Spoilers:  Bounty and small ones for Fusion and Stigma

Notes:  I have tried to follow the events in Bounty as they happened, but I may have gotten them out of order in places.  This was not intentional, but I needed to fit it to some sort of story, so any bending of things was for continuity of ATTDARP, and not an attempt to change what TPTB had written.

Double asterisks **  Will be before and after a dream or imaginary sequence.  With luck, those passages will also be in italics.

Pon Farr:  The term and the actions belong to TPTB, the explanation for what a female Vulcan experiences is my own, gleaned from bits and pieces I've seen over the years of early Trek. I know it is a hotly debated subject, but what is written here is my belief, and others are free to believe what they wish.

Definition:  The definition of the Limbic System is from Tabor's Cyclopedia Medical Dictionary, 15th edition.

Many thanks:  to Monica for all the advice and beta work!!!  HUGE APOLOGIES TO MONICA for posting early.  The material in this copy is a true example of the wonderful beta work that she does.  Due to a misunderstanding on my part, I posted before she had sent me the final draft.  Thanks again Monica, and I'm sorry for the trouble I caused you.  PC

Ch 13 Pon Farr Reconnaissance

"Hold him still Sub-Commander."  Dr. Phlox tightened his fingers on either side of the small animal's jaws in an attempt to get them opened wide enough to gather a small amount of saliva.  "I've almost got it, but he keeps wiggling!" The Doctor was pleased with their morning's work. According to The Journal Of The Interplanetary Medical Exchange the saliva they hoped to collect was a natural anticoagulant and he wanted a sample to add it to his pharmacopoeia.   

"Are you sure it is wise to place your hand so close to its mouth?" T'Pol advised and doubted the logic that had sent her on this trip in the first place. Her arms were wrapped around the small brown and orange bundle they had found in one of their snares and the animal was proving harder to control, than its size would indicate.

"Nonsense, he is a great deal like the Traycotta Bear, of Traycotta Five's second moon. They're small marsupials that live in trees and get their nourishment from the leaves and branches around them.  Harmless really, in fact the Tracottians sell a cloth copy of them, much like Earth's Koala that was the model for what I believe Humans call a teddy bear… Ouch!"  Phlox's lecture came an abrupt halt when the 'harmless' animal nipped him hard with its gums.  "But the article I read failed to mentioned that its jaws were so strong."  After a quick examination of his hand, he transferred the animal's saliva from his thumb and first finger to a collecting jar.  "Thank you Sub-Commander, I've gotten what I came after."

The emergency call came ten minutes later, while they were cutting their way through waist high overgrowth to get out of the ravine where they had placed their traps.  "Say again Enterprise, you are breaking up."  T'Pol's hand shook as she changed the frequency of her communicator in hope she had misunderstood Ensign Sato's message.

"The Captain's been kidnapped by an alien claiming to be a Tellerite miner."  The Communications Officer put all her energy into sounding calm and in control, when in reality her heart pounded with doubts.  Trip had been shot at the same time the Captain had been taken and though his angry voice over the COM to Malcolm had sounded normal, she knew the shuddering deep inside of her wouldn't quiet down until she saw for herself that he hadn't been hurt.

"Can you isolate his biosigns and use the…the…transporter to get him back?"  It would not be the first time she had ordered its use to extract Jonathan from a tight spot, but for some reason, the thought made her words catch in her throat.

"Sorry Ma'am, they've already gone to warp."  Hoshi had heard the odd tremor over the communicator and knew it wasn't a fluke of the device, but worry in the woman's voice. As the lift doors swooshed open and Trip moved quickly to her station, she bit her lip to keep from gasping in relief.  Then her attention was brought swiftly back to the woman on the planet's surface, when a soft Vulcan curse echoed in her ear.

"Sub-Commander," Trip Tucker leaned over Hoshi's shoulder, with one hand on the communication board and the other on the back of her chair. "Ensign Marsh's headin' down to the rendezvous site in Shuttlepod Two. He'll be pickin' up the science teams that are still 'on planet.' As soon as you all're aboard, we're goin' after em!"  Trip needed to be near Hoshi and if her expression was anything to go by, she needed him close, too.

"We are on our way, Commander."  She had a death grip on her communicator as she blocked out the little voice in her mind that kept repeating, 'Not again, I can not do this again.'  "Prepare to leave orbit when we dock, and keep me posted of any new developments.  T'Pol out!"

Trip looked down into Hoshi's upturned face.  He'd heard the strain in the Sub-Commander's voice and had expected to see an 'I told you so' gleam in the brown eyes so close to him.  But instead all he saw was worry and sorrow, which she was unable to mask.

"We'll get him back," she shuddered, as she felt his breath feather through her hair, finally adding a belated… "Sir." Her mind had wandered and for a moment, she'd forgotten her relationship with Trip was only a professional one, now. When things had fallen apart between them she'd realized the dangerous situation they'd put themselves in.    It would be hard enough letting go of the feelings she had for him, but living and working in a self-contained area as they did, made it all the more difficult. Now that they'd ended it, she planned on keeping it that way.  Maybe over time they could be friends again, but never lovers, she repeated to herself staunchly.

Trip took a moment to grip Hoshi's shoulder.  Whether it was to comfort him or her he didn't know.  "We sure will…Ensign."  He forced himself to move away from her as her eyes filled with pain and a haunted look that took his breath away.  He could tell she was fighting hard to keep a wall between them, and he wasn't going to make it tougher on her.  He needed all her skills operating at peak performance to help get Jon back, but later when this was over, he planned on making her listen to reason.  

………………….

During the trip back to Enterprise, T'Pol ignored the way her stomach clenched and the odd pain that threatened to tighten around her temples, which only got worse when she got the news that the damage to the starboard nacelle, inflicted by the Tellerite's weapons fire, would take at least an hour to repair.  Until that was completed, Enterprise was going nowhere.  But she had no time for strange maladies, so she forced them out of her mind, and began constructing a plan to get the Captain back, even if she would have to delay its start until the warp drive was back online, until then it gave her mind something to do.

An hour later, when the ship went to warp, instead of sitting in Captain Archer's chair on the bridge, with her eyes pinned to the forward screen, T'Pol was still in Decon.  She and Phlox had picked up a microbe.  The usual dose of theta radiation, which was standard procedure when returning from a mission, did nothing to eradicate it, and until something was found that did, she and the doctor were stuck where they were.

She chaffed at the necessity of confinement to the small room, when all she wanted to do was take action. If she had not gripped her hands into fists and held them tightly at her sides, she would have pounded them on the door as her mind shouted out, 'Jonathan where are you?' With a start she realized she had picked up the Human habit of 'worrying'. Taking a deep breath she unclenched her fingers and applied Vulcan determination to wall off emotions and gain control of her thoughts. It was not until much later that she realized that it took her an inordinate amount of time to regain her focus.

……………………….

The first thing Jonathan Archer was aware of was that his head felt like it would explode.  The next was that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move.  'Oh yeah, phase pistol blast.'  His memory was coming slowly back, but until things made more sense, instinct told him to lie quietly.

'T'Pol?'  His mind screamed her name. She had called out to him, he was sure of it. But only silence greeted him.  Ever since the morning he'd awakened in Sickbay, after being held by the Klingons, he'd felt her as almost a constant presence. He'd figured that was because he'd finally admitted to himself that he was in love with her, but as his mind reached for the warmth that he'd come to associate with her, it felt cold and distant with an undercurrent of fear.  He tried again to move, but pain shot through his body and all he could do was moan as he turned over.

……………………….

"Are you sure this is approved for use on Vulcans?"  T'Pol called through the drape that separated her from the doctor. As she had applied Decon Gel E, her skin had begun to feel strange. Watching mesmerized she could almost feel it moving through her dermis and into her bloodstream. Her arms, legs, and belly glistened with an unusual sheen and they were sensitive to touch. If she did not know better, she would be sure she could feel it shiver on a molecular level.  A part of her wondered if this was what Humans meant when they said something made their skin tingle.

"Of course Sub-Commander."  He rolled his eyes at her odd question.  "I picked it up at the IME meeting on Dekendee III, from the Vulcan medical contingency.  It was one of the few exhibits I was able to visit before…well before…I was asked to leave the convention. Why do you ask?" He was sure she remembered the circumstances of his aborted medical conference. That had been where he'd approached the Vulcans about research on Pa'nar Syndrome, and it'd been discovered that she suffered from it.

When his question was greeted by silence on the other side of the privacy curtain, he became worried. "Why do you ask?"  Phlox repeated. "Is there a problem Sub-Commander?"  He was a bit shy, and peeked through the drapes that separated them.  To his surprise, he found her staring off into the distance, with one foot on the deck and the other resting on the bench, while her right hand gently rubbed the length of her thigh.

"T'Pol?"  He lightly touched her elbow.

"Yes, Doctor."  She blinked and turned, with both brows raised and an odd expression on her face.

"Are you all right?"  He frowned; her behavior was not what he would have expected, so he reached for his medical scanner.

"I am perfectly fine, Doctor."  She pushed his hand away. Something was wrong and whatever it was, she wanted to deal with it before the physician discovered it. So she told him the first thing that came to mind. "I was concentrating on how to get Jonathan back."

He looked her over carefully.  Her eyes were brighter than usual, but that could be a trick of the decon lights, and she seemed easily distracted, but he knew she and the Captain were close.  Her very unVulcan-like use of Jonathan Archer's first name told him that she was in trouble.  Whether it was due to illness or not was another matter.  He decided to let it go for the moment, but planned on keeping an eye on her.  Either way she was going to need his support.

"I could use your assistance."  He shoved aside the curtain and turned his back, indicating an area he couldn't reach with the gel. 

T'Pol blinked in an effort to refocus her mind. She did not understand what had happened to her.  One moment she had been carefully applying the Gel to her leg, the next her mind had begun to wander.  She had had an intense memory of Jonathan.  His face had been very close to hers and in her mind she had felt the length of his naked body pressing hers into the bed.  She shook her head to get rid of the memory and the ringing in her ears that had sounded like he was whispering a warning, 'you must not remember. The timeline must remain unchanged.'

Her hand gripped the jar of decon gel as she realized the tricks her mind was playing on her.  It could not be a memory!  She had never been with Jonathan or any male like that.  With renewed effort, she concentrated on applying gel to Phlox's back.  She needed to get out of the confines of Decon, and then she would deal with whatever was happening to her.

But the blue gel's odor made her feel lightheaded.  It had an unusual consistency and the feel of it on her palm was strange, as she carefully covered the doctor's back with it. **Somewhere deep inside, her actions felt familiar.  The skin beneath her hand became Human instead of Denobulan.  Gone were the Doctor's unusual spinal ridges and T'Pol felt the warmth of lightly tanned, slightly freckled skin, which covered well defined muscles. As she ran her thumb up, over each vertebra, sensations vibrated from her fingertips to her soul.  She was sure that if she reached around to his chest, she would feel springy dark golden hairs that curled and tickled her palm.  She was intrigued by the man her mind had placed under her touch.   Leaning forward she breathed deeply searching for the scent she longed for. Her eyes fluttered closed and her mind whispered,  'Jonathan.'**

The rumble that always accompanied Enterprise going to maximum warp shook through the deck plating.  It was as if someone had thrown a bucket of water on T'Pol. She pulled back suddenly, as the completely foreign feeling of fear shot through her. 'The scent was wrong, the man was wrong.'  What was happening to her?  It took every fiber of concentration she processed, not to bolt from the room and head for the bridge.  She needed to know what was happening!  She needed to help in the search.

'Jonathan!' Her mind cried out as she fought for control. Why was she responding so strangely?  One moment she had been listening with detached professionalism to Phlox haltingly discuss Denobulan male-female cultural differences, while she covered his back with decon gel. The next her mind had taken her back months ago, to when she and Archer had been the ones going through decon together.  They had spent hours trying to rid themselves of an unknown microbe, but it had been nothing like the image her head had constructed. Where were these odd pictures of him coming from? Was this a new form of flashback from the Wisp induced dreams she had been having?  They had all centered on him, but this one was vivid and brought a flush of heat that none of the others had.

'I am Vulcan.  My mind is in control of my emotions,' she thought as she handed over the decon gel and turned her back to allow Phlox access to the areas she could not reach.  "When you are finished, I should like to meditate while we wait."  She reinforced the request by concentrating on a mental image of a brightly lit candle.  'Focus on the fire within the flame.'  The age-old words that always accompanied the beginning of Vulcan meditation, chanted through her mind, and for the first time since she had heard that the Captain had been abducted, she began to relax. She was able to block out the odd sensations of heat and cold caused by the decon gel and concentrate on rebuilding her fallen mental shields.

Suddenly canon fire throbbed through Enterprise's superstructure, and what was left of T'Pol's shields came crashing down. Any small space of peace she had created for herself was shattered, along with the Doctor's prediction, 'that all was going well and that Commander Tucker had everything under control.'

 "Stop that!"  She growled over her shoulder to Phlox and quickly moved to the wall communicator.  "I must find out what happened.  The Commander would not open fire unless he was provoked!"

"Sub-Commander, no."  He blocked her path.  "Your most important job, at the moment, is to get rid of the pathogen, so when the time comes you can be of help to Captain Archer."  The naked emotion that played across her face caught the Doctor by surprise.  There was more going on than T'Pol was leading him to believe.  "Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Reed will take care of things. Until then, your idea of meditation is a excellent one."

………………………

90 MINUTES LATER:

As hard as she had tried, T'Pol had been unable to reach a meditative state. After the canon had fired, the least little thing proved to be too much of a distraction.  She was running a fever and she knew it, but more importantly, so did Dr. Phlox.  'Now he will never let me out of Sickbay, let alone Decon!' She grumbled to herself as he touched her neck with a hypospray filled with a calming agent.  She had matched wills with him in an effort to get to her quarters and had lost.  It had not helped that she had lost control of her temper in the process. Phlox had gotten a display of how much trouble she was having suppressing her emotions.  Now he was more determined than ever to keep her where she was.

Lying on the deck she felt the medication begin to take affect.  Her mind began to swim, as layer after layer of fog slithered through her thoughts, but instead of being soothing, it leeched her will and left her vulnerable to unaccustomed attacks of feelings.  She tossed slightly and turned as heat flashed from deep within, feeding a passion that fought to be free.  Phlox had tricked her. His calming agent was in reality a sedative, and it stripped her of defenses she had counted on since she was a child.  She was left with no weapon against her own worst nightmares.  With the last of her will gone, she fought a losing battle to remain conscious, but lost that as well, and with it went any small amount of mental control that had remained, until she found herself walking alone in a fog of emotions.

**It was as if she was a spectator and a participant in the drama that was playing out in her mind. Coursing through it all were intense feelings, instead of the usual cool detachment that was so much a part of her. Tonight it was as if she were diving through fire. Her head fell back and she sniffed the air.  The hot dry scent of a Vulcan desert night filled her nostrils.  The sky above was crowded with stars and she was on an open area surrounded by small hills.  In the distance she heard the approach of ceremonial bells and could make out the blurry figures of a procession.

Fog swirled in among the heat, blinding T'Pol momentarily.  When she could see again, the procession had become a circle, where two males were fighting in an ancient arena.  Deep in her Vulcan heart she knew it was a fight to the death and it made her blood boil and sing because she was the prize they fought over. When the bells began again she knew that only one lived.  She could hear his deep breathing and the sound if his footsteps, but the fog would not clear to let her see his face.  Shivering in heat and fear she backed away from the oncoming male, his outline was wrong!  Suddenly a breeze blew away the fog and she saw a body lying crumpled in a pool of red red blood.  Its neck was broken and lifeless green eyes pierced her soul.  Her stomach clenched and she felt her heart rip in two!

'Jonathan,' she gasped as she ran toward the fallen Human.

'No, you are mine now!' A large hand grabbed her arm and pulled her up short, while another hand reached for pressure points on her face.  'I have fought the Earther for you and you are mine.  This time I am the victor!'  Tolaris grinned at her as he pulled her into his arms, and began a mind meld that had no end.**

T'Pol fought her way up through a bank of medicated fog, to finally break the surface of consciousness.  She was panting in fear and desire, while longing burned deep in her body, but the horror of what she had dreamt made her shiver as if she were incased in ice.  She wrapped her arms around herself and felt tears fill her eyes as she whispered, "Jonathan what have I done to you?"

Blinking she realized she was in Decon, not on Vulcan and what had happened was only a dream.  She brushed the unaccustomed tears off her cheeks and shook her head in denial. 'I feel nothing for him, after all he is Human and I am Vulcan! This is only a product of the fever.'  But even as she tried to convince herself of it, her body betrayed her and she shivered at the memory of his touch, of what it had been like to waken in his arms, with his scent all around her.

"No, this can not be!" She whispered to the sleeping figure of the Doctor, as a frightening idea began to form.  All the signs and symptoms were there, only the cause was missing.  "Somehow the fever must have triggered it." She muttered as she tried to find logic in a world that had suddenly burst into flames. It was Pon Farr! She should have recognized the symptoms sooner.

Every Vulcan child was taught the facts of reproduction of the species, but it was an aspect of life that was never mentioned to Outworlders. Males experienced it for the first time, during their 20th year after final maturation. A female was luckier, and was only forced to endure a lighter, less intense version, which was a reflection of her bondmate's. Scent was the key for a Vulcan female, the intoxicating scent given off by the male whose mind hers was bound to at the time of his Pon Farr. In ancient times before Vulcans followed a path of logic, a female who did not wish to honor her family's bond agreement could choose another as her challenger. When that happened, the males in question were said to fight to the death for the right to be bound to the female. But even in those wild and chaotic times, there was no mention of the mating urge being caused by a pathogen!

T'Pol dug her nails into her palms, as she tried to focus enough to think clearly. She knew that in the weeks preceding a male's Pon Farr, which occurred once every seven years, his scent changed subtly.  These changes were picked up by specialized olfactory receptors lining the inner membranes of his bondmate's nose, activating hormonal changes in her body. By the time the male was in full heat, his mate was fertile and as obsessed with reproduction as he.

"This cannot be, but it is the only answer for what I am feeling.  I must mate or die."  T'Pol muttered as a new wave of desire and heat surged through her body. She raised her face and almost smiled as she watched Phlox sleeping on the bench beside her.  "Of course," she whispered as she looked down at him.  "Any male will do."  'That would keep Jonathan safe and it would be a relationship that I could dismiss as easily as I enter into it.'  Kneeling she moved closer to the sleeping Denobulan and began rubbing her hand over his neck to wake him.

……………………….

Archer gripped his fists and paced his cell.  He wasn't going to give up without a fight, but the outcome didn't look good.  There was so much he had wanted to do, and now it looked like the only place he was going was to Qo'noS, to the Klingons and death.  He made a silent vow that he'd never reveal T'Pol's part in his escape, no matter what they did to him.  Let them think what they liked, without his testimony she and those who helped her were safe.

The knot in his chest loosened and he began to breathe easily, when it struck him that his primary worry had been her.  He knew he loved her and had for a while.  But the day she went with him to explore the dark matter nebula, after he'd gotten the news that his friend A.G. Robinson had died, something had happened between them that was almost unexplainable.  For a while, as they had shared the pilot's seat and had watched the beauty of the metreon particles exciting the dark matter into a rainbow of colors, he'd felt her responding to him.  It made no sense from a Human standpoint, but he didn't care.  It had been as if her mind had reached out and touched his, and it hadn't been the first time it had happened either, but it was the most intense.

Sitting in his cell, he knew that she wasn't aware of what was happening between them.  He smiled to himself when he realized she'd probably run like crazy if she were, or come after him with a phase pistol.  Maybe he was safer with the Klingons? Phlox had already given him one lecture on the dangers of waking the sleeping emotions of a Vulcan. Just before his reverie was interrupted by weapons fire, he thought he heard the unmistakable laugh of AG Robinson whispering, 'who do you think you're kidding, Jonny? You know you want her, go for it.  What a prize my friend, what a prize!'

…………………………………..

He had pushed her away! She could not believe it!  After all he was Denobulan, an inferior species, and she a Vulcan, had offered to mate with him!  Had the entire universe gone insane?  She had even gone so far as to tell him about her need to mate, making it his medical duty as ship's physician to help her! But it had done her no good.  'What she had told him about Pon Farr was not a lie, exactly,' she assured herself. 'After all it was her first time. She had told him that as well, but given her state, who could blame her if she had neglected the whys behind it all. Everything else was the truth,' she rationalized. 'If this pathogen induced Pon Farr followed the natural course she would die unless she mated.'

"So you see it is necessary that you and I mate."  She moved closer to him and ran her hands up his chest in another attempt to seduce him.

"It is neither necessary nor advisable."  Phlox gripped her wrists and guided her to a corner to sit.  "You work on meditation, while I work on finding an antidote to our problem."


"Phlox, please!"  She cried out as if in physical pain.

"T'Pol you'd hate me, and yourself, in the morning.  This is not the answer, and if you think about it for a moment you'll realize it."

"Vulcans do not hate," she wheedled as she sauntered closer to him and brushed against his side.

"They don't do a lot of things I've seen you do in the last few hours, T'Pol."  He gripped her shoulders to keep her at arms length.  "But the answer is still no!  I'm not the man you want and we both know it.  You want-----."

"I want food!"  She cried out as she pulled her hands over her ears to keep from hearing anything more he had to say.  "Can't you see I'm hungry?"  Her big green eyes swam and her body quivered, while an animal voice deep inside of her cried out for 'Jonathan!'

"Dinner will be here very soon."  Phlox gently gripped her wrists and pulled them away from her ears.  "You're going to be all right T'Pol."  It was the only way he could apologize for almost saying the very sensitive truth he knew she didn't want to hear. "You sit down and relax, and I'll get back to work."  He smiled reassuringly. "I think the saliva we brought back is the key to a serum.  From the tests I've run so far, I know the marsupials were infected, but weren't sick. It should only take a few more hours."

"I can not wait that long."  T'Pol whispered in anxiety.  "When there is a much easier solution at hand."

"Has it ever occurred to you that the simple solution you suggest may be no help?"  Phlox looked her right in the eyes.  "From what you said, you are not ready to be going through this Pon Farr.  Since it is microbe induced, there is the chance it will only go away when the microbe does.  If your present state gets to be too much of a strain on you, I can always sedate you again."

"Nooooo!"  She cried out in fear.  "No, please, no more sedation."  She pulled back into a corner and fought the memories of the dream she had had.  Jonathan dead in a death match for her, beaten by Tolaris, the thought made her want to gag. 

She fought her demons for as long as she could.  There were emotions erupting all through her and she could not suppress them.  Phlox had gone to the next room because someone had brought their food. She could smell it as it was slipped through into Decon. It made her mouth water and her stomach growl with hunger.  Leaping to her feet, she followed the fragrances, until she saw Commander Tucker standing on the other side of the thick sterile pass-through, and Phlox holding two covered dishes.

She glared at the Commander and grabbed her dish from the Doctor.  As soon as she flipped the lid off, she began eating the green vegetables with her fingers.  Somewhere a memory surfaced.  She had done this before and it had been very pleasurable.  'Popcorn,' it had been popcorn that she had eaten with her fingers. She and Jonathan did it every movie night. She smiled to herself as she thought how their fingers always met while digging in the shared bowl, for more of the crunchy Earth treat, while sitting in a dark room.  Her mind shivered in excitement, as she pictured his wonderful hands as they did so many things, picking up a padd, wrapped around a glass, holding her… 'Yes he had wonderful hands….'

She looked over her shoulder and the smug look on Commander Tucker's face pulled her mind away from Jonathan.  It grated on her nerves and she wanted to yell at the silly Human.  Even as she stuffed her mouth, she glared at him, until Phlox pushed her back and closed the Decon door, blocking him from her view.  Another memory was eating at her, one that was not pleasant.  It was of coming face to face with Hoshi in the lift.  The younger woman's face had been covered with tears and it had been because of Tucker!  T'Pol gritted her teeth and swore in Vulcan.  As Phlox opened the doors she looked over his shoulder, but the young man was gone!  Her anger rose until it was unstoppable!

"That p'tagh made Hoshi cry!"  She shouted as she pulled back her arm and threw what was left of her dinner, plate and all, at the window where Trip had been standing.  The rush of power that followed made her glow.

"T'Pol!"  Phlox ducked and stared at her in shock.  Her plate whizzed past his head with only a few inches to spare.   It hit the bulkhead with a thud and clattered on the deck, leaving a trail of food running down the hatch and window, until goo dripped into a puddle on the floor.  "That was uncalled for!"  She had caught him completely by surprise; not just by her act of violence, but the use of back-ally Klingon was most out of character!

"Well he did!  I saw it." Her lip quivered at the memory. "He hurt her or she never would have cried."  She lifted her hands to run them through her hair in frustration, then realized they were full of bits and pieces of food.  "I should have thrown it at his head!" 

Her anger burned itself out as swiftly as it had begun, and she was left staring at her hands.  In her mind she could see Jonathan licking his fingers, after eating popcorn.  She closed her eyes and her body shuddered as she imagined his tongue methodically cleaning her skin.  "Why did he use his handkerchief?"  She whispered as she remembered what had happened that night, and slowly brought her fingers to her mouth.  One at a time she sucked them clean, experiencing a sensual high that blurred her vision and made her unsure of where she was.

Phlox watched fascinated for a moment, unsure of what was happening, but whatever it was, it was keeping his wild Vulcan occupied for a while.  He shook his head in wonder.  T'Pol was one of the most grounded, logical beings he'd ever had the pleasure of working with, but the last few hours had shown him a completely different side to her.  He knew she was fighting an obsession with Archer, even if she wouldn't let him verbalize it, he just hoped it wasn't something he had caused, because there had been a time when he'd done his best to push the two of them together.  After seeing this new side to Vulcans, he doubted his wisdom!

Food had helped, it had made her sleepy, and so she rested in a corner, under the blue lights of Decon, fighting to gain some control of her mind.  Every feeling that she had learned to submerge was jumping to life and shaking her to her foundation. And with them came memories, clear and enticing, too many of them about Jonathan Archer.

She refused to examine why he was the center of her fantasies. That he was, and that he was Human, was enough to push her to the panic level, whenever she gave it too much thought.  Suddenly she felt trapped! She had to get out of Decon.  She had to get free.  If Phlox would not help her, maybe someone out there would, anyone to put a band-aide on her feelings so she could be herself again. "Only Jonathan, only him." She began to mutter in ancient Vulcan what her heart was feeling, only to be answered by the memory of Tolaris killing him.  She gasped as she muttered again in that same language, "but never Jonathan, never him, it would mean his death!"

"Nooooo, I have to get out of here!"  She did not know how she did it, but one minute she was burning up with heat and desire, the next she was fighting Phlox, to keep him from giving her another sedative.  She knew she had to break free.  If she let him sedate her again, Jonathan would die!  She had to get away and find someone who would help her. The crew was two-thirds male, one of them would help her. Then Jonathan would be safe from Tolaris and she would be safe from them both!

Working quickly she ripped and tore at metal and wiring until sparks flew, shorting out the locking device. Then she used all her fever-enhanced strength to force the door open. When she was free, she ran barefoot, through the halls of Enterprise, her heart pounding as she gasped for breath.  'At last at last, now if I could only run fast enough and far enough to leave the heat behind.'  She whimpered, as she looked frantically for help.

Malcolm and his two-man team searched the corridors looking for Sub-Commander T'Pol.  They were dressed in environmental suits and carried phase pistols.  He had ordered them set on stun because Dr. Phlox had explained that T'Pol was acting irrationally, but he knew it was going to be tough on the person who actually had to pull the trigger, if she couldn't be talked back to Decon.

Five minutes later he had cornered her in an intersection on D Deck.  The second she began babbling he turned off the intercom on his suit.  He hadn't wanted to take a chance on any of his men overhearing what the Sub-Commander was saying.  It was obvious the Doctor was correct and she was out of her head. Her actions would be hard for a human to live down, let alone a Vulcan.  He was a man who should know, given what the Wisp who had inhabited his body had done.  He guessed it was only fair it was him she ended up propositioning, but boy it was going to be tough looking her in the eyes on the bridge tomorrow, and keeping a straight face. 'Imagine a Vulcan was trying to seduce him.'  Up until now he'd assumed they mated in test tubes. That thought was his undoing, because the next thing he knew, she got past his defense and bounced him off the bulkhead before she sprinted away.

T'Pol was lost.  She ran and ran, but never seemed to get anywhere or see anyone except Malcolm or one of his men.  Then suddenly she turned a corner and there they were, all three of them coming at her from different directions.  They had her surrounded.  Her back was to the wall, and all she could hear was Malcolm's voice through the microphone in his suit.   His words did not make any sense!  She was Vulcan, how dare he try to stop her.  With a mighty war cry of old, she launched herself at him, and a blinding white light exploded in her chest! A moment later she crumpled to the deck.

Malcolm gasped as the phase bullets hit their target.  For a moment it felt as if they were tearing through him instead of just stunning her.  For the first time in his life he wished he'd been armed with a hypospray instead of a state-of-the-art weapon.

……………………

"Put her over here, Lieutenant."  Phlox held open the door to Decon and pointed to an area on the floor.

"Is she going to remember any of this in the morning, Doc?"  Reed stooped and placed the unconscious body of the slim, scantily clad Vulcan where the Doctor had indicated.

"With any luck, no."  Dr. Phlox gave her a quick examination. "Was it really necessary to shoot her?"  He tilted his head in wonder at the Tactical Officer.

"Shoot her, in the mood she was in, she's lucky I only used stun."  He rubbed his sore bum, where she'd thrown him against the wall.

"That bad?"

"And then some."  Malcolm shook his head.  'What a mess, he'd be lucky to stay out of the brig when the Captain found out!'  But a smile spread across his face as he thought of the sight she'd made.  He was learning more about Vulcans all the time.  It was one of those stories that he'd remember until he was a very old man.  Too bad it wasn't something he could tell anyone else.  If he could, he'd drink free in every Earth port on that tale, for a long time to come.

"Go bathe, and leave the environmental suit in Decon.  My readings show you and your team clear of the microbe."

"Yes, Sir."  Reed headed for the door, glad to leave the unconscious Vulcan in Phlox's care.

The Doctor administered a hypospray of the serum he'd been working on to the base of T'Pol's neck.  Once they were alone again, he pulled aside the neckline of her t-shirt to examine the depth of discoloration caused by Malcolm's shot to her sternum.  "Poor baby," he whispered as if she were indeed one of his daughters.  "Just what you needed to end a perfect day, phase burns, at lease we know those will pass."  Shaking his head in wonder, he slouched on the floor across from the sleeping Vulcan.  "Well, the next few hours should tell the tale."  He didn't even want to think what would happen if his cure didn't work, and they didn't get the Captain back soon!

……………..

Two hours later Archer sauntered through the doors to Sickbay, his uniform was dirty and his hair messed, but he appeared none the worse for wear.

"Ah, Captain it is good to have you home."  Phlox greeted him with a relieved smile as he ran his medical scanner over the Human.  "Humph, nothing new for you.  I can tell from these readings you've been a guest of the Klingons again.  Maybe I should just start you on the standard vaccinations for a visit to the Empire and we could dispense with these visits after you've had a run in with them."

"Thanks, but no thanks."  He grinned and hoped he wasn't going to have to spend too much time in Decon; he needed to see T'Pol, and find out for himself how she was.  "Where's my First Officer?" 

"I just moved her into a bed in Sickbay.  She had a fever, but it's gone, and she's sleeping off its side-effects."  The Doctor didn't want to get into specifics with anyone, including the Captain, but there were some things they needed to discuss.  "It doesn't look as if you've picked up any stowaways, so no Decon for you today."

"Is she all right?"

"She's going to be fine."  Phlox smiled gravely.  "We both were infected with a microbe. I remained asymptomatic, but she didn't.  It caused the fever I mentioned and stimulated her limbic system.  Not a very pleasant thing to happen, especially for a Vulcan."

"I see."  Archer walked over to the door that wouldn't close on the Decon Chamber and inspected the torn out power panel and hanging circuits.  "It looks like you've had quite a day."  He raised his eyebrows as he fought to remember something from his college biology class that was eluding him….  "Yes quite a day indeed."  He whistled as the facts came back.  'Limbic System…a ring of interconnected structures in the midline of the brain around the hypothalamus, involved with EMOTIONS and MEMORY. The system is activated by motivated behavior and AROUSAL, and it influences the ENDOCRINE and autonomic motor system…'  His face rippled with pain when he visualized what she must have been going through.

"Captain," the Doctor reached for the Human's shoulder and tried to reassure him, without breaking T'Pol's confidence.  It was enough that Archer knew she had been having problems handling her emotions, without knowing about her premature mating urges.  "There would have been nothing you could have done if you were here, nothing that might not have made the situation worse, at any rate. You know we would never let her come to any harm, in your absence."  He left it at that, afraid he might have already revealed too much.

"Thank you, for taking care of her."  He closed his eyes and gripped the wall.  His voice was like ground glass. He wished he could have been there for her when she needed someone she could trust, no matter what Phlox said. "May I see her?"

"Of course."  The Denobulan watched Archer lose, and then fight to regain his emotional equilibrium.  "But when you're done, Captain, would you stop by my office?" Jonathan nodded as he moved on autopilot, to the bed where he'd awakened after returning from Rura Penthe.

T'Pol lay so still that if her monitor hadn't been its usual deep blue, he wouldn't have been sure she was still alive.  Her normally dusky skin tone was almost waxy with olive veins standing out on her hands and eyelids.  For the first time in a long while he was aware of how slight she really was.  Her personality had such drive and force, that he tended to forget that she was small boned and slim.

"Ohhh!"  He gasped as he took her hand in both of his, and was hit by a feeling of warmth and contentment that had been missing for hours.  Off and on during his captivity, he'd thought he'd felt her in pain and fear.  After what Phlox had told him, he was sure that what he'd felt had been real.  But now as he held onto her, and knew she was safe, he began to think he had imagined the whole thing.

He sat with his hip hooked on the side of her bed and held her hand as he watched her sleep.  A cocoon of intimacy surrounded them and cut them off from the rest of the universe.  It took all his will power not to lift her fingers to his lips and kiss them, but it was a matter of pride.  The first time he kissed her, he wanted her awake and a willing participant, or it would not happen!

As he caressed her hand he carefully examined broken and torn skin across her knuckles, and cracked nails that Phlox had yet to repair.  It made his stomach turn when he compared the condition of her hands to the memory of the dangling and broken panel in Decon.  "What must you have been going through to have been that desperate?"  He whispered.

**For a moment he had a flash of her frantically ripping at wiring until it burst into flames in her face, then she forced the door open and ran, all the while muttering in a Vulcan tongue he did not recognize.**

"Jonathan?"  She whispered as her eyes opened and she looked into the face of the man she had been longing for and fighting at the same time.  "I did as you said, and did not remember."  Her eyes were clouded over and he could tell she still was not awake.  "The timeline is safe."

"T'Pol, what did you say?"  He leaned forward, forgetting everything except her talk of time.  "What about the timeline?" He held her close, willing her to respond.

"I'm so cold, Jonathan."  She murmured, unsure if she was seeing him, or still dreaming. "So cold, do not go away again…." And she began to tremble, as she clutched him to her.

"I'm right here and you're safe."  He nuzzled her ear and felt her press her nose into his neck.  'Whatever she had started to say must have been a dream.'

"It is really you," she inhaled deeply of the scent she had been seeking, but unable to find.  "You are safe."  She held him close and ran one hand through the side of his hair as she fell asleep stroking his back.   'Here always here,' her mind reached out.

'Always here.' His echoed in return.

He sat up slowly and looked down at the sleeping woman. 'What had just happened?'  Suddenly he felt every ache and pain that had been inflicted on his body over the last 24 hours.  Plus he hurt in places he didn't know existed. He was in desperate need of a shower, food and some sleep, not necessarily in that order, but first Phlox was waiting to talk to him. Jonathan took one last look at the sleeping Vulcan, then turned and headed for the Doctor's office.

………………………….

"You wanted to see me?"  Archer looked around the corner of Phlox's office.  He'd caught the Denobulan in an unguarded moment and could tell that the last few hours hadn't been easy on him.

"Come in, Captain, this shouldn't take long…."

 Jonathan nodded, but got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.  From the expression on the Doctor's face it appeared as if something was very wrong.

"The last few months have been difficult for T'Pol. And I think I'm beginning to understand why."  The Doctor got up and began pacing.  He knew it wasn't any of his business, but as the only other alien member of the crew, he'd taken a fatherly interest in her.  "Vulcans are unique in the universe.  They've chosen to suppress their emotions and feelings in favor of an ordered life built around logic."

"Why are you telling me something I already know?"

"Because Humans are the most emotional, illogical species I've ever met.  Even Klingons run their lives in a more ordered fashion. The secret to dealing with them is understanding their version of logic, and then it all falls into place.  Not so with Humans." The Doctor shrugged as if that explained it all.  "One Human's emotional mess is another's cool logic… and so forth"

"That still doesn't answer my question." Archer interrupted.

"To be blunt, Captain, I've watched you and the Sub-Commander tip-toe around each other for the last year."  He'd been surprised to find T'Pol sleeping in Archer's arms a few weeks ago, and her more recent behavior had been shocking.

"Are you asking my intentions?"  Archer grinned.

"Well someone has to look out for her."  Phlox burst out.  "I'm sorry, Captain, I know you wouldn't intentionally do anything that would hurt her."

"Then what's this all about?"

"She's not just any Vulcan, she's one who is alone on a ship full of Humans.  Everywhere she goes she's surrounded by emotions, and it's bound to make her act out of character. I would hate to see either of you get hurt."  Phlox had a bad feeling about where all this was leading.

"Wait a minute, didn't we cover all this a few weeks ago?"

"No, but we should have.  I'm sorry Captain, but I only want what's best for both of you."

"I've never doubted that.  But for the better part of a year I've had the feeling you've been trying to get us together.  You're the one who kept talking about intimacy, and Humans being safe from Pa'nar Syndrome, every chance you got."  Archer thought back to the conversations he'd had with the Doctor when it looked as if they were going to lose T'Pol.  "Was it only wishful thinking on my part?"

"No, Captain, it wasn't." The Denobulan sighed; his shoulders slumped in defeat.  "She was dying at the time, and I could see you cared about her.  I thought…. I hoped, that if the two of you had become close, it would've made it easier for her in the end and given you a sense of closure when she was gone.

"It seems my meddling has made things difficult for both of you, because I've encouraged her as well.  Everything is different and has been since that Wisp tried to take over her mind.  As you already know, it cured her Pa'nars, so unless something unforeseen happens, T'Pol will live a full Vulcan life.  She'll always carry a marker on her brain scan, and might possibly be a carrier, but she isn't sick herself.  Unfortunately I didn't take that into consideration when I continued my matchmaking."  The little man frowned at the use of the Human word.  "Denobulan males are infamous for it, I'm sorry, Captain."

"I still don't see the problem." Archer was tired and in no mood to play guessing games.  Phlox was a man whose opinion he trusted and respected.  If he didn't think Humans and Vulcans could make a go of it, they were in big trouble.

"The problem, Captain, is that Vulcans don't have casual…liaisons, and the High Command would not allow anything else."

"The High Command be damned! There's nothing casual about what I feel for her."  Jonathan whispered, pain and longing evident on his face. 

"I realize that."  The Doctor sadly shook his head.  The look on Archer's face was so much like the one that had been on T'Pol's, it took his breath away.  If those two ever got together, it would be a union that shook the universe. "But even if you set aside the political ramifications, there is the very real issue of life spans.  It's very unusual for a Vulcan to bond more than once, and she will outlive you by decades."

"I've known that for a while."  Jonathan shrugged and remembered the photo of T'Pol's second foremother.  When they had been trapped on the catwalk, he'd wished he'd live long enough to see her look like that, now it was a tangible yearning inside of him.

"Good."  The Denobulan smiled and nodded.  "One small piece of advice, Captain.  When the time comes, do her the honor of letting her know how you really feel, so she can be in on the decision making process.  Don't just leave her behind because you think it's in her best interest."  The Doctor had a new hypothesis as to the real cause of T'Pol's Pon Farr and it was going to take some discrete checking to find an answer.  'Maybe it was already too late for these two.'  

"I'll do my best, but I can't make any promises." He didn't realize he was so transparent, that Phlox would be able to see what he was thinking.  "May I sit with her for a few more minutes?"

"Only if you clean up first.  She would be most distressed to waken and find you dirty and smelling of Klingons."  The Doctor smiled and stifled a yawn.  "But don't stay too long, you need some rest.  I'll be sleeping in my office if you need me."

An inner peace had grown in Jonathan as the Doctor had spoken.  For the first time in his life, his direction had meaning that didn't necessitate a solitary future. For the first time in his life it had nothing to do with warp engines or his father's dream.  He'd known since he was a small boy that he wanted to live his life among the stars. To reach that goal, he'd never let himself get attached to one person for too long.  Now it seemed that a woman had come his way and he knew that he'd gladly sacrifice everything he'd worked for to keep her by his side.  He just didn't know what to do about it.

Twenty minutes later he walked quietly into Sickbay and headed for the chair beside her bed, a coffee cup gripped in his left hand and a smile on his face.  "We'll figure it out, but we've got all the time in the world."  He whispered to the sleeping woman, as he laid his head on his arms, and propped them beside her.

Twenty-four hours later he found out just how wrong he had been.  Time had run out when a hostile unknown force attacked Earth!

TO BE CONTINUED

FEEDBACK IS ALWAYS VERY WELCOME!!