Chapter 15

Archer was looking at them, with an unspeakable expression.
Niki was just behind him, trying to hide her embarrassment.
Trip stammered out: "Cap'n ... it's not what you think."
"Shut up!" he hissed "You two ... follow me."
He set off for his quarters and they followed, speechless.
"This is all we needed!" Niki mumbled, rolling her eyes, and went back to the mess-hall.

o-o-o-o-o

Archer was furious, pacing in front of them in his quarters.
"Great!" Archer said "Two of my best senior officers making a spectacle of themselves!"
"Cap'n let me explain ..." Trip tried to object.
"I don't want your damned explanation!" he shouted "There have been enough talk about you in the past!"
Archer closed his eyes for a moment, trying to regain control.
"So far, I didn't say anything because I saw no reason to be concerned with idle gossip. I knew you needed those neuro-pression sessions to help you sleep and I didn't want to believe there was more going on than that! I trusted you were adult enough to manage the situation, but it's quite evident I was wrong!"
"Cap'n, I ..."
"I didn't give you permission to speak, Commander Tucker! You both know that I've never been too rigorous about starfleet regulations against fraternization, but your behaviour is unacceptable!"
He lingered to look at T'Pol. She was stiff, keeping her hands behind her back, her eyes lowered.
"And I don't think your husband would be happy to know you're rubbing in public against my Chief Engineer!"
"Wait a minute, you don't have to be offensive towards ..." Trip was losing his temper.
T'Pol interrupted him: "I don't need a lecture about this, Captain. Actually, I'm no longer married."
"What!" both men exclaimed in surprise.
"Koss released me from our marriage after our last visit to Vulcan. It has been officially dissolved a few days ago."
"Why the hell didn't you tell me?" Arched asked, knitting his brow.
"I was just about to ask the same question." Trip said in an accusatory tone.
"I'm not supposed to tell everyone about my personal matters." she answered, becoming even more irritated.
"We're not 'everyone'!" Trip countered.
"Shut up, Trip, once and for all!" Archer hissed.
He resumed pacing.
"Married or not, you're a Starfleet member and I expect you to follow Starfleet regulations. Both of you."
"I'm prepared to follow the regulations, as long as you are." she said.
"What are you getting at, T'Pol?"
"As you feel free to fraternize with Lt. Parker, I assume I may feel free to ... 'rub' against anybody I like." she answered defiantly.
Trip's jaw dropped.
"That's enough!" Archer burst out "You are this close to insubordination!"
"Truth may hurt, sometimes ..." she said sarcastically.
"Don't you dare to say another word about me and Lt. Parker. The discussion is over!"
She remained silent. Trip was petrified.
"About what happened in the corridor, I don't want to see another scene like that. Hope I made myself clear. Dismissed." he said in a low voice.
When they both left the room, his first reaction was throwing something against the wall in anger.
Unfortunately he hit the mirror, breaking it into pieces.
Porthos was scared and began to howl.
Archer picked him up and whispered: "Sorry boy ... I'm beside myself."

o-o-o-o-o

Trip looked at T'Pol in disbelief: "Are you crazy?"
"I only spoke my mind." she answered calmly.
"Did you forget he's the Captain?"
"Not at all, but I can't accept he gives us a lecture about regulations, when he's the first who doesn't follow them."
She entered the turbolift and Trip quickly followed.
"Wait a minute, you don't know that for sure."
"You didn't watch them together."
"Maybe you did that too much, T'Pol." he sighed "Why didn't you tell me the truth before?"
"About what?"
Trip stopped the turbolift.
"That you're in love with him."
"It took me a lot of time to understand my feelings."
"What about me? All this makes me feel ... meaningless." he shook his head.
"We're friends."
"You made love to me!"
"Only once ... and I wasn't exactly myself, then."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It's a long story ... and I'm not willing to talk about it." she sighed "I know you're upset, but I never told you I was in love with you, Trip."
"It was an exploration, I remember." he lowered his eyes.
The silence became embarrassing, so he started the turbolift again.
"What you are going to do, now?" he asked.
"I have not determined, yet."
"I hate saying this ... but you should tell him."
She looked at him questioningly.
"About your feelings."
"It's pointless." she countered.
"You never can tell ... he seemed too much angry about our kiss. He could be jealous ... and I wouldn't be too much surprised."
"I have no intention of going further into those feelings. I'm considering the possibility of purging my emotions definitively and there's someone on Earth who could help me."
Trip's jaw dropped for the second time in a few minutes.

o-o-o-o-o

Archer couldn't sleep a wink.
The image of her kissing Trip didn't leave his mind.
And her reaction to his reprimand was unbelievable.
As you feel free to fraternize with Lt. Parker, I assume I may feel free to ... 'rub' against anybody I like
He bang his fist on the desk.
At least Niki didn't try to kill me when I kissed her! he thought.
Divorced.
T'Pol had divorced from Koss and didn't even tell him.
Damn! he cursed Now she's free to jump in Trip's bed!
He couldn't stand to stay onboard longer.
As soon as he was informed that Enterprise had reached spacedock, he packed quickly.
Nobody saw him leave the ship together with Porthos.

o-o-o-o-o

Niki left Starfleet HQ snorting.
She had spent the whole day showing the final results of the shuttle tests and answering a lot of technical questions.
Finally her job was completed. Now she had some days off before going back to Enterprise, but she was too worried about Jonathan to enjoy the thought of a vacation.
Admiral Gardner had told her that Captain Archer had reported to Starfleet too and left a couple of hours before her, but nobody knew where he was heading for.
I'm gonna find him she thought.

o-o-o-o-o

Late at night Archer was going back to his apartment with a sack. He had left Porthos and his bags there before and spent some time in a restaurant alone. He hadn't eaten almost anything but he had drained some glasses of whisky to make up for it.
He wasn't drunk, but he intended to get so. At least he could have forgotten T'Pol for a while ... that image of her lips and her body against Trip's.
Why are you so upset? he asked himself You knew she was after him since a lot of time.

He didn't expect to find Niki waiting for him.
"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked, opening the door to his apartment.
"I was worried about you. You disappeared without saying anything."
"Well, you've seen me. I'm fine. Now you can go." he said roughly.
He was going to leave her out, but she put a foot through the half-closed door, so he let her in, snorting.
"You're lying, Jonathan ... it's written all over your face ... you're hurt."
"That isn't your concern."
"What's in that sack?"
"Whisky. Do you wanna try?" he poured it into a glass and gulped it down quickly.
"Great!" she said in anger "Getting drunk is not a solution!"
"I don't need a lecture from you!"
"You need help. Talk to me, I'm your friend ..."
"I don't need anyone." he tried to drink another glass, but she made it fall on the floor and break to pieces.
"Give me that bottle!" she shouted.
"Why you can't just leave me alone?"
He turned his back on her, snorting.
"I won't let you get drunk and miserable ... this is not the Jonathan Archer I learned to respect."
She paused for a moment.
"This is not the man I learned to love."
Archer stared at her in silence.
"It can't be true." he muttered.
"It is." she gently brushed his cheek.
"Then you'd better walk away, Niki. I can't return your feelings."
"I don't care." she met his lips.
He tried to pull away from her, but her lips were so soft ... and sweet ... and he felt light-headed.
Their tongues intertwined and they kissed more deeply.
"God, Niki ... we can't!" he whispered with his face buried in her hair.
"We're not on Enterprise." she said, placing small kisses on his neck. "Let me love you, Jonathan."

Though sometimes it seems everything is wrong,
If you face the wind, you will hear it's song,
It's all around you now, been there all along
You need love, you need love, love is all you need
When you lose your way waiting for a sign,
And you feel your fears chase away your pride,
Hold on till morning, and you will survive, i know
You need love, (i know it's a long road) you need love
(when you got no strength to climb, you know love's not far behind)
Love is all you need

She kissed him again with a passion full of fire.
She ran her fingers across his cheeks and then took his hand and began to suck his fingers gently.
Deeper and deeper, he was drawn into her as she began to softly suckle on his bottom lip. His desire grew even more intense as her hand caressed his back and the nape of his neck.
He picked her up and carried her inside the bedroom, laying her softly on the comfortable bed.
He kneeled over her and slowly took his shirt off, letting it fall silently to the floor.
He reached through the darkness to feel the smooth surface of her skin. Gently, he massaged her shoulders as he lowered the straps of her dress. Soon the wonder of her exposed body filled his eyes.
Anxiously he quickly removed the rest of his clothes, leaving them skin against skin.
She flooded him with a shower of kisses all over his body. She slowly sensed he was surrendering to her love.
She silently hoped to herself that it never ended.