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Chapter Seven
T'Pol woke with a kiss. It took her a couple seconds to remember what had happened last night, to recall her very un-Vulcan behavior and to figure out what she would do next. She decided to smile.
"Good morning, T'Pol." Jonathan kissed her softly on the forehead. She put her arms around his neck.
"Good morning, Jonathan."
They stared at each other for a long time. Finally Jonathan spoke up.
"You know, T'Pol, this is really hard to believe. Could you please pinch me so I know that I am not dreaming?"
She hesitated to do so, but after he nodded encouraging, she moved her hand to his cheek and pinched him.
"Ouch!" he shouted out.
T'Pol removed her hand right away. "I am sorry, Jonathan, I did not want to hurt you."
"No, that's okay. At least now I know that this all is real…"He assured her as he rubbed his cheek. He stared at her again.
"Did I ever tell you that you are very beautiful?"
She shook her head. "Only in my dreams," she whispered.
He smiled. "Sub-Commander T'Pol, I hereby inform you that you are very beautiful."
Archer leaned forward to kiss her. This time it was more intense, more real to him. She responded to him, letting him know that she wanted this as much as he did. They didn't want to let go of each other. His hands wandered off to stroke her back, he held her as close as he could. Again he felt that when touching her she felt much closer than any other women he held like this before. It probably is a Vulcan thing, he thought. When they finally parted again, Jonathan got up from the bed.
"What do you think about a day at the lake?"
T'Pol smiled as an answer. Jonathan enjoyed seeing her smile. He had always wanted her to show more emotions. He picked her up from the bed, softly holding her hand as he carried her outside.
They spent a wonderful time together. Days passed, and they grew closer to each other with every minute. They hardly talked about not being able to return to the ship. It seemed so far away, so unimportant at the moment. The only thing that reminded them of the ship and crew up there was the daily dropping of supplies and the data padd to keep them up to date. In one of the supply containers Archer had found cutting tools, so he started to build a wheel-chair for T'Pol. He was no craftsman, but he tried really hard to make a good job at it. He was encouraged by her strength. She accepted her disability to walk way easier than he would have ever been able to. Gosh, she is just incredible, he thought every time he looked at her. They learned so much from each other. T'Pol learned how to deal with her emotional side, she realized that she really did have emotions, and that it could come in handy sometimes not to try to control them. Jonathan learned how to meditate, how to find inner peace by concentrating on himself and letting go everything that was around him. They had much fun exploring the different cultures they had both grown up in. Their favorite place was the lake. They spent hours there, sitting and talking, looking at the water. When they were there they totally lost track of time. It was not important anyways. No shifts to attend, no schedules, no meetings, no regular calls. Jonathan often wondered if this was paradise. But then, at night, when she was fast asleep, he often got up and walked outside. He looked at the stars, remembered his ship and his dream to explore new worlds. He stood there, not moving, for hours sometimes. He didn't know if T'Pol knew about his nightly walks, but if she did she was so kind not to ask him about it. She knew that if he wanted to talk about something personal, he would.
This one night when he walked around thinking about his future he heard a loud bang. A container had dropped, close to the shore. He hurried to it and opened it, picking up the padd it held inside. He ran back to the hut, wondering why they dropped this in the middle of the night. They surely knew what time it was down here.
He found T'Pol awake, sitting upright in her bed.
"Another padd?"
He nodded and sat down next to her. Archer punched a button and Trip's face appeared on the little screen.
"Good news! We have finally found a way to get you two to the ship again! Tonight's movie showing was a movie about an expedition with a helium balloon. We calculated that it would be possible to get you past the magnetic field and once you are at that distance we can beam you to the ship. Of course there is no way to try this out before, we have one shot, but we all very positive and excited about it. Everyone is working on building the thing and by tomorrow afternoon we should be able to send it down to you. I really don't know why we didn't think of this before. This is probably the only non-technological way to let you fly upwards far enough. Oh, in case we woke you up, we're sorry, but we just had to let you know. You'll be back in no-time. Tucker out."
Archer didn't know whether to be happy or sad. He leaned his head against T'Pol's shoulder, not knowing what to say. She traced the outline of his face with her finger, giving him a smile before she started talking.
"Jonathan, I really enjoyed our time here. But now it is time to return to the ship."
He took a deep breath.
"Yes, you are probably right. It's just that… I am somewhat afraid that it will be different… between us."
He took her hand and looked deeply in her eyes.
"And I don't want it to be different."
She nodded.
"I see…"
She leaned forward to kiss him.
"I don't want that either."
He smiled.
"You know, T'Pol, a stroke of faith brought us together, and I will never let you go."
He highlighted this statement with a deep kiss.
"I know," she whispered into his ear.
Hugging each other they fell asleep again, knowing that tomorrow would be a strenuous day.
