NEWLY EDITED!

I've been wanting to write a Vulcan romance that doesn't include a certain science officer or ambassador for a long time. I've also always wanted to see a pairing where the human isn't an emotional mess, yet doesn't try to be Vulcan. A few exist, but they haven't been updated in some time and one huge fic in that vein has sadly been deleted.

Here's another try. Not a short story, but plotted out and partially written.

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2225, PRIME TIMELINE, 8 YEARS BEFORE THE SPLIT IN 2233

Sivok checked his samples for the third time, casting an increasingly visible glance of annoyance towards the attendant.

"The decay process has already begun. We were scheduled to land 4 hours, 41 minutes, and 18 seconds ago. Please ask again what is causing the delay: it is urgent I get to the surface."

The blonde crossed her arms and gave him a death glare that would knock anyone else over, but not this Vulcan.

"I told you, I don't know. We haven't been cleared for landing, that's all I know. As I've also told you, you're not allowed to be back here, please return to your seat, or I'll have to call security."

Sivok glared back defiantly but made his way towards his seat.

The Vulcan Science Academy had filed all the paperwork for him and had provided transport all the way to Earth's spacedoc, but due to his unstable cargo, he was required by law to enter through the human transport system, either civilian or Starfleet.

That had been easy decision. His superiors made it clear that his exposure and cooperation with the barbaric branch of the Federation would be minimal, and only for the greater medical good.

The VSA and Starfleet had negotiated a deal for two years of lab time, in which he would use Starfleet facilities to oversee the cultivation of his life's work into a mass-manufactured chemical-base that could be use for growing various high-stakes medications on Starships that were too complex for replicators.

Getting underway was urgent as it was likely to save thousands of lives, but the manufacturing process had proved difficult in Vulcan's high-gravity, low-oxygen environment.

Fortunately, joint experiments had demonstrated Earth as an excellent base of operations. Unfortunately, the heinous Starfleet was the only institution that could effectively distribute the final product.

They had agreed that before manufacturing would begin, he would work with Command to establish protocols for the delicate material and design and implement a storage and transportation system.

Starfleet had offered to do it themselves, but the VSA would hear nothing of that nonsense. Such a delicate project needed careful, logical oversight, not the rash actions of an undereducated child, as he had surely been assigned to work with.

The biggest problem was he had to live among humans for two years. He was well aware of their inefficiency, and being stalled in spacedoc for hours upon revival was doing nothing to ease his concerns.

He looked down the hallway back towards his samples, and his eye caught the attendant as she walked by, giving him a sideways glare as if challenging him to get up and go back to cargo bay again. He raised an eyebrow but leaned back into his seat, not wanting to be escorted back into station by security.

Sivok closed his eyes to considered his situation. His internal clock told him it was now 2120 in San Francisco.

This meant his housing complex's office was closed and he would have to find a hotel for the night due to the inefficiency of their transport system. Or he would just work through the night.

His human lab assistant would have also gone home, as he knew that humans worked extremely limited hours and required copious amounts of rest, but his Vulcan lab tech, a young man named Tilk, might still be there, depending on what time he finally arrived.

There were no civilian transmissions within the interplanetary system at this orbit, so he couldn't reach out to any of these individuals.

With the attendant finally around the corner, he glanced back down the hallway. If his newly assigned logistics and warehousing representative - a human woman named Lt. Matteson - wasn't there when he arrived, he wouldn't be able to get into the high-security bio warehouse center, and his work would be "good as dead".

Literally.

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Lt. Matteson glanced down at the clock.

Five minutes to midnight.

The newsfeeds said there had been a big fire at the civilian landing docks, and it was causing major delays to transports at spacedoc. One of which contained the Vulcan medical researcher she was currently up at midnight waiting for.

Why couldn't they have sent him in a Starfleet transport?

The report had been vague, citing political conflicts between the 'pacifistic' VSA and the militarized Starfleet and implying the Vulcans were being stubborn jerks.

And look where it got him, stuck in orbit, probably doing the Vulcan equivalent of freaking out about his very fragile, yet not dangerous, work.

If the samples died, he would have to return to Vulcan, grow new samples in their labs, and come back again, this time hopefully by military transport.

Matteson returned to her work, checking the casing for the fifth time. She had written her logistics orders, quadruple checked the labeling systems, and verified all of the transference seals.

Logistics and medical warehousing was considered both a high-stress and boring job by most, but she really did love it. The structure, the organization, the challenge, and most importantly, the lack of other people.

She designed and selected storage systems, worked with the replication of the parts, created inventory schemas, and implemented software to manage it all. The bio materials came in on a largely automatic schedule, and left in the same style: generally giving her perfect solitude.

Or at least it did. Most researchers finished their work, made their deals, got it to manufacturing, and then sent it to her for warehousing and logistics...without the researcher hovering nearby.

Apparently, the VSA didn't work that way. Or at least didn't trust humans to handle it for them. She wondered if her new full-time co-worker was pushed to come by his superiors, or if he came by his own desire.

Two hours of paperwork later, her PADD started to beep:

"The samples were supposed to have been moved hours ago, this delay is unacceptable. Report immediately to the main entrance."

Yeah, and you're the one who's late, buddy. She wanted to remind him that it would have worked out perfectly if he had accepted Starfleet transportation, but held her tongue.

Lt. Matteson breathed in deeply as she approached the door to let him in, steeling herself for the hours to come.

If this Doctor Sivok intended on blaming her for the delay in civilian transport when he refused their transportation (but not their facilities!) on principle, it was going to be a long night.

Or more likely, a very long two years.

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"I'll go backwards."

"No, I will lead in reverse. Vulcan agility is superior and will enable me to navigate through the corridors more efficiently."

Matteson had to resist rolling her eyes. "Whatever, we don't have time to argue."

He gave her a quick nod as he moved backwards down the hallway. "Finally, a logical statement."

She glared in reply, wanting to snipe back it was only her second 'statement' to him ever, but she was more focused on her task.

They both watched their footwork, finally setting down the large case as she keyed into each doorway. Finally, she spotted a security officer patrolling the hallway.

"Excuse me, please help us!"

He rushed over and the three of them managed to get the case into the lift, and began to descend down below ground level into warehousing.

If he had gotten here during the day, the workers would have used the anti-grav to move it through the loading bay, but not at 0200.

As the lift continued, he tapped at the screen of the case, rotating the vials through the exterior view screen and checking their decay. The standard expressionless face was there, but she could almost see the annoyance pulling at his lips.

She grabbed the handle again, anticipating the lift's completion, and they rushed out right as the door opened, finally rounding to the bio warehouse.

"I need to inspect your stasis POD," he said as they cleared the final expanse over the concrete floor.

"Really? I think it's a little late for that. There are no special modifications, and it already cleared multiple inspections. They're more likely to die being out than there being a problem with the unit."

He slightly narrowed his eyes at her as they finally set the case down, but said nothing as they completed the hookup and transference cycle.

She stood silently as he tapped at the screen of the POD, looking back and forth between the two pieces of equipment, his eyebrows slightly furrowing as he interpreted the readings.

With nothing to do but wait for his conclusion, she finally got a chance to get a good look at the doctor.

He was tall, probably 6 feet, which combined with this muscular build and stern face, gave him a very imposing aura. Thankfully Matteson was tall for a woman at 5 feet, 10 inches and wasn't too far below his gaze.

He had the standard exact, bobbed haircut with the awful bangs: it looked black at first glance but she figured would be a very dark brown on close inspection. He also seemed quite pale for being from a desert planet.

Maybe he didn't get out much. But then again, neither did she.

After some time of waiting, she finally spoke up.

"Are they okay?"

"Do not interrupt me."

Alright then, he also had a major attitude problem. He would probably be good looking if he didn't.

She went back to standing in silence, and considered going to look over his shoulder, but she could already hear him saying 'keep your distance from my person' and decided to stay put.

She closed her eyes and centered herself, deciding then and there to give him the benefit of the doubt. He had traveled from another planet, surely from a different timezone, was trapped at spacedoc worried about his work for hours, was locked out of the building, and was still unsure if the entire process had been a waste of time or not.

No matter what the Vulcans said about their emotions, he had a right to be salty at this hour of the morning, and she could respect that.

She leaned against the wall and waited for his announcement. After another hour, he finally spoke up.

"They are recovering, and the POD is fully operational."

"That's great!" she said as she yawned, thinking it must be nearly 0300.

"Return to your home. I will finish the initialization process."

She squinted her eyes at his 'order' to return home, ironic considering he no military affiliations, of which he was seemingly so proud of. "Oh no, I can't leave. I have to help you finish."

"No. At your current mental engagement levels, you would most certainly make a critical mistake. You should not extend yourself to this hour, human bodies need substantial period of rest."

She huffed in reply. "Uh, no. I will be staying in my warehouse."

"The warehouse belongs to Starfleet."

"Of which you are not a member, and do not have unrestricted access to."

"I have access to this particular facility - it is in my contract."

"You don't have an access card because you arrived in the middle of the night."

"I do not need one for this evening, as I do not intend on leaving."

"Then we'll be here together, as I don't intend on leaving either." She crossed her arms over her chest and raised her chin proudly.

He glared at her intensely, before abruptly turning to the console. "Very well. You may stay, but do not interfere with my work."

She stepped beside him at the console, and fired back, her voice dripping with venom. "Thank you for giving me permission to stay in my own workspace, but I will be staying and I will be participating in the initialization on my equipment, not assisting you. This is my job."

"Miss Matteson-"

"Lieutenant Matteson!"

He looked as if he might roll his eyes, but continued on, never looking at her directly. "Lieutenant Matteson, your offer is acknowledged. Still, your assistance is not needed."

She clamped her eyes shut, willing herself not be emotional and snap in front of her new stoic colleague anymore than she already had, but boy was he making it difficult.

Knowing she was breaking protocol on working with Vulcans, but done with being nice to this jerk, she grabbed his shoulder and turned him towards her, stepping right up to him and pulling herself up closer to his height.

"It's not an offer, nor am I providing assistance. This is my lab, and I am the ranking officer of this warehouse division. You are a guest, and if you would like to be involved in the initialization you may cooperate, or you may leave and I will finish the process alone."

Now close up in making her threat, she watched his brown eyes narrow and felt his hot breath spilling onto her face. He continued to glare at her with the meanest Vulcan death stare he could manage, but she held her gaze defiantly, unwilling to back down.

He slowly moved his hand towards hers, resting on his shoulder, and she briefly wondered if she had made a huge mistake physically threatening a 6 foot tall male Vulcan.

When they were alone. In the middle of the night. In a 800,000 square foot warehouse, where security could be anywhere within the labyrinth of shelves and corridors, many of which were soundproof.

What could she do if he attacked her? Probably nothing effective, as he was much, much stronger than her and probably had trained in various martial arts since infancy.

As their hands made contact, she felt a tingling sensation run up her spine, and a split second of surprise registered on his face, but the sensation broke as he abruptly jerked away and looked down.

"If you insist," he murmured without looking back up, so low she could barely hear it.

Determined to be the adult in this situation, she gave him her biggest smile and said, "Great!" patting him on the shoulder as she backed away, causing him to jerk slightly.

Yeesh, jumpy.

To both of their relief, they quickly set about working, running all of the processes and only speaking or looking at each other when strictly necessary.

When she completed the first process, he motioned her aside to check her work, and she smiled and let him by without making a fuss.

Much to his dismay, she immediately crossed to the station he just abandoned and opened the file had just closed.

"What are you doing?" he quickly demanded.

She slowly looked up at him, feigning confusion. "Checking your work. I thought we were doubling everything up to ensure accuracy?"

His mouth thinned into a straight line, but he looked down without further comment and went back to tapping on her screen.

Gottcha.

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Sivok glanced up at his companion, but quickly looked away as she returned his gaze.

He was forced to privately conceded that she had reasonable stamina for her gender and species, as she had matched his pace the entire night without making any errors.

With the initialization sequences completed, they moved onto porting the Vulcan algorithms into the Starfleet system, but had to manually re-set each individual node for the changes to take effect.

Unfortunately, they were under the consoles at the height of an adult, and had to kneel or crawl to access them towards the bottom of the sphere.

He dropped to the ground as he pulled out the first node towards the bottom of the POD, hooking the PADD cable into the tube's access port, and then unplugging and pushing it back in, the yellow rim illuminating as the magnetic seal re-activated.

His sensitive ears alerted him that was she crawling over towards him, settling next to his knee and causing him to breath in deeply.

"Let's work together: we can avoid repetition that way."

"Do you not need to rest? It is 0704."

She glared at him in reply. "I'm already awake; I'll sleep later. Let's just finish this, alright?"

He looked over cautiously. "Very well, but I still believe you should stop and rest."

"Quite concerned for my well being, aren't you? I'd almost think you're worried about me," she teased with a wry smile.

He stiffened and leaned in closer to the POD, shifting slightly further from her, causing the lieutenant to roll her eyes in reply.

After twenty minutes and ten seconds of working silence, he came to the alarming realization she was moving faster than him, but witht the same level of quality.

He wasn't surprised, however, her nearby movements were...distracting, though he wasn't sure why.

Probably because he had never been around an alien this long, and certainly not this close, where they could almost touch with sudden movements.. Why had he let her come over here, and why was he staying in this spot with her so close?

Sivok wasn't sure, and determined to discover why in meditation. Working together on this part was logical, but it could be done with greater distance. He shifted further away, causing her to throw a glance in his direction.

After another ten minutes and fifty seconds of attempting to ignore her still too close movements, he noticed something odd: she was skipping nodes and moving around in some chaotic pattern. He tried to ignore it, but the mystery of her strange workflow was too much to cast aside.

"Why are you working that way?" He finally ground out.

"What way?" She tilted her head in reply, never taking her eyes off of the node under attention.

"You are not re-setting the nodes in order."

"I'm still faster than you" she snorted.

He glared back. "I acknowledge that, but you would be faster yet if you moved in the correct order."

She laughed. "The POD is spherical, there's not a correct order."

"There is. Move linearly across the lines, like this" he motioned in the pattern he had been following in front of her, but quickly regretted it as she moved forward to demonstrate her pattern in the same way, bumping into his arm.

"Sorry, I know Vulcans don't like to be touched. Anyhow, they're both valid ways, I'm working based on the cycle the node is in, so I don't have to think about the transference ratios."

"But you have to remember where you have been, and could miss a node as a result."

"Have I, Mr. Eidetic memory?"

He paused, thinking. "No, you haven't."

"That's because I check the outer rim after each pass to ensure none are missed."

"That is duplication of effort."

"So? I'm still faster than you."

"I am moving significantly slower than my usual pace of work on this project. Also, I typically delegate the task to lower level assistants such as yourself, so I somewhat out of practice."

She paused at the barb, and dropped her head, sighing loudly and exposing the back of neck from under her high ponytail, which Sivok's eyes drifted towards before he forced them away, chastising himself in the process.

"As I said, if you were to move linearly, you would be significantly faster."

"Significantly?" She snapped, surprising him. She had been quite calm since the incident where she scandalously invaded his personal space. "A fraction of a second, at the very best-"

"Even milliseconds can be critical when working with unstable compounds."

"I know! This is my job, too! And this is the fastest way, for me. You do it however you please, just don't tell me how to. The order doesn't matter that much. There are others who do it in the 'correct order' but I've got the best metrics on every line in the entire warehouse, and you can double check that with Command."

"That is only because your co-workers are all human as well."

She caught his eye, and he saw she was truly angry this time. She opened her mouth to speak, but then clamped her jaw shut and put her head down, breathing in deeply and finally opening her eyes, staring back at him with no emotion.

Sivok was shocked. She could...control herself? He wondered if that control would hold up under further pressure, and was tempted to find out.

"This section is done. Now stop arguing with me and finish yours with your oh-so-powerful techniques." She stood up and walked to the opposite of the sphere before leaning back down, much to his personal relief.

He worked quickly through his section and then met her on the other side, working in silence. She finally broke it.

"You know we have to get along. We have two years to work together, every day."

He shifted uncomfortably, already plotting on somehow getting out of spending hours per day with this...distracting woman. "I am aware of my assignment. Please do not waste my time reiterating what I already know."

She breathed in sharply. "You know wha-"

"Hey, Cecilia! Don't tell me you pulled another all nighter." Sivok's eyes scanned the room for the voice behind them, and noticed tall young human making his way towards their POD. He leaned down and put his hands on Matteson's shoulders.

Sivok looked at the hand on her shoulder and the image of him breaking it quickly flashed through his mind, shocking him to his core. Where had his control gone? Serious meditation was in order.

He knew humans touched each other casually, but this seemed more intimate somehow. Like they knew each other well, perhaps they were even mates. He squinched the feeling in his gut.

"That's Lieutenant to you, Cadet." She replied sternly, shifting his hands off her shoulders.

"Oh come on." He smiled sultrily and leaned back towards her. "I'm not on duty yet, you're not supposed to be here at all today, and I thought we were friends. You said I could call you Cecilia!"

She huffed. "Before I knew you were in Starfleet."

"I'm not under your command! You don't have anyone under your command, unless…"

He looked over at Sivok, who stiffened in reply. "I am not a member of Starfleet, nor will I ever be."

The Cadet raised his eyebrows but smiled ruefully. "Well, you're lucky to work with Cecilia here."

"She ordered you not to address her by her given name. You will respect her wishes, and her rank above you, Cadet," Sivok retorted, surprising both of the humans and resulting in an extremely awkward silence as the two men glared at each other.

"Um, I guess I'll introduce the two of you," Matteson started, seeking to break whatever was going on. "This is Doctor Sivok of the Vulcan Science Academy. He will be assisting in the design and installation of a new medical manufacturing system based on his research, and I will be building the storage and logistics routes to manage the finished products, as well as his samples in the meantime."

Sivok nodded towards the blonde human.

"Sivok, this is Cadet Pike. He's a third year student at the Academy and the head intern under Commander Bines of the medical warehousing control center. Our parents are...acquainted."

"You can call me Christopher." Pike smiled in reply, and turned back towards Matteson, "I have to get to a class soon."

"Yes, leave." Sivok replied before she had the chance to reply, and turned back towards the POD. She threw Pike an apologetic glance, and Pike winked back at her as he sauntered out of the room.

She looked back towards Sivok, who was staring deeply into the node, and shrugged. They quickly finished their project, and she left to care for other work (despite it being her day off), leaving Sivok to his own thoughts.

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After completing a few hours of adjustments and ensuring his almost-killed organisms were recovering adequately, Sivok walked with determination to the main office in the warehousing department, and over to the medical section.

He opened the door, and immediately had the illogical urge to leave. The desk was manned by the head intern, Cadet Pike, who had disrespected Lt. Matteson earlier that morning. He fought the urge to scowl.

The cadet called out with a friendly smile. "Can I help you, Doctor?"

"I require 24/7 access to the promised facilities."

"Right away, I'll just need to you to sign off on a few things..."

After 12.41 minutes of paperwork and verifications, and unacceptably slow pace in Sivok's view, the paperwork was finally cleared and his access was granted.

"Do you need anything else, Doctor?"

Sivok paused, looking at the cadet. The memory of his intrusion that morning sprang to mind against his will, along with the tight feeling in his chest that accompanied it. He made up his mind in that second.

"Yes, I require a new logistics director. Lt. Matteson is unacceptable."

Pike drew up and tilted his head, trying to keep himself even. "In what way?"

"She uses inefficient procedures." And she was distracting to him, and they had shared far too much physical contact, but Sivok wasn't about to mention that.

Pike ran his hand through his hair. "Well, I can request a transfer for you for the Commander to approve. But there's no point in asking for someone more efficient, she's the best at every part of the job, hands down."

"I find that hard to believe."

Pike scowled. "Listen, if you want someone else, that's fine. But don't file a complaint against her on the grounds of incapacity." He leaned into the drawer, thumbing through it and pulling out a data slate and plugging it into the PADD.

"Here, the results from the last round of assessments. Pick who you want to request. You'll see Lt. Matteson has input a lot more data, and that's because she loves the benchmark exercises."

Pike looked up with a dreamy look. "Everyone else avoids them, but she always wants to improve her capacity. It's the kind of work ethic and eye for precision I plan on carrying as an officer when I'm deployed."

Sivok was only getting more annoyed looking at this young human, and it showed slightly as he grabbed the PADD from Pike's hand and flicked through the results.

She was good.

Much better than the others, and more so than he saw last night. In fact, her deliverable numbers were on par with the VSAs, and Sivok reluctantly accepted he would work with her out of professional duty to excellence, distracting or not.

He looked up to Pike's expectant face.

"I retract my complaint. I will keep her for myself."

Sivok immediately regretted his choice of words as Pike raised an eyebrow, but he turned without further comment and went back down the corridor, eager to get to work and cast the experiences of the last day out of his mind.

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Matteson jolted awake and looked around quickly, relieved her new logical college hadn't caught her dozing off on the job. Or Pike, her childhood acquaintance who apparently still had a thing for older women.

She was technically off today, but was working nonetheless, and worked all night to boot. She glanced at the clock, 1900 hours. Or at the moment, better known as bedtime.

She stretched and yawned as she got up from her desk, rising to collect her belongings and head home on the public transport.

"Oh! Sorry…" She quickly knelt down to pick up the fallen PADDs, and winced as the hands that leaned down were an olive shade trimmed in a black, Vulcan-style suit.

"You are tired. As I've said, return to your home and rest."

She smiled tightly, trying to stop a yawn. "Yes, you have said. And I was doing so right now. I am tired, I'm sorry for not watching closer."

He nodded as she pulled herself to her feet, intentionally not offering his help.

"I'll see you tomorrow Sivok. I'm glad we can work together."

He nodded again and stared into her eyes, still not saying anything.

"Well, uh, I'll see you around."

"Ensure you sleep adequately. I need you to be mentally alert for our work tomorrow, as it will be challenging for a human."

She rolled her eyes, so the human comments were still coming.

What a strange morning it had been, and she had a feeling deep in her gut things were only about to get stranger.

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The room was sparsely furnished and his personal belongings were few, but neither of these things mattered to Sivok.

He just needed to meditate and get over today, once and for all. Settling over the flame, he started to think about the events he had incurred.

His trip from Vulcan.

Efficient. No delays, a peaceful trip on the VSA operated vessel.

Shel'rel, the satisfaction of all variables behaving as expected, and one of the few fully acceptable emotions.

The delays on the transport.

Stressful due to the risk to his samples, the passengers and crew were obnoxious, and it wrecked his itinerary.

Sher'rek, annoyance at the widespread failure of desired variables. As long as it doesn't lead to anger or outward reaction, it was an acceptable emotion to be efficiently suppressed in meditation, something he did with practiced ease.

The first encounter with Matteson.

The memory of her jogging to the door with her long reddish-blonde hair splaying behind her immediately surfaced to the top of his mind. She wasted no time on ceremony, immediately attempting to plan their manual transference of the samples to the warehouse, as misguided as her plan to walk in reverse with human agility was.

The emotions that accompanied the memory were unfamiliar, and unable to name it, he simply stomped them down into the depths of his mind, hoping not to see them again. Mostly, he had been annoyed at the delay, something he already addressed in his consideration of the transport.

Her insistence on staying.

It was the early hours of the morning when he arrived, and while he was relieved she had stayed to let him in, it was now time for her to rest. Humans simply did not have the stamina of his kind, this had been proved time and time again.

But she had demanded she would stay, despite his logical counterarguments. He analyzed the emotion that surfaced with the memory of their arguments, and was surprised: anger. Not anger for her refusal to leave him to his work, through he was annoyed by that, but anger she wouldn't take care of herself.

After some consideration, this made logical sense. He was a medical professional, and their project was to improve the health of others and save lives. If they couldn't take care of themselves, how could they do so for others?

He would ensure to discuss this with her in the upcoming days, and having identified its source, he quickly repressed the emotions related.

Their physical encounter.

This was where the problem began. She had confronted him aggressively, and he had been displeased with her behavior. When he went to remove her from his person while continuing to block her from the POD console, he had inadvertently touched her hand, sparking a momentary telepathic connection.

Chills had run up his arm and down his spine, and he had to actively fight a shiver. But as went to break the connection, he sensed the spark of her recent thoughts.

She was attracted to him.

Barely, but it was there, and much deeper than she realized.

The memory of his emotions on this moment were confusing. Regret, dislike, fear, thrill, anger, loneliness, passion, surprise: it was all there as he focused on that split second.

Trying to untangle them was only making it worse, and bringing back other thoughts from his past he no interest in considering that evening, so he shoved them all down as he had before, and moved on from the memory, deciding to analyze his responses instead of hers.

Her admirable skills.

He had been reminding himself how unequal they were to each other as they began to work, even convincing himself he would re-do her work and point out her flaws, to remind her how unequal they were.

But that plan had backfired when he couldn't find any mistakes, and had matched his own work. Then, insinuating they that she had to check his work! The annoyance rose again in him. Sy'kol'ir, the sting of a failed plan.

Acknowledging the cause, he repressed it as well.

Their project on the floor.

The unfortunate location of the nodes on the POD had them on the ground, working in close quarters. Her chaotic patterns, sounds, and incessant shifting were distracting, and were damaging his productivity. He recognized his nervousness at the possibility that his distraction around her would continue, but suppressed that, deciding it was caused by the revelation of her attraction.

He worked through the rest of his memories of the day, identifying and suppressing the emotions as he encountered them.

Coming out of the exercise, he knew his primary problem was the disturbing instinctual reactions he had towards Lt. Matteson, but he still didn't understand it they were stemming from.

Perhaps he had already been around humans too much? But where?

The transport. That was the first event, and likely caused a chain reaction through the rest of the day. The further reactions towards her were the result of the brief telepathic contact in their unfortunate physical encounter.

It was natural to respond to her attraction, but now he would suppress it and it would have no further bearing on him.

Coming out of his meditation two hours later, he was confident he was in control and would have no further problems.

Now, he just had to keep it up for two more years, and everything would be fine.

He could handle it.

Right?

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AN: Meditation process based Tuvok's comments in VOY.

NEWLY EDITED! The amazing Tom Foolery offered to beta these chapters, and has improved the writing quality 100 times over. I'm extremely honored to have one ST:2009's best writers beta something I wrote!

Please review as critically as possible, especially for young Pike. I have no clue how to write him, and he plays a larger role later in the story.