Trip drummed his fingers absentmindedly on the tabletop, mainly because he knew it drove T'Pol crazy, but also because Archer was late and he was getting restless. The captain had insisted that both Trip and T'Pol join him in the captain's mess for breakfast, despite the fact that they'd all had dinner together the night before. Being around T'Pol was still a little awkward, and it was difficult to be alone with her for prolonged periods of time. So instead of trying to make conversation, he continued to drum his fingers.

T'Pol turned to him. "Captain Archer is rarely late. Perhaps something is wrong?"

Trip bit the inside of his cheek. Always a distinct possibility, but he liked to think someone would have realized that by now. "Maybe. Unless this is some elaborate ploy to get you and me talkin'."

Suddenly the door opened and Archer walked in, so Trip knew it wasn't a plot to leave him and T'Pol alone long enough to hash out the horrid details of their less than ideal situation. Trip's eyebrows shot into his hairline as Kamea followed closely behind Archer. She looked about as uncomfortable as humanly possible and had clearly been railroaded into joining them this morning.

"Good morning," Archer said with a smile, taking his seat at the head of the table. He gestured to the empty chair across from Trip, and Kamea sat down. "I trust you all know Kamea. She needed some convincing to join us, which is why we're late."

"I was working out an engineering problem with my ship," she said pointedly, a dark glare leveled at Archer. "I don't like to stop in the middle of something. It disrupts my rhythm."

Something the chief engineer could understand perfectly. Kamea still looked uncomfortable, so Trip tried to put her at ease. "Speak o' the devil, how's your ship comin'?"

Her face relaxed slightly. "The port nacelle is fried. It's going to take a little longer than I had originally anticipated to get the warp drive up and running again."

The steward served the food, and Trip wrinkled his nose at the meal. It was plo'mik soup – a traditional Vulcan dish. He'd had some while at T'Pol's house, but they had never had it at the captain's table. Usually T'Pol would have a salad and Trip and Archer would eat whatever the meal of the day was.

"Plo'mik soup?" Trip asked, casting a quick glance at T'Pol before turning his gaze on the captain.

"I thought that, since our table is now fifty percent Vulcan, we'd have a traditional Vulcan meal," Archer said. He was clearly pleased with his thoughtfulness. Trip narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Why hadn't he ever offered to have Vulcan food when it was just the three of them? It certainly would have made T'Pol more comfortable.

Kamea cocked an eyebrow. She apparently did not consider Archer's gesture to be as thoughtful as the captain did. "The gesture is appreciated, Captain," She emphasized the word "appreciated" in a way that could only imply that it was untrue, "since my only experience with Vulcan cuisine has been my father's cooking, and no opinion should be based solely on my father's cooking."

Trip grinned."Not a good cook?" he asked.

"The last time he made plo'mik soup," Kamea said, "I was about twelve. He burned it."

"I didn't think it was possible to burn soup," Archer said, while Trip fought to control his sudden fit of laughter.

Kamea tilted her head to the side. "Neither did I. After that, my mother decreed that any cooking in the house was to be done by her, lest one of us die of food poisoning." She tried a spoonful of soup. A twitch of an eyebrow was her only reaction. "My mother was a much better cook."

T'Pol cleared her throat, which caused the other three to look at her. "I do hope she made vegetarian meals."

Trip's eyes widened at T'Pol's blatantly condescending tone. She hadn't used it in over a year. Kamea, however, didn't seem the least bit offended. "Is that your subtle way of asking me if I adhere to Vulcan cultural tradition and don't consume meat?" Kamea asked. "You know, you shouldn't judge someone based on her eating habits."

She ate some more soup, and Trip couldn't help smirking. He'd told T'Pol the same thing, at her very first meal in the captain's mess.

"For the most part," Kamea said, "yes, I am a vegetarian. However, I challenge you to grow up in Hawaii and not have seafood."

"How about your dad?" Archer asked.

Kamea lifted one shoulder in a half shrug, her eyes trained on her soup. Trip could tell that the question made her uneasy. "Why is it so important what my father ate? He'd dead. Pass the salt."

The salt sat next to Trip, so he handed it across the table to Kamea and watched in amusement as she applied a hefty amount to her soup. An awkward silence descended. T'Pol was clearly upset at Kamea's presence, and Trip couldn't understand why Archer had invited her to breakfast. He liked Kamea, but he got the feeling that Archer had ulterior motives behind his invitation.

Trip coughed, desperate to change the subject. "I could help you with that nacelle."

Something softened in Kamea's eyes. She appeared relieved at the shift in conversation. "Your assistance would be welcome, Commander. I suspect it's the power coupling. It may need to be replaced."

Trip nodded and took a sip of coffee. "I'd be happy to take a look at it after my shift today."

Kamea smiled, and Trip felt himself smile in return. There was something beautiful about the way Kamea smiled. Maybe it was because it was so rare to see such emotion on a Vulcan. He wished T'Pol would smile. As beautiful as she was, a smile would make her even more so. But a smile would mean that she wasn't the Vulcan he had fallen in love with.

He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his ankle and realized with a start that T'Pol had kicked him. He glanced at her, a smile quickly spreading as it dawned on him that she was jealous. He had been staring at Kamea and she was jealous. He decided to hassle T'Pol some more. He turned back to Kamea, who bore an amused expression. She'd obviously seen what he had. "Gonna join us in engineerin' this mornin'?"

Kamea nodded. "Of course. Perhaps we could further discuss your theory regarding the plasma conduits."

The way she said it indicated that she really had something else in mind, and his smile widened as he realized that Kamea was goading T'Pol as well. He nodded. "Sure thing. I'd love to get your opinion on some other things I've been meanin' to try out, too. Whaddaya know 'bout cascadin' ion drives?"

"A very risky design. The Vulcans attempted it more than a century ago, with disastrous results. The idea was abandoned."

Trip cocked an eyebrow and turned to face T'Pol. "No kiddin'? The Vulcans made a mistake?"

T'Pol's eyes were ice. "Vulcans are not infallible, Commander." She emphasized his rank in a way he knew was supposed to be an insult.

"Coulda fooled me."

T'Pol leveled her glare at Kamea. "Information such as that is classified."

Kamea's features hardened. "Like I care." She sounded like an emotional teenager. She drained a significant portion of her water and then turned back to T'Pol. Trip unconsciously pushed his chair away from the table. "Besides, it's not like I said anything specific – merely that the theory had been tested."

"I do not trust you," T'Pol said. It was more of a snarl. Trip inched his chair farther away from the table.

Kamea sighed and sat back in her chair. Any evidence of her anger was gone, and her tone was much softer when she spoke. "You don't trust me because you don't want to believe that everything I've said is the truth. You don't want to acknowledge that you had an uncle about which you knew nothing. You don't want to admit that there's a distinct possibility that the High Command has been lying to the Vulcan people for years. And you don't want to believe that it's possible for a human and a Vulcan to have a successful relationship because it makes the idea of your marriage that much more difficult to bear."

Trip couldn't tell who was more shocked by her statement – the captain, T'Pol, or himself. How had she known about him and T'Pol? Were they that obvious? How had she known T'Pol was married, and that her marriage was one of convenience and not a mutual undertaking? Most of the crew knew about T'Pol's wedding to Koss, and he knew they suspected a relationship between the two of them, but to the best of his knowledge no one had shared that information with Kamea. Since coming out of her quarters, she'd spent most of her time with him in engineering – and he hadn't said a word – or alone in the launch bay with her ship. It didn't add up.

"How'd you know 'bout that?" Trip asked, stammering his way through the sentence.

Archer was livid. "I told you that you weren't to use your abilities on my crew."

The amused look returned to Kamea's eyes. They almost seemed to gleam. "Give me some credit, Captain. I didn't need to read anyone's mind to know that." She returned to her soup, and an awkward silence fell upon the table. It was suddenly broken when Kamea turned back to T'Pol. "Are you familiar with the play 'Romeo and Juliet'?"

Trip stiffened. He knew T'Pol was familiar with it, because he'd lent it to her during their long trip to Vulcan. And even if he hadn't, she definitely would have looked up the reference after their conversation in the turbo lift the previous night. He stared at T'Pol, waiting for her answer.

T'Pol nodded curtly. "I have read it. Why do you ask?"

Kamea shrugged, absentmindedly stirring her soup. "I just thought you could relate to Juliet. She was also pushed into a marriage of convenience. However, she chose to die rather than do so." She stood abruptly. "Well, if no one minds, I'd like to get back to work on my ship."

With that, she turned on her heel and left.

Trip cleared his throat. "She's…observant." He wasn't sure what else to say.

T'Pol relaxed visibly now that Kamea was gone. "Her conduct leaves something to be desired. It makes me question her upbringing."

"Aw, c'mon, T'Pol. Give 'er a break. She's on a strange ship, around humans for the first time in years, and a lot of 'em can't even stand bein' near her. She just needs time to adjust, that's all."

T'Pol's next statement was said so quietly that Trip was sure it hadn't been meant for anyone's ears but her own. But he heard it all the same. "Her attitude is what needs adjusting."

Trip smirked and leaned closer to his bowl of soup to hide his reaction from T'Pol. Loudly, he said, "What's for dessert?"

A/N: Again, not an engineer. English major, remember? But I got the whole cascading ion thing from "Daedalus" and "Daedalus's Children", "Enterprise" books by Dave Stern.

How Kamea knew about the whole Trip/T'Pol thing will be explained (quasi-explained, perhaps) in later chapters.

May I also say how much I loved "Affliction"? I practically got up and danced after that one T/T scene, but I didn't, because I'm not feeling well and I had a cat on my lap.

Oh, and all I found out about plo'mik soup (from the Vulcan Language Institute, bless them) was that a plo'mik is a kind of vegetable, so I'm guessing (logically) thatit's like a vegetable soup, and I have burned soup before, so it is possible. It just means that you're a really really really really really bad cook. Which I am.