Chapter 26: Talks And More

Groundhog Day, he thought to himself. Like the two evenings before, everyone had already retired for the night, while he sat, stoking the remnants of the campfire. And, to make the deja-vu complete, approaching footsteps told him that Anna was about to join him.

Except, it wasn't Anna. It was Pat, who sat down next to him, staring into the fire. Like most of the time over the last three days, she wore her bikini bottom and nothing else. Yep, Anna was definitely rubbing off on her better half.

"I gave Anna a piece of my mind," she said. "She had a point that you were being unreasonable, but she could have been a bit more diplomatic about it. I can imagine it isn't easy for you with all that T'Lara has been through."

"Sorry," Trip said. "I don't really want to be the reason for you and Anna fight'n."

"We didn't fight," Pat said and smiled at him. "Sometimes I just have to give her a refresher course in diplomacy."

"I have a whole new idea about what we put our poor dad through," Trip sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"My sister Lizzy and I weren't much different from T'Lara as kids," he explained, pushing his stick into the sand when its tip caught fire. "As soon as we saw a body of water big enough to jump into, we'd strip naked and splash-dive. We called it the 'Tucker Bomb'. That was all well until Lizzy hit puberty. Suddenly dad wouldn't go to the beach with us anymore, only mom."

"You think your ... um ... episode had to do with T'Lara?"

"Jeez, no," Trip gasped. "She's a kid, and just thinking what she's been through ... It's not that I didn't know this would happen. I can't flee forever whenever she changes into her night clothes. I know she'd prefer to go swimming with me rather than you or Anna, but she wouldn't understand why I wear shorts doing so. The thing is, I'm afraid she'll have flashbacks when seeing a naked guy."

"Didn't the monks at P'Jem wipe that memory?" Pat asked.

"Can you guarantee it'll work forever?" he asked back. "I mean amnesiacs often get their memories back or parts of them."

"No I can't," Pat admitted. "But I can give you my take on it. You probably noticed by now that I'm not too comfortable around guys, especially when they don't wear anything."

He nodded, remembering that Pat had always looked away when he had had his morning swim.

"The reason for that is sordid, but simple. I've known since early puberty that I'm attracted to girls, rather than guys. When I told my parents about it, my father apparently decided to 'reverse my polarization'."

"Jeez, Pat, tell me he didn't!" Trip gasped in horror.

"Not himself, but he brought buddies of his home and he made me pleasure them. That's how I came to be grossed out by men and their you-know-whats."

"Shit. And I made you uncomfortable every morning. I'm so sorry."

"You don't have to be," Pat said and gave him a genuine smile. "You are the first man I'm comfortable with. The first one who doesn't creep me out. And that's the same for T'Lara. Even if she were to regain her memories, you're different to her. Just as you're not just another guy to me. I could never have gone topless with any other guy than you around here."

"I'm nothing special, Pat, so why?"

"You don't get it, do you?" she asked, smiling at him. "Yes, you've been a bit of a drama queen before finally agreeing to give Anna a good time, but that just shows how strong your moral compass is. Trust me, there are not too many guys like that. We could have found sixty other guys all too willing to take those pictures of Anna and me, but for most of them, the important part would have been what happened after the shooting. Her last photographer was like that. You? I practically had to talk you into letting Anna take care of your ... problem."

Trip shook his head. It was weird hearing that, especially as he didn't feel like such a 'great guy'.

"Let me tell you a secret," Pat admitted. "I actually considered helping you myself when you had that problem today. If nothing else, just because you've been so good to me and my better half."

"PAT!" he gasped in horror.

She just smiled. "That's why I didn't do it. Not because I don't like you, in fact I'm sure I even would have enjoyed it a bit. But I knew that my past would come out at some point and then you'd be scandalized about me blowing you."

"You got that right, hon. With all I know now, I could never enjoy something like that."

"My point, Trip Tucker. There are a lot of guys, who wouldn't give a hoot as long as they can shove it in a willing woman's mouth. And many girls are not the least bit better in that regard, by the way. You always put your partner's needs and condition before your own. Do me a favor and never lose that."

"That's an easy promise to make," he said. "In fact T'Pol has chewed me out for doing that too often."

"I know. T'Pol and I are talking quite often. I never thought I'd mention myself and the word 'talk' in the same sentence."

They both chuckled.

"Well, T'Pol and the word talk aren't exactly best buddys either," he said with amusement. "I'd say in that regard the two of you help each other."

Suddenly Pat went silent.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"I nearly forgot why I came out here in the first place," she replied. "Trip, I know it might sound crazy at first, but I think I might have a possible explanation for what caused your 'episode' today."

"No matter how outlandish that theory is, any sort of clue would be welcome," he snorted. "Jeez, if T'Lara would have seen me getting the boner from hell for no reason..."

"I don't think it was for no reason," Path said with a giggle. "You uploaded the pictures this morning, didn't you?"

He nodded.

"Well, Trip Tucker, you might be a brilliant engineer, but you haven't quite mastered the camera yet. When Anna and I browsed the pictures today, we saw you forgot to turn off the auto-release and you've sent T'Pol a picture of you boning my sweetheart's rear-end while she had her face stuffed into my juicy bits."

"Oh my fucking god..." he groaned and buried his face in his palms.

"Don't kill yourself just yet," Pat said, way too amused in his opinion. "You might have hit the jackpot."

"Huh?"

"Look, T'Pol told you you two can't do the nasty because of that government of hers. But how would they be able to find out about it? That means Vulcans must have some equivalent of a hymen, right? I bet you that as a Vulcan she had no idea of anal sex until she saw you stuffing it into Anna's butt. And she's a scientist. Scientists experiment..."

"Damn! My butt!"

"Your butt?" Pat asked and laughed.

"When that stuff happened today, my butt was tingling," he explained, blushing about disclosing that particular secret.

"It exists," Pat said excitedly.

"Of course it does, I'm sitting on it," he replied, slightly confused.

"Look, since T'Lara has taken a shining to hydroponics, I've been taking Hoshi's Vulcan classes so I can talk to her in her naive language. A couple days ago I was reading some old Vulcan text. I only got less than half of it, and even that only with help, but it must be some sort of love story. It's about a Vulcan pair of mates two thousand years ago. And those two had something called a tel. It's basically some sort of telepathic mojo. He could feel what she feels and vice versa. What if something like that really exists and you and T'Pol can sense what the other one feels?"

"That would be inconvenient, because that would mean she had anal sex and I wasn't part of it," he said, the ice-cold fire of jealousy starting to burn inside.

"Jeez you guys can be thick sometimes," Pat giggled.

"Huh?"

"Ever heard of dildos, Einstein?" she asked him, cackling like a schoolgirl. "Do you really think T'Pol walks up to the captain and asks if he could kindly do her in the bum, just for scientific purposes? Of course you guys only need a hand to take care of things. Not so easy for us woman folk. There is a system in place on the ship where women can order sex toys anonymously."

"Wait-a-minute," he gasped. "We shipped out with a stash of dildos aboard?"

Pat nodded. "T'Pol told me that the relaxation of the no-frats was decided before we shipped out, so certain, let's say, non-standard supplies where loaded. Just because there are fewer girls than guys aboard doesn't mean we don't need some help for us poor ladies. I'm not the only one, who's not too keen on hooking up with a guy."

"Jeez, this mission takes 'weird' to a whole new level. So if I get that right; You think I felt what I felt because T'Pol was having fun with herself?"

"I'm almost convinced. She tries not to show it when you're around, but that she can't have you is hurting her a lot. At some point she was bound to consider skirting the line. If she lets you in through the backdoor, the front door remains nicely sealed and her government will never know anything."

"But why try with a dildo then? We go back to the ship tomorrow. It's not like I'm not willing."

Pat groaned. "I told you, as a Vulcan she had probably no clue that something like anal sex even exists. Do you really think she'd try with you for the first time? What if it hurts horribly for Vulcans? You can't even stomach that your daughter goes skinny-dipping. You'd kill yourself if you would hurt T'Pol. She had to make sure it works for her before even considering to do it with you."