Someone- Part 2

Someone To Watch Over Me

By ShouldKnowBetter

Rating: PG13

Summary: Someone is taking a close and personal interest in Enterprise and her crew.

Disclaimers in Part One

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Part Two

“They’re responding again, captain,” Hoshi informed Archer and he nodded.

“On screen.”

“Ah, you again.” The alien didn’t give him a chance to speak. “I told you not to worry. We will return your crew when we have completed our studies.”

“Then we could have a long wait.” Archer made his voice firm. “You’ve misread the situation. Sub-Commander T’Pol and Commander Tucker are colleagues, friends. They don’t want to mate with each other.”

“Hmm.” The creature was undulating slightly. “You know, I shared your opinion at first but one of my subordinates insisted we had to swap the males and I must say its looking promising. Would you like to see?” Without waiting for Archer to respond, it waved a tentacle and the screen split, one half continuing to show the alien, the other an image of Enterprise’s first officer and chief engineer.

They were back in the bedroom. For several seconds they simply remained pressed together, stunned, then T’Pol forced herself back under a semblance of control; mainly because one of the arms clamped around her waist was encased in a ripped and bloodstained sleeve and there was more blood spreading down her uniform. She freed herself from Tucker’s grip and turned to face him, gently tearing away the remnant of the fabric to inspect the damage.

“Ow,” he muttered belatedly and sank down on the edge of the bed. “What the hell was that about?”

“Perhaps it was a test.”

“Did we pass?”

“We are still alive.”

“Good point.” He was staring with distaste at his bleeding forearm. “Have I ever told you I don’t like the sight of blood? Particularly mine.”

“Frequently.” She fetched a wet towel from the vanity unit that finally came in useful and knelt beside him to clean the injuries where sharp teeth had scratched and torn the flesh.

“Ow!”

“Do not make such a fuss.” She had wiped away most of the blood and assured herself that the wounds were not serious. “The teeth did not penetrate deeply.”

“It still hurts. Are those things poisonous?”

“No.”

He scowled at the dark head bent over his arm. “Would you be more sympathetic if it had chewed my hand off?” She wrapped a dressing over the wounds and fastened it in place with strip of another towel. “Thanks.” She started to rise, head averted, and he laid a hand on her arm, lightness gone. “And thanks for saving my life back there.” He thought she shuddered. “T’Pol? You OK?”

She definitely took a couple of deliberate breaths. “I thought the sehlat had killed you. If the initial leap does not break the prey’s back, they rip out the throat. When I turned and saw it on top of you …” She swallowed, fighting for control, but since those seconds of terror had shattered her composure she had not had a moment to re-build the walls.

“Hey,” his voice was gentle, “don’t underrate human survival instinct. We dodged sabre-toothed tigers for thousands of years.”

“It is considered unlikely that sabre-toothed tigers preyed on humans.”

He laughed softly. “Smart-arse. Want a hug?”

“I see no logical reason why I should.”

“Sounds like a yes to me.” He stood, drawing her with him, then waited a second, hands on her shoulders, giving her the chance to move away. When she didn’t, he took a half step forwards to bring them into contact, sliding one hand down to the small of her back, the other to the nape of her neck, long fingers caressing soothingly.

T’Pol knew she shouldn’t but couldn’t seem to stop herself, leaning into Tucker, finding a comfortable position for her head under his chin, listening to his heartbeat proving he was alive.

“I made an ass of myself with Jon once.” Tucker’s voice was still quiet and she recognised that he was offering her an excuse for her weakness by referring to his best friend. “He fell down a crevice on Io during a training mission. He wasn’t answering hails and I was sure he’d snagged his suit. Took me twenty minutes to reach him, only to find he’d done nothing worse than wind himself and smash the transmitter on his suit. I was so panicked I was hyperventilating. I ran out of oxygen on the way back and Jon had to rescue me! Official report didn’t make nice reading.”

She had to move. It was certainly comforting to stand in Charles’ arms and let him stroke her but it wasn’t doing anything to restore her composure; and behind all the layers of control, the restraint, the lifelong habits of repression, she loved Charles Tucker very much. The unwanted emotion would not be banished however hard she tried and whenever he was in danger her feelings for him effortless surfaced. But she was Vulcan and Vulcans did not admit to having feelings for a member of another species beyond friendship. She stepped back, regretting the loss of contact. “Thank you, commander.”

Tucker snorted and took a seat on the bed again, back resting on the headboard, knees raised, focussing on solving differential equations in his head. It had been a mistake, holding T’Pol like that. If he could keep his interactions with the science officer either strictly professional or casually light-hearted he could cope. Whenever it slipped onto a more intimate note, he was forced to admit how much he cared for her. Holding that warm, voluptuous body against his, knowing that she cared enough for him to be shaken by the thought of his death, were both enough to overset his firm resolution to have the Vulcan woman purely as a friend. He could still feel her curvaceous body pressed against him, her hair brushing his skin, and he was becoming as aroused as hell. And she didn’t even seem to notice, which maybe meant Archer hadn’t persuaded her into bed yet. Differential equations, nice solvable differential equations. That was definitely the way to go.

Archer stared at the image on his view screen and sighed, head dropping briefly. “They’re friends.” T’Pol was leaning on Tucker, head on his shoulder, his arms around her. There was no sound but he seemed to be talking to her, expression tender. “Very good friends.” He sounded less than certain of that even to himself.

“No.” The alien’s tone was cheerful. “We have observed friendship. It doesn’t involve so much physical contact. We’ll return them when we’re done.” The screen blanked again.

Archer sank down into his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose. “At least we know they’re OK.”
“If it was them,” Reed offered darkly. “The image could have been faked. Vulcans don’t like to be touched and Commander Tucker was … well, cuddling the sub-commander.”

Hoshi sent the armoury officer a pitying glance. “Haven’t you been watching them, Malcolm? T’Pol might not like the rest of us touching her, but she’s always let Commander Tucker get close. I think she really like him. What do you think, captain?”

“I still think we’ve got a long wait on our hands.”

T’Pol took her time washing her hands free of any lingering trace of human blood, using the opportunity to start re-building the walls, to put her emotions back where they belonged. A substantial period of mediation was required, but following that recent incident she did not want to be caught anything less than alert by a scene-switch. She had to make do with sitting on the floor, away from temptation. Tucker seemed to have subsided into gloom, frowning at the opposite wall, and she began to worry. “Is your arm painful?”

He seemed to come back from a long way away. “Huh? Oh, no, just sore. What did you say those things were called?”

“Sehlat.”

“Do they always eat people?” Keep it casual, Trip.

“No. When bred in captivity and hand-reared, they are considered suitable pets for the young.”

“You’re kidding! All those teeth!”

“They do not bite the hand that feeds them.”

“I didn’t think Vulcans had pets. You don’t like Portos, do you?”

“The care of a pet promotes a sense of responsibility in a child. Something that should not be necessary in a star ship captain.”

“Did you have one?”

“Yes.”

He gave her a half-teasing, half-thoughtful look. “Did it keep the hokeet away?”

T’Pol looked away; Tucker knew far too much about her. “So my parents told me.”

“That’s sweet.”

“It was logical. Vulcans do not act out of sentiment.”

“Not even for their kids?”

“No.”

“Don’t believe you.”

“You should.” She watched him shift uncomfortably again. “What is wrong?”

“I’m hungry,” which was true if not the answer to the question. “Think they’ll feed us?”

“I do not know.”

T’Pol had barely finished speaking when a table appeared in a corner of the room. Even from where they sat they could see that it was covered with dishes.

“Neat trick,” Tucker muttered and raised his voice slightly. “What about a door?” Sadly that provoked no response and he grunted and slipped off the bed to inspect the content of the table, giving it a hard scrutiny.

“A problem?”

“Not with the food. Steak for me, mushroom risotto without cheese for you.” He glanced down at her as she joined him. “Get the feeling someone’s been watching us?”

“It would seem so.” Probably only chef, Archer and Tucker knew that she was very partial to mushroom risotto.

“Shame to waste it.” He took one of the chairs that had also been provided and tucked in while T’Pol followed suit more cautiously. “I’m starting to feel like I’m being experimented on.”

T’Pol nibbled a mushroom. “That would fit such facts as we have, although it does not explain why you were substituted for Lieutenant Reed.”

“He was too boring.” Tucker’s eyes were mischievous. “If all you did was sit and look at each other for four hours …”

“Then perhaps we should endeavour to be less interesting.”

“At least they don’t want us dead.”

“Yet.”

When Reed returned to the bridge after a hasty meal, Archer was still slumped in the command chair, frowning at the screen. Reed, who took his duties as acting first officer very seriously, decided that reason was required. “Why don’t you take a break, sir? I can watch the shop while you’re gone.”

“No, thanks.” Archer straightened. “I’ll sit it out a while longer.”

“As you said yourself, sir, we could have a long wait.”

Archer shook his head, although more in resignation than denial. “Have I been missing something, Malcolm? Are Trip and T’Pol … “ He broke off, not able to think of a suitable term.

“Friends?” the armoury officer suggested dryly. “I don’t think I’m the one to ask, sir. They do work well together.”

“They do, don’t they?” He had noticed that almost from the start, although only as a useful resource for Enterprise. “I still can’t see anything happening.”

Tucker yawned for the third time in as many minutes and this time crossed to the vanity unit to splash cold water over his face.

“You should sleep.”

“Suppose they throw something at us while I’m out of it?”

“Will you be any less alert than you are now?”

He grimaced. “Maybe not.”

“Then sleep.”

He wandered back to the bed, stretching out and punching a pillow into a more comfortable shape. “What about you?” Then he answered the question for himself. “Yeah, I know, Vulcans don’t sleep.”

“We do not need as much sleep as humans. Good night, commander.”

“Wanna kiss me good night?” There was, as anticipated, no answer and he grinned. “Good night, sub-commander. Wake me up if anything interesting happens, huh?”

In the observation room the anthropologists exchanged frustrated looks. It had been going so well. The specimens had been on the verge of mating and now one was going to sleep!

“Further encouragement is obviously required.” One was determined that the experiment would succeed. They had wasted far too much time to attempt another pairing. “Three, release another dose of the required formula into the atmosphere.”

“But surely that will invalidate …”

“Just do as you’re told, Three. Really, this dimension is most troublesome.”

T’Pol waited until Tucker’s breathing indicated he had been asleep for several minutes, then eased herself closer, resting against the side of the bed; just in case anything changed and they needed to be together. Just to watch. Not so that she only had to reach out her hand to … She jerked the offending member back to join its partner in her lap. She didn’t want to touch. Well, yes, strictly speaking she did, but that was illogical and rude and an invasion of his privacy and … she just wanted to know how his hair felt.

Confused and alarmed at the sudden strength of her desire, T’Pol focussed her eyes straight ahead, not on the sleeping man beside her. That was what happened when she allowed her emotions to master her. It made her more vulnerable to her body’s lust and she had never denied that Tucker was physically attractive to her. At least, she had tried to deny it and when that had been unsuccessful she had firmly suppressed the idea. Not that that had worked either. She was still attracted to him, liked having him touch her, had erotic dreams involving him if she allowed him too much contact. Like the hug earlier. She hadn’t had such full body contact with Charles before and it had been very, very pleasant indeed and would probably fuel her dreams for months to come unless she could suppress the memory. And memories of Charles Tucker were very hard to suppress, rather like the man himself. But now he was asleep and they were alone and she might never again have the opportunity. Just a little touching. Just to know what it might have been like if she hadn’t been Vulcan or he hadn’t been human.

Carefully, T’Pol eased herself onto the bed beside the engineer, propping her head on one hand, the other reaching out, smoothing back his hair. No wonder it became disarranged so easily, it was soft and silky and slid pleasingly over her fingers. Perhaps Archer derived similar pleasure from petting his dog. She stroked an experimental finger over one eyebrow, far less arched than her own, then down his cheek, feeling the coarseness of his skin and the slight rasp of stubble, then moved to his mouth. She did not think she would like to kiss as she had seen the humans do, not when they persisted in eating animal flesh, for it could hardly be hygienic and besides, touching with the fingers was so much more sensual. Charles had touched her face a few times and she had barely been able to stifle her reaction. The difference in their body temperatures wasn’t enough to be unpleasant. He was just cool enough to make her tingle, although perhaps he would not like the fact that she would always feel warm to him. Not that it mattered, of course, because she was Vulcan and he was human so she could never have more than friendship from him. He didn’t even know that she could mate whenever she wished. He believed that pon farr was the only time one of her species was sexually active; as if such a restriction applied to a sentient race with superior control over their bodily functions. Vulcans might not be as promiscuous as humans, but within marriage the sexual act was an important means of establishing the bond that would last a lifetime. She let her fingers wander upwards again. She liked stroking his hair, but it was a pity that Starfleet uniforms were so restrictive of access that she could not …

“T’Pol.” The shocked whisper brought her eyes up from a contemplation of Tucker’s muscled body to meet intense blue eyes. “What are you doing?”

He wasn’t supposed to wake up. He was supposed to be tired and deeply asleep. Not lying there looking at her. “I was kissing you.” Not as the humans understood the term, but as she might have done with Kos if she had not rejected him for some rather suspect reasons.

He gave a small gasp of astonished laughter. “Can anyone join in?”

“Yes.” Now where had that come from? No doubt from her already aroused and aching body.

Tucker rolled onto his side to face her, stretching out his hand as she had done, a cool palm cupping her cheek as a thumb rubbed across her mouth. T’Pol’s lips parted and he repeated his action, eyes darkening as the pupils dilated. Then his hand slid upwards to trace the curve of her ear and she moaned, twisting her head to encourage him to continue the deeply sensual caress, but he only whispered her name again, coming back down to stroke her mouth, sliding the thumb part way inside to caress there. She whimpered and tried to pull him closer, pressing her body to his, and he leant forward, eyes intent on hers, and brushed her lips with his own, then again in a more lingering caress, flicking her lips with his tongue afterwards. T’Pol gasped; perhaps being kissed by a human had something to recommend it after all. Then his mouth closed over hers for a third time, employing lips and tongue, and she raised a hand to his hair, holding him to her. Tucker groaned against her mouth and rolled on top, pinning her down while he plundered her mouth greedily. T’Pol arched upwards and held on tight; her body had always known it would be this good.

In the observation room, a great deal of self-congratulation was in evidence as the specimens commenced mating, only Three pretending to observe objectively. The others weren’t convinced; she always liked the mating behaviour the most. One was so pleased with himself that he decided he just had to boast a little. “Connect me to the specimens’ vehicle.”

Archer jerked out of something suspiciously close to a doze as the view screen cleared to show the jellyfish again. “Ah, still there I see.” The tone was smugly cheerful. “I thought I’d let you know that we will be returning the specimens soon. They’re getting along nicely now.”

“They’re what?”

“Starting to mate. Would you like to see?” Again the screen split and Archer was presented with the unbalancing sight of his first officer and chief engineer lying on a bed facing each other, touching with the single-mindedness of two people who had no intention of stopping.

“Oh God,” Reed muttered in the background, “I think I’m going to be sick.”

Archer tried to focus on the jellyfish, ignoring the other half of the screen. “You are forcing two people – two friends – into an intolerable situation.”

“Forcing? Oh no, we never use force. A little encouragement, possibly.”

“Can’t you at least give them some privacy?” Tucker and T’Pol were starting to kiss, the Vulcan woman obviously responding with pleasure and passion. “Neither of their cultures accepts such a public display, particularly T’Pol’s. This could destroy her,” and it wasn’t doing much for Archer’s blood pressure.

“Destroy?” The jellyfish sounded concerned. “Oh no, we don’t condone destruction.” A tentacle waved vaguely. “She instigated the mating.”

T’Pol did! With Trip! With his best friend! “When she finds out that you’ve watched her,” Archer was ad libbing frantically, “she’ll be forced to kill herself.” He was pretty sure he was lying, although with Vulcans you could never be sure.

“Oh, dear. That wasn’t in your database.”

“They’re very secretive about it. That’s why she’d have to kill herself.”

“Oh.” The jellyfish sounded unhappy. “We wouldn’t want that. Not after all the trouble … Oh, very well. But my colleagues will be most upset, most upset indeed.”

The dual screen blanked and Archer and Reed looked at each other blankly then a faint sound turned them towards the lift doors. Enterprise’s missing officers were back, but unfortunately Tucker and T’Pol hadn’t noticed. They were still locked together, kissing with unrestrained urgency. The only good thing, as far as Archer could see, was that they hadn’t yet got around to undressing each other; probably because they were still busy investigating each others’ tonsils.

Carefully Archer avoided catching Reed’s eye, waiting a moment in the hope that the mating couple would notice their change of venue by themselves, then clearing his throat. They paid no attention and he sighed. Nothing for it then. “Sub-Commander T’Pol! Commander Tucker!”

That worked. Tucker jerked his mouth from T’Pol’s, shifting to one side as he stared frantically around, although he didn’t release the Vulcan woman who was even slower to react, apparently intent on pulling him back to her.

“Hell,” the engineer mumbled and focussed on Archer. “Cap’n. Any chance you’re a hologram?”

Archer hustled them both down to sickbay. Tucker’s arm was clearly in need of treatment and he wanted to be sure there were no other side effects. Like insanity, for instance.

While Phlox was treating what looked like teeth marks in his friends arm, Archer extracted the tersest report he had ever received from an extremely stiff and Vulcan first officer.

“So you never saw your captors?”

“No.”

“We had the advantage of you, then. We were able to contact them.”

“Indeed.”

“Looked like jellyfish.”

“Fascinating.” That was sarcastic. Very sarcastic.

“They said they were exo-anthropologists. Ever heard of them?”

“No.”

“Hmm.” Phlox was studying a readout from a blood sample he had taken from Tucker. “Well, commander, I’m pleased to report that there’s no sign of infection or toxins in the wounds. They’re so clean, they could have been made with a laser scalpel.”

“Try holographic teeth,” the engineer muttered with a glance at T’Pol but she was ignoring him.

“However, there is an interesting chemical compound in your bloodstream.”

“Is it dangerous?”

“Entirely harmless.” The Denobulan was running a similar check on T’Pol. “Interesting. A similar one is present in you too, sub-commander.”

“Do you know what it is, doctor?” Archer asked.

“It’s an aphrodisiac. Have either of you experienced any … urges?”

“No.” They spoke in unison, turning twin glares on their captain.

“I won’t bother with an antidote then. The effects should wear off in a few hours. Commander Tucker, kindly report back here in twenty-four hours. You needn’t return, sub-commander.” He beamed at them all and began to usher them out although T’Pol needed no such encouragement. She left at an almost undignified pace while Tucker was clearly also intent on avoiding his captain’s questions. Archer let them go and hung back for a question of his own.

“This aphrodisiac, doctor, was it a very effective one?”

“Oh no. More of an inhibition-remover. Nothing a little alcohol or, in Sub-Commander T’Pol’s case, a small quantity of sucrose, wouldn’t do. You’ll have to look elsewhere if you need help, captain.”

“Thank you, doctor. I’ll bear that in mind.” Archer retreated to his ready room for some serious thinking. He’d clearly misread the situation between himself and T’Pol and that was humiliating, but now that he’d seen her with Tucker he really couldn’t delude himself any longer. Even in his wildest dreams, he’d never thought to see her look so aroused, so out of control, and he didn’t think it was down to a small dose of sucrose. If there was anyone on Enterprise she wanted, it was his friend, not himself. Now he had to work out the implications of that for his ship.

T’Pol headed straight for her cabin once her shift was over, intent on avoiding everyone. She wanted to meditate; for a very, very long time. The previous night’s session had been singularly unproductive. Unfortunately someone had anticipated her action. Tucker was waiting by her door, standing in front of the access panel so that she couldn’t get in. She ignored him.

“T’Pol, we have to talk.”

“We do not.”

“Yes, we do. We’re still officers on Enterprise. We have to be able to work together.”

“If you will adhere to proper procedure, I do not foresee a problem.”

“I do. Part of the reason we work well together is because I don’t always stick to the rules and you do. We complement each other and that’s good for the ship.”

He was annoyingly right. “The alternative is not acceptable.”

“What, the alternative where we go through that door and continue where we left off yesterday?” If she’d looked, T’Pol would have found that Tucker’s expression was, for once, entirely serious. “I’d like that to happen, T’Pol, I really would; and I think you’d like it too.” He’d spent most of the previous night re-evaluating his interactions with Enterprise’s first officer over the last year and come to the conclusion that he’d been both blind and stupid. It hadn’t been Archer that T’Pol wanted, it had been himself and he’d ignored or misinterpreted every sign she’d given. And he still couldn’t have her and his captain was just plain ignorant if he thought otherwise. “I’m guessing that it’s not gonna be acceptable because I’m one of those pesky humans and your family and maybe even your government just wouldn’t stand for it.” He was struggling not to sound bitter, but T’Pol wouldn’t even look at him, and it was just so hard to be reasonable when every instinct was screaming at him to grab her and kiss her until she turned to fire in his arms again. “But what about the alternative where we go back to how we were the day before yesterday, when we were friends?” He paused again, but she was still silent. “I value your friendship, T’Pol. I don’t want to lose that.”

She hadn’t expected Tucker to be calm and sensible. She’d expected him to shout and lose his temper, so that she could have rejected him utterly. Surely she could never have hoped that he might try to force the issue, to kiss her? “You would take advantage.”

“No, I wouldn’t.” Tucker hesitated. “I’ve wanted you for a long time, T’Pol, but have I let you know that?”

“No.” She’d thought he saw her only as a friend.

“Then have some faith in me. In our friendship.”

She could never have him as she wanted, as her lover, but she didn’t truly want to lose his company while she remained on Enterprise, however difficult it might sometimes be. “Very well.”

“Good.” He drew a deep breath and forced some lightness into his voice. “Then meet me in the mess hall at 1900.”

She glared. “Why?”

“So we can have dinner together. There are some rumours going round. I want to stop them.”

“By being seen together?”

“The more you avoid me, the more people will think something happened. If they see us acting normal, they’ll get bored and find something else to talk about.”

“I presume you know what you are doing.”

“Sure; and call me Charles.”

“No!”

“If we’re gonna be friends …”

“No.”

“Sometimes?”

“If the occasion warrants it … perhaps.”

“What, like imminent death?”

“Yes.” They were back to their normal banter, starting to relax. They could do this.

“Well, that’ll be real useful! ‘Oh look, Sub-Commander T’Pol called Commander Tucker Charles. We must be about to die’.”

“But only if you are off duty; and out of uniform.”

“Can we discuss this?”

“No.” He had moved and she activated the door release. “I will see you later, Commander Tucker.”

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

Coming soon: "Deception"

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

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Eight hardy souls have made comments

I really am glad you're continuing your stories they just keep getting better .Your characters are what make the stories so interesting.Looking forward to seeing what kind of Deceptions Trip and T'pol have in your next story.Thanks for a great series of stories.

I loved this! Darn, there are times I could strangle Captain Archer. His timing sucks. Chuckle. I just love the way you teased them along and can't wait for the next story to advance your arc. More power to your pen and thank you for the wonderful story. Ali D :~)

I am so overwhelmed by this series of stories. It is exactly what I like to see in fanfiction. Your description of the initiation of mating was so sensual. And T'pol reaction after is what I would have expected. I can't wait for deception.

Wow! Fabulous! Magnifique! Brilliant!

Very good. I can't wait to read more, it's a very good and interesting story.

The way you described T'Pol's reaction and choice, along with Trip's, was perfect. You are very good at capturing everyone and making them speak and act like they should.

LOL that was a great ending I really like this little series yta got here I can't wait for more, oh wait there is more, I will read it now YAY!
~Becky

I am literally on the edge of my seat! WOW! And there's more! YAYNESS!!! I loved this little piece of fluff, it was a fun read and I really enjoyed reading it. How late is it anyways? on to Deception!

Sab

I should've commented much, much sooner, but I love the whole series so much I couldn't decide on one particular chapter, but the scene where TnT finally give in at the aliens' behest is fabuloso, I mean what you've written is one of the best get-together scenes I've ever read. Bravo!!! I love how you've written them and I love re-reading this series!!!

You're a tease. And I love it. Thanks for another great read.