Walking to Engineering, Trip tried gamely put aside his dream. They'd finished re-aligning the warp coils last night before he'd left, but he hadn't finished running all of the simulations to make sure he hadn't missed anything. At that point, the crew had been at it for so long, he was afraid they'd miss something critical, so he'd left it for the night shift. Before he did anything else, he wanted to make sure there were no more mistakes hanging over him.

Engineering was already humming when Trip arrived. T'Pol had arrived before him, and had clearly gotten the crew started on the days agenda. As he approached, she said, "The night crew finished the simulations that you left for them. Everything appears to be running smoothly."

"Oh, good," he replied a bit surprised, "I'll get Jenkins to work on…"

"Ensign Jenkins is re-installing power converters in the port Jeffries tube."

"Right, re-installing power converters. Great."

A little at a loss for where to start since she was so far ahead of him, Trip looked around for the next project.

Handing him a data pad, T'Pol began, "I assumed you'd require my assistance in implementing the…"

"Oh, the new data matrix, right," said Trip, looking at the pad in his hand. They had both moved to the access panel. A tool box stood open next to it, and Trip began rooting around for a spanner.

"I have one," T'Pol said, moving in closer to put it in place.

Trip nodded his thanks without looking at her. She'd made just enough room for him to get the diagnostic tool connected. He had to snake his arm in between hers to make connection, and realized too late that he wasn't going to be able to see well enough. Leaving her left hand where it was trapped holding the spanner, T'Pol pulled out a pocket light with her right.

"Thanks," Trip said, turning to smile at her. She didn't smile back, of course, but he hadn't expected she would.

Trip took a deep breath, hoping she wouldn't know how much her nearness was affecting him. He could smell her hair, she was so close to him right now. She'd showered this morning, and smelled of sage and sandlewood. He didn't actually notice at first, thinking the smell had been with him since he'd awoke. He realized that had to have been his imagination. He'd only thought that unique combination had greeted his senses this morning. Shaking his head a little, Trip turned his concentration back to the task at hand.

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"All right, that's about all we're gonna' accomplish here," Trip said a bit wearily.

"I'll meet you in the ready room," said T'Pol.

Trip nodded, not looking up as she walked away. "Could you ask the Captain to come see us for a conference while you're giving him your report?" T'Pol nodded.

"Thanks," he called as he finished locking down the access station.

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When Archer entered the ready room, Trip and T'Pol were still running diagnostics. They seemed even less aware of him than they had been when he was here an hour earlier.

"How's it coming?" he asked.

Trip glance up, and quickly turned his head back to T'Pol, saying "No." Archer got the distinct impression that he was repeating his side of an ongoing argument.

"We're running at about 95 right now, Cap'n. There's still something going on in…" Trip glanced back at his viewscreen, his voice trailing off as his brow furrowed and he furiously punched out a sequence on the screen. "How's that?" he said without looking up. He handed T'Pol a data report, and took the one she had in her hand.

Trip looked back up at the Captain, his eyes a little wide as if he had forgotten that Archer was there. Just as he opened his mouth, he whipped his head around to glare at T'Pol as she handed back his report. He set it down without looking at it, his attention already back on the screen in front of him.

"I'm saying that I don't think you configured it properly," she replied, a bit too loudly.

"What are you talking about," he said distractedly, "It's exactly…"

T'Pol glanced over her shoulder, glaring at him.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Tucker yelled, looking back at her.

"I think I'm missing something here," Archer said, half confused, half amused. "In fact, I'm sure I am. What exactly are you two arguing about?"

"The electromagnetic fluctuations that keep burning out the port nacelle" Trip replied, looking a little unsure about why he was being asked.

"How do you know," Archer asked carefully.

Trip and T'Pol looked at each other in confusion, the argument forgotten in the united belief that the Captain was behaving oddly.

Seeing that they really had no idea what he was talking about, Archer said slowly, "You're not actually saying anything." His eyes crinkled as he waited for their response. "You're just shouting back at one another like you're responding to something, only…no one's said anything."

Trip moved his mouth, a bit flabbergasted, saying, "Cap'n, you heard her, she just said that the photon nebulla we just passed through couldn't have been the cause."

"Noooo," he replied slowly, "she didn't." When Trip stared at him, he went on, "Did you hear T'Pol say that?"

Confused, and a bit shocked, he shot a quick glance at T'Pol, seeing she had no more idea than he, Trip looked back at the Captain saying, "Ye-ah…"

"Out loud?"

Trip looked at him open-mouthed for a full five seconds before he swung his head back to T'Pol. He looked deeply into her eyes, seeing the same understanding growing there.

"You can hear me, can't you?"

"Yes," she replied out loud, "I can." She looked calm, but Trip could see little signs in the set of her jaw and the way her hands weren't quite still. She was almost as rattled as he was. He gulped, his eyes never leaving hers. "What the hell?" he thought, and she blinked.

"Oh, sorry," he told her quickly. He continued to look at her, as it slowly dawned on him how long this had been going on. His mind shot back to the white room, and Trip's face slowly fell as he remembered.

"I was there, too," she said. They simply continued to stare at one another while flashes of the last few weeks played between them. Trip finally shook his head in a daze and looked away.

Archer cut into their thoughts. "I want both of you down in sickbay," he ordered, "Now."