A/N:
Chapter Thirteen
"Wake up, T'Pol." I felt myself being shaken. I had been dreaming, and it had been quite pleasurable. "T'Pol, I love your dreams but Malcolm just called, he's sending someone for us within the hour. He says he's got our suspect on tape, and he thinks he's also found your Corporal."
I rolled over onto my back and stretched out to my full length and then groaned, wishing that I hadn't. "Why are we always in a hurry, rushing around constantly? I don't want to rush, I'm tired of rushing." I looked up to see a startled look on Jonathan's face. "What!"
"You're complaining. I've never, ever, heard you complain about anything, T'Pol, at least not what you could blatantly describe as out and out complaining. Are you all right, Sweetheart?"
"Oh, I'm fine, I just don't want to go. At least call Malcolm and tell him I can't make it in an hour. I want to take my time." I looked up at him slightly embarrassed when I realized that he was right. But, what I was actually doing, was pouting.
"I think I'll call Dr. Sural, you're not acting right, you're a Vulcan, remember." He came over to the bed and sat next to me. "What's really wrong, T'Pol?"
"I'm sorry, Jonathan, really I'm fine. Dr. Sural warned me that my hormones could cause me to be overly emotional. That may be what has happened. I would prefer to stay here in bed with you. Is that so wrong? Oh, never mind, I'll get up. Could you call Malcolm and ask if I could have an extra forty-five minutes, please."
ooooo
Exactly one hour and forty-five minutes later our escort knocked on our door. Jonathan had given me my second intravenous feeding; I was dressed and ready. I was also hungry.
We stopped at the cafeteria and with Jonathan's guidance, I selected a more suitable breakfast, although, it wasn't my first choice. And I might add we both wanted something else. With an extra cup of tea and Jonathan an extra coffee we proceeded to the command center for our briefing.
"Good morning, Malcolm, this had better be good, you pulled T'Pol out of bed before she was ready to get up." I turned a shade darker. I also gave Jonathan a mental reprimand.
"I'm sorry, T'Pol, I just thought that you would want to know what we found on the tapes. I'll remember next time not to disturb you unless it's an emergency until, say, 1000 hours. Would that be better?"
Giving Jonathan a stern look, I nodded. "That will be fine, Malcolm, what do you have?"
"I've already put the tapes in and what you're going to see first is our stranger, the electrician." I watched the screen as Malcolm worked to bring it into focus. "We've got almost a week's worth of tape on him. He's been in and out of the end unit next to the Lab, several times a day, actually with each shift change. As a matter of fact he's shown up every day since you were admitted."
I concentrated on his face, but I did not recognize him. "I'm sorry Malcolm, but as you know, my sight was and still is less than adequate. Perhaps if I had heard him speak I might be able to tell you something, but no, I've never seen him."
"Then you never saw him on Salanacon?"
I looked back towards the screen, "He does not look familiar, Malcolm." I swallowed hard, the images in the cave brought bile up into my throat. I forced the thought from my mind. "What else do you have on him?"
"We've been through all the tapes, the only floor he frequented was yours. The only room he is actually seen entering is the one next to the Lab. Your sleeping area shared the same connecting wall. The blast took out that wall.
"You can be thankful that you made a stop in the cafeteria first; otherwise, you more than likely would have been one of the fatalities. The patient next door to you was in a coma T'Pol, and Phlox was his doctor, too. As you can see our suspect is carrying an electrician's box. Each time he's entered the room he's carried that box in there with him, until that last day." Malcolm fast -forwarded the tapes and then stopped again. "Now, take a good look at what he's carrying in his hand, this is on the day of the explosion. Wouldn't you say that's big enough to carry a bomb inside without drawing attention? Looks like any normal backpack, doesn't it."
"We think that he was monitoring your conversations, T'Pol. He probably bugged it shortly after you arrived, came back at the end of each day and picked up the tape. On the last day he brought in the bomb, probably had a remote control device. He called for Phlox and then simply collected his stuff and left. He waited until he was clear and then hit the remote, or he might have set a triggering device to go off when Phlox opened the door, and, boom, it goes off. No witnesses."
Jonathan had been sitting quietly taking all of this in. "Alright, Malcolm, lets say you're right, how do we find this bastard? He didn't die in the blast. That poor innocent boy did."
"I don't have that answer for you yet, but I do have T'Pol's Corporal. He came to us the first thing this morning right after he came in to see his friend.
"Why don't you two relax a few minutes, take a break. I'll send someone to the cafeteria to get fresh coffee and tea; you want anything to eat? I'll also have them bring the Corporal up from downstairs."
I looked at Jonathan. "I believe that I would like a bowl of plomeek soup, the same for you Jonathan?"
"I guess, sure you don't want something a little more substantial to go along with it, like bread, maybe, T'Pol?"
"Yes, that would be fine." I wanted more than that, but I was reminded of Dr. Sural's warning.
Malcolm left and I asked Jonathan to help me stand up for a few minutes so that I could stretch my legs and straighten out my body. "How long have we been here?"
"More than an hour. Are you tired?"
"Not really, I was just thinking about Phlox, I would like to see him today, if possible."
"Sure, we'll ask Malcolm to take us over to the Compound when we finish here. He owes us that much."
There was a commotion in the hallway and then a cart from the cafeteria came around the corner. It was loaded down with a large carafe of coffee, and another one full of hot tea. The tray held an assortment of crackers, breads, small snack cakes and a large tureen of plomeek soup. The smell was pleasant to my nostrils.
I had just settled myself at the table when Malcolm entered with the young Corporal.
"Corporal Slater, I believe you have met Admiral Archer and his wife, Ambassador T'Pol of Vulcan."
Holding himself at attention, he greeted Jonathan and bowed to me. "Admiral, Ambassador; Maam, it is an honor to see you again, I hope you are well." He held himself at attention again.
"At ease, Corporal, we were just about to have a break, please join us; then we'll get down to business, that's an order, Son." Jonathan smiled hoping to put him at ease.
"Thank you Sir, but I'm not very hungry. But, I could sure use a cup of coffee."
"Help yourself, and try one of those snack cake's, too, they go good with coffee. I have a feeling we may be here awhile. We're having some of T'Pol's favorite soup, pretty good stuff, too, its called Plomeek soup, want me to get you a bowl?"
"No thank you, Sir. This cake will be fine, I'll just get some coffee to go with it."
Malcolm had been quietly listening to the entire conversation. "While you get your trays, Admiral, I'll go on if that's alright, we've got a lot to cover."
"Go right ahead." Jonathan filled his bowl and grabbed a small plate for the crackers, breads and snack cakes. He came back to sit down. Holding the tray for him, I simply reminded him that that was exactly what I had wanted and thanked him, setting his tray down in front of me. He gave me a startled look but got back up and got another tray for himself.
Amused, Malcolm looked away from me and went back to his list of questions. "Corporal, I understand that you were a close friend of Corporal Landers. How long had you known him?"
He wiped his mouth with the napkin he had placed in his lap. "Sir, Johnny and I grew up together, we were best buddies as far back as grade school. We enlisted together."
I watched as the young Corporal fought to control his emotions. He held his coffee with both hands to keep from spilling it on him, and raised it slowly to his lips.
"I understand that you were at Starfleet Medical all night. How exactly did your friend get hurt?"
Surprised, he looked up and then he looked over at me. "Sir, we were both in the apartment when Ambassador T'Pol was injured. We were between her and the blast when the bomb went off. Johnny was too close." He hesitated for a moment. "Admiral Archer and I carried her outside and then he helped me carry Johnny out. Admiral Archer was the one who insisted that Johnny be put in the transport with her, there was one other badly injured MACO who was transported with them too, he was a friend of ours."
"Would that be Johnson?"
"Yes Sir."
"Can you tell us about that night, Corporal?"
He ran his fingers absently through his hair, deep in concentration. "Well, I was ordered to monitor the hall, Admiral Marshall was inside talking to the President of the Federation. I remember Admiral Archer was extremely worried, he was pacing back and forth in the hall. I guess he remembered me because he started asking me all kinds of questions about the attack. I tried to explain what I knew, which was very little, but I don't think he was really in any shape to understand. His eyes kept going back to the emergency entrance. He was worried about his wife."
"What else do you remember?" Malcolm poured him another cup of coffee and encouraged him to go on.
"I wanted to see my buddies, I asked Admiral Archer to excuse me and I headed for the Lab. When I got inside I saw Ambassador T'Pol lying on a bio-bed. She was covered in green blood, it looked to me like she had lost a lot.
"She was conscious and must have heard me talking to the Admiral because she told me that my friends had been taken up for surgery." He shook his head. "There was so much blood on the front of her robes," he hesitated, as if visualizing everything he had seen. "Anyway, all I could do was stare."
"I'm sorry about that, too, Maam, I had never seen green blood before and I was afraid you were bleeding to death."
"I remember, Corporal, and I would like to thank you again for your concern that night."
A warm smile crossed his face. "Can I ask you a question, Maam?"
"Certainly, what would you like to know? I'll try to answer."
"What happened to Johnny?" He was visibly moved. "He was better when I saw him yesterday. Now he's dead. I've got to tell his parents something." He brushed away a tear. "Rumors have it that someone tried to put your lights out, Maam."
My eyebrows went up in confusion but Jonathan gestured with a nod indicating I should continue. "I'm hoping that you can help us find out what happened. Captain Reed has some surveillance tapes we would like you to watch with us. Perhaps you will see something that we have missed. Did you stop by to see him everyday?"
"Yeah, sometimes two maybe three times a day. Dr. Phlox said that talking to him might help, so, I always told him what I was doing and what was happening that day on the job."
Malcolm turned on the projector. He had rewound it to the spot that our stranger had come into the picture and he now stared back at us from the large screen. "Do you recognize this man, Corporal?"
It didn't take him long, "Yeah, I sure do. I saw him a lot in the hallways on Johnny's floor. I even ran into him in Johnny's room. I think he said he was trying to find an electrical short or something; anyway, he messed around with the wall outlet behind Johnny's bed."
Malcolm turned off the projector and wrote down a few more notes. "Corporal did you ever get this man's name? Or did you ever talk to him?"
"I think he said his name was Jack or Jake, I'm not sure, now. He asked about Johnny, wanted to know how he got hurt."
Now Jonathan was alert. "Corporal, did the conversation ever come around to Ambassador T'Pol?"
"As a matter of fact it did, I think he brought it up. He wanted to know if I knew that there was a celebrity right next door. I had no idea who he was talking about. When he told me it was you, I guess I said something about Johnny getting hurt at the same time. He wanted to know if you had been seriously hurt too, and, if I had seen you since you had been admitted."
He lowered his head looking at his hands in his lap; then he looked up at me. Barely above a whisper he asked, "Maam, I want to know what happened to Johnny and why."
The truth was devastating, but after he had regained his composure we talked for another hour, going over anything that he thought might help. He had told our stranger that my injuries were superficial, which was probably why he had decided to use a bomb. We showed him pictures of our other suspects, but he didn't recognize any of them.
It was difficult for him, but in the end he had been very helpful. He left but only after Jonathan promised to make arrangements to have him transferred so that he could work with us. He was adamant to stay and see this through for his friend. Corporal Slater is quite a young man.
Malcolm realized I was exhausted and reluctantly agreed to a break and had us taken back to our quarters so that I could rest. My limbs were stiff, my head ached and I was completely drained of my strength. Lying down felt extremely good.
ooooo
After Jonathan and I had settled back into our respective places, Malcolm looked toward me. "I didn't want to have this conversation while Corporal Slater was here, we still don't know for sure that the electrician is our mole, but I'm ninety-nine percent sure.
"This whole thing has been confusing as hell, T'Pol. Harris has tried putting the pieces together, and actually he's done a pretty good job. His theories are pretty good, too." Malcolm stopped and turned toward the door, frowning. "You could have given me a few more minutes to warm them to the idea."
Harris was standing in the doorway. Jonathan jumped to his feet and rushed toward him when Harris quickly held up a white handkerchief waving it back and forth. "Please, Jonathan, I'm not going to step one foot closer, I promise. First, I want to apologize for my stupidity during our last encounter. Secondly, I'm begging you to give me five minutes and then I promise to leave the two of you alone." He remained in the doorway, completely still.
Jonathan backed away from him and turned back toward Malcolm. "Alright, this had better be good Malcolm, otherwise, I may bust you back to Private. "You've got one minute Harris, make it good."
"Thanks, first I want to apologize, Ambassador, I was completely out of line. You surprised me; the Vulcans I know are completely void of emotion. I didn't expect you to lose it like that."
"Mr. Harris. Then, I believe it is I who owe you an apology. At least you can now attest to the fact that I, a Vulcan, have a temper."
Jonathan was becoming annoyed. "Enough, Harris, quit licking our boots and start talking, you're running out of time."
"I have in my hand here, a file containing everything on this case, from day one, more than two years worth. Malcolm's right, without the total picture nothing makes any sense. What do you say, Jonathan, can I stay a few more minutes, I promise not to wear out my welcome. I'll leave as soon as you tell me to go, fair enough?" Finally, after looking at me, Jonathan nodded.
"I'm sorry about our last meeting. I've been working this case along time and for some reason I'm having a difficult time dealing with this one. They warn you against getting personally involved, well, I'm afraid I've gotten to close. The Prime Minister's daughter was a year younger than my daughter; it's hard looking at the autopsy report, you know, seeing what was done to her; really, hit me hard. I've seen bad stuff like that before, but for some reason this time it's different, this time it hit home.
"Anyway, enough of that, I can give you a chronology of events, I've got a paper-trail going back before you came into contact with Salanacon, T'Pol. In the beginning there would be one or two abductions a year with no trace of them until their bones turned up several months later. Before your abduction they were up to five a year with no trace of them ever being found. Our men heard rumors of a slave ring from people in the smaller villages. Many of their young girls have disappeared over the years. Jonathan do you want me to go on?"
"Harris, is it worth all the pain you're going to cause T'Pol, by bringing up a lot of ugly stuff?"
"Jonathan, I want to know what he has?"
Shaking his head, Jonathan sat down next to me and indicated for Harris to continue.
"Some of this you've heard I'm sure, from Malcolm, but I would like to start at the beginning. First though, you need to know where this information comes from, we infiltrated their camp of marauders, both on Orion and on Salanacon and we have spies in their government as well as the delegation that arrived yesterday. Our men are deeply embedded and completely trusted.
"Okay, Prime Minister Urdal asked for our help. But, not before he had exhausted all of his own resources. His family was being threatened and he was being pressured to resign. When he refused their demands and doubled his efforts to break up the ring his daughter was killed and dumped in front of his home. I don't know where he found the strength, but, he was even more determined than ever that they were not going to win. He sent the rest of his family into hiding and immediately contacted the Federation. He also requested, at the same time, membership into the Federation. This was two years ago.
"The Council had reservations and wanted a thorough investigation, they also told Urdal that there would be many demands that they would have to meet.
"The Council would have agreed to help, anyway, they were getting similar complaints from all over the quadrant.
"I needed someone who could set up covert operations, so I pulled in a marker that Malcolm owed me and put him in charge of covert operations. It took almost two years to fully infiltrate the camps. We also had insurgents to contend with, government officials on the take, and a huge network of underground slave traders to deal with.
"Then we receive word that the Federation has decided to send T'Pol to handle negotiations, that Salan, as they call themselves now, wants to proceed immediately with their request for membership. Malcolm became concerned because he recognized the location of Salan as the place where you were seriously injured, years before. He told me that T'Pol was probably targeted back then because she was a Vulcan and that Salanacon had an unfavorable history with Vulcan. Malcolm was convinced that you would still be at risk, so, without my knowledge he contacted Shran.
"Now, here's the clincher, Ral and Prime Minister Urdal have a history, too. They're rivals, adversaries; and they go way back. Ral faced off against Urdal for the office Urdal now holds. Ral doesn't want Salan to become part of the Federation while Urdal wants his people to move forward, forget the past, and move on to better times.
"Ral controlled a small faction of insurgents and he immediately got them all riled up by telling them that a Vulcan Negotiator was coming to take away most of their rights. He knew that it would cause trouble; he fully intended to derail the talks.
"Urdal appointed Ral, Ambassador, after he learned we were sending a Vulcan Negotiator. He hoped that by making him the head of the delegation that Ral would be forced to face his demons. It didn't go over well with Ral, and after he made several threats, Urdal, was afraid the talks would be sabotaged. So, he asked that the talks be moved to a neutral planet. That's why we picked Andoria.
"A kidnap plot surfaced after dear sweet Ral made a point of telling his small band of renegades that Vulcans would be storming the city at any time. He convinced them that if they kidnapped you they could stop the talks, and that if they killed you it would put an end to any future talks.
"As I said a minute ago, Malcolm became concerned and contacted Shran. He passed the information on to him to see what he could find out and to tighten security in case the Federation decided to go ahead and send you, T'Pol. Shran contacted Starfleet instead and passed the information on to them.
"We all know what happened next, Starfleet decides to pull T'Pol out of the talks. Shran tells Ral. He turns around and says that unless he deals only with you, there won't be any talks.
"Ral was in the clear until you came into the picture, T'Pol. Everything that's happened since he arrived on the scene has been geared at getting rid of you. He's got to dispose of you because you're a real threat to him.
"He's not stupid T'Pol, they have DNA on their planet, they have autopsy reports, they have access to medical files, it doesn't take a genius to see the similarities between your near fatal injuries and the injuries that killed Urdal's daughter. And you can identify him. Hell you can identify all of them."
Jonathan jumped up, "That's enough, Harris."
'Please sit down Jonathan.'
ooooo
Jonathan is unhappy with me. He knows that I am right, but he's not going to admit it. We spent two more hours this afternoon with Malcolm and Harris, discussing a plan to snare Ral.
We really have no other choice; otherwise, this is going to drag on throughout my entire pregnancy. I don't want to be in constant fear for my life and for that of my child's.
Harris has a plan that could work; and its not dangling me in front of Ral; as Jonathan calls it. We know he is behind both attempts to kill me. We have a plan, now to convince Jonathan that it is almost fail-safe.
Malcolm is arranging another on-line conference with Ral right now. No dark glasses, no sling, no losing control. But first, I must meditate.
The Telecom went off forcing me out of my safe place; slowly, I walked in front of the view screen making myself visible to the other party.
"Malcolm, what do you have?" My breathing was ragged, surprised by the interruption, I had to force my heart to beat slower; Jonathan might be taking me to the Vulcan Compound sooner than I planned.
"Are you sure about this, T'Pol? Ral didn't even hesitate; he wants to talk to you, looks like in about half an hour. I gave him the number here like you asked. Again, are you sure you want to go through with this?"
I nodded. "We are all in agreement, are we not? We all want this brought to a satisfactory conclusion, sooner rather than later. I have enough on my mind, Malcolm, I don't want to be in fear of Ral."
"Do you want to go over anything, while your waiting? And just for the record, I still think I should be there when you talk to him." He seemed to be looking behind me. I turned around but no one was there. "T'Pol, where's Jonathan?"
"He's here, I won't be alone. Jonathan may be unhappy with our plan but I can depend on him. I must go now, Malcolm, I have some last minute things to take care of before he calls."
"Good luck, T'Pol, don't let him get to you. We've decided to handle this from a position of power, don't forget that, and, don't hesitate to hang up on him if you have to, don't let him dictate to you." I disconnected us.
I took a quick inventory of myself, freshened my makeup and adjusted my robes and adornments. I would look every bit the Vulcan in charge. 'All I need is confidence.'
I heard the Telecom beeping. The blood drained from my face as I looked at myself in the mirror. It was to late to change my mind now, finally drawing on my resolve and reaching for every inch to bring me to my full height, and with the pain to ground me; I walked with purpose to the Telecom. This performance needed to be convincing, otherwise, I was probably destined to die.
I swallowed hard and walked in front of the monitor. "Good evening, Ambassador Ral."
"Good evening T'Pol, I mean, Ambassador T'Pol. I hope you are well, can you see me?"
"Yes, my eyesight is greatly improved since our last contact."
"Why have you requested this meeting, Ambassador? Not that I object, certainly, since, I have been trying daily to reach you. I was told that you were still hospitalized. It would seem someone was mistaken." He was smiling.
"Ambassador Ral, I did not request this meeting so that we might engage in small talk. I would like to express our gratitude to you and your government for agreeing to hold the negotiations here. I would also like to go over our agenda and see if we might be able to come to an agreement as to when to begin."
"Are you physically able to proceed, T'Pol? I mean Ambassador."
I wanted to slap the smile off his face. "I would not have left the time open for discussion if I were not ready, Ambassador."
Now he was becoming agitated. It's amazing how much better I feel knowing he's not pleased with my abruptness.
"I can be ready tomorrow, however, that may be to soon for you. Are you still under a Doctor's care, T'Pol?"
My skin was beginning to crawl; he was running his red beady eyes up and down my form, what he could see. I hoped he couldn't see my labored breathing, as I was deeply stressed.
"Let us go over the agenda and then we will see if you are still prepared, Ambassador Ral." I silently breathed a sigh of relief; he was not pleased that I had taken control of the conversation.
"Salan petitioned the Federation for membership nearly two years ago. At that time they also asked for our help in bringing an end to a slavery market operating on Salan. We have made substantial progress and I believe that you will find the results interesting, Ambassador.
"One other thing that may please the Prime Minister, the Federation will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law, traders who deal in and sell slaves for sex. Tell him that the Federation has never failed to hand down the punishment of death." He flinched, and he was aware that I had detected his uneasiness.
"Our first order of business must be the drafting of an agreement to end the making and mass production of all biological and chemical weaponry, along with an end to all future research.
"The Federation will insist on full disclosure concerning your warp drive research and your space program, as well as a complete inventory of your arsenal of weapons.
"Each member of the Federation has an Embassy on earth, and in return each planet plays host to our respective Embassies. Are you aware that includes a Vulcan Embassy on your planet, Ambassador?" He flinched again. This time his eyes went cold. His hatred was impossible to hide.
I remained silent allowing him time to think about what I had just said; then I continued. "Your Prime Minister assures me that you do not represent the majority of the Salanese people, I am of course, referring to your hatred of Vulcans, Ambassador."
I paused before delivering the next blow because I wanted him to feel the full effect. "You will be pleased to learn that your Prime Minister has also expressed a very strong desire to have you join my staff, Ambassador, as one of my negotiators." I waited again for effect. "You may want to consider taking sensitivity training, however, because my staff consists of other Vulcans. I would, of course, insist that the proper protocols and conduct be maintained." His face was like stone and all I could see were his red eyes, they were on fire with rage.
I remained silent, watching his expression. Pleased. Seconds passed. "Is there anything that you would like to add to our first days agenda, Ambassador?" Nothing passed his lips.
"Very well then, shall we say 0800 hours tomorrow morning. Admiral Marshall will direct you to the conference room. Good night, Ambassador."
I reached over and turned off the monitor.
I felt ill and rushed for the bathroom, very much aware that I might not make it in time. I sensed that Jonathan was near and then I felt his hands holding me as I sat on the floor and violently convulsed over the toilet… It seemed that it was never going to come to an end, there was nothing left in my stomach to expel… It was impossible to control my shaking as I rested my head against Jonathan's arm trying to catch my breath.
The Telecom went off and I gestured for Jonathan to answer it, I had expected Malcolm to check in with me, knowing he planned to monitor my conversation from Starfleet communications.
I could hear Jonathan easily, because, he was shouting rather loudly at Malcolm. "Oh, yeah, Malcolm, she handled it well alright, she's on the bathroom floor, retching her guts out. Anything you want me to pass on to her between seizures?"
"Shit, I'm sorry, Admiral, I thought from the way she handled it that she was okay. I would have liked to talk to her. But, I guess you can tell her the news. Tell her that the Ambassador called immediately after she disconnected him, demanding to be put through again. He finally settled for talking to Admiral Marshall. Can you believe it; he wanted to know her whereabouts. Marshall told him she was being housed in an undisclosed location because of threats against her.
"He confirmed the meeting tomorrow at 0800 hours and Admiral Marshall told him to come to his office at Starfleet and that he would escort him to an undisclosed location for the meeting. Jonathan, I think T'Pol succeeded in pushing Ral over the edge. We need to proceed very cautiously now, he's really going to be desperate."
"Listen, Malcolm, do you know if Ral is bringing his delegation tomorrow?"
"Shit, we've got way to many unknown variables here; the medical convention, Ral's cohorts and his delegation, T'Pol's condition, is she going to bring her delegation with her?"
I was tired of this whole mess, actually I was totally exhausted, and now I was also in pain. I was sure that I had pulled something during the near expulsion of my stomach. I pulled myself up to the sink and splashed water on my face and rinsed out my mouth. Then I called to Jonathan telling him I wanted to talk to Malcolm, and could he help me out to the front room. Almost immediately he was beside me.
I seated myself in front of the Telecom. "Malcolm, I understand that Jonathan has talked to you about taking us to see Phlox. I would like to do so very shortly if you could arrange it soon. I believe I have pulled some stitches and need to see Dr. Sural."
Startled, Jonathan looked at me, "Why didn't you say something, T'Pol? Just how long have you been in pain, anyway, and when were you going to tell me?"
"Jonathan, I believe I just did it while I was in the bathroom. I may be wrong, but I don't want to take any unnecessary chances, I see a few blood spots."
Jonathan's face turned white, he approached me and I suddenly realized he was going to get extremely personal with Malcolm looking on; I had to remind him that we were not alone.
Concerned, Malcolm interrupted, "I'll be there as soon as I can get there, T'Pol. I'll need a few minutes to muster up a proper escort and I'm going to call ahead and let Dr. Sural know we're coming. I'm on my way." Before I could respond the monitor went black.
Malcolm was true to his word, in no time he was knocking on our door. Jonathan had taken the opportunity to do his own examination and had administered first aid. Neither of us could determine the severity of the damage, so now I am completely covered in bandages because he insisted on treating the entire area affected, but we were ready when Malcolm arrived.
A small army of MACO'S joined us for our brief trip to the Vulcan Compound. Soon inside, we were quickly escorted away to the infirmary where they had just recently moved Phlox.
I spotted him first, his face was red and blistered; some of his hair was missing where it had been burned off. They still had him attached to a respirator. Then I saw his hands; they were both bandaged. They had been burned and one wrist was definitely broken and his fingers were being held straight with splints.
I began to cry, I couldn't stop myself. My friend had nearly died because of me. I had turned away not wanting anyone to see my despair when I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder and heard a soft whisper in my ear. "Hormones running rampant again, are they?" Phlox turned me around.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what I expected, but I wasn't ready to see you like this. Please forgive my emotional outburst. I am ashamed."
"I am touched. I don't believe that I have seen this much emotion from you in a very long time. Now what is this about blood spots, you haven't messed up my beautiful work, have you? I believe it is my finest accomplishment."
I was going to cry again. I shook my head in answer to his question, trying to regain control. "I'm not sure what happened but I may have hit hard on the front of the toilet bowl when I tried to expel the contents of my stomach, earlier."
Dr. Sural had come into the room. "T'Pol, shall we have a look at you? If you gentlemen will excuse us I believe that we will take our patient into the examining room." Dr. Sural led me out of the front area. Phlox came along too, moving very slowly, attached to a portable respirator that he was pulling along with him.
Sural looked over at him and then back to me, shaking his head. "I would tell him to stay put, but we both know he does what he wants, regardless of my orders."
My eyes sparkled, imagining Dr. Sural trying to tell Phlox anything; the corners of my mouth couldn't help but turn up at the edges in the smallest of smiles, visualizing their conversations.
TBC