My First "Online' Fanfic circa 2005
I've written one form or another of fanfiction since I was a tween (oh so long ago - my very first fanfiction, though it wasn't called that back then to my knowledge, was Luke/Leia. Seriously, I was, without knowing it until Return of the Jedi came out, writing incest fanfiction. Yes, I was a tween Cassie Clare.)
I did begin to write my first fanfiction by today's definition for Star Trek: Enterprise in 2005. So here it is. I probably should be embarassed, but I still love it 'cos it was my first :D
Trip/T'Pol
(oh yeah, that's where my username comes from)
Set shortly after the Fourth season episdoe "Bound'
T’Pol walked with a purpose through engineering until she found whom she was seeking. Day shift had just ended, but as usual, Trip was working over. She found him sprawled out under a power relay-fusing them together.
He sensed her there before she spoke. He peeked out from under the junction, letting his eyes travel upward. Inwardly, he admired her purple velvet clad legs before shaking his head and meeting T’Pol’s gaze.
He swallowed hard, “What can I do for ya?”
T’Pol noticed the scruffy engineer who looked like he’d been under several junctions today and decided not to offer advice on how it behooved a chief engineer to delegate such ‘grunt’ work to his subordinates-but instead got right to the point.
“I require your presence in my quarters this evening at 19:00.” T’Pol looked down on him pointedly.
Trip dropped his tool at that and gave her an incredulous stare, “require?”
T’Pol, often unsure of Trip’s meaning even with the bond, gave the only response she believed appropriate-she raised her eyebrow.
“Yes,” she pointed out, “we have a lot of work to do.” With that, T’Pol turned on her heel and left without looking back at him.
Trip grimaced at hearing his words come back at him and looked back up at his work, trying to clear his mind and failing miserably.
Trip walked into his quarters barely knowing how he’d got there. His mind had been preoccupied ever since his visit in engineering from T’Pol-so much so that it had taken much longer to complete the project he’d started with the power relays because of the distraction, and he had two minor plasma burns on his fingers to prove it. He absently put the most offending finger in his mouth and tried to remember why he came here instead of directly to T’Pol’s quarters…as ‘required’ he thought to himself sardonically. He paced around his quarters until he caught a sight of himself in the mirror. Oh yeah, he thought…I’m a mess. He noted the steak of dirt across his forehead then noted his rather pungent odour, and decided a shower was in short order. She could wait.
Trip stripped off his dirty uniform and threw it in the recycler. His skivvies joined there a moment later and he stepped into the shower and turned it on…letting the hot stream hit him directly on his head, trying to clear it. Instead, it put in his mind a dream he’d had only the night before involving T’Pol and him in a shower and what erotic things they were doing and…Tucker, he thought to himself, get a grip Tucker. That was just a dream, right? No more or no less than any other dreams he’d had of T’Pol and him being…well…intimate. Trip turned the water temperature a few degrees cooler and vigorously began washing his hair…determined again to compose himself before he went to go see T’Pol. Just a dream, he repeated to himself.
But what if…Trip thought…not only were the daydreams shared, but these night ones too? Trip paled at the thought and squinted as the shampoo had run into his eyes. He rinsed it out quickly and proceeded to soap himself up; still trying to reason out what exactly was shared between T’Pol and himself.
There was a difference…there had to be. The daydreams that he’d admitted he had shared with T’Pol were always confusing…not under his control. He’d never known how he got there or what was going to happen. The night dreams however, he knew where he was, and felt more in control of the situation…and had very vivid memories of each dream the next morning. Nope, definitely a difference Trip soothed himself. My dreams are my own…right?
Trip finished his shower and toweled off…he didn’t realize he’d been in for so long as he was cold and ‘puckered’. He chose some off duty clothes to put on, and checking his chronometer noticed that it was past 19:00.
“Damn,” he swore out loud as he put on his shoes. She was gonna be pissed. Not a good way to start an evening with having a Vulcan mad at you, he thought grimly to himself as he head out his quarters door.
T’Pol checked her chronometer again, 19:21. She chided herself for being impatient and for actually pacing back and forth in her quarters. Everything was ready, she thought to herself, but where was…just then her door chime sounded, and T’Pol jumped ever so slightly to answer.
She modulated her voice not to betray her thoughts, “Come in.”
Trip entered T’Pol’s quarters and stopped in his tracks just as soon as the door had closed behind him. In front of him was a room lit only by candles, which formed a semi-circle around two large meditation pillows. His eye travelled to the covered dinner plates on a small table behind the pillows. Trip took the breath he’d forgotten to draw upon entering and let it out in short bursts upon finally focusing on T’Pol in front of him.
She was, he thought as he huffed the breath out through his teeth, wearing-huff-her-huff-blue-huff huff-pyjamas-huuuuuuufff.
It’s not like he’d never seen her in them before, Trip tried to reason, but damn it’s been a while! Trip had just begun a grin to play on his lips before he noticed T’Pol’s facial expression. Her lips were pursed together and her brown eyes leered at Trip. Oh ya, he thought, she’s pissed.
T’Pol’s tone was terse, “You are late,” she quipped.
“I’m sorry, T’Pol, really,” Trip said. He was sorry…anything to get that look of disappointment off her face, “I had just finished a 12 hour shift in engineering and thought I’d better stop for a shower…as not to offend your Vulcan senses.” Trip added the latter…he couldn’t help himself.
T’Pol, again unsure at Trip’s clouded apology in regards to her “Vulcan senses” did what she always did in such confusing moments…she raised her eyebrow.
Trip, chuckling to himself, surveyed the scene in front of him again…the candles, pillows, food…damn…did he smell Chef’s pecan pie? Trip breathed in deeply. He did! A thought came unbidden in Trip’s head…this was a seduction scene…straight out of one of the several romances they’d played on movie nights previously! Hoshi had picked out several romance films that Trip had attended…hell he thought…I sat with T’Pol for one of them. He looked down at T’Pol to gauge her reaction to his ‘apology’.
T’Pol moved closer to Trip to give an appreciative sniff…she raised her hand to touch Trip’s still damp hair. She allowed her face to soften…just slightly, “my senses are not offended Commander”. She used his title to dig at him…she knew he wanted her to call him ‘Trip’…especially when they were alone. That’s for the ‘Vulcan senses’ quip T’Pol told herself, with a little more vindication than she probably should have felt from the look on Trip’s face.
T’Pol dropped her hand from his hair and tried to alleviate the situation before they both started their regular repertoire. “You must be hungry,” T’Pol stated, “you did not stop for lunch today.”
Trip noted that wasn’t a question-of course she knew he hadn’t stopped to eat today. She could use the bond in ways he couldn’t-yet.
T’Pol motioned over to the pillows. Trip took off his socks and shoes-remembering his meditation pillow etiquette-and sat down. T’Pol sat beside him.
“I went to the galley today,” T’Pol began, “and Chef was kind enough to allow me access to his recipes. I chose this dish to prepare…” she opened the covered dishes, “Pasta Primavera, as something we could both enjoy.”
She looked at Trip’s dumbfounded expression and continued, beginning to fill their water glasses as she spoke, “It proved not difficult to prepare…very similar to a Vulcan dish, P’kha’tar.”
Trip was too stunned to respond as quickly as he usually did, then, “You made this yourself?” Oh ya, he thought to himself, she’s definitely trying to get on his good side. Trip was a pushover for food-as was well known throughout the ship.
“Yes,” T’Pol said plainly, “Chef was most accommodating in allowing me access to the galley-which he is normally so protective of-but I am afraid my culinary skills did not extend to making Pecan Pie-I think Chef was quite insulted-he made this one,” she said while uncovering Trip’s favourite dessert.
Trip’s mouth opened and closed without saying anything-what was there to say? She had done so much for him. He smiled weakly and said, “Well they say that a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” He picked up his fork and dived in.
“That is a misnomer,” T’Pol replied while picking up her fork as well, “the digestive system and the circulatory system in a human are not connected per se…” T’Pol paused as she saw the smile fade on Trip’s face, “however, I can see that to be well fed would make the heart stronger and working to its optimum level.” There, she thought, I can understand human idioms. She tasted her food.
Trip laughed but bit his tongue. He didn’t want to spoil the moment with a wise crack-tempting though it was. She was obviously trying. He gulped some water to steady himself.
T’Pol thought to herself…perhaps this is a time to engage in some ‘small talk’. “How are the repairs going in engineering? You seem to be working a lot of 12 hour shifts since the Orion incident.”
Trip, as usual, talked while he ate, “Well, I have the engines almost back to Warp 5 capability and I’ve been doing some fine tuning trying to get ‘er up to my specs again-Kelby’s actually been helping.” Trip remembered the chagrined look on Kelby’s face when he’d received his demotion. “I guess he was embarrassed by how easily he’d been controlled by the Orions.”
“Yes,” T’Pol put down her fork and looked up at Trip, “there seems to be a lot of that embarrassment going around. The captain suffers from it, I believe. He’s been ‘hiding’ in his ready room or quarters-only on the Bridge if necessary.”
Trip put his fork down too and smirked, “I know…I went to see him last night in his quarters for a drink and just to shoot the …” Trip stopped himself just in time to avoid the dreaded eyebrow, “anyway, he was feeling kinda down on how he behaved with the Orions…one in particular…Naveen I think her name was. He asked again why I wasn’t affected…” T’Pol looked at him closely at that, “I just told him that I musta had a stronger will than him.” Trip smiled more broadly at the memory-I had him there! Poor Jon, he’d just said he was tired after that and as Trip was leaving…he could see him shuffling off to bed with Porthos in tow.
“That was hardly truthful,” T’Pol noted, “or helpful, for the Captain’s lack of confidence at this time.”
“Awwww T’Pol, he’ll bounce back…Jon always does. I was just pullin’ his leg anyways. I guess you’ve been manning the bridge then these past few days.” Trip had finished eating and was leaning back on his hands stretching out and making room for dessert.
“Yes…and I’ve noticed that Lt. Reed has been avoiding Hoshi’s and my eyes on the Bridge…perhaps for the same reason as the Captain has been avoiding his duties.” T’Pol cleared away their finished dinner plates and proceeded to serve the Pecan Pie…a generous slice for Trip…a much smaller slice for herself.
Trip smiled his appreciation at T’Pol and said, “Perhaps I should pay a visit to Malcolm next…” He laughed again at the thought of some merciless teasing he could torture his friend with. “I must admit, I enjoyed shooting Malcolm the best.” Trip dug into his dessert and looked at T’Pol’s stern reaction, “Just kidding,” he said through a mouthful of Pecan Pie.
“It does beg the question of what to tell our peers about why you were immune to the Orions…about our bond,” T’Pol pondered. She found the idea of their personal affairs to be spoken about freely amongst the crew distasteful-but the idea of being untruthful was even worse.
“Hell, I don’t even know what to tell myself about our bond, much less anyone else,” Trip replied as he put down his fork once more and leaned back once again-full and content. “I don’t even feel the bond there,” he tapped his temple, “unless you’re near-like in engineering earlier. I knew you were there before I looked up.” Trip rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I’m still surprised we got bonded at all…me just bein’ human and all.”
T’Pol gathered all the dishes together then sat back as well, “It surprised me as well that a mating bond could be formed between a Vulcan and a human. I’m at a loss to explain it except…” T’Pol paused.
“Except what?” Trip prodded.
“Except for our mutual…regard for one another. A mating bond would not have begun had not both parties desired it…to be in a romantic relationship in other words.” T’Pol was struggling with her handling of this information. She wished she had meditated before Trip’s arrival instead of waiting. She looked down and continued, “It would explain why we had such a difficult time dealing with my marriage to Koss. A bonded couple does not respond well to a third party. It would also explain why Koss let me go…he knew he could never bond with me because I was already bound…he knew that before I did.” T’Pol looked up at Trip hesitantly.
Trip put his hand over T’Pol’s, “Well I guess that makes sense…goodness knows that I was driven almost crazy…hell I left Enterprise because I couldn’t bear to be on the same ship with you anymore,” Trip leaned closer to speak directly in T’Pol’s ear, “but I came back ‘cos of you too. All’s well that ends well.” Trip moved in closer and brushed his lips against T’Pol’s cheek.
T’Pol felt her control slipping away and sat up abruptly, “I agree. The past should remain in the past.”
Trip sat up too, “No pretenses then?”
“None,” T’Pol answered quietly.
“Good,” said Trip leaning closer again, “so what’s next in your seduction of me?”
T’Pol jumped up, “Seduction! I…seduce you?” T’Pol snorted in spite of herself, “hardly a challenge considering your dreams!”
“What!” Trip’s neck and ears had begun to burn and turn red…damn! Caught! So much for his dreams being his own. Trip silently let a stream of curses flow through his brain. He was mad now.
T’Pol noticed his reaction an inwardly was disappointed in herself…she’d not meant it to come out this way…but the damage was done now. “Trip, please calm down. This is the reason I asked you here this evening…I was trying to find a delicate way to tell you that I, as a Vulcan, can shield my mind from you, but you, as a human cannot,” T’Pol tried to sooth him, “at least not yet. That was the ‘work’ we had to do tonight. I wanted to teach you some shielding techniques…to allow you your privacy.” She put her hand on his shoulder, “During the day your mind is effective at repressing your thoughts from me…probably because you are so busy, unless, as you’ve stated, I am in close proximity. But at night, you are relaxed and whether I am awake or asleep, I experience your dreams.” Trip relaxed to her touch and she drew nearer him, “So I thought if I showed you how to meditate properly before retiring for the night…we’d both benefit from the exercise.”
Trip grudgingly admitted to himself that her logic was as flawless as ever…but damn, how could he misread the signs of her intentions this evening? They were bonded after all…or was he projecting his wishful thinking into the situation. He was reflecting a while before he looked down at T’Pol waiting for his reaction.
“Well, let’s get started,” Trip headed back to the meditation pillows and T’Pol followed, “what do I do?”
“Simply make yourself comfortable on the pillow,” T’Pol kneeled on hers and Trip followed suit, “just begin by using the breathing techniques I taught you from Neuropressure.”
Trip began by closing his eyes and focusing on his breathing from his diaphragm, just like he’d been taught. He felt T’Pol do the same. Then T’Pol took his hands and placed them gently in her own.
“Now simply focus on your body; the feel of the pillow under your knees, the feel of your hands in mine, the feel of your breathing, your heart beating, and bring all that upwards and release it.” T’Pol was quiet then as she did the same.
And suddenly it all went white.
Trip opened his eyes and there he was…in the white space again with T’Pol…but… “Did I get here on my own or did you pull me here?”
T’Pol opened her eyes, “I don’t know. Try to focus on something and see what happens.”
Trip closed his eyes and thought of home…the beach of course.
Soon enough Trip and T’Pol could feel warm sand under their bare feet.
“I did that!” Trip was exited. “This is one of the places I wanted to take you…remember when you were showing me your home…I said I wanted to show you mine…here it is.”
The white space had been replaced by blue sky, an equally blue ocean and the warm sand.
“It is quite serene.” T’Pol noted.
Trip opened his arms wide and breathed in deeply, “Ahhh, it’s just like I remember it…before…” Trip tried to force the bad memories away. “Scrunch your toes in the sand T’Pol,” Trip smiled as he felt the sand between his toes, “it feels wonderful.”
T’Pol obediently scrunched her toes in the sand, “The sensation is pleasurable.”
Trip smiled and put his hand under her chin to raise her face up to his. “This is pleasurable too. What would happen if I kissed you here…” Trip waved his arm around, “in this dream world?”
“It would,” T’Pol stammered, “be like any other dream in which something of a romantic nature occurred. The physical body would experience some of the effects of anything that takes place in a dream…” T’Pol barely got finished speaking before Trip’s face was just a breath away from hers. He kissed her lightly and she fought the impulse to regain some control over this situation and let him kiss her, while she reciprocated.
T’Pol pulled away first, but Trip was smiling from ear to ear, and held her at her waist while she collected herself. “We are supposed to be working on shielding techniques,” T’Pol gently reminded him. “Go find an object, then focus on it intensely…like before when we began meditating…then let the image go up and out of your body. I will see if I can tell what the object is.”
Trip slowly let go of T’Pol’s waist and then went hunting along the shoreline. He found what he was looking for and followed T’Pol’s instructions…focusing as hard as he could then releasing the image. “O.k.” he said, “see how well I did.”
T’Pol concentrated, knowing that logically, it was probably a sea shell, but she wanted to know if she could see the particular shape or colour of it. She was surprised to find that she couldn’t see it at all. He learned quickly. “You have been most successful in blocking that image from me Trip.”
“Thanks, all it was, was a skipping stone.” Trip flung the stone out to the ocean with precision and it skipped three times before sinking. “I’m outta practice I guess…I used to be able to get them to skip more than that.”
T’Pol came up to him and placed her arm inside of his. That’s my Trip, she thought warmly to herself, defying logic as always.
“I believe we have completed the lesson for today Trip. I am going to come back to full awareness by instead of sensing the sand beneath my feet, I will allow the physical feeling of the cushion beneath my knees…I suggest you do the same…” T’Pol slowly was going out of focus.”
“Right behind you…just one more thing.” Trip reached out and kissed T’Pol again. He then went back to his physical body with a thud.
T’Pol and Trip opened their eyes back in her quarters, their hands still clasped together, and their lips joined in a kiss. T’Pol sat up first and Trip looked back at her with a grin on his face that she hadn’t seen in some time…he looked truly happy.
“I hope your experience with meditation and shielding will assist you,” T’Pol said to him quietly, “so that you will find comfort from the bond instead of frustration.”
“T’Pol, I’ve not been frustrated about the bond…well not since I found out about it…confused…sure…but I’m open to it.” Trip said, equally as gently as not to spoil the moment. They were still face to face, if but slightly further apart.
T’Pol, instead of feeling like she was losing control, felt very much in control when she took Trip’s face into her hands as she liked to do and kissed him, passionately. Trip immediately responded and put his arms around her back to pull her closer. T’Pol ran her hands down his biceps and Trip responded with a thought…or did T’Pol think it…I remember this…a scene from one of Trip’s many erotic dreams.
Trip pulled back this time, and looked down at her. He was certain now, “you are trying to seduce me…using my own dreams against me.”
T’Pol, unsure of her expected reply, did what she always did in these situations, she raised her eyebrow.
Trip broke out laughing-was still chuckling while T’Pol removed his shirt-still grinning while T’Pol removed hers-had a straight face by the time she led him to her bed.
Trip and T’Pol were comfortably entangled with each other and drifting off to sleep. Trip looked down at T’Pol’s face, her eyes closed and breathing deeply. T’Pol, his long sought after T’Pol was his just as he was hers and all was right in the universe…for now.
The End!
I did begin to write my first fanfiction by today's definition for Star Trek: Enterprise in 2005. So here it is. I probably should be embarassed, but I still love it 'cos it was my first :D
Trip/T'Pol
(oh yeah, that's where my username comes from)
Set shortly after the Fourth season episdoe "Bound'
T’Pol walked with a purpose through engineering until she found whom she was seeking. Day shift had just ended, but as usual, Trip was working over. She found him sprawled out under a power relay-fusing them together.
He sensed her there before she spoke. He peeked out from under the junction, letting his eyes travel upward. Inwardly, he admired her purple velvet clad legs before shaking his head and meeting T’Pol’s gaze.
He swallowed hard, “What can I do for ya?”
T’Pol noticed the scruffy engineer who looked like he’d been under several junctions today and decided not to offer advice on how it behooved a chief engineer to delegate such ‘grunt’ work to his subordinates-but instead got right to the point.
“I require your presence in my quarters this evening at 19:00.” T’Pol looked down on him pointedly.
Trip dropped his tool at that and gave her an incredulous stare, “require?”
T’Pol, often unsure of Trip’s meaning even with the bond, gave the only response she believed appropriate-she raised her eyebrow.
“Yes,” she pointed out, “we have a lot of work to do.” With that, T’Pol turned on her heel and left without looking back at him.
Trip grimaced at hearing his words come back at him and looked back up at his work, trying to clear his mind and failing miserably.
Trip walked into his quarters barely knowing how he’d got there. His mind had been preoccupied ever since his visit in engineering from T’Pol-so much so that it had taken much longer to complete the project he’d started with the power relays because of the distraction, and he had two minor plasma burns on his fingers to prove it. He absently put the most offending finger in his mouth and tried to remember why he came here instead of directly to T’Pol’s quarters…as ‘required’ he thought to himself sardonically. He paced around his quarters until he caught a sight of himself in the mirror. Oh yeah, he thought…I’m a mess. He noted the steak of dirt across his forehead then noted his rather pungent odour, and decided a shower was in short order. She could wait.
Trip stripped off his dirty uniform and threw it in the recycler. His skivvies joined there a moment later and he stepped into the shower and turned it on…letting the hot stream hit him directly on his head, trying to clear it. Instead, it put in his mind a dream he’d had only the night before involving T’Pol and him in a shower and what erotic things they were doing and…Tucker, he thought to himself, get a grip Tucker. That was just a dream, right? No more or no less than any other dreams he’d had of T’Pol and him being…well…intimate. Trip turned the water temperature a few degrees cooler and vigorously began washing his hair…determined again to compose himself before he went to go see T’Pol. Just a dream, he repeated to himself.
But what if…Trip thought…not only were the daydreams shared, but these night ones too? Trip paled at the thought and squinted as the shampoo had run into his eyes. He rinsed it out quickly and proceeded to soap himself up; still trying to reason out what exactly was shared between T’Pol and himself.
There was a difference…there had to be. The daydreams that he’d admitted he had shared with T’Pol were always confusing…not under his control. He’d never known how he got there or what was going to happen. The night dreams however, he knew where he was, and felt more in control of the situation…and had very vivid memories of each dream the next morning. Nope, definitely a difference Trip soothed himself. My dreams are my own…right?
Trip finished his shower and toweled off…he didn’t realize he’d been in for so long as he was cold and ‘puckered’. He chose some off duty clothes to put on, and checking his chronometer noticed that it was past 19:00.
“Damn,” he swore out loud as he put on his shoes. She was gonna be pissed. Not a good way to start an evening with having a Vulcan mad at you, he thought grimly to himself as he head out his quarters door.
T’Pol checked her chronometer again, 19:21. She chided herself for being impatient and for actually pacing back and forth in her quarters. Everything was ready, she thought to herself, but where was…just then her door chime sounded, and T’Pol jumped ever so slightly to answer.
She modulated her voice not to betray her thoughts, “Come in.”
Trip entered T’Pol’s quarters and stopped in his tracks just as soon as the door had closed behind him. In front of him was a room lit only by candles, which formed a semi-circle around two large meditation pillows. His eye travelled to the covered dinner plates on a small table behind the pillows. Trip took the breath he’d forgotten to draw upon entering and let it out in short bursts upon finally focusing on T’Pol in front of him.
She was, he thought as he huffed the breath out through his teeth, wearing-huff-her-huff-blue-huff huff-pyjamas-huuuuuuufff.
It’s not like he’d never seen her in them before, Trip tried to reason, but damn it’s been a while! Trip had just begun a grin to play on his lips before he noticed T’Pol’s facial expression. Her lips were pursed together and her brown eyes leered at Trip. Oh ya, he thought, she’s pissed.
T’Pol’s tone was terse, “You are late,” she quipped.
“I’m sorry, T’Pol, really,” Trip said. He was sorry…anything to get that look of disappointment off her face, “I had just finished a 12 hour shift in engineering and thought I’d better stop for a shower…as not to offend your Vulcan senses.” Trip added the latter…he couldn’t help himself.
T’Pol, again unsure at Trip’s clouded apology in regards to her “Vulcan senses” did what she always did in such confusing moments…she raised her eyebrow.
Trip, chuckling to himself, surveyed the scene in front of him again…the candles, pillows, food…damn…did he smell Chef’s pecan pie? Trip breathed in deeply. He did! A thought came unbidden in Trip’s head…this was a seduction scene…straight out of one of the several romances they’d played on movie nights previously! Hoshi had picked out several romance films that Trip had attended…hell he thought…I sat with T’Pol for one of them. He looked down at T’Pol to gauge her reaction to his ‘apology’.
T’Pol moved closer to Trip to give an appreciative sniff…she raised her hand to touch Trip’s still damp hair. She allowed her face to soften…just slightly, “my senses are not offended Commander”. She used his title to dig at him…she knew he wanted her to call him ‘Trip’…especially when they were alone. That’s for the ‘Vulcan senses’ quip T’Pol told herself, with a little more vindication than she probably should have felt from the look on Trip’s face.
T’Pol dropped her hand from his hair and tried to alleviate the situation before they both started their regular repertoire. “You must be hungry,” T’Pol stated, “you did not stop for lunch today.”
Trip noted that wasn’t a question-of course she knew he hadn’t stopped to eat today. She could use the bond in ways he couldn’t-yet.
T’Pol motioned over to the pillows. Trip took off his socks and shoes-remembering his meditation pillow etiquette-and sat down. T’Pol sat beside him.
“I went to the galley today,” T’Pol began, “and Chef was kind enough to allow me access to his recipes. I chose this dish to prepare…” she opened the covered dishes, “Pasta Primavera, as something we could both enjoy.”
She looked at Trip’s dumbfounded expression and continued, beginning to fill their water glasses as she spoke, “It proved not difficult to prepare…very similar to a Vulcan dish, P’kha’tar.”
Trip was too stunned to respond as quickly as he usually did, then, “You made this yourself?” Oh ya, he thought to himself, she’s definitely trying to get on his good side. Trip was a pushover for food-as was well known throughout the ship.
“Yes,” T’Pol said plainly, “Chef was most accommodating in allowing me access to the galley-which he is normally so protective of-but I am afraid my culinary skills did not extend to making Pecan Pie-I think Chef was quite insulted-he made this one,” she said while uncovering Trip’s favourite dessert.
Trip’s mouth opened and closed without saying anything-what was there to say? She had done so much for him. He smiled weakly and said, “Well they say that a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” He picked up his fork and dived in.
“That is a misnomer,” T’Pol replied while picking up her fork as well, “the digestive system and the circulatory system in a human are not connected per se…” T’Pol paused as she saw the smile fade on Trip’s face, “however, I can see that to be well fed would make the heart stronger and working to its optimum level.” There, she thought, I can understand human idioms. She tasted her food.
Trip laughed but bit his tongue. He didn’t want to spoil the moment with a wise crack-tempting though it was. She was obviously trying. He gulped some water to steady himself.
T’Pol thought to herself…perhaps this is a time to engage in some ‘small talk’. “How are the repairs going in engineering? You seem to be working a lot of 12 hour shifts since the Orion incident.”
Trip, as usual, talked while he ate, “Well, I have the engines almost back to Warp 5 capability and I’ve been doing some fine tuning trying to get ‘er up to my specs again-Kelby’s actually been helping.” Trip remembered the chagrined look on Kelby’s face when he’d received his demotion. “I guess he was embarrassed by how easily he’d been controlled by the Orions.”
“Yes,” T’Pol put down her fork and looked up at Trip, “there seems to be a lot of that embarrassment going around. The captain suffers from it, I believe. He’s been ‘hiding’ in his ready room or quarters-only on the Bridge if necessary.”
Trip put his fork down too and smirked, “I know…I went to see him last night in his quarters for a drink and just to shoot the …” Trip stopped himself just in time to avoid the dreaded eyebrow, “anyway, he was feeling kinda down on how he behaved with the Orions…one in particular…Naveen I think her name was. He asked again why I wasn’t affected…” T’Pol looked at him closely at that, “I just told him that I musta had a stronger will than him.” Trip smiled more broadly at the memory-I had him there! Poor Jon, he’d just said he was tired after that and as Trip was leaving…he could see him shuffling off to bed with Porthos in tow.
“That was hardly truthful,” T’Pol noted, “or helpful, for the Captain’s lack of confidence at this time.”
“Awwww T’Pol, he’ll bounce back…Jon always does. I was just pullin’ his leg anyways. I guess you’ve been manning the bridge then these past few days.” Trip had finished eating and was leaning back on his hands stretching out and making room for dessert.
“Yes…and I’ve noticed that Lt. Reed has been avoiding Hoshi’s and my eyes on the Bridge…perhaps for the same reason as the Captain has been avoiding his duties.” T’Pol cleared away their finished dinner plates and proceeded to serve the Pecan Pie…a generous slice for Trip…a much smaller slice for herself.
Trip smiled his appreciation at T’Pol and said, “Perhaps I should pay a visit to Malcolm next…” He laughed again at the thought of some merciless teasing he could torture his friend with. “I must admit, I enjoyed shooting Malcolm the best.” Trip dug into his dessert and looked at T’Pol’s stern reaction, “Just kidding,” he said through a mouthful of Pecan Pie.
“It does beg the question of what to tell our peers about why you were immune to the Orions…about our bond,” T’Pol pondered. She found the idea of their personal affairs to be spoken about freely amongst the crew distasteful-but the idea of being untruthful was even worse.
“Hell, I don’t even know what to tell myself about our bond, much less anyone else,” Trip replied as he put down his fork once more and leaned back once again-full and content. “I don’t even feel the bond there,” he tapped his temple, “unless you’re near-like in engineering earlier. I knew you were there before I looked up.” Trip rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I’m still surprised we got bonded at all…me just bein’ human and all.”
T’Pol gathered all the dishes together then sat back as well, “It surprised me as well that a mating bond could be formed between a Vulcan and a human. I’m at a loss to explain it except…” T’Pol paused.
“Except what?” Trip prodded.
“Except for our mutual…regard for one another. A mating bond would not have begun had not both parties desired it…to be in a romantic relationship in other words.” T’Pol was struggling with her handling of this information. She wished she had meditated before Trip’s arrival instead of waiting. She looked down and continued, “It would explain why we had such a difficult time dealing with my marriage to Koss. A bonded couple does not respond well to a third party. It would also explain why Koss let me go…he knew he could never bond with me because I was already bound…he knew that before I did.” T’Pol looked up at Trip hesitantly.
Trip put his hand over T’Pol’s, “Well I guess that makes sense…goodness knows that I was driven almost crazy…hell I left Enterprise because I couldn’t bear to be on the same ship with you anymore,” Trip leaned closer to speak directly in T’Pol’s ear, “but I came back ‘cos of you too. All’s well that ends well.” Trip moved in closer and brushed his lips against T’Pol’s cheek.
T’Pol felt her control slipping away and sat up abruptly, “I agree. The past should remain in the past.”
Trip sat up too, “No pretenses then?”
“None,” T’Pol answered quietly.
“Good,” said Trip leaning closer again, “so what’s next in your seduction of me?”
T’Pol jumped up, “Seduction! I…seduce you?” T’Pol snorted in spite of herself, “hardly a challenge considering your dreams!”
“What!” Trip’s neck and ears had begun to burn and turn red…damn! Caught! So much for his dreams being his own. Trip silently let a stream of curses flow through his brain. He was mad now.
T’Pol noticed his reaction an inwardly was disappointed in herself…she’d not meant it to come out this way…but the damage was done now. “Trip, please calm down. This is the reason I asked you here this evening…I was trying to find a delicate way to tell you that I, as a Vulcan, can shield my mind from you, but you, as a human cannot,” T’Pol tried to sooth him, “at least not yet. That was the ‘work’ we had to do tonight. I wanted to teach you some shielding techniques…to allow you your privacy.” She put her hand on his shoulder, “During the day your mind is effective at repressing your thoughts from me…probably because you are so busy, unless, as you’ve stated, I am in close proximity. But at night, you are relaxed and whether I am awake or asleep, I experience your dreams.” Trip relaxed to her touch and she drew nearer him, “So I thought if I showed you how to meditate properly before retiring for the night…we’d both benefit from the exercise.”
Trip grudgingly admitted to himself that her logic was as flawless as ever…but damn, how could he misread the signs of her intentions this evening? They were bonded after all…or was he projecting his wishful thinking into the situation. He was reflecting a while before he looked down at T’Pol waiting for his reaction.
“Well, let’s get started,” Trip headed back to the meditation pillows and T’Pol followed, “what do I do?”
“Simply make yourself comfortable on the pillow,” T’Pol kneeled on hers and Trip followed suit, “just begin by using the breathing techniques I taught you from Neuropressure.”
Trip began by closing his eyes and focusing on his breathing from his diaphragm, just like he’d been taught. He felt T’Pol do the same. Then T’Pol took his hands and placed them gently in her own.
“Now simply focus on your body; the feel of the pillow under your knees, the feel of your hands in mine, the feel of your breathing, your heart beating, and bring all that upwards and release it.” T’Pol was quiet then as she did the same.
And suddenly it all went white.
Trip opened his eyes and there he was…in the white space again with T’Pol…but… “Did I get here on my own or did you pull me here?”
T’Pol opened her eyes, “I don’t know. Try to focus on something and see what happens.”
Trip closed his eyes and thought of home…the beach of course.
Soon enough Trip and T’Pol could feel warm sand under their bare feet.
“I did that!” Trip was exited. “This is one of the places I wanted to take you…remember when you were showing me your home…I said I wanted to show you mine…here it is.”
The white space had been replaced by blue sky, an equally blue ocean and the warm sand.
“It is quite serene.” T’Pol noted.
Trip opened his arms wide and breathed in deeply, “Ahhh, it’s just like I remember it…before…” Trip tried to force the bad memories away. “Scrunch your toes in the sand T’Pol,” Trip smiled as he felt the sand between his toes, “it feels wonderful.”
T’Pol obediently scrunched her toes in the sand, “The sensation is pleasurable.”
Trip smiled and put his hand under her chin to raise her face up to his. “This is pleasurable too. What would happen if I kissed you here…” Trip waved his arm around, “in this dream world?”
“It would,” T’Pol stammered, “be like any other dream in which something of a romantic nature occurred. The physical body would experience some of the effects of anything that takes place in a dream…” T’Pol barely got finished speaking before Trip’s face was just a breath away from hers. He kissed her lightly and she fought the impulse to regain some control over this situation and let him kiss her, while she reciprocated.
T’Pol pulled away first, but Trip was smiling from ear to ear, and held her at her waist while she collected herself. “We are supposed to be working on shielding techniques,” T’Pol gently reminded him. “Go find an object, then focus on it intensely…like before when we began meditating…then let the image go up and out of your body. I will see if I can tell what the object is.”
Trip slowly let go of T’Pol’s waist and then went hunting along the shoreline. He found what he was looking for and followed T’Pol’s instructions…focusing as hard as he could then releasing the image. “O.k.” he said, “see how well I did.”
T’Pol concentrated, knowing that logically, it was probably a sea shell, but she wanted to know if she could see the particular shape or colour of it. She was surprised to find that she couldn’t see it at all. He learned quickly. “You have been most successful in blocking that image from me Trip.”
“Thanks, all it was, was a skipping stone.” Trip flung the stone out to the ocean with precision and it skipped three times before sinking. “I’m outta practice I guess…I used to be able to get them to skip more than that.”
T’Pol came up to him and placed her arm inside of his. That’s my Trip, she thought warmly to herself, defying logic as always.
“I believe we have completed the lesson for today Trip. I am going to come back to full awareness by instead of sensing the sand beneath my feet, I will allow the physical feeling of the cushion beneath my knees…I suggest you do the same…” T’Pol slowly was going out of focus.”
“Right behind you…just one more thing.” Trip reached out and kissed T’Pol again. He then went back to his physical body with a thud.
T’Pol and Trip opened their eyes back in her quarters, their hands still clasped together, and their lips joined in a kiss. T’Pol sat up first and Trip looked back at her with a grin on his face that she hadn’t seen in some time…he looked truly happy.
“I hope your experience with meditation and shielding will assist you,” T’Pol said to him quietly, “so that you will find comfort from the bond instead of frustration.”
“T’Pol, I’ve not been frustrated about the bond…well not since I found out about it…confused…sure…but I’m open to it.” Trip said, equally as gently as not to spoil the moment. They were still face to face, if but slightly further apart.
T’Pol, instead of feeling like she was losing control, felt very much in control when she took Trip’s face into her hands as she liked to do and kissed him, passionately. Trip immediately responded and put his arms around her back to pull her closer. T’Pol ran her hands down his biceps and Trip responded with a thought…or did T’Pol think it…I remember this…a scene from one of Trip’s many erotic dreams.
Trip pulled back this time, and looked down at her. He was certain now, “you are trying to seduce me…using my own dreams against me.”
T’Pol, unsure of her expected reply, did what she always did in these situations, she raised her eyebrow.
Trip broke out laughing-was still chuckling while T’Pol removed his shirt-still grinning while T’Pol removed hers-had a straight face by the time she led him to her bed.
Trip and T’Pol were comfortably entangled with each other and drifting off to sleep. Trip looked down at T’Pol’s face, her eyes closed and breathing deeply. T’Pol, his long sought after T’Pol was his just as he was hers and all was right in the universe…for now.
The End!