Captain's Ready Room
I was sitting in the corner, reviewing reports of the away teams when the chime to my door sounded.
"Come in," I called, putting down the PADD. I stood up as my chief engineer and science officer stepped into my ready room.
"Cap'n," Trip greeted me with his usual cheerful grin. T'Pol merely nodded as she usually does in greeting. I smiled at them. I couldn't help it.
"So," I said, clapping my hands together once in barely contained excitement. Even though these quarters were tight, I gestured for them to have a seat. "What did you guys find down there?"
"Actually, Cap'n, I'm feelin' kinda antsy. I think I'll stand," Trip stated, and looked at T'Pol. She returned his look and nodded again, declining the offered seat. I cocked my head, just a bit. 'Curious,' I thought, but shrugged it off just the same.
"Ok, then let's get to the good stuff!" I urged them. I waited for them to say something about what happened on that station. "Everyone else's tales were fantastic! What did you two see?"
"Sir, we weren't exactly in the upper crust part of the station," Trip said uncomfortably. He had moved a step closer to T'Pol. Oddly, she didn't seem to mind. In fact, she seemed to *lean* towards him. They looked like two kids that just got caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
"We were across from a brothel, sir," T'Pol blurted out. "We found ourselves in a position to blend in." She looked out past me, through the window and into the stars warping by. Trip looked down at his feet. I felt a smile creep across my face. I tried to stifle it, but Trip caught it. He rolled his eyes slightly and tried to hide his own smile.
"Oh...um, blend in to what, Sub-Commander?" I asked carefully. I had a fleeting vision of the Vulcan giving Commander Tucker a lap dance and had to bite down on my tongue before I barked out the laughter rising in my gut. I crossed my arms, leaned against my desk and waited.
"Sir, we found ourselves in a rather...compromising...situation," Trip said sheepishly. Now my curiosity was piqued more than ever. He looked down at his toes.
"Well will one of you please spit it out already?" I said impatiently. I wanted to know, dammit. This was gonna be good! I saw Trip nudge T'Pol with his elbow. She tossed him a glare and turned her attention back to me.
"Commander Tucker was attempting to gain access to the storage bay where we noted the distortions were coming from. However, due to the proximity of the brothel and the number of potential eyewitnesses to our illegal activities, I stood close to him so we would go unnoticed," T'Pol explained.
"What do you mean?" I asked, prying for more details, trying to hide my own growing excitement.
"If we were spotted, we were to blend in," T'Pol sighed. At my look of bewilderment she continued, "Most of the males had taken their way with a female."
"Everyone was makin' out, Cap'n," Trip supplied bluntly. "If we were gonna get noticed, we were gonna hafta make out."
I nodded, finally following this. "So, let me guess," I said. "You were noticed?"
This time they both looked down to their shoes and nodded in unison. I couldn't hold back the giggles this time. "I'll bet you were arguing the whole time, too," I laughed. They both nodded again.
"So, you guys kissed?" I asked, loving the torment.
"Yes," T'pol said quietly.
"Heavy petting?"
"Sir, she had me pinned to the bulkhead!" Trip cried.
"Only so no one would see you breaking in," she shot back.
"You kept *shifting* your hips, T'Pol," Trip said, hands on his hips now. She whirled around to face him.
"You weren't really struggling, Commander," she said lowly, nearly in his face.
They glared at one another. I was amazed at the electricity in the air. It suddenly occurred to me that these two get amazingly turned on when they argue. With that realization came one that I wasn't quite so excited to embrace: I felt a twang of jealousy.
"Vulcan strength is superior to human strength," I stated absently, breaking their tension. T'Pol looked at me over her shoulder to make sure I wasn't joking. I merely shrugged. "Right?"
"I dunno if I'd go *that* far, sir," Trip said defensively. "She had me at a weak spot."
"I'll bet she did," I said. My Vulcan science officer was staring at me. If she was looking at Trip this way on the station, I could fully understand his weakness. My knees turned to pudding.
"Would you like to test that theory, Captain?" T'Pol asked, slinking up to me. I looked behind her at Trip. He had one hand covering his mouth in an attempt to hide a smile, giving me an 'I-told-ya-so' shrug.
"Uh, m-maybe after dinner," I stammered. She was so close. For the first time I realized what a beautiful woman she was. Gorgeous, really. I looked back to Trip, who had a certain glaze to his eyes. 'He's a damn fine looking man,' I thought.
Gah! What was going on?? The ship's captain was being tantalized and titillated by his Vulcan science officer and chief engineer! I managed to grasp T'Pol by her shoulders and push her back from me with the little remaining dignity I had left.
"Maybe we can discuss this further over dinner tonight," I said, swallowing audibly. Both Trip and T'Pol seemed to ponder this for a second, then nodded their consent.
"Dinner it is, sir," Trip said jovially. He *winked* at me. My stomach did a flip. He placed his hand on the small of T'Pol's back and guided her to the door. The look she gave him was somewhere between icy and smoldering. My stomach did a flop.
"What time is dinner being served, Captain?" she asked smoothly.
"Um, nineteen-thirty," I shrugged. I didn't really care at this point. I don't think they did either.
"See you then, Cap'n," Trip said with a wave and then they disappeared from my ready room.
What the hell just happened? And why was I looking so forward to dinner tonight?
Go to next part.