Interface

TITLE: Interface - Part 1
AUTHOR: Sue
E-MAIL: sulangy@yahoo.com
SUMMARY: Ready or not, T'Pol and Trip break
ground.
RATING: PG-13
CATEGORY: Romance/T'Pol/Trip
SPOILERs: Desert Crossing, Carbon Creek, Two Days,
Two Nights...slight A Night In Sick Bay
ARCHIVE: Yep, that's fine.
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, Paramount and its
entities do. I'm making no profit
whatsoever.

Interface


T'Pol blinked several times before coming to
a realization. The Commander, true to
his unpredictable self, had just neatly upset
the delicate balance she had categorized the
more enigmatic characteristics of his behavior
under.

What possible reacoulcould he have had to
have expressed himself in such an inappropriate
manner? It was inappropriate, wasn't it?
She had often wondered what the feel of his
lips pressing against hers would be like.
What he had done had left her no time to react.

Her face contorted into a deeply-set frown.
His rashness left her more confused than ever.
She chastized herself. His effect on her was
still disrupting the basis for rational thought.

Logic! What did logic have to do with it?
She was dealing with the Commander who was the
definitive antithesis to the meaning of the
word. So why did she feel more drawn to him
than ever?

"T'Pol?" Tucker's tweezer of a smile was hid
behind the palm of his hand. Typical T'Pol
look, he mused. He didn't understand why she
wore it. "Trust me, you're gonna live." Her
stony-looking eyes were his reward for his
unsolicited impudence. "C'mon, admit it. You
wanted it just as much as I did."

She looked as though she was smelling something
that was awful which did nothing to bolster
his ego. He stepped in closer to her again, but
she backed away like a startled kitty cat.

Well, what had he expected? Nobody had asked
him to haul off, take her into his needy arms
and kiss her. She had allowed it though, he
smugly noted. Right there and then he had
satisfied an urge he had tamped down longer
than had felt comfortable keeping on the back
burner. There were provoking circumstances.

With her eyeing him in this backhanded way,
he weighed the wisdom of his impulsive action.
Restraint just felt wrong in the light of recent
events...

He used as a for instance the rescue she had
headed that had saved Jon and him from the
inferno of a wasteland they had almost lost their
lives on.

What had been her reason for rubbing his cheek
in what had felt like affection of a sort
aboard the shuttlepod once he had drunk his fill
of water? He hadn't hallucinated the gesture,
nor her blandishing words that she had spoken
in low, concern-filled tones.

Her eyes had bored into his until he had been
unable to force them to stay open any longer.
Once he had closed them, he had felt T'Pol's
hand lightly rest upon his lids. A glorious
feeling of complete and utter tranquility had
engulfed him. What a delicious feeling that had
been. To this day, he still wasn't sure if she
had been responsible for it in a uniquely
mysterious Vulcan kind of way. He was unsure
how to ask her if it had been she using her
'mojo.'

And what was the day before last about? She
had blamed the turbolift's being overcrowded.
Her body had been plastered to his. Gingerly
then, he had felt her hand squeeze his right
butt cheek. And if that hadn't been enough,
a minute later, the 'explorer' had done the same
thing to his left cheek. That was 'mojo' he
could understand.

She wanted him. It sure seemed that way.
Lately, he was having some very tender feelings
where she was concerned.s hes he falling for
her, but having a hard time admitting it?

If he was falling, there was great cause.
T'Pol was all right. No, she was more than all
right. Beneath her no nonsense exterior lay one
very appealing woman. Her body had some very
enticing things going for it from his virile
perspective.

But there was more to her than raw sex appeal...so
much more. She was someone he found himself
admiring more and more. Maybe she had begun
to have feelings for him...just maybe. Being
Vulcan, she probably wasn't handling these
feelings very well.

Her not so subtle signals were driving him
bananas. Yep...the more he thought about all
the little cues she was communicating, the more
he thought she was waiting for him to make the
preliminary moves.

So he had, so what was the big, fat problem here?
Hadn't he done what she wanted? That prickly look
still etched on her face had him worried.

"Damn," Trip murmured in the pit of his throat.
Flustered, he rehearsed what he should say first
silently to himself. "If you're waitin' to hear
me apologize, you're in for a long wait. I'm not
sorry. Doin' what I did's been a long time in
comin'. I have feelin's for you, girl. There's
no point denyin' them to myself, and most of all
hidin' 'em from you." Sighing gustily he said,
"I'm tired of doin' that."

,
T'Pol mused to herself.

Hoshi Sato, who was waiting for her in the mess
hall, was probably wondering what was taking her
so long getting there. T'Pol wasn't above
manhandling the Commander out of her quarters.
As she stood there regarding him, she thought
that if she hadn't wanted to deal with him in
the first place, why had she allowed him
admittance? Now there was a question worth some
lengthy analysis.

He'd just confessed how tired he was of hiding
his feelings from her. Was she willing to be as
honest? Unflappably, she announced, "If there
is nothing further, Commander..."

If the 'instigator' who glared at her now only
knew how she really felt about him. It was
startling to admit to herselt that she too had
such feelings. She had tried keeping them at
bay, but since he was forcing the issue now,
she vacillated.

"Sure there's somethin' further!" Tucker
insisted. "There's this--"

"Wait," T'Pol advised, looking wary. She was
anchored within the iron-wrought grip of his
muscular arms once more. She buttressed her
hands against his heaving chest. She was
stronger, no contest, but he was no slouch in
the strength deparment either. Inexplicably,
she did not want to extract herself from his
bold tenacity. "Wait," she repeated, sounding
more conciliatory this time.

"Don'tcha think we've waited way too long
already, darlin'? It's gotten to the point
where every time I see you, I have this
overwhelming urge to hold you like this and
never let go."

"Comm--"

"Trip..."

T'Pol shook her head. She had no intentions
of calling him that ridiculous nickname. "Mr.
Tucker."

"Well, leastwise that's better than cold,
impersonal Commander." He squeezed her
tighter. He heard her slight gasp, and
warmed. Her lithe frame wedged so firmly in
his embrace made his mind fuzz mind fuzzed
with intimate possibilities. The one thing
that bothered him was his needing to know
what she was feeling. What was going
through her mind?

"You desire me..."

Trip choked down a gasp. "What gave it away?"
She looked at him as though looking clear
through him. Self-consciously, he glanced down
at the sizeable bulge south of his equator.
T'Pol had the presence of mind to ignore its
poke against her. "You'd win that bet." When
he brushed his nose alongside hers, he felt
gratified. She had sighed. His ardor fanned,
he trailed light kisses along her pliant left
temple. "Only if you want me. I won't do
one-sided. This ain't high school. Too grown
for that."

you will behave if I reject the parameters of
your illogical mating ritual>, echoed within
her mind.

He had a nice face she considered, running her
eyes over every inch of it. She rubbed his
left cheek the way she had aboard the
shuttledpod. The Commander ambushed her fingers
with frisky kisses. Suddenly then, unable to
prevent them, poppy-sounding hiccups erupted
from him.

"Ex-excuse me," he said in-between a moment of
holding his breath. The hiccups did not go
away. "So-sorry." When he held his breath this
time, he ballooned his cheeks. He kept his eyes
steadily trained on an evaluating T'Pol.

"Mr. Tucker?"

He nodded several times rapidly with expressive
eye movements. His hiccupping stepped up.

"Are you all right?"

He released a hand from around her waist to stick
two fingers up, wanting her to give him a moment
or two.

"Yeah--I'm fine." He exhaled, not rushing it.
Sounding a little winded he said, "Just excited."
He weighed whether or not he should tell her it
was the effect she had on him. He judged that if
he did, it might sound contrived; just the least
bit phony. He knew his feelings for her were
honest through and through. Getting her to
trust him was where he had his work cut out
for himself. Finally the hiccups ended. He
he veered his face closer to T'Pol's.

Before he got the chance to kiss her cheek, T'Pol
said without a hint of presumption, "The Captain
feels as you do."

The Commander's eyes shot open, and he whipped
his face away from the quietly-assessing Sub-
Commander's. "How's that?"

"He desires me," she said as candidly as if she
were reading off declination tangents to
Mayweather prior to entering a Minsharan
atmosphere.

"Get out--" Trip made it sound scathing.
"You're kiddin', right?"

"These are MY quarters, Commander."

Tucker shook his head, looking wiseacre-best,
and resumed. "What do you mean, 'desires you?'"

"In the manner you do." T'Pol certainly had
a way of milking silence for all it was worth.
"He wishes for us to mate."

Regrouping, Trip tried hard not to lose his
cool. He was seeing red; a nice bright fire
engine red. "That so... Tell me somethin'.
You squeeze his ass in a packed turbolift yet?"

His sizzling sarcasm was lost upon her. The set
of her jaw remained firm. "What reason would I
have to do so?"

He jutted his jaw out and shifted it to the
right. Tentatively, he broached, "What reason
did you have for squeezin' mine?"

"When did--"

"C'mon, don't play that with me. You know damn
well what you did to me in that cramped t'lift."
When he detected the slight tremor that had
disturbed the impassive texture of her face, he
smiled broadly. "Gotcha." Pursing his lips he
wryly amended, "On second thought...make that you
got me." Then, sounding less jovial, he asked,
"What about you? You go for him more?"

Since when had she given him the right to behave
as though he owned her? Irritation wended its
way through her. Despite her resolve to not let
him get to her, he sure was.

"Release me, Commander." It was said simply,
softly, her tone implying that this little
interlude had run its course. If that was true,
why were her hands planed at either of his hips
and pressing down hard enough so he'd know he
wasn't going anywhere?

Squirming, Trip said through a slitted mouth,
"What if I can't?" That had sounded as though
his voice had come from outside his body. "What
if you're making it impossible for me to?" His
hooded eyes posed resistence. Still, he didn't
want this turning into some forced contest.

"What do you mean I'm making it impossible for
you to?" T'Pol snapped a bit sharper than she
had intended.

"You don't know your own strength." He ground
his thighs into hers.

"You would not enjoy learning how much stronger
I can be."

"Try me..."

What insight could he possibly possess behind
those wayward blue eyes that were devouring her?
Was he to blame for what she knew she wanted to
do with him? Her logical side? Oh, yeah, right;
that. Like so much weightless matter, it had
been violently shoved aft.

Bright drops of perspiration beaded Trip's
glistening forehead as he felt his heart begin
to race. He was acting weird. He was sure that
she would be using her nifty 'lights-out' pinch
on him any second now.

What's gotten into me, he desperately thought.

('Who do you think?')

Trip's mouth fell open. He gaped at her,
alarmed. "What?"

Faster than greased lightning, he loosened his
hold on her a fraction. While griped in the
throes of her 'felinesque' mystique he sensed
everything between them was about to change.
there was something else; something foreign laced
with something so deliciously familiar in her
smoldering eyes. The heat level in her quarters
had risen by a gradient of two.

('Not what. Who. Don't speak with words.
Speak to me the way I'm speaking with you.
Come into my mind.')

T'Pol brought her questing fingers up against
the side of his left temple and splayed them.
Her moist lips were motionless as her words
rustled within in his confused mind.

('I desire you more, Commander...')

"You? De--huh?"

('You're not trying. Let your thoughts flow and
I will amplify them.')

"Flo--" Taking a hefty gulp, the Chief
Engineer relaxed the way T'Pol kept inviting
him to. He thought the first thing that popped
into his brain...

('I'm thinkin' this has got to be the
weirdest thing I've done yet on this mission.
And, yeah--weirder even than gettin' myself
knocked-up.') He opened his eyes to see
T'Pol's large luminous ones heavily focused
upon him. ('Me more, huh? So like what the
hell does that mean? You sort of have a thing
for Jon too, but haven't taken it to this
level yet? Or maybe y'have.' Talk to me!')

If Trip hadn't known any better, he would have
sworn T'Pol's eyes had just crossed. ('I do
not understand the human concept of mating
exclusivity. If I were having this same form
of communication and physical dynamic with the
Captain, why should our relationship be altered?
My feelings for you...')

Her facial skin warmed as she flushed lightly
greener. If the High Command were on hand to
hear her emote abandonly like this, they would
order home, and this time nothing would change
their minds. Her mind swam as she internalized
the sting of their ridicule.

('What I feel for you is completely divorced
from anything related to the Captain.')

Trip glared at her and pulled her closer to
his scowly face.

('Damn, how logical you make that sound. Don't
forget. You've never seen me irrational, but
if we got seriously involved, and you got
involved with Jon too, then hell. You'd see me
step way aside. I'd wear the damn badge of
irrationality with pride, darlin'. Don't look
at me like that!')

T'Pol made the effort to stop looking through
him the way she was. She was very attracted to
him, but she wondered what she was getting
herself into?

Cerebrally, he forged on...

('I don't expect you to see it my way;
probably can't no matter how much you gave
it your best shot. What I want you to know
is I wouldn't want to share you with anyone
else. Not acceptable.')

His heaving a big sigh felt pleasurable against
her. The shiver of a smile came and went
from her lips.

('Could you, if I asked you, T'Pol? Could we
have somethin', darlin'? Just the two of us?')

T'Pol lowered her hand from his head, waiting
for the residual feelings he had caught her up
in to settle. She severed the link, but not
as quickly as she might have done if what he
had said had not affected her as much as it had.
"I must go."

"That's evasive," he labeled.

"I've kept Sato waiting long enough."

He felt sad, not having her voice in his head.
With hesitancy, he said, "Yeah. Guess I'd better
shove off too." His arms stayed where they were,
however. He hugged her torso as though his arms
were content to stay that way for as long as
they had strength to hold her. "Sorry," he
apologized, not wanting her to see how frustrated
he felt.

Before wriggle-peeling herself out of his
truculent embrace, T'Pol did something. Years
from now, what she did would coax a smile of
rememberance to her lips, and radiate warmth
to her heart. She angled her mouth up against
his right cheek and kissed the warm skin.

It yanked the dour expression clean off his face.

Remembering what Hoshi had told her about human
men liking it when their women did surprising
affectionate things, T'Pol kissed him again.
She saw his smile really take off.

"T'Pol..." Tucker was blushing now, and his
arms finished helping her get free. "Why in
hell did you do that?"

She copied what she'd seen a female ensign do
the other day in the mess when a male
counterpart passing by had told a joke and
the ensign had laughed and shrugged when a
colleague had asked her what had been so
funny. The Sub-Commander shrugged. "Wait
here. I will not be with Ensign Sato long."

"But..."

"I am not in the habit of breaking my
promises. Wait..." Her voice drifted back
over to him. She stood at the door as it
opened. "Please, Mr. Tucker." She insisted,
"I promised her." In timely fashion, she said,
"Unless you have a pressing concern elsewhere
that needs your immediate attention."

Was she kidding? Trip's eye roll spoke volumes.
, he
thought. He flicked his tongue across both
sets of lips that were very dry. She waited for
his reply with her hands crossed behind her back,
her chin raised while she stood at ease.

He ate her up whenever she struck that pose.
She always looking so cocksure of herself, so
untouchable and inviolate...so all fire edible.

He angled his legs closer together, proud
of what had to be that much more obvious. It
made him a little self-conscious too. Why had
she kissed him? "Nah, I'm good to stay." The
little fantasy going on in his head at the moment
meandered. His eyes sparkled in the low lighting.
"Don't keep me on hold for too long, though."
He plopped himself back down on her bunk and his
hands gave the unyielding mattress little pumps
as though testing its give out.

Before departing, she decided to give him one
last pointed look. "You could always meditate.
You know where the candles are."

"Oh, rest assured, darlin', that's all I'll be
doin' till you get back." He looked her slowly
up, then down. His eyes, rife with unadulterated
lust, lifted to her face again. "You give me
loads to think about."

She inclined her head thoughtfully, studying him
and what was behind his blatant smile a minute
longer. Then, she left.

Once the door had closed all the way, Trip
leaned back on his elbows. He made himself at
home in her spartan digs. Dreamily, he exhaled,
then said, "Hoo-boy. Now, where was I?" No
matter how long it took, he wasn't going anywhere.
Tonight was the night. These were how his
T'Pol-centric excursions into the sublime usually
began.

"Wait, she said." He chuckled with a self-
satisfying chuckle of contentment. He shut his
eyes and with a happy sigh, his interrupted
fantasy rolled like the film of one of the ship's
old movies.

==============================================

TBC