—Day 5—

When next she stirred, T'Pol felt extremely weak, but at least her thoughts seemed her's once again. Rising slowly to her feet, she still felt the tug of vertigo, but it was manageable. She entered the Bridge and accessed the sensors through the science station. The Enterprise had exited the region of space which had affected her so badly, and must have done so after she had passed out. A glance at the ship's chronometer told T'Pol she had been unconscious for eighteen hours. She had to wake the Doctor.

—Day 8—

T'Pol woke with a start, but Doctor Phlox easily pressed her gently back to the bed. She was in SickBay.

"Easy, SubCommander," said Phlox. "You've been through a lot, you need the rest."

"How long?" she said, her voice a hoarse whisper.

"Three days since you woke me," said Phlox, "and I must admit it was a rude surprise, seeing you in that shape. I gathered from the medical scans you took on the second day, precisely what happened to you."

"Why am I still alive?"

"Since your mating cycle was induced, T'Pol," said Phlox, "a function of that region of space, your symptoms ceased once we found our way to normal space, or what passes for normal here, in the Expanse. I do not believe you would have survived a natural cycle."

Thinking of what she'd been through, T'Pol agreed. She glimpsed some movement in the corner of her eye and turned her head to see Commander Tucker asleep on the bed next to hers. She looked at Pholx and raised brow.

"Commander Tucker's been here every spare moment he gets," said Phlox. "He comes in after his shift is over, eats his dinner here, spends the night here, talking to you, reading to you, watching TV with you 'till all hours of the night. He was in such bad shape tonight that I sedated him under threat of removing him from the duty roster and banning him from Sick Bay. He should be awake in a few hours."

T'Pol nodded, and decided to close her eyes for a spell. When next she woke, Commander Tucker was gone, and seeing her movement, Phlox approached her smiling benevolently.

"Commander Tucker left for his shift not long ago, but he was extremely relieved to hear you'd regained consciousness," said Phlox. "You do look much better, SubCommander, though you're still weak. I will release you later today. You'll rest better in your quarters and I'll check up on you. Anyway, Commander Tucker will be along to walk you to your quarters once his shift is over."

"I can get there by myself," said T'Pol.

"That is not an option, SubCommander. You are relieved of duty until you're back to normal and Commander Tucker ordered me not to release you until he comes for you. As you are well aware, the Commander outranks me."

T'Pol nodded, and said, "Very well, Doctor."

Several hours later, Commander Tucker came for T'Pol. He'd showered, shaved and traded his uniform for his favorite jeans and a silly t-shirt with a comic depiction of a robot named Bender from an old TV show named Futurama, and to T'Pol's weary eyes, he seemed adorable.

Now, as Commander Tucker walked T'Pol to her quarters, she said, "Do you mind if we stop by your quarters for a moment. I forgot my slippers there, when I checked up on your health."

"Sure," said Trip, with a slight smile.

Once inside, Trip sat T'Pol upon his bed and slid her slippers onto her feet. He smiled more broadly when he noticed T'Pol looking furtively around the room.

"You looking for something, SubCommander?"

"No," said T'Pol, "I just need to rest for a few moments."

"If rest is all you need, you'll do it here," said Trip, and before T'Pol could protest, the man lifted her easily and slipped her into his bed.

Truthfully, T'Pol could have protested, but there was no other place she'd rather be in her present state, so she watched with open interest as Commander Tucker slipped out of his jeans and into a pair of grey cotton shorts, before laying next to her. In this light, and from this angle, thought T'Pol, perhaps the elephant bedspread had not been such an exaggeration, and she felt a touch of amusement at the nature of her thoughts. She moved closer to Trip and at his urging and was glad for it.

After a few minutes of silence, Trip said, "I'm glad you just felt a need to rest, T'Pol. I was afraid you were just here to collect your things."

"Things, Commander?"

"I found your pajama bottoms on the floor of my quarters, SubCommander. I found your pajama top, resting atop your slippers and it was stained."

T'Pol tensed at that, but Trip merely hugged her tighter and kissed the top of her head.

"Do you feel like telling me what happened here?"

"Perhaps later, Commander."

"I figured out one part of it by myself, T'Pol."

"Oh?"

"Yep. Your clothes strewn about my quarters, two cups of your green tea, your slippers, and your thong on my bathroom countertop."

"I apologize—"

"No need to apologize, T'Pol, but the significance of of those items was interesting..."

"Significance, Commander?"

"You were declaring me your mate, SubCommander," said Trip, smiling openly, "marking your territory, should any trespassing females find their way into my quarters."

"With you, that is always a possibility, Commander Tucker," said T'Pol, "given your record where alien females are concerned."

"Ouch, T'Pol."

"In any case, Commander Tucker, all you've proven is that I was a slob under the influence of that cursed region of space."

Trip's communicator beeped.

"Tucker here."

"Commander Tucker," said Phlox, "I just tried to reach T'Pol, but she's not answering her comm. You did drop her off at her quarters, no?"

"I am here, Doctor," said T'Pol.

"She's resting with me, Doctor."

"Ah, good. I actually feel better that she's with you. I was just concerned when I couldn't reach her," said Phlox.

"Do me a favor, Doctor, and be discreet with this information. The SubCommander values her privacy."

"You may both count upon it," said Phlox and logged off.

"So where were we? Oh, yes, you say that your personal items scattered about my place prove nothing," said Trip, reaching for his comm unit. "But perhaps this will."

"Oh?" said a wary T'Pol.

She remembered leaving Trip a message, but due to her delirium, could not remember the nature of that message.

"You left a very sweet message for me," said Trip, fiddling with his communicator. "You can listen to it all later, but this last part should sum it all up."

Trip held the communicator so that T'Pol could hear it clearly now, and T'Pol heard her own voice speaking.

"—so you will understand that rather than running the very real risk of harming my beloved mate, I will choose to end my life. I wish you long life, and peace, Commander Tucker.

T'Pol was stunned.

"You called me your mate, T'Pol. Your beloved mate."

"I could not help myself, Commander. I was under the influence of my mating drive. You can not understand its intensity."

"Fair enough, maybe that's all it was," said Trip. "But I will choose to believe otherwise, and I will choose to believe you meant what you said."

T'Pol wondered what else she'd said to the Commander, but she was still rocked by what she'd heard, and which was more than enough to make her uneasy.

"In any case," said Trip, "I hope to be there for your next cycle, T'Pol, and preferably conscious."

T'Pol felt Commander Tucker looking down at her, but she was suddenly too shy to raise her head, too shy to meet his eyes.

"I share your hope, Commander Tucker," said T'Pol, and pressed herself closer to the man's warm body.