Written for fun, Paramount/CBS owns the boys... you know the drill. Betaed by the lovely and talented LoyaulteMeLie. Reviews are much appreciated!


7 – Welcome Home


The medical team brought Trip and Malcolm to Sickbay without any problems, and Captain Archer followed them there but was careful to stay out of their way. As they walked, Jean had heard him ordering the maintenance crew to start going over Shuttlepod One and then telling Subcommander T'Pol to meet him outside of Sickbay. Jean had idly wondered if the captain was going to wait outside while his officers were treated, but she had more important things to focus on and didn't spend too much time thinking about it. Corpsman Jenkins and Crewman Cutler had helped her to shift Malcolm onto one of the biobeds. They covered him with a blanket, put a pillow under his head and switched on the bed's heated covering to help bring up his temperature.

All of that had been almost three hours ago, and neither officer had woken up yet. Jean checked Malcolm's vitals for what felt like the hundredth time. He was improving, slowly but surely; his blood pressure and pulse were stronger, his breathing was deep and steady, and his core temperature was up to 96.5°F. He shivered a little, and she hitched the blanket up closer to the neck of his uniform. Both he and Trip had been taken off of the warmed air and IV fluids over an hour ago, and without the medical equipment nearby it looked like they were just sleeping peacefully. She hovered by his bed for another few seconds, as long as she could justify being there, and then stepped into the main area of Sickbay.

Captain Archer was there, in the middle of what appeared to be an intense conversation with T'Pol. Jean didn't want to eavesdrop, but she caught a few phrases anyway: 'micro-singularities', 'punctured air tanks' and 'damn lucky' among them. The captain caught Jean's eye and moved towards her, no doubt wanting an update on his officers.

"Lieutenant?"

She sighed, wishing that she had better news to give him. "They're getting better, sir, and they're both out of the woods, but neither one of them is awake yet. Doctor Phlox is checking on Commander Tucker right now, but if you would like to see Mr. Reed you can go right ahead."

Archer smiled at her and nodded. "Thank you, Doctor." He moved into the recovery area and stood by Malcolm's bed.

Jean sighed again. She didn't know what the captain was expecting, but she understood that he probably needed to see the men for himself, just to ease his worry. She picked up a hypo from one of the equipment trays and fiddled with it, checking that the mechanism was working in an effort to kill time. She was very surprised when, about a minute later, she heard Malcolm's voice come drifting across Sickbay. It was quiet and low, but that accent was unmistakable, and she grinned, letting out a tiny squeal of joy before she could stop herself.

Subcommander T'Pol had been going over astrometric data on her hand held scanner, but at the sudden noise she turned to Jean with one eyebrow raised. "Is something the matter, Lieutenant?"

Jean quickly regained control of herself and shook her head. "No, Subcommander. I'm just relieved that Lieutenant Reed has woken up." She gave an embarrassed shrug and fiddled with an empty hypo. "That was a happy sound."

T'Pol moved towards her with feline grace, the Vulcan version of 'puzzled' written on her features. "As his doctor, you were already aware of the fact that Mr. Reed is recovering. I see no reason why his regaining consciousness should cause you to be any more… 'relieved' than you already were."

All Jean wanted to do was welcome him back, but instead she was stuck having to give yet another explanation for Human behavior to their Science Officer. Not for the first time, she thought that all Vulcans assigned to work with Humans should be required to complete a course in Human behavior as well as one in Anthropology, if only because it would save her from having to give impromptu lectures on those subjects.

"Seeing readings on a monitor and actually being able to interact with someone are very different. It's… it's like the difference between receiving a letter from someone you haven't spoken to in a long time and having a conversation with that same individual. The readings and the letter are more… one-sided, and Humans place a lot of value on being able to interact with one another." She smiled and moved back towards Malcolm's bed, hoping to hear some of what he and the captain were talking about. While T'Pol seemed to be mulling over her explanation for squealing like a schoolgirl, Jean overheard something that made her heart stop for a moment.

"We saw debris from Enterprise on one of the asteroids. We assumed, we thought you were all…" The Englishman's voice was thick with emotion, and Jean grit her teeth, wishing that T'Pol and the captain would just go away already so she could rush over to Malcolm and help him feel better. A few specific methods of comforting him had already occurred to her…

T'Pol's voice broke into Jean's thoughts. "I believe I understand." The Vulcan nodded at Captain Archer as he headed for the main door of Sickbay, and she was about to join him when Malcolm called out to T'Pol.

Jean felt a completely irrational flash of jealousy at that. She knew it was irrational, but she couldn't help it. She loved him, but he didn't know that, so it wasn't as though she had any reason to expect fidelity from him in a romantic sense. Still, it bothered her that he had wanted something from T'Pol, so she allowed herself a not so charitable smile when T'Pol brushed him off with a polite but firm, "Good night, Lieutenant."

Phlox had already stepped away from Trip's bed and joined the captain near the main doors. He lowered the main Sickbay lights and nodded for Jean to watch over the two officers while he spoke with Captain Archer out of earshot of their two patients.

Jean put away the hypo she had been fiddling with and moved towards Malcolm's bed, trying to quiet the butterflies in her stomach. This was the moment she had been waiting for, and she realized that no amount of planning or preparation would get her ready for it.

She was halfway to his bed, but Malcolm had turned to his left and he didn't see her approaching. He was speaking to Trip, asking for permission to call the engineer by his nickname. Malcolm sighed when the other man didn't respond to him. "Sleep well, my friend." She smiled at the sweetness and uncertainty of the gesture, hoping that whatever had happened on the pod between the two men had, in fact, made them friends.

He turned to face the ceiling again, and his eyes closed just as she reached his side. His left arm had come out from under the Sickbay blankets at some point, and now the blanket was folded down, leaving most of his chest uncovered.

She frowned at the rumpled blanket and gently started to ease the covers out from under his arm so she could straighten them. Malcolm's eyes came open and he stared up at her with a tired sort of awe. "Jean…" His voice broke as he trailed off. He pressed his lips tightly together and he seemed on the verge of tears.

"Hey, you." She smiled down at him, resting a hand on top of his hair and running her thumb back and forth over his forehead. The contact seemed to help him steady himself, as she had hoped it would. "Welcome back."

His chest rose and fell more quickly than before as he took hold of her free hand and gave it a squeeze. "Jean, I… we thought that the ship, and that you had all…" He faltered and she felt her own eyes welling up at the sight of his distress.

She cleared her throat and blinked back the tears. "Shush, Mal. It's okay." She used the hand which he wasn't holding to tuck the blanket up under his chin and then smoothed the fabric across his chest. "I heard you talking to the captain."

He nodded, seeming relieved, and she let her free hand migrate back towards his forehead. She just couldn't stop touching him, and he didn't seem to mind in the least. In fact, he sighed at the touch and gave a watery smile. "God, Jean…" He squeezed his eyes shut. His smile faded away and a single tear slipped down his cheek.

She gently wiped the tear away with her thumb and leaned close, resting that hand on his shoulder. "What is it, Mal?"

His voice was just barely above a whisper the next time he spoke. "I thought I'd never see you again."

The pain and misery in his voice was just too much for her to bear, and she threw caution to the winds. Almost before she was aware of having made the decision to kiss him, her mouth was pressed to his. She tried to keep her kisses gentle and refrained from making them more passionate until she knew for certain that this was what he wanted from her. She had an awful case of nerves, waiting to see how he would react, but then his lips started moving as well. After a minute, she felt him pull back. She blinked, trying to clear her head and saw him gazing up at her in wonder. She kissed him again, on the forehead this time, and he closed his eyes, a tentative smile tugging at his mouth. When he opened his eyes again she gave him a mischievous smile and lightly pinched the back of his hand.

"Ow." He rubbed at the sore spot and muttered, "What was that for?"

She gave him another kiss, brushing this one lightly over his lips, and smiled winningly. "In case you were wondering if this is a dream."

He chuckled and nodded ruefully. "I was, actually." He sighed, smiling up at her. "So," his gaze flicked down to glance at their joined hands before he met her eyes again, "what happens now?"

She grinned and squeezed his hand. "We live happily ever after, of course."

They were about to kiss again when Jean heard a distinct drawl come from the other occupied biobed. "Did we make it?"

Much as she wanted to stay and kiss Malcolm senseless, she had a job to do, and she wasn't about to let her personal feelings for one patient get in the way of looking after another one. She flashed Malcolm an apologetic smile and stood up. He tightened his hold on her hand and frowned, clearly wanting her to stay exactly where she was, but she shook her head. "Sorry, Mal. Duty. Got to."

He sighed, nodding, and turned to watch as she moved around the foot of his bed and stood between the two supine officers.

Although the privacy curtains were tied out of the way, they still partially blocked the officers' view of each other's faces. Jean didn't know how much Trip had seen of their kisses, so she was a little worried about talking to him. However, she pushed that apprehension aside and concentrated on making sure that he didn't get agitated.

"Welcome back, Trip." She rested a friendly hand on his shoulder to stop him when he tried to sit up. "Sorry, but no getting up just yet."

He looked up at her, and when he spoke his voice sounded worried. "Where's Malcolm? Is he okay too?"

Jean gave him a smile and jerked her chin in the direction of Malcolm's bed. "He's right next door."

Trip craned his neck to get a look at the other man, and Jean tucked the privacy curtains further out of the way so the two officers could see each other more easily. He smiled at the other officer. "Hey, Malcolm."

The Englishman chuckled, absentmindedly hitching his blanket higher. "Hello, Trip. I suppose this would be as good a time as any for you to admit that I was right about blowing up the engine."

Trip let out a chuckle of his own. "An' maybe now you'll admit that I was right about us bein' rescued in time." He grinned and looked back at Jean. "You saw it?"

She nodded. "Part of pod goes poof, Enterprise comes running." Her jovial tone turned serious and she looked from one man to the other, wanting them to know how worried she – and everyone else on board – had been after the explosion showed up on sensors. "You guys scared the crap out of us… all of us. The whole crew's been holding their breath for nearly two days." She checked his readings, and shook her head gently. "The two of you almost froze to death, so you've gotta stay put for a while, okay?"

The engineer's smile faded and he nodded, relaxing back into his pillow and letting his eyes close. "Whatever you say, Doc." He licked his lips and blinked, looking around the sparsely populated recovery area. "Was expecting more of a welcome party."

Jean shook her head again, smiling ruefully. "You just missed the captain and T'Pol. They'll be back in the morning."

She turned slightly, standing in a way that enabled her to look from one officer to the other by just turning her head, and she let one hand drift over to rest on Malcolm's arm. He smiled at the touch, glancing down at her hand and covering it with his own before closing his eyes with a happy sigh. A moment's pause, and then he asked, sounding hesitant, "so, where did the debris come from?"

"Yeah," Trip weighted in. "We saw a piece with 'NX-01' on it, but that can't be… I mean… we're here, so…"

Jean gave Malcolm's hand a comforting squeeze and smiled at them both. "Short version, we met an alien ship in the asteroid field. They had a malfunction and crashed, and they scraped by us as they went down, taking off one of the launch bay doors."

Trip frowned. "Was anyone hurt?"

She smiled, hoping to reassure him. "None of our people, and the aliens all got to their escape pods in time. We took them back to their home planet."

Malcolm spoke without opening his eyes, and she noticed that his accent wasn't quite as crisp as usual. "So that's why Enterprise wasn't in the asteriod field when we got back."

"Mmm-hmm." Jean nodded, glancing over her shoulder at the main Sickbay doors. Captain Archer and T'Pol were gone, and Phlox was sitting at his workstation typing something. "Either of you want something warm to drink? Cocoa or soup, maybe tea?"

Trip hitched up his blanket. "Sure. Soup sounds good."

She smiled at him, then turned to her left. "Mal?"

He kept his eyes closed and squeezed her hand. "Some tea would be lovely."

She squeezed back. "Okay, but it can't have caffine. You okay with mint or something?"

Malcolm grumbled quietly. "In that case I'll just have soup."

"Check. Two orders of chicken soup coming right up. I'll call down to the Mess and someone will bring it up." She headed over to the comm panel to put the order in.

Trip looked over at Malcolm and smiled. "So, I saw you two holdin' hands just now…"

The lieutenant let out an annoyed-sounding chuckle, his eyes coming open again. "I feel another 'I told you so' coming on."

Trip just laughed. "Yeah, but I'm happy for you guys. Aren't you glad I was right?"

Malcolm watched as Jean closed the comm and went over to speak with Phlox. She looked over at Sickbay's only patients and caught his eye. They shared a smile before she turned back to Phlox again. The Englishman cleared his throat and nodded at Trip. "Yes. I just hope that this isn't a dream."

Jean came back over to them. "Okay, a steward will be up here in a few minutes, so just stay put and relax until he gets here." She stepped away from the bio beds and drew the privacy curtains closed, separating the two men. When she turned to face Malcolm and moved back to his side there was a spring in her step. He looked up at her wonderingly as she leaned in close and gently ran a hand over his stubbly cheek. He smiled at her touch and reclaimed her hand. "Now," she gave an evil grin. "Where were we?"


A/N: For you canon sticklers, yes, I know that T'Pol was standing next to Archer when Malcolm woke up. I'm bending canon, and since T'Pol doesn't actually say anything until Malcolm speaks to her, I don't think it's a grievous violation.