Disclaimer: I don't own anything in here, really.

AN: Okay, this is my last chapter of my contest entry fic. Remember, any questions you have just ask. Maybe I'll make a chap 5 with just the answers. I hope you like this.

My Mind to Yours

Book IV: A Choice Made; A Love Won

You understand my position then, sister? T'Pol asked softly in her native tongue. Though he is no longer connected to me, I feel him every second. I thought it would be liberating to have my mind to myself, instead it is limiting. And now… Commander Tucker will die if I do not agree to this.

"You ask my advice," T'Pau replied in English. "It is surprising, given your level of pride."

What do you mean by that?

"You fool yourself, sister." T'Pau said simply. "You are too prideful to admit it, but you are shifting from our ways. You have lost yourself to one… not of our blood and are ashamed to admit it."

I ask only your guidance: do I give up my mind for the Commander or do I self-preserve?

T'Pau looked up from lighting the last candle and focused hard on her younger sister. T'Pol had assumed a meditative position on the floor, eyes closed, but she was fully conscious. She sighed. "They've brain-washed you sister. Individuality is not illogical. It is merely a step of evolution; a natural one. Freedom of thought was honored years ago, so it will be again."

"You speak in riddle!" T'Pol exclaimed, accidentally mixing the logical Vulcan way of speaking into English. Then she calmed herself. "You're not making any sense," she said coldly.

"I am merely suggesting this: perhaps you do feel something more for Commander Tucker than you're letting yourself believe." T'Pau said, rising. "I leave you now to your thoughts."

She left, leaving T'Pol even more confused than when she started.

Absurd, she thought to herself. T'Pau knows nothing of what she speaks.

Slowly, silently, she began constructing a mental chart of the pros and cons to the re-connection.

Five minutes in, she stood up, too suddenly for a normal Vulcan. "I need to talk to Trip," she said aloud.

/////////////////sickbay/////////////

"Come in," Phlox said, looking up from whatever it was he was tending to.

T'Pol entered, hands held behind her back as usual, but her face was unusually contorted, as though in unwavering determination. "I must speak with Commander Tucker."

"He's asleep at the moment," Phlox replied casually.

"It is a matter of great importance," T'Pol said. She was doing her best to keep the desperation out of her voice, but Phlox picked up on it.

"Of course," he said. "He's behind that curtain."

"I would prefer…" T'Pol began, but Phlox read her position and interrupted, " If you'll excuse me, I'm late for lunch with Ensign Sato." And he left.

"T'Pol?" Someone said groggily from behind the curtain. T'Pol pulled it back to see Tucker, struggling to sit up.

"How do you feel?" She said gently, sitting down on the bed. He looked at her oddly.

"Like I'm still asleep," he drawled, edging away from T'Pol.

"I've been thinking about what you said," T'Pol admitted.

"Yeah?" Trip asked, managing to struggle into a sitting position.

"I've spoken with T'Pau," she told him.

"Really?!" He said, raising his eyebrows in mild interest. "And what's she got to say on… what'r'we talkin' about?"

"She said I was avoiding it," she said.

Trip sighed. "I guess I am too."

"She says I'm ashamed of it…"

"Hold on," Trip said suddenly, laughing. "We're not talking about the same thing, are we?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The re-connection. What'r'you talkin' about?"

"Nothing," T'Pol said quickly.

"No-what?" Then realization dawned in his eyes. "Oh…"

"Do you still feel that way?" T'Pol blurted out in the most human matter Trip had ever seen her speak in.

Trip shifted, obviously uncomfortable. "I'm sorry. I never shoulda said anything."

"No." T'Pol said, taking one of his hands in hers. "I'm the one at fault. T'Pau was right; I'm apprehensive of any individuality."

"What… what kind of individuality?" Trip said, his breathing slightly forced.

"The kind that comes only when a Vulcan…" she leaned in closer. "Loves a human."

She pressed her lips against his, but he pulled back. "What'r'you doin'!?!"

"Isn't this the way humans show affection?" She asked softly. Tucker gave up resisting her lips.

////////////////////////

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Trip asked T'Pol as she slipped into the ritual robes.

"Yes."

"This is permanent," he reminded her. "I die without this, remember?"

"All the more reason," she insisted. T'Pau entered the room and sat down between them.

"You have chosen well, sister," she said. All that would have been seen from outside the room was T'Pol's and Trip's forms going limp and then and hour later re-animating and embracing.

//////////////one year later////////////

"Do you have any idea why he wants to see me?" T'Pol asked her friend Jon.

"You're the one with the link, not me," He pointed out, smiling.

T'Pol returned it, though it still looked a little forced with her not being used to working her mouth that way. "Jon, you know that would be violating our 'when it's a secret it's a secret' pact."

Jon raised his eyebrow. "How could I have forgotten?" (AN: yeah I know that was OOC but I couldn't resist!)

They reached the door to Trip's cabin. "Wish me luck?" T'Pol asked shyly.

"Good luck."

She entered the room.

"T'Pol!" Trip looked up from the candle-lit table. He was wearing a suit that he looked uncomfortable in, but he hadn't been able to comb order into his sandy hair.

"Trip," she greeted. "I… uh…" she pointed to the food on the table as though trying to look for something to say. "I hope you didn't make that yourself."

Trip blushed. "Chef helped…er, after I almost set it on fire."

T'Pol laughed, and Trip joined her nervously. "Uh, sit down," he said, gesturing to the chair opposite him. Almost spilling it in apprehension, he poured two glasses of wine and passed one to T'Pol. "To you… for savin' my life a year ago today," he said quietly.

"You called me here for something else, didn't you?" She asked.

Tucker nodded. "Look, T'Pol, I've been thinking. I mean… since we're already connected by your standards, we might as well finish it and add mine."

T'Pol cocked her head in interest as Trip produced a tiny box with shaking hands. The Vulcan ;leaned her head over in interest.

"T'Pol," he said, inhaling sharply. "Will you marry me?"

Okay, well, that's it! I decided to leave it at that, so I hoped you liked it! T/T forever!