A Woman in His Life

Chapter Two - Mine

A T/T moment By Penmom

Author's Notes - This is my first try at this couple - usually I'm a Buffy girl. I love feedback, if you want more let me know!

She takes a deep breath as she lights the candles around her room. Closing her eyes, she seeks to center herself. He will be here soon. He is always prompt. She values the trait. For all of his bravado, he values structure too. He is dependable.

There is a stray thought. Her teaching tells her there are no stray thoughts. Looking within, she finds that yes, indeed, she finds him dependable. Dependable to do his best, to come through for his ship, for his friends, and yes for her.

It is perplexing that she finds herself coming to trust him so. It was not so long ago that he seemed to typify everything impetuous about the human race. But now, he is not so. He is complex, much more so than she first thought. Like his peaches, deceptively simple - until you delve into them and find them something all together new. All together sweet and appealing.

She shakes her head. Sweet? Appealing? The attack must have shaken her more than she first thought.

When the doctor first approached her about attempting to relieve some of the Commander Tucker's stress through Vulcan Neuropressure, she had been skeptical at best.

First of all, it was highly unusual for someone other than a trained practitioner to practice the technique on anyone other than a mate or a child. Any activity or pursuit involving touch in the Vulcan society is not taken lightly. And while Dr. Phlox had researched the technique's benefits thoroughly, he had not examined the cultural morays surrounding the practice.

For an unattached woman to be applying the science on another would be reason for talk. And here she is - finding herself quite the outsider on several counts. When Phlox first broached the subject with her, she had thought why not? She had already experienced an unwanted meld, broken her engagement and resigned her commission with the Council on Vulcan to stay on Enterprise - she reasoned that offering possible relief to a fellow officer was not an issue to debate for propriety's sake.

And now ---- she must admit she had gained some insight into why her people did not bestow the benefits of this technique indiscriminately as some sort of attachment seemed to stem from the sharing of the touch, something almost embarrassingly primal.

When she had first encountered sickbay after the alien attack, her first thought had been an unbidden and possessive 'mine'. She reasoned that this was simply a reaction to the assault, which had left her feeling raw and vulnerable.

And still --- still, she listens to the steady beat of the word even now as she waits for him ----

Mine Mine Mine