Touch Too Much

Touch Too Much

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: A distinct change has come over T’Pol. The scenes take place during a six-hour period set between “Rajiin” and “Impulse”. This is a sequel to my earlier story Changes.

T’Pol knelt in front of the candle attempting to reach the proper meditative state. It would be difficult, but she must assert her mental discipline in order to maintain control. Events of her life were conspiring to reduce, or even shatter, the control every Vulcan prided themselves on maintaining.

Rajiin’s assault had been more traumatic than she revealed to either Doctor Phlox or Captain Archer. Rajiin had forced her way into T’Pol’s mind by hyper-stimulating T’Pol’s pleasure centers causing T’Pol to struggle not just against the telepathic assault but also against her own reaction to the stimulation. T’Pol was, in essence, defending herself against two attackers–Rajiin and T’Pol’s own body.

In the end, Rajiin proved too strong for T’Pol to stop the attack. Rajiin ripped from T’Pol everything she knew about both Human and Vulcan physiology. T’Pol still could not understand why that was the only data Rajiin wanted. She could have taken T’Pol’s knowledge of Vulcan’s defensive capabilities or governmental structure, but Rajiin showed no interest in that information.

Achieving a meditative state over the past three days had been challenging. Just prior to entering her private space, she would relive the assault. It was ironic that she needed meditation to recover from the assault, but achieving the proper state caused her to relive the assault.

Before she could spend any more time on her… pointless endeavor... her chime rang. She heard Commander Tucker’s voice and looked at the chronometer. He was only a few minutes early.

He entered her quarters just as she stood up to welcome him.

The very tips her ears became slightly warm as she caught his gaze traveling the length of her form. She gently shook her head in an attempt to push away her body’s reaction. While she should admonish him for his behavior, it was simply not possible given her body’s reaction. She could feel the very tips of her nipples push out against the silk of her top.

She would need extra meditation this evening after their neuropressure session.

“I don’t think you should show up to the command center dressed like that,” Commander Tucker said with a chuckle.

T’Pol just glared at him and that only caused his chuckle to become more pronounced.

“If you will excuse me, I am going to change into my uniform,” she said and then turned to her locker. T’Pol stood back up and turned to face the room again after selecting her lavender jumpsuit and appropriate undergarments. She found Commander Tucker facing away from her for some reason.

“Why are you facing the wall Commander,” she asked.

T’Pol saw him run his hand through his hair and rub the back of his neck. “Ahh… I figured I’d give you some privacy.”

T’Pol tilted her head. She was unsure how to react. She had no intention of changing clothes in the main area and planned on going into the bathroom. For some reason though, he expected she would change right there, not two meters away from him. Logically there was no reason not to do so since he’d briefly glimpsed her topless before.

“I was planning on changing in the bathroom.”

When Commander Tucker turned around, his neck appeared slightly pink and his eyes drifted away from hers. “Okay,” came his simple reply.

In a short while she had changed and reentered the main area of her quarters.

“How’re you feeling?” Commander Tucker asked her.

T’Pol tilted her head. She was unsure the purpose behind his simple question.

“I mean, are you feeling okay, since… you know… the other night?” Apparently he picked up on her confusion and elaborated. He appeared nervous and would not simply come out and ask her directly.

T’Pol was unsure how to answer. She did not wish to reveal the truth but felt the Commander deserved better than a lie or a statement intended to mislead him. “I am… unsettled… Additional meditation will aid my recovery.”

“Oh… okay… I’m glad to hear that,” he stammered. T’Pol noticed him close his eyes again and rub the back of his neck. This was the third time she had seen him do that.

“Is something wrong Commander?”

Commander Tucker sighed and looked at her. “I’ve got one hell of a headache… It’s been killing me all day.”

“We could perform our session now and discuss the Trellium synthesis after supper… There is a posture meant to relieve pain that might prove effective.”

“NahI’llbefine…” T’Pol found his reply odd. He ran his words together and seemed to have trouble pronouncing them.

T’Pol considered his headache and mispronounced words for a few moments.

“So, you ready to go?” T’Pol must have been imagining things because this statement sounded perfectly normal.

“Of course,” she replied and they left her quarters.

As they walked toward the command center after exiting the turbo lift, T’Pol spent more time focused on Commander Tucker’s behavior than the specifics of their conversation. Twice now he had accidentally bumped into her and once he almost seemed to trip over his own feet. From time to time, a word here and there would come out slurred and she had to guess his meaning.

Just before turning a corner, he stopped and leaned up against a bulkhead.

“Is something wrong Commander?” She noticed his eyes were closed again.

“It’s just this damn headache. It’s so bad, sometimes the pain makes me dizzy.”

T’Pol felt her concern rise. She could not understand why he had not simply gone to see Phlox for pain relief.

Her concern only grew when she noticed his skin was very pale.

Commander Tucker opened his eyes and grinned a little. “I’m fine.”

“You do not appear fine… You should go to sickbay.”

Commander Tucker shrugged. “I’ll go layra”. T’Pol’s eyes narrowed. The last word was unintelligible.

“I said I’ll go later,” and he moved off to their right down the hall.

Commander Tucker had not gone a full meter before he listed to the left and then immediately fell down. T’Pol shot to his side and started to lift him up.

“I’m okay, I just lost my balance there for a moment.”

T’Pol helped him to his feet and they started to head toward sickbay together when he moved again and before she could react, they both landed on the floor.

Commander Tucker was pale and sweating. He said a couple things to her that were unintelligible through his groans. He was determined to stand up again.

T’Pol acted quickly. She had to get him to sickbay as soon as possible. She pushed all sense of propriety aside.

As Phlox heard the doors to his sickbay open, he turned to take in a sight that completely caught him off guard. T’Pol was carrying Commander Tucker in her arms. Commander Tucker’s resistance to this mode of transportation appeared almost totally verbal while his head leaned against her left shoulder. A number of slurred commands came from his mouth, none of which Phlox completely understood.

While T’Pol moved Commander Tucker toward one of the biobeds, Phlox heard him slur out more commands for her to put him down.

“Nonsense, Commander. You are unable to stand on your own. It was vital to get you to sickbay as soon as possible and this was the quickest method,” Phlox heard T’Pol chide Commander Tucker.

Phlox followed her as she gently placed Commander Tucker down. Immediately he squirmed before becoming still, groaned and closed his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Phlox asked.

Commander Tucker groaned again.

“He indicated he has vertigo. It started several minutes ago as we were walking to the command center. It is severe enough he cannot stand up on his own. He kept falling down and I was forced to carry him.” T’Pol relayed the Commander’s ailments to Phlox. “As you can tell his speech has become slurred… Earlier he was complaining of severe headaches.”

“Hmm,” Phlox replied started formulating the proper diagnostic response. “I need to get him in the imaging chamber. Please help me…”

When Phlox returned his attention to T’Pol, she had already moved Commander Tucker onto the platform.

Of course, Commander Tucker renewed his protest… At least until he turned over and threw up on the floor. That led to more groaning from the Commander. Fortunately for T’Pol, Commander Tucker turned to his right instead of his left and she avoided an unpleasant encounter with the Human digestive system. Her reaction indicated she could smell the results though. Phlox struggled back a cluck at her predicament. He did notice she moved only a minimal distance away from the Commander.

Phlox double-checked the imaging scanner results. It was, as he should have expected, post-concussive syndrome. He silently berated himself for not paying more attention to the Commander’s condition. Phlox had focused his attention more on T’Pol believing her injuries were far more severe due to her body’s reaction to the assault. Apparently Commander Tucker’s injuries were worse than he led the doctor to believe. It was typical of Commander Tucker. He would exaggerate the most minor injury to nearly fatal proportions but then try to hide or diminish more serious ones.

Phlox considered changing his approach to give Commander Tucker a full diagnostic each and every time he entered sickbay.

Another result appeared on the screen, which at first confused Phlox. He did not recognize the pattern, yet somehow it seemed familiar. He desperately searched his memory in an attempt to recall where he had seen this before. He tried to remember each and every Human patient he treated and their ailments searching for an answer.

“What is wrong with Commander Tucker?” T’Pol’s voice distracted him from his recollection.

Phlox shrugged. “He has post-concussive syndrome… It appears his injury is more severe than I recognized.”

Phlox felt T’Pol move to his side and stare intently at the screen.

“In addition,” Phlox pointed to the neuro-chemical report listed on the graphical output. “He has a chemical imbalance that I’ve seen before…”

Phlox caught T’Pol out of the corner of his eye and the realization struck him. He knew why it was familiar. He punched a few buttons and another graph appeared.

“That’s it…” Phlox whispered to himself.

“What is that doctor?” T’Pol asked.

Phlox frowned as he considered her question. He was not sure if he should say. He could not tell by the blank look on her face how she would react.

Phlox sighed and decided he could not lie to her. “The chart on the left is your neuro-chemical analysis when you were brought to sickbay two nights ago… The chart on the right is Commander Tucker’s right now.”

“I fail to see the correlation. The charts appear to have nothing in common.”

Phlox tilted his head back and forth trying to figure out if T’Pol was insulting his intelligence. Of course the graphs did not look the same! Vulcan and Human neuro-chemistry were different. “I understand that. However, this bar here,” he pointed to one on T’Pol’s chart, “and this bar here,” he pointed to one on Commander Tucker’s chart, “represent the equivalent neurotransmitter in a Vulcan and a Human… Both are abnormally high and I assume have the same root cause… It appears Rajiin assaulted Commander Tucker in the same way she assaulted you.”

Phlox noticed that T’Pol’s eyes narrowed.

Both were distracted from their thoughts as Commander Tucker groaned, “can I get out of here now? I think I’m going to be sick again.”

Phlox jumped and pushed the button to release Commander Tucker. He did not want to have to clean vomit from inside the chamber.

This time, both Phlox and T’Pol returned the Commander to a biobed. Phlox prepared a medication that would help with the Commander’s vertigo and allow him to rest so his brain could heal from the trauma.

Phlox noticed that while T’Pol did stay out of his way, she used the minimal possible distance to accomplish that feat. If he did not know better, he would say she was ‘hovering’ over the Commander. Phlox grinned and clucked to himself. He started to wonder if Vulcan females were even more possessive than Human males.

Just after Phlox administered the medication, he noticed T’Pol was pressed up against the opposite side of the biobed looking down on the Commander. As Phlox saw Commander Tucker’s eyelids start to close and his body relax, the Commander grinned and stared at T’Pol.

Then he said something that took Phlox totally by surprise. “You know, your hair looks pretty this way,” the Commander slurred out before his eyelids closed completely.

Phlox nearly burst out laughing between the statement and T’Pol’s reaction. The smile would not leave his face and he looked right at T’Pol and said he agreed. Then he leaned back down, ran his hand along the Commander’s arm and told him to rest. His body needed time to heel.

Phlox stood there as T’Pol again looked down on the Commander’s now sleeping form. “You said you believed Rajiin assaulted the Commander,” T’Pol turned her attention to Phlox.

Phlox frowned. “I believe so. The chemical imbalance implies he was subjected to particularly strong telepathic contact… I cannot think of any other explanation.”

“But what about…” T’Pol began to ask.

Phlox waived her off. He had expected her concern once he mentioned the telepathic contact. He shook his head. “I have been monitoring Commander Tucker since your neuropressure sessions began… I can assure you they are not causing any harm at all… You have nothing to worry about in that regard.”

T’Pol tilted her head. “But the Commander did not indicate she assaulted him. Why would he not tell anyone?”

Phlox sighed. He had no idea but he was about to go out on a limb. “It is possible he is unaware the assault took place. Commander Tucker, like other Humans, would have no defense mechanism against her intrusion… She could just enter his mind and take what she needed with no resistance… It is possible her goal was to gather this data unbeknownst to us and she simply changed his memory. A telepath of sufficient power would be able to accomplish that… It is unlikely the Xindi expected to come across someone with your abilities.”

Phlox took a deep breath and released it. “It is possible that, had she not assaulted you, she could have gathered her data and left without any of us knowing her true purpose.”

Both were looking down on Commander Tucker.

Phlox sighed. He was unsure how much of the Commander’s current situation was due to the concussion and how much was caused by the after affects of the assault. “I need to review my database in more detail. I need to develop a proper treatment regimen for the Commander.” He turned and left T’Pol standing at the Commander’s bedside.

As T’Pol looked down on a sleeping Commander Tucker, she felt foolish about her behavior this evening. She had actually picked up Commander Tucker, carried him to sick bay and remained as Doctor Phlox continued his diagnosis. Once Phlox determined the best course of action, he administered the medicine and a sedative to help Commander Tucker rest. Even though his injury caused slurred speech, T’Pol clearly understood Commander Tucker’s final statement before falling asleep. He told her, “Your hair looks pretty this way.”

His statement was completely incongruous to the situation. It had no context and he did not elaborate further. He just smiled at her as his eyes closed. She felt the area just below her neck and the very tips of her ears get warm.

T’Pol had not intentionally chosen a new hairstyle to make her appearance more pleasing to him. Her hair grew out during period when she was busy and could not make time to visit the ship’s barber. Crewman Johansson had suggested to T’Pol multiple times over the past year to allow her hair to grow out and then she would cut it in a “more Human” style. She promised T’Pol if she did not like the result, she would immediately cut it in T’Pol’s normal style and never bring the subject up again. When T’Pol did find the time, she chose to allow Crewman Johansson to cut her hair as she wished.

T’Pol did not find the resulting style distasteful and chose to keep it. She even chose Human hair care products suggested by the crewman. The changes caused by using Human hair care products were fascinating. Her hair lightened slightly, appearing more brown than black, and became softer. Crewman Johansson said that was most likely due to the hot oil treatment she applied each week. T’Pol learned a whole industry had been built around providing hair care products to Human females. It appeared to be a lucrative enterprise based on the wide variety of products available. Human females put far more effort into hair care than Vulcan females did and T’Pol could not believe the amount of effort deemed necessary for something of so little consequence.

That made her reaction to Commander Tucker’s compliment that much more frustrating. A part of her felt the effort she invested in her experiment had somehow now been rewarded. Her response was completely illogical.

She would need extra meditation this evening after she left Commander Tucker’s bedside.

Jon entered sickbay and immediately came to Doctor Phlox’s side. “How’s he, Phlox?”

Phlox straightened up and turned toward the interior of sickbay. “He has post-concussive syndrome… His head injury is more severe than I detected earlier.” Jon noticed Phlox pause a bit before continuing.

Phlox put his hand on Jon’s arm and leaned in a bit closer. “I also determined that Rajiin had assaulted Commander Tucker… Most likely just before T’Pol.” Jon noticed Phlox’s voice was quiet and solemn.

Jon frowned and he felt his chest tighten. He wondered if there were any others. “Is that making his condition worse?”

Phlox shook his head. “I simply do not know at this time.” Jon saw Phlox sigh. “I cannot tell if his condition is an after affect of a severe concussion or if the assault is exacerbating the symptoms. It is entirely possible his current state is a combination of the two factors… For the time being I’ve sedated him and he is resting behind the curtain… I’ll need to run some more tests. I may not know for sure until tomorrow morning.”

Jon scratched the back of his neck. He was really worried about Trip. Phlox’s report said he couldn’t stand up on his own and his speech was severely slurred. Archer took a deep breath. “Can I see him?”

Phlox shrugged and smiled. “Of course, Captain… He is sleeping but you do not have to worry about waking him up. The sedative I gave him is pretty strong… He will not be awake for hours.” Jon saw Phlox look about sickbay and a humming noise came from the Doctor’s throat. “I think T’Pol might still be with him… I do not remember seeing her leave.”

Jon’s eyes narrowed. He wondered why T’Pol was already here. He would’ve expected Phlox to let him know first and he came right away. He chuckled to himself and assumed she was with Trip when he got sick. It reminded him of his conversation at breakfast with Trip. Jon needled him about the way Phlox and Hoshi found the two of them. Phlox wouldn’t share any details, but Hoshi told him Trip was unconscious, on top of T’Pol, with his head cradled between her breasts.

Needless to say Trip was not amused and just grumbled he was trying to find a pulse when the room started spinning and then went black.

Later in the day, Trip turned him down for supper about an hour before T’Pol also rejected his invitation. Jon assumed they were still working on a way to synthesize Trellium and lately they would eat together either in the command center or in Trip’s office in engineering.

As Jon pushed back the curtain, he struggled to fight back the smile at T’Pol’s reaction. She had been looking at Trip and nearly… jumped when she heard the curtain move away. If Jon weren’t so worried about Trip, the situation would have been funny. He actually caught a Vulcan off guard.

“Captain,” T’Pol said and Jon thought she appeared slightly uncomfortable.

“I didn’t expect to see you here.” That’s an understatement. T’Pol didn’t respond to his obvious challenge. She’s probably coming up with an explanation.

“Commander Tucker fell asleep a few moments ago.” T’Pol didn’t disappoint him.

“Unh-hah,” Jon replied. Just before T’Pol’s eyes darted away from his stare, he got the impression she was doing the Vulcan equivalent of… squirming.

“He and I were discussing modifications to our Trellium synthesis process… I am unsure when it will be safe to make another attempt though.”

Jon decided to let up on her and change the subject. “How bad was he?” Jon watched as T’Pol returned her attention to Trip. The situation was surreal.

“When he first arrived at my door, he complained of a severe headache… Once he stopped walking and said the pain would make him dizzy from time to time… Shortly after, his speech began to slur and soon he could not stand on his own. He kept falling down.”

Jon felt his heart beat a bit faster. He was anxious about his friend.

“Doctor Phlox believes Rajiin assaulted Commander Tucker.” Jon noticed T’Pol seemed to be saying that to no one in particular. The statement did not appear directed to him in the least.

Jon took a deep breath as he looked down on Trip. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully. He smiled and decided he’d come back and see him later. Right now T’Pol’s behavior was bothering him and he hoped to figure out what’s going on with her. “I’m stopping by the mess hall for a snack before I head back to the bridge to check up on things… Want to join me?”

T’Pol looked up and seemed to consider his invitation. “Not at this time… Doctor Phlox wished to examine me again to ensure I am recovering properly. I believe that I will retire to my quarters once he is finished with the examination.”

Jon smiled and shrugged. “Okay… Good night, T’Pol.”

“Good night, Captain,” came her reply. Jon noticed she didn’t stand up to join the Doctor as he left the two of them.

Jon considered the scene he’d just witnessed while walking toward the mess hall. Over the past week he’d seen two things he’d never, in a million years, ever imagined. He’d seen Trip half naked in T’Pol’s quarters at six in the morning. At least T’Pol made a plausible explanation, which he was able to verify with Phlox. On the other hand, it didn’t sound like T’Pol even believed her own explanation as to why she was at Trip’s bedside just looking at him while he slept.

Phlox told him Trip’s speech was slurred and T’Pol said he wasn’t able to stand on his own. He couldn’t imagine Trip holding an intelligent conversation under those circumstances. Jon felt the more likely situation was the two had been spending a lot of time together lately and T’Pol simply had nothing better to do at the moment. He knew T’Pol would never admit it, but he’d pretty much come to the conclusion she liked spending time with Trip. Jon and his first officer stopped bumping heads some time ago and she’d seemed a lot easier to get along with these past few weeks.

Jon now convinced himself that even a Vulcan could get lonely and it was Trip’s burgeoning friendship with T’Pol that sanded off most of her rough edges. It made him happy that the two most important people around him seemed to bring out the best in each other.

T’Pol once again knelt in front of the candle attempting to reach the proper state of meditation. Her behavior this evening required deep introspection.

Something caused her to remain at Commander Tucker’s bedside even after the sedative took effect. She was still there when the Captain arrived and she created a logical explanation for her presence as if it had to be justified. She was not completely sure the justification was for the Captain’s benefit or her own though.

According to Doctor Phlox, Commander Tucker had been violated in the same way she had been. However, being Human, he had no defense against Rajiin’s assault and she simply changed his memory of the event. He had no memory the attack even took place. The only reason Doctor Phlox discovered his violation was through an in-depth brain scan for the diagnosis and treatment of Commander Tucker’s post-concussive syndrome. The doctor found the same residual affect on Commander Tucker that he had discovered earlier with her.

T’Pol wondered had she not resisted the assault would Rajiin have simply taken what she needed, changed T’Pol’s memories and left? Or would Commander Tucker have still interrupted Rajiin’s attack before it was complete?

It was a topic she should not dwell on, as it most likely would only cause her to relive the experience yet again and make it difficult to meditate.

She needed to achieve the proper meditative state for other reasons beyond recovering from Rajiin’s mental assault.

Recently T’Pol questioned her logic in remaining on Enterprise. With each passing week, her particular situation worsened. When T’Pol made her decision to remain aboard Enterprise, she believed it to be the right one. Now she was no longer certain that was the case.

She was entering the final stages of maturation and within two years would be able to mate and bear children. However, not only had she rejected her betrothal to Koss, but had also contracted Pa’naar Syndrome. She would be unable to hide her illness after returning to Vulcan. Once her illness was revealed, finding a Vulcan male willing to bond with her would be nearly impossible. On the other hand, any male willing to overlook the primary reasons she was an unfit mate would most likely disregard the resignation of her commission to remain aboard Enterprise. So she remained on board.

The logic in remaining aboard Enterprise now appeared deeply flawed. Her sense of smell would only get more acute as the hormones raged through her body. At a certain point, even the strongest nasal inhibitor available would be unable to fully suppress her sense of smell. Being aboard a ship full of Vulcan males would be difficult enough but a ship full of Human males–and a canine–would eventually become torture due to the awful stench.

Except for one–Commander Tucker. His scent elicited an entirely different reaction. The increased hormones being produced by her body intensified the response and she was still only in the very early stages. His was unique among the males she encountered and it had always challenged her control. As she progressed farther into the maturation process, her body’s response would only become more difficult to control.

Recently she had reduced her dosage and changed her reliance on the inhibitor so the medication had mostly worn off when they were together for their neuropressure sessions. She knew the logic behind this decision was poor but it was increasingly difficult to ignore her body’s demands.

After each of their sessions, her body gently throbbed with desire until she regained her control through meditation. She doubted he understood just how much scent and touch stimulated the baser parts of a Vulcan female. It was unlikely Commander Tucker understood just how intimate maintaining constant physical contact for an hour or more, three to four nights a week, actually was. In contrast, Human males appeared completely visually oriented. If he had any idea of how intimate their sessions were, it most likely due to the times she allowed him to view her clad only in her pajama bottoms.

She rationalized these brief glimpses as being too cumbersome to avoid.

It did not help at all that she had come to greatly respect him. While the High Command’s file utterly dismissed him as without merit, she found they had grossly misjudged the Commander. Although he did not have the theoretical background necessary for someone in his position aboard a Vulcan ship, he had an intuition about this ship and its operation that defied her understanding. She recalled a statement Captain Archer made about Commander Tucker–“Trip understands how things work better than anyone I’ve ever met”. She had to agree. Even without a decade of training on subspace mechanics and years of practical fluid dynamics work, he appeared able to correct any problem and fix any damage Enterprise sustained.

That made her situation all the more tenuous.

The changes she was going through were intended to drive the urge to mate. She was only in the early stages and estimated within two years’ time the urge would be beyond her ability to control. While it would not be like Pon’farr in which a male lost all self-control and ability to think rationally, her biological need to select a mate would become all encompassing. In fact, most Vulcan females had already started to form mating bonds by this time in their lives. It was rare for one to remain unbonded at her age.

Had Commander Tucker been Vulcan, there would be no need to repress these urges. Given her respect of him and her body’s primitive reaction to his scent and touch, he would make a suitable mate. She would simply yield to her primal need, build a mating bond together and await his Pon’farr.

But Commander Tucker was not Vulcan.

They could not forge a mating bond together. He would never go through Pon’farr.

Additionally, there was only one reason to select a mate–procreation. Producing a Vulcan/Human hybrid simply was not possible according to the Science Directorate. Vulcan and Human genetic material was in no way compatible and she could never bear him a child. Without the ability to produce children, there would be no reason to yield to her body’s desire for his scent and touch. It would be nothing more than indulging her primal urges for no logical reason.

While she respected Commander Tucker more than she ever thought possible and was physically attracted to him, a pairing with him would have no basis in logic. It would simply satisfy primal urges any good Vulcan should repress.

The End

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Have a comment to make about this story? Do so in the Trip Fan Fiction forum at the HoTBBS!

A whole mess of folks have made comments

I hope you add more a sequal this is just to good to be left hanging.

Eh? What do you mean "the end" !? What you really meant to say was "too be continued"... right? Please?

oops... I meant "to" be continued... stupid sticky keyboard.

"The End" here means the end of this particular story. However, almost all of my RU stories starting with "Touch of Gray" through the "New World Man" series form a common theme. "24 Hours" and "Back to the Future" are the only ones that don't fit.

I had three goals with this particular story. The first was to show that after reflection, Captain Archer's views are different from his initial reaction in "Changes". The second was to give a glimpse into T'Pol's thoughts about her and Trip prior to meeting Lorian.

The final goal was an attempt to explain T'Pol's hairstyle change in Season 3. I already attempted to explain her wardrobe changes in "Loss of 80 IQ Points" and "Deceptions".

Nice, Kevin. Thanks for making Archer a good guy in this one. He's actually behaving like an adult. Will TnT maybe console each other over Rajiin's violation of their minds, or are you sticking with canon and keeping them apart for now?

Great stuff! I agree, this totally needs a sequel! Well done, and I can't wait for more! :)

My goal for the pre-NWM stories is to not add anything that violates my view of canon. Since Trip seems genuinely stunned to find out T'Pol has feelings for him in "Harbinger" and T'Pol appears surprised at Sim's revelations in "Similitude", I have to be careful. In my mind, there's little room for consoling each other because Trip does not remember the assault and T'Pol refuses to admit how traumatic the experience is.

I'm considering making a trilogy with another story set just after "Impulse" in which Trip visits T'Pol while she's in sickbay. I've already alluded to these visits in other stories. One interesting thread would be Trip dealing with his guilt after he (correctly) assumes Rajiin's assault on him leads directly to her assault on T'Pol.

This was simply great! I really enjoyed this just as much as Changes. Both stories have so many details and add so much to the characters and the episodes without changing anything regarding what we saw in the series. And I liked Archer in this story much more, though your portrayal of him in Changes was also great. And slurry Trip and Phlox's 'exaggerate the most minor injury to nearly fatal proportions' were great. I'd really like to see your take on Trip visiting T'Pol after Impulse, it would flow nicely from this story, getting a more Trip centered one to contrast it too T'Pol.

I also like your idea of Trip being reponsible for T'Pol's assault. I think it'd made an interesting story line. Just for fun, I found it interesting that you viewed T'Pol's reaction as surprised in Similitude, I always viewed it as conflicted. But then again, she's not supposed to show much emotion :). But I like that take and it opens interesting possibilities.

Can't wait for more of your writing and thanks for this great fic!

Whohhh!! this is damned good, so clinical & descriptive, & yet, so believable as a STE ep, I really like this, dont even consider stopping here when this has all the hallmarks of an absolute CLASSIC fic......please do continue.

Excellent job, Kevin. I particularly like Phlox's thoughts on possessive Vulcan females and changing his procedures just for Trip. Like others have stated, I rather like this view of Archer instead of the inconsistent representation we saw on the screen; his thought that TnT are bringing out the best in each other was nice although I wonder if he'd still think that if he saw some of the stuff we as an audience see later. :D

Please continue these: they are some of my favorite stories and are always fun to read...

I had to reread Changes before reading this one. I enjoyed the characterization and scenario very much.

T'Pol has quite the dilemma there. I would imagine her sexual encounter with Trip during Harbinger resolves her primal need, though perhaps she perceives it as just lessening/postponing it since she does not realize the bond.

Excellent in many ways--the characterization, the writing. You add alot of depth to the existing episodes. Trip and T'Pol sure spend alot of time in sickbay, don't they?

Nice addition. I really liked the insight into Archer's thoughts. I hope a sequel is forthcoming soon.

Great story, Kevin. I really enjoyed reading your narrative thoughts from each character's POV. Well done. I don't think T'Pol would have regretted her decision to remain aboard Enterprise for professional reasons, simply because she was too important and had made an impact from day one since they left Earth in search of the Xindi. But I never thought how her decision to stay had affected her personally, and I think you're right, that she would have regretted staying for those reasons. Seeing how the decission would profoundly impact her personal life when, and if, they returned to Earth. It reinforces the idea that her decision to stay had nothing to do with personal choice, it was a matter of loyalty to the Captain and crew of Enterprise, oh, and a certain Engineer ;) I hope to read a sequel.

^^Sorry, typo, I meant to say in that first line that T'Pol would NOT have regretted her decision for Professional reasons.

You can't stop here !!!!!