Well, I knew that the Powers that Be would throw my storyline overboard before I'd finished. No problem. I can handle it. My shippydom will not be over-ruled. You want to play hardball? I'll see your "No big deal," and trump you with an "I haven't quite told you everything." Take that. (Sorry about the mixed metaphor. I'm not much of a card player.)
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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 day's 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 sandalwood. 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. "Let's just hope the Orion's aren't looking too closely at our main deflector relay. One good hit in the right place and the feedback could blow something."
"You're concerned?"
"Aren't you?" Her raised eyebrow in response told him everything he needed to know. They were on the same page on this one. Making a direct visit to a people who had tried to enslave parts of your crew was not the safest encounter ever tried.
At least things were pretty much back to normal. Repairing the ship after the Klingon sabotage had been stressful at first, but something about being here just felt 'right.' The truth was, Trip felt great being back on Enterprise. Just walking into Engineering, "his" Engineering, had put his mind at ease this morning. Hell, not even frequent glares from Kelby was darkening his mood today. There was still a lot to do, but getting things back on track had been easier falling off a log.
It didn't hurt having T'Pol's help, either. She always seemed to know exactly when he was going to need her assistance and pitched in just in the right places. It felt so natural, he'd stopped tensing up every time she walked into the room. Maybe he hadn't been able to escape her by leaving the ship, but it was almost easier seeing her in person that finding her constantly in his daydreams.
Unconsciously, he let out a little sigh.
"Is everything all right?" T'Pol asked, stopping her progress towards the exit.
"Yeah," he smiled easily, "As long as we don't run into trouble with the Orions, we can start working on the system-wide diagnostics tomorrow in the ready room.
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For background information, see the episode "Bound."
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When Archer entered the ready room, Trip and T'Pol were still running diagnostics. He bumped into the door slightly on his way in, still a bit woozy, but neither of them seemed to have noticed he was there.
"How's it coming?" Archer 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. For that matter, the argument must have been going on all day, because every time he saw them, they were snapping at one another.
"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. He was pretty sure the fuzziness had worn off more than this. "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, sharing a look that seemed to say maybe the Captain belonged back in sickbay.
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 burnout has nothing to do with Kelby's sabotage yesterday."
"Noooo," Archer 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 for a moment, then shook his head as he turned back to the Captain.
"Guess we've just been having the same argument so long, I knew what she was going to say," he told Archer, turning his mouth into a wry smile at the end. Seeing that the Captain was not convinced, he was about to say more when T'Pol cut in.
"Perhaps you were more affected by the Orions than you previously believed. Strong attraction can sometimes have far-reaching effects."
Trip tried mightily not to roll his eyes as he looked back at her.
"I'm sure that must be it," the Captain replied, crinkling his eyes again and not looking the least bit convinced. "Carry on."
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Author's note: And in the next chapter, we do it my way. Let them eat cake.