Disclaimer: I don't own any of the rights to anything Star Trek. They are the property of CBS/ Paramount. I'm not making any money off of this. I'm only playing with the characters and their world for fun. Thanks.

A/N: This is a fun little chapter to show how Archer and Mai relate to each other. It's also a good touch on Archer and Trip's friendship. I didn't get much of a response on the last chapter and that worries me. Please, please leave a review! I need reviews like most people need oxygen. Does anybody like this story? Once I get done with this story, I want to know if people will be interested in a sequel. I'm thinking this story will be about three more chapters after this one. Thanks so much to LadyRainbow for her wonderful beta job and all her encouragement. Enjoy.

Chapter 4

The Trek

"So both you and Mai had done all the grunt work to find out where the cabin was actually located before we got to the drop off point?" Trip interrupted his friend once again. "Ellen had done the same thing. I did some, but obviously not as much as ya all did. I shoulda listened to Ellen more; she really did know what she was talkin' about."

"You always did kind of rush through things, Trip," Archer commented softly. "You still do sometimes." He paused for a moment.

"Yeah, you're right," Trip replied to both of the Captain's comments. Trip knew that Archer was right about how he sometimes did things too fast. As a kid he was always procrastinating until the last minute so that he had to be in a hurry to get his tasks or chores done. He was like that in school and flight school too. Starfleet Training had helped him overcome that flaw a little, but it was still part of who he was.

"You need to eat your pie before it goes stale, Commander," the Captain then told his friend with a small smile. This one reached his eyes, at last. Trip was glad to see it. Maybe talking all this through was helping Archer. The chief engineer sure hoped it was.

"Oh, yeah," Trip said and laughed at himself. "I kinda forgot about it." He finally picked up his fork and dug into the delicious pecan pie on the table in front of him. It melted in his mouth. Chef really knew how to make a pie.

The Captain excused himself for a moment to refill his cup of coffee. When he sat back down Trip was after him to continue his story. "You gotta tell me how you guys found your way through that storm. As I remember, it got worse and worse. You couldn't see two meters in front of you. Ellen and I lost our way about ten times. We kept divertin' from the direction we needed to be headed in."

"Well, it wasn't easy, but Mai and I just clicked throughout the entire ordeal," Archer explained, another wistful look on his face. "She and I were on the exact same wave length with everything we thought and did. It was surreal, almost magical. It was the most fun I'd had in a long time."

Both Archer and Mai had dawned headlamps with extremely powerful beams to see through the deepening darkness and thickening snowfall. The traveling was slow, even though they both had put their snowshoes on. The problem with meters and meters of snow was that it didn't all pack evenly. There were places that a person could sink down into it and get stuck. The snowshoes, if properly chosen for a person's weight, could allow a person to walk on top of the snow without sinking down into it. Snowshoes spread a person's weight out and distributed it, instead of having all the weight centralized. They were sort of like a raft that floated on top of the water. However, a person had to make sure they took into account the weight of their gear and packs for them to work the way they were intended to.

The duo continued sighting two landmarks behind and in front of them to make sure that they didn't lose their sense of direction. All the giant trees and rocky ridges helped, but after awhile they started looking too much the same. It was damn near impossible to keep their sense of direction when the snow became blizzard-like and the wind kept shifting.

"Canna we stop and rest a minute?" Mai asked, her breathing sounded slightly labored to Archer.

"Sure," the Captain answered her. "I think we're a little lost anyway. We need to get our bearings again."

Mai seemed relieved. Although she had layers and layers of warm and protective clothing on, Archer thought he saw her shiver. The temperature was continuing to drop; the last reading he had seen from the Colonel had said it was about minus three degrees Celsius, and the Captain figured the temperature had fallen at least another two or three degrees since then. It was extremely aggravating not to have a watch because Archer liked knowing how much time had pasted. It felt like they had been walking for hours, but it probably had only been an hour or so. "Let's move out of this clearing first though, and into the trees."

The young sergeant seemed to understand his concern. "Ya afraid of an avalanche, Jonny?"

"As a matter-of-fact I am, Mai," he told her. "I think there's a big gully up above us," he explained as he point to his right. "That's a prime suspect for an avalanche. Snow can accumulate deeply and quickly in an area like that, which increases the possibility of an avalanche."

Mai took up his explanation right where he stopped. She literally took the words right out of his mouth. "And the slopes around here are jist the right angle, 'bout thirty-five degrees in grade. The temperature earlier today was warmer than tis now, which would've allowed for some meltin' to a bin goin' on. That woulda weakened the layers underneath and with all this new snowfall addin' it's heavy weight, ya have the perfect conditions for an avalanche."

"Not to mention there are eight people out here walking around disturbing things," Archer added his two cents in. He was beaming inside with pride that Mai was thinking just like he was. She had really listened in all her classes and to all his advice. His respect for her abilities increased and the feelings of attraction were strongly fueled by all of this. She took this little training exercise as seriously as he did. It was wonderful. "The heavily forested areas will give us more protection, but---," he began again, and Mai finished for him.

"But we can't assume that any vegetation will be all that protective if the beasty's big enough," she said, her eyes sparkling with mirth.

"Exactly," he confirmed, shaking his head in approval and humor. "The trees might slow it down or stop the cascade of snow and debris, but you never can be completely certain."

The two of them moved off into the trees, but not too far from their trail. They wanted to be sure they could start from where they left off. "So how do we go 'bout findin' our way, Cap'n?" Mai asked with a smile in her voice. She used his new rank just to give him a bad time. "We've got no stars, no moon, the wind keepsa shiftin', and we really can'ta see the slopes anymore to see which side has more snow on 'em."

"That is a problem," Archer admitted as he sat down on a huge, sequoia tree stump. "But I have a solution it," he then stated boldly.

Mai looked at him skeptically, but was willing to go with his train of thought for the moment. "Okay, Jonny, let's 'ear it," she said as she sat down right next to him on the roomy tree stump.

The Captain took his backpack off and began to rummage through it. Mai watched him, her interest seriously piqued. When he found what he wanted he pulled it out. Archer showed her a plastic container, sewing kit, and a thermos. Mai raised her eyebrows at him, but said nothing. He took off his gloves and handed them to her. He needed his hands free of their bulkiness to work his magic. The whole time he was hoping this would impress his beautiful companion. It was so unlike him, to be a show-off, but with Mai lately, he couldn't help it.

He then proceeded to pour some water out of the thermos and into the plastic container. The water had been kept warm in the special thermos that Archer had. He wanted to give himself some time before the water tried to freeze to get his plan to work. The Captain set the container down on the tree stump and also laid down a small piece of wood. Then he picked up the sewing kit.

"Can I run this through your hair a few times?" he asked her, holding up a large sewing needle from inside the kit. "I need to magnetize the metal or polarize it. The static electricity in your hair would work very nicely," he told her with a large grin. He had pulled the mask off his nose and mouth, so Mai could see more of his face.

Mai had done likewise with her mask. The look Mai gave him was priceless, part curiosity and part incredulity. "Come on, Mai," he said playfully, "trust me." Showing him that she did, she took off her headlamp, hat, and mask. She also removed her gloves to be able to handle the small object with dexterity. She then took the small, metal sewing needle from him and began to run it through her blonde locks. "Make sure you use strong, deliberate strokes and only stroke in one direction."

"Aye, lad," she replied. "I got ya."

"Hold on to it for a minute," he then instructed her, "while I put the wood in the water. Then I want you to place the needle on the piece of wood. If you magnetized the needle enough, the needle should align itself with a north-south line---," he was interrupted by Mai once again.

"And we have ourselves our own home made compass!" she exclaimed as she understood what her good friend was doing. Archer watched her as she looked at him in amazement. "The things ya know, Jonny, and the things that ya teach me, are… remarkable," she gushed. She did as he advised and sure enough the little needle set about aligning itself with a north-south line. They now could find their way again. With knowing at least two directions they could discern the other two. "Also I really like 'ow ya got 'round the Colonel's no compass rule. You're brilliant, lad."

Archer had felt like he would explode with the rush of emotion he felt at Mai's words. He loved that he could always wow her, even with the little things. It was fun to teach someone who actually understood what he was doing and why, and it was fabulous that she got excited over it too. "It's just something I remember from being in the Boy Scouts. I did have to review the topic before we came up here, but I thought it might come in handy."

Suddenly Mai hugged him. Her arms slid around his back and she pulled them into an embrace. Her head lay on his chest. "I couldn'ta of asked for a better partner, Jonny. Thanks for just bein' you."

The Captain's heart had leaped into his throat. He set the make-shift compass down and returned her hug in earnest. It was a little awkward around all their bulk, with all their extra layers they were wearing, but it felt so damn good. His heart sped up and he couldn't help but let himself take in a deep breath of her hair. It smelled like peaches. Whatever shampoo she used, he loved it; it was a warm and inviting smell. He let himself get lost in the moment. He wished it would last forever. Here was Mai in his arms, holding him tightly. It was intoxicating.

The petite sergeant seemed in no hurry to let him go either. She stayed in his arms like that for quite awhile, then she finally, and it seemed like somewhat reluctantly, let him go. Archer thought maybe he was imagining things, but a brief glance at her face seemed to confirm that she really didn't want to pull way. Her voice seemed more tremulous when she spoke. "We'd better git bundled up again and git a move on," she said. "We wanna make sure we beat the rest of 'em."

"Yeah," he replied a little distractedly, "we should."

Without further adieu, they stood and fixed their winter gear to protect them from the cold and the snow once again. With their new make-shift compass and what few landmarks they could make out, they found that they had strayed only a little ways off course. The fixed their bearings and headed again in a southwesterly direction, hoping that it wasn't too far to go now.

"So that's how you did it!" Trip exclaimed at Archer's explanation. "You'd think that by bein' an engineer that I could figure somethin' like that out, but no. Ellen and I both didn't know you could do somethin' like that. I guess I'm too into modern technology and conveniences to think of somethin' that old-fashioned."

"Sometimes the old ideas are the best ones," Archer laughed softly as he spoke.

"Ain't that the truth," Trip found himself saying. "So you impressed her and got a hug out of it, huh?" he now asked.

Archer became sorrowful again. "Yeah, and it was wonderful, but what if I was reading more into that hug than I should have? I mean it really made me think Mai might be willing to return my affection and be willing to listen to my confession, but what if that was just wishful thinking."

"Have you ever known Mai to do anythin' without a purpose?" Trip asked his friend.

"No," was the answer the chief engineer got.

"Were you expectin' her to hug ya? Did ya think your little stunt would get a hug from just anybody?" Trip queried. "I mean if you did that compass trick with me, who's also your friend, do ya think I'd gush over it like that and hug ya?"

The answer from Archer was again, "No."

"So, doesn't it stand to reason that maybe, just maybe, Mai's had some type of deeper feelins' for you too?" Trip questioned, trying to get his friend to work the conclusion out for himself.

The Captain's mouth opened and then closed. Trip might be right. Mai might have felt more than friendship towards him. "But it also might have been the fact that she's a woman, and they tend to be more touchy-feely in their showing of gratitude."

"Ahh, come on, Jon," Trip said slightly exasperated. "Don't rationalize it away. To me it sounds like Mai was into you, just like you were into her."

"Then why did she run off and marry Tom? Answer me that question, Trip," Archer said, angry frustration rising in his voice. "Why didn't she say anything to me?"

Trip, who had finished his piece of pecan pie, pushed the plate away from him and glared at his friend. Then he rolled his eyes at Archer's pigheaded blindness. "Probably for the same reasons you couldn't say anythin' to her," he stated plainly.

The Captain flinched like Trip had hit him. The chief engineer was right. This whole time Archer had be thinking about the situation from only his point of view. What if Mai had felt the same way, but had been afraid that he didn't return her feelings and hadn't been able to bring herself to say anything? What if Mai had been in love with him, but thought that it might ruin their friendship by speaking about it? Oh my God, Archer thought, I'm an idiot. I'm so totally stupid. And look what it cost me.

"You okay, Jon?' Trip asked gently. The Captain had grown still and silent. It made Trip start to worry again.

"No…..no I'm not," Archer whispered. "Oh Trip, I'm an idiot," he said out loud now. His hands shook so badly that he had to put the coffee cup back on the table. He finally put his head in his hands with his elbows resting on the table. "Her response to me in the cabin was real. She…we…oh… boy," he couldn't finish.

Trip could tell that his friend was about to break down. The commander realized he had just opened up the wound completely now. Instead of healing it, he'd made it worse. Great goin' Tucker, he though sourly. Ya just put a nail in Jon's coffin.

Trip moved his chair so that he sat right next to Archer, instead of across the table. He put an arm around the Captain's shoulder, trying to comfort him. "I'm sorry, Jon," he said forlornly. "I didn't mean to rub salt in your wound."

Archer looked back up at Trip. The Captain's eyes were threatening to overflow. "You didn't, Trip. You just made me realize that I made the biggest mistake of my life twice over. I should've realized it a long time ago. Things might've been different if I hadn't been just thinking of myself."

This statement confused the chief engineer. "Whatda mean?" he asked.

"If I had followed through with confessing to Mai how I truly felt, I don't think she would've married Tom," the Captain said with a shaky voice. "I think she wanted me to tell her not to, but since I didn't, she went ahead and married him."

The light went on in Trip's mind. "You mean she only married Tom because she didn't think you wanted her?" he asked in total disbelief. Oh hell, this is bad, Trip thought to himself.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Archer responded. "After what happened up at the cabin, then acting like nothing did, and also not saying anything to her about what happened or expressing to her how much I loved her, she thought I wasn't interested in her romantically. She thought she had blown it with me, so she threw herself into her marriage with Tom." The feelings of being so dim-witted and uncomprehending threatened to rip Archer's heart out. How could I be so self-absorbed, so blind, and so dumb, he kept thinking over and over again.

Finally, the tears started. He didn't sob or sniffle. The liquid just silently ran down his face. "Oh God, Trip what did I do?" he rasped.

"What men have done sense the beginnin' of time," Trip whispered softly. "Misunderstood what a woman was tryin' to tell ya." The chief engineer tightened his arm around the Captain's shoulder just let him know that he wasn't alone. "You've got to tell me what happened between you and Mai, Jon. You two didn't…uh…um…you two didn't…..uh," Trip couldn't bring himself to say it.

Archer looked at Trip again, feeling his cheeks grow warm with embarrassment yet again. "We came damn close, Trip, we came damn close," he admitted as he wiped at his eyes.

"I think you'd better tell me the rest of the story," Trip said meaningfully. "I need to hear everythin' that happened."

The Captain pulled in a shaky breath. Then he continued.

He and Mai had started on their trek again and it seemed to go on and on. The landmarks they could make out were causing them to be a little hopeful. The cabin had to be close. The wind had picked up and the snow increased its falling. The cold was biting at them. Mai was starting to stagger a bit. Archer decided to have them stop again and try and warm up. He broke out the heating sticks that the Colonel had given them. Once activated they gave off a pleasant and much needed warmth. Mai seemed to perk back up.

She had decided to chitchat with him while they warmed up. He thought this might be his moment, the moment, to talk to her about what was in his heart. They stepped into deeper into the trees again and found some large boulders to sit on. "So how are ya and Erika doin'?" she asked very casually.

This questioned had surprised Archer and made him temporarily forget what he wanted to say to Mai. He hadn't really ever discussed his relationship, with the then Commander Erika Hernandez, with anyone. They'd seen each other here and there for a few years. It was nothing Archer considered serious. The Captain had tried getting romantically involved with Erika, to get over Mai, but it hadn't really worked. Then he had gotten his promotion to captain and he became Erika's superior. Both of them had decided to cool off the relationship, because of the rules and regulations against that kind of fraternization within Starfleet. The Captain was shocked that Mai had even heard anything about he and Erika.

"We…uh…we decided to just keep things on a….. professional level. I'm her superior officer now and we really work better as friends. How did you…?" His question was cut off.

"'ow did I know?" Mai interrupted. At Archer's nod she went on, "Scuttlebutt knows no bounds, Jonny me boy."

"You heard it through the grapevine, huh?" he asked running the heat stick over his body again and trying not to look at Mai.

"I did," she said simply. She paused before she spoke again. "So ya two are jist friends, like you and I?" she had asked.

At the time Archer had thought nothing of Mai's questions. He had answered her with, "Yeah, we're just friends, nothing more." Mai's eyes had looked relieved and sad at the same time. He hadn't understood why at the time, but she might have been feeling him out to see how he saw their relationship. And he had been oblivious to it.

Out of nowhere a snowball hit him square in the face. He had been lost in thought about Erika and how he could bring up his feelings to Mai, when Mai threw a snowball at him. "What!" he yelled.

"I got ya, Jonny me boy," Mai said laughing at him. "And I'm gonna to do it again." Another good-sized snowball struck his face. Mai had good aim.

"You think I'm going to let you get away with that, Sergeant Donnelly," he told her playfully and jumped down off the boulder he was sitting on, gathering snow in his gloved hands. His warming stick was forgotten. "You asked for it little lady." He fired one off at her, hitting her in the chest. Snow sprayed all over her. She screamed in girlish delight.

She threw another one at him, but he was ready this time and dodged it. He returned the favor and hit her in the legs. He was laughing now. "Take that!" he yelled joyfully.

"Oh, I'm not done yet, lad," she threatened. She launched two at him. One pounded into his neck and chest and the other one missed by mere inches. This continued on and off again as they started running from each other, trying to find an advantage over one another. He didn't hit her again, but he was able to hit her backpack several times. He was laughing so hard that it hurt. Mai was good and a great opponent. Her little funny remarks were a nice touch too. Archer again let himself get lost in the moment of senseless fun and frivolity. He didn't let himself do it very often, but with Mai it was easy. The Captain knew they would have to reacquire their location and direction, but at the time he didn't care. Right then Mai was his.

So when he stepped out on to the ice, he was totally unconscious of it and not paying attention. That was a big mistake in the cold and harsh conditions they were in. Mai had noticed the danger he was in, but it was too late. She shouted to him to come back, to get off the ice. That was when they both heard a loud crack, and Archer felt himself fall.

TBC

What do you think? Please drop me even a one line review. It would be soooo appreciated! Oh, by the way, did anyone catch the little ode to "Quantum Leap" I placed in this chapter?