Two Weeks- pt 4

Two Weeks

By Pepper

Rating: PG, Romance, Angst
Disclaimer: It all belongs to Paramount
Summary: Trip and T’Pol share a moment inside each other’s heads.

Part Four

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Trip looked around, not recognizing his surroundings. There was something wrong. He couldn’t quite make out where he was standing…everything kept changing.

“HELLO!” he shouted.

He felt more than heard T’Pol respond. Nothing specific, just an acknowledgement that she was there…somewhere.

Suddenly, he was back in Engineering, everything and everyone looking just as they had before he and T’Pol had left to find the probe.

“I must be dreaming” he muttered to himself.

Walking over to a crewman, he was about to ask her something when she abruptly walked away. He tried again with someone else, with the same result. Everyone seemed determined to avoid him.

Hitting the com panel, he called the bridge. No reply came.

“What is going on here?!” he asked aloud.

No one noticed him. For no reason, he went in search of T’Pol, beginning at her quarters. As he neared her door, the corridor began to elongate. At first, he thought it was another gravitational anomaly, but it seemed more permanent. He backed away, and the corridor returned to normal. Again he stepped towards T’Pol’s door, and again the corridor stretched out before him, preventing him from getting any closer.

He called out for T’Pol. The corridor stood still. The entire ship went quiet.

He changed tactics. He thought about T’Pol. He thought about their last session together. He thought his last dream of Sim’s life. He thought about The Kiss. As he did this, he lunged for the door, and overrode the lock. As the door hissed open, for an instant he saw T’Pol standing on the other side…then his whole world swirled and changed, and she was gone. But he had learned something important. He didn’t know what it meant, but he knew it was important. This couldn’t be real, but it also couldn’t be a dream.

Because T’Pol had been crying.

Outside of Cargo Bay one, Captain Archer conferred with Lt. Reed.

“Sir, we’ve evacuated the cargo bay and everyone has been to Dr. Phlox for a checkup. No one appears to be affected by the radiation.” Lt. Reed said.

“Good. Any ideas where the radiation came from” asked Archer.

“Well, it seems to be concentrated along the scoring marks, which leads us to believe it is part of some alien weaponry.” Reed answered.

“When can you get back into the Cargo Bay” Archer asked him.

“Dr. Phlox assures me that he’ll have some form of protection for us within the next couple of hours. Until then, well have to continue our scans from the outside” Reed replied.

“Let me know as soon as you can re-enter the Cargo Bay” said Archer.

“Aye, sir”

Once again, Trip was in limbo…a shapeless void with light coming from somewhere. He still didn't quite know what to make of it, but he was beginning to get an idea. He thought of T’Pol again, of the sight of her standing in her quarters, with tears flowing down her face.

She never looked more beautiful, he thought.

The instant that thought crossed his mind there was an obvious shift in the world around him…as if it somehow was responding to his thoughts. He instantly knew it was her.

And in that instant, he was beside her. They were standing near the edge of a cliff, overlooking a dry landscape. Behind them was some sort of temple.

T’Pol, who was facing away from him, turned suddenly to look at him, and then everything vanished again.

I get it…she's avoiding me. That's just like her…I'm trapped in HER dream, and SHE'S the one avoiding ME!

He thought of her again, and nothing happened. He thought harder…still nothing.

"Playing hard to get…how very HUMAN of you!" he shouted.

This time, he thought of her in a specific instance. He thought of his last dream from Sim…of her kissing him. And with that, she appeared.

Of course, so did he. Or perhaps it was Sim…who could tell. But he was watching his dream, from a third person point of view, instead of experiencing it first hand. As "T’Pol" leaned in to kiss "Trip/Sim", he felt her nearer to him. He turned, and found her standing next to him, watching with him. She was still crying. As she turned to face him, their world began to melt away again.

"Oh no you don't," he told her, and immediately began to summon up his last real memory…of sitting in the rear of the shuttle pod, holding her hand.

And with that, they were back where they started, sitting side by side in the shuttle pod...or so it seemed to Trip.

"I do not think that we are actually here" T’Pol told him

"I know…I'm startin' to lose track of what's real and what's not" Trip replied.

“It would appear that we are sharing an unconscious state” she said.

“I thought I was dreamin’ at first…but then I saw you crying” he told her.

“I…I was not crying” she stammered.

“C’mon T’Pol. You can’t lie to me…I can feel you, just as much as you can feel me.” He replied.

“I was concerned about this when we first began, but I find it hard to believe that it has actually happened…it is not supposed to be possible with non-Vulcans-“

“Hey T’Pol, wanna clue me in here? What’s not possible” Trip asked.

“Among Vulcans, neuropressure is a very intimate act, not only for the physical contact, but also because as touch telepaths, Vulcans involved in neuropressure for an extended time develop…develop a telepathic bond” she said rather nervously.

For his part, Trip just stood there with a stunned expression on his face.

“I did not expect that this bond could happen between a Vulcan and a Human, which is why I agreed with Dr. Phlox to treat you in the first place. However it occurred, it seems that we are telepathically linked” she continued.

“Wait…you’re telling me that we’re gonna live inside each other’s heads from now on?”

“I do not believe so. When we were sitting here, I believe that we experience the completion of an empathic bond, not a telepathic bond. I have no idea what happened to us next, or how we ended up in this state”

“Now that you mention it, I don’t remember what happened after that either…” Trip trailed off as he stared at T’Pol.

“Commander?” T’Pol said.

“The shuttle pod…I woke up and remembered you kissing me…only it wasn’t me, it was Sim. But then, when we held hands…It was me you kissed, wasn’t it? It may have been Sim, but you were really kissing me.”

T’Pol did not answer, but instead turned her face away from him. Trip gently took her chin in his hand and turned her back towards him. Her eyes were just brimming over with tears.

“Don’t turn away, please” he said.

“Emotions are…we…Vulcans do NOT experience…”

Try as she may, she couldn’t finish a sentence. He could feel her struggle; the emotions that she was trained and indoctrinated to suppress were the very ones that she so desperately wanted to show him.

He cradled her face in both his hands, and the dam burst. She cried, and cried, and cried…time seemed to stand still, or perhaps it raced by. Trip took her in his arms and held her while she wept…crying for him, for her, for almost losing him, for the pain she knew he felt…she cried for every emotion that she had swallowed since the day she met him.

And he cried right along with her. For hours, or milliseconds, she cried away every emotion that she had within her, ones she had buried decades earlier.

In the end, one particular emotion rose to the top, like sweet cream from endless churning. For the first time in her life, she felt it…she allowed herself to feel it. It radiated from her like a supernova, and, looking up from his arms to stare into his eyes…his soul…she felt it returned back to her ten fold.

Her tears ended, and for the first time in her adult life, she smiled a genuine smile.

“I know…I love you too” Trip said in a whisper.

…and she began crying again.

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

“What have you got, Doctor?” asked Captain Archer, entering Sickbay.

“Ah, Captain, I was just about to call you. I’m afraid that you’re going to have to destroy that probe.” Phlox said.

“Why. What happened to that serum you were working on?”

“My scans of Sub-Commander T’Pol and Commander Tucker have revealed a correctable but disturbing fact. The radiation affects the brains neural pathways, saturating them. While I have developed a serum to cleanse my patients of the radiation, it appears that it is going to affect their memories…which is why no one should be allowed to go near that probe”

“Affect them how?” asked Archer.

“It would seem that the radiation forms a sort of film over the neurons. When a memory is laid down to be recorded, it’s laid down onto the neurons through this radioactive film. While removing it will be simple enough, I believe, it will also remove any memories laid down on top as well”

“How much of their memory will be lost?”

“Everything that happened after being exposed to the radiation.” Phlox replied.

“In other words, they won’t be able to tell us what happened to them.”

“Correct, Captain.”

“What about their current state?” Archer asked.

“I’m really not sure. I can tell you that it does have something to do with the radiation. I was going to try out the serum now, and see how they react”

“OK, Doctor. Go ahead.”

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

Trip was holding T’Pol again, her tears having subsided. He was simply enjoying the feeling of holding her, even though it was quite possible that neither of them were real. And he knew from their bond that she was enjoying being held.

He tilted her head up, and gently pressed his lips to hers. He had waited so long to do that, longer than he admitted to himself. He could feel her responding, both through her lips, and through her emotions.

“I love you, T’Pol”. He said it without fear or hesitation. For the first time in his life, he felt as if his soul were whole again, without having known that a piece was missing.

He could feel her love back for him. He felt hers as much as he felt his own. But still, he wanted to hear the words.

“I –“

And suddenly she was gone…and then everything was gone.

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

Her eyes fluttered open to see the ever smiling face of Phlox.

“Welcome back, Subcommander” Phlox beamed.

“What has happened” T’Pol asked, sitting up.

“We were hoping you could tell us, although Phlox seems to doubt it” Captain Archer said, standing at the foot of the bed.

“The last thing I remember is…taking the probe into tow on board the shuttle pod…Commander Tucker-“

“He’s just fine. He should be waking momentarily” replied Dr. Phlox.

A familiar fear shot through her…the kiss.

Does he know?

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

His eyes fluttered open to see…the ceiling of Sickbay.

Huh?

Then he heard her voice. And his heart jumped. Images swirled in his brain, but each one floated just out of his reach, until a moment later, they had all melted away.

He turned his head to find the owner of the voice. She was talking to the Captain and Dr. Phlox about their mission.

As he sat up, the fluttery feeling in his stomach dissipated as well.

Must be hungry…

“Ah, Commander Tucker…how are you feeling?” asked Phlox

“Fine Doc…someone wanna tell me what’s going on”

The Captain and the Doctor repeated their recent conversation, and Trip could add nothing new to T’Pol’s recollection.

The Captain filled them in on the situation with the probe.

“Once you’re back on your feet, I want the both of you to come up with some alternative ways to get at that information” he told them.

“Aye, sir” Trip replied, as Archer left.

T’Pol sat on the bed, facing Trip, sitting on his bed facing her, as the Doctor peppered them with questions.

“By the way, Commander, you were due to integrate the last of Sim’s memories on your mission. How are you handling that” he asked.

“It’s funny Doc, I don’t remember that last dream. I know I was supposed to remember a lot about his last day…about dying and all, but I got nuthin’” Trip replied.

He doesn’t know.

But inside, where she expected relief, she found only…sadness…loss…pain. As if something important were missing.

“I was afraid of that, Commander. I’m sad to say that the last memories of Sim have fallen victim to the radiation as well. It’s really too bad” Phlox said. “The memories of those dreams would have become permanent if not for the radiation. It also appears that it was the cause, however bizarre, of your brainwave synchronization…which you’ll be happy to hear has ceased.”

“Thanks Doc” Trip said.

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

After numerous further tests, the Doctor finally discharged them to their quarters. Trip stopped just outside of Sickbay.

“T’Pol, you all right?” Trip asked her.

“Of course, Commander…why do you ask?”

“I don’t know. It just kinda felt like you were feelin’ down about something” he replied.

“I do not feel anything, Commander…except a rather unusual desire for …pecan pie.”

“Now you’re talkin’…I was just craving that myself…After you” Trip said as he gestured down the hallway. “I didn’t even know you’d tried it”

I haven’t…

THE END

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Author’s Note: Thanks to everyone who kept up with this. This is the final chapter of this story…although a sequel isn’t out of the question

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Nine of you have made comments

Sequal! Sequal! Sequal! I vote for more.... This was a great story and I really enjoyed it! Your a good writer. I hope to see more from you in the future! ;)

Trip lost the memories of the last day? The most important ones! I vote for a sequel too. He really needs those memories back, or he and T'Pol have to somehow get back to where they were. Stupid radiation, interfering and ruining things. Nice job!

This was really good and I could well sympathise with Trip and T'Pol, especially poor T'Pol realising that Trip *didn't know* because the radiation melted away his last memory. I do hope you write a sequel and somehow find a way for the two of them to get back to the one place they need to be. With each other. Thanks for a great story, Ali D :~)

Great story. But, they don't know...

That sucks, but, the bond is still there. :D THAT'S GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great chapter, love the way it ties in with Harbinger. You should totally set the sequal after Harbinger to maintain the canon.

Great job! The characters were exactly right. I hope there's a sequal(or more stories)coming!?

Great job! The characters were exactly right. I hope there's a sequal(or more stories)coming!?

I am working on a sequel..."two more weeks". Trying to decide if I should kill off one or the other after they declare their love...

...just kidding!

Sequel??