I really have Malcolm kill Travis? I think I've been staying up too late! Thanks for pointing that out, but remember, in Star Trek lore, anything is possible!
Thanks, Energy

Great fic... I want to see more. The only part that I'm a little confused about is when Archer pretty much encourages T'Pol to turn to Trip, but later is disturbed by their friendliness in the end.