Spoiler Alerts for "Broken Bow"!

Trip wants to make a sale...but will T'Pol buy.

The Story A Day prompt for today was to write a story in which someone wants to sell something...

Critiques and comments always gratefully accepted - they make me a better writer.

She's sitting all by herself with what looks like a bowl of watery soup mostly untouched –at her elbow, and her nose all but buried in a PADD. She doesn't look remotely like she wants company.

But then, I've been making it my habit to do what she doesn't want, and she hasn't told me to get lost yet, so I try to pretend I'm not half-scared of her, and the other half terrified of what she'll say when I say what I still can only half believe I'm about to say.

That's a lot of halves, and I know I'm stalling. I bite the bullet.

"Hi there, Sub-Commander."

"Commander Tucker." She doesn't look up from the PADD, but she's not using that clipped tone that suggests she'd rather be chewed up by fire ants than be in my presence one second longer than she needs to.

Maybe that's something. Maybe it means I've got a shot in hell of making this sale. The next few seconds will tell me a lot. I go for broke.

"Mind if I join you?"

Humans are often imprecise in their phrasing. I attempt to decipher Commander Tucker's meaning – would a human suggest mating in such a public place, and with such lack of attention to the intimacy of such acts?

I inhale fully, but without giving evidence that I'm testing his scent. He is agitated, but not aroused, so the most obvious meaning is unlikely to be what he intended.

"Well, never mind –" He begins to turn away; I've taken too long to respond. Humans seem to always be moving, seeking greater momentum.

"You may – join me, Commander." I'm still uncertain as to what I've accepted, but he assumes his former position and smiles.

"Great! I'm going to grab a bite – you want anything? Doesn't look like you care for…whatever that is."

"It is plomik broth, and it's adequate. However, my digestive tract has been somewhat unsettled since I arrived on Enterprise."

"I can get you tea. That might help settle things down enough so you can enjoy your – plomeek broth." He gestures in the direction of the drink dispenser, and his scent shifts subtly.

"If you wish, Commander." I don't know what he intends, but instinct directs me to accept his offer.

"Don't go anywhere."

I'm learning something of the way this species communicates; I don't comment on the illogic of the statement. "I will remain here, Commander Tucker."

I'd love to get past all her oh-so-formal "Commander Tuckers" – but one step at a time. We're on our way home; if I don't get her on my hooks now, I'm not going to get a chance to loosen her up enough to call me Trip, shake my hand – and maybe let me find out whether all those dreams I've had about her are just wishful thinking, or if there's even the whisper of a chance of something more.

What she's given me so far isn't much, but it's maybe more than I deserve, with the way I yelled at her in Engineering and on the Bridge. I was way out of line, and we both know it, and yet, she hasn't said another word about it.

I decide to take that as a good sign. I tell the dispenser, "Vulcan tea, hot." I'd love to slip her some ginger for her upset stomach, because that can't be making this mission any easier for her, but I don't know whether it affects Vulcans the same way it does humans, and it doesn't seem fair to use her as a guinea pig at a time like this.

I bring her the tea – she's already back to reading the PADD, and I decide I can make my case better if I'm not constantly begging for her attention. I just set it down next to the mostly uneaten broth, then go back to grab a ham sandwich and some milk for myself before taking the seat opposite hers.

And then we just sit there. We might as well be on two separate planets. I almost wish I had thought to bring a PADD of my own. But, then again, maybe she would never look up, and I'd never get the chance to do what I really want to do – sell her on the idea of staying with Enterprise.

I need to get on with this, before she gets up and leaves, back to the impenetrable fortress of her room.

"Reading anything interesting?" I ask, when staring at my sandwich gets old, and my milk has nothing to say.

"I left duties behind at the Consulate. I will be expected to resume them, upon my return. I have been using my off-duty hours to attend to what I'm able."

Now my stomach sinks. Does she want to go back to her tidy little life at the Consulate, while I get ready to ship off for I don't even know how many years? Or maybe she doesn't want to go back at all, but just doesn't see any other option. Might be best if I don't assume; treat this just as any other conversation for a while, until I find my opening…and then I need to really sell it.

"That's very efficient of you. You must be eager to get back."

"My feelings on my return are of little importance. It's my assignment."

I don't tell Commander Tucker that I have no wish to return to Earth, to go back to the Consulate, where I could go among his people only when authorized, or when I could manage a covert excursion.

I want to remain here, on Enterprise, where he is.

However, I have no logical reason for this desire, and therefore, no means by which to discuss it. Moreover, Captain Archer is clearly biased against my species, and extends that bias to me, personally. He resents my assignment here and will be quite pleased when it ends.

"Well, it's not right now. Right now, your assignment is right here. And we have this strange idea that people need some actual time off. To eat. Rest. Pursue a hobby, or have a conversation with a crewmate."

"Vulcans don't require as much rest as humans do. We also find performing our duties satisfactorily to be pleasing. And I am currently conversing with a crewmate."

"Hmmm…it's not much of a conversation. Is there anything you enjoy doing beyond your duty and reminding humans how much better than us you are at…well, everything?"

She finally looked right up at me, and, in this dim light, her hazel eyes seemed huge and shining, reminding me of the first time I saw her. "It's not my intention to imply that my people are superior to yours, Commander. I was simply stating a difference in our relative species' needs for rest. Also, I enjoy the human music form known as jazz, and learning more of your world and its people."

Bingo! I stick my tongue in my cheek to keep myself from saying it aloud. But inside, I'm just about dancing. She's handed me a perfect opening.

"Ever considered that you might learn more about us here than working for old Soval?"

"Ambassador Soval isn't old, Commander." Leave it to her to hand me my lines like a gift, and then get hung up on a tiny little detail that doesn't mean a thing. If it wasn't so much fun matching wits with her, I might hate the way she tangled up my mind. But right now, I need to keep to the point.

"Be that as it may, Sub-commander, you didn't answer my question."

"Yes."

"Yes?" The woman was mystifying – and intriguing.

"Yes, Commander. It has occurred to me that I might learn more about humans aboard Enterprise than at the Vulcan Consulate. However, that doesn't seem relevant, as I will soon be returning to that duty."

Here we go…time to go all in, and really sell it – if it was possible to sell anything to a beautiful woman who happened to be a Vulcan.

"What if you didn't go back? Would they let you stay, if you asked?"

"I'm not a prisoner. However, I did accept an assignment that was intended to last a specific amount of time. It may not be possible to shift that assignment – or other obligations." I think I see something – some tiny muscles shifting around her eyes – that suggests that those "other obligations" of hers might not be ones she wants to honor.

"Well…is there any harm in asking?"

"Jonathan Archer doesn't want me aboard." Funny, but she almost sounded sad about it, in a Vulcan kind of way.

"Maybe not, on a personal level…but, T'Pol, I've known him a lot longer than you have. This isn't just a crew to him; it's a family."

"And he wants me in this family?"

"You earned your right to be in it. It's more than likely that none of us would have survived this mission without your help. And for sure we never would have found Klaang if you hadn't been here."

"I'm uncertain of that. From what I have observed, humans are most resourceful, and quite determined."

I can't believe that she's still listening, and talking with me about this. No lectures, no turning her back on me and my lowly human handshake. "I can't argue with that. But we were very much out of our element out here, and that's got to be as obvious to him as it is to me. And it's not like we're going to learn everything we need to, in the next three weeks."

"Captain Archer has mentioned nothing to me."

"Maybe not – but I'm willing to bet he will." My mom used to tell me I could sell anything to anybody with my charm and my grin. Not sure she meant Vulcans, though…but still. I give her the Tucker dimples and my baby blues. "What do you say, T'Pol? When he asks you, can you wrap up those obligations of yours? Would you want to?"

Level hazel eyes meet mine, and her head tips just a bit. This is the moment; I hold my breath. "I will consider it, Mr. Tucker."

I don't say anything out loud, but in my head, I'm dancing around like a fool, singing, "She bought it! She bought it!" – until I realize I still have to talk Jon into it.

But if I can sell this idea to her, Jon ought to be a breeze.