Yes, It's Real

Yes, It’s Real

By pennyq

RATING: PG
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing associated with Enterprise. Paramount owns all, and I make no money from this.
GENRE: Angst, Romance
ARCHIVE: Sure
E-MAIL: pennyq99@yahoo.com
SPOILERS: Pretty much everything I know about “Bound.” I don’t imagine this is how it’s really going to go.
DATE: March 23, 2005

Author’s Note: This is a sequel to Is This… Real? I hadn’t planned on writing one, but your comments talked me into it. It takes place the next day.

****************************************************************

T’Pol knew she had to talk to him, but Commander Tucker had been working in Engineering all day, and a convenient opportunity for conversation had not presented itself. She had even gone so far as to suggest that he take a break for dinner, but he had brushed her off, saying he was in the middle of an important repair. But he was scheduled to return to the Columbia in less than a week, and now T’Pol knew that she couldn’t let that happen. She had to speak with him today.

By the time T’Pol was finished with her own work for the day, it was 2100, and she made her way down to Engineering. When she entered she saw Trip holding a scanner, obviously running a diagnostic on a piece of equipment. She walked over to him and silently waited for him to finish.

Without looking up, Trip inquired, “Something I can do for you, Commander?” His tone suggested he didn’t want to be bothered by her unless it was something vitally important. So T’Pol decided that an indirect approach might be best.

“I could use your expertise. I’m having trouble with some repairs. I was wondering if you could spare a few minutes to assist me in the Command Center.”

Trip looked up at her from his scanner. “What’s the problem?”

T’Pol answered, “It would be much quicker to show you in the Command Center.”

“All right. I’ll just finish up this diagnostic, and I’ll meet you there in five minutes.” He was relieved. It was just about work. Half under his breath, he muttered, “How in the world is this ship going to survive without me?”

“How indeed. Thank you, Commander.” She turned and left Engineering.

Five minutes later, the door to the Command Center opened and Trip walked in saying, “OK, what seems to be the problem?”

The time for indirectness was over. Once the door closed, T’Pol looked Trip straight in the eye and said, “We need to discuss our relationship.”

Trip was a little miffed. “There’s no repair?” T’Pol just gave him a look that confirmed his suspicion. “You lied to get me up here? You could have just asked.”

T’Pol spoke in a level voice, “I asked you before, and you brushed me off. I didn’t lie; I misled you.”

Trip’s eyes widened briefly in surprise, and he stood there silently, frowning. T’Pol asked softly, “Is something wrong, Commander?”

Trip waved it off, “Nah, just a little déjà vu.”

T’Pol said firmly, “It’s not déjà vu.”

“Now how would you know that?” Trip asked in a rather irritated voice.

“Because the conversation we had last night was real.”

“Pardon?”

“You told me that I was the reason you left and that Dr. Phlox told you to ‘drop it’ when you expressed concern for my safety when I tested the telepresence unit.”

Trip’s eyes were now as wide as saucers. Finally he wondered aloud, “How do you know all that?”

T’Pol replied calmly, but with a slight edge in her voice, “I told you; our conversation last night was real.”

“How is that possible?”

“Vulcans are telepathic. Apparently, we unintentionally formed a telepathic link.”

Astonished, Trip asked, “How would we have done that?”

T’Pol responded truthfully, “I don’t know.”

A minute of silence passed between them before Trip finally spoke up. “Well, what do we do about this?”

T’Pol thought about it for a few moments and ventured, “We have to learn to control it.”

Finally deciding that this wasn’t going to be a short conversation, Trip sat down in the nearest chair, and T’Pol followed suit. Trip asked the obvious question: “OK. How do we do that?”

T’Pol began slowly, “It will take some time. I’ll have to teach you proper meditation techniques. Telepathy isn’t something that has been talked about openly on Vulcan for some time. I’ll have to look into it further.”

“I don’t have a lot of time. I’m going back to the Columbia in less than a week.”

In a firm voice, T’Pol stated, “I think it would be best if you transferred back to Enterprise.”

“T’Pol, I can’t just change my mind like that after I requested the transfer to Columbia! Why can’t we just figure out how to break this… link?”

“It can not be broken.”

“How do you know that if you don’t even know how we got this way in the first place?”

T’Pol was abrupt, “It’s a mating bond, Trip.”

A moment of silence passed before Trip said, “I’m sorry?”

T’Pol looked extremely uncomfortable as she started to explain, “It’s a bond that is formed between mates over time. I don’t know how it is formed, but I do know that it can’t be broken until one mate dies. There’s nothing else this could be.”

T’Pol looked up at Trip, and about a year of silence passed between them. Had a pin dropped in the hallway outside of the Command Center, both of them would have heard it. Finally, Trip spoke up, “So you want me to stay on Enterprise because we’re stuck together?”

“That seems to be the only logical course of action.”

“Great.” There was no cheer in Trip’s voice. “Look, I just need some time to sort this out.” He stood up to leave, but stopped to say, “Do me a favor and try to stay out of my head while I do?” And with that, he walked out, and the doors swished closed behind him.

**************************************************************

The next day, the three Orion females came aboard, and their presence was starting to cause serious problems among the crew. Male crew members were having a hard time focusing on their work. It got so bad that the quartermaster was asked to provide more substantial clothing for the women so that they might be less of a distraction. Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to help.

By the second day, Engineering was a mess. There was still a lot of work that needed to get done, and now they needed to be ready for a mining operation. Trip was working practically around the clock, and he was starting to feel like he was the only man onboard who didn’t find the Orions that attractive. Sure, they were pretty and they had nice bodies, but he wouldn’t call them irresistible.

When Trip climbed to the top of one of the ladders leading to the upper level of Engineering, he caught a huge eyeful of Commander Kelby making out with one of the Orion females. As Trip stepped off of the ladder, he exclaimed, “You have got to be kidding me.”

Commander Kelby took a step back from the woman and turned his head to look at Trip, but he didn’t look like he felt the least bit guilty for his actions. At this point, Trip’s tolerance for the other engineer snapped. “You’re supposed to be the Chief Engineer! What the HELL do you think you’re doing? I’ve been busting my ass trying to make sure this ship stays up and running and you’ve been up here… doing this?”

At this point the Orion female decided that Trip was more attractive than Kelby and walked over to him. She reached out her hand and ran it down the side of his head starting in his hair and continuing down his face and neck until she rested her hand on his chest. Trip stared in disbelief and tried to take a step back to get out of her reach when Kelby launched himself at Trip, pushing him into a bulkhead, yelling “SHE’S MINE!”

Trip had no desire to fight Kelby for a woman he didn’t even want, but he did want to preserve his own life, so he fought back. In the end, after sustaining a few cuts and bruises himself, he threw a punch that knocked Kelby out. Trying to figure out what the hell just happened, Trip punched the nearest comm button: “Tucker to sickbay.”

“Phlox here. Go ahead Commander.”

“I just knocked out Commander Kelby. I’d love to know why he just attacked me.”

Phlox responded, “Someone will be right down.”

Trip turned to find just about everyone in Engineering staring at him, so he announced, “Nothing to see here. Everyone’s got work to do, right?” He noticed a smile from Lt. Hess just before she turned back to do whatever she was doing. At least someone was amused. Trip, however, was not, as he had to keep swatting away the Orion female who insisted on touching him at every opportunity.

************************************************************

About half an hour later in sickbay, Phlox was patching up Trip’s various cuts. Kelby was going to be fine, although he might have a headache for a while. As Phlox applied antiseptic to a cut on Trip’s forehead, Trip asked, “Hey Doc, can you give me something for the headaches I’ve been having lately?”

“You don’t normally get headaches, Commander.”

“I know, but I’ve been getting them on and off for a few weeks now. Ever since I transferred to the Columbia.”

“Hmm. Probably stress related, but let me take a few scans.”

Phlox got out his hand scanner and ran it over Commander Tucker. He pondered them for a few moments before saying, “Fascinating. I’d like to get a full scan of you in the imaging chamber. Would you mind?”

“Over a few headaches?”

“Humor me Mister Tucker.”

“All right.” Trip walked over to the imaging chamber and hopped up on the table before Phlox pushed the button that slid him into the contraption.

It only took a couple of minutes, and when Trip came out, Phlox was looking over his scans, completely engrossed in them. Phlox mused to himself, “This is absolutely fascinating!”

Well, at least he’s not acting like I’m dying, Trip thought. To Phlox, he said, “You mind telling me what’s so interesting?”

“Certainly. Certainly.” He pulled up a scan on the computer. “Here’s a scan of your brain from several weeks ago after you recovered from that virus.” He then pulled up another picture to display next to the first. “And here is today’s scan. Notice this region right here.” Phlox circled a lit up region with his finger.

“Yeah?”

“You don’t normally see that region lit up like that. You’ve been exercising a region of your brain that you’re not used to using. It could explain the headaches.” Trip’s eyes widened. “Commander, do you have a guess as to what’s causing this?”

Trip answered wryly, “A pretty good one.”

“Would you mind enlightening me then?”

Trip looked up at the doctor and then back down to the floor, trying to decide if he should tell Phlox. In the end, the knowledge of doctor-patient confidentiality won out, and he said carefully, “T’Pol and I seem to have accidentally formed this telepathic bond thing.”

“Ah. That would explain a lot. Then you’ll have to either learn to control it or break it, or I suspect the headaches will continue. Unfortunately, I don’t have all that much knowledge of Vulcan telepathy. The Vulcan High Command was never very forthcoming about that. Although I imagine that will change now.”

Trip said to the doctor, “It can’t be broken.”

Phlox replied, “Well then, I only see one option.”

Trip looked slightly defeated. “I figured you’d say that.”

*********************************************************************

The next evening, the Orion females were finally off the ship, and things were calming down. Trip figured that now was as good a time as any. He stood outside the Captain’s quarters and pressed the chime.

“Come in!”

When Trip walked in, Archer was throwing a ball for Porthos, who was pouncing on it and bringing it back. When Trip came in, Porthos stopped and came over to sniff Trip, who squatted down and scratched him behind the ears. “Captain, ya got a minute?”

“Sure, have a seat.” Trip pulled over a chair while the Captain stood up to retrieve a bottle of bourbon and two glasses. He poured a drink for each of them and sat down. Trip took the drink, but instead of drinking it, fidgeted with the glass. Archer piped up, “Trip, what is it? You’re starting to worry me.”

Trip looked up and said, “Captain, I need to transfer back to Enterprise.”

Archer nearly spit out his drink. “I’d love to have you back, Trip, but I think Captain Hernandez might have a problem with that.” Archer looked at Trip’s face and saw a mixture of embarrassment and determination and said, “Can I ask why? Actually, could you start with why you left in the first place? If I’m going to have to talk Erika into this, you owe me at least that.”

Trip visibly relaxed. At least he had Captain Archer on his side. “It’s kind of embarrassing, Captain.” Archer indicated that he should go on. Trip sighed and continued, “I left because my feelings for T’Pol were interfering with my work.”

“I had a feeling she might have something to do with it. Go on.”

“I need to come back because T’Pol and I seem to have accidentally formed this telepathic bond that we need to learn to control.”

Archer took a sip of his drink and declared, “Well, now I’ve heard everything. Are you serious?” Trip nodded. “How did this happen?”

Trip answered, “We don’t know, but it can’t be broken unless one of us dies, and apparently I’m going to get headaches until we learn to control it.” Trip sounded a little bitter.

Archer chuckled. “Well, I’m guessing the two of you have some issues to work out.” He looked Trip directly in the eye, serious now, and said, “I’ll talk to Erika.”

“Thanks Captain.”

******************************************************************

Trip spent another hour with the Captain and left to go to his quarters. He got ready for bed, turned out the lights and got under the covers. A few minutes later, he was back in T’Pol’s meditation space. T’Pol noticed him, and quickly said, “I’m sorry, I’ll go.”

Trip said quickly, “T’Pol, wait.” T’Pol stopped and looked at him expectantly.

Trip swallowed and said, “It’s OK, You should stay and meditate. I’ll go. I think I finally figured out how to do it.”

“You’re welcome to stay if you like.”

“No. Thanks, but I should let you meditate.” And with that, Trip’s image blinked out.

******************************************************************

The next morning, Trip was on his way to the turbolift to go to the mess hall when he ran into T’Pol. They both stopped.

“I was coming to your quarters to find you.”

“Yeah?”

She went on, “I was wondering if you had made a decision yet. You’re supposed to report back to the Columbia in two days.”

“I didn’t have much of a choice, did I? I talked to Captain Archer last night. I kinda had to tell him about the bond. He’s going to talk to Captain Hernandez.”

T’Pol replied, “I’m sure she won’t be happy to lose you, but it is the only logical solution.”

Trip responded quietly with some exasperation, “Damn it, T’Pol. Is logic the only reason you want me to come back? This bond we have? Can’t you just miss me? I left here because I love you!”

He hadn’t meant to say it, but there it was, out in the open. A beat passed, and T’Pol took a step toward him, reached her hands up around his neck, and kissed him. Instinctively, Trip closed his eyes and kissed her back, bringing his hands up to her waist. After a few seconds, the kiss ended, but their hands stayed where they were. Trip looked into T’Pol’s eyes and realized that he didn’t need to hear the words from her. She wanted him, and logic had nothing to do with it.

Trip leaned down and kissed her again, this time pulling her body as close to his as he possibly could. She responded by stretching up on her toes and pulling his head down to meet hers. Air did not seem as important as getting just a little bit closer. Finally, after a minute or two, they parted, breathless.

Trip was the first to regain his senses and say, “We’re in the hallway.”

T’Pol answered, “Your quarters are right down the hall.”

They quickly made their way down the hall to Trip’s quarters and shut the door behind them.

END

A/N: If anyone wants to write the next scene, you’re more than welcome to. I’m done. Send me an e-mail. I don’t write NC-17.

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A whole mess of folks have made comments

Awwww..... he came back! That was sweet. Thanks for writing this. Really appreciate it.

Nice follow up, and thanks for posting it so quickly. Much appreciated :-)

wonderful...

HEy... I wanted to present another fic challenge for you and some of the others that are really good....

for 'Demons' and 'Terrra Prime' and the whole Trip/Tupol tvguide pic etc story line.....

excellent, I would absolutly love it if we got something this good on the show

I nominate stubs to finish this story the NC-17 way! LOL

Just kidding!!!!!

Great story!!!

Crap, now stubs probably gonna hunt me down and kick my @$$! LOL

Good follow up. If you don't want to do the NC-17 stuff just skip it we all understand. Continue with the story its really good.

I really enjoyed this and am glad they got together. Looking foward to what you come up with for the next part. Ali D :~)

Darn straight, I want the next scene! Someone better write it, 'cause I don't think I could do it justice! Great story! :)

Great story, if you don't want to write NC-17, just skip it, but you must continue with this story!!!

Awesome! =D =D Is there more? ;)

Wonderful! I'm so glad that you made a sequel!

I want another chapter or two or three!! ;-) NC17 is always appreciated, but R is just almost as good!!! LOL.

I have this mental image of Trip swatting away the Orian female . . . great story! And I'd love a sequel, any way you care to write it.

great addition to the story! I don't know how I missed it! lol thanks!

YAY! He came back! I so wish this is how it really went but the actual thing went pretty well as well

YAY! He came back! I so wish this really happened but the actual ep was pretty good.