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Consequences-Part 11Consequences By Samantha Quinn Rating: Right now: PG-13. Will be R later, Romance ********************* Part 11 *I’ve never noticed how uncomfortable these beds are,* Trip reflected to himself in disgust as he again rolled over onto his back in his bed. Exhaustion had long since came to the engineer, but sleep refused to. *Damn it, the engines are repaired, and the ship is on its way to meet the Vulcans and Andorians. I should be able to fall asleep easily.* Three days had passed since Archer had shared the nature of T’Pol’s illness. In that time, Trip had discovered one of the constants in the universe: the more depressed he was, the more he needed and wanted his work to keep him busy. As a result, the repairs had been completed a full day ahead of schedule. *Constants, hell. Now I’m thinking in experimental terms. Wouldn’t T’Pol be proud? And she said science wasn’t my area of expertise.* Trip snorted to himself as he rolled over onto his stomach. *Course, I can’t actually risk seeking her out to tell her.* Gripping the edge of his pillow between his middle finger and his thumb, Trip allowed a sigh of resignation to escape his mouth. Three days. Three very long days. Regardless of Archer’s orders, Trip had spent that time in engineering. He had sent Lt. Hess up to the bridge in his absence. Trip’s excuse had been that he couldn’t leave his engines in a moment of crisis. Hess had given him a funny look, but said nothing more than “Aye, Sir.” Archer hadn’t bought it, Trip was certain, but the Captain hadn’t pressed the matter. Trip wondered just how much longer he could keep up the balancing game before the Captain forced the issue. *Well, that’s not bad. My second in command thinks I’ve lost my mind and I have completely disobeyed my Captain’s direct orders.* Yet, neither one of those concerns were what was keeping Trip awake. The cause of his insomnia was a much more indirect action of his. The sight of T’Pol passing out replayed over and over in his mind. Without the benefit of the distraction caused by his work, he was unable to force the image out of his mind. *And it’s my doing too.* The thought turned Trip’s stomach. That didn’t help, of course. The feeling of stomach upset only made him think of food. Which made him think of pecan pie. Which made him think of T’Pol passing out. Squeezing his eyes tightly shut, Trip tried desperately to forget the incident with pecan pie. Finding that squeezing his eyes shut didn’t work, he tried in vain to help the process by burying his head in his pillow and shaking it furiously. *You just had to pressure her into eating the pie, didn’t you?* he questioned himself angrily. *It was completely uncalled for. If she had wanted any of it, she would have gotten some herself.* *But no, you had to badger her into tasting it, didn’t you?* *Then again, that pretty much sums up your relationship with T’Pol since she came on the ship, doesn’t it? Always pushing her to be more in touch with her emotions. Always trying to push her buttons. Always trying to get a more expressive reaction. * *Couldn’t just let her be T’Pol the Vulcan could you? Nope. Never mind that she doesn’t try to make you more Vulcan every day. But, oh, she has to be more human. Definitely.* *Well, Charles Tucker III, you’ve finally gotten a pretty emotional response. Proud of yourself, now? * With a disgusted grunt, Trip threw his blankets off and determined that this line of reasoning was not getting him any closer to sleep. He paused only a moment before deciding to head to sickbay. *Maybe Phlox has something that can help me get some sleep. I’ll just have to convince him that I’m too wound up from working nearly four days straight.* *That’s not too far from the truth. . . * Trip rationalized as he left his quarters.
Sleep had long since came to T’Pol. To her dismay, so had her dream. “Trip. My friends call me Trip.” He extended his hand, and T’Pol grasped only his first two fingers in her own. **** “What about your sex life?” There was no Archer at the table. Only T’Pol and Trip. “If it concerns you so, Charles, perhaps you should attend to my needs in person.” *** “Just because a guy’s in his underwear, you assume the worst.” He remained in his underwear and T’Pol reached forward to tug at the offending article of clothing. “What about the others, T’Pol?” teased her engineer. “They can wait, Charles.” Off came his said underwear. **** The scene changed again to their first experience in the decon chamber. His hands slid gloriously over her ears eliciting sighs of desire and lust. “Please do not stop, Charles.” His hands became more insistent as they fell to the floor of the chamber, differences-and their Captain- forgotten. **** “Wonder what the Vulcans’ll say ‘bout humans and Vulcans swappin’ chromosomes?” In her dream, it was Trip that murmured the words as they walked back to the quarters. **** “I was a perfect gentleman!” Trip informed T’Pol. “That would depend on your definition of gentleman,” T’Pol replied icily. *** “Again, you could not control yourself,” T’Pol scolded Trip after he returned from the planet with Kaitaama. “Again, it’s none of your business, T’Pol. I’m obviously not interested in you,” Trip replied. *** T’Pol watched in quiet satisfaction as Trip and Captain Archer exited the landing bay. They were fine. Trip was fine. Her eyes were locked on him, yet he refused to look at her. In desperation, she called out to him, “Beloved, I have missed your presence.” But he continued to walk away. *** Phlox’s voice came over the intercom. “There’s nothing I can do, Captain. Lieutenant Reed will be fine, but I’m afraid Commander Tucker will not. The cold was too much for him.” Pain seared T’Pol’s chest. “What do you mean?” she demanded of the Denobulan. “He’s dead, T’Pol,” the doctor replied. “I guess you really will have to return to Vulcan for your mating cycle this time.” **** T’Pol jerked awake, sweat drenching her night clothes. *A dream. Only a dream,* she soothed herself. It did not help to calm the rabid heart beat. When she tried to sit up, her vision blurred and the headache increased dramatically. *It does little good to control myself during the day when not even meditation can stop these dreams,* she remarked to herself. At least, T’Pol remarked to herself, the last part of the dream would never come true. T’Pol was certain she would not live to see her next mating cycle. Relief flooded through her body with that thought and she fell back into sleep. ********************************************************************** Light years away, the Vulcan ship T’Lar traveled at warp 6.5 under the command of Captain Skon. Sumarek, T’Pau, and V’Lar made up the skeleton crew of the ship as they raced to meet with Soval’s ship. Sumarek turned from his position at the helm and noted to Skon, “We will be arriving at the rendezvous point in two point three days, Captain. Exactly one point two days after Vanik and Soval arrive.” Skon only nodded. “You and Ambassador V’Lar are certain you do not wish to send word to Captain Vanik to alter speed?” he asked. V’Lar answered. “No. If Soval is late, the Andorians will take offense. This will end peace talks and possibly alter our tenuous cease fire into a full scale war.” Sumarek suppressed the urge to lift the corners of his mouth. “I wish to thank you for volunteering for the mission, Captain Skon,” he told the older Vulcan. “I know you have retired from interstellar travel.” Skon nodded. “Yes, I have. I desire to be planet side when my mate and I begin to add children to our familial unit. However, that has not yet happened. Thus, I am willing to assist you, Constable.” He paused and nodded to the female Vulcans, “And you as well, Ambassador, Lady T’Pau.” Turning back towards the helm, Sumarek allowed himself to experience a small feeling of gratitude towards V’Lar’s connections. When he had informed her of the situation, she immediately called upon her old friend, Skon to captain the ship. As a former Admiral in the Vulcan space fleet, Skon wielded tremendous unofficial influence in Vulcan society. Although no longer an active member of the governmental process, if Skon along with T’Pau were involved in the needed removal of Soval, it would leave no room for question once Soval was brought back to Vulcan. As for T’Pau, she had co-incidentally been visiting with Skon and his mate when V’Lar had contacted the retired Captain. Thus, Sumarek’s original mission consisting of only himself and V’Lar had grown to four. *It shall benefit all of Vulcan if we our presence is not necessary.* Sumarek noted to himself. “Have you given any thought to what you are going to tell the Andorians when they question the presence of two Vulcan ships?” asked Skon idly. There was a slight pause. “We can only tell them that Vanik’s ship requested medical back-up for one of their personnel and hope that is enough,” replied V’Lar. “The Andorians tend to be. . . distrusting and skeptical of our people,” Skon acknowledged. “It is doubtful that they will believe our intentions to be as . . . wholesome as we will maintain.” “Regardless of the Andorians’ penchant for violence, we cannot very well tell them what we suspect of Soval. We do not speak of it among outworlders,” T’Pau reminded them. Although she was younger than all of the others with the exception of Sumarek, T’Pau still maintained an air of importance that came with her position. Both T’Pau and Skon had valid points, Sumarek and V’Lar knew. And all four of them felt a decidedly un-Vulcan feeling of dread at the problem of reconciling the separate problems each Vulcan had brought to attention. ********************** A/N: Okay, so in the next part, the Enterprise crew is REALLY going to meet the Andorians. And Soval returns (he’s been meditating, you know.) A/N, II: I have proofread-twice-and I hope there are no glaring mistakes. But really, I’m working a master’s thesis here, so at a certain point I must stop and post what I have-errors and all. **Aching for June to be here already.** PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE R/R. And to all of you that have thus far, I thank thee. Have a comment to make about this story? Do so in the Trip Fan Fiction forum at the HoTBBS! One person has made commentsI loved this, but oh it hurts to have Trip and T'Pol apart even when it is supposedly for T'Pol's own good. I'd rather spend an hour in the arms of the one I love that ten whole and healthy years without him. Sigh. I have a sneaky feeling that T'Pol feels the same. Thanks for a great story. Can't wait for the next part! (Good luck with the Masters) - Ali D :~) |