Chapter 9: Sealing The Deal

"Now, before any of you makes any rushed moves," Trip said, pulling up his pants again. He held out his hand for Malcolm to help him sit down again. "First of all. That just worked, because I was able to swallow one of Phlox's super-Viagras while you were all expertly distracted by Malcolm's presentation. Phlox says it'll be another two or three weeks until we can 'test the equipment' under real conditions, but sure as hell, once I'm ready, all three of you better be prepared for quite the night."

"Malcolm too?" Hoshi asked with a giggle.

"Well, he won't be getting any from me. There's not the same level of desire between us that so obviously is between you and T'Pol, but since there is two of you, there'll be two of us. And if either you or T'Pol want both of us at the same time – place your booking."

He could hear T'Pol gasp.

"Knew you'd be interested in that," he said softly, moving his face towards were he knew T'Pol was sitting.

"As much as I'm elated by latest developments," T'Pol said, an unusual touch of insecurity in her voice. "I am not convinced I have already overcome all inhibitions. While I have been intimate with all of you, I am not sure I am already able to be intimate with anyone, knowing the other two are present."

Trip thought about it for a moment. "I'm sorry if I'm too blunt again, but we have to start somewhere and I'm tired of being apart from any of you or having to use some 'secret flat' as a hideout for sex. Hell, how hard can it be to buy a bit of booze for us and some chocolate for T'Pol. Truth be told, I'm also not completely at peace with the thought of hearing T'Pol being boned by Malcolm and I bet the same will be true for him seeing me doing Hoshi, but it is what we all want."

"For once your bluntness works," he heard Malcolm add. "I'm more than okay with us being with each other in various combinations, in fact I'm quite keen to see you two ladies put that strap-on to work, which can only have been Trip's idea. But I'd be lying if I said it will still be a strange thing to see Trip and Hoshi shag each other, but he's right. We all want each other and we have to start somewhere."

"Malcolm," Trip heard Hoshi hiss, no doubt due to the fact that Malcolm had referred to watching her and T'Pol have sex. They still had instinctive reservations against references to eyesight.

"Do you think I don't want to see that?" Trip leered and made groping gestures with his fingers in Hoshi's direction.

"The sex fantasies aside," Hoshi said, chuckling. "Trip, how do you manage to face us so precisely? I've spoke to several blind people at work. They always 'look' past me to the left or the right, so to speak. Well, all except Jordan. He must have exceptional hearing to always know where I am."

"That's the third surprise of the evening," he replied, grinning. "I want you and T'Pol to move somewhere else and Malcolm will play some music, so I can't cheat by using my hearing."

Malcolm did and once the music subsided, Trip presented his party piece. Hearing Hoshi gasp he knew she'd worked it out.

"Echo location?" he heard her ask with amazement.

"Yes, darlin', and Jordan taught it to me. You are standing in profile relative to me. Malcolm is facing you and obviously quite excited," he said, eliciting a giggle from Hoshi. T'Pol is standing in front of something rectangular, probably the window. Now, Hoshi, since your removing the shirt has given Malcolm that boner, would you mind at least blowing the poor guy?"

"How?" came the question with a gasp.

"First help Malcolm, and T'Pol, why don't you help her?"

Hoshi looked at Trip in amazement. Granted it had been strange to give a two-pronged blow-job to Malcolm, knowing from the continued tongue-clicking from the distance that Trip was 'watching' the spectacle. But she also knew that it was his way of demonstrating that his earlier words hadn't been empty.

"Okay, Trip, how?" she asked. "I've read about human echo location, but I always thought that was a bit exaggerated, especially as to how precise it is."

"It's a bit two-dimensional," he admitted. "I can't really make out how far away you were, but I could make out who was who by your rough shapes. Well, neither you nor T'Pol was likely to have an erection, so Malcolm was easy to spot. T'Pol's boobs were hard to miss either, after all, only one of you has a rack designed to withstand higher gravity, and just to avoid having to sleep outdoors tonight, that's not supposed to mean yours are sagging, Hoshi."

She giggled and even Malcolm couldn't suppress an amused snort.

"As for knowing that you had taken of your shirt, well, who else of us is notoriously shirt-repellent and how else was Malcolm supposed to get an erection. I've learned logic from the best o' them."

Hoshi couldn't contain her amusement.

a few days later...

"Is there a reason why I was given the task of supervising your rehabilitation program?" T'Pau asked while Trip was struggling to regain his ability to walk, his weakened muscles buckling under the strain of his own weight."

"Malcolm, T'Pol or Hoshi would be too likely to let me off easily," he struggled through clenched teeth as he forced himself to endure a much longer training than what the Denobulan had specified as the minimum duration. "Only you have the emotional detachment. Hell, if you could whip Malcolm back into shape, you're the perfect person for the job anyway."

"Except that I have to contend with the katra of the Eldest as well. She has been making some unusual inquiries lately."

"How, unusual?" he asked, pausing his struggle upon hearing the unmistakable undercurrent of exasperation in T'Pau's voice.

"Extremely, to the point of disturbing you if I spoke to you about it."

"You won't have to," he said. "Can you meld with me and let me have a chat with her?"

"If that is your wish?" T'Pau said, audibly insecure.

"It is," Trip answered determinedly. "She's obviously bothering you and that's not the purpose of her being in your head."

It was strange being able to see and walk again, but then he was residing in T'Pau's mind. His hard-earned, modest telepathic abilities had been all but gone due to his injuries, but the faint remnants of his bond with T'Pol still made him easily perceptible to a mind-meld.

"It is agreeable to see you so well, Charles," a very life-like representation of the Eldest greeted him. "I knew you would overcome the hard-ships of your fate and be the one who finally constructs that unusual union I had seen develop for some time."

"With all due respect, Eldest. I'm not in the mood for pleasantries right now. T'Pau is quite upset and she blames you for that. What the hell have you asked of her?"

"Still strong and protective," T'Para's image said with an unusual softness to it. Now that she was reduced to her mental essence, she wasn't bound by emotional inhibitions anymore. That in itself was a rather weird sensation. "Follow me, Charles."

Suddenly he found himself in what looked like an ancient temple.

"This is our clan's spiritual retreat," T'Para explained and his eyes opened wide. They were walking down an aisle lined with life-size statues on either side. They were all female and all stark-naked.

"This is I," she explained, stopping at a rather well-stacked statue. "Obviously at age 75 I was somewhat more esthetically pleasing than in later periods of my physical existence."

"That's one way to put it," he mumbled to himself, hoping that a certain lower-body region would not be subject to the same return to full function in this telepathic, non-corporeal state.

"Since I'm linked to two Vulcans, I can easily read this stuff," he snorted, pointing ahead. "Those three empty pedestals say 'T'Pol of Vulcan', 'T'Pau of Vulcan' and 'Hoshi of Terrha'. You'll bash in open doors with Hoshi and I know T'Pol won't be too concerned, if it is tradition, but you can't possibly have asked T'Pau to have a naked statue of her made and mounted here?"

"As you said, it is tradition," she replied drily. "And my sending T'Pau to your station to overcome her fear of an unclothed state had not only a practical reason."

"Trust me, she has overcome that fear quite thoroughly, so there is something you're not telling me."

"I wish that you create those three statues," T'Para decreed.

Trip laughed out loud. Seeing that the Eldest's spirit observed his reaction with some confusion, he explained the obvious.

"Eldest Mother, unless you forgot, when this mind-meld is over, I'm blind as a bat again and my echo-location is way too weak for that and besides, I'm not asking my god-daughter to strip and pose naked in front of me. No wonder she went of her rocker."

"Hoshi managed to preserve a representation of your ship you modeled when you were still honing your tactile senses. You made that entirely from memory. Given the real-life original for reference, I'm convinced you can create a statue that is more representative of their beauty than most seeing individuals would."

Trip howled in scandal, seeing T'Para's image recoil at the force of his revulsion.

"Eldest mother," he growled in anger. "I know you saved the lives of T'Pol, Malcolm and me, and frankly there is little I wouldn't do to repay that debt of honor, but feeling up the naked body of my god-daughter, who has a boyfriend by the way, is one of those few things you can't possibly ask me for. That's so sick! Have you learned NOTHING about humans?"

"I did not wish to offend you," T'Para replied. "I would not have made this inquiry if I did not know that no unseemly course of action on your behalf would result from that. I obviously underestimated your revulsion."

"Jebus H. Christ, T'Para," he pleaded with her. "Look at your own statue. Obviously you were a lot of things, but certainly not ugly. The point is, that this statue is extremely detailed, so I suppose that's what T'Pau's meant to be as well. I would have to touch her in places where my hand does absolutely not belong, ever! No wonder T'Pau is completely grossed out."

"Her revulsion does not come from that thought," she answered, her voice softening again. "T'Pau knows that you are quite capable of being emotionally detached enough for the task. She did however predict your offense at the thought. Offending you was what distresses her."

"Oh, fucking hell," he cried out and his emotional distress caused T'Pau to break the meld, recoiling from the strength of his emotions.

"You should do it, boss," he heard a male voice say, unmistakably that of Trok.

"Fucking hell, Trok, you knew?!"

"Yes, Mr. Tucker. T'Pau and I have no secrets. What I do know is that I can blindly trust you. As I said before, you have more than enough troubles keeping your own quad together. T'Pau loves you deeply, but as a father and we've just witnessed that this seems to be the same for you. I agree with you, it certainly is an exceedingly strange request, but I agree with the spirit of T'Para, nobody could make that statue better than you. You may have no eyesight, but you have the affection and the skill that's needed to capture her beauty. I would be more uncomfortable with some strange guy looking at her physique, even if he was never to touch her."

"Fuck, I can't do that, Trok. I'm honored that you think I could 'capture her beauty', but my hands don't fucking belong on certain areas of her body. Did T''Pau never tell you that I made her wear swimwear on that Island a couple years ago? It was just wrong looking. Touching is even more out of the question."

"You are concerned that T'Pau might react to the stimulus, but there are ways to prevent that," another voice added – unmistakably T'Pol.

"Fuck, are you all here?" Trip asked, trying to get his surroundings by echo-location, quite in panic. Nobody made a sound to give him time to get his bearings.

"We are all here, Trip," Malcolm said softly. To be honest, it was a setup. We all knew how you would react, well all except T'Para's spirit that is. First of all, obviously T'Pol and Hoshi are okay with the thought, and before you jump out of your jacket, Trok's gone so we can speak openly. We thought, if we get it out in the open now, before you're fully functional again..."

"You thought dumping it on me now, while I can't yet react again as nature wired me to do, I would feel better, because I cannot get a boner from feeling up T'Pau's pussy? Do you really think that makes it all better? I would still touch her in places I should never touch, ever!"

The gasp told him that, unlike Trok, T'Pau had stayed. He felt guilty immediately.

"Father, I know I ask much of you," T'Pau said. "But I never would have considered this request if I didn't want you to be the one creating my likeness. I will be no less uncomfortable with putting this strain on you, but this tradition is paramount to the revival of our clan's traditions. I could well ask any artist to create this statue, if it wasn't for my wish for you to be that artist."

"T'Pol, Hoshi," he said and held out his hands. Each one of them took one hand and clutched it to their chest.

"I will do your statues first, and T'Pol I want your word that there is a way to make sure T'Pau doesn't get bothered by it. We'll test it on you. The moment you get even the slightest bit excited, the topic of T'Pau is off the table. And even if I'll do it – Trok will be there to stop it without anyone able to overrule him, got me?"