Come Dance With Me

Come Dance With Me!

By Linda

Rating: G
Disclaimer: Paramount owns the characters but I own how they interact in this story.
Genre: When men are from earth and women are from Vulcan CHALLENGE, humor
Summary: Trip and T’Pol disagree on the human activity called dancing. They have an animated conversation on it sometime in what would be the 5th season of the Enterprise series.
AN: I know dancing has been a subject of other fics on this site, and I hope this view is not boringly repetitive. So let me know what you all think!

T’Pol raised her cup slowly and took a sip of the chamomile tea while maintaining steady eye contact with Trip. She knew how this unsettled him and drew his full attention.

“What?” Trip shifted his weight in his chair and leaned toward her a little. “Ok T’Pol, what have I done now?”

She lowered her cup with deliberation. “You asked me to dance. In public.”

“Dance? You mean last night right here in the mess hall when we pushed all the tables aside because Reynolds was playing his sax and everyone was starting to keep time with the music? Come on T’Pol, it was only a bit of spontaneous fun. And I didn’t keep pushing ya when you said no. So I sat with you and watched. I noticed you were not in a hurry ta leave. You were studying the dancing rather intently. Sort of enjoying yourself vicariously?” Trip’s boyish grin teased her and he raised his eyebrows in anticipation of her answer.

“I am a student of human behavior. I feel it is a logical pursuit since I am in possession of one human male.”

The hint of humor was not lost on Trip. “From lab rat to pet – I guess my status has gone up.”

T’Pol ran a delicate finger around the lip of her cup to keep herself from answering to fast and to feign a bit of Vulcan aloofness with which to tease Trip. “Certainly over time it has. Perhaps from 36.58% to 98.99% on the scale of evolution of sentient species.”

Trip was not fooled and played along, trying to project his version of Vulcan huffiness “Not one-hundred point zero, zero percent?”

T’Pol put on her best Soval imitating voice: “If I told you that you had reached 100%, there would be no incentive for you to continue to improve.”

Trip grinned. She was getting him back for all the Soval quips he had been treating her with since he and Soval had been thrown together in orbit around Vulcan while she and Jon were having their little adventure in The Forge. So he cleared his throat and launched into his own Soval imitation. “Is this how you intend to motivate our children, assuming we will have some? And will you be keeping them on the sidelines while their friends dance?”

T’Pol’s eyebrows knit together at their base. This really was not something to joke about. “Seriously Trip, dance involves touching in multiple places on the body. Dance in the recreational form indulged in by humans is foreplay. It would not be acceptable to Vulcans except in private and only between bonded mates. I believe there are recent Vulcan marriage manuals that now include a few forms of human dance in chapters like ‘exotic alien sexual practices adaptable for the Vulcan bedroom’.”

“T’Pol, our children would be half human. It would be wrong to deprive them of normal social activities. Humans don’t see dancing as equivalent to the sex act. Dancing is an acceptable public social activity.”

“Humans do not see dancing as a sex act? T’Pol thought she had him by the logic end of things now. “Well what about the human phrase ‘horizontal mambo’? I know the meaning of this phrase because Crewman Cutler used it and I asked her to explain it.”

T’Pol would have to come up with the one phrase that was the exception to the rule, but seemed to logically change the rule. Trip stumbled into a defensive answer. “There is a big difference between the horizontal mambo and the…a…vertical mambo, T’Pol.”

T’Pol’s voice held that tone of Vulcan final pronouncement. “Not enough of a difference to satisfy Vulcan propriety. If there is to be dancing in our family, it will be between us, not our children, and it will be done without witnesses.”

Trip sighed. He knew he was not going to win this argument on a logical level. By the time their children were old enough to be interested in dancing, perhaps T’Pol’s attitude, and even the attitude of Vulcan society in general, might have changed. The subject, for now, was closed. He had another thought. “T’Pol, where can we get hold of these modern Vulcan marriage manuals? I think we should check these out.”

fin

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A whole mess of folks have made comments

Sweet. Liked it a lot^^

Nice. Loved the bantering and really liked the fact that Trip realized that he had lost the argument ... for now. Interesting angle also - I'd never really thought about dancing as foreplay ... but then, I can't dance so that probably plays a factor.

That was nice...a change from all the angst I've been reading lately... very nice!

Cute, cute, cute. The "horizontal mambo", LOL!

Hee hee hee! Well done, that was hilarious! :)

Ahhh, liked that muchly. Enjoyed the interaction and tone. I also appreciate when you set the conversation. It's nice to see a TnT scene in an established relationship.

Just an FYI, fain should be feign.

lol. loved it! sounds just like them. love Trip's Soval impression too ;)

Fun and humorous I like Trip's Soval's i mitation nice to see a angst story thanks for a good laugh Linda.

oops What I meant was nice to see an angst free story for a change I like humorous stories and hope we see some more stories soon

All your comments are so encouraging! And I asked Bucky to be fain and fix it so T'Pol feigns and does not fain that bit of Vulcan aloofness, LOL.

So when do the dance lessons begin? I'd like to see Trip prove T'Pol's point by introducing her to slow dancing.

LOL, Jeff. That is chapter 2 and I think would have to be NC-17, not G rated. Now where did I put that Vulcan marriage manual I got from Ebay which had a chapter entitled "How to Gracefully Move From Vertical to Horizontal Dancing". It had a 2153 publication date (a misprint?). A box of 50 of the manuals was dumped on Ebay by someone named Daniels.

^ Along with a copy of "Vulcan Love Slave: The Enterprise Edition" by Phlox of Denobula Triax, right? I was outbid on that one...

And hey, someone light fingered my copy of Vulcan Love Slave: abridged and edited for humans, release 6, subtitled: How to Play Footsie With Vulcan Ambassadors During Disarmament Conferences and Get the Warm Gun Too. I have been watching to see if my copy appears on Ebay so I can sue somebody, and I will watch for The Enterprise Edition to reappear too.

Very cute...

This was great. :)

Loved the bit about the dancing being done without witnesses. :D

Good fic. I liked the interplay between Trip and T'Pol, and especially the way you had Trip realize his defeat without pouting about it. But honestly, Trip needs to pursue this. Dance can be foreplay, and even a metaphor for sex (see Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers movies). But it can also be just plain fun and a good aerobic exercise. Trip should pursue that angle. If Vulcans can play raquetball, which can be a metaphor for combat, they ought to be able to dance.

Haha! I loved this, a nice bit of fun and good look at a mature relationship between the two of them. Sometimes it's nice to jump into a scene like this without any background, no explanation for the particulars of *how* your particular version of them got together, only that they did! And bravo!

Nicely done and lots of fun. From lab rat to pet...

Well, this can't be the end, can it? Trip's not the one to give up so quickly. If logic doesn't work... and here comes your imagination. And a sequel. :-P

Thanks guys! Wow, you all pick up on different things that you like. Yes, I think I like Trip and T'Pol teasing each other in a mature way. They have been through so much and deserve a little relaxed companionship to work out all the cultural differences in. Great couple. Now, what will they choose as their first dance... Suggestions? You guys are all my partners in creativity here!

I will be off line until 06/27. Family is going to a campground where I will be a lifeguard at the swim pond. I will take a notebook to jot down story ideas. Take care all!

Personally, I see a deserted cabin tucked into the hills of Wyoming where someone's old OLD cd/dvd boombox has sat for 100+ years is playing like... "The Dance" =D, hey she wanted no witnesses =)

they never say what kind of music he likes but I'd tend to think it'd be somethin classic, somethin retro like some old Garth

I think it would be nice if Trip introduced T'Pol to different kinds of dancing.

To demonstrate how dancing can have such diverse emotional shades. Some 'satisfying Vulcan sense of propriety' and some, well... not.

From innocent, 'social' dancing like Vienna waltz, respectful and filled with grace to very sexually charged and emotional ones like tango, which is often described as 'two lovers having a heated argument'.
Now, why does it sound so familiar?... ;-)

What they said!! I loved the banter, the nonangsty, mature, enjoyable moment!

That was really cute, Linda! I enjoyed it. :)

Hmm...what music they'd dance to? I'd have to think on that one.

This scene was so vivid I could see it all, especially her running her finger around the rim of the cup before she started teasing him. I'd love to get her reaction to the Lambada ... that should rate a raising of the brow.