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Mood Swing-Pt 14

Author - Sue
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Mood Swing

By Sue

E-MAIL: susieqla@yahoo.com
RATING: PG-13
STATUS: WIP
CODES: T/Tu
CATEGORY: Romance
SPOILERS: “Harbinger”
ARCHIVE: Yes
DISCLAIMER: Enterprise is the property of Paramount and its subsidiaries. No profit is being made.
SUMMARY: Missing scene.

NOTES: On-going series of vignettes focusing on this pairs developing relationship.


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

Part 14


"How was I supposed to know?"

Trip shook his head, thrusting his hands out at his sides, going over how the cozy little scene in T'Pol's quarters eventually played out in his mind again. His being thrown for a loop was the understatement of the century.

"If she thinks she's *not* jealous, then I got news for her. What would anybody ever bitten by the green-eyed monster call it, judgin' by the moves she put on me? And, yeah, maybe it was against better judgment, but...I let her. A part of me was all for holdin' off, but who am I kiddin'? I'm a big boy. She offered; I took. I wanted her every bit as much as she wanted me. I *am* sweet on her, and now she knows. Amen. I can't get over her even wantin' me in the first place. Man, she really had me fooled all this time!"

Despite his jumbled hindsight, he had to smile. T'Pol couldn't have been
sweeter if she'd been dipped in honey and smothered in whipped cream. The
imagery made his throat go stone dry. Faintly, that familiar twinge, responsible for the misgivings he now faced, stirred again. The satisfied look
was soon replaced by a terse scowl that refused to quit.

"And she prides herself on bein' above anythin' and everythin' she judges a human failin'. Ha! Maybe it's true, maybe bein' around us for so long, a lot has rubbed off."

Mellowing, he allowed:

"I'm never gonna be the same, now am I? Wonder if she will?"

The relative silence in his quarters listened to him patiently. Trip wished it wasn't quite so quiet, save for the reassuring thrum of the engines he heard no matter what part of the ship he was in. If they were ailing, he knew it in an instant, solely by their pitch. It was as though his being alone with his thoughts made him uncomfortable.

"Now what?"

He addressed his bunk he had not slept in, and immediately thought of hers, he in it, holding her tight, she with her head on his chest, an ear over his heart, then greedily brushing her lips over the hot spot. The passionate man that he was, delighting in heedlessly kissing her and himself into endless bliss.

Sighing, he closed his eyes and knew how much he needed to be with T'Pol again. What he once considered to be too good to be true was something he could now relive, over and over in his mind's eye. T'Pol, giving herself to him completely, holding nothing back, trusting him...loving him. It had never been more incredible, but the intensity of it all had Trip wondering for all he was worth.

"Is she herself?" he loudly conjectured into the mirror above the basin in his bathroom.

He felt outrageously invigorated. A bracing shower, heavy on the cold water, should take his libido down several notches.

"She's been through a lot lately. Despite bein' Vulcan, stress is stress. Could be her fine-tunin' is out of kilter. Way out."

Shirtless, squinting at himself, he frowned, not wanting it to be that. He gave both his cheeks some light slaps with the back of his hand.

"Get a grip, Tucker. Whatever the reason, she's as fine as fine can be, and you're one lucky s-o-b. Not only brains, but a body that's plumb outta several worlds, no big surprise. And where'd she learn how to 'French' like *that*? Not on Vulcan, that's for sure..."

He laughed, a clipped laugh, full of what they'd shared, nothing short of glorious for him, and by all indications, T'Pol too. Her crack about Cole touching his, "behind" formed another smile on his lips. It tickled him the way she'd put it. T'Pol...so knowledgeable and wise in so many ways, yet just as naive in others, he thought.

"If any good's come out of the flack over Amanda, it's T'Pol hittin' me over the head with a clue--her gorgeous self. We should talk, though. We really should. We're attracted, that's for way sure, but...where to from here? Is this serious, or, or..."

He shrugged at himself, noting the rosy glow in his cheeks, and the light slaps he'd given himself did not account for it, altogether.

"Maybe we just go with the flow and find out along the way. Could be fun..."

He didn't need to start the ship's, and his, pre-dawn shift with a banging head, so shrugging again, he willed his bombarding thoughts to stop harassing him.

He blinked at himself several times when it struck him:

"Hope I wasn't just a fling, an experiment she needed, to get me out of her system...some novelty to satisfy her curiosity. Ah, hell."

Unconsciously, he had begun shaking his head as he stared blankly at his reflection, though not seeing it. The train of thought saddening him.

"NO--I won't accept that!"

But the more he thought along those lines, the more despair he felt.

"What if she reverts? Pretends like last night never happened 'cause maybe experiencin' that much emotional overload overwhelmed her? I know I was—still am. She had to be unnerved by the force of her feelin's if I understand her even a little. Maybe she'll be unwillin' to deal with what must be out and out taboo for her? She's proud of who and what she is, but last night she lost all self-control. Hell, we both did. Guess I'll just haveta wait and see, won't I? Seems to me this's been buildin' for a good, long while. The way she poured it on...phew...like bleeder steam magna-compressed findin' an outlet. I just about stumbled out of her place on jelly legs. Mercy, she's so strong. Sweet of her to say she wouldn't hurt me...and sweeter since she didn't. Least I don't think she left bruises..."

He gave himself a quick spot check, detecting no marks, before turning the faucet on.

"Regardless of how she comes across the next time I see her, if she wants it, I'll never turn her down..."

Momentarily, his head swam, the way it had when T'Pol touched him in that special way like never before which had put an abrupt end to any neuro-pressure he had anticipated. He had succumbed to her as naturally as his heeding the siren call of dedicated FAMUS-R scanners in need of patch-flex refitting.

"Maybe I'm over-simplifyin', but she's got a thing for me, sure *she does.* Vulcan or no Vulcan, it's like she's staked her claim."

He pitched himself into the driving surges of water drenching the circular shower stall. Lost in the furious wetness, he found it wasn't hard imagining his beautiful claimer, who puzzled him like never before, in there with him.

It made him feel better to hear himself reiterate:

"We've gotta talk. We will, at some point. Sure as hell we will! T'Pol and me...wow..."


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


In her quarters, not very distant from Trip's, T'Pol, still fast asleep, nodded with a fragile smile. It was very similar to the one she'd stunned him with following their emotive kissing each other goodnight. Following a wispy sigh, then soft mumbling in Vulcan, she turned over on her side. She hugged the small, firm pillow that had worked its way out from under her head, hard. It, like her head, was a little perspired.

Her soft susurrations, pushed past lips still swollen and tenderly bruised, seeped into an unconscious exhalation as her smile deepened.

"Trip..."



Continue to Part 14a

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Three people have made comments

*warm fuzzies* This was a great analysis of what Trip is thinking post Harbringer. It's interesting that he's thinking things through (very out of character), while she's dreaming about their relationship. Vulcan's dream? :)
Yep, Trip, she planted her flag. MACO be warned! :))

Trip... love this!

I agree with the idea you brought up in your fic about how T'Pol is very knowledgeable in some ways and very naive in others. You really hit something there with that point.