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Be Careful What You Wish For - Ch 8

Author - Evalyn A.
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Be Careful What You Wish For

by Evalyn A

Rating: G, Action/adventure, T/T shippiness of course.
May be archived, just let me know.
Disclaimer: Not making a dime off of this, they belong to Paramount, they don’t belong to me, although finally they’re starting to act as if they did.
A/N: Takes place sometime after “Home”. Thanks to Quills for inspiring this plot by his cryptic spoiler comments. Officially A/U since that episode – T’Pol is still married to Koss, as I reserve myself the right to get rid of him as I darn well please, and still has Pa’nar.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 8


When T’Pol awoke after a few hours of sleep, the intensity of her connection to Commander Tucker had subsided, although it was still unquestionably present. Now that she was fairly sure she had identified the true nature of the episodes she had been experiencing, if not the reason for them, she hoped she would be able to function around them. In fact, in an odd way, the occasional glimpses into his world she did experience that morning were quite reassuringly mundane; the panic she had experienced down on the planet seemed to have dissipated completely, although she remained unsure whether it had been his or her own.

She had stopped by sickbay partway through the morning, and Phlox had once more taken some scans. “Have you had any further episodes, or insight into their cause, Subcommander?” he asked upon completion.

She paused uncomfortably. “Yes, to both questions,” she finally replied. “I believe I understand the nature of the problem, Doctor, and it is, as it turns out, no cause for concern on your part.” He looked queryingly at her, and she continued, “It is a matter for me to handle. I appreciate your help, and I will be sure to inform you if the situation changes.”

The Doctor looked somewhat aggrieved, and offered, “Well, I am here to help, T’Pol, and if at any time you need to talk …”

“Of course Doctor. I truly do appreciate all the help you have provided me. However I feel this is something I need to pursue further on my own,” she explained, jumping down from the bench.

He watched as she departed, back ramrod straight, and sighed. “Something to do with Commander Tucker again no doubt,” he said conversationally to his Elorian mudkipper, dropping a small worm into the tank. “I do hope she knows what she’s doing this time.”

In truth, her only plan for the short term was to spend as much time in her quarters as possible preparing for the upcoming negotiations, and to avoid any situation in which she might be forced into a conversation of a personal nature with Tucker. Despite the easing of the tensions between them the previous day, or perhaps because of it, she was completely unprepared to attempt to explain to him what she had been experiencing, particularly when she had no idea why. After working into the late afternoon, she did spend some time poring through the Vulcan database, looking for descriptions of any similar syndromes. She had almost given up, ready to spend some time in meditation before dinner, when something caught her eye. She backed up the page on the display, and reread it slowly. After staring blankly at the screen for a few minutes, she reached up and turned it off. “How did this happen?” she murmured aloud to the empty room. But it was a rhetorical question. In her heart, she knew.

********

Two days later, her bag over her shoulder, she headed towards the shuttle bay. She stepped into the lift, to find it already occupied by Commander Tucker. She nodded briefly to him, attempting to quell the multitude of conflicting emotions that arose in her chest at being alone with him. Were they hers or his? Did it matter?

Suddenly, he spoke. “Will you be back?”

She looked at him warily. “It seems likely, but it depends on the High Command. It is true that if the negotiations go well, the hostilities will cease, and I may be released from my intelligence duties. However, there are other issues, of a personal nature, that I need to attend to on Vulcan. I cannot say when they will be concluded,” she replied. She had had some time to think, over the previous 24 hours, and had come to some conclusions about how to proceed, conclusions which she was not yet prepared to share with him until she was sure of the path forward.

He nodded. He wanted to ask more, she knew it, and yet he did not. Perhaps he sensed her fear as much as she sensed his. Fear that she would tell him what he wanted to hear, or fear that she would not. Either way, it was better not to speak of it. As always.

Despite the undertones, T’Pol still found herself oddly reassured simply by his presence, both physical and mental, by her side. If only they could forget the complexities of their situation, and just be, as they were now, she could be content for a while. The lift doors opened, and they exited in silence towards the shuttle bay.

***********

Shran paced the meeting room, his antennae pointing out from his head at an aggressive angle. His aide stepped out of the way rapidly as Shran changed direction suddenly. “Andorians always keep their word,” Shran continued categorically.

“As do Vulcans,” Soval replied icily.

“Is that why you located a listening post on P’Jem in violation of the treaty?” Shran countered, pointing an accusatory finger directly into Soval’s face.

“Andoria had a military buildup located at the border of our space,” Soval noted stonily. “That was in direct violation of the spirit of the accords. We merely sought to protect ourselves.”

Archer stepped between the two of them and literally pushed them apart. Soval looked seriously affronted while Shran simply shoved back. The Starfleet officer stated in an exasperated tone, “We are not here to rehash past history. We were discussing a joint patrol of the disputed space.”

“It would need to be coordinated,” Soval said, smoothing the front of his tunic with a slight frown.

“Andorians would never agree to anything coordinated by Vulcans,” Shran pointed out in disgust.

“Andorians never keep their tempers long enough to plan anything,” Soval riposted. “Thus the planning can hardly be left to your people.” Archer could have sworn that Soval’s aide had a slight smirk on his face.

“Perhaps a fifteen minute break would be helpful,” T’Pol interjected smoothly. “There are fresh fruit and beverages outside. I believe the commissary may have also provided coffee,” she added, for the Captain’s benefit.

The Andorian and Vulcan delegations shuffled out of the room, each examining the other distrustfully.

“Thanks, T’Pol, I don’t know how much more of that I could have taken,” Archer commented, rubbing the back of his neck in exasperation.

“There is a certain amount of posturing that must start out any such negotiation,” T’Pol stated calmly. “It is probably better to allow them to insult one another until they tire of it.”

Despite himself Archer grinned. “Well, if you put it like that, I guess if I stop expecting to make progress I could actually enjoy listening to them squabble. All right, we’ll do it your way for a while,” he acquiesced, as he motioned T’Pol out of the room ahead of him. It could be a long four days until the Earth delegation arrived.

***********

Two weeks later, Archer and Tucker sat at the Captain’s table, each eating a juicy steak. “Mmm,” Archer expressed his appreciation of the meal while staring at a chunk of meat on his fork. “No matter how good the cooking is on Vulcan, I can only go without red meat for so long.” He had been down on Vulcan constantly since their arrival, largely incommunicado, as he assisted in the negotiations.

“So spill,” Tucker prompted. “Any progress?”

“I think so,” the Captain said thoughtfully. “Once Ambassador Tan arrived to represent Earth interests, the other two sides started taking things a little more seriously. They’ve even started considering some of the initial wording for the mutual aid agreement. But I expect it’ll be another six months before anything is really settled, the way things are going.”

Tucker looked somewhat apprehensive. “They won’t leave us sittin’ here in orbit twiddling our thumbs for six months, will they?”

“No,” Archer smiled, “I wouldn’t be surprised if we were released quite shortly to head back out. Tensions seem quite thoroughly defused now, and there’s even been talk of a trade mission heading to Vulcan from Andoria. The real breakthrough happened over the subject of the disputed areas of space, oddly. That started out as the most contentious issue.”

“Oh?” Tucker asked, spearing a mouthful of salad. “What happened?”

“They were arguing over how to enforce the peace and divide the disputed sector. Ambassador Tan suggested that since they couldn’t agree to divide the sector, perhaps Earth could take over custody. The Vulcans didn’t realize he was joking – he’s a marvellous diplomat, but he does rather tend to overestimate the Vulcan sense of humour – but it did get them thinking about how Earth could help. We’d already discussed the idea that a joint starship patrol, manned by Vulcan and Andorian personnel, could be used to maintain the peace. But they couldn’t figure out how they could possibly make it work, until they realized that the patrol ships could be led by humans.”

“Led by humans?” Trip’s disbelief was patent. “Are you tellin’ me that Vulcans are seriously considering letting us lead them?” He shook his head wonderingly. “Will wonders never cease.”

“I know, I found it a bit unnerving myself, like my entire frame of reference was being turned upside-down,” Archer admitted, chuckling.

Tucker found the turn of phrase somewhat unsettling, reminding him as it did of some of the odd feelings he’d experienced for a few days, back while T’Pol was on the ship. They’d almost completely disappeared, no doubt just some inner ear thing he’d picked up that Phlox’s scanners had missed. Something about this train of thought nagged at him, but Archer spoke again, distracting him.

“T’Pol called in a short while ago, she helped in the negotiations for the first few days but was called away. Apparently there has been no decision made yet as to when or if she will return.” He scrutinized his first officer closely. Trip’s careful lack of reaction was telling, he thought. Still not ready to talk about it. And yet, sometimes, such things had to be precipitated.

“If she returns, I’ll have to decide whether to reinstate her as first officer,” Archer continued. “You’ve done a wonderful job as my exec, Trip, and regardless of how it comes out, I’ll be putting that in your record. It won’t be an easy decision.”

“Thanks sir,” Tucker replied, carefully maintaining a casual tone, “I enjoyed it more than I thought. But you know I’d rather be in Engineering given a choice, and T’Pol can do the job at least as well as I can, so you should make the decision that’s best for the ship; either way I’ll be good with it.”

“That’s good to hear. You and T’Pol make a good team, and I’d hate there to be hard feelings over this,” the Captain commented, adroitly bringing the conversation around to the issue he wanted in the open. Trip, did not rise to the bait, however, merely nodding and continuing to eat his meal. Archer decided to be a bit more direct. “Have you heard from her?”

Trip looked startled, and shook his head. “Why do you ask?”

“You and she are pretty close, I would have thought she might be keeping you updated on a more informal level,” Archer replied, observing his first officer from behind his wineglass.

“Um, no Cap’n, nothin’ like that,” Trip replied nervously. Even as he spoke, he suddenly experienced one of those moments of dislocation: he was on Vulcan, standing in front of an elderly priest, the same priest that had performed T’Pol’s wedding to Koss. The priest was speaking some words in Vulcan, gesturing solemnly. He experienced a feeling of anticipation, as though a great burden was about to be lifted from him.

Archer noted Trip’s sudden vacant expression, and the way the colour seemed to drain from his face. “Trip, are you OK?” he asked anxiously.

Tucker’s attention returned to his Captain, and he replied with unconvincing nonchalance, “Sure, just a bit of indigestion. Maybe I better get back to my quarters for a lie-down, if you don’t mind?” He pushed up from the table, and as Archer nodded excusing him, Tucker departed abruptly.

Archer stared down at his half-eaten meal, and sighed. He had no idea what had just happened, but he certainly didn’t feel he’d made much progress in trying to understand the complexities of the relationship between his two senior officers.


9Chapter 9 CONCLUSION

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A whole mess of folks have made comments

wow...that was a fast update to chap8. :) your series is fantastic. please keep on writing...

Yay, a quick update! You're spoiling me. I'll expect this all the time from now on. :-P

I'm with Jenna! I can't wait to read more!!!!! You totally have to update fast because I can't take the wait!

Fast update! Please get the next one out soon, I realy want to know what T'pol is up to on Vulcan! Loved this chapter.:)

I enjoyed these last chapters greatly. I can't wait to see what happens next.

This is good. Real good. Thanks.

oooh. me likey! I didn't even have to go back and re-read a bunch of chapters to remember the story! I like the quick update, and I love the story! Looking forward to the next bit.

There was a bit of a hiatus, sorry about that -- the laptop was broken. It is now limping along with a bandage on its paw.

I agree with VFlick, me like! More please! :)

Aww, at least he's trying...