The Three C's of Bliss

By Escriba

Rating: PG

Genres: romance

Keywords: TĵPau

This story has been read by 1111 people.
This story has been read 1661 times.


Disclaimer : Enterprise and its characters are property of CBS/Paramount. Not mine, can you believe it?

Author's Note: This is the Holyday Fic Exchange for Distracted. According to her instructions:

3 THINGS I WANT IN MY STORY:
1. Romance between a couple other than TnT (the more unexpected the couple the better)
2. TnT's reaction to said romance
3. A scientifically plausible medical subplot somehow related to Christmas
.

3 THINGS I DON'T WANT IN MY STORY: death, depressing stuff, slash

PROMPT: Hot Chocolate

I don't know if this will please you, Distracted, but this is what I've come with. Don't try to find any logic in that particular effect of holly in that particular species either. Sorry, "scientifically plausible medical reason" and I don't mix well.

Also, this fic is quite fluffy. It's the first and the last time I write fluff. I think I've catch an illness for this.

Thanks to: Alelou, as always. The patience she has with me...

 


 

There is a law that on the first morning of the New Year everybody talks in whispers or very low voices, some because they have a hangover and the others because they don't want to bother the ones who have a hangover.

Trip called it the New Year's Axiom of Silence.

Since Enterprise was a starship, surrounded only by space, the usual quiet of that particular day was amplified - even if this was an oxymoron - so that Trip and T'Pol's steps echoed through the corridor like ominous tom-toms as they walked. The fact that nobody seemed to have woken up yet helped.

Not that Trip was complaining, mind you. He was very happy to have some private moments with his fiancé in a communal room. The Mess Hall was probably the least intimate spot on the ship and T'Pol generally behaved like the arctic version of a nun when they spent time there.

Fortunately, around 50 bottles of champagne, 20 of vodka, 10 of gin, 10 of whisky and 2 of tequila had acted as a magic wand over the party-going crew and the Mess Hall was deserted. In fact, the room looked bigger than ever, as the chairs and tables had been removed for the previous night's celebrations. Just one of the tables was still standing, and Trip and T'Pol recovered two chairs from a vertical pile against the farthest wall.

T'Pol threw a quizzical gaze over her shoulder when they went to the drink dispenser. Trip grinned.

"It's a little spooky, isn't it?" he asked.

"It is different."

"You say potato, I say potahto."

"Excuse me?"

He smiled again. "Never mind. It's a contrast from the usual ambience."

"Not entirely unpleasant."

"Hah! I knew you'd say that."

"Humans are too noisy." She met Trip's pout with a petulant expression of her own. "By Vulcan standards."

"Vulcans can get pretty loud, too, if last night was any indication." Trip watched amused how the tip of T'Pol's ears turned greener. "Do you want the usual mint tea?"

She nodded, still looking embarrassed. Trip ordered T'Pol's beverage for her and then spent a couple of minutes just watching her cover her face as she sipped her tea. Trip considered it an improvement in their relationship that he was able to leave her speechless. Satisfied, he asked for his drink. "Chocolate, hot."

T'Pol blinked. "No coffee?"

"Not today."

She arched her brow and tilted her head: T'Pol's International Sign for I'm Curious And I Want to Know But I'm Not Asking.

"When I was at the Academy, I had a Spanish roommate." He took a sip of his chocolate to taste it. "Actually, he was half-Spanish and half-Cuban. Although I should say a quarter Spanish, because his mother was Argentinean..." T'Pol's heavy stare cut his rambling. "Anyway... He had this funny tradition from his country; after a wild party he always had churros and hot chocolate as breakfast. Or dinner, since usually it was the last meal he took before going to bed."

"Churros?"

"Yes, they are a kind of snack, made of fried-dough pastry, with sugar. They have this long knotted shape." He made a gesture with both hands, as if he was stretching something invisible while he took care that he didn't drop his mug. "You'd like them."

T'Pol made a face. Which, since she was Vucan, meant that she was only a little less blank than usual.

"No, seriously," he insisted. "They're very tasty. And you can eat them, they don't have any animal by-products."

She made that one shoulder shrug of hers. That was a good signal: if T'Pol didn't want to do something, she'd decline right away. Not saying anything implied a confirmation.

Once upon a time, he couldn't even guess some of her moods. Now, she was an open book. He suspected that this new understanding wasn't thanks to the bond only, but thanks to his observation of her.

"And where are these... churros?" she asked, carefully pronouncing the unfamiliar word.

Trip took an unnecessary look to his surrounding. "Chef said he would cook them for me, but he isn't here."

"Obviously."

"Take a seat at the table, I'll go to the galley and see if he's there."

"His shift doesn't begin until the afternoon," said T'Pol, Enterprise's appointment book with legs.

"I know, but he promised he would make them. So wait for me here while I investigate."

The last thing he saw before turning round for the door of the Captain's mess was T'Pol grabbing and lifting a streamer with two fingers and then searching for a wastepaper basket. Good luck...

The door slid open halfway and then it got blocked. There were two people inside. One of them, Jonathan Archer, moved away from the other in the blink of an eye. It was so quick that Trip could have sworn he had imagined it.

"Oh, hi, I didn't know you two were here," Trip said, apologetic, as he tried to enter into the room sideways.

"We rose early, it seems," Jon answered.

"T'Pol and I too." Or, more precisely, we didn't sleep.

After much pushing, pulling and twisting himself, Trip could get inside. "The door is stuck."

"You guys had a hell of a party, eh?" Jon smiled. The corners of his lips trembled as if he was tense or nervous.

"Oh, you know how stressed out the crew had been these last months. They needed to let themselves go." Trip mustered a smile. "I think they really began the party after T'Pol and I left it, though. Fortunately we wanted to go to bed early."

Archer ignored any connotations. "Senior officers around made them uneasy, I guess?"

"Very." Trip put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "And what about you? I haven't seen you since Christmas Eve; are you all right?"

Jon tapped his belly. "Fit as a fiddle. You know that a stomach-ache can't beat me. After surviving a Klingon antivirus for the Augment flu, this was a child's game." Jon threw a fleeting gaze at his guest. She just arched a brow. "By the way, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I wanted some churros."

"Some what?"

"Do you remember my roommate Josua?"

"The one with the heavenly curveball?"

Jon used to recall the strangest details. "Yeah, that one. You remember that snack he sometimes ate at breakfast?" Jon shook his head no. "Well, it doesn't matter. I wanted some for today and Chef had promised to cook them, so I was in my way to the galley. Sorry to interrupt you, I just wanted to take the short way."

"I didn't see Chef, but Crewman Sahay is at the back."

"OK."

"You can go to talk to him."

"OK."

"Right now."

"O... Kay..."

There was a weird atmosphere. If Trip didn't know better he would have sworn that Archer was sending silent messages of "Go away, I want a little of intimacy with my girl."

Which, of course, was impossible, of course, because he was with her and she, of course, wasn't girlfriend material. Of course. In fact, she wasn't even friend material.

Trip looked at her. She looked back, undaunted. Oh, man, she was terrifying. How could it even occur to him that Jon was interested?

Relieved thanks to his unbeatable logic, Trip headed for the little room between the Captain's table and the Galley. There was Sahay, polishing the cutlery. Trip was sure he had been an aide-de-camp in another life.

"Yo, sowar."

"Sowar? That rank isn't even from the Navy."

Trip grinned and patted the Crewman's shoulder. He always treated people with familiarity and he knew Sahay didn't like it a bit and that stiffness always woke the worst in Trip. "Here... Did Chef tell you anything about-?"

"A special breakfast for you?"

"Yes! Churros?"

"I think they were called something like that." Sahay pointed at the table as he tried to remove Trip's hand with circular movements of his shoulder. "They are in that greasy bag there."

Trip grabbed the aforementioned bag and inhaled the scent when he opened it. Oh, the marvellous smell of excess calories and clogging arteries. "Thanks, Sahay."

"I believe they're still warm."

"Yes, they are. Thanks again." Trip fought the urge to take one of the long snacks; instead he walked towards the exit. "Have a nice day."

"Nice day? This is the worst shift of the year," was the last thing Trip heard before getting out.

When he passed through the Captain's mess he caught a glance of Jon quickly going from leaning toward his guest to picking up the plate with the butter from her side of the table. Trip almost stumbled over his own leg.

He was imagining things; that was it. It was the only explanation.

"I'm going now," he stuttered.

Jon nodded as he tried to unstick the knife from the butter. He even smiled, a fleeting gesture, almost forced. "Bye."

Once more, Trip tried to open or close the door, first with the controls on the wall, then with his own hands, with no success. "Give me a moment to repair this."

Jon snapped his head. "No, no! That's not necessary. Just call maintenance."

"Let me, it would be just a minute."

"No, Trip. Don't dirty your hands. It's the New Year and you deserve your break. Go to eat your breakfast, don't worry about us."

Trip felt worried the moment Jon said "us" instead of "me."

Still amazed, he left. Or tried to leave. Again, he had to twist his body to pass through the gap in the entrance. He needed to grasp the bag with his teeth to free his hands to be easier for him to go out without killing himself in the process, so he ended with a not very honourable trail of drool running to his chin. He cleaned it with his sleeve once outside.

T'Pol was staring at him from her place at the table with T'Pol's International Sign for My Fiancé Is Idiot.

He could, of course, try to repair the controls from that side of the door, but he was so pissed off and flabbergasted at the same time, that he simply went to the table and sat down without uttering a word. Or offering a churro to his girlfriend.

From his seat he could make out Jon and his guest. They didn't notice him snooping. In fact, they were very busy talking to each other.

Trip gazed at T'Pol to recover some of his good mood and a sense of normalcy. She had her head tilted and her usual expression of complete Vulcan aloofness mixed with deep concern. The streamer she had taken before was tucked into her belt, surely waiting for the next wastepaper basket. His usual, adorable T'Pol. He felt relieved.

Yes, he was in his world, not in the Twilight Zone. Whatever he thought had happened in the Captain's table, hadn't actually happened.

"Is something wrong?" T'Pol asked.

"No... Yes... No, no."

T'Pol just stared at him.

"If what I saw was real... But no, I'm sure I've imagined it."

"What exactly have you imagined?"

"I thought that I saw Jon and our guest... well, quite intimate."

"Oh, that."

Oh, that. Not "Don't be ridiculous" or "Stop watching so many movies, they affect your reason" or "That is impossible." No. What she actually had said was "Oh, that."

What was that?

"What is that?"

"Excuse me?"

"I said they seemed intimate and you answered 'oh, that.' What does that mean?"

"They seem to... get on well."

She was choosing her words. It was serious when T'Pol had to choose her wording.

"Get on well? Since when?"

"They were... friendly before, but they... became closer Christmas Eve."

Trip's mind performed a full stop. He blinked, nodded absently, sucked in his hot chocolate and took a churro from the bag and began to munch it. He didn't know how long he remained like that until the image of a smiling Archer passing an orange juice glass to his "friend" snapped him.

"Christmas Eve?!"

T'Pol did the closest thing to a grimace. "Don't shout, they will hear you."

"When, Christmas Eve?"

"Perhaps when the two of them were in Sickbay?" she said, deadpan.

Trip moved back and munched his snack a bit more. The Christmas Eve Incident was a touchy subject he tried to avoid in front of T'Pol as much as possible.

"So... Their illness had something to do with it?" he asked.

"Apparently." She took a sip of her beverage as if she didn't care, but her brow was arched and her stare was hard. "Which means that whoever came up with the idea of performing that practical joke is partly responsible."

Trip felt the collar of his uniform tightening around his neck. He didn't give up, though. "I don't know what you are talking about."

"Curious, since you were there. Don't you remember Chef's terrible mistake?"

"Oh, you mean..."

"Yes. How he wanted to prepare mate for our guest for Christmas, instead of the usual eggnog punch. But instead the ilex paraguarensis variety, which was what he needed, somebody gave him the ilex aquifolium one. That is, European holly."

"I'm sure that that person, whose identity I ignore, please don't look at me like that, honey." He coughed. "As I was saying, I'm sure that the mysterious prankster had good intentions."

"Like testing the theory that holly tea has effects on Vulcans akin to drunkenness?"

Trip gulped to swallow his snort. Their guest - usually so composed - slurring her S's had been hilarious.

"It is not funny."

"Of course n-" Trip felt a new surge of laughter and bit his bottom lip until it hurt. "Of course not, dear."

"And Captain Archer having to go to sick bay because of diarrhea is even less amusing."

Trip frowned. "I'm sure our mysterious prankster didn't expect that Jon would drink her beverage too."

"The next time you meet this mysterious prankster, as you call him, tell him that Phlox had to burn the Captain's uniform."

Trip swallowed his snigger.

"It was his formal uniform," T'Pol remarked.

Trip clenched his teeth and closed his eyes. He even bent to the table to hide his face from T'Pol. Please, please, hold your laugh, please...

"Phlox wanted to use the garment as a meal for one of his pets, but the Captain refused. He wanted the odor eliminated as soon as possible."

Trip couldn't resist more and he guffawed with all his heart. T'Pol glared at him, but he didn't care. Even if he knew the story, something in T'Pol's monotonous tone while telling it cracked him up.

Through the gap of the door Trip saw Archer murmuring something into his guest's ear. She lowered her eyes and threw him a demure look. Trip knew that expression. He had learned it with T'Pol: at first he had thought it meant, "you're making me uncomfortable;" now he knew it meant, "I'm interested."

The laughter died in Trip's throat and his mood darkened as fast as the winter sky in Sweden.

"So they became closer in Sickbay?" he asked.

"Yes. In the beginning it had to do with their own states of mind that lowered their emotional barriers, but later it was obvious that their conversation was fluent and their liking for the other, genuine."

Trip frowned to the full extent. Those words didn't sound like T'Pol's. "Who told you that?"

"Phlox," she answered matter of factly.

He should have known. "That old Nosy Parker has been poking his nose into someone else's matters again? Didn't he have enough with us?"

"We ended up being a success." For some unknown reason T'Pol didn't mind Phlox meddling in their relationship. In fact, she appeared to be grateful.

But if Trip tried to help his friend Malcolm, he was accused of being a busybody. "Just because we are a couple, it doesn't mean his wicked tricks are always right."

T'Pol stared at him, glanced at the Captain's table and then looked at him again. On her face was T'Pol's International Sign for The Defense Has Finished Presenting Its Case.

"Look," he said. "That doesn't mean they'll work as a couple or even that the idea of them as a couple is a good one."

"Why not?"

"Well, for starters, don't you think it's... weird?"

"It is surprising. I always thought that the Captain would initiate a relationship with Ensign Sato."

Trip spit out the chocolate he was drinking. "W-What? What? Oh, no, no... What drove you to say something so...? Mental block, mental block!" He buried his face in his hands. "I will never be able to erase that image. Thanks, T'Pol."

"You are welcome." After a pause she got his words' real meaning. "You were being sarcastic."

"Yes. Why on Earth did you think that Jon and Hoshi would end up together?"

"The Captain took her under his wing, as you Humans say, and she admires him profoundly?"

Trip waited several minutes for her to elaborate.

"And what more?"

"What do you mean?"

"The other reasons why they should be together."

"There are no other reasons."

"That's it?" Trip was about to roll his eyes, but then remembered that T'Pol was Vulcan and thus, her knowledge of Human romance and the reasons why they got together was quite limited. And Hoshi and her Jane Austen novels didn't help.

Trip decided to change his scold for a fond caress when the most horrible view entered into his line of vision: Jonathan Archer reaching his hand towards his guest's arm and stroking it.

"Argh! My eyes, my eyes! I'm blind!"

T'Pol took a sip of her tea and then left the mug on the table, absolutely indifferent to his gesticulations. "Why are you so overexcited?"

"Jon... touched... her... wrong!"

This elicited a surprised look from T'Pol. "The Captain touched her?"

Trip shook his head yes.

"That is bold," she said.

T'Pol was taking the entire situation with a coolness that stunned him. "Aren't you a little... shocked?" he asked.

"Why should I be?"

Trip couldn't believe that he had to explain it. But at the same time he couldn't find the words to explain himself. "Because... because... because it's unnatural."

"It cannot be unnatural, because if it was, it couldn't happen. What is impossible is impossible. It is similar to saying that something goes against Physics. It cannot, since the Laws of Physics wouldn't allow--"

"T'Pol, I adore you, but stop being so literal. What I meant is that it's wrong. Wrong. Like mint and chili together."

She knitted her brows, so slightly that only Trip could have noticed.

"Like Andorians and a lot of alcohol in the same room," he tried.

T'Pol nodded, then tilted her head, looking thoughtful. "But you could say the same about us. Not everybody sees our relationship as something desirable."

"No, no, that's different. We are good together. We are meant to be. Everybody... OK - everybody who knows us - knows this truth. Anybody who has ever met us expected us to be together. Heck, even the universe rooted for us. But that... that..." He pointed at the half open door with a shaking finger. "It's wrong."

"But why?"

"Why?" He couldn't believe that somebody couldn't see something so obvious.

T'Pol cocked an eyebrow and waited.

"She's too short?" he said in a desperate voice.

T'Pol squinted her eyes. Trip could see the entrance of the doghouse he was about to be put in if he didn't amend his attitude.

"Ok, Ok... I'm just worried for him." He raised his palms in a plea and saw T'Pol relaxing. "I know it doesn't look like it, but Jon is very sensitive inside. It's difficult to reach him, but once you do... He doesn't take break-ups well. Above all, after what happened with Erika."

"And I am concerned for her."

Trip stared at T'Pol, not out of disbelief, but curiosity.

"We bond for life," she explained.

He reached for her hand and stroked it. "I know."

"If they bond together and then he abandons her..." She left the line unfinished, as if it was too horrible to even say it out loud.

"It won't happen. Ever."

They locked eyes. If Trip had meant anything in his life, it was this. After several seconds, his face changed to utter dread. "Oh, no... You don't think they... they..."

"Had sexual relations?"

Trip nodded. Then he hit the table with it repeatedly. He would never sleep again.

"Why are you acting in such a strange way now?"

"Because I've just had an image of the two of them... Oh, nononono... I have to work under his command, T'Pol. How I am supposed to do so and look at his face when I can't stop visualizing... Ack, again! Why did you make me imagine it?"

"I did nothing. It is you who has brought up the subject and acted melodramatically."

"It's just... I don't want to imagine it, but I can't stop."

T'Pol caressed his face, from his jaw to his right ear, pulled him towards her and kissed him, long and deep. When she moved away from him he smiled like an idiot.

"Better?" she asked.

"Eh?"

"I think so." She sipped her tea with the shadow of a smug smile on her lips. She glanced at the Captain's table and arched a perfect brow. "I do not think they had sexual relations. It is too soon. Especially for her. Not even I was so bold. And she isn't as reckless as I am."

"Reckless? You?"

"By Vulcan standards."

"Oh, yeah, that's explains it... Because you're the paradigm of modesty and caution by Human standards."

She straightened her usual straight back even more, in an offended gesture. "I had a one stand night with you."

"Like two years after meeting me. And months later we were together until..." He shut up and shook his head to wipe out Koss's memory.

"Yes, but the point is that I had casual sex."

"Maybe, but I was your best friend on the ship. It's not like sleeping with someone you just meet in a bar when you were drunk."

"I was under the influence-"

"It isn't the same," he said and grabbed her hand so tightly that he could notice every phalanx. "OK?" No answer. "T'Pol, do you agree with me?"

She averted her eyes, but nodded. Trip leaned towards her and placed a kiss on the corner of her mouth. He could see out of the corner of his eye Archer laughing and moving his hands as to explain something. His guest looked at him, captivated.

"Do you really think it can work?" he asked.

T'Pol followed his gaze.

"It worked for us."

"Yes. But we're us and... they're them."

"The logic of your argument is irrefutable."

Trip couldn't help his grin. "You know what I mean."

T'Pol's answer took its time coming. "I do not know. I do not have psychic powers, if they even exist. The only thing I can do is offer my help if they need them. We are the only ones who can understand, after all."

Trip directed at her a warm smile. "That's very wise."

"I am wise."

He rolled his tongue against on side of his mouth. T'Pol had a wonderful (and quite wicked) sense of humor. Sometimes he marvelled at how long it had taken him to get it.

Seized with a sudden impulse he split a piece of churro and offered it to her. "Such wisdom deserves a reward. Here, eat it."

She wrinkled her nose and studied the snack.

"C'mon, T'Pol."

She moved her head forward, sniffed the churro and then moved back again.

"It's yummy, I promise."

Before he could beg further, she grabbed the snack with her teeth. She used her tongue to put it into her mouth. Trip had a very vivid flash of the night before and he quickly began to calculate integrals mentally to prevent a physical reaction.

Meanwhile, T'Pol was chewing, ignoring his struggles.

"Is it good?" he asked in a small voice.

"Sweet and greasy."

He winked at her. "That good, eh?"

She didn't dignify his teasing with an answer, but Trip could see the amused light in her eyes. The unabashed banter they enjoyed in the beginning of their relationship had turned into comfortable moments of complicity. He didn't mind the change.

He remembered what his roommate Josua used to call the Three C's of Bliss: Churros, Chocolate and a Chick. And even if he'd rather die than call T'Pol a "chick," he could understand the statement. Besides, originally it was "girl," not "chick," but Josua had translated it that way so the original three C's in Spanish didn't get lost.

The loud noises of a man puffing and grunting broke his concentration. Jon was twisting his upper body to pass through the gap in the exit door. Trip had to admit that watching it was kind of funny.

"Isn't there another exist on the other side?" T'Pol asked, obviously not impressed.

"Yes, but you have to go through the Galley and it's longer."

Jon had gotten into the Mess Hall at last and now he was trying to convince his guest. She refused and pointed at the inside of the Captain's table. Jon offered his hand.

"Humans never give up," T'Pol said, deadpan.

The guest gestured to Jon to move him out the way, then levered with her left arm and opened the door. Incredible. The screech of the door's mechanism almost made Trip's ears bleed, but it had still been incredible.

Jon yielded her the right of way. T'Pau looked smug. Jon went past Trip and T'Pol and noticed their stare. "Hi. I'm going to show Minister T'Pau our hydroponic garden."

Trip almost sniggered. A walk through a garden was so clichéd. He smiled when he realized what that meant: it was only clichéd if you considered it a date. Jon was going to have a date with T'Pau. He watched Jon more carefully. The Captain had a shine in his eyes he hadn't seen in a long time; his features looked softer and he was grinning like an idiot. His hand automatically went up, stopping before making contact with T'Pau's back and then going back down.

T'Pau, as far as she was concerned, was her usual composed self, but Trip noticed that she was standing closer to Jon than what was normal in a Vulcan. He could also see that her cheeks had a faint green tinge.

They were disgustingly cute together.

"Have a nice walk then," Trip said.

"Thank you." Jon glanced at T'Pau and his smile got wider. "We'll try to."

They seemed happy and Trip relaxed. It was the only thing that mattered to him. If they were happy together, then he agreed with the relationship with all his heart. He looked at T'Pol and knew that she was thinking the same.

"Well, we have to go," Jon said.

"Sure," Trip answered. Before the Captain turned round he grabbed his sleeve. "And Jon, if you want to talk about something, anything, you know we're here."

"Yes, of course." Jon's smile deepened with gratitude. "Thank you."

Trip watched the couple go, a warm feeling in his stomach. At his side, T'Pol took his hand and squeezed it. Trip laughed, grabbed another churro and tempted her. T'Pol didn't play hard to get this time and ate it.

Churros, Chocolate and a Woman to love.

What more could a man ask for?

 

 

 


Comments:

panyasan

"It worked for us."

"Yes. But we're us and... they're them."

"The logic of your argument is irrefutable."

Trip couldn't help his grin. "You know what I mean." I laughed aloud when I read this. :D Guess I was not the only one!

I really liked this fic: funny, light and full of humour. You do humour so well. BTW, I had thought about T'Pau and Archer, there was something between them, a little spark. Not that I see them drunk in sickbay. ;)

 

Linda

Well, I did guess who Archer's guest was before you told us, but leaving her identity to the end of the story was a good plot point.  This was a fun read!

Mary

Sorry for the delay in commenting, but I broke my ankle before Christmas and mobility was an issue. But I'm back to my computer and I haave to say Escriba this was hilarious and sweet and common all at the same time. TnT just having a quiet morning together with" them" an accepted couple, Trip's dictionary of T'Polisms priceless- can't pick one favorite because they're all marvelous. Archer as cradle robber is amusing since T'Pau is a force to be rekonned with perhaps the tables might metaphoically be turned.....and you wrote them so cute too. Perhaps most amusing is Trip's incredulity over AnT like a parent saying it was okay for us (your parents) to do something but not you(our child) to do the same. And then to have T'Pol argue in favour of AnT.... just so much fun to read. As always , thanks for writing.

Kotik

For a T'Pau fan like me, this is just the sort of medicine my poor soul needs :D I really loved it and I definitely hope, that you're going to continue that story. Fantastic stuff :D

Pitseleh

Churros, chocolate y una chica... Hehehe, my boyfriend is just going to love that... This was a very amusing story, and while I understand that fluff makes our wonderful Escriba sick to her stomach, just reading this makes me wish she'd do it more often.

lbekoj

Thank you, Escriba, for this funny story (with the proper moments of the seriousness)!
That unexpected pairing might become for me a full surprise if it were not for T'Pau as the keyword. I especially enjoyed Trip's state of flabbergasting and disbelieving his eyes on the detection of these incipient relationships. Archer is very lucky that his friends has the big experience in that special situation and wish to help him with any advices. Adding Phlox's involvement in this deal and Trip's reaction on his behavior were spot-on.
I adore this dictionary of T'Pol's International Signs (my favorite one is "I'm Curious And I Want to Know But I'm Not Asking."). And I like Trip's "New Year's Axiom of Silence". It might be right and for the first workday after our 10 days off.
I never tried Churros but I agree that the good company and Chocolate are great.
And thank you for a great idea of HOLIDAY FIC EXCHANGE which gave us so many nice stories!

Dinah

You know, I think T'Pau is just what Archer needs.  She'd have him whipped into shape in no time at all.  The ultimate Power Couple.  

The dialogue between Trip and T'Pol was priceless.  Thank you for a very funny story.  It was GREAT!

Escriba

Honeybee: It is fluffy, isn't it? Well, me writing a fluff story. Wonders happen! :D

Alelou: You are patient enough to cut my colorful metaphors ;)

justTrip'n: You made me blush. You're too kind :) But you're right about the meaning in Trip's dissaproval of Archer's relationship. It's because not so long ago I met a couple, friends of my parents, and they were worried about their son, who had a new relationship. The thing is that this couple had a lot of obstacles in their relationship, and now they're happy together, but they were worried for their son because they wanted for him a "troublefree" relationship.

Distracted: LOL! Archer as a craddle robber, you're right! Although I think it would be T'Pau the one wearing the trousers in their relationship ;) Anyway, I'm glad you liked the gift. That is the only thing that matters :D

Distracted

What a wonderful Christmas present, Escriba.  I must admit that you had me fooled.  I really wasn't sure where you were going with Archer's mystery guest.  Like the others, my two candidates were V'Lar and T'Pau.  Both I think would cause Trip's reaction, for different reasons.  But then, men are very visual. I couldn't see Archer really going for someone who looked like she could be his mother, and T'Pau doesn't look like the virtual teenager that she is, so I'd pretty much decided it was T'Pau by the time of the reveal.  Archer's a cradle robber, the sly dog. :p

Great story.  Thanks!  :D

justTrip'n

I am so impressed I can only quote your own story back at you: "Since Enterprise was a starship, surrounded only by space, the usual quiet of that particular day was amplified - even if this was an oxymoron - so that Trip and T'Pol's steps echoed through the corridor like ominous tom-toms as they walked." The alchohol acting as a majic wand to make all the crewman disappear. Trip's comment about loud Vulcans. All of T'Pol's international sign facial expressions. Her refusal to get worked up over Archer's choice of a girlfriend. Her totally reasonable comments: 

"It cannot be unnatural, because if it was, it couldn't happen. What is impossible is impossible. It is similar to saying that something goes against Physics. It cannot, since the Laws of Physics wouldn't allow--"

While Trip shouts that he is going blind! LOL. Actually there is something profound in this fluffy story. Trip believes that he and T'Pol are meant to be insome cosmological sense and that Archer and T'Pau are "wrong." Rather than admit that he and T'Pol are together for similar random reasons as the Captain and T'Pau he is willing to concede that Archer and T'Pau are "disgustingly cute together." I love how couples will write a story of how their love was inevitable. Not that T'Pol needs any such crutch, lol . . .

 

Alelou

The only patience I need for you, Escriba, is waiting for the next chapter of whatever-it-is to show up so I can read it first -- it's the beta's reward!  I love the cheerful banter in this.  Now I'm just waiting for Kotik's reaction to Archer's love interest...:p

Honeybee

What a fun story! And Archer and T'Pau is unexpected. This was a pleasure to read and very fluffy.

Escriba

Thanks for the reviews, guys :D

Aquarius: I'm glad you liked it, but really, fluff isn't my thing. Anyhow, who knows what future could bring? ;)

Bluetiger: LOL! Yes, T'Pau is too short. But she has a temper to compensate it :D

pdsldl: Yes, Archer and T'Pau are an interesting match-up. In fact, the more I think about them, the more I believe they could work as a couple. I know, I'm sick.

Transwarp: You must be psychic! V'Lar was the original option. Then I changed her for T'Pau because I thought that V'Lar was too much (and she's too nice for him :p )

Asso: I do believe you. The other couples I thought about were too unexpected. I needed to write something that could be possible, and for some strange reason (perhaps that I'm sick :)) Archer and T'Pau didn't look too unbelievable.

Asso

She didn't dignify his teasing with an answer, but Trip could see the amused light in her eyes. The unabashed banter they enjoyed in the beginning of their relationship had turned into comfortable moments of complicity. He didn't mind the change.

Good.

About the couple other than Trip and T'Pol... the more unexpected the couple the better.

You couldn't maybe believe me, but personally I didn't find this unexpected couple so much "unexpected". Anyway it definitely works.

Transwarp

Good story!  I especially liked this line:  The Mess Hall was probably the least intimate spot on the ship and T'Pol generally behaved like the arctic version of a nun when they spent time there.

I must say, I was surprised to find the mystery female was T'Pau.  Based on Trip's reaction, I was CERTAIN she was V'Lar (the Vulcan ambassadore from 'Fallen Hero').

pdsldl

I enjoyed this.  TnT having a quiet morning together.  Archer and T'Pau is an interesting match-up.   Not sure how that would work out so can see why Trip is concerned.

bluetiger

How great is it to see Trip and T'Pol just being a couple? All that funny banter over breakfast. This was a joy, very much at Archer's expence. Hopefully T'Pau and Archer will work out as well as TnT. However, I agree with Trip. Isn't she too short for Archer? :p

Aquarius

L to the O to the L!!!  Escriba, this is amazing!  This BETTER not be your last dalliance into fluff!

This TOTALLY cracked me up:

"It is not funny."

"Of course n-" Trip felt a new surge of laughter and bit his bottom lip until it hurt. "Of course not, dear."

"And Captain Archer having to go to sick bay because of diarrhea is even less amusing."

:D:D:p:p:D:D


And this:

"Yes. But we're us and... they're them."

"The logic of your argument is irrefutable."

Trip couldn't help his grin. "You know what I mean."

 

Thank you so much for this!  It's amazing.

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