A/N: This chapter takes place just prior to the Doctor taking Vorik to the holodeck, where he insists he was a perfect gentleman, and NOTHING HAPPENED.

Trumari clutched her ear, reeling as Vorik completely freaked out. Nothing she said or did could calm him down, and all she got for her efforts was a fist to the face.

"I'll be back later." She told him, repeating herself until the message sank in.

"Come back and I'll kill you." He snarled savagely.

Trumari shuddered and left, trying not to cry. Each moment that passed on her way to sickbay without passing anyone she sent up a prayer of thanks.

Tuvok just happened to be in Sickbay, no doubt consulting with the Doctor. The hologram began scolding her as soon as he learned what she wanted "Have you been fighting again? I thought we'd got your impulse controls beyond that." he asked, scanning her, failing to notice the nature of the injury.

"I haven't been fighting." She muttered. The Doctor finally noticed her ear.

"Ensign, do you….have anything to report?" he asked her quietly. Trumari was uncomfortably aware of Tuvok's scrutiny from the Doctor's office. Was that concern? Disappointment? Disgust? Morbid curiosity?

"No, doctor. This was an accident." The hologram scanned the bite.

"Well, I suppose there's no need to ask who did this. There's only three people with the appropriate incisor, cuspid, bicuspid, tricuspid dental signature aboard. Tuvok's got an alibi, and you couldn't possibly have done this to yourself. The presence of saliva dictates this was no holodeck mishap. I suppose I really should run a DNA analysis, just to be sure..."

"No thank you Doctor, just fix it please."

"Ensign, other than the injury to your face, is there anything else you need?"

"No, I'm fine."

"No bruises or scratches for me to heal? Emergency contraception?"

"What? No. I told you, I'm fine! Why are you even asking!?"

The Doctor scanned her some more, as if he thought she might be lying. "Well, that's good. Trumari, if Ensign Vorik is going around assaulting people, I need to report it, whether he can really help it or not."

"Well, he isn't, so you don't." Possibly mostly because he's angstily locked himself in his quarters.

"Perhaps you'd feel more comfortable discussing the matter with Tuvok?"

"Not really." But the hologram wasn't listening. Tuvok was summoned. Quite possibly he'd heard everything. Trumari rolled her eyes at the Doctor, who was standing off to the side, frowning at some reading he'd gotten.

"I went to Vorik's quarters about an hour after I got out of the brig." She told Tuvok. Of course, he knew this already, since he'd escorted her to the door. The Doctor didn't need to know that, though.

"Why?" Ah, good, Tuvok had gotten the cue.

"I became aware of Vorik's current condition." Actually, she'd known it was coming, and known for sure as soon as she'd stepped out of the separate air recycling system of the brig into the main ship.

The Doctor looked puzzled, and cut in. "Does the entire ship know?"

"I don't think so. I'm just familiar with the symptoms."

"Alright, but if you knew what was wrong with him, what were you doing there?" Trumari steepled her fingers for patience. Seriously?

"Your purpose in Ensign Vorik's quarters?" Tuvok prompted.

"To offer myself as a substitute for B'Elanna." She ground out.

"I guess we can see that didn't go over very well. I'm not surprised." The hologram gave Tuvok a meaningful look. What was that about?

"You failed then? He rejected you?" Tuvok asked her.

"Not the idea as such, just me. I don't think he realized who I was at first, it was dark and he was exhausted, but once he'd had a nap and this happened," she pointed at her ear, "he became distressed and insisted I leave." Yes, insisted as in had a total freakout and threatened to kill me.

The hologram looked faintly horrified. "You initiated intimacy while concealing your identity?"

"What? No! I tried to tell him, as soon as he woke up, but he wasn't interested in listening just then."

"And before that?"

"Nothing really happened. I assisted him in relaxing and we talked. He had a headache. Vorik fell asleep just as I was getting around to checking that he knew who I was."

"Vorik's degree of irrationality has increased." Tuvok observed.

"I'd say so." Trumari agreed. "Either this started three or four days ago, or something's accelerated things. If it is an accelerated cycle, he doesn't have much time."

"Accelerated cycle?" The Doctor asked

"An intensification and compression of the symptoms. It gives Vulcan males far less time than usual. Instead of seven or eight days before fatality, they have as little as one."

"That is misinformation. Acceleration is rare, and when it does occur, one or two days at most is lost." Tuvok stated.

"Where your family originates perhaps. Vorik is from a different race, a difference province. Incidence there of some kind of cycle disruption is close to one in five hundred. That makes the chances of a really terrible thing like that much higher."

"Why did you take care to obtain such information?" The Doctor asked.

"It runs in my late husband's family. I wished to be prepared. It proved fortunate I had. It continues to be relevant." Not that she really want to answer the question, but she figured she better legitimize the information the Doctor apparently didn't have.

"So the fact that your own yamareen levels are off the charts, even for you?" Thank you, Doctor, so much, for keeping my private medical information safe. I definitely wanted to share that with Tuvok, thanks.

"Normal." She said aloud. "In Romulans it is the females who carry the bulk of the burden of what was pon farr. This is completely normal, if inconvenient, due to the persistence of my alignment to my husband's cycle. And I do mean inconvenient. I am in no danger."

"And nothing to do with Vorik?"

"That is correct." And now she was lying through her teeth. It was so nice to be able to do that again. It wasn't Vorik's fault per se, but his pheromones and passive touch telepathic eavesdropping had probably made it worse.

"Alright. If you need anything further, come back. Otherwise, I think you should get some rest."

"Very well. I may need leave later this week, and more holodeck time than I currently have."

The Doctor looked surprised. "Really? Does that work?"

Trumari was confused. Did what work, exactly? Her exercise and meditation programs to deal with what amounted to a monumental sized case of PMS? "Yes?" she said cautiously.

The hologram beamed. "I'll see that you get it. Thank you for the idea!"

As she left, she could hear the hologram pestering Tuvok for details about his aesthetic preferences in females, and whether he knew Vorik's. "Of course, I can't program a holographic mate to look too much like Trumari, it'd probably put him off." The door swished shut. Wait, what? Okay, that's disgusting. And offensive, in multiple dimensions. "Doctor, this line of discussion is inappropriate." Tuvok said firmly as he stepped through the door. "But…." "No." Trumari avoided making eye-contact with her mentor and walked off to her quarters. No need to make this any more awkward.

A/N: This is the second to last chapter that's near being ready to go. I have a fair bit of the beginning of part three written, but I am not sure how much more plot and chapters I need to deal with the rest of part two properly. I was also thinking of posting a very first chapter for the one-shot collection in honor of Halloween. And of course I have homework and work work. :) I'll be working hard to keep posting often. It may be a little while before part three is up and rolling, so I hope you'll bear with me in the meantime!