Living Among the Thorns - Ch 3

Living Among the Thorns

By Triplover

Rating: PG
Disclaimer: See Chapter one.
Summary: See Chapter one.

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Chapter Three

T'Pol walked slowly through the crowd along with Commander Tucker. The place was crowded and she found it uncomfortable. But there was a smoky smell in the air along with a strange spice, much like salt, that she could smell. It was a strange scent, but not completely unpleasant. "This way." She told the commander and he followed her without saying a word. She found the silence oddly uncomfortable. They hadn't talked since they left the pod, and she wondered if perhaps he was worried. The mission they were on was a very dangerous one... but the ship would need two good engineers, and if they were going to impress the captain of the vessel, they would have to be good. Commander Tucker was good, she knew, yet part of her was worried—not for her own safety, but his. She found it quite odd that her normally suppressed emotions were just now fighting her, fighting to move to the surface, to show what was in her… but she wouldn’t let it. She couldn’t allow herself to feel with such emotions… it was wrong. She had to control them… or at least keep them from showing.

Finally they reached a large building, much like the ones on earth. It was a rather large city called Dregowa. Filled with buildings that towered over them. She looked at the commander then the two walked in one of the larger buildings where they met a man in a blue uniform standing at the door. "Welcome to Dregowa city's finest hotels. Do you have a reservation?" He asked in a rather deep voice. He was tall, yet not very wide. Yet he certainly was tough looking.

"Yes, I am Orina Kel'tara." She told him. He looked down at a padd, and went through the list.
"Ah yes, the Kel'tara's... well... I must say you two look quite cute together! Here for an anniversary?" He asked as he led the two through to the turbolift.

"No, we are here to find work." She explained he nodded.

"I see, well I'm sure you'll find what you’re looking for." He said with a smile as the turbolift stopped and the doors opened. They had walked only a few feet away when he stopped at their door and pressed a few buttons at the side. "The door will scan you and open it when it sees your genetic profile... that way no one needs to carry something, or something like that. It makes things so much easier." He explained as the door opened. "Enjoy your stay here with us!" He added. T'Pol and the commander stepped in to their room and the door shut behind them leaving the two alone.

"We had reservations?" He finally asked her. She looked at him sighing inwardly.

"Yes, the captain set it up for us."

The commander then walked into the room, which reminded her of Enterprise. Metal walls with one small window that had a covering over it. One large bed sat in the corner which the commander walked over to. "They only gave us one bed." He pointed out.

"We are ‘married,’ remember?"

He frowned. "Oh yeah... right. Married." He mumbled and dropped his bags to the floor. Then he walked over to a small console near the bed that sat on the desk. It sat right in front of him, much like the old computers Earth used to have years ago.

"We will have to wait here for at least an hour. Our appointment with the cargo ship's captain isn't for awhile." She mumbled, moving his bags over near the dresser under their bed.
"Let me guess... you set that up before we left too?" He asked her, although his eyes, focused on the console before him.

"Yes."

He nodded. "Hey, well... will ya look at that! They got swimming pools!" He then exclaimed as she moved over to the bed and sat down.

"Swimming pools in the hotel?"

He finally looked over at her. "Yeah, they used to have ‘em on Earth all the time... still do in fact. All the hotels have ‘em." He explained then looked back at the consoles. "Do me a favor T'Pol... move the bags on the bed please."

She complied and then looked back at him. He pressed one of the controls and then felt a strange vibrating sensation under her. She looked down then got on the bed as she soon saw part of the floor on the other side go down and slid under the other part of the floor to see a swimming pool before her.

"Nice! They never had these in the hotel's back on earth!" Commander Tucker said, then before her very eyes stripped to his underwear. Finally he took his undershirt off and dove into the water. A few seconds later he came up for air. "Come on in T'Pol! It's great!" He told her. She sighed.

"No thank you, I think I'd rather spend my time reading." She mumbled.

Trip frowned. "Ah come on T'Pol! Ya know ya want to!"

T'Pol looked up at him, then got a book out of her bag and opened, it beginning to read. Trip sighed, then got an idea. He went down deep into the water, lower and lower until he got to the bottom... eight feet... ok, he could handle eight feet. Then swam back up, counted how long it took. Finally he emerged, from the water and breathed in deep. "Ah! Crap! My arm! I bumped it! T'Pol, I'm hurt! Help!" He screamed, she looked up at him.

"I am not going to join you in the... pool commander. Your tricks will not get me to go in." She said and looked back down at her book. Finally he took a breath and went back down to the bottom of the pool. He had been taught long ago how to conserve air and was really good at it. He waited half a minute then slowly let the water push him up and he did something he knew well. Finally the back of his head emerged once again from the water, but he kept his face, some of his arms and the rest of him underwater. Most of the time, that was what happened when someone drowned. He was playing dead.

T'Pol looked back up again and cocked her head. Where did he go? Finally she got off the bed and walked to the edge of the pool to see Mr. Tucker floating on his front over the water. No! Without thinking she jumped into the water to save him, but as soon as she grabbed him and moved his head out from under the water he began to laugh.

"Mr. Tucker!"

He shook his head, swimming for himself. "The oldest trick in the book, darlin'... I can't believe you fell for it!" He said laughing even harder now. T'Pol scowled at him in anger, she didn't even try to control it.

"You tricked me?" she asked, although she knew the answer.

"Sorry T'Pol, but you said my tricks wouldn't get you in the water... yet, here ya are! I'd say I proved you wrong!" He told her and stopped laughing. "What can I say... I had to do it."
T'Pol let out a sigh, her annoyance with him going out with it. Then she realized another human custom... what was it called? ‘Dunking?’ T’Pol watched at the still laughing commander in front of her just before moving her hands up on the top of his head and pushing him down deep into the water and positioning her weight over him. Normally she did not agree with 'getting even' with another, but she had learned that with the commander, it wasn’t necessarily a bad idea. He struggled hard against her to get back up and finally she moved aside letting him resurface. His eyes were wide as he coughed hard, spitting out water, which T'Pol found most disgusting.

"You... you... you dunked me!" He accused her. She cocked her head, so she had been right... ‘dunked.’

"Yes, Commander I did." She said quite proudly. Trip smiled, then with that did the same to her. But to his surprise she only stayed under for a few seconds before he was pushed off and she got up taking in air and—to her surprise—doing exactly same as she spit out water. He smiled at her.

"Ha! Got ya back!" He said in a mocking tone. She frowned. To her surprise, she was enjoying herself inwardly, although she would never give Commander Tucker the satisfaction of knowing this. She swam over to him faster than he could react and once again he went under. But this time, he did not struggle. She looked down at the man under water and took him by the shoulders bringing him back up. He did nothing, his eyes were closed. T'Pol's eyes went wide as she moved him out of the water and got up on the floor positioning him for rescue breaths. She moved her lips to his, after tilting his head back and covering his nose with her cheek when she felt his tongue move up into her mouth. She recoiled in shock, jumping away from him. He sat up laughing even harder than before.

"What? Cat gotcha tongue?" He asked her laughing even more and more, his face growing red. She stood, glaring at him.

"That was not amusing, Mr. Tucker! You... you... you kissed me." She pointed out. Trip shook his head, and then stood looking down at her with a grin firmly implanted on his beaming face.

"Yes I know... revenge certainly is sweet isn't it?" He said and again laughed. "You should've seen your face! Lot's of emotion there for a Vulcan!"

She quickly suppressed the rising anger she felt and tried to keep herself calm. Mr. Tucker always did get to her in a way no one else could. She never understood his desire to get her angry. He was a difficult man. And the worst part was that she was not disgusted that he had kissed her, but that she had felt rather strong bouts of emotion upon seeing the man hurt. “Do not attempt to frighten me again, Commander. You have been hurt not but a few weeks ago and I do not think such a… joke is appropriate. Please refrain from doing such things." Trip looked at her, his eyes soft now. His laughing came to a full stop and he frowned.

"Oh... I didn't think ya felt that way... I'm sorry T'Pol. I didn't mean to scare ya like that... I was... just having a little fun." He explained. She moved her hands behind her back and straightened.

"Fear is a human emotion she said simply and then grabbed her bag, got out some fresh and dry clothes, then stepped into the bathroom to change before he could say anything else.

***********

"It's time to go meet the captain." T'Pol finally told Trip. Trip had been reading the computer before him for awhile learning a few things he might need to keep in mind. After she got upset over his deception he'd decided that he wouldn't swim anymore and got changed, then started reading. They said nothing to each other that whole time... until now. He stood, he was already ready.

"All right, let's go then." He said in a soft voice and they two left out the door.

**********

"Impressive, very impressive." The captain muttered as he looked over their past work places. "You both are extremely talented, I'm surprised you haven't found work yet!" T'Pol looked at Trip who hadn't said much since they walked into the Xindi cargo ship. He was obviously having difficulty, she'd known that would happen.

"This is the first place we've gone to since our old captain died." She explained. The Xindi captain named Veiren Torlic was for the most part a pleasant man. He'd greeted them both with a smile, shook their hands as they told him that they were husband and wife and that they needed a job. Captain Torlic nodded.

"Yes, I see... the only thing is... I already have picked out my chief engineer... I only have room for one more person." he said solemnly.

T'Pol nodded. "We are married, Captain Torlic. I'm afraid we wish to stay together. We will just have to find work elsewhere."

"What?" Commander Tucker asked in surprise. She looked over at him. He frowned then sighed. "Oh yeah... you’re right... I don't want to be away from my sweet heart... she means more to me than anyone." He said moving his hand in hers. She took it invitingly, feeling her temperature rise somewhat. Captain Torlic sighed.

"Ok, ok! I'll tell him I found someone better! I can't let such unbelievable engineers go! Ok, you two have the job." he mumbled.

To T’Pol’s surprise for the first time since he'd gotten to the Xindi ship, Commander Tucker smiled. "Thank you sir. You won't regret this." He said, his accent hidden quite well.
The captain nodded. "I'm sure I won't! Meet us back here at the ship tomorrow at 0800 hours, we'll be leaving by then, that should give you the time you need to pack your things and the time I need to get your rooms ready and get the rest of our equipment in here."

T'Pol nodded in reply. "We will be there by then.”

The captain gave out another smile. "I will look forward to seeing you both again!" He added just before the two left.

**********

Trip Tucker said nothing as they walked to their quarters late that evening. They'd spent the rest of the day shopping for some food for dinner and buying clothes, anything they might need. When they finally reached his quarters he walked over to the console and turned it on, to read some more. T'Pol looked at him for a second then began to leave. He looked back at her. "Where ya goin'?" He asked. She turned around.

"I will be back in a second, I simply need to get something." She told him and left. He smiled, then used the time to do something he hadn't been able to do all day.

"Charles Tucker, personal log. Well, I'm here... we talked to the captain... a Mister Torlic... a pleasant fellow if ever there was one. I already can tell that I don't like him... not one bit. Might be because I hate the Xindi, and by bein' as he is, well... that hate for him is fading... but I don't want it too. I'd rather hate them... it makes everything so much easier. But it hasn't been all that bad. It's not as awful as I thought it would be livin' with T'Pol as her husband. I mean... there's little things... things we do that almost reminds me of my dad and mom. Kinda funny actually. But uh... it's also kinda scary, because well... I kissed her today... it was supposed to be a joke but... well... I liked it more than I thought I would. And it wasn't just because it was a good kiss, although by the way it was certainly good! It's just... it was good because... well... it was her." He said just before the door opened.

Trip cleared his throat and stood, saving his log entry and cutting off the screen. He hoped to god that she hadn’t heard anything, he knew about her Vulcan ears being better than humans’. But he was sure she hadn’t…. He smiled at her. "Hey."

T'Pol looked at him and frowned. "We should... get some rest... we have a big day tomorrow."

He nodded.

"I'll sleep on the floor." he mumbled as he walked away from the console, grabbing one of the pillows off the bed. T'Pol walked over to him and moved her hand over his hand which held the pillow.

"I can take the floor." She offered, but he shook his head.

"Naw, my mama always taught me to give ladies the comfortable places." He told her. T'Pol cocked her head.

"I am a Vulcan, I could probably take the floor much better than you." She pointed out. But Trip just shrugged.

"Maybe so, but I can't ignore how I've been raised. It's part of who I am, and I'm certainly not gonna ignore it. Don't worry about me T'Pol, I'll be just fine on the floor." He assured her and began to make up his bed. But he could see T'Pol still wasn't sure.

"Perhaps we can both sleep on the bed." She then offered to his surprise. Trip shook his head.
"Believe me T'Pol, it's ok! I'll be just fine on the floor." he told her for what seemed like the hundredth time. But T'Pol didn't seem to want to let it go.

"It would not hurt us if we slept in the same bed. Come, the bed is big enough for the both of us." She told him. Trip wasn't about to fight with her, he was far too tried for that. Instead he gave up and took the pillows and bedspread to join her on the bed.

"Ya know, I tend to move a lot in my sleep." He pointed out to her. He could swear he saw her lips change into an almost unnoticeable smile.

"I am sure I will be able to handle you just fine, Commander." she said.

He smiled.

hen right in front of him she took off her clothes, leaving only her underclothes. Then she took out her pajamas and put them on. Trip simply took off his clothes, he slept in his undergarments. Then the two got into bed, she got the left near the wall and he got the right. He moved under the covers, then covered her and closed his eyes after turning of the lights.

***********

T'Pol's eyes opened as she felt the bed move. She looked over to see the man sleeping next to her jerk back and forth in bed.

"No! No!" He whispered in his sleep. "Lizzie! Get out of here! Lizzie!"

T'Pol took in a deep breath, as she felt a sudden stab of pain to see his face harden in horror, even with his eyes closed she could see his fear. "Commander Tucker." She moved her hand to his shoulder as he moved to his side, then he moved back on his back just before he jumped up, breathing hard, wheezing.

"Lizzie!" Trip cried, then blinked as he realized where he was. Trip closed his eyes, hiding tears as he felt his lungs close. He couldn't breath. He gasped for breath, feeling his heart pound against his ribs like an animal confined in a cage as sweat fell of his face. When finally he felt the soft touch of T'Pol's hands as she moved beside him, one arm around his back, the other on his chest.

"Breath, Commander, let the air fill your lungs... feel it in your lungs." She whispered. Her voice was soothing to him but he still couldn't get the air to move into his lungs. He panicked his eyes wide in fear.

"Ah! Oh god!" He breathed, closing his eyes, letting air fill him finally. He breathed in deep and long. His lungs finally getting air. Soon his gasps were farther apart from each other and finally he was breathing normally. He buried his face in his hands as he felt his world shatter once again as it did every time he had the dream. He had to get it together—not in front of T'Pol! You’re fine, you’re funny, you have no problems. He told himself. Finally he looked up, but not at her. He couldn't look at her.

"Are you ok, Commander?" T'Pol asked.

He could hear the worry in her voice, but he closed his eyes once again, fighting tears then opened then and stood up. He gave her one of his fake smiles. "Oh yeah! I'm fine Sub-commander, just fine... I..uh... I just had a bad dream that's all! Nothin' a splash of water couldn't cure!"

Trip got up and walked to the bathroom, took some water and splashed it on his face. He tried hard to keep his breathing normal as the horrible images disappeared. He closed his eyes, trying hard to compose himself, then looked at the mirror in front of him. In the reflection he could see T'Pol staring at him, her eyes looking down into his very soul. She knew. And there was nothing he could do to hide it from her now. "I... it was hard... seein' them... the Xindi. I... I had more trouble than I thought I would seein' him. But I'll be fine... I just need to get... used to it, that's all." He told her. She said nothing. Slowly she walked all the way into the bathroom. He turned around and frowned.

"Are you sure you'll be able to take this?" She asked him. He gave her a reassuring smile.

"Can't turn back now, even if I wanted too! Really, don't worry bout me, I'll be fine." He told her then walked past her and out of the bathroom. Slowly he sat on the bed. She sat next to him.

"Perhaps I could help you with your nightmares." She then added. He chuckled.

"Nightmares are a part of life Darlin'. Ya can't just get rid of ‘em and leave it at that. Don't worry about me! I can take it!" He decided it was not best to tell her the real reason why he wanted to keep the nightmares. The fact was, he wanted them because it kept him angry at the Xindi. It reminded him of what they did to him. He need the nightmares to remember what they took from him. T'Pol seemed to want to fight him though anyway.

"That was more than a nightmare, you could hardly breath." She pointed out, but Trip waved it away as nothing.

"Just a panic attack. Humans get ‘em all the time. I'm fine, really." He told her that so many times that he was getting sick of saying it. So before she could say more he began to scoot over and let her take the spot he'd been sleeping in before. Then he closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

Continue to Chapter 4

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Four of you have made comments

I absolutely loved this chapter. It is the best yet. I really like the pool scene. It is something that I can so easily see Trip doing just to get under T'Pol's thick vulcan skin.
Great writing and characterization. More please.

Nice job. Not sure I liked Trip tricking T'Pol that way in the pool scene-seems he'd be a little more serious about death after his sister and all. But Trip isn't perfect, he's bound to have some not so shining moments.

Loved the nightmare scene. When is T'Pol just gonna lock him in a room with her, and make him talk?

Good job staying in character. Loved them fighting over who would sleep in the bed.

Can't wait for more!

Good job. The pool scene seemed a tad bit out of character to me as well. But the nightmare scene was written absolutely superbly. So... where's the next chapter?!? :)

I love this story :) I can't wait to read more :D