Trip cracked his eyes open, soon regretting it. His vision swam as he attempted to look around at his surroundings; he moved to sit up, a cry escaping his lips. Looking down he saw a small puddle of crimson liquid pooling by the side of his crooked leg. Yep, defiantly broken, he thought grimly. Looking around he saw the still form of his Vulcan companion. His heart jumped, and he could hear it pounding within his ears.

"T'Pol?" he called out, nervously.

He received no response, clenching his jaw he crawled over to her, his injured leg sending pain shooting through his form. Even though he had moved no more than a metre, it felt as if all his strength had been drained.

"T'Pol" he muttered again, his voice slightly slurred. He reached his hand up to her, shaking her shoulder. Her eyes fluttered open and locked with his.

"Are you ok?" he asked sincerely

She sat up slowly, "I am uninjured" she responded.

Looking over to the engineer, she took notice of the clamminess of his face and the crooked shape of his leg, vital liquid seeping through his uniform.

"You are hurt"

Was it him or did she sound concerned?

"I'm fine, it's just a break, Phlox will be able to fix it up no problem" he replied.

T'Pol looked unconvinced, moving closer to him she knelt down and lightly examined his leg, Trip wasn't able to suppress the gasp that escaped his lips.

"Ok, maybe it's a bit worse than I said." he gasped

"You are loosing a lot of blood."

"I think there's an emergency med kit, somewhere over there." he said pointing behind her.

Standing up she quickly found the medical equipment, kneeling back beside him she started to rip at his bloodied trouser leg. It was far worse than she was expecting, if he didn't get medical attention soon….

"How does it look?"

She looked over to him; Trip knew her more than most and was accustomed to her facial expressions, small as they were. "That good huh." he answered for her.

"I will need to try and reset the bone, before you lose any more blood." She stated in her direct Vulcan way.

Trip nodded, "is there any pain relief in the med kit?"

"I am unsure whether to give you any medication; in your present state it could have serious side effects. You could lapse into a coma."

Trip closed his eyes. "Your probably right, just do it quick."

T'Pol looked apprehensively at the engineer, the last thing she wanted to do was hurt him. At least this way he would hopefully be alive long enough for Enterprise to rescue them.

She softly placed her hands on his injured leg and pulled, manoeuvring it into place. A pain filled scream erupted from Trip's lips, it was too much for the human's body to take and he passed out.

T'Pol began bandaging his leg; it was still bad, very bad. However, it would give him a better chance of survival until Phlox could get to him. Looking around the small craft, she found a blanket, and placed it carefully over him. What would I do if I lost him? It was an illogical and selfish thought but she thought it none the less. Before the incident with Koss, Trip had been her most valued friend aboard Enterprise, perhaps anywhere. It wasn't just because of their 'experiment', she could have gone to him with anything and he would have gladly taken the time to help her. That was gone now but she had been hoping to return to some sort of normality, any sort of normality. However, if she lost him, she knew Enterprise would be a much lonelier, emptier place without him. An Enterprise she may not want to return to.

Standing up she walked over to the front console, perhaps now would be the best time to analyse the situation they had gotten themselves into. The ships systems had taken a beating on the journey down here, many were non-operational. Hopefully she could get some of them to function enough to send a distress signal to Enterprise, or find some way to get off this planet. Submerging herself under the console her nimble fingers started to reconnect some of the damaged systems. She was aware that with each passing minute the temperature in the craft slightly decreased. The temperature controls were completely broken, even Trip wouldn't be able to fix them. A fact, which didn't bode well for the two officers'.

Two hours had soon passed aboard the small craft, Trip was still unconscious - a fact which was starting to concern T'Pol. The temperature was now slightly below zero, and still dropping. On the plus side though, she had managed to get the oxygen filters slightly operational, at least now they had cleaner air to breath when they froze to death. She was now attempting to fix the communication system, like the temperature controls, it too was practically unsalvageable. Pulling her blanket tighter around herself, her shaking hands tried to connect several wires in the com together. It was useless; even if the com was salvageable, her fingers kept stiffening up from the cold -preventing her from doing anything productive.

A groan from behind her brought her concentration away from the job at hand. Turning around she saw that Trip had begun to stir, his heavy breaths visible in the cold. She moved over to him in an instant, his eyelids were flickering open and closed. It appeared to be taking some effort to even regain consciousness.

"Mr Tucker can you hear me?" she questioned, it looked as if he was slipping back under. In his condition, coupled with the cold he could easily lapse into a coma, something T'Pol wasn't going to allow.

"….Trip can you hear me?" the use of his nickname on her lips had the desired effect on the young engineer and his eyelids opened, staying open this time.

"T'Pol?" he whispered, coughing slightly. "..Hurts" he gasped.

She winced slightly, as she heard the pain in his voice. "I know, but I can't give you any medication for it"

He nodded slightly. "How bad is it?" he said referring to the shuttle.

"None of the key systems are operational, communications and the temperature regulators are inoperable."

"Did we get the message through at least?"

"I can not be sure."

He nodded again and yawned, shutting his eyes.

"Commander you need to remain awake."

"I'm so tired T'Pol"

"That may be the case but you still need to remain conscious."

Trip opened his eyes again, his face had lost all colour and he was shivering slightly.

"How are your parents?" T'Pol asked starting up a conversation.

Trip didn't answer for a few seconds, he knew what she was doing and why. It was likely that if he did go back to sleep then he could never wake up again, something that scared him to death, pardon the pun. Even after all the hurtful things he had said to her before they crashed, and he knew they had hurt her, Vulcan or not - she was still helping and looking after him He didn't deserve her.

"They're fine, they moved to a new house. Lizzie would have loved it" he answered. T'Pol had been his lifeline in the Expanse when he was dealing with the death of his little sister. To be honest he wouldn't know what he would have done without her, a fact that made him feel even worse about his earlier comments. It wasn't her fault she had to marry Koss, yet he took it out on her.

The next hour passed in much the same way, they casually talked, just as they did before. It only stood to remind Trip of what he had lost, and what he could never have with her again. With every minute that passed, the shuttle became colder, if that was possible. Trip couldn't help the shiver that wracked his frame and the sharp intake of breath as he jarred his already painful leg. He pulled his blanket closer to him, locking in any excess heat.

T'Pol looked over to the engineer, his lips were slightly blue from the cold and she was shivering just as much. She knew what she was about to say would be uncomfortable for both of them, but there wasn't much choice.

"It is logical that we should start conserving body heat."

Trip swallowed, if it wasn't bad enough that he felt as if he was dying, whilst being trapped on an ice planet with the married woman he loved; now she wanted to conserve body heat! He apprehensively acknowledged and she moved to lie next to him, her body pressed against his. It was true that he instantly felt warmer, but he had also instantly felt more uncomfortable.

"I never thought I'd be freezing my butt off on a shuttle again, I swear shuttle pod one's cursed." he mumbled, barely above a whisper.

He knew with each moment that passed his life was ebbing away, he could feel it. His leg was still bleeding, albeit not as badly, but he was feeling more and more weak from the blood loss, and the unbearable cold. He looked down at T'Pol; her head was resting on his chest. If he was going to go, he didn't want the words that she remembered him by being him comparing her to his other 'conquests'.

"T'Pol, do you remember what I said before, about you just being some foolish crush."

She didn't respond but he knew she had heard him. "You know, just as much as me that was complete bull, I didn't want to put pressure on you. I know you didn't have any choice marrying Koss, and a part of me thought that you hating me would be better than if you felt anything else for me." he continued

"This isn't exactly where or when I wanted to say it but I do love you, more than I ever thought I could. I know you're with Koss and it's selfish of me to put you in this position but I couldn't die with you hating me."

T'Pol raised her head and met his eyes; she could see the sincerity in which he had said those words. I don't deserve his love, she whispered internally to herself. She had bonded to Koss, even though she suspected the engineer had feelings for her. Brought him to Vulcan to see her wed Koss. And even before that incident, in the Expanse she had passed over their night together as an 'experiment', and just generally ignored him when it suited her.

"I could never hate you Trip" she whispered back, entwining her fingers with his under the blankets. "I regret ever going back to Vulcan, perhaps then things could have been different between us if I never went."

Trip slightly smiled back, "perhaps" he coughed, the cold air engulfing his lungs. "I guess we'll never know now. At least I got to see what our life could have been like, what our son would have been like." He finished, referring to the events, which unfolded in the Expanse. He had been so amazed when he found out he had a son - Lorian, except now Lorian, or any child he could have had with T'Pol would never exist.

"I went to see my future self on the other Enterprise, she talked about you." T'Pol began, she didn't know why she was telling the engineer this but she found herself doing it anyway.

"What did she say?" Trip whispered, his voice raspy

"She told me to follow my heart."

Trip reluctantly asked the question he needed to know, "…What does your heart want?"

T'Pol considered what the engineer had said, and gave her honest answer." I don't know."

The two lay in silence for several minutes, neither knowing quite what to say. T'Pol had her head resting upon his heart, his heartbeat was becoming slower and if she had to admit it, it terrified her. His breathing was becoming more and more shallow, if Enterprise didn't find them soon then the ship would soon need a new chief engineer.

"T'Pol?" T'Pol turned to look into Trip's eyes "…it hurts so much." The Vulcan could see it in his eyes the amount of raw pain he was in, her eyes watered slightly as she tightened her grasp on his hand. "Then sleep Trip, I'm here." she whispered, her voice catching in her throat.

Trip looked over to her, his grasp on reality becoming weaker and weaker as the pain and cold consumed him. "Ok, goodnight darl'n." he muttered.

"Goodnight Trip." She replied, her emotional barriers cracking. She listened to his heartbeat become slower and slower with every passing minute. Shivering she closed her eyes, joining the engineer in restless slumber.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, sorry it took so long to update.