Chapter Text
Author's notes: Just something I had on a back burner for awhile. {} are thoughts. telepathic communication at first is in all CAPS. They are not yelling at each other. I tend to like all types of stories but am partial to A/T'P. Sorry guys. All I ask is just be honest but not belligerent.
Captain's log supplemental-
Starfleet has asked T'Pol and I to attend a conference on Rigel VII to help farther the Federation of Planets through its infancy. Enterprise has an exploratory mission in the next sector of space so we will take a shuttle to the conference. It should be an easy few days.
Captain Jonathan Archer walks the familiar corridors of his ship his mind focusing elsewhere. It has been nearly nine months since Commander Tucker's funeral down in Florida. The day was drenched in rain with black looming clouds, the ceremony modest at the family's request. Only friends and family were invited, the public and press had to stand outside the cemetery. He was laid to rest next to his sister, who had died only the year before during the attack on Earth. Jonathan stood next to T'Pol, Hoshi and Malcolm without an umbrella. That was when he felt T'Pol move closer to his side to share her umbrella; he looked to her not really knowing what to say. She reached down and clasped her hand to his as if to say, "It's okay, I miss him too." Yet he also remembered a similar instance in a dream he once had, when his dog Porthos was ill. Did he dream Tucker's funeral as well? He was in a haze then just going through the motions then.
Sometimes he felt as if he were dreaming and expected Trip to come bounding next to him to say good morning in that southern draw of his. Though it never happened. Since that day though life crawled on as Enterprise was refitted for a survey mission that was to last several months. For her and her crew though it would be the last. Enterprise was scheduled for mothballing upon her return and the crew was to be sent elsewhere. Hoshi was to teach at the new Starfleet academy; Malcolm was to be promoted to Commander and T'Pol…. Jonathan stopped in mid thought…T'Pol would leave him. With this thought Archer entered the turbo lift not noticing T'Pol standing there. Out of habit he grabbed the lift handle and spoke where he wanted to go….
"Deck 7."
"Going to your quarters Captain?" T'Pol's voice bringing Archer out of his thoughts.
"I was just thinking about you." Archer replied not thinking as he spoke.
T'Pol raised a single eyebrow in true Vulcan fashion with a slight tilt to her head. "May I ask why?" {Has it been the same thoughts I have had of you? Enough T'Pol you need more meditation}
Archer puts his fingers to the bridge of his nose as if he was massaging a coming headache as he silently chided himself. "Starfleet has asked if you and I could attend a conference on Rigel 7 as a presence." {Good Johnny boy make it sound official so she can't say no}"I was coming to talk to you about it."
"Is that the only reason you were thinking of me Captain?" T'Pol asked a small quirk gleaming in her brown eyes.{I could think of more. STOP IT T'POL!}
{Damn it T'Pol let it go please.} Thought Archer as he replied to her "Actually no it wasn't. It's been awhile since we had dinner together and I wanted to know if you'd care to join me in the Captain's mess tonight."
"We have both been occupied as of late with our duties as Captain and First Officer." T'Pol states in a logical tone that never sounded sarcastic but sometimes had a ring to them. {That and I've been avoiding you because of these thoughts I keep having of you}
"I understand our duties have not allowed us to share a meal together and that's why I asked. Besides I looked at the duty roster and you're off now."
"Is that an order Captain?"
"Why would it be an…." Jonathan stopped in mid sentence as he realized a sudden thought. {Does she detest my presence? Since when?} "Don't worry about it T'Pol, it was only a suggestion from a friend."
As he says these last words the turbo lift doors open and he steps off leaving T'Pol standing there baffled.
An Hour later T'Pol steps into the Medical Bay looking for advice. The only person she could comfortably speak to has always been Dr. Phlox.
"Commander T'Pol what can I do for you?" Phlox asks, his demeanor cheerful.
"I believe I have hurt some one's feelings." Answers T'Pol as she stands stoically Vulcan.
"This person is close to you?" Asks Phlox already guessing whom it could be.
"He is a close friend." T'Pol began feeling as though she were being examined.
"Captain Archer?"
"How did you know?"
"You only have three close friends on this ship T'Pol. I'm one of them, Hoshi is another and Captain Archer is another. Since I know you didn't hurt my feelings and you said He is a close friend that rules out Hoshi."{That and you care for the Captain more than you will admit to anyone}
"I see your logic." T'Pol iterates {I hate when he's right}"Jonathan asked me to dinner and I was in a mood."
"What mood?"{Her pon'farr isn't for another year.}
"After my ordeal with Trillium my emotions are closer to the surface and I get these moods as if I what to play as Trip and Jonathan did, or as I see human close friends do. I tried it today in the turbo lift with Jonathan and I believe he took it the wrong way." {If he did I need to make amends}
"Did you try to tell him that?"
"No."
"I suggest you do before barriers are placed up where they don't belong."
"How?"
"As you have told me is a good start."
It is 2230 hrs in the ship's gym where a human male is pounding a punching bag working himself into exhaustion. Next to him sits a four legged animal referred to as man's best friend.
"What the "humph" Hell is "humph" Her "humph" problem "humph" Porthos?" Jonathan hits the bag harder and faster with each word. His dog sitting there watching the movement of the bag, his ears perched as if listening to his master…"All "humph" I said "humph" if she'd "humph" like to "Humph" have "humph" dinner with "humph" me and "humph" she asks "humph" if it "humph" was an order." With this last word Archer hits the bag even harder as if to drive the point home.
As if on queue the gym door opens and a certain Vulcan walks in. She tenses herself in lewd of the expected upcoming argument. She has known Jonathan Archer for five years and has grown to respect him as a Captain, a fellow shipmate, and one of her best friends on the Enterprise. In that time they have fought together and against each other, she knows how stubborn this man can be, how passionate he can be. Earlier after she spoke to Phlox she went to the Captain's mess to join Archer but the steward had said that the Captain never came to eat. She than used the ship's sensors to try to locate him through his COM link which placed him in his room. She went there hoping to talk to him, taking the doctor's advice but found he wasn't there either, only his communicator. Logically that lead her to two conclusions, Jonathan did not want to be disturbed and two he was working off steam running or in the gym. She decided to wait a few hours to allow him to become less impassioned and more reasonable. She waited until 11 pm Earth time and decided to make her way to him in the gym. Which lead her to this point in time looking at a glistening, well exhausted, physically pleasing Jonathan Archer.
{Physically pleasing T'Pol. You know he always has been and it is logically astute to know your surroundings, to know what might distract you. Not now T'Pol}
She snaps herself out of her thoughts quickly waiting to hear him say something, anything, yet nothing. Not even his "Hello Commander" when he was trying not to be personal. {This may not have been a good idea}
"I'd say I'm done but you don't look like you came to work out." Archer replies slightly winded. Grabbing a towel from a bench a few steps away from her. Porthos wagging his tail, showing how glad he was to see T'Pol.
"An astute observation Captain. Your logic serves you well. I came to clear the air about this afternoon in the turbo lift." T'Pol felt odd as if she were playing chess with Archer, knowing the wrong move would cost her.
"Don't worry Comman.."Archer goes to reply trying to cut this conversation short. He wasn't in the mood to get into any arguments with T'Pol tonight. He was tired, sore and worn out. He just wanted to go take a shower and go to bed, and then get ready to go to the conference without her. That was before T'Pol interrupted
"I do worry. I worry you took what I said wrong." T'Pol felt a proverbial lump in her throat as she spoke quickly and decisively. "As you showed your logic moments ago, I was trying to show humor earlier."
"What?" Archer said {She was joking with me. I usually can see when she is kidding in that Vulcan way but I didn't see it at all today. Was I that distracted? I feel like an ass.}
"This is hard to say." {A lot of things are hard to say like how I feel about you.} "After the trillium exposure and rehabilitation you know how hard it is for me to keep my emotions in check. I have found that I am more impulsive around certain people. I want to play so to speak. I believe you would call it picking jovially." {That's not all I want to do though}
"You were joking with me." Archer chuckled as he placed his hand on the back of his head. "I feel like a jerk. I'm sorry T'Pol."
"Would you care to eat now? As I understand it you skipped dinner." T'Pol responds, hoping he'd say yes.
{I'd like to eat…John stop it. She's your friend and first officer.} "Yeah I am pretty hungry."
As they began to exit the gym Archer stopped "You mind if I get a shower? I mean I know you have a nasal inhibitor but I know I stink and though you say you have gotten use to we human's smell…"
"Your odor isn't offensive to me Jonathan." {Actually it is more pleasing to me now.}
"Are you sure."
"Yes."
0030 hrs in the ship's galley at a table in the corner near the food dispenser Jonathan Archer and T'Pol sit conversing on a multitude of subjects from work to personal subjects. Archer smirked a little as T'Pol ate the last bit of pecan pie she had retrieved after she ate her normal blend of salad and carrots. T'Pol noticed his action and raised an eyebrow
"Is there something funny Jonathan?"{Do I have something on my mouth?}
"Actually it is. I remember when Trip introduced you to that." Archer pointed to the empty plate and then a sadness washed over him. Though he didn't show it, T'Pol knew how he felt. How he missed Trip, she missed Trip as well at times but one cannot dwell on lost friends. He will always be remembered as a good man and friend.
"I have tried other deserts over time but this is still more pleasing to me." T'Pol answered. "When do we have to go attend the conference on Rigel 7?"
"Oh its scheduled for day after tomorrow and since Enterprise won't be passing too close to the planet I'm going to take a shuttle pod tomorrow."
"You?"
"Sorry we. I was thinking about going tomorrow without you before we cleared the air."
"I would have been displeased and disappointed."{I want to spend time with you}
After a few more minutes of talking the two friends call it a night with Jonathan Archer walking T'Pol to her quarters and T'Pol oddly giving him a hug. As her door closed Archer was left momentarily stunned, unsure of what happened. It was not unheard of Archer giving T'Pol a hug every so often but in the five years he had known her, she never initiated one. {Maybe she's becoming more human than she thinks.}
As the door shuts closing off T'Pol from the rest of the ship a small smirk appears on her elven features. She knows that she enjoys Jonathan Archer's company, even more so that they had shared a mission in the wastes of Vulcan. She had always known she was attracted to him, from the first moment she saw him as he threatened to put her on her butt to the moments in the Vulcan temple in those first years. After all it was logical to be attracted to someone, even Vulcan's knew love. It was just not expressed in obvious ways. Vulcan had been at war with itself for centuries if not thousands of years. It was not until the suppression of emotion under the guidance of Sarrek did the wars stop. Vulcans embraced logic over emotion, repressing the more based emotions.
To understand Vulcans and their offshoot the Romulans as a people one must know their past. Vulcans are shaped by their history and the events that took place during their history more so than other races in the known galaxy. At one time five hundred thousand years ago Vulcan was a planet of vast tropical forest teeming with an over abundance of life. It had a vast ecosystem under a yellow-orange sun with bluish purple skies. Here there were two sentient races living together. One was the modern Vulcan and the other were great worm-like beings that were simply called Wyrms. The Wyrm were a fully telepathic race realized millions of years prior and watched as the Vulcans evolved and adapted. It was they who taught these early primitive people to reach out with their minds. That was until fate decided to play a cruel trick upon the planet called Vulcan. The yellow-orange sun trembled and convulsed in several macro-spasms and erupted, growing larger and hotter becoming a blue-white star. It engulfed two of the fourteen planets, causing Vulcan to become a cascade of fire and maelstrom. In the end only a handful of Vulcans scattered around the globe survived, it's once vast resources were know gone and life became a hard fought challenge. The mentality of the Vulcan people became extremely aggressive having to compete for resources. The Wyrm became extinct in the early cataclysms and their teachings forgotten. So Eden was lost to them forever and they abandoned whatever gods they worshiped descending into war and bloodshed.*