Day 18

T'Pol had only consciously avoided one person – Commander Tucker. It was after his symbiotic clone had confessed his feelings to her and then died to save the commander's life. Being in Trip's presence afterwards was awkward, and so she had minimized contact between the two of them as much as possible, limiting their interactions to neuro-pressure and anything work-related.

But now she was avoiding Solen for completely different reasons. Trip had become far too adept at reading her features, and she was afraid that he would surmise that she was hiding something. She had reason to believe that he was already suspicious about her relationship with Solen, and if the commander saw the two of them together, he might draw his own conclusions. That, or Solen would allude to their past in such a way that his meaning could not be misinterpreted.

So she wanted to make certain that Trip had no reason to become suspicious. She waited until she was positive that the commander would be asleep, and then she sought out Solen again.

Tonight she found him in the galley, a bowl of fruit on the table before him. He was again reading, this time an Earth book – The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Lieutenant Reed spoke of that author often, and with great respect. Apparently he was considered one of the masters, much like Surak only not to that extent. The lieutenant had pressed T'Pol to read one of Shakespeare's plays, but she never had.

"Hello again, T'Pol," Solen said. He didn't glance up from the book but reached for a yon-savas from the bowl of fruit. "I thought you didn't want to see me."

T'Pol sat down across from him. "Why would you think that?"

He looked pointedly at her, one eyebrow raised. "Because you have been avoiding me."

"The fact that I have not actively sought you out does not imply that I have been avoiding you."

Solen pursed his lips. "Perhaps not. Was there something you wanted?"

Now that T'Pol had found Solen, she could not remember the reason she had wanted to speak to him in the first place. She searched her mind for a logical reason to have approached him in the middle of the night and responded with the first thing she could think of. "I wanted to know more about this upheaval you sense on Vulcan."

Solen set the book aside. "No, you don't."

His assumption and impudence angered her. She struggled to suppress the sudden surge of emotions she experiences and asked, "How can you be certain?"

"Because I know you, T'Pol. You want to make sure that I don't inform Commander Tucker of our past relationship." Before T'Pol could respond, Solen continued. "You needn't worry. It isn't my intention to cause problems between you and your mate."

T'Pol bristled at the suggestion, though she secretly relished the thought of Commander Tucker as her mate. It was something she had considered several times, and recently she had been entertaining the notion much more frequently. "The commander is not my mate," she said, in a very clipped voice. She did not wish to discuss this in the open.

She wanted to wipe the smug look off Solen's face. "T'Pol, I have said before, you do not make invitations lightly. For you to ask Commander Tucker to accompany you to Vulcan indicates that your…relationship with the human is more than that of colleagues."

"I resent your implication." She didn't, but it was the expected response to such an accusation.

"As would any self-respecting Vulcan. However, that does not make my allegations untrue."

T'Pol folded her arms across her chest and regarded Solen with a spiteful glare. "I suppose you are going to list the many reasons why a human and a Vulcan would not be compatible mates."

Had Solen been human, he probably would have been smiling. T'Pol could hear it in his tone, see it in his eyes. "Not at all. In fact, I knew a human and a Vulcan couple, back on Earth."

T'Pol's eyes widened imperceptibly. "I have heard of no such union."

"Of course you wouldn't. The High Command doesn't acknowledge them. They're social pariahs, of course, rejected by everyone. But they are illogically happy – or they were. They died several years ago. There is much to be said for succumbing to desire, though I personally value logic above biological needs. Tell me, have you ever read an Earth play entitled Romeo and Juliet?"

She blinked, surprised at the question and his quick transition from the seemingly impossible concept that a human and Vulcan were married. "I have not. Several of the crewmen on Enterprise have made mention of it." She glanced around to make certain that they were alone, something she should have done earlier. "What does it have to do with myself and Commander Tucker?"

Solen reached for his book. "I suggest you ask your commander about it. I believe he will arrive at the same conclusion I have. Good night, T'Pol."

A/N: Ah, yes. Poor Solen was only a plot device, meant to move things along, but also because I needed to add another character, or I was going to run out of stuff for Trip and T'Pol to do.