Changes

Changes

by Kevin

Rating: PG
Disclaimer: The characters mentioned within this text are the sole property of Paramount Studios, UPN, and Viacom. I intend no infringement.
Genre: Drama, Friendship
Summary: Captain Archer senses a distinct change with his two senior officers. The scenes take place during a single 24 hour period set between “Extinction” and “Rajiin”.

Captain Archer sat frustrated in the ship’s command center. He stared up at the screen displaying the map they’d acquired from the trader. He still couldn’t make heads or tails of it. The trader only knew how to program her ship’s computer to use these maps. She wasn’t completely sure how to read them and she had no idea how to translate this one into the Humans’ system of navigation. The map was baffling but they had to decipher it. The trader said it would lead them to a chemist who could show them how to process Trellium ore into the protective coating.

The incessant itching only made Jon’s frustration that much worse. He rubbed his back across the chair hoping to gain at least some measure of relief. There was no way he was going to put more of Doctor Phlox’s salve on his body. It smelled horrible. Porthos cringed in the corner and wouldn’t come out the first time Jon applied it–not even for a cube of cheese.

He needed T’Pol’s help but she was in sickbay. Thinking about her situation took his mind off the map for a few moments. Doctor Phlox said he’d probably release her to her own quarters today. She’d be on light duty for a couple days until her body fully recovered from the blood parasite’s removal. Although Jon sympathized with his first officer, he was glad the little bug had no interest in iron-based blood. The bug appeared to thrive on her copper-based blood and she’d lost over a pint before Phlox had been able to remove it from her system. Between the loss of blood and the invasive procedure required to remove the parasite, T’Pol was suffering from exhaustion. Phlox’s prescription was forced bed rest. Although T’Pol would refuse to admit it, Jon was pretty sure that put her in a bad mood. She seemed almost… crabby two days ago when he talked to her.

He rose to his feet and decided to check up on her. He wasn’t getting anywhere and hoped she was doing well enough to be released today. It shouldn’t take too much effort to work on deciphering the map and he hoped Phlox would give him the okay to have her work on it while she rested in her quarters.

At just after 0600 hours, the ship’s corridors were practically empty and Archer decided to take the opportunity to hum a little tune to himself as he covered the distance. He had just turned the final corner to sickbay when he nearly ran into Trip. Trip backed off a bit after nearly running down the Captain and the two men looked at each other.

“Trip, how are things looking?” Jon asked.

Trip ran his hand through his hair. “Okay I guess. We’ve got her purring like a kitten again.”

Jon gave in to the urge to scratch his face. He also rubbed his back against the bulkhead.

Trip chuckled. “Still itching?”

Jon scowled at his friend. “What do you think?”

Trip chuckled again.

“I’m going to see T’Pol and then I’m going for breakfast. Want to come with?”

Trip shook his head and Archer saw his neck get a little pink. “No thanks. I need to get to bed. Since Nick’s got pneumonia, Anna and I are covering all the shifts.”

Jon nodded. He remembered Trip telling him that just before they visited the Loque’que planet. Phlox wanted Ensign Rostov to rest in his quarters for at least another three days. “Wait, your shift should have ended at 0400. I don’t want you working more than twelve hour days.” Jon was worried his friend would work himself too hard and be exhausted when they needed him most.

Trip smiled. “No, Anna took over just after 0400… I… aahhh… had something important I had to take care of. I just finished so it’s off to bed.”

Jon smiled to him. “Well okay then. Sweet dreams!” Archer chuckled.

Trip scowled at him and turned to leave. Jon was smiling and feeling a lot better as he walked into sickbay.

However, Doctor Phlox gave a frown as he saw Archer enter sickbay. He wondered what the doctor’s problem was. Normally Phlox always seemed too cheerful.

“How’s T’Pol doing? I want to talk to her.”

Phlox shook his head. “I am sorry, Captain. She is finally resting again and I do not want anyone else bothering her… You can talk to her later this afternoon when I release her.”

Jon sighed and twisted his mouth. The itching on the back of his neck was starting to bother him again. He began to reach up to scratch it and remembered he was standing in front of Phlox. He would have to suffer through it until he was able to leave sickbay.

“Wait, you said anyone else?”

“Yes,” Phlox replied and waived his arms around before turning toward a cabinet. “Commander Tucker slipped in here and spent nearly two hours with T’Pol… I have no idea how he got in without me knowing.”

Phlox reached into the cabinet and pulled out a little jar. He turned to the Captain. “Here… Use this. It will help with the itching. Scratching will only make it worse and risk scarring.” Phlox frowned at Jon and he was certain the doctor accurately assumed the itching was nearly driving him insane.

“Although,” Doctor Phlox continued. “He did bring her some sliced peaches and grits. How he knew each has trace elements vital to the Vulcan body is beyond me. Thiamine and Folic Acid are chemically identical to critical micro-nutrients for the Vulcan immune system. The potassium in the peaches helps maintain proper green/blue blood cell balance.”

The doctor made a face when Jon set the jar of salve down on the counter. He planned to leave sickbay without it if he could.

“I think Commander Tucker has been reading my medical books. I do not believe he could know any other way. When I confronted him, he denied knowing anything about it… I cannot believe he just knew they would help her.”

Jon smiled. He was certain the answer was much simpler than that. “He probably didn’t. Grits are one of Trip’s favorite foods. A couple of years ago he was bugging her to try them. She finally did. It turns out she likes them a lot too…” He chuckled at the memory. “Although you should have seen the look on her face when he told her they had a little butter in them.”

Phlox’s grin became even wider. “I imagine so.”

Jon shrugged. “But he explained to her how butter was made and I guess it didn’t bother her so much… I mean since cows aren’t hurt or anything and they produce the milk naturally…” Archer tilted his head a bit. “But I don’t know about the sliced peaches. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her eat them before.”

Phlox took a deep breath and released. “Well however he knew, I wish she would eat more of them. They are very good for a Vulcan’s general health–much better for her than her normal breakfast… I understand she prefers the plomeek broth but both the grits and peaches are better for her… Although I would prefer she not have them with butter. The Vulcan digestive system is not equipped to deal with animal fats.”

Archer smiled and started to make his way toward her bed.

Phlox stopped him. “No, Captain, I must insist. She needs to rest… If you wanted to see her, you should have arrived with Commander Tucker. He has been here the past three mornings. They spend a couple hours together talking. This morning she was awake prior to 0300 and I believe it was in anticipation of his arrival.”

Jon frowned but Phlox did not budge. Finally he gave a brief snort and turned to leave. But not before Phlox shoved the jar of salve back into his hands. Jon started to consider the information Phlox just provided about his two senior officers but between the itching and his growing headache, he simply couldn’t concentrate. He was going to have to apply the salve again… Porthos was just going to have to learn to deal with the stink.

Later that afternoon he did get a chance to see T’Pol. She seemed to be doing a lot better and she was fairly certain she could program the computer to translate the coordinates on the map to something compatible with their navigational systems.

Just before he left, he turned to her and asked her to join him for supper. It had been a while since he’d had anyone in the Captain’s Mess.

T’Pol seemed to stiffen a bit at his invite. “Commander Tucker and I have arranged to review some of the data about Trellium processing. I could reschedule…”

Archer held up his hand. “No, you two keep working on that. That’s more important… That’ll just leave more for Porthos…” Archer smiled.

T’Pol just returned a blank expression. “If you wish, I do not have any plans for supper tomorrow.”

Archer nodded. “Sure thing. I’ll invite Trip along too… I know he’s working then but he can take an hour or so off… It’ll be good for the three of us to sit down together again.”

“I will get to work on deciphering the map.”

Archer took that as his invitation to leave. He turned and headed out the door. He ran his fingers though his hair as he tried to remember when T’Pol started wearing the gray satin robe. He couldn’t remember ever seeing her in Human clothes before. She always wore Vulcan attire. Maybe it has something to do with the change in uniform?

That Trip was in engineering and T’Pol turned down his offer to dine with him allowed Jon to indulge himself in his second guilty pleasure. As he looked down on his soup he was certain his father turned over in his grave. He sighed when he acknowledged he didn’t really care. This mission weighed heavily on him and he deserved to enjoy what had become his favorite ‘comfort food’. He opened the box of animal crackers and scooped a handful of them into his plomeek broth. He stirred the crackers around with his spoon a bit and then lifted them to his mouth. He closed his eyes and savored the unique flavor combination of the Vulcan soup and the animal crackers.

He chuckled to himself as he pictured the look of horror on T’Pol’s face if she ever found out. He doubted she would approve of him putting crackers in the Vulcan soup. Of course if she did find out, there was a good chance she would tell Trip and he would never hear the end of it. Luckily chef agreed to keep Jon’s little indulgence just between the two of them.

Once he finished his soup, the steward brought in the rest of his meal. Jon pulled the top bun off his sandwich and looked at the pile of pulled pork. Jon inhaled the aroma and wondered how chef was still able to make his favorite barbeque this far into the mission. He pushed those thoughts away and added a bit more sauce before scooping the coleslaw on top of the meat and then returned the top bun to its rightful place.

In moments the sandwich was gone and Jon used his spoon to pick up the few bits of coleslaw and pork that fell off as he devoured the sandwich. When he was done, he wiped his mouth and finished the last of his sweet tea. He stood up and entered the main mess hall on the way back to his quarters. Just as he stepped through the door he caught sight of Trip and T’Pol sitting together, tucked away in a corner of the mess hall. They appeared to be nibbling on some food as they discussed whatever it was they were focused on. Since the table was strewn with at least four PADDs, he assumed they were still trying to figure out a way to synthesize Trellium D to protect the ship.

Jon came close to walking over to see how things were going, but the two had their backs to the rest of the mess hall and did not see him. He decided against interrupting their work when a little part of him churned at the sight of them together. They looked… cozy… and T’Pol afforded Trip a closeness he’d not seen before. He sighed and wondered if it was T’Pol distracting Trip from dwelling on his sister’s murder. About three weeks ago, Trip was reduced to a shell of his former self. Jon was worried he might have to consider relieving Trip of duty. Then something changed just after the MACOs rescued them and Trip began returning to his old self again. Trip seems to spend a lot more time with T’Pol, so maybe that has something to do with it?

Jon shook his head as he walked out of the mess hall. He’d been spending far too much time in the command center by himself. He decided to head over to the gym and run off his frustrations. Maybe he’d get a chance to pick up on some ship’s gossip while he was out of uniform. If not, at least he’d get to hit the heavy bag. In the past few months he’d stopped imagining it was Soval and replaced it with a Xindi.

Porthos climbed up on the bed to lick Jon’s face, letting him know he wanted to eat. Jon sighed. He wasn’t sleeping anyway. After Jon fed Porthos, he looked at the chronometer and saw that it was 0550 hours. He was pretty sure T’Pol would be awake and he could get status on deciphering the map they’d acquired. With any luck, the computer might have completed its translation. Without T’Pol’s help though, they had not been able to figure out how to read it. Hopefully she’d made some progress. Since he wasn’t tired and wasn’t going back to bed, he put his uniform on instead of wearing something casual.

T’Pol answered Jon’s chime with a simple “yes”.

“It’s me. I’ve got something I want you to look at,” he said into the speaker.

A few moments later, she still had not responded. Jon tilted his head to the side to consider her… lack… of a response. Although it had only been a matter of seconds, normally T’Pol immediately told him to come in. But not this time.

The door opened and she stood looking at him in her steel gray satin robe. That was two days in a row he’d seen her without Vulcan attire. While the color suited her complexion, he wondered why she made the change.

“May I come in? I want to see how the translation is coming along.”

She hesitated before she nodded and turned to allow Jon in the room. It took a few seconds for Jon’s eyes to adjust to the lighting. The room was awash in a faint candle light coming from what looked to be three or possibly four candles. He couldn’t remember her quarters looking like this before and she surprised Jon by not turning on the lights. There was a… romantic quality… about the room lit by candles with cushions on the floor. He ignored all of that and simply made his way to the chair by her desk as she stood in the center of the room.

Something caught the corner of Jon’s eye and he looked off to see what appeared to be a pair shoes and a shirt on the floor. He turned his chair to face her but before he could say anything he heard a noise come from her bathroom. The main room was briefly illuminated as the door opened and Jon confirmed that, yes, the items on the floor were a pair of shoes… men’s shoes… and a T-shirt. He knew T’Pol didn’t wear men’s shoes and he couldn’t imagine her wearing a T-shirt.

He didn’t have to ask whom they belonged to once he heard the next noise.

“You probably want to wait a while before…” Trip stopped in his tracks when his eyes followed T’Pol’s to where Jon sat. “going in there,” the final part came out almost as an after thought.

“Captain… I… aahhh…” Trip stammered while he rubbed his hand through his hair.

Trip must have realized what a sight he was standing in T’Pol’s quarters wearing only his sweat pants. Jon’s mind was racing a mile a minute trying to think of any excuse… any at all… that would have Trip in T’Pol’s quarters, half naked, before six in the morning. While Jon’s mind churned, Trip sheepishly walked over and picked up his shirt and shoes. Trip just backed away and sat down on T’Pol’s bed to get dressed. Jon was almost certain he saw her stiffen at Trip’s action and the ease with which Trip sat down on her bed did nothing to quash the conclusions Jon was jumping too.

In a way Jon was glad T’Pol had not raised the lights in the room. He was certain his face was bright red as he fought back the urge to yell at them for fooling around during such an important mission. Jon was able to control the emotional outburst and convinced himself he hadn’t just walked in on his Vulcan first officer and his best friend–his Human best friend–having sex with each other. He tried to think of an explanation, any explanation regardless of how lame it might sound, that he could cling to so that he could deny that possibility.

He couldn’t so he just glared at his oldest friend.

Trip, for his part, stood up and mumbled something and headed toward the door. Jon watched T’Pol turn to Trip and clear her throat just before he exited the room. She seemed to relax somewhat as Trip turned to face her while avoiding eye contact with Jon.

“Commander Tucker,” T’Pol’s formal use of his rank after Trip had been half naked in her quarters almost made Jon burst out laughing. “I will meet you in 30 minutes in the mess half to discuss the engineering problem you mentioned.”

Trip looked confused, like he had no idea what she was talking about. “Unh… Okay…” Trip stammered out again. “But it can’t be for long… I need to get back to bed.” Just as the words came out of Trip’s mouth he inhaled sharply. “I mean go to bed,” Trip corrected himself.

T’Pol just nodded and Trip left the room.

T’Pol must have recognized Jon’s expression of shock and stiffened. She opened her mouth for what Jon would hope was the logical explanation he could use to deny the conclusion he had already jumped to.

“Doctor Phlox has asked that I perform a Vulcan healing practice called neuropressure on Commander Tucker to help cure his insomnia… Since Commander Tucker was scheduled to work until 0400 hours, I offered to perform the procedure before my shift started this morning.”

“So that’s why I found Trip half naked in your quarters this morning?” Jon anger caused his mouth to operate before his brain kicked in. His tone was a bit harsher and more accusatory than he intended but if T’Pol was insulted, she didn’t show it.

“The procedure requires that I stimulate pressure points along his spine and the soles of his feet. Removing his shirt and shoes is necessary.”

Archer narrowed his eyes and considered her answer. It sounded reasonable so far. The trio of candles along the wall caught his eye and he stared at them.

“The candles are for my benefit,” she said. He turned to look at her. “Their aroma has a calming effect and the soft light eliminates distractions.”

Jon wasn’t sure what to say. But that did sound reasonable. A voice in the back of his head reminded him that Vulcan’s weren’t romantic and she probably had no idea about the ambiance they created. He actually felt deeply embarrassed by his earlier reaction. He should have known better than attribute Human emotions, especially baser ones, to her. She deserved better from him. “I… I… hope I didn’t interrupt his treatment.”

T’Pol just shook her head. “We were mostly complete. When I join him in the mess hall, I will simply reschedule another session for tomorrow morning.”

Jon just shrugged and T’Pol came over to look at the information he displayed on the screen in her quarters. She downloaded it to a PADD and told Jon she would do a detailed investigation after breakfast.

Later that morning as Jon sat in the command chair, he took a few moments to consider the past 24 hours. He wondered just when Trip and T’Pol became so… close. Never in his wildest fantasies could he have ever dreamed he’d find Trip wearing only his sweatpants in T’Pol’s candle lit quarters. The mood was… intimate.

Jon took a deep breath and shook his head. He’d been spending far too much time along in the command center and it finally caught up with him. There wasn’t anything going on between the two. He was just imagining things.

There can’t be anything going on between the two. There just can’t be…

The End

A sequel continues the story in Touch Too Much

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A whole mess of folks have made comments

I really like this and wish that you will contiune with a squeal.

Good one. A Sequal would be great.

Oh Jon... silly silly Jon. Continue please. I like how you've taken a look at things from Jon's POV. Be cool for you to continue this.

Nice job although I do wonder exactly what Jon's problem is here (specifically why he's honked off at the idea of TnT.) Why should he be upset if they were having hot Vulcan sex on this mission? As far as most of them are concerned, this IS a suicide mission...

And it's his own damned fault if he shows up at her quarters at oh-dark-thirty and discovers something he would have liked to not know. :D

I really like the subtle touches that Jon is noticing as well: how T'Pol relaxes a bit when interacting with Trip and how Trip is starting to become his old self again thanks to her.

Changes - a.k.a. Archer Catches a Clue, Sorta!

Hee. I enjoy Archer POV stories on T/T. Actually, I'm a fan of most 3rd POV stories on T/T. Thanks for writing this.

Very nice! :) I would also like it to continue with a squeal, some panting, and a nice, long sigh! :)

Thanks. Speaking of typos (at least I assume lizb993's request for a "squeal" is a typo), I almost sent this off to Bucky with Archer enjoying a glass of "sweat tea". I almost died laughing when I caught that.

In case it's not, SQUEAL!!!

This was a great story, and a sequal would be great, perhaps something post rajiin??

“You probably want to wait a while before…” Trip stopped in his tracks when his eyes followed T’Pol’s to where Jon sat. “going in there,” the final part came out almost as an after thought.

Very funny!!!

Poor clueless Jonny. Kinda makes you feel sorry for the guy. THIS is why I felt compelled to fix the man up! : )

Archer, I hate to inform you that "denial" is not just a river in Egypt. Hee hee hee! Great stuff, very well done! :)

I really enjoyed that...The peaches were a nice touch.

I really enjoyed that...The peaches were a nice touch.

I loved that but I thought it would have been funnier and cooler if Archer had found some reason to believe T'Pol was spinning hardcore stories ;)

yes it was a typo

I liked this one. I have a soft spot for 3POV stories on my favorite pairings.

Story was great and the reviews are too! LOL.

loved the story. Do another chapter.

Nice story. Oh,BTW, Rostov's name is Michael, not Nick. See episode where Rostov is one of five caught by the sticky tendrilly intelligent life form that uses musical mathematics as language. In this episode Crewman Kelly calls him Michael. Anyway, great writing. Want more.