Trip was glad to put the doctors' visit behind him. He and T'Pol arrived in the situation room and immediately dived into the problem of the rift. "Here is the data we have collected on the formation of the rift," Spock said as he started the simulation.

"Closing the rift will require an implosion," T'Pol began only to be interrupted by Trip.

"On both sides. Scotty whatcha got that can do the job on your end?" he asked.

Archer stepped back to watch as Trip, Malcolm, Scotty and Lt. Kyle, the 1701's Weapons Officer, started throwing around weapons specs, power equations, fuel components and Lord only knew what else as they quickly left him behind. He did notice however, that T'Pol, although few would realize it, was not pleased to have been interrupted. 'Trip's in the doghouse again and he doesn't even realize it,' Archer thought, hiding a smile. He knew that they didn't realize how often they acted like they were married. Then he sobered as he realized that to Vulcans, they were. 'Then again, maybe he's provoking another fight. I swear those two enjoy fighting with each other more than any other couple I've ever seen.'

Trip and T'Pol's 'discussions' had already reached legendary status on board. Officially he had to ignore the crew's betting pool on the outcome of the fights between the two senior officers. Unofficially however, Archer was the score keeper for Ensign Sato who had been persuaded to keep the record book. This served two purposes. The first was that it created an informal connection with his crew, one that let them see him as human rather than a figure head. The second was that if there was ever a fight that the crew shouldn't know about he could make sure that they didn't, at least as long as Trip and T'Pol behaved themselves in public.

Archer's musings were interrupted when Kirk leaned over to Spock and said, "I thought they weren't far enough along to hear each other's thoughts yet."

"Not with any consistency yet, however both spontaneously following a single thought process is inevitable now that they are aware of the bond," Spock informed him. Archer wondered who that information was for. They were certainly bonded enough that they didn't need to speak out loud to each other. Then he looked over at T'Pol. Although she wasn't participating in the quiet discussion, he could see the minute relaxation of her shoulders. It seemed that Trip would get away with it this time.

In no time at all the four men had the plans for the weapons they needed worked out. "Sirs, we need to switch around a few components but we can have the torpedoes we need built within six hours," Scotty said. He turned to the Science Officers. "How long before the rift is critical?"

"Six hours, thirteen minutes, eight seconds," both Vulcans answered.

"Don't waste time here," Archer said to Trip and Malcolm.

Kirk merely said, "Go Scotty." Scotty grabbed Kyle and they ran for the turbolift. Malcolm and Trip were already at their stations, pulling up component lists and sending orders to their people on where to deliver the parts.

"T'Pol keep an eye on that rift," Archer ordered. "Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, it has been a pleasure to meet you and your crew." He shook hands with Kirk and nodded to Spock. As much as he would like to spend a few more hours with Kirk, the sooner the 1701 left, the better for both universes and they all had work to do. With the safety of both universes safe in the hands of his crew, Archer needed to check on those who weren't up to their elbows in the current crisis.

His first stop was Hoshi and Travis. He found them in the mess hall discussing the implications of the 1701's integrated crew and government. "It's not just that they've explored so much farther than we have Travis," Hoshi was saying. "It's the fact that they've done it under a single unified government that still allows each planet internal autonomy. They don't try and force one species to follow the path of another. They accept each other's differences and try to work out compromises for interstellar laws."

"I just can't see our Vulcans going for it," Travis protested. "Not now, maybe in a hundred years when we prove that we're not going to cause an interstellar crisis by bumbling around out here."

"Actually," Archer said as he slid into a seat next to Hoshi. "Their Federation was created about ten years after their NX-01 launched. I think that we have a good chance of making it happen here, maybe even sooner because we know that it's possible."

Travis shook his head, "I don't know sir, I'm stuck on the Vulcans. I just can't see Soval or any of the rest of them admitting that we have a place out here in the universe, especially after they've held our space program back a full generation."

"I think that's because we still don't know each other well enough," was Hoshi's opinion.

"We've know about Vulcans for nearly seventy five years!" Travis protested.

Archer waved him down. "Why do you think that Hoshi?" he asked. He had a great deal of respect for his communications officer and he could tell that she was on to something, although he didn't have the faintest idea of what that was. She just had the look on her face that she got when she was about to pull a rabbit out of a hat that he didn't even know was there.

"Well, I've been thinking about this for a while now as I've gotten to know T'Pol a little. I think we've been dealing with at least a couple of mistranslations and miscommunications. The first one I think is purely a mistranslation. The concept that Vulcans don't have emotions is plainly wrong. I think the way to describe the concept properly is that they've learned to control their emotions to a far greater extent than we can imagine, so much so in fact that they can't imagine dealing with them in any other way. And any sort of public display of emotion is considered, well the nearest I can figure its like running around nude, screaming at the top of your lungs in the middle of the Earth Government Assembly. You just don't do it."

Travis and Archer couldn't hold back their snickers at the image. Hoshi grinned and continued. "I'm pretty sure that there is a cultural miscommunication going on too in our dealings with them but I can't put my finger on it. There is something in the body language of the Vulcans I've dealt with but the trouble is that it is so subtle I'm having a hard time defining it."

"Hoshi, you may be on to something. Try to get to know T'Pol better, spend more time with her. I'm sure that she'd be interested in your theory." Archer was tempted to say something about T'Pol needing to learn how human women dealt with their men, but held back. It wasn't a good idea to let that cat out of the bag just yet. "Trip, Malcolm, Scotty and Lt. Kyle have a plan to close the rift before it goes critical in just over six hours. What I need to know is do the two of you need anything in the next six hours? What about your departments?" he asked changing the subject.

"Communications is fine sir," Hoshi said. "We're still missing a few relays but nothing that's going to be critical in the next few days."

"The repairs have been finished on the hull and Helm is ready to go sir," Travis said.

Archer knew more than most how integrated a ship's systems were. If one section wasn't ready, it affected every other system it was connected to. But that didn't mean that they couldn't function without being 100. They just had to be careful. "That's good to know. I'm not sure what the effects will be other than closing the rift, so batten down your departments and warn your people to be on the look out for anything. I need to check in with the other department heads." With that, he got up and left them to finish their discussion.

He then went on to check with as many department heads as he could. Trip and Malcolm were busy and he didn't want to interrupt. Besides, if their departments needed something they already had carte blanch to take it. T'Pol would tell him if Science needed anything. She'd be insulted if she thought that he believed he needed to check up on her department. Archer paused, going back over his thought process. Hoshi was right. He'd learned that because of the interaction he'd had with his First Officer. In Human cultures, checking with your department heads was both necessity and a form of politeness, Humans needed to know that their Commanding Officer cared enough to ask. For Vulcans, it meant that the Commanding Officer thought that a department head was incompetent enough to need checking. The last department on his mental list was Sickbay. "Hello Doctor," he said as he entered.

"Hello Captain!" the eternally cheerful Phlox called. He bustled out of his office and over to Archer. "I do realize that you are terribly busy with this rift situation but I'm very glad that you could make some time to come down here. Dr. McCoy is an amazing physician and medical researcher. But I know before I get into that, you'll want to see the crewmembers." It was an almost universal trait he'd found, of Humans that were in charge. They needed to personally see any of their people who were injured as soon as it was medically advisable and as soon as they could get away from their other duties. He though that the tendency had something to do with their culture. The parental figure of a group was viewed as uncaring if the checks were not done. 'Amazing how similar some things are, regardless of how many light years apart the species and cultures evolved,' Phlox thought to himself. 'Parental concern in almost universal among higher life forms and almost every culture has some way to express that concern, even when there is no direct genetic link between those interacting.'

Archer smiled, pleased that the doctor hadn't wanted to talk to him first. That meant that there was nothing seriously wrong with his crew and that what Phlox had learned from Dr. McCoy could wait. Phlox wasn't a man to hold back where his patients were concerned. Of the five crewmen who had been seriously injured, all were well on their way to recovery. After speaking with each of them, Archer turned back to Phlox.

"Alright Phlox," Archer sighed. "I know I've left the Medical department until last but I figured you'd have your hands full and I didn't want to get in your way." He sat down on a chair next to the counter where Phlox was working, exhaustion oozing from every pore.

"Nonsense Captain, I know you're the one who has had his hands full. It isn't easy trying to run this ship, play nice with visitors, make certain that your ship's repair crews have everything they need to make sure that your ship isn't about to be destroyed and deal with what amounts to a family crisis all at the same time," Phlox said, waving his finger at Archer.

Archer laughed. "Yeah, that's one way to put having two of my senior officers get married without anyone realizing it, including them!" He sobered and leaned forward. "How are they? They're both too busy rushing around trying to deal with the repairs, closing the rift and each other to talk to me and I don't want to push them right now. They've got too much on their plates as it is."

"Medically speaking, they're both fine. This is going to take some time for both of them to adjust to the situation and I'm certain that the ship's betting pool is going to get quite a workout over the next few months. There are bound to be more than a few fights between them as they settle down into being bonded but I think they'll make the transition well." Phlox hesitated and then decided that the Vulcan mating drive was confidential medical knowledge but that he could express his concerns without getting into that. "The one thing that I am concerned about is that while Humans and Vulcans are compatible, you might want to be aware that SubCommander T'Pol is much stronger than a Human." He looked at Archer intently.

At first Archer didn't get it. Then he blushed bright red as he realized what the doctor was trying to say without spelling it out. "I'll keep that in mind Doctor," he said.

"Well, other than that I have no concerns about the two of them medically or emotionally. Their children are viable and safe in the stasis chamber I have right here." Phlox gestured at the blue box that sat on his counter. It was a chamber that Dr. McCoy had given him so as to increase the chances of the children's survival until they could be implanted in their mother. "Dr. McCoy has been more than helpful. Why he," Archer settled down to listen as Phlox carried on about what he'd learned from the other doctor. While he knew that it was going to take quite a while for the doctor to run out of things to say it was a far more pleasant duty than sitting on the bridge wondering if two miracle workers from two different universes were enough to keep both of their universes from being destroyed.