Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I don't own Enterprise, I don't own my house, I don't own my car, I don't own my pants. Where…are my pants? Trip…stop playing with the damn transporter...
Warnings: Sexual Content yeah, it's explicit so be warned. It is also containing a good amount of slash, it's a threesome people, everyone get some attention…a lot of attention…all the attention they can get ^_~ You have been warned.
Author's Note: Through conversation compliments and persuasion I was asked to fill in the gap between these two stories. This originates from a friends comment of "What the hell happened? Trip falls asleep to "we love you" and wakes up to the 3rd degree?" WTF?" To which I explained a whole series of hint droped things throughout the first and second chapter as to how Archer and T'Pol are feeling but it is not explicitly state because this was a first person Tucker fic. To which her response was "Bull shit:write it... ... ... I'll give you a cookie" As we all know I will do anything...anything...for a cookie.
I am Between the Lines
Jon woke up at the crack of dawn without an obtrusive alarm for persuasion. He glanced up at the naked Vulcan wrapped around the equally naked human man in his bed and felt himself smile. His heart thudded in his chest. God it was real. It was really real. He let his heart speed up for a moment, staring down at the sleeping blonde and letting himself admire both him and the long haired woman in his arms. One hand traced the sleeping man's forehead slowly in the early morning light. Trip always slept heavily and the Admiral didn't worry about waking him. He stroked the skin gently lost in thought. This was amazing. Perfect. A dream come true.
A dream come true. Oh Fuck. Too good to be true.
Jon's mind suddenly came to a screeching halt. He looked down at the sleeping man with a striking realization of just how perfect this situation was. He slid slowly from the bed, careful not to wake up the other man. He grabbed his uniform and slipped out. He took a quick shower in the second bathroom, hoping not to wake up either of sleepers in the other room but, but he knew that his pounding heart and racing mind would wake the Vulcan any moment. He covered his eyes in the warm water thinking hard about his best friend from seven years ago. That is the Trip he knew. That is the Charles Tucker that was his best friend. That man was the one he recognized and there was something wrong with this one. He knew what it was but he struggled with his gut.
T'Pol emerged, around the edge of the shower wall, her face passive but her mind flushing question and concern into his mind along with a strong dose of calming love.
Archer closed his eyes hard. Clenching his jaw tightly. He struggled to pull up the mental defenses he used during the day at Starfleet for a measure of privacy in his mind. T'pol blinked at the back of Jon's broad shoulders. "Jonathan?" She asked, voice level and yet questioning. He could feel her strong mind pulling back behind his wall out of respect but not before feeling the hurt in that rejection she would dare not show on her face. "For what reason do you block our bond."
Jon ignored her for the moment as he washed quickly. He felt her gently emerse his mine with love and patience like a moat around the wall in his mind but he just growled in response. "Enough"
T'Pol blinked slightly stunned. "You are upset, I am only attempting to assist your process of your overwhelming emotions."
Jon leaned down, eyes vivid. "I said enough. Shut it down." The human slipped by the naked Vulcan stepping out to grab a towel. He didn't miss the last inquisitive brush of whiteness in his head. "Now T'Pol. Shut it down now." He dried off and stepped into the second bedroom where he pulled on his admiral's uniform.
T'Pol however did not understand the flights of human emotion. Jon should be happy. Jon was happy last night. He was amazingly happy. They all were. What on earth could make him change his mind, not only shutting her out but ordering her out of his mind, something he hadn't done in years, but inspired the rush of panic in his chest? She did as he asked though, coolly pulling back the connection between their minds.
It was actually rather difficult to isolate him from her. After so long it was like a river. It has eroded away all blocks between them and carved a deep well for it to flow in. It was so used to flowing freely that it did not wish to be contained. T'pol however used her Vulcan discipline to do as she was asked. She removed herself, temporarily from her lover and bondmate's mind. She buried her confusion and hurt.
Jonathan was upset and he would talk with her, the same way he always did. She knew this meant only that the Admiral was feeling influenced and unclear. He wished not to be tampered with while he thought, to not feel influenced by her mind or emotions. He had to be sure his thoughts were his own and not her's. Humans were always a little funny about their thoughts. They are usually quite possessive.
She washed efficiently and dressed in her white cat suit, unfairly aware that Jonathan favored it. She also felt more secure in the clothing, something that made her feel strong and supported, more so than a dress. He may not wish to be affected by her emotions but she still had the power to remind him of his own.
Archer began brewing coffee and was leaning against the counter in thought when T'Pol entered the room. "What is it that disturbs you?" She asked evenly. Patiently waiting for the answer.
"I loved him you know." Jon said, voice a little lost.
"Yes. You said as much last night…" T'Pol answered waiting for the key to whatever was bothering him.
"No. Years ago. When he was just my best friend." Jon kept his eyes glued to the tile floor. "I love him and I watched him and you know who he watched?" T'Pol didn't answer. She didn't have to. Jon looked at her with strangely deep green eyes. "He watched you. He loved you. Every bit of him. Every day. He talked about you all the time. I could tell from his frustration with you, just how much he loved you. He never looked at me that way though. He never saw how much I cared. He loved me like a friend, like a brother. When things were horrible for me, he was the one I leaned. I pushed the man I loved the most knowing he would always forgive me." He took a deep shuttering breath.
"He never wanted to kiss me T'Pol. He worshiped me like a hero. He admired my father and my family. He would follow me to the end of the earth and he gave his life for me. But…Never. Never in all that time did he ever want to kiss me. I waited for it. I watched for it. I begged for it." The Admiral looked down. "He only had eyes for you. So why do you think after seven years he woke up and then wanted to kiss me?"
T'Pol knew she wasn't supposed to answer. Not yet.
"The mind meld. You showed him us?" Jon asked, voice a little rough and harder than before.
"Yes." She answered, voice even.
"You showed him us. Together. You showed him how you felt about me." Archer clarified and T'Pol's logical mind clicked into place.
"Emotional Transference?" She asked, one eyebrow slipping up.
Archer ran heavy fingers through his hair, listening to the hallow sound of brewing coffee. "Is it possible. You showed him how much you loved me. You showed him that and he…mistook it for his own emotions?" T'Pol was silent. She didn't know. "He was asleep for seven years. From the moment he wakes up your hopes are in his head. For god's sake, he still calls me Captain. What if you filled his head with this? What if he doesn't want me at all? What if he still only has eyes for you and what he feels for me…is just a shadow…a reflection of what you feel for me? What happens when the emotional transference wears off and he realizes he doesn't want me? Worse yet he realizes the feelings are yours and thinks you put them there…on purpose…"
The Vulcan turned then, taking the finished coffee and pouring the black liquid into a travel mug on the counter. "We will just have to ask him then." She tightened the lid with a sure touch. "I will hold back my communication with him through the bond and we will discuss with him what he expects from this arrangement."
Archer took the cup, face downcast, "And what if he doesn't-"
"He does." She said, hard voice interrupting me. "I understand your concern, and it is on some level valid, nevertheless, I believe you are mistaken." The admiral's bright green eyes snap up to meet her dark chocolate brown ones and she tilts her chin up in renewed confidence. "He has not been awake for seven years and perhaps my memories and emotions caused him to see you in a manner he had not before considered. However, your process of his emotion is second hand and through his own limited vocabulary. I am confident that his feelings for you, and what he has confessed to you ,is his. I also believe what he feels was deep in his heart far before I brought it out in him."
Jon was silent for a long time, his body tense. He processed those words slowly but carefully. He closed his eyes letting out a long breath and dropping the wall in his mind. He felt T'Pol's mind flood back around his in cool reassurance. She knew he was sorry for the accusation, for getting upset and asking her to pull herself from his mind, he silently let her feel his shame and fear and trepidation. She experienced it inside him and took every bit of the emotion under the weight of her logical understanding. She wishes she could immerse him in Trip's love for him but he was too raw for that and T'Pol did not yet have enough clear memory and emotion from the engineer to do that. She settled for the reassurance of her own love and the reality of that.
"May I ask the urgency behind this insecurity?" The woman asked, voice very patient in her quest for understanding.
Jon handed her a padd, eyes trying hard not to show how worried he was but it came through the mental link like a wave of blackness. "We are out of time."
With a quark of her eyebrow handed the mug to the Admiral and nodded evenly. "Then we ask him now."
~0~
AN: Hope that fills in a little more info for those of you who were unsatisfied or confused. If not, I still want my cookie Sarah and your not backing out now.
