A/N: Again, parental discretion is advised. You have been warned.

I didn't realize I left you guys with such a cliff hanger! All the chapters are already uploaded, and I just add a few each day, and I completely forget that Day 21 was the big day! Sorry, guys, but here's the rest of it, so enjoy!

Day 22

T'Pol slowly came back to herself. She was vaguely aware that her name was T'Pol, and after a few minutes she was able to recall that she was in her quarters on a shuttle bound for Vulcan, but beyond that she was incapable of conscious thought. The only things she could recognize were the only things that mattered – the feeling of completeness that permeated all the way through to her katra and the unique scent wafting from the man who lay partially beneath her.

Everything was just as it should be.

She couldn't remember the previous night in any specific detail. The only thing she could remember clearly was kissing Trip until she felt as though her lungs would implode from lack of oxygen, and then flashes of their various intimate encounters – but those were obscured by some kind of fog that had lodged in her brain. But while she didn't know exactly what they had done, she could identify the sated feeling burning in her belly. She felt utterly complete lying in Trip's arms. For this time there had been no alien wandering about the ship to interrupt them. There had been no awkward conversation, no miscommunication. There was just the two of them, enveloped in each other's arms, still joined physically, for they had been too exhausted afterwards to separate.

All was right with the world.

It didn't feel weird. It didn't feel wrong. It made T'Pol wonder why she had feared the feelings Trip stirred in her, why they had not always been doing what they had done last night.

T'Pol sighed, content, as Trip stirred beneath her. She began to roll off him, to allow him room to breathe, but his arms tightened around her waist and he pulled her closer, shifting so that she was now completely on top of him. They lay like that, stomach to stomach, for several eternities before Trip finally opened his eyes.

"Hey," he said, smiling.

She almost smiled with her lips, but refrained, choosing only to smile with her eyes. It seemed to be enough for him. "Good morning, Trip."

He groaned and pulled her closer. "God, I love it when you say my name. It sounds better comin' out of your mouth, darlin'."

She traced the outline of his jaw with one finger. "Then I shall have to say it more often."

He returned the gesture. "Yes, you shall." His face became suddenly serious, his eyes losing some of their sparkle. "You promised we'd talk in the mornin', T'Pol."

She lowered her lips to his chest and felt him tremble beneath her. She'd forgotten that she promised that. Last night she hadn't been in her right mind. She'd been far too affected by Trip's close proximity; the promise that they would discuss their actions in the morning had seemed the only way to appease him, to make him continue kissing her. "Must we?" she asked.

Trip grasped both of her shoulders and pushed her slightly off him, so that she could no longer reach his chest with her mouth. "Yes, T'Pol. We must. I don't want what happened last time to happen again. I can't bear to be shut out of your life again. I don't want you avoidin' me again."

"That will prove difficult, as you are staying in my mother's house."

"Please don't joke right now, T'Pol. This is important. I care about you. I don't wanna lose you."

T'Pol brought one of his hands to her lips and lightly kissed his knuckles. He shivered. "You will not lose me."

He released his grip on her and propped himself up on his elbows. She moved so that she was straddling his hips. "Am I just an experiment to you, T'Pol?"

She stiffened at the use of that word, at the implication that their intimacy meant nothing to her. "I did not use that word, Trip. You did. You were never an experiment to me."

"But what happened, you said it was just an exploration. That you didn't want an intimate relationship. And Vulcans don't lie."

She knew he was teasing even though it wasn't reflected in his tone. The sudden realization of how she knew that caught her off guard, and she froze as she remembered.

She had bonded with him.

She hadn't meant to, but she had.

His blue eyes filled with concern, and she knew that he could sense her unease through their bond, though he didn't know why. He felt that she was uncomfortable about what had happened, that she was rethinking the entire thing. She had to reassure him. She shifted against him, and he moaned as he began to harden again inside of her.

She pinned his arms to the bed and looked down at him. "I did not lie, Trip." His eyes were losing focus, but she could tell that he was trying to concentrate on her. "At the time, it was what I believed I wanted."

"And now?" His breathing was erratic; he was struggling to string two words together. "What do you want?"

T'Pol let her heart answer that question. "You." And she bent down to kiss him once more.