Therapy

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Rating: PG-13.
Warning: Slight spoilers for Damage. If you don't want spoiled, skip this story.

A/N: Harbinger never happened here. If only that were true in canon. The idea isn’t originally mine. This sprung from a Logical Choice thread that posed a situation along this line. Also, this is a response to Lurkch's first line challenge.

He tried to remember who had talked him into this. How could he forget. Phlox and T’Pol. confronted him with his “gross neglect of his physical health” and laid out the course of treatment: supervised care by the doctor and a therapeutic treatment of his sleeping problem.

Now he was sitting on a meditation mat in his first officer’s quarters. T’Pol had him preparing for their session by staring into a flame. He had been doing this for the last thirty odd minutes, and wondered when she would have him stop.

He didn’t have time for this. He should be in the command center looking over the latest data. A little lost sleep and a few skipped meals didn’t matter in the long run when the fate of Earth was at stake. T’Pol and Phlox were overreacting, he had everything under control.

“Please take off your shirt Captain.”

Finally. He thought. After he discarded his shirt on the floor, he sat there impatiently waiting for T’Pol to make the next move.

T’Pol shifted the folds of her robes and sat in the lotus position behind Captain Archer. She looked over the feature of his back planning the sequence of neuropressure postures. Despite the efforts of her and the doctor, Archer had gained little weight over the past few weeks. His attitude about his therapy had yet to change either.

She began the m’a’shan, adapting the position of her thumb to avoid the scar running along his right shoulder. He visibly relaxed as her fingers stimulated the correct pressure points. A wave of pleasure echoed from his mind. She paused momentarily.

A side effect of their physical contact was her ability to sense his emotions through it. His emotions were sometimes came to her faint like whispers, and at other times came to her as intense and raw as a scream. She used them as her guidepost, finding the best postures with it.

She derived a secret enjoyment from the emotions she stimulated in him. He experienced and embraced emotions she had never encountered. She wanted to know more of these sensations.

“Turn around.”

T’Pol brushed her fingers down his chest on her way to the pa’luran points. She felt him shiver at her touch. The arousal that seeped off of him and into her mind was enough to solidify her course of action. She must know something first.

“You have been isolating yourself from the crew. The crew needs to see their captain. During a mission such as this, it is imperative.”

Archer looked surprised that she had brought this subject up. “The crew knows I’m busy and that I have a job to do. I have no time to make a good will tour around the ship.”

“Your presence is essential to the morale of the crew. And you cannot continue to isolate yourself from human companionship. It is essential to human existence.”

From the tone of her voice he had a sneaking suspicion she wasn’t talking about the crew anymore.

“I don’t have the luxury of human companionship right now.” he said searching her face for her true meaning.

“What about you? What do you want? Your wants and needs should matter as well.”

Archer sat there looking at her not knowing what to say. He hadn’t thought in terms of what he wanted in almost a year. He had promised himself he would sacrifice whatever he had to in order to complete this mission, and he had done that without a second thought.

T’Pol saw him struggle to find an answer to her. She didn’t need one.

Archer didn’t understand what was happening. One minute she was asking him questions, the next she was edging closer to him. Suddenly her lips were softly pressed against his.

“What do you want?” she whispered to him.

He gazed into her eyes, stunned. He glanced down at her lips, feeling the heat rise in his stomach.

His mouth answered her, closing the distance between them. Her lips molded against his. So soft, perfect. He pulled her bottom lip into his mouth gently nipping it. The barely audible moan that escaped from her causing him to increase his fervor. He delved into her mouth tasting the meditation incense combined with something uniquely T’Pol.

He placed his hand behind her head, bringing her to him, deepening the kiss. He lost himself in the feel of her lips, her hair, and her skin. He moved his hands down loosening her robe so he could kiss his way down her throat.

He pulled back from her lips and saw what his hands had told him. She was naked underneath her robe. She planned this. Why? Was she doing this just to make him feel better? Or was there another reason?

He looked up into her face. He saw the openly confused expression covering it. Something gnawed at the back of his mind telling him something wasn’t right. T’Pol would never express emotion so plainly on her face.

“Why are you doing this?” he said trying to keep his eyes on her face.

A thousand exaggerated truths entered T’Pol’s minds. She couldn’t reveal to him all of the truth, but she could tell him half of it.

“I wanted to explore emotions. I wanted to do that with you.”

Her voice even sounded different. The nagging feeling in his head became more persistent.

“Are you sure that’s it? T’Pol, I’ve never seen you this emotional. As much as I want to continue what we started, I won’t do that until I know you’re okay.”

T’Pol’s expression shifted to a blank mask. “I’m fine.”

“Now I’m certain you’re not.”, he thought over the things it could be in his head, “Is it pa’nar? Do you need to see Phlox?”

T’Pol looked down at her hands weighing her options. “No. It is something personal. I missed several meditation sessions recently. I will endeavor to control my emotions in the future.”

“You’re sure you’re okay?”

“Yes.” she said looking up at him with a neutral expression.

An uneasy silence passed between them. Archer put back on his shirt and exited her quarters after bidding her goodbye.

T’Pol sat alone contemplating. One day Archer would know the sacrifice she had made for the crew by building up her Trellium D tolerance. With Trellium D lining the hull, the ship and crew would be safe from anomalies. Their mission would have a higher chance of success because of it.

Satisfied that her logic was sound, she retrieved a hypospray from a niche behind her bed. Lying down on her bed, she released the drug into her neck. Eventually, she would reach her goal. Then, she could tell him. He would understand. This wasn’t for her. It was for them. She let the thoughts comfort her as she surrendered to the pleasure coursing through her veins.

A/N: I wrote this story as a how would Harbinger be different with A/T'P instead of T/T thing. I didn't know how angsty and moody it would come out. I love A/T'P and wouldn't want to put either of them through this on screen.

Continued in Part 2


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