Phlox was in for another late night. He was dissecting some flora samples that the away team had brought back from Enterprise's most recent planetary visit. They were fascinating samples, and Phlox relished the opportunity to study new species. He tended to do his experiments at night, when most of the crew was asleep, because there was little chance of being interrupted.

Besides, he needed a break from the subject that most intrigued him – Kamea. He'd analyzed every test result half a dozen times, but she simply defied logic. He hoped he would get the chance to conduct a more thorough investigation or her medical history. Others would greatly benefit from in-depth research. She seemed to be avoiding him, but from what he saw, she seemed to be avoiding everyone. After three days on board the ship, she barely came out of her quarters.

He was only slightly surprised when Kamea wandered into sickbay later that night. He had been expecting her for a while, ever since Commander Tucker had informed him that she'd finally left her quarters, though he had thought she would have come earlier in the day. She was carrying a PADD and dressed for bed in a T-shirt and loose-fitting cotton pants, but she didn't look like she had been sleeping. Vulcans needed considerably less sleep than humans, and as Kamea had been in hibernation for the better part of a month, she would probably be unable to sleep for quite some time.

"Good evening, Kamea," Phlox said, though "evening" was a bit of a stretch. The corridors of Enterprise darkened to simulate night, but it wasn't the same. "What brings you down here?"

Kamea walked over to the table at which he was working at stared down at the samples. "Chinkara plants," she said absentmindedly. "Very rare. Excellent restorative capabilities."

"You're familiar with the chinkara plant?" Phlox didn't know why he was surprised. With her advanced mental processes, she probably knew more than everyone on the ship combined. "I'm impressed."

She looked at him. "The Dominions were studying them."

"Perhaps you'd want to help me with my tests, hmm?"

She gave him a tiny smile. "Some other time, maybe. I came to bring you this." She handed him the PADD. "It contains all the information on my father's experiments. I thought perhaps, being a physician, you would find them interesting. You'll probably be able to make better sense of them than me. I'm an engineer, not a scientist."

Phlox excitedly took the PADD from her. He had been anticipating going over her father's experiments ever since she had mentioned them, during her interrogation by the captain. It wasn't often that one stumbled across such discoveries. He scrolled through the data contained on the PADD – equations, schematics, results from failed experiments, the proper chemicals needed… It was a veritable gold mine, to use a human term, of information.

"Thank you," he said, barely able to contain the excitement in his voice. "I'm sure I will find these fascinating."

He thought that she would be leaving after giving him the PADD, but she stayed where she was, staring at the chinkara plants with a distant look in her eyes. "Was there something else?" he asked.

She looked up, startled out of her reverie. "Did you know my father?"

It was an odd question. Surely she should have realized that he hadn't known her father. "No, I didn't. Why do you ask?"

Kamea shrugged and wandered over to the monitor, where her genetic information was still displayed. Phlox had been puzzling over it for days, finally abandoning it to examine the chinkara. "I was in and out of consciousness for quite some time," she said, crossing her arms and staring at the screen, "and I heard Captain Archer say something about a Lorian." She put a hand to her forehead, as if remembering something from a dream. "He said something like Lorian told you that you'd be the one to discover a way for Vulcans and humans to reproduce."

Phlox raised his eyebrows. "Your Vulcan senses are excellent, even unconscious." That was something he could check off his mental list. "He did say that."

She turned to face him, her brow furrowed. "But why?"

Phlox told her the story. After the Xindi probe attacked Earth, Enterprise tracked them deep into the Expanse, hoping to stop the launch of their master weapon, which would ultimately destroy Earth. Archer managed to convince a few Xindi to join them, and they were to meet their contacts on the other side of a subspace corridor. Before they could enter the corridor, they were approached by another NX-class ship – Enterprise, only from the past. It seemed that, had Enterprise gone through the corridor, it would have been thrown back in time. The captain of the second Enterprise was named Lorian, and he ended up being the son of T'Pol and Commander Tucker.

When he finished, she nodded in understanding, and he was shocked that she had actually followed his explanation. "A temporal fold," she said. "I heard the Dominions mention them. They don't happen often. Bad luck, mostly. Right place, wrong time, so to speak." She sighed. "And I guess that answers my question."

"But you mentioned your father."

"My father's name was Lorian." She bit her bottom lip and turned back to the monitor. "I can't imagine that T'Pol naming her son Lorian is a coincidence, but she was not yet born when my father left Vulcan. And unless I am mistaken, T'Les never speaks of him."

They were quiet for a while. Phlox could not speak for Kamea, but he was digesting the new information. So T'Pol and Commander Tucker's son had been named after T'Pol's uncle whom she didn't even know. Interesting. Of course, he knew that nothing had happened between the two of them except for one time he suspected. He did not let on that he knew, but he had figured out that T'Pol had developed feelings for the commander and was trying to deny them. Finding out that they had a son together had shocked her, and now she was being presented with further proof that a Vulcan/human pairing could be successful.

"So Trip and T'Pol had a son?" Kamea said suddenly, breaking the silence. "I suspected there was something between the two of them, but I did not want to pry."

Phlox smiled. "You're observant." Especially since things between the two commanders had cooled down considerably since Enterprise's re-launch. They didn't seem to spend as much time together as before.

She shrugged nonchalantly. "I thought it was obvious. However, no one else seems to have noticed, so I thought it best not to say anything." She glanced out the view port. "T'Pol does not seem to like me. I can't say that I blame her."

The silence fell again, but did not last long. Phlox was curious about her parents – her father in particular. "You said your father devoted his life to improving relations between Vulcans and humans?"

Kamea nodded, not looking at him. She was still staring out the view port. "Yes. He even found a way to increase a human's lifespan, so that a Vulcan/human marriage would not end abruptly."

Phlox was instantly intrigued. "He did?"

She gestured at the PADD with her head. "It's all in there. Just a simple matter of administering the right proteins on a daily basis, or so he told me. I never did quite understand it. But he was determined to prove to the High Command that a Vulcan/human marriage could work. I, of course, was the most important piece of evidence." She looked at him with a smile, which he immediately identified as forced. "A half-human, half-Vulcan child wandering around the universe is enough to make anyone question what is known."

Phlox returned his attention to the PADD, searching for the proteins about which Kamea was referring. Increasing a human's lifespan was a major medical achievement. "If I may ask, how old was your mother when she died?"

Kamea turned back to the view port. She did not answer for a moment or two, staring at the stars. When she did respond, her voice was so quiet that Phlox could barely hear her. "She was ninety-one. Didn't look a day over thirty-five. My father was at least one hundred-thirty. I never asked him his exact age. It didn't seem important." She sighed heavily and turned back to him. "It's late. I'll leave you to your chinkara plants. I have to meet Trip in the morning; he wants me to get a feel for the engines."

She started for the door, then suddenly stopped and turned. "Do not expose the chinkara to any kind of radiation." She made a face. "It would not be pleasant."

Phlox called her name just as she reached the door. She stopped but did not turn.

"Yes?" she asked.

"I think it would be wise if we were to meet on a regular basis." She turned at this, one eyebrow cocked in what Phlox assumed to be confusion. He explained. "You see, the problem with you being the first half-human, half-Vulcan is that anything that happens to you is virtually unknown. I would like the opportunity to study you. I believe future people in your situation would benefit greatly."

Kamea shrugged again, this time in indifference. "Whatever you think is best, Doctor," she said. Then she passed through the doors and was gone.