I thought it was about time to update this story, so here it is back by popular demand.
Tom heard the muffled calls first, they had been travelling several hours since Kathryn had gone back to her bunk, and it had been smooth sailing so far. This deep out in space there wasn't much of anything, in fact and Tom's mind had been easily wondering about his sleeping companion. Whether it was because he had been thinking about their almost conversation concerning what had happened while she had been unwell, or because the silence inside the flyer was almost defining Tom heard Kathryn moan. At first he tried to ignore it, thinking she was simply dreaming. Then as the moans turned to whimpers, and finally his name falling off her lips Tom was up and running for the aft compartment.
"Doc come quick there is something wrong with Kathryn!" Tom called as he found her wrapped inside her sheet and covered with sweat. For a moment they were alone, Tom placed his hands on her shoulders and shook her gently, trying to arouse her from what seemed like the grip of a nightmare. When she did not stir Tom was glad to see the Doctor arriving.
"What's going on?" He enquired getting out his tricorder and scanning Kathryn, the blank face that followed told Tom that the Doc wasn't sure either.
"I don't know, but she wont wake up." Tom said moving towards the head of the bed and pressing his hand to her cheek.
"Why is she so hot?" Tom enquired as the Doc looked over his scan results more thoroughly.
"I don't know, this is telling me everything is normal, but it clearly isn't." The Doctor said snapping the now useless device shut and virtually throwing it across the room.
"Then what the hell is going on." Tom said this time shaking Kathryn pretty hard and calling her name. It had no effect, her eyes remained closed and the slightly pained look still resided on her face. Tom felt so helpless, and looking at the Doctor now he could see the same look on his holographic face.
"The only time I have seen physical symptoms arise like this, with no change in readings is when a patient has undergone memory regression. The mind is made to believe it is really in a certain situation, without the body actually being there. Fire victims actually feeling their skin burning, and so forth." The Doc replied standing up and rubbing his head slightly as if contemplating his next move.
"Ok so what do we do to snap her out of it?" Tom enquired as the Doctor stopped and looked from Tom to the main viewer.
"The Borg queen, the Admiral said she had spoken to her, maybe she is now controlling her dreams somehow." The Doctor said which made Tom stand up alongside with him. His face now a picture of understanding.
"Which means there will be a signal, probably very faint, and disguised as background noise, but there and if we can find it, we can block it out." Tom continued, now making a dash for the helm, calling over his shoulder as he went.
"Keep an eye on her, of anything changes let me know."
Kathryn looked around her and she saw that she was back in the flyer, the ship was gliding along in space. Breathing a sigh of relief she sat up and looked at the Doctor.
"Glad your back with us." He said as Kathryn blinked a few times and rubbed her face with both hands.
"How long was I out?" She asked standing up slowly and feeling slightly out of balance.
"A few hours, we couldn't wake you up and got a bit worried, must have been some dream." The Doctor said with a slight smirk on his face. Kathryn felt the blush rise in her cheeks at the memory of her dream. The shared kisses with Tom, his soft hands on her skin, and then she realised where she was. Pulling herself together she stood up straight and flexed her aching limbs.
"Yeah it was, can't really remember it now though, supposed I will have to be grateful for small mercies." Kathryn replied making her way forward now and seeing Tom looking at her from the helm. He wore a soft smile and she couldn't help but smile back at him. Sitting quietly in the seat next to him she glanced down at the instruments. Reading normal across the board she shook her head, trying to clear her sleep fogged brain.
"Are you ok, I was a bit worried your fever had come back, you know the one from the planet." Tom said with a slight hesitantly and Kathryn knew exactly why.
"No just a bad nightmare I think, haven't had one in years, I guess its because we are out here." She said waving her arm towards the view port for emphasis.
"I know what you mean, seems so big when your all alone, makes you wonder if holding certain things in is a good thing." Tom's voice drifted off as his spoke, but Kathryn's eyes shot towards him none the less. She wondered just what she had said during her dream, the Doctor sure seemed to know something, and now Tom was hinting at her coming clean about something. Kathryn lent back in her chair and took in a deep breath, she knew it was time to talk, all this silence was doing them no good, and as it seemed Tom now knew something.
"Look Tom I remember, I remember what I did when I was sick. And I remember how well you dealt with it." There is was said and the flyer hadn't fallen into a sun, or explode into a million pieces, they were both still sat there, Tom now looking intently at his console.
"Which direction do you want to approach the next system in?" Tom said and Kathryn bulked slightly. Did he have nothing to say to her, did he not want to talk bout this? He had sure pressured her enough in to telling him, now he just wanted a course correction.
"Umm Tom does that matter, we need to talk about this, we need to move past it." Kathryn said putting her hand on his shoulder in a familiar move that was then shrugged off.
"I knew ok, I knew ages ago I just wanted you to admit it, repression isn't healthy you know." Tom said turning to her with a slight smile. Kathryn felt an unease at that smile, she had never felt like that before around Tom, but now she felt her nerves along her spine tingle and she pushed her hands together to stop it travelling to her fingers.
"So what was your plan for the next solar system?" Tom continued, but Kathryn only vaguely heard his question. She was feeling strange again like something was pulling her. Not physically but mentally away from him, away from the flyer.
"Kathryn are you ok you don't look so well." Tom asked now kneeling down in front of her and taking hold of her hands.
"I feel kind of light headed." She said looking at him and seeing his face flicker slightly, like a view screen where the image was being interrupted.
"Tom" She called as his image flickered again and she closed her eyes tightly to stop whatever was happening to her.
"Got you!" Tom shouted as he hit the control panel and the flyer slowed to an almost complete stop.
"She is coming round" The Doctor called as Tom rushed back to the aft compartment and saw Kathryn open her eyes.
"Not again what is going on." Kathryn said sitting up quickly this time and feeling a whole lot better than she had done previously.
"It was the Borg, they were sending a signal though subspace straight into your mind, I managed to locate it and block it out though." Tom said smiling broadly and turning his attention to the Doctor.
"She could probably only control you when you were unconscious, which is why you have only experienced these things in dreams." He said and Kathryn felt like she needed to sit down.
"It was all so real, she wanted to find out where we were." Kathryn started, but then stopped, she didn't want to say just what the Borg queen had done to make her talk. Not here, not now and not in front of her current company.
"Probably the only way of her knowing what we are up to, the boys did good work on the cloak." Tom replied as he walked with Kathryn slowly back to the helm.
"Is their any chance she could re initiate the link?" Kathryn asked as she sat down next to Tom, who had once again taken up residence in the pilots seat.
"Maybe, but I don't think so not for a while anyway." He said going back to his console and powering up the flyer's engines once more.
Kathryn couldn't help but notice the similarity between her dream and now, how Tom's fingers glided across the console, how his brow would furrow slightly if something wasn't quite right, and how every now and then he would glance at her with a soft smile.
"I know what happened Tom, I remember." Kathryn felt the words spill from her lips before she could do anything to stop them. She also knew Tom was well aware of what she was talking about, his hands paused over his console and his breathing became slightly irregular. The silence dragged for what seemed like forever, but in fact it had only been moments.
"I am sorry, I know I could have handled things differently." Tom said finally, not looking at Kathryn and keeping his eyes firmly fixed on his illuminated control panel. For a moment Kathryn was stunned, she had no idea he had been feeling guilty about what had happened. Then she sighed and lent forward. Of course Tom would blame himself, only her warped imagination would have supplied the queen with his offhanded comment before, probably brought about by her own doubts and fears.
"You have nothing to be sorry for Tom, I think you showed me remarkable respect, many people I know would not have been so generous." Kathryn said placing her hand on his shoulder. Tom turned to her slowly and found her eyes. For a moment they simply sat and stared at one another, so much had been unspoken between them for so long, there would not have been enough time in the entire galaxy for that conversation. But that simple look almost said it all.
"I am glad at least now we both know." Tom said, it wasn't exactly what Kathryn had been hoping for, but it was a little bit of weight off his shoulders none the less.
"Indeed, and look no one died." Kathryn replied hoping to lighten the mood, but she still felt the tension thick in the air.
Tom was lost in his own thoughts, Kathryn was still sat beside him, and had also remained silent after her last comment. Now Tom was thinking about what Kathryn had said while she had been locked in the Borg's dream. He knew he should say something, there was no better opportunity since she had just revealed what Tom had suspected all along. That she had remembered everything about that day she got infected. Now it was his turn to confess, but now the shoe as it were was on the other foot he found it far harder than he thought it would be. Not wanting to upset the delicate balance they had between them. Or ruin any possible chance of something else, was a big factor in what he had to ask her.
"You called my name when you were sleeping, you spoke it like I was hurting you." Tom spoke into the void, again not looking at her and simply running through the motions on his console.
Kathryn was silent, she didn't know what to say to him. How could she alleviate his fears without explaining what had really happened. More lies? That didn't seem right, not after what they had gone through.
"No Tom you weren't hurting me, the opposite in fact." Kathryn stopped there as Tom's head turned to her now and that smile graced his lips again. This time she felt no strange tingle of warning down her spine, or the need to run away.
"Good well sounds like quite a dream." Tom said happy that she had not lied to him, happy that even if it was only in her dream, one that was being controlled by a Borg she had spoken his name with such passion.
"I guess so." Kathryn said with a small chuckle, which then turned into a full blown laugh. Tom at first didn't quite understand, but her laughter became infectious, and soon both of them were holding on to their stomachs and creating quite a racket. It had drawn the Doctor forward from his experiments and as he witnessed the scene on the bridge he tutted to himself.
"It's like working with a pair of hormonal teenagers, don't they know I'm a Doctor not a zoo keeper."
TBC... Thank you for reading, reviews inspire and make me smile XxX