Do you remember me, or was I lost too long?
Can you see who I am, or did I go too wrong?
I'll let you save me, this time round,
I'll let you save me from myself.
She looked almost like an overgrown child, sitting there in the window seat with her knees tucked up under her chin as she surveyed the world outside the complex. She hadn't left since she was admitted, they told him, and she spent almost all her time sitting at that window. Her hair had grown long since he had seen her last, and she had lost weight, but she hadn't aged at all. Captain Archer looked away from the viewing window to the attendant. "May I go in?" The attendant nodded and gestured to the door beside him. The Captain walked through it and into the small apartment.
The woman at the window turned her head towards him in an almost dazed action. Belatedly, he remembered that they had put her on drugs to dull her emotions, which they said had been driving her mad. When she saw him, a look of happiness entered her eyes. "You came?" She asked disbelievingly, as though she was not quite sure he was really there.
"Of course I did." How could he not? He had come as soon as he had found out where she was. It had taken him years to track her down. Captain Archer reached out a hand to her, offering to help her up. She took it and he pulled her gently upright. "Why did you leave, T'Pol?" he whispered, his voice full of sadness.
Her round eyes filled with tears as she stared up at him. "What else could I have done, Jonathan? I couldn't stay." Jonathan Archer looked away. No. And neither could he. He had left Enterprise less than a year after she had, unable to stand the tension between himself and Trip any longer. Besides, his heart just wasn't in it anymore.
"I know."
He let his mind go back to the day when his whole world had turned upside-down. He and T'Pol had been growing closer and closer, but Trip had ignored it. Trip wanted her, and she, who had led him on in confusion, had let him have her. But that day it had all changed. They had been having tea in her quarters - they often did after a particularly hard day - when suddenly T'Pol had reached out a hand and brushed a stray piece of hair from his eyes. Things had continued on from there, and it was that day that she had told him she loved him. In the end, Trip had walked in on them in a rather unexplainable position.
So T'Pol had left, unable to cope with the emotional aftermath of that night. He sighed sadly. Silently, T'Pol moved closer to him and held him, leaning her head against his chest. "I've missed you, Jonathan."
Surprised, he put his arms around her too. He wasn't used to this level of emotion or affection from her. He knew that she had loved him, but their relationship had never been physical, except that once.
T'Pol breathed him in as she leaned against him. She had missed his presence. All those nights when he had helped her through as she had done battle with the emotions she didn't know how to control, as she had confided in him about the nature of her relationship with Trip...as she had grown to love him.
"Please come with me T'Pol."
"I can't go back to Enterprise."
"I left Enterprise not long after you." T'Pol pulled away and stared up at him, shock playing across her face.
"But Enterprise was your dream Jonathan."
"Just because I left doesn't mean it stopped, T'Pol. I didn't want to do it anymore, so I left. The ship is still going." He reached out and played with her hair a moment. "It took me far too long to realise that the right decision would have been to go with you in the first place."
"I'd already destroyed too much. I wouldn't have let you come."
"That's the only reason I didn't. It was written on your face." he paused taking her hand again. "Come with me now."
"Are you sure you want me?" she questioned him carefully. "I'm not the same person as I was when you first loved me."
"I've always loved you, no matter how much you've changed. This time will be no different." he cupped her cheek in his hand. "I'll help you with the emotions T'Pol, just like I did before."
T'Pol looked down at her feet, tears beginning to fall from her eyes to splash upon the floor. "Look what I've done to myself Jonathan." Slowly she raised her eyes to his. "How did I end up here?"
Gently, he kissed her. "Let's go."
She nodded. "Yes."