Spoilers: Future Tense, Cease Fire, Shockwave, and a tiny one for Singularity
Notes: This went much longer than I planned and I may have played with canon beyond what I should have, but the ideas were screaming at me, so I wrote them. Enjoy!
Ch 7 Into The Land Of What Was, What Is, And What Could Be
"Come, join me in another glass of ale, Archer." Shran, the Captain in the Andorian Imperial Guard grinned at him, and headed back to the conference table, after T'Pol and Soval had left the room. "You know, I find it interesting that every time we meet, you have the Vulcan female in tow."
"In tow?" Archer eyed the man from across the room. "The Sub-Commander is my Science Officer, she has a job to do."
"A job? Interestingly put." The Andorian nodded and poured them both another glass of the amber colored liquid. "You forget, Pinkskin, I saw you at P'Jem, then on Coridan, where the female was shot, as well as today on Waaton."
"Shran," Archer warned. "What are you driving at?"
"That you are very lucky that Ambassador Soval does not know you as I do." The Andorian sipped his drink and met Archer's steady gaze. He had been right about this man, before. Now he would see how right he was about something else, as well. "Vulcan women can be extremely intriguing, for lack of a better word. Your Science Officer is a prime example."
"That is enough!" Jonathan slammed his glass on the table, and gritted his teeth to keep from shouting. "You are talking about a member of my crew and as such, you will speak about her with respect, or not at all."
"You don't speak much Vulcan, do you?" Shran watched Archer over the top if his ale. The Human had feelings for the Vulcan, and from what he had seen and heard, it appeared, they were returned. If the little he knew of the Pinkskin was anything to go by, the High Command was in for a rude awakening.
"What does that have to do with it?" Alarm bells went off in his head.
"You'll have to ask your…. Science Officer about that." The Andorian grinned as he headed toward the door. He had overheard a conversation between the Ambassador and the woman. It had been most informative. "Though come to think of it, Vulcans are usually prisoners of that cold twisted thought process they call logic. Soval would probably have missed what was right before his eyes. I've learned that if a Vulcan chooses to believe something, he will turn the facts inside out to support those beliefs. So she may be safe after all."
"Shran---" The sick feeling in Archer's stomach had quickly turned to ice.
"Captain, please, you can't expect me to make it too easy?" He turned and faced Archer across the conference room. "You have been a help to me, both now and in the past. This warning discharges me of any further debt. I would advise you to talk to your Vulcan female."
Shran's words rang in Archer's ears long after the man had left. What had Soval seen that might be a problem for T'Pol, and how was he involved in it? He wanted to go to her and dig until she told him the truth, but he knew he couldn't. Something had changed between them during the three days they had fought to keep her on Enterprise despite her Pa'nar Syndrome. A wall had fallen and he knew they would never be able to pull back to the safe distance that had separated them before, no matter how hard she tried. Now she needed time and space to feel comfortable with him again, not questions.
………………………………………
EIGHT DAYS LATER--T'Pol grabbed her scanner and headed for the Launch Bay. The Captain wanted her to make a detailed report on the metals that comprised the unusual ship they had found floating in space. She knew that Jonathan believed the ship and its dead pilot came from the future. Up until the exact moment she had heard Phlox talking of the Vulcan-Human DNA mix taken from the body, she had been ready to accept his beliefs as a possibility, but the Doctor's findings made it impossible. It was ridiculous, and very Human, this theory that the ship was from the future, but she needed to know for sure.
Because he was Jonathan Archer, she had believed him, up to a point, that he had traveled in time. It was something that was difficult to reconcile in her mind. She trusted the man, and knew that he truly believed that he had, but it went against all her teachings. Now with the discovery of this ship and its strange occupant, she wanted to grip tightly to Vulcan philosophy. It kept the ground from moving under feet, but if she did that, it would mean that there was no substance to the man she had come to believe in so completely. The thought made her stomach clench. She was a Vulcan caught in the grips of confusion, a condition that could not last!
The Launch Bay was brightly lit, but the ship at its center seemed to suck the light from the room. After scanning the outside several times with little success, T'Pol opened the hatch and climbed careful in. She was struck by the absolute silence that enveloped her. There was no distant hum from the warp reactor, or odd everyday sounds that were present on a Human ship. She felt cut off, and totally alone.
As she scanned the cockpit she tried not to think of the man who had piloted the craft. He was a being that could not exist, but it was obvious that he had, or if Archer was to be believed, he would. The ramifications for her were tremendous and she tried to concentrate on her analysis instead, but her mind kept straying from her work. The strange two-level conversation she and Jonathan had carried on in Daniel's quarters as they searched for answers about this ship kept playing through her brain.
"No!" She whispered. "No, I am in control of my thoughts." She reached deep inside of her and pushed away the shadows of feelings that were encroaching on her logic. "This cannot be. It is an aberration. Vulcans do not breed outside of their species!" She ignored the ice that was building somewhere in the region of her heart, and push on with her work. She needed answers.
Moving quickly to the area that Commander Tucker and Lt. Reed had described, she used both hands to open the hidden door. She found herself looking down a long way. Turning she moved carefully down the ladder, all the while repeating to herself, 'the Vulcan Science Directorate says that time travel is illogical.'
The area at the bottom seemed to go on forever, though there was a solid metal wall that rubbed against her shoulder. Kneeling, she placed both hands, palms down against the wall and let her mind open. Very slowly she dropped her mental shields as she took deep breaths in and out. If the man had traveled though time, then it added validity to the mix of species that had been present in his DNA. The second supposition was dependent on the first. The answers to all her questions and doubts were hidden in these walls and she was going to find them.
++++++++++++++++++
The room swung around, and T'Pol's mind shivered as a deep fog surrounded her. Then she was covered by warmth, delicious warmth and snuggled closer. There was something familiar about it, which made her feel safe and relaxed. She forced her eyes open and came slowly awake.
She was no longer in the craft she had been scanning, but in bed, lying on her left side. Instead of the wall to her quarters that should have been there, she saw an expanse of red sheets, a view port, with stars warping past, and a small black and tan beagle asleep on a pillow under the port. 'I'm dreaming,' she thought, remembering waking numerous times on the catwalk, to find Porthos on her side of the corridor. She closed her eyes, unable to process what she had seen. If she believed it, that would mean that she had fallen asleep in Captain Archer's bed, because this was definitely not the catwalk, her quarters, or the alien ship in the Launch Bay!
Her eyes flew open seconds later, when she realized a large warm body pressed against her back, and arms she knew all too well, were holding her. A man's scent filled her senses. Deep even breathing that had calmed her during turbulence on the catwalk, and ruffled through her hair the night before the Hearing with the Vulcan Medical Board, tickled the back of her neck. This could not be, it was impossible! What trick were the Humans pulling on her?
T'Pol carefully reached to remove the hand which cupped her abdomen possessively, and began to slide out of bed.
"We've hours before our shift." Archer whispered as he caressed her side and pulled her against him, bring her head back to rest on his left arm while his right one wrapped tightly around her, pulling them even closer together. "Go back to sleep, Love."
"Captain!" She gasped as she realized they were both naked. "What is the meaning of this?"
"If you want to play games in the middle of the night, I can think of something much more interesting." He words were punctuated by kisses along her jaw and ear, as his hand moved higher across her torso.
"Stop that!" She gasped as his touch sent little flames, she refused to acknowledge, rippling through her body. "Have you lost your mind?" No matter how stiff she held her herself, or how hard she tried to pull away he still surrounded her.
"T'Pol what is the matter? I know you've been a little skittish lately but…" He reached over and tuned the lights up to 50%, then rolled the struggling woman beneath him to get a better look at her face. What he saw frightened him.
"Let me go." Her brow arched as she shivered beneath him. "Or shall I hurt you?"
This was not the woman he'd made love to hours earlier, the one who shared his bed, and owned his heart. "So it's true, it's all true." He shook his head at the expression on her face. It had been a while since she'd looked at him in that guarded cool way. "Two years ago you told me this might happen, but were never sure if it was dream or reality. And there was very little you knew to pinpoint the date."
"You are talking nonsense. We should notify Dr. Phlox immediately." She had a clear memory of when he had been out of his head from radiation poisoning, but that had affected the whole crew. As she talked her left hand crept over his shoulder to the nerve points at the base of his neck.
"Oh no you don't." He captured her wrists and pinned them to the bed, on either side of her head. "Thinking of pinching me unconscious, then throwing me in the shower, and pouring bad coffee down my throat, again?" He grinned at her shocked expression. "I learned that little trick of yours a long time ago, the hard way!" He still remembered the stiff neck and headache she'd given him from her Vulcan Nerve Grip. It had saved his life, but he'd been upset, when he'd discovered she could knock him cold with one hand.
"How can you know about that?" She stared at him unable to make sense of what was happening.
"That's a story for another time." He read the emotions that she hid so easily from others, and knew she was badly upset. "You and I have serious things to discuss. I'm going to need your help and your trust."
"Let me go, then we will talk." She began to struggle when she realized she was trapped beneath him. Her martial arts training made up for the slight difference in strength, but positioned as they were, she was unable to take advantage of any of the moves. "It is hard to trust when I am caught unclothed beneath you."
"There is too much for you to see if I let you up, it's too dangerous. The timeline must be kept intact." The anxious look that filled her eyes reminded him, that from her point of view, his touch was foreign, a thing that a Vulcan would never allow. He suppressed his own emotions, using techniques she'd taught him, but he couldn't stop himself from rubbing his forefinger against her jaw as he whispered, "I'd never hurt you, Love."
"Do not call me that name!" She would not admit what it did to her insides to have him use a gentle endearment when he spoke of her. "Why should I trust a crazy man? One who babbles about things that are illogical?"
"Because you always have, and you always will. What I need to tell you won't be easy for you to understand, but all our lives depend on it." He looked into her eyes unable to believe that he had been able to win and keep the heart of this cool stubborn woman. His younger self must have had the patience of Job. Then all thought went out of his mind, and he shuddered, as her hip bumped against his, unleashing primitive feelings she was able to easily arouse. "But for the love of God, stop struggling, or this could get embarrassing for both of us."
As the significance of his words sunk in, she froze. "Why should I believe anything you have to say? You must have had a hand in this cruel joke." Her voice cracked at the thought of him putting her in a position that would humiliate her so badly. "How else could I have gotten into your quarters, and your bed?"
"You want to know?" He gritted his teeth at how stubborn she could be. She was testing him to the limit. She was his wife and he loved her. Having her body pressed intimately against his, made it hard to think rationally. "You walked through that door, and climbed into this bed, of your own freewill, as you've been doing for the last four years."
"I would never consort with a male not of my own species, no matter how much I wanted…Aahhh…" She quickly changed the direction of her argument. "It is illogical. I have not known you for four years!"
"Easy, Love," Jonathan tried to sooth her. "If I let go of your wrists, will you hold still?"
She stared into his eyes, looking for the man who had been so kind to her over the last weeks. "I will hear what you have to say."
He loosened his hold on her wrists, but didn't free them completely. Her fighting skills were too well trained, he needed a bit more reassurance that she would cooperate. "We only consorted for the first two years. The last two you have been my wife and I have been your bondmate." He found it interesting that her main worry had been that they were together, not the issue at the center of it all, which was time travel.
"Bonded?" Her head swam with the possibilities. She was hallucinating or he was, either way they had stepped off the edge of reality. "I do not know what you are talking about, but if you do not let me up, I shall call security. You talk as if I am a fool who would believe in time travel for my own means."
"It's nice to know this is a future you would have chosen, if given the chance." He smiled as he held up her left hand with his. "Maybe this will give you some proof."
"No. It cannot be." She whispered when she saw the gold band on her third finger, and a matching one on his. She knew the ring was a tradition among the people of Earth, but what made her stomach clench were the Vulcan words that were engraved into the metal. 'My mind to your mind, forever together, forever apart.' "I do not believe in time travel, the Vulcan Science Directorate says time travel is…."
"Not fair?" He grinned at her as he finished her sentence in an unlikely way.
"No, yes…I never told you about that." The detailed report she had written for him after the Suliban had captured Enterprise, and questioned her, using truth drugs, had been carefully edited, to cut out as much of her confused delirium as possible.
"Not in your time you didn't, but in mine you have." He smiled down at her, trying to make this as easy on her as he could. "If one can travel through time, it adds validity to the possibility that Vulcans and Humans will be swapping chromosomes. There was a time you believed that the second supposition was dependent on the first."
"That is the last thing I remember thinking." She held very still, and watched the man whose face was inches from hers. "I was in the craft that we had pulled aboard Enterprise, the one you believed was from the future."
"Your theory is that when you went to the ship to run the metallurgical study, you took the opportunity to try and find the answers to the two questions that were uppermost in your mind: is time travel possible; and would aliens, specifically Vulcans mate outside of their species?" Over the years he and his wife had discussed this many times, and it was the only possible conclusion T'Pol had been able to come up with. "While you were in the craft, you got an intense dose of Temporal Radiation. That combined with Vulcan physiology and your considerable mental powers, gave you the answers you were seeking, but not in the way you would have liked."
"I will not accept that!" T'Pol shook her head and began to move again, until her leg brushed against his, causing him to gasp and catch his breath.
"You never have, until recently." He shook his head and fought to keep from smiling. This was his T'Pol, stubborn to the end. No matter what year it was, there were some things about her that would never change.
"Why all of the sudden would I change a lifetime of thinking?" She challenged.
"We don't have much time and there are things we need to discuss." He neatly sidestepped her question. The less she knew about her future, the better off she would be. "It is imperative that when you go back to your own time, that you change nothing." There was so much he wanted to tell her, but was afraid that anything he said might change her future and his past. "The easy way to convince you would be for us to drop our mental shields and touch the bond we've formed, but I am afraid if we do that, you might carry some residual part of it back to 2152 and it is too soon."
"Us? Captain you have no mental shields."
"I didn't in the past, but you taught me." He saw the doubt on her face disappear as he felt a gentle probing he recognized as her mind reaching for his. "That isn't a wise thing to do, T'Pol. Your mind is much stronger than mine, and it is in your own best interest to pull back."
"This is some kind of trick, I would never bond outside my species." Though she took his advice, and stopped trying to probe his public mind, she refused to believe what he was saying. In a small span of minutes she was being asked to throw away a lifetime of teaching on two important issues, one cultural and the other scientific. It was too much!
"Then believe this!" He grabbed her left hand and placed it over her abdomen. "We are more than bonded."
"That is impossible." She froze, when instead of her usually flat stomach her hand covered a rounded paunch, and she felt the mental stirrings of a three-month girl fetus that was half Human and half Vulcan. "The High Command would never sanction this, any of it."
"To hell with the High Command." Jon gritted his teeth. "We sanctioned it, and that's all that mattered. Phlox did too," he shrugged. "We couldn't have done it without his help. He says she'll have her mothers ears." He ran his hand gently over one of the delicate points that he loved to kiss. Both the man and the woman remembered a conversation in a darkened crewman's cabin; T'Pol's memories were fresh, a few hours old. Jonathan's were from almost five years ago.
"How can I be from the past and carry this child of the future?" No matter how hard she applied the principles of logic, she was lost.
"It's because you're, you, in both times. I didn't understand it when Daniels tried to explain it to me, and I still don't." He felt sorry for her and wanted to make this as easy as he could. The problem was, the more she knew, the more danger there was that she might accidentally contaminate the timeline.
"Please, Jonathan, let me up." Their bodies were still pressed together and it was taking all her concentration to keep her emotions from running wild. It was like being part of a very vivid dream, with no end in sight. Nothing she did helped, and since finding out about the child she carried, logic seemed to have deserted her.
"I can't. This is where we live our private lives." Every time she'd moved, he'd shifted to block her view of their surroundings, and it had been playing hell with his self-control. "There are clues everywhere to your future. Just know and believe that if everything is done as it was in the past, we will end up here together."
"Did she, did I, say how long I was in the…I was here?" T'Pol couldn't make herself use the word future, again. It would validate something she had yet to reconcile with.
"Your memory was sketchy at best. When you first got back, there was only an odd feeling that you'd lost some time. Over the weeks and months that followed you'd remember things in bits and pieces." He watched her eyes widen as he spoke of her future as if it was the past. "Later you began to dream about it, but in true Vulcan fashion denied it. You didn't tell me anything until after we were bonded, and didn't mention the baby until after she was conceived. That was what made you finally believed that you traveled through time."
"I'm sorry." She reached for his cheek, but pulled back before her hand made contact. She could not tell her Jonathan many things, but this man from the future, who already knew so much about her, and them, made it easy to talk to. "There is much I have kept from you and it has caused you pain, in the past."
"You waited for a good reason. You lived with the possibility that you really had seen what was to come, and with that came responsibility." The irony hit him that he was the one who was damning them both to times of silence, when reaching out would have helped relieve the pain, but everything must be played out as it was before! He forced himself to lighten his thoughts, this may not be his T'Pol yet, but even back then she had been adept at reading him. "There's a lot you did tell me." He ran his fingers over her hair where it feathered gently against her face, and smiled. "I have wonderful memories from many of our talks. Like when you finally told me that it was Hoshi that gave you the new haircut, which makes you look soft and feminine."
"It had been a boring afternoon on the catwalk and I needed it done. Ensign Sato got carried away." She tried to shrug it off. "It is of no importance."
"It was to me." He smiled. He had forgotten how serious she could be. "I noticed right away, but knew if I said anything, you'd probably go back to the much more severe cut you wore up until then."
"Hair should be functional, and easy to care for." Though the little trick the Ensign had preformed with her scissors met those requirements, T'Pol knew that if he had spoken about the change, she would have considered it an unnecessary indulgence. She never realized he knew her so well. It was an older Jonathan she was talking to now, but he was speaking of things he had felt and understood five years earlier.
"You've told me other things too. That you like to indulge in a piece of pecan pie when you think no one is looking. That hidden away with T'Mir's journal is the purse she carried when on Earth, and you treasure it." He watched her process the information he was telling her. They both knew it was unimportant, so he could speak of it. But there was one other thing he wanted badly to tell her, something she needed to know, but it could change everything. He threw caution to the wind. She had always trusted him; maybe this knowledge would make her next decisions easier. "Most importantly, you told me that you love me, and have since before you understood the meaning of the word."
"I do?" She blinked to clear her eyes of all emotion, but from the expression on his face it had been useless. Was that what she had been fighting against all this time? Was the one human emotion she had never studied, the one that would be her downfall? "I did? I told you that?"
"Yes, and I told you how much I loved you, and had for a very long time. I still do." He shifted slightly, to put some space between them. He was missing his wife badly; they needed to get on with business. "I'm sorry, but there're things I must tell you, in case you do have more memories this time."
"If I really did travel in time, why should things be any different than before?" She still wasn't ready to believe any of this was real. She could be suffering from a side affect of the new medication she was using for her Pa'nar Syndrome.
"The ship was leaking Temporal Radiation." He knew that what he was going to tell her hadn't happened yet in her timeline, but he doubted she would remember anything so soon after returning to Enterprise. "Two different times, members of our crew had problems with the radiation. For them, time kept repeating itself, but with a difference, they remember more and more with each repetition."
"You believe I might experience that?"
"We," he smiled and thumped his chest, then lightly touched the tip of her chin. "We believed it might happen. We didn't want to take the chance, too much was at stake. It is imperative that you do nothing to change the timeline. I understand that to the T'Pol of your time, the idea of bonding and mating with a Human is abhorrent, but this is much larger than the three of us." He knew she wasn't his wife, but he couldn't keep his hand from moving protectively over the child she carried. "You must do nothing that would prevent this from happening."
"Jonathan---" She wanted to tell him that he was wrong, that his touch made her want him badly, but years of training kept her silent.
"No. We can debate this all night and nothing will change, but if you go back there and don't do everything as it was done before, everything might change, and not just for us!" He didn't dare tell her too much, but she needed to know how important this was. "While we were been busy forming a union on Enterprise, Earth and Vulcan were busy forming one of their own. I can't tell you much about it, but nothing must be done to damage it."
"I do not understand how anything we could do would affect two world governments." T'Pol felt suddenly cold. She had been ready to believe him, but now she was uncertain.
"Indirectly we played a major role in the political activity of the time. Our governments were forced to face reality when we joined, and later we became the blueprint for something bigger than the two of us, and more powerful than Earth or Vulcan."
"Vulcan would never approve of our bond, and they would accept the idea of time travel, before they would accept the idea of a child of mixed species." Her brows rose into her finely feathered bangs in challenge.
"Approved may be too strong a word. The bond is sanctioned, by Soval, no less, and the idea of our child is accepted, in theory." He grinned because she was quoting herself, or maybe it was that she was going to quote herself, sometime soon in his ready room of the past. "But they will not budge on the idea of time travel."
"Vulcans do not change, the Ambassador, least of all."
"Yes they do, and so do Star Fleet Captains. I needed to do some changing myself. It started with Soval, but I admit the Andorian, Shran saw it coming long before anyone else. Once I was able to win the Ambassador's approval, things began to change." Jonathan was treading on thin ice, but he needed to be sure she understood how important it was for her to suppress any urge to meddle in history, if memories should surface too soon.
"The Andorian cease fire that you helped bring about?" She watched him carefully as she questioned him. "You are saying that it began with that?" To her memory, Soval had walked away from Enterprise with very little that was positive to say about the Captain and even less about her.
"That and other things, but I wasn't the only one that helped him change his ideas. He saw things in you that hadn't been there before. And your ability to work well with Humans, made him understand that our two species, when working together, were an extremely efficient partnership. He was impressed because you changed, but remained true to your Vulcan heritage. Like Ambassador V'Lar, you thrived while interacting with another culture." He grinned at her, because he knew that she had yet to tell his counter part of five years ago, what Soval had said to her when on Pon M'Car. It would happen sometime soon, but it hadn't happened yet. "You might speak Vulcan with a Human accent, but you were still a Vulcan."
"I told you about that, too?" She wanted him to be more specific, it would be easier if she could remember it all, and do the right things at the right time.
"Eventually you told me everything." He smiled, wanting to relieve her of any doubts. "But there is more I need to tell you. When, it became necessary for Earth and Vulcan to form a temporary alliance for their mutual safety, Soval became our biggest fan. He saw what we had accomplished, and knew it was in Vulcan's best interest to join with Earth. He has always trusted you, and your trust in me, turned his beliefs into convictions." Jonathan remember the many times the Ambassador had pointed to them and challenged other Vulcans, that if T'Pol and the Earth Captain could do it, so could they.
"When the immediate danger passed, all those involved saw the advantage to a lasting partnership between our two worlds. By that time our bond had become official, and others saw what we've known for a long time, that our two species work better together than alone. While we've been busy creating a life for the future." He caressed her abdomen and smiled. "Vulcan and Earth have been creating a way of life for the future. It will make, and keep the universe safe for over a thousand years. I know because Daniels referred to it when he took me that far ahead in time. Past that I don't know, I can't be sure, but from what little he told me, it will become a power to be reckoned with, and the reason the Suliban were trying so hard to kill me."
"If you and I are at the heart of all this, the logical thing would have been for Silik to kill me when he had the chance." T'Pol had been sure she would not survive, when Archer had disappeared and the Suliban had captured the ship.
"I think that it was in his plan to do so, but Enterprise escaped." He had already told her more than he should have, but she had been his sounding board for a long time. It seemed natural to go on talking. "When I was trying to get back to the ship, Daniels told me, 'Silik wanted to stop events I would set in motion, that helped created this a…alliance.' I think that he was referring to not only all the good Enterprise's first mission accomplished, but also, our interactions with Soval. Without his belief in me, and finally Humans in general, the idea would have died before it started."
"You are talking about the Federation that Crewman Daniels spoke to you about?" She could not imagine her world entering into a partnership with Earth, in anything Vulcan did not control, much less something that would have consequences for the next thousand years.
"It would appear I've already told you more than I should have." Archer frowned. He had forgotten telling T'Pol what Daniels had said when he'd been pulled into the future. He wanted to tell her everything, but couldn't. He wanted her to know that four months ago, they broke ground for a monument in front of the downtown public library in San Francisco. It was to commemorate the new treaty, which at Soval's insistence was now called The United Federation Of Planets. The Vulcan ambassador had high hopes for the alliance. To Archer's way of thinking it all fit with the little Daniels had told him, years earlier.
"There is more, but you cannot tell me, can you?" For the first time she slid her hands over his sides and around his back, enjoying the feeling of Human skin under her palms. It would be easy to doubt his words, but there was nothing about him that she could ever doubt.
"No I can't." He shivered at her touch. "But you left a message for yourself. You said I should remind you that you promised to help me if I ever needed someone I could trust. Well, I need that person now; I need you to trust me, and everything I've told you. It would be easy for you to go back to your time, and pull away from ideas that you can't make sense of."
"I will do as you ask, but from what you say, there is little worry that I will remember much, though you are right, it would be very hard for me if I knew for certain that I would go against everything I have been taught." His story was almost impossible to believe, if he were anyone but Jonathan Archer, she would call him a lier. But he was not, so she would keep her word because she believed in him, not because her Vulcan honor demanded it. It was not logical, but many things about him were not.
"Thank you," he whispered. "I'll probably know if all goes well, within seconds of when you leave. If it doesn't, I don't want to remember what I missed out on."
"I will do my best to send your wife back to you." She could not imagine what it would be like to have this strong brave man care about her in such a way.
"You are my wife, T'Pol." He caressed her ear and jaw. "But from your end of time, we both have a lot of growing and changing to do. Some of it will be very difficult, but it's worth the trip, the good times and the bad. Remember that, and forget all the rest."
"Jonathan," T'Pol cried out and held him tighter, as she became dizzy and cold. "I think it is starting. I will try, you have my word."
He rolled on his side, taking her with him, trying to give calming mental support as she had taught him. In the blink of an eye he leaned close and whispered. "Just in case, T'Pol," and his lips covered hers in a searing kiss, then, for her, everything went blank.
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T'Pol shivered as her eyes opened. She was in a deep black pit and it took her a moment to remember where she was. She had been gathering data for Captain Archer about the metals that made up the ship they had found floating in space. She had an odd memory of trying to find answers from the ship itself. Shaking her head, she checked her scanner and realized that more time had elapsed than she realized. That explained the empty feeling in her stomach. She had missed dinner and it was getting quite late. Gathering her things she climbed out of the ship and headed for the mess hall.
…………………………..
TWO DAYS LATER--T'Pol came rapidly awake and climbed out of bed. She knew she had been dreaming, but could not remember what it was about. Someone had been calling her name. It was a voice she knew, and she should have been able to recognize it, but every time she tried to focus on it, her mind shied away.
Sluicing cool water on her face, she looked up and started at herself in her bathroom mirror. When she had first joined Enterprise's crew she had though the large expanse of glass over her dresser and sink a silly Human indulgence. But she had discovered they were useful things, except on nights like tonight when they kept no secrets and told no lies. As she looked at her reflection, she knew there was something she had been putting off too long. Turning quickly, she grabbed her robe and headed out the door.
"Captain, are you awake?" She called softly as she knocked on his hatch rather than ringing the bell.
"Come in." Archer was weary. It had been a long day, on top of a long week. He had just received a response from the message he'd sent to the High Command, and it wasn't what he'd hoped for. A late night visit from his Science Officer was the last thing he'd expected, but he was very glad she had come. One look was all it took to tell him that it wasn't Enterprise's Science Officer who was paying him a visit, but T'Pol. "What can I do for you Sub-Commander?"
"May I speak with you?" Her eyes traveled between his bed, with the covers thrown back, and the man, wearing sweat pants and a t-shirt, who was staring at the computer terminal on his desk.
"Well, come on in." He motioned her over to the couch, and swiveled his chair around to watch her move gracefully past him. "I'm not going to bite." It had been too long since they had had a late night conversation, and he had missed them, but they had both needed time to adjust to the subtle change in their relationship since the Vulcan Medical Directorate had discovered she had Pa'nar Syndrome.
"I sent my report to the High Command. Did you receive the copy I sent you?" She was unused to this kind of conversation and not sure where to start. It was illogical to talk of unimportant things, when she had come to speak of Koss, Kern and recent developments with Soval. Ensign Sato had indicated that she owed Jonathan an explanation of the events that had happened after they plotted and marked the trinary black hole. And a voice inside her that she didn't understand had prodded her to tell him about the conversations she had had with the Ambassador on Pon M'Car.
"Yes, I read it earlier this evening." It had surprised him that she'd sent it to him, but it had gratified him, as well. "I heard from them a few minutes ago. That's why I'm still up." He nodded in the general direction of his open bed.
"Oh."
"Oh, is right." He smiled as he thought of the politely worded response. It had been better than he had expected, but not all that he'd hoped for. "They accepted my apology for what happened to the Val Kerr, but seemed unperturbed by the damage to the ship. They also, appeared somewhat surprised that I'd thank them for their help, and would apologize for what happened." Their response had perplexed him. Did they think he was an uncivilized ruffian?
"Did they have anything to say about your theory of where the ship we found came from?" She had heard from the high Command as well. They believed Captain Archer had shown unusual honor when he had contacted them about the Val Kerr. It had not been expected of a Human, but they had remained silent on the subject of the derelict ship that had been found.
"They told me, that according to the Vulcan Science Directorate, time travel was illogical, but they would be sure to inform them of what we found, the next time they had a reason to contact them." He smiled as he stood and stretched. "It will be difficult to prove anything, to anyone, without evidence. All we have left are the slides from the tissue samples Phlox was studying, and they could have come from anywhere."
"Do you really believe that ship was from the future?" She watched him pace, then move back to the couch. He was a large man who moved very differently than a Vulcan male.
"Don't you?" Jonathan looked her over carefully as he sat beside her. She had come to him for a reason, and he wanted to find out was it was.
"It goes against all I have been taught to believe." Something stirred deep within her, almost a memory, but she quickly suppressed it.
"That's not what I asked, T'Pol." He moved closer, as shadows played across her face.
"I cannot," she whispered, then cleared her throat. "I cannot believe it," she clarified.
"Which is it you can't believe: time travel, or the genetic mix of the pilot?"
"Time travel is illogical, and Vulcans do not mate outside their species." One was deeply ingrained in her culturally, and the other was a scientific principle.
"I see. If you believe that ship is from another time, then it would leave the door wide open for the idea of mating across species." He had wondered why all of the sudden she'd began to fight the idea of time travel. When they had talked about it in the past she'd agreed to keep an open mind on the subject. It wasn't until Phlox had discovered the genetic make-up of the pilot, that she had become rigid in her disbelief. "You realize the second supposition isn't dependent on the first."
"What?" That sounded familiar, like a misquote of something she knew well, but she could not place it.
"T'Pol, it's all right." He covered her hands with his, as she sat very still beside him. "No one is asking you to throw your beliefs away. I just want you to try, and keep an open mind, like you did before."
"It is very hard, but I will try." She whispered as she turned toward him. Full, firm lips were inches away, and suddenly she knew what it would be like to feel them covering hers. It was illogical to have such thoughts. He was her Captain, and a Human, but for a split second she had a memory of their warm pressure against hers. Then it was gone and she was free of the odd sensation that had engulfed her.
"Good, if you're willing to try, you've got all the time you need, to come to terms with the outcome. I won't pressure you." He knew that their conversation had gone beyond theory and had become very personal. For a moment he had seen comprehension in her eyes, then she had blinked and it had vanished.
She nodded, as she stood, and moved toward the door. She had come to talk of personal matters, but he had beaten her to it. It was as if she was walking a path that had been predetermined, but Vulcans did not believe in destiny, so it was illogical. She stopped and froze with her hand inches away from the door release. "Jonathan," she whispered, and as she turned back toward him, her voice grew in strength. "I had grown accustomed to having tea in the mess hall at 2330 hours. In the past, I found your company…pleasing. It has come to my attention there are some personal things I need to discuss with you."
"Would you like to meet tonight?" He doubted a Vulcan had ever asked a Human on a date before, so he decided to make it easy for her.
"Yes." She looked at him carefully. What was she really doing? "Yes, that would be agreeable."
"Then it's a date?" He couldn't keep from grinning at her surprised look. 'When had she become so easy to read?'
Long after T'Pol had left, Jonathan sat and contemplated her visit. Over the last three days he had seen her get more and more adamant on her views against time travel. Whatever internal fight she was fighting, wasn't over, but he planned on making it as easy for her as he could. When she'd come knocking on his door, in the middle of the night, she'd looked as if she'd stepped out of a dream. If she had, he hoped he had been what she was dreaming about. As he climbed back into bed, he nodded to himself, 'yes that would be very fair, since he'd been dreaming about her for the last six months.'
As the Captain and Science Officer of Enterprise slept, time moved along, one second after another. With every beat of the chronometer, it brought them closer to a future they had both glimpsed, but neither was ready to embrace. Somewhere in the vast many-layered structure of temporal physics, an older Jonathan Archer and an older T'Pol slept in each other's arms. Soon the future would become the present, and it would be filled with memories of the past and each other.
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