The BLTS Archive - Recuperation
third in The Four Rs series
by ShoSen (shosen@totallykawaii.com)

---

Disclaimer: All stories not found in the Originals section are works
of fanfiction. The characters are not the property of the fanfiction
author, and belong to their respective copyright holders. No money is
being made from the production of these stories.

---

Malcolm looked at the boxes of stacked supplies and shook his head.
"There is no way we're going to be able to find anything in this
mess."

"Think more positively," Hoshi reprimanded him, and he gave her a
sceptical look. She took a look around them and then looked back with
a smile. "Fine, then think of having something other than pot roast
for dinner, that's what I'm going to be doing."

It was certainly a bolstering image, and Malcolm held it in mind as he
and Hoshi began their search. Since finding anything else to help make
dinner was a time consuming task in the small spaces assigned in the
Catwalk, Chef simply couldn't spare it. Malcolm and Hoshi, deciding
that just about anything was better than more pot roast at this point,
had kindly volunteered their efforts in obtaining something, anything,
else to use in the next night's meal. Of course, Malcolm thought as he
tried to restack some of the boxes in the tight space around them,
part of his volunteering had to do with being incredibly embarrassed
around a certain blonde engineer. Sure, it wasn't as if his dreams the
night before had been incredibly, or even remotely, erotic, but they
still managed to make him blush when in such close quarters with Trip.

So instead he was digging through cargo containers. His powers of
avoidance were incredible. He sighed, setting the most recent box
aside and stretched out his back as he looked over to see how Hoshi
was doing. Just in time to see a box in the stack beside her begin to
tip on the edge, apparently unstable thanks to their quest. Without
really thinking about it, he moved forward, pushing Hoshi out of the
way, sending her flying backwards down the small area cleared for
walking. She gave a startled "eep" and shot him an annoyed glare when
she landed, quite ungracefully, on the floor, but it vanished when the
tipping container finished toppling over and landed right where she
was standing. Malcolm didn't get to see much of her expression after
the impact, however, as the container burst open, as did whatever was
inside of it. A small cloud of green vapour practically exploded from
the box, which Malcolm might have appreciated if it hadn't hit him
right in the face.

He stumbled backwards, choking on the foul gas, watching as the
ventilation system cleared it from the area. His head started to pound
at Hoshi approached him with a concerned look.

"I think we should get you to Doctor Phlox."

"I'm fine," he protested, but it didn't carry much weight when he
coughed through the entire statement. With a sigh he nodded assent and
then let Hoshi accompany him to the Doctor's assigned area.

Fortunately, whatever Malcolm inhaled didn't seem too dangerous. Phlox
gave him a hypospray that helped the pounding in his head, but made
him tired almost immediately.

"All right Lieutenant, off to bed now. You'll be asleep before you
know it, and perfectly all right once you wake up."

"Thank you Doctor," he murmured, getting unsteadily to his feet.

"Here, let me help." Hoshi took his arm, and before he could protest,
the Doctor cut him off.

"I think it would be best if you let Ensign Sato escort you to your
sleeping area Lieutenant. We can't have you stumbling off the
walk-way, now can we?"

Malcolm smiled weakly as he agreed, figuring the embarrassment of
having to be helped to bed was far preferably to that of falling off
the edge, possibly on top of other crewmembers. When they reached the
curtains, however, he decided that was enough. He thanked her, and
then crawled into his sleeping area on his own.

The second he was under the blankets, he reached for the pillow he'd
left lying to the side and snuggled up to it with a sigh. It still
smelled like Trip, and that was a comforting image to hold as he let
himself drift off into his sedative-inspired sleep.

---

He was tangled in the blankets again. Trip sighed as he started to
wake up slowly, feeling the secure grip of the fabric around his
waist. Without even thinking about it, he pulled them tighter around
him, and sighed happily. They still carried Malcolm's scent, and he
found himself imagining the other man's presence again, down to the
feeling of slow breaths against the back of his neck.

Wait, no, that wasn't imagined, there really was someone breathing
behind him. And if that were true, then... then it wasn't the blankets
that were holding him so closely. His own breathing almost stopped
then, and he forced it to restart, slowly, controlled as he loosened
the grip around his waist enough that he could roll over and face the
person holding him. It was Malcolm, of course, lying there under the
shared blankets with a soft, peaceful look on his face. Trip smiled at
the image of perfect contentment, catching himself just before he
reached out to smooth the hair out of Malcolm's eyes. The narrow miss
finally woke him up enough to wonder what Malcolm was doing here in
the first place.

Though he was more than a little reluctant to wake the other officer,
he reached out and slowly shook Malcolm's shoulder. It got no
response. He shook again, and then again, and finally the blue-grey
eyes opened, but only a fraction. They weren't quite focused and he
didn't say anything.

"Malcolm? You all right there?"

His answer was a blink, then a soft smile and a murmured, "Trip."
After that, the grip around his waist tightened and he found his chest
being nuzzled by a completely content Armoury officer.

"Um, Malcolm..?" As he was trying to figure out what to do in this
situation, the curtains were pulled aside, and Hoshi walked in
carrying a glass of water. She froze, looked at them, and began to
stammer.

"I'm sorry Commander, I didn't know..."

And Malcolm just sighed.

"Hoshi, wait," he stopped her before she could back away in
embarrassment. "Do you know what's wrong with him?"

She gave him a confused look, "He didn't tell you?"

"He hasn't said much since I woke him up."

"Oh, I thought, I mean..."

"What?"

"Well, he said he didn't need any help getting in here, so when I saw
you, I just figured he didn't want me to see the two of you together.
He's kinda particular about stuff like that."

Trip shook his head, "He's not even supposed to be here. We switched
bunks yesterday."

She turned bright red. "Oh, I didn't know, after Phlox gave him the
hypospray I just brought him back here."

Hypospray, that was finally, the beginnings of an explanation. "So,
he's been drugged?"

"More than a little bit, yeah," Hoshi smiled weakly. "It's my fault
really."

Malcolm meanwhile, was still doing his best to climb into Trip's lap.
The engineer tried to get himself free and finally fixated on the cup
in Hoshi's hand.

"Hey Malcolm, how about a drink?"

Hearing his name seemed to distract the brunette from his quest to get
as close to Trip as humanely possible. He leaned back, looked up, and
seemed to think about it for a long time before nodding. Trip took the
glass from Hoshi and leaned Malcolm back enough that he could take a
sip.

"There we go, drink up and go back to sleep, kay?"

He looked a little confused as Trip got him to lie back down and began
to pull the blankets up. "My pillow?"

"What?"

"Where's my pillow?"

Hoshi began to giggle, and Trip shot her an unimpressed look.

"You're not helping."

"I'm sorry Commander, but he's so cute."

Trip scowled.

"Well, I guess I'll leave since you're taking care of him." She
smiled, and then slipped out through the curtains before she started
laughing again.

And then Trip found himself, once more, with an armful of Malcolm.

"Pillow," the Armoury officer murmured happily, and Trip shook his
head with a faint smile.

"Okay, you be blankets and I'll be a pillow." He lay down beside
Malcolm and made himself as comfortable as he could, which was,
unsurprisingly, quite comfortable. "You better not kill me tomorrow."
He murmured as he closed his eyes and followed Malcolm into sleep.

---

continued in the fourth story in the Four Rs series 'Repose'