Intervening and not quite meriting a change (7)
I believe the answer is:
interim
'intervening' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'not quite meriting a change' is the wordplay.
'not quite' means to remove the last letter (most but not all of the word).
'a change' indicates an anagram.
'meriting' with its final letter removed is 'meritin'.
'meritin' with letters rearranged gives 'INTERIM'.
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for interim that I've seen before include "Meantime; temporary" , "Caretaker" , "temporary period" , "acting" , "not there for ever" .)