"Thank you, Stephen," she replied sweetly. She sat down and placed the bottle on the table. "I sincerely hope I haven't offended your friend."
"Oh, she's not offended. That's just her way. Vulcans are... well... different."
"Good," she replied hesitantly. She lowered her head, but looked up at him. "Forgive me for asking, but are you two courting?"
Kirk's eyes momentarily bugged. He bit his lip. He wanted to laugh, but to T'osa, that was probabaly a legitimate question to ask. "No," he replied eventually, "we're just old friends."
T'osa's face lit up again. "Oh, I see... good." She caught herself. Oops. "I mean... not good... but... your language confuses me sometimes." She started to look embarassed again.
Kirk chuckled. Yep... no doubt about it. She was a spy. Pity, she was really cute and she seemed very nice. Unless... what if she really did like him? That would change things dramatically... and for the better. He decided to change the subject. He pointed to the bottle. "What's in the bottle?"
Grateful to be changing the subject, she smiled again. "It is called vishri. It is similar to your cola, but it lacks the bubbles that tickle my nose."
Great, he thought... flat, romulan Coke. Perhaps there was a truth serum in it... or poison. He relented... or probably flat, romulan pop. That would be bad enough. He stood up. "I'll get a couple of glasses."
"Please and thank you," she replied. The stress was starting to get to her. She wouldn't be able to hold this up much longer. T'osa was going to have to tell him the truth... and soon. She started looking nervously around the room for listening or video recording devices... not that she'd see them.
He grabbed a couple of glasses from the replicator and turned around to see her eyes darting. That was odd. "Are you okay?" he asked.
Her eyes jumped back on him. "Yes. Thank you." Her smile was forced.
He walked back over to her and sat down stiffly in the chair next to her. "No... what's wrong?"
She wasn't meaning to be that obvious about her discomfort... well, maybe she was. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her amber eyes, she stared intensely at Stephen. "Do you like me?"
There was something odd about her voice. The question threw him off, too. "What?"
She swallowed. If she didn't read him properly, there was no place for her to hide. "Do you like me?" she repeated.
That was it! Her accent was gone. She was speaking perfect English. He wasn't sure how to answer. He DID like her... maybe. They had only talked a dozen times or so over viewscreens, though. Things were about to change... and he wasn't sure how to answer. In his head, he could hear T'Nia chastising him again for not trusting his human instincts. "Yes," he answered eventually. "what's with the accent?"
Her heart lifted a bit with that admission. Could she believe it? Did she have a choice? She could stop now. She could leave. It wasn't too late. However, there was too much going on... too much at stake. She needed SOMEONE she could trust. She studied his face carefully. He had fine chiseled features for a human. He wasn't large, as far as humans went, but he was obviously well built. His hair was dark blonde and short, combed back and parted at the side; something she wasn't used to seeing from romulan men, who don't part their hair at all. It was his eyes, his large, brown eyes. They looked sincere. She'd have to trust that. "I need you to like me, Stephen." she started slowly. She struggled for the right words.
This was starting to get weird. "Okay..." the word came out slowly as well. "Why?"
She looked away. This was even harder than she imagined it would be. "I'm about to tell you something... and... you... may not like it. I really need you to keep telling yourself that you like me." She looked up, a desperate look on her face. "Okay?"
"You're starting to worry me, T'osa." He wasn't kidding, either. Now he started thinking of terminal diseases, another plan to conquer the Federation... what if they had something to do with Bolerov's behavior?
She swallowed again. If she took this next step, it would be considered treason; punishable by death. This was more important... someone needed to know the truth besides her, and she couldn't trust anyone from Romulus with this. She had to get some kind of help, and Stephen was the only one. "I'm a spy with the Tal'Shiar."