A/N: Really getting this in under the wire! Sorry about taking so long with this chapter, but my aunt was in town, and visits from her are always super fun. (That was sarcasm, by the way.) She was staying in the room where I keep my computer, so I couldn't do much writing. But she's gone now. Yay.

My inferior cable system DID NOT AIR the series finale of "Enterprise", so I have absolutely no idea when I'm going to get to see it. Although, judging from what I've heard, that's no great loss.

I typed this in kind of a hurry, please forgive any mistakes. I'll come back when I have more time and correct any that I notice.

T'Pol was accustomed to the captain and the other human crewmembers aboard Enterprise making rash illogical decisions, and although she hadn't thought much of Kamea at first, she had really never expected the half-Vulcan to be so impulsive, to be so irrational, to be so…well…to be so human. And Kamea's plan to "infiltrate" the Ferengi ship in an effort to discover the source of the dampening field seemed like something Captain Archer would have come up with, which might explain why he had agreed to it so readily, despite the fact that he supposedly didn't trust her. And the fact that the captain so rarely accepted T'Pol's advice.

Was that jealousy niggling in the back of her brain? She recognized it, but this was the first time she was experiencing jealousy that was not centered on Commander Tucker. It was odd and extremely disconcerting, but she had to take it for what it was. And she took point in their part with only a hint of reluctance, which of course was barely discernible from her normal expression.

She led the way cautiously, hardly paying attention to where she was going, but appearing to do so, which was all that mattered. It wasn't until Trip materialized at her shoulder that she became aware of just how distracted she was, as she hadn't heard him approach.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

He had always been perceptive when it came to deciphering her non-existent moods, and his ability to do so had only increased with the bond. She tried to clear her mind, to stamp down her emotions, but it was difficult to do in Trip's presence. It always had been. "No."

Trip flashed her one of those grins that she found irresistible, for completely illogical reasons. "Yeah, not falling for that. What's wrong?"

T'Pol tried not to sound irritated, but failed. "Nothing."

He cocked an eyebrow at her, which she found infuriating. Was it that annoying when she did it? "I know you don't think this is the world's greatest plan, but it's better than sitting on our Asses, waiting to suffocate." He paused, combing his fingers through his hair. "Besides, I didn't hear you offer up a plan B."

T'Pol huffed but could think of no argument. She hadn't offered any alternatives, because she could think of none and because even if she had, the captain would have ignored her suggestion. "There is still the possibility of a diplomatic resolution."

Trip shook his head, chuckling softly. "T'Pol, you've dealt with these guys before. You really think they're going to respond to that?"

"We didn't attempt any such action. We immediately resorted to the captain's plan of deceit."

He winked at her. "Which worked."

She folded her arms across her chest. "I am aware of that. But we have no way of being certain whether or not a diplomatic – "

"Will you two please shut it?" Malcolm's voice asked, from somewhere near the back of the line. "Honestly, the way you two are bickering, it's a wonder every bloody Ferengi on this ship doesn't know what we're doing."

"Put a sock in it, Malcolm," said Kamea, in a near hiss, from the very end of the line. "We can't all be as naturally perfect as you."

"Everyone, knock it off," Captain Archer said, falling into step directly behind Trip and T'Pol. He heaved a heavy sigh and rubbed his forehead, as though in pain. But T'Pol had long ago learned that humans sometimes did that when they were under intense stress, so she knew better than to ask if he was injured. "Maybe this was a bad idea."

T'Pol raised both eyebrows in poorly disguised shock, though the dim light in the corridors would have prevented anyone – save Kamea – from seeing it. It was the first intelligent thing that had been said all day. "I agree, Captain."

Archer shook his head. "I meant, all of us going was a bad idea. The fewer the better. So Kamea and I will go to the Ferengi ship, and the rest of you should try and distract them, keep them off our backs for a while."

Kamea – who, for her part, did not look pleased at the prospect of spending so much time alone with the captain, who obviously disliked her – merely nodded her acquiescence. The others agreed to split up in an attempt to located the Ferengi – Malcolm, Hoshi, and Travis would go to the lower decks while Trip and T'Pol, naturally, would take the upper decks.

T'Pol watched them go with apprehensions, as she was now completely alone with Trip, which was a place she had determined that she could not be. This bond they had, it was strengthening – not weakening, as she had originally believed. Ordinarily, some level of intimacy had to be maintained in order for the bond to grow stronger, and while their recent visit to Vulcan had been filled with intimate encounters, they had not indulged since the night before her wedding. Both felt that an extramarital affair would not be appropriate and had arrived at the conclusion that whatever had happened between them was best left in the past. It was the logical decision, and her head totally supported the idea.

But her heart – her previously ignored emotions – was a different matter entirely.

When she turned back to Trip, he was staring at her with an amused expression, which was even more infuriating than that cocked eyebrow. She narrowed her eyes. "Commander, do you find the situation humorous?"

Trip gave her a half-smile. "She's not going to replace you."

T'Pol resisted the urge to lift an eyebrow and instead wondered how he could possibly have known exactly what she was thinking. Since humans as a whole were not capable of telepathic connections, his ability to so accurately read her mind was uncanny. "That would be correct, Commander," she said, "as it is not possible to replace a sentient being in the same way that one would replace a malfunctioning warp coil."

"You know what I mean, T'Pol. You've got no reason to feel threatened by Kamea."

This time T'Pol did raise her eyebrow. He really was very perceptive. Yet how could he be so clueless at times and so incredibly observant when she didn't want him to be? "I in no way feel threatened by Kamea's presence aboard Enterprise."

He grinned at her. "Ah, but didn't we already have a conversation about vocal inflections? Do I even need to tell you that your voice is tensing up?"

T'Pol ignored him, turning abruptly and stalking off down the corridor, hoping to at least be able to pay attention to where she was walking, even if she didn't manage to detain the Ferengi. She vividly remembered the conversation to which he was referring, and what happened shortly after, but she couldn't think about that at the moment. After a few seconds, she heard Trip's familiar steps behind her.

"Are we ever going to talk about what happened between us?"

She was not in the mood for this discussion. In fact, she would never be in the mood for this discussion. "I was under the impression that we had agreed to not talk about our situation. That it was best not to discuss it?"

"I don't remember any agreement like that."

"It was an unspoken agreement."

"Probably why I don't remember it, then."

"Mister Tucker," T'Pol said, rounding on him and bringing him to abrupt halt, "are you purposely trying to antagonize me?"

"Nah. I'm actually not sure how to do that anymore. I mean, in the old days I would have badgered you about your age." He flashed her knowing smile and threw her a wink. "But since you already told me how old you are – intimate information, remember – it doesn't make much sense to do that anymore."

She narrowed her eyes and folded her hands behind her back. "I suggest we proceed with our assignment. It would be a shame if we failed in our efforts to delay the Ferengi."

Trip gestured that she should lead the way and then he fell into step behind her. They walked in silence, but she could feel his ever-constant presence in the back of her mind, lapping at the edge of her consciousness. She was glad that he wasn't completely aware of their fledgling connection. If he were, his distant presence in her mind would be much stronger – and much more difficult to ignore. As it stood, she could block his presence with very little effort, which was what she was doing at the moment. And he must have sensed the link being blocked, because he stopped and shook his head, as if to clear it.

She stopped as well, and tossed what she hoped was a concerned glance in his direction. "Are you unwell, Commander?"

He looked up at her, obviously frustrated. "Fine. Just a headache."

"When we are underway again, perhaps you should visit Phlox."

He grunted and resumed walking, rubbing his temples in a circular motion. "All I need is a stiff drink and a decent night's sleep."

She knew that what she was about to say was a bad idea, but she said it anyway. Perhaps she was picking up some of Trip's bad habits. "You're having trouble sleeping?"

Trip's head whipped around so fast that she heard his neck crick. "Oh, no. I know how that conversation ends. I'll be fine. I'm just under a lot of stress lately, with the upgrades and everything."

His remark strung, though she knew he hadn't meant it that way. "Kamea is more than capable of – "

"You're not the only one afraid of being replaced," Trip said softly.

"I am not afraid of being – "

"These engines are my babies, and I'll be damned if anyone but me is going to work on them."

"Commander, the engines are inanimate objects. They are no more your children than the captain's canine is his. Surely you should have no reservations about her assisting with your upgrades."

Trip raised an eyebrow and put his hands on his hips. "This is your subtle way of trying to get me to admit that I don't entirely trust her."

T'Pol pulled back in surprise. They way he had matter-of-factly stated that led her to believe that he had been thinking that for some time. If that were the case, he had done an excellent job of hiding it from her. She hadn't even been able to sense his animosity through the bond. "You don't trust her?"

He glanced sideways at her. "I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to." True, Kamea was quite a capable engineer, but even the fact that she was family did not stop T'Pol from having reservations about her reliability. They knew absolutely nothing about her past, or why she had kept saying "danger" while she was in hibernation. Clearly, she was hiding something.

He sighed. "I get it. It's not what I said, it's the way I said it." He shook his head. "All women really are the same."

She stopped, but he continued walking. She glared at the back of his head, wondering how she could invest so much emotion in a man who could be so callous and insensitive with her feelings at times. He hadn't gone far when he realized that she was no longer walking beside him. She felt his confusion wash over her and put up the barriers before he could sense what was wrong.

"T'Pol, are you okay?" he asked. "You've been acting weird for a while now. It's not just Kamea, is it? There's something else going on."

His voice was filled with so much concern that she felt her resolve crumble. How could one man be so many different things? It was highly illogical. She took a deep breath to calm herself and said, "It's nothing you need concern yourself with, Trip."

Trip stared at her for a long moment, then nodded. "All right, if you don't want to tell me, I won't push. But I am here, if you need me."

She did need him. But she couldn't let herself fall victim to that need.

Kamea didn't like the look of things. It was too quiet around the area where the Ferengi ship was docked. They weren't loading any goods onto their ship, which only served to prove that they did intend to take Enterprise – and most likely sell it…and probably the crew. She vividly remembered her last brush with the interspecies slave market, and she wasn't anxious to relive that ordeal any time soon – or rather ever again. Damn that Wat. That was when she'd decided not to take him up on his offer for a drink anymore.

She shook her head to rid herself of the image and peered into the corridor that led to the docking port. Her mind was clearer than it had been all day, so she knew that the Ferengi weren't nearby. She nodded at the captain. "Come on. We're in the clear."

Captain Archer brushed past her to take the lead, nearly knocking her over in the process. She watched him in shock but narrowed her eyes, feeling that familiar rush of anger creep through her veins. She squelched it before it could manifest and followed him to the door, which was, of course, closed.

Archer punched the door in frustration, then shook his injured hand. "How the hell are we supposed to get in?"

Kamea cocked an eyebrow at him and went to a wall panel. She removed the panel and groped blindly for the little lever that was the manual door release. When she found it, she pulled, and the door slid open with a hiss. "Through the door," she said.

He did not look amused. "I didn't even know that was there."

She replaced the panel and walked cautiously through the open door and onto the all-too-familiar Ferengi ship, choosing to ignore the look of pure hatred that the captain was shooting her way, probably for knowing more about his ship than he did. "You've obviously never had to use it," she said, by way of explanation for his unasked question. "My mother was doing repairs on a J-class cargo ship one time, and a short in the helm caused everything to go off-line. The only way off the ship was to manually open the docking ports." Kamea paused, briefly entertaining the memory of her mother, before turning to face Archer. "This was before she got kicked out of Starfleet, naturally. It's logical to assume that option would be included on all Earth vessels."

Since she was the one with previous experience aboard a Ferengi ship, she led the way, but Archer followed uncomfortably close, at times bumping her elbow. The ship looked like a junkyard – or a flea market. Much of the empty space was filled with sacks stuffed to bursting and piles of various objects that had spilled and strewn themselves across the floor.

"Looks like my college apartment," said Archer, as the two of them carefully picked their way through the ship. "What exactly are we looking for?"

Kamea lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "Your guess is as good as mine. Just assume that anything bolted down in supposed to be here. We'll start there."

They decided that splitting up, while more efficient, was probably not a wise idea, given the circumstances, so they settled for taking opposite side of the same room. And they started on the bridge, because it made the most sense. Kamea settled behind one of the consoles, and though she was horrible at reading Ferengi, she managed, through trial and error, to figure out what the majority of the buttons did.

"Captain," she said, after fiddling with the console for the better part of ten minutes, "there seems to be a large power drain in one of the starboard cabins. It would be logical to assume that this is the source of the dampening field."

Archer, who had been crawling around, opening random wall panels, got to his feet. "Let's go."

The starboard cabin that contained the large influx of power was, quite surprisingly, empty – except for a large, black, mechanical something that looked vaguely familiar and strongly reminded Kamea of her mother's old grill.

"It looks like a Hibachi," she said.

Captain Archer shook his head and crouched down beside whatever it was. "No, this has to be the source of the dampening field."

But Kamea was certain she had seen something like that before, and it was completely unrelated to a dampening field. "Yeah, I hear you. It looks like a Hibachi." She bent down beside the captain to do her own inspection. "Man, what I wouldn't give for some of my mom's char-grilled sea bass right about now."

Archer glared at her. "Focus, Kamea."

She rolled her eyes but complied. She lay flat on her back and shimmied as far under the thing as she could go. She only had to pull apart one panel to realize why this thing was so familiar to her. She slid out and looked at the captain. "It is a Hibachi."

He just stared at her. "What?"

"It's the Ferengi equivalent of a protein synthesizer, only it's been modified."

The captain pursed his lips. "Can you shut it off?"

She got to her feet and folded her arms across her chest. "It's a highly technical procedure, but I think I can manage." And with that she reared back and kicked the synthesizer as hard as she could, sending it careening across the room, where it eventually shattered against the far wall.

Archer raised his eyebrows. "How scientific of you."

Kamea shrugged. "Never underestimate the value of a good kick."

"Do you think the dampening field has been lowered?"

She inclined her head. "Only one way to find out."

They turned around and came face to face with half a dozen Ferengi.