Chapter 25 – Almost a Second Harbinger
Jay was about falling asleep on his feet when Brad Moreno came to relieve him. "Sir? Sir!" Brad called.
"Huh? Oh, yeah."
They looked in on the prisoners, who were more or less quiet. Tristan Curtis was sitting down, leaning against the Brig wall and sleeping. Victor Brown was tapping out a note on his PADD. Dan Chang was pacing, still riled up. He might not have slept at all. Neil Kemper was looking contrite but staying quiet.
"I'll swing by the galley," Jay offered, "see if I can get them some grub."
"I know why, sir," Brad said, "And I don't just mean the obvious reason about the prisoners."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, everyone's heard by now. I just want to tell you, the MACOs are – well, maybe not Neil and Vic and Dan – but the rest of us – we're on Team Jay."
"Team Jay?"
"You know, between you and Commander Reed going after the sous-chef. We're, uh, we're pulling for you, sir."
"Really?" Jay was a tad peeved. "Are there bets being laid about this, Private?"
"N-no, sir."
"Huh, well, anyway, I'd better go there," he said.
=/\=
Lili served Captain Archer and Doctor Phlox as Amanda Cole Phlox nursed her son. "More milk?" she asked Amanda.
"Sure. Actually, Johnny's gonna need it more than me for a half year."
"Longer, my beloved," Phlox explained, "For he is only four months old. We should wait until closer to his first birthday to begin to attempt weaning."
"I guess I'll be seeing a lot more of this for a while," Jonathan said, tightly smiling and clearly uncomfortable.
Amanda turned so as to face away a bit.
"Captain," Phlox said, "I have been looking over the Ikaaran database. And I believe there may be a solution in there which could help me to successfully create a human-Vulcan embryo."
"That's wonderful," Jonathan said, "Have you told Tripp and T'Pol yet?"
"I have. They will come to Sick Bay today," Phlox said, "I also believe that the same technique could be used to create a human-Ikaaran embryo."
"Oh," the captain let that one sink in. "Have they expressed an interest in that?"
"Not as of yet," Phlox said, "but it's a possibility, seeing as Crewman Emily Andreiou Kemper and Crewman Cassandra Brown may be seeking divorces."
"Plus," Amanda said, "Maybe we'll run into some Ikaaran women."
"Maybe," Jonathan mentally rolled around the idea of Emily or Cassandra as potential mates.
"More coffee, sir?" asked Lili.
"Uh, sure, thanks."
"Captain," Phlox ventured, "the Ikaaran database also provides coordinates for all of their mining and agricultural operations in the Delphic Expanse. Visiting any of those coordinates might bring us face to face with another of their single gender ships. And there is a fifty-fifty chance that it would be an all-female vessel."
"I'll take a look at it," the captain said, smile just a tiny bit broader. He'd been disappointed before. Maybe this time, things would be different.
=/\=
Once she'd finished serving the captain and his guests, Lili tucked the dirty dishes into her cart and made her way to the galley. She was surprised to see Jay there. He didn't greet her; he just kissed her.
After a few minutes, she broke away from him. "Hungry?"
"Very," he looked at her meaningfully.
"Well, we've got oatmeal. And there's bacon. And fresh fruit. There's blueberries. I know you like them." She pretended not to catch his hint.
"You taste better than blueberries." His voice was a little ragged with fatigue but he still smiled at her, a broader smile than he shared with anyone else.
"Well, thanks," she started to put the dirty dishes into the sanitizer as he nuzzled her neck.
"I, uh, I know you have to work," he said softly, "I just missed you last night. I was worried; you looked distressed."
"I was a bit upset," she admitted, "but I'm okay now." She turned around and smiled at him, and then kissed his nose. "This is a lovely surprise."
"Actually, it's also – I need to feed the prisoners. Got any gruel?"
"Bread and water? Hmm." She produced the oatmeal. "I won't add any fruit to it, okay?"
"Okay," he watched as she placed it into containers. "I, um, I want to take you on real dates, yanno. Not just meeting you here or something like that. This isn't a date. I want to go somewhere and show you off and all that that entails."
"Oh?" she asked as she got a bag for the containers. "There aren't a lot of choices."
"True," he helped her by loading some of the dishes into the sanitizer. "There's Movie Night. There's the next party. When is it?"
"Halloween."
"Oh. Huh, I guess I could go as a World War III general again. And you?"
"I always seem to go as a crayfish," she said, "maybe I'll ask Sekar to make me something else. I've got a couple of weeks yet."
"Okay, there are those. And there's, let's see, we could go to the Observation Lounge and listen to Rex and Meredith sing. Or we could go walking on decks and look out at the stars. If we head back to Amity, I could take you hunting."
"Hunting?"
"Have you ever been before?" he asked.
"I have," she said, "it was for cooking school. We had to learn where all of our food came from. I, uh, I'm not a fan of it."
"Oh. Well, okay. I could come here some quiet time and we could cook together," he offered.
"Huh, maybe bake cookies or something," she said.
"I could take you to dinner in the Captain's Mess," he stopped loading the sanitizer and put his arms around her.
"I'd have to serve!" she finished putting the containers into the bag and adding spoons. She put a hand on his face and they kissed.
They didn't hear the door slide open.
=/\=
"I'll need samples from both of you," Phlox said to Tripp and T'Pol.
"Samples? Oh." Tripp said, suddenly realizing what that entailed.
"I'll leave you alone for that," Phlox said, handing him a beaker. He drew a curtain and, as promised, left them alone.
"Man oh man," Tripp said, looking at the beaker, "I guess I imagined havin' a baby as being, well, a bit more romantic than this."
"For me," T'Pol said, "it is associated with Pon Farr. The circumstances, right now, are certainly not the same."
"I suppose you're right," he said, stripping down. "Uh, when we launched, there were, uh, magazines."
"Magazines?"
"Yes," he said, "you know, it was, uh, it gave a visual to the whole thing. We had to give a sample. All the guys had to."
"Naturally," she replied. "Would a visual be of assistance now?"
"Yeah, but …"
He didn't finish his sentence as she, too, stripped down.
He found he didn't miss the magazines one bit.
=/\=
"Ahem." It was Malcolm.
Jay opened his eyes as he was kissing Lili, as he was facing the opened door. "Oh," he pulled back and ended the kiss.
She turned around quickly and smiled. "Hi."
"Hello," he said, looking only at her.
"Something I can get for you?" she asked.
"I was just in the neighborhood, and thought I'd drop by."
"I see. That's very sweet of you."
"Uh, Reed?" Jay said, "We should have a meeting tonight, about the Socorro matter. Make up for the one we missed."
"What's there to meet about? Everyone's been caught."
"I don't think so," Jay said, "There's somebody else involved."
"I have cleared Lili to no longer need bodyguards," Malcolm insisted.
"I say she should still have them," said the Major, "this isn't over quite yet."
"Maybe I should have a bodyguard. At least until you guys get this resolved. Maybe," she struggled to find the middle ground between them, "maybe Jay's concerns are unwarranted. Let's just make certain of that, all right?"
"I, um, I gotta go and get those guys their breakfasts," Jay took the bag and then kissed her, lingering a little, before he left.
=/\=
"Ah, I see we're ready," Phlox said as Tripp handed him the beaker. "I'll get the donation from you, T'Pol and then we can get to work."
"I can, uh, go back to Engineering," Tripp offered.
"This will not take long," T'Pol gazed at him. "I would prefer it if you were here."
"I understand," he said, although he was feeling very left out and useless, a bit of a fifth wheel.
=/\=
Lili smiled at Malcolm. She went to kiss him but he first put his thumb on her lips and brushed it across them. It was a seductive move, but also a somewhat practical one, wiping away some of the traces of Major Hayes. She kissed his thumb as he moved it and smiled, lips open, teeth shown. "I'm so happy to see you," she said.
"Were you, uh, planning to spend time with him?"
"No," she said, "he came around unexpectedly. But he needed to feed the prisoners."
"I, I see."
"What brings you here?"
"I just wanted to see you," he said. Sufficiently happy that her mouth had been wiped, he kissed her.
=/\=
It was, as promised, quick. Phlox had a petri dish and he and T'Pol looked at the samples under the neutron microscope.
"Is ever'thing all right?" asked Tripp, looking over their shoulders.
"Quite," Phlox said. "Now, my understanding is that the presence of potassium carbonite, along with the gametes, can assist the chromosomes in lining up properly."
"Indeed," T'Pol said, "let us make the attempt."
"Uh, I'll just wait right here," Tripp said, shaking his head. Unromantic wasn't the half of it.
=/\=
"I'm glad you came here," Lili said. She rummaged around in the refrigeration unit. "I have something for you."
"You do? This is most unexpected."
"It's just something small." She had orange wedges and gave him one, taking one for herself. "I know you like these, but not as much as the almighty pineapple."
"I'll have you know, the almighty pineapple is quite delightful. But you're a bit more delectable than all that."
"High praise indeed, to be put ahead of the almighty pineapple." She smiled at him.
"I should like very much," he said, "to take you to the Observation Lounge and play chess with you, in front of everyone, while Rex plays his guitar and Meredith sings and everyone sees that you and I are, well, together."
"Oh? And what happens if I beat the pants off you?"
He smiled at that. "I, uh, I confess there is a slight wicked thought in there when you say such things."
She was about to respond in kind when the door slid open again, and it was Will.
=/\=
A good hour had gone by. T'Pol looked up. "Doctor, I believe there is a lining up."
"Huh. I believe you are correct."
"Lining up? What exactly does that mean?" asked Commander Tucker.
"We'll need to see if embryonic implantation works," Phlox said, "and so I'd recommend actually attempting implanting both at this time, in order to increase the odds."
"Agreed," T'Pol said.
"What? What are ya doin'?" Tripp asked, "Will ya answer me, please?"
"Tripp," T'Pol looked into his eyes, "we have chromosomal parallelism."
"And?"
"And that means, Commander," Phlox explained, "that we have two viable embryos. I would like to implant both of them today, rather than save one for later. T'Pol will take a hormone cocktail every day – an injection – for the first month of gestation. I am unsure as to how long it will take but I imagine, much as occurred with my Amanda, that you'd split the difference, so it could be about ten or eleven months or so, perhaps longer. I cannot say for certain."
"So you'd be pregnant with, with twins? Today?"
"Today," she confirmed.
"Hot dog! Let's do this." Tripp exclaimed.
=/\=
"A visitor, I see," Will said, looking at Malcolm. "I, uh, I need my sous-chef to begin getting lunch together."
"Yes, of course," said Malcolm. He kissed Lili and opened the door.
Will followed him out as Lili started to busy herself with making a form of half-replicated, half-fresh clam chowder.
"Something I can do for you, Chef?" Malcolm asked.
"I just wanted to let you know," Will said, "I'm on Team Malcolm."
"I beg your pardon?"
"There are – everyone knows what's going on. There are those who are on the Major's side. And there are people who are on yours. I just wanted you to know, I'm on yours."
"Oh. Uh, that's rather generous of you, I suppose." Malcolm hurried out of there, feeling strange about the whole thing.
=/\=
"How are you feeling, T'Pol?" Phlox asked.
She sat up tentatively. "I cannot say. I do not feel any differently."
"That may take a little time," Phlox said. "In about a week, I'll perform a blood test."
"A week?" asked an anxious Tripp.
"Give her a little time for the hormonal levels to rise. Until then, check back every day."
"Won't the hormone injections give ya a false positive?" asked Commander Tucker.
"Different hormones," Phlox explained, "I will be able to tell. So I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yes, Doctor," she said. She left with Tripp.
=/\=
In the Brig, Victor Brown awaited a return message from his wife. He had sent her a short note – Cassie, I'm so sorry. I've acted like an ass. Tell me how you can forgive me, and whatever it is, I'll do it.
There was a ding and it was a reply from her. The reply said – Come clean and I'll think about it. He turned off his PADD as Chang continued to pace, Curtis ate some of the plain oatmeal, which had gone a bit cold, and Kemper stared into space.
=/\=
Jay had gotten out of the most recent MACO drills, explaining about the late night. It was all over the ship, how he and Frank Todd and Deb and Malcolm, along with the captain, Lili and Chip, had caught Socorro's assailants.
He clicked on his PADD, looking around. He was tired but this could not wait. "Engineering, engineering," he murmured to himself as he searched, looking for both attached and unattached men involved with Engineering in any way. There was Commander Tucker, of course. There were guys like José Torres and Michael Rostov, too. And then he dug deeper, trying to find out if there was anyone who had studied Engineering but hadn't actually gone into it. He looked up when he found what he was looking for.
He bookmarked his findings and then turned off the PADD. He desperately needed to sleep. It could wait for a few hours or so. Before he could fall asleep, he always went through a pre-sleep calming ritual, which involved thinking about a warm Ganymede morning from his early childhood. This time, he didn't picture himself alone, and he wasn't exactly calmed down. But the vision made him smile all the same, and he was still exhausted, so he managed to sleep anyway.
=/\=
After dinner, Tripp and T'Pol were in their quarters. "Are you sure you don't feel any different?"
"I do not," she said, "Kindly refrain from inquiring about that again, please."
"All right," he said, "And I'm sorry. I just, you know, I just want this to happen."
"As do I," she admitted, "but your worrying about it is not helpful."
"I know," he admitted. He looked at her. "I got an idea."
"Oh?" A raised eyebrow.
"Let's you 'n me, uh, consider how this mornin' went. And recreate a bit of that."
"As I recall, we were both unclothed," she said.
"Yep," he said, taking off his jumpsuit. "But maybe with a different ending this time, okay?"
"I see," she said.
He helped her out of her clothes and she assisted him in finishing undressing. He stared at her. "Still as beautiful as ya were when I first saw you."
"I thank you," she replied, "I am; I am bonded to you. For life, Tripp."
He smiled at her and kissed her, gently leading her to their bed. They kissed and, eventually, merged. He had been practicing control, and was able to talk a little, despite what was happening. He looked at her, and said, "I just wanna feel, ya see, that it's this that makes our children, and not a test tube or a microscope or potassium something or other. Okay?"
"It is," she said, "and it is our love that does that as well."
"Our love," he said, rolling over until he was on his back. There was no more talking, for words were unnecessary and were scarcely possible.
=/\=
Captain Archer stared at the Ikaaran database, trying to make sense of it. There were coordinates in there, to be sure, for all of the other ships out on mining and agricultural projects. Sending a message seemed like something that Jobiram and Jeris really didn't want him to do. He wanted to respect their wishes but, at the same time, he was itching to see some new women.
Somewhere in there, perhaps, there would be an idea of a course that they could take. He'd talk to Travis about it when he could. Restless, but not getting anywhere, he shut off his PADD and tried not to think about it.
=/\=
Jay got himself to the gym after dinner and began to work out. MACOs came and went until finally they were gone. He looked up at twenty-two hundred hours as the door slid open. It was Malcolm. "I'm glad you got here for the meeting," Jay said, sitting down on a workout bench and motioning for Malcolm to join him, "I guessed we missed it two nights ago."
"Yes," Malcolm said absently. He was in workout attire and pulled out some resistance bands and started working out with them, ignoring Jay's offer of a seat.
"Reed, I'd like to talk about the Socorro matter," Jay insisted, pulling out his PADD. "I've got some possibles."
"Possibles?"
"Yeah. Those lights didn't just magically take themselves out," Jay said, "someone did that, and I bet that someone was either in Engineering or knew something about Engineering."
"Are you disparaging Commander Tucker's team?"
"No," Jay said carefully, "It's, rather, I want to cover all bases. I do want Lili to be safe. I mean, don't you?"
"Of course I do," Malcolm said, and dropped the resistance bands to the floor.
"Okay," Jay was still looking at his PADD. "There's Torres, first off. He's unattached and he's in Engineering."
"Right," Malcolm said, "but there are two attached men in the Brig right now."
"You got a point there. There's Tucker, too."
"Tripp?" Malcolm couldn't believe that. "What would he – well, I can certainly vouch for the man's character."
"Just like you figured you could vouch for Tris Curtis, right? I mean, c'mon, it's not like we can make assumptions about anyone unless they're gay or female or they have an alibi."
"Still! Most of the assailants were MACO Privates. Have you looked through your team, Major?"
"I have," Jay said, "and none of them have backgrounds in Engineering. Tiburón was getting a haircut and Haddon-Masterson was there so he and Khan are off the hook. Ramih Azar was with his girl."
"So there's others, right? There's Hamboyan and Moreno and, and Ryan, yes?"
"Forbes and Woods, too," Jay allowed. "And there's Todd, if you really wanna get technical. But the point I am attempting to make is that a guy in Security or the MACOs who has an Engineering background is a far likelier option."
"I will not have you disparage Tucker's team."
"Fine, then I'll disparage your own, Lieut – I mean, Commander."
"What?"
"Did you know that Brooks Haynem has an Engineering background, Reed? He went to Worcester Poly with Crossman but he dropped out before going into Security."
Malcolm was nonplussed for just a moment. "And what the devil does that prove? Anyone can have any sort of a background here, right?"
"He's in Dutch with his wife most of the time, too," Jay said, "I'd say he's our guy."
"You can't just go 'round accusing people. You need proof, Major."
Jay put the PADD down. "So we'll have a trial," he said, "but this is too good a lead; it's too close to being what we'd be looking for. And, more importantly, what the attackers would be looking for. Right?"
Malcolm stepped forward. "You just want to go after my men."
"What?"
"You heard me, Major. You are itching to accuse them. After all, you're looking rather bad in all of this. You supervise four of the five assailants. You can't keep control over your own men, can you, Major? So you'd stoop to accusing mine."
"That's not it, and you know it. This is – to quote Commander T'Pol – a logical lead to follow."
"This isn't about the Socorro matter at all," Malcolm said, pausing for a second. "It's because you can't protect Lili. You're naught but a common brute and your men are brutes – you're too close to them, and so you cannot see what's wrong."
"What the hell?"
"Major," Malcolm spat out, "What is it, eh? All you do is drill all day long. There's no proper tactical training at all. You simply work out. Prisoners do that as well, so your men should be well-versed in that. And whatever punishment the captain comes up with, I'm certain that your men shall almost thrive under such circumstances."
"Lieut – Commander, you'd do well to watch your words," Jay said, making sure the PADD was off and then getting up.
"Or what? You'll do what you can to stop up my mouth, perhaps in the same way that your men stopped up Patti Socorro's?"
"God, no," Jay made a face, "I'm not like that, but maybe you are," he countered. "In denial much?"
"You are completely out of line." Malcolm lunged at him a little.
Jay stepped back. "Reed, you know I'm bigger than you."
"And the bigger ship often does not win the battle," Malcolm stated. "It's often the smaller ships that are more agile. The same is true of people – and if you had been spending any of your time on tactics instead of blind physicality and workouts, you might have known that."
"I know enough," Jay said, "I've read Sun Tzu and plenty more." He stepped up closer, in fist range.
"How could you?" Malcolm asked, circling around, a bit like a prizefighter. "There's nothing in your head, but rocks. You're like a slab of beef. Men like you hurt women like Lili. You can't control yourselves, and you don't see when you're breaking something. You're naught but a bull in a china shop, and she's a fragile thing – you'll shatter her. She's better off with someone who can truly take care of her and not harm her."
"I will never hurt her."
"You can't even hand-pick the right men for this mission. Four failures out of, what, are there fifteen under you? Sixteen? Your track record's awfully poor, old sport. Best to get out now, before you humiliate yourself."
"You're just trash talking," Jay countered, "it's the last ditch effort of a fellow with no other options."
"I've got ample options," Malcolm sneered. "See, it's like chess. I can think any number of moves ahead of you. I will always be thinking ahead of you. You will never be able to keep up. You're naught but a lummox, a stupid brute. She deserves better, and she will get better. With me."
Jay glared at him. "Don't hide behind a veneer of civilization. I know that behind your flowers and your fancy talk, you want to get with her, and do it. And I bet you've got deviant ideas of what's good and right. You'll want her to wear high heels or tie you up. I can see it, Reed. There's something underneath. That show you're putting on for her – I can see right through it."
"I respect her," Malcolm declared, "And the only deviance you're seeing is that which is in your own mind. You wouldn't be thinking of such things if you weren't, truly, considering them. She is a proper lady, and I will not have you putting your filthy hands on her. Today, I saw you, kissing her in front of me, you were, you were marking your territ'ry, just like Porthos, I'll wager."
"I am not gonna stop kissing her just because it makes you uncomfortable."
"It's a good thing I walked in when I did, or she'd have been fending you off with a cast iron skillet. You're an insensitive lout, an uncivilized brute and the only deviance being planned is, well, it's being planned by you."
Jay had finally had it, and he took a swing, uppercutting Malcolm's jaw, hitting it hard.
=/\=
Lili sat on her bed, a little worried. "There's something fishy," she said to herself, "I mean, it's like, I know that before we were tossed back in time, they didn't get along. And I thought they'd worked it through! But maybe they haven't. What the hell have I done?"
=/\=
Charlotte Lilienne O'Day's Personal log, October sixteenth, 2039
I fear that there is something wrong and I can't quite put my finger on it. I know that my intuition is often wrong but right now I don't think it is. And if that's not confusing enough, I can't get an image out of my head, from a few months before we were thrown back in time.
I remember them, they had fought bitterly in the gym and, apparently, that spilled right out into the hallway. They didn't stay in Sick Bay overnight, but they both looked horrible for the next couple of weeks. Malcolm had a black eye. Jay's face was all bruised.
They both looked like they'd been put through a wringer. Captain Archer made them sit together for weeks to try to get to know each other better and get along a bit, but that ended not too long before we were kicked back and it didn't seem to do too much good anyway.
And now I'm afraid that they are going through the motions of getting along, but they aren't, not really. It did not escape my notice today that Malcolm kind of wiped my mouth. I guess it was to get the Jay cooties off or something like that. I shouldn't be flip about it.
I'm just afraid, and I can't sleep.
Oh, Charlotte, why do you have to be such a goddamned dope all the time?
=/\=
Malcolm staggered back for a second, and it was on.
He hit Jay in the right shoulder, punching hard, and then switched up and went for the bigger man's cheek, which bruised nearly immediately.
Jay countered with a left to Malcolm's midsection, which spun him back a little but didn't knock him over. Malcolm took advantage of the momentum and kicked Jay's right knee.
Jay stepped back and Malcolm fell to the gym floor after having failed to make contact. Jay straightened up a little, and said, "I think we can –"
He didn't get a chance to finish the sentence as Malcolm kicked up again, and they were both on the floor. Malcolm grabbed the back of Jay's neck and reached around it, forearm on windpipe, pulling Jay back.
Jay wheezed a bit as this was cutting off air. He rolled to the side to get the smaller man off him, and scrambled to his feet. He ended up picking Malcolm up off the floor and then slammed a fist into Malcolm's right eye.
The swelling started quickly, and Malcolm blinked a bit in order to be able to see. The last time they had fought, something similar had happened, and he'd gotten a detached retina. He shook himself slightly. That shouldn't have fooled you a second time, he thought to himself. He punched Jay in the nose, hard, and the bigger man immediately got a bloody nose, a bit of crimson spattered his cheek and then the front of his tee shirt as they continued battling.
=/\=
In his quarters, Jonathan couldn't sleep. The database, the database! It was an exciting prospect, but he wanted to handle the matter delicately. Perhaps just a course that would lead them near some of the Ikaaran mining and agricultural ships would be good enough.
He threw sneakers on and whistled to Porthos. "C'mon," he said, "let's go to the gym and do some treadmill work." He patted his own belly. "Can't have a gut if I'm gonna meet new ladies now, right, buddy?"
=/\=
Working quickly, Malcolm hit below the belt, and there was a loud "Oof!" as Jay had the wind knocked out of him. Reeling, Jay had the presence of mind to grab Malcolm's right arm and hold it behind his back, pulling it up at an unnatural angle. I could go as far as hearing the bone crack, he thought to himself, but I won't. She wouldn't like that.
So distracted, Malcolm flipped the bigger man over. Jay was on his belly on the floor, and Malcolm grabbed his right arm and twisted it behind his back, a similar maneuver, except they were on the floor. "There's that old Klingon move again," he said in a stage whisper, "you still haven't figured out how to counter it, ya lummox!"
Enraged, Jay leaned back, rolling on top of Malcolm in order to jar the smaller man loose. He deftly turned his wrist and brought his elbow up and into Malcolm's ribs. There was a slight cracking sound – the sound of a rib breaking, one of Malcolm's.
They both got up, both panting a bit, and approached again, hands on shoulders that soon graduated to hands on and then around necks, mutually strangling each other. The door slid open.
"Hey! Hey! Hey!" yelled Jonathan the moment he saw the two of them.
For a second, they ignored him, intent on inflicting as much damage as possible to each other. The mutual choking continued, until Jonathan brought his fists down on their outstretched arms. This got their attention, and they both staggered back, hacking and coughing.
"Ready Room – no, Sick Bay – right now!" yelled the captain. He began leaving with the dog. "Come on!" he bellowed.
Jay grabbed his PADD and they followed him out.
=/\=
Sick Bay was its usual lively, somewhat noisy place. Phlox took one look at all three of them and shook his head. "This is somewhat similar to when you two fought when we were still in 2153," he said.
Jonathan just glared at them. "Anyone wanna tell me what happened?"
Jay just coughed, unable to really catch his breath, the cough loud and rattling, deep in his lungs. Malcolm stared, his right eye fully shut and the other one horribly bloodshot.
"Uh, Commander, you first, onto the scanner bed," Phlox said. Malcolm complied, and Phlox set the controls to move the scanner into the imaging chamber.
"Well?" Jonathan asked Jay pointedly.
Jay coughed a few more times. "We, uh, we don't get along, sir." He finally admitted.
"I can see that. What set this off?"
Phlox reversed the bed out of the imager. "Fractured right orbital bone, detached retina, bruised trachea, two broken ribs, and a hairline fracture of the lower jaw. Major, you're next."
Malcolm got up and eyed Jay as they switched places, with Jay wincing ever so slightly as he got onto the scanner bed. Phlox started up the bed's motion again. "Tell me what's going on," Jonathan said, "Why did this heat up again?"
"Sir," Malcolm said, "you know that the Major and I, we have a hist'ry."
"I know that," said Jonathan, "but you were getting along. Or at least you were staying out of each other's way. What the hell is going on? Or do I have to tell you?"
The scanner bed was reversed out of the imaging chamber. Phlox intoned, "Broken nose, bruised kidney, bruised esophagus with possible blood in the lungs, torn ligaments in right shoulder, and fractured right cheekbone."
"You don't have to tell us, sir," Jay said, "It should be obvious, right?" Malcolm nodded. That much, they could agree on.
"I'll get her in here," Jonathan said, flipping open his communicator. "Archer to O'Day."
"Captain!" came her voice on the other end of the line, "I didn't expect a call at this hour."
"Get to Sick Bay, Ensign, and that's an order. Double time." He closed the link before even allowing her to respond. He looked at them. "I would throw you both in the Brig, but right now that space is occupied."
"They will both need to stay in Sick Bay overnight. The Ikaarans are likely to be resting right now," Phlox interjected, "I'll bring them in to assist with repair work in the morning. In the meantime, I'll do the basics, in case there's anything the Ikaarans can't handle."
"There's that, too," the captain said, "and I suppose I could tear you both new ones, but the Ensign might just do it for me. I am angry, I am disappointed and I am frustrated, really, because I need for both of you to keep it together!"
"My apologies, sir," Malcolm said, contrite and looking down as well as he could with one good eye.
"Most if not all of this damage can be repaired by Jobiram or Jeris," Phlox said, preparing shots.
"I understand," Jonathan said, "but there's no reason to wake them. You'll both have a great time of it tonight, in here. I do hope you spend your time wisely, thinking about what you have done, and how you could've handled this better."
The Sick Bay doors swished open.
Lili had hastily thrown a uniform jumpsuit over her sleeping attire – a tank top and cutoff sweat pants made into shorts. She looked at both of them and cried out, "Oh my God! Oh God! Oh God! What, what happened?" her voice was shaking and she was crying.
"It was a disagreement about you, Ensign," Jonathan said quietly.
"Oh, God!" she cried some more, voice incoherent. "I, I caused this!"
"No, you didn't, Sparrow," Jay said, voice still raspy. He coughed the deep, scraping cough again.
"We did this," Malcolm said, "It was not you, Darling."
"But it was!" she insisted. "If, if I could just make up my fool mind, my dopey mind, this wouldn't have, it wouldn't have happened! This is on my head!"
"No, we did this," Jay said, coughing again.
"But, but, oh God," she collapsed into tears again. She looked at both of them and tried to speak, but couldn't. She would just take one look and was set off again. "Are, are," she finally squeaked out, "are they gonna be okay?"
"Yes," Phlox assured her, "but I won't be bringing the Ikaarans in until the morning." He injected both of the men in their necks. "These are to prevent infection. I'll prepare analgesics now." He turned away in order to do so.
"The morning?"
"That was my idea," said the captain, "our guests don't need to be roused out of a sound sleep for these kinds of deliberate injuries. And I have no idea what I'll say to them anyway. Plus, well, I would like for this lesson to be learned already," he sighed. "We've been through this before, you know. And I don't exactly have room in the Brig right now. But this has got to stop. So a few hours – that won't cause any permanent injury, right, Doc?"
"No," Phlox said, "but I am bound by my oath as a physician to administer analgesics." He wielded a hypospray.
"Proceed," said the captain.
"I don't need it," Jay said.
"Major?" inquired Phlox.
"I don't, either," Malcolm said, warming to the continuing competition between them.
"This isn't the time to be macho," the captain said angrily.
"No, I, I don't want any," Jay insisted. "You're right, Captain. I'll stew in my own juices here. Save your drugs, Doc. I can handle this for one night." All of the talking made him cough again, a troublingly loud cough which seemed to wrack his entire body.
"I, too," Malcolm said; eager to score points, "I can go without as well. You have better uses for your resources, Doctor."
"You have a detached retina, Commander. And the Major has a bruised kidney, among other issues," Phlox stated. But the men both shook their heads, determined not to show any weakness in front of her, or in front of each other.
She came closer. Jay was still sitting on the scanner bed and Malcolm was standing nearby. Tentatively, she touched Jay's face, where it was red and bruised, and then his nose, which was a little misshapen. He did his best not to flinch. "Your nose is, it's broken," she said.
"It's been broken before, Sparrow." He coughed again, deep rasping in his lungs.
She turned to Malcolm, touching near his shut eye. He did his best not to react as her fingers lightly fluttered and patted the swelling. "And you can't, you can't see right now."
"I can see out of the other one all right," he assured her.
She was shaking even harder. She stepped back and asked, voice quavering, "What, what is this? Is this, is it some, some sort of harbinger of, of something? I mean, what is really going to happen if you, you don't, you don't stop?"
They both just looked down, listening to her tirade.
"What is it? What's it gonna be? I, I'm scared! Terrified! What will, what'll happen the, the next time I'm called here, eh? What will it be then? Will it be permanent? Will the eye be gouged out? Will the, the kidney be re-removed?"
Malcolm looked away and Jay fidgeted.
"What's it gonna be? Is there gonna be, be some morning, when I, when I wake up next to a man who, who's gonna die later that day, at the hands of, of the other?" She shouted, and then her volume got even louder as her distress increased, "Or what about the, the other way? Do I wake up one day next to someone who, who later that day be-becomes a, a murderer?" She sobbed loudly. Malcolm reached out for her but she eluded him for the moment. "I, I know it, it needs to be fair. But you're not; you're not making it easy for me! You, you both say you like me, yet you go doing this!"
"It's not being done to you, Lili," Malcolm said quietly.
"Oh, but it is!" She countered. She took his hand and guided it to her own face to touch her nose. "This, this is my nose. And you've broken it." She dropped his hand and took Jay's instead, and placed it over her right eye. "My eye is shut because of what you did."
"But, Sparrow –"
"No!" She cried out. "When you, when you do these, these things to, to each other, you don't just do them to each other! You do them to me, too! I feel it! I get it in the gut, or the eye or the nose or wherever! I get it! Connect with his face and you're connecting to mine! Is that clear enough for everyone?"
Jonathan was standing near her, and he put a hand on her arm. She jerked it away and then realized it was him. "Sorry, Captain."
"It's all right, Ensign. I can't, I can't tell you how to live your life," said the captain, "but this has got to stop. Yesterday."
Phlox put away his hypospray, shaking his head. "I don't understand it," he murmured.
Lili thought of something. "Doctor, what's it like on, on Denobula? You've got marriages where there's more than one husband."
"And more than one wife as well," Phlox replied. "What is it that you wish to know?"
"How do you, well, how do you work everything?" she asked. "How do you keep jealousy at bay?"
"There are ten days in each of our weeks on Denobula."
"And?" Jonathan asked, almost as interested as the other three were.
"And the first one is translated as First Wives' Day. The second is First Husbands' Day. And the third is First Couples' Day."
"And the fourth day?" asked Jay, coughing again. Lili rubbed his back a little as he coughed, and he nodded his thanks to her as Malcolm looked on.
"It's Second Wives' Day."
"So the fifth day of your week is Second Husbands' Day?" Malcolm inquired.
"Correct, and so forth for nine days."
"But you said there were ten days in every week," the captain pointed out, puzzled. "What's the tenth day?"
"Freedom Day." Phlox grinned one of his patented too-wide grins as he thumped Jay's back to see if he could figure out the cause of so much coughing.
"Are these holidays?" Lili asked. "I mean, how the heck do you get any work done?"
Phlox chuckled a little. "Your Tuesday, for example, it's named after the ancient Greek god Zeus if I'm not mistaken. But most of your Tuesdays aren't holidays. The same is true on Denobula. Most of the Third Husbands' Days, for example, aren't holidays."
"But what significance do the names have?" asked Malcolm.
"I'll give you an example," Phlox said, "Oh, and Major, you've got a bit of blood in your lungs from the bruised esophagus. I'll give you an injection which should clear that, and the coughing will cease." Jay nodded to agree to the treatment as Phlox went to prepare the shot. "Now, imagine that all three of you are married to Ensign O'Day."
Lili swallowed as Jonathan said, "All three of us?"
"Precisely. But you, Captain, have two other wives as well. And so do the Major and the Commander here. These are all different women."
"That's a lot to keep track of," Jonathan said, "I think it's a total of ten people, right?"
"That's what I get," Malcolm confirmed. Phlox injected Jay in the neck as Malcolm continued, "And so let's say Lili is my first wife, but I am her second husband, well, what does that mean in terms of the days?"
"It's always a direct exchange," explained the Denobulan. "If she is your first wife then you must be her first husband. If the Major is her second husband then before they wed, he has to have already had only one wife."
"And the third has to already have two before he can marry her?" asked Captain Archer.
"Precisely. And the First Couple, you see – in our example that's the Ensign and the Commander – they are together during the first three days of the week. At the same time, the Major would be with his first wife, as would you. Then for the second set of three days, the Major would spend time with the Ensign and so on as you can see."
"Huh. What's Freedom Day all about?" Lili asked.
"You can be with anyone you like then. First, second, third, or no marriage at all!"
"Egad," Lili said, "what if I just wanted to spend time with my friends or get a haircut or something? I mean, I'm not looking for a third. Er, sorry, Captain."
"No offense," he said, tight smile returning.
"Why don't you just alternate?" Jay asked. He cleared his throat a little. "Hey, I didn't cough that time."
"There are far too many good-byes that way. Now, you've got seven days in any given week, but there are only three of you. Surely you can work something out," said Phlox.
They took out Jay's PADD and the three of them began to hammer out the details. They didn't notice when Jonathan left with Porthos and Phlox went to the back to dictate a log entry.
=/\=
When they were as finished as they could be, they finally all looked up. "Man oh man, it's like a contract," Lili said.
"This, it seems fairer," Malcolm stated.
"I'll do my best to abide by it," Jay said, "And, um, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done this. Reed, we may not always get along but we shouldn't be beating on each other."
"Agreed." They shook hands.
Lili yawned. "Oh my gosh, it's almost midnight." She walked to where Phlox was. "Can I sleep here tonight?"
"Sure," he said, "but if there's a medical emergency, I'll have to kick you out."
"That's all right. Thanks, Doc." She returned to where Jay and Malcolm were. "I'm gonna sleep here tonight. I wanna make sure you're both okay."
"You still have to get up at an ungodly hour, though, don't you?" asked Malcolm.
"Oh four hundred hours, yep," she confirmed. "But I still want to be with both of you."
They selected Sick Bay beds, with Jay taking one on the right, Lili claiming a bed in between, and Malcolm grabbing one on the left. She stripped off her jumpsuit and they both stared at her as they were performing similar tasks. The men stopped what they were doing and just looked. Oblivious, she was about to crawl into bed when she looked up. "Uh, guys, my eyes are up here." She was wearing just a tank top and her cutoff sweatpants.
"Oh, sorry," Malcolm said, "uh, I have never seen your legs before. And I've scarcely ever seen you without a jacket before, either."
"Is that bad?" she asked.
"Most certainly not," he said.
"It's all good, Sparrow."
She walked over to Malcolm and kissed his cheek, away from his injured eye. He put a hand on her waist, thumb up, not quite at the underside of her breasts but close, just maybe a centimeter away. One of the things they had decided on was no public displays when they'd be likely to witness what the other was doing, so he was mindful of that.
She then went over to Jay, kissing his cheek as he put a hand on her face. "So we'll start on Sunday, right? Me and Malcolm," she said. Jay nodded, as did Malcolm.
She crawled into her bed and rolled on her right side. None of them slept that well, but they all breathed a lot easier.
=/\=
Doctor Phlox's Personal log, October sixteenth, 2039
It's been quite a day. Between the Major and Commander Reed attacking each other to Ensign O'Day mediating between them to perhaps my crowning achievement as a physician – creating the first-ever human-Vulcan embryos. I am exhausted.
=/\=
Jonathan Archer's Personal log, October sixteenth, 2039
I left at right about the time that they were agreeing on what to do if the Ensign becomes pregnant. It's funny, but I am seeing cooperation where I would not have dared to dream it, between Reed and Hayes, so long as O'Day arbitrates. It's obvious that she wants very much for it all to work, and I think the two men don't want to disappoint her.
Tomorrow, I will involve the Ikaarans in their healing. And I suppose that means that we will no longer keep such things from them. There are now, in a way, two more crew members on the Enterprise.
=/\=
T'Pol's Personal log, October sixteenth, 2039
I do not feel any different as of yet.
=/\=
Neil Kemper's Personal log, October sixteenth, 2039
I'm considering confessing. I don't know if it'll make any real difference when it comes to my punishment, but I figure it's worth a shot. I think Emmy is going to divorce me either way, but at least I'll be able to sleep at night.
It was wrong, what we did. And Haynem shouldn't be getting off scot-free. He was a part of it, even though he never touched Socorro.
=/\=
Victor Brown's Personal log, October sixteenth, 2039
Chang is saying that it's not going to matter what we do or say, but I think it does matter. And even if it does nothing to my sentence or whatever the captain has in mind, it may make a difference with Cassie. And that's all I really care about. I gotta repair my marriage. I am gonna break this code of silence.