I decided…hey, let's make the readers suffer by making the story longer.

So now Hoshi is awake.

I'm also trying to show a little more spark between her and Malcolm... She and Trip get too many good scenes.

Was anyone else not a fan of Hoshi's newfound gun tactics? Seems awful sudden that she can shoot things well enough to give people tips...

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"Hoshi, wake up." The voice broke into Hoshi's mind. Her head was splitting, and she just couldn't bring herself to open her eyes. With a grunt, she shrugged away from the hand that was gently shaking her shoulder and tried desperately to get back to sleep.

"Hoshi...wake up." That voice and the accent to it seemed so familiar… A single eye opened and blinked. Even though her vision was slightly blurry, she could see Lieutenant Reed kneeling over her and Commander Tucker standing a few feet away.

With a grunt, she forced herself up, giving her head a shake as she tried to clear it. The linguist suddenly remembered the explosion and the piece of metal that came flying at her head. She slowly sat up, glancing around as she did. The entrance to the cargo bay had been completely filled in by rubble and Hoshi's eyes widened as she realized they were trapped. Her mouth could barely form the words as she asked the simple, "What happened?"

The two men both breathed an audible sigh of relief when she seemed fine. Malcolm helped her up as he answered her question, "There was an explosion, and we're, well, trapped. A piece of debris hit you and you've been out for a good fifteen minutes..."

Panic mounted in Hoshi's mind. They couldn't be trapped. It was impossible -- surely the two could find some way out! "There has to be…there has to be some way to get out of here. There has to be..."

"He's right Hoshi. The two of us looked everywhere, and we neither of us could find another exit. Not a door, a conduit, nothin'. We're stuck here." The ensign could feel the color draining from her face as Trip spoke. He couldn't get her out of here, an engineer. She could feel the walls closing in her on her with each reply.

"Can't you use the phase pistols? I'm sure they could blast through…"

"We'd be risking another collapse. For all we know, that debris is all that's keeping this section of the ship up. Not to mention that the metals could be explosive or hell, phase pistols may not even shoot through 'em." The engineer looked increasingly annoyed as he, too, found the situation looking more and more hopeless.

Hoshi stood up, breaking away from Reed as quickly as she could. She had hardly even noticed that his hand had stayed at her shoulder as he tried to comfort her -- and she didn't see the hurt expression he briefly displayed as she roughly shook it away from her in her haste to get away.

She had to get as far away from the two as possible. She couldn't let them see her break down after she'd been doing so well getting over her fears. Now that they were trapped, it seemed like a good time to crawl into a hole and die. That may actually happen in a week or so if they weren't found… She shook her head violently as she tried to dismiss the idea.

The linguist found herself sitting down in a corner of the cargo bay, behind a large container, just rocking back and forth. She knew that she could get over this. Malcolm and Trip were doing fine, why couldn't she? She'd faced her claustrophobia when she'd crawled all through Enterprise...she could do it now, right? She was trapped with the two men the wanted most to avoid, on an alien vessel that could implode at minute, with little hope of rescue...oh yes, she should be able to get over her fears without much problem.

"Ensign?"

Her head snapped up to find Malcolm standing in front of her. She'd hadn't even heard him coming. Her eyes clenched shut as she murmured, "I'm not in the mood to talk, Lieutenant."

"Hoshi, are you feeling well?" She could hear the worry tingeing his voice

The answer to his question was so obvious, the linguist could almost laugh. She couldn't let him know that, though. A weak smile was forced upon her face, "I have a headache."

For a moment, Hoshi thought he actually was going to take her answer and leave. She realized a few seconds later that he wasn't. There was an uncomfortable cough as he cleared his throat, then she heard that accent once more, "We're going to get out of here."

Her eyes snapped open. She didn't want to get into this with the armory officer. She knew that she'd tell him exactly how she felt. "I don't want to talk about it."

"You're going to be fine, Hoshi."

"How can you say that?" The words suddenly shot from her mouth, her tone expressing the sheer panic she felt, "We're trapped, and you say I'm going to be fine? I can already see you're fine and dandy about this. But I'm not like you, I'm supposed to be translating for friendly aliens, not wondering when I'm going to starve to death or when the ceiling is going to collapse."

He fidgeted under her gaze, murmuring his reply, "We're not going to starve to death. We're going to get out of here."

"T'Pol could be dead. Enterprise doesn't know where we are; they can't even scan the ship! There's no food, probably a limit amount of air, and for all we know, headhunting aliens are watching us from the bulkheads! And you're telling me --"

His hand was around hers. The ensign stared in shock, the words dying on her lips as the hysteria faded. That wasn't like Malcolm Reed. He wasn't a comforting person who'd hold someone's hand when he knew they were in trouble. This was special, more wonderful than she could describe. Her heart fluttered as he gently squeezed her hand and she found herself inching closer, trying to find a place in his arms.

She did. Her head rested against his chest as she curled up next to him, feeling herself calm more each second she was close to him. His hand remained closed around hers, one arm wrapping around her and gently toying with her hair.

Each moment Hoshi spent close to him, she felt safer; even though she had the exact same dilemma she had mere minutes ago. Somehow, though, being so close to Malcolm, breathing his scent, feeling his warmth made her feel as if everything was fine. Being close to him changed everything. She glanced up, trying to get even closer as she quietly confessed, "I'm scared, Malcolm."

"So am I, Hoshi. But everything's going to be fine. I promise." He whispered as his lips brushed against her forehead. She knew he meant it. She knew the officer wasn't like this for anyone and she knew that this was a rare and special occasion. This may never happen again.

The thought broke her heart.

((Hopefully not corny. I thought it was kind of cute...))