A Woman in His Life

Chapter Nineteen: Addictive

By Penmom

Author's Notes -- (1) This piece goes AU pre-Sim. (2) OK, I took a break. I'm trying to cut down. Your feedback is addictive.

As he lies next to T'Pol's sleeping form, he can't help but envy her a little. That she has found some rest, after all they've been through the past few days, is a marvel all by itself. If only he could fare as well ---

He finds it a little ironic that insomnia is what originally brought him to this path. Well, hello old friend --- Tonight, he is actually glad for it. He hasn't had a moment's peace to think, really think about this bend in the road. And he has always prided himself on bein' a man of action. Another wry thought crosses his mind as it comes to him that in many ways he's not the man he's always been.

It's hard to say what's altered him most. The obvious choice would be whatever you wanted to call T'Pol's genetic override. Hell, he'd always known he'd be whooped if the right woman came his way. And while this wasn't anything he could have imagined, it's kind of a package deal as he sees it. Ya' don't get the prize without the happy meal. It's a given.

No, it's losing Lizzie that's created the most jarring change. Along with Lizzie, he lost that optimism that everything would be OK at the end of the day. Now he was more likely to assume it wouldn't be OK. This fundamental shift in his psyche was left him a different man. A man he's not sure if he would recognize if he looked too hard.

The way he sees it, he wasn't much of anything but a ball of rage when T'Pol pulled him out of his grief. In countless old Westerns the Cowboy who is saved by the Indian owes the Indian his life or something like that. Maybe it's more like a get out of jail free card? The way he sees it, T'Pol only filled up the hole that was already there. It was hers for the takin' --- or the fillin' for that matter.

And to be truthful, a part of him relishes the power flooding through his veins, the physical strength at his disposal. Even more addictive is the ability to connect with T'Pol, to thread through her mind over and over again, to be so sure of her love for him. Without that anchor, the anchor of her love he would truly be lost.

She stirs and draws his attention once again. In her sleepy state, she smiles up at him. He doubts very much that she even realizes it.

"Hi." He'd never heard her say that before either. Perhaps the overrides went both ways?

"Hi. Sleep good?"

"You have been unable to sleep?" She asks as she gages his level of alertness. "You should have woken me."

He shrugs his shoulders, "Not so much, but it's OK, I've got a lot to think about."

She pushes up on elbows, her action causing the sheet to slip a bit. God but she is beautiful.

"Indeed." She answers in that clinical way of hers - so incongruent with the sensuous picture she paints.

He watches her eyes narrow a bit as she too reflects. His pulse jumps and something in her expression acknowledges his sudden urge. "It is common for Vulcan mates entering an endocrine mating cycle to experience the physical compulsion to copulate as often as seven to ten times a day."

He leans in closer, his reply sounding more sharply than he would have wished, "Well, gee Honey, can ya' make it sound any more like a lab experiment? Hey, wait a minute did you say seven to ten?" As soon as the words come out of his mouth, he thinks better of them.

Patiently, she leans closer as well, "It is also quite common to feel a certain irritability or restlessness when one has gone a period of time without ---- without contact." Her eyes take on a smoky color as she continues, "I, too, am experiencing such a need."

"Sub Commander T'Pol, I had no idea that it was such a --- lets say pressing need."

As he begins to nuzzle her neck, T'Pol finds herself enjoying the playful innuendo more than she would have previously admitted, "Commander Tucker, I commend you on your choice of words, it is a most accurate description."

Her attempt at humor is rewarded with a warm chuckle that seems to increase her need for him tenfold. This need is such that she is no longer in the mind to exchange playful banter. She feels the need to tear at his clothes and to taste his skin in her mouth. NOW.

As has been their pattern, the greater their need the more sensitive they become to each other. Without another word, Trip pushes her back unto the bed.

&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&

The morning cycle has begun again on board and Phlox is in the midst of feeding his Terrain Jumping Spider, when he's haled. "Phlox here, how can I be of service?"

"Doc, its Archer. I know you've advised against it but I need Tucker and T'Pol on duty - NOW."

TPC