Guy Talk
Author:mccool21 (SD) Susan217
Disclaimer: Don't own Star Trek. Never did. Just borrowing for entertainment purposes.
Beta by: CJ, Love ya babe!!
Trip Tucker sat up, swearing under his breath. His sleeping bag was twisted from tossing and turning and his roommate was snoring like a banshee.
"Cap'n?"
No response.
"Cap'n?"
Nada.
Trip grabbed his pillow, and briefly considered smothering his senior officer.
"Cap'n Archer!" he yelled.
Jon sat up gasping, his hair in wild disarray. He looked at Trip blankly, then frowned.
"What?" he groaned, slumping back down.
"You're snoring again. Roll over," Trip said.
Jon frowned but turned on his side, punching his pillow.
"Thank you, sir," Trip said, settling down. He closed his eyes, sighing in the contentment one can only feel at finally being able to rest.
"Trip?"
Damn. Maybe if I pretend I'm asleep.
"I know you're not asleep, Commander," Jon said.
Trip swore, but sat up, running his hands through his hair. He gave his friend his annoyed, but undivided, attention.
They turned as they heard a quiet rustling in the night. The door to their tent unzipped and Malcolm Reed's face appeared.
"Everything alright in here?"
"The Cap'n's snores are enough to scare off any locals we might have missed, but other than that we're fine," Trip said.
Jon frowned again. Malcolm gave them an odd look before going back to his place at the campfire.
"I don't snore," Jon said.
"Fine. You don't snore. Now what did you want?" Trip snapped in tired irritation.
"Do you think Hoshi was annoyed I sent her back to the ship?" Jon said, rubbing his face tiredly.
"No. As a matter of fact I think she was thrilled. That little fit she threw was so she wouldn't look s' eager to get back in her own bed," Trip said, yawning.
"That's what I was hoping. T'Pol said they could get just as much information from the Enterprise as the ground." Jon lay back down, tucking his folded arm under his head.
Trip started to lie back down.
"You've been spending an awful lot of time with Ensign Sato," Jon said.
Trip frowned and sat up again.
"Her console keeps malfunctioning. And she eats about the same time I do everyday," Trip said, watching Jon from the corner of his eye.
Jon raised an eyebrow in an imitation of T'Pol. "Every meal? She eats the same time every meal?"
"What are you, my ma? So I eat with her. I eat with Malcolm and Travis, too. You accusin' me of havin' a thing with them?" Trip snapped, his face flushing.
He began to fidget in his sleeping bag. In frustration, he threw back the cover of his sleeping bag and stood. His head smacked the top of the tent.
"Damn tents. Ya'd think they thought we were midgets." He tossed the bag down on the floor, and climbed back into it. He jerked the zipper up, burrowing himself inside. He was still for a second, and then began to kick his legs again in discomfort.
"Nothing to get that upset over, Trip. Besides you're the one who brought up a 'thing'," Jon said, closing his eyes.
Trip stopped fidgeting long enough to glare at Jon.
"You know, the other night, Tuesday about 0100?" Jon said, opening his eyes and looking at Trip.
Trip immediately stopped moving and swallowed loudly. He pounded his pillow, lying down again.
"Yeah. What about it?"
"Porthos and I went for a late night stroll. We went through C deck. I'm probably mistaken, but I could have sworn I saw you leaving Hoshi's quarters," Jon said.
"Really? No, I was in Engineering all night. I had a lot of reports to look over." Trip tried a subject change. "What were you doing up? Couldn't sleep?"
Jon's brow furrowed and he ignored the question. "I went by engineering about three minutes before that. Lieutenant Hess said she hadn't seen you since your shift ended."
"Tuesday?" Trip said, scratching his chin.
"Tuesday," Jon affirmed.
"Huh. Maybe that was Wednesday I was there. I must have been in bed," Trip said, yawning to make himself look more tired.
"Really? I know you keep odd hours, so I went by your quarters before I went to Engineering. Thought you might still be up. You didn't answer."
"I'm a sound sleeper," Trip ground out.
"Is that why you've been able to sleep through my snoring so easily?" Jon said, chuckling.
Trip sat up and glared at Jon. Suddenly, Trip's mood mysteriously changed. Jon saw a familiarly playful, yet dangerous, glint enter Trip's eyes.
"There's been something I wanted to talk to you about, Cap'n," Trip said, now smiling like a Cheshire cat.
Jon frowned. "What is it?"
"T'Pol said something interestin' the other day when you were late for breakfast."
Jon suddenly coughed and began to fidget with his own sleeping bag.
"Are these Starfleet issue? They sure seem smaller," he said, shifting around.
"She said you had had a long night, that you two had been very busy," Trip said.
"Yeah, we had a lot of reports to finish," Jon said warily.
"Remember when I called you to see when you were coming? You said you just got out of the shower? Something about a laundry screw up?"
"It's getting late, Commander. We've got an early morning tomorrow," Jon said, turning his back to Trip.
"She made an off hand comment about you not having many bath towels THAT mornin'. I was wondering, how would she know that?"
"Goodnight, Commander."
Trip smiled at Jon's back.
"Yeah. One more thing. You remember when I called you on the comm. Thursday night? I could've sworn I heard a woman's voice. Sounded an awful lot like T'Pol. She would've been there pretty late. An' you sounded kinda' out of breath."
Jon growled.
The tents door unzipped again and Malcolm's head reappeared. "What on Earth are you two up to? I've been watching this tent bob up and down for 15 minutes. Care to tell me what you're talking about?"
Jon and Trip looked at each other, then back to Malcolm.
"No," they said in unison.
Malcolm shrugged and closed the tent flap, and smiled as he walked back to the fire. Travis, who was seated on a log by the fire, smiled up at him.
"Did you tell them we could hear everything they said?"
"No. I think you and I will have a bit of fun with them later," Malcolm said.
He and Travis laughed as they listened to the sounds of Jon snoring start back up, followed shortly by Trip's muffled swears.