Date: August 18th, 2009
Legalese: All characters belong to the powers that be and I can't do a damn thing.
Genre: TnT, Missing Scene
Setting: Through Season 2

Authors Note: This was a challenge, since not much TnT interaction was present in the actual episode, as was in many episodes of the second season. That's why this is going to be shorter than your usual delivery. 4. Dead Stop

"Captain, you've gotta try this," Trip urged Archer after the strange resequencer had produced an excellent catfish.

"Thanks, but I'll stick with whatever Chef's serving. I'll be on the bridge." Archer left hurriedly. He was obviously quite upset about the uninvited scan of the ship.

"He's got no idea, what he's missing," Trip muttered and decided to enjoy his cat fish. "Ice tea!" he commanded the strange device to complete his meal.

Once he had all components of his feast he sat at one of the nearby tables. To his amazement, T'Pol walked up to the device and ordered a Vulcan Plomeek broth to go with her glass of water and she sat down on the same table across from Trip and began eating as well.

Trip broke into a wide grin, which caught T'Pol's attention.

"You find this amusing, Commander?"

"Well, yeah. To be honest I was expecting a lecture about wasting time on duty rather than you joining me for a meal. Mind you, I'm not complaining."

"It is lunchtime anyway; It is logical to use this opportunity to eat. It will be a good opportunity to raise crew morale by allowing other crew members to use this facility as well."

* * *

"What is it, Commander?" T'Pol asked after a while, when she noticed that Commander Tucker was still smiling.

"Don't know if it would be such a smart move to tell you," he answered and T'Pol noticed that his face turned red. She had learned that this was a human sign of uneasiness or embarrassment.

"It is not typical for you to be ill at ease to speak about something," T'Pol replied calmly, realizing that she had caught Commander Tucker digging himself a nice hole to fall into. According to Ensign Sato's explanations, this was a perfect time to engage in human 'teasing'.

"Well, uh; I hope you're not offended Subcommander, but this almost feels like a date and I haven't been on one since almost two years," Trip admitted and tried hard to avoid any eye contact with T'Pol.

"I see no reason to take offense. As far as I am familiar with human socializing customs, dates are conducted by either mates or individuals, who consider each other friends. I take it that you do consider me a friend then?" She knew that this direct approach would make him even more uncomfortable. It was surprising, how the one human, who always had an answer to everything, could get so tongue-tied when dealing with her.

"Well, uh, yes. Actually I do," Trip said warily, not sure what her reaction would be.

"In this case I suppose, your … 'feeling' is justified."

Trip sat up ramrod straight – his eyes wide in astonishment. "Uh, does that mean, if I would ask you on a date – theoretically of course – you wouldn't turn me down?"

"Theoretically, of course, if it would not interfere with my duties or other plans, no."

Trip knew exactly that this was a close as he would ever get her to admit that she considered him a friend or whatever the Vulcan equivalent would be. He had to fight the urge to dig deeper and try to extort an exact admission. The importance of what she had just admitted in a roundabout way was too valuable, however, to risk it by annoying her.

* * *

Vulcans do not laugh, else T'Pol would have doubled over screaming in laughter about the ridiculous scene that had just unfolded. Literally out of thin air Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Reed had appeared on the bridge, crawling on all fours.

"Good evening, Subcommander," the Chief engineer stammered in obvious embarrassment.

A raised eyebrow indicated, that the Subcommander didn't quite understand what had happened. Although the position, in which she saw her fellow officers, was less than professional conduct, and anything but common workplace practice, she found herself unable to launch into one of her trademark lectures about proper behavior for an officer. No doubt humans would call her emotional state 'amused'.

"I surmise that you have an explanation for your unusual posture Commander?"

"Uh... well... it's kind of a long story, Subcommander," Trip muttered in obvious embarrassment.

"I wanna hear it," Captain Archer growled and summoned both officers to his ready room.

Malcolm shot Trip a 'told you so' look as they followed the Captain.

* * *

"I smell a rat," Trip said and shook his head. The mysterious death of Travis had taken the whole crew by surprise. Quite out of character, the Chief Engineer had not said much until now. T'Pol would have allowed herself an indulgence in feeling gratified, if it wasn't for the sad reason behind the human's uncharacteristically subdued demeanor. By any means, this had been the quietest of the many meals she had shared with him.

"I doubt that Chef uses rodents to prepare his meals and it is unjust to make such allegations."

Normally Trip would have laughed about her confusion with his colorful figures of speech, but he was too lost in his own emotional turmoil. "No, T'Pol, it's a figure of speech. It means that I think, the whole situation is suspicious. Travis would never disobey an order that blatantly. I'll be damned if that station out there hasn't got anything to do with it."

"The Captain finds the station suspicious as well. Maybe there is reason for added caution."

"Well, lets hope Phlox finds something," Trip sighed as silence befell their meal again.