Sorry this is taking me so long. O.o I need to be the 'mood' to write and I had problems finding a way to write out this chapter so it would seem in character. Still not sure it is.

If anyone watches Babylon 5, you might recognize a part of this. The dialogue was so firmly imbedded in my brain I had to use it. I'm so unoriginal.

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            I love you, Hoshi.

The linguist remembered those words as her eyes slowly opened. It took her a moment to realize where she was, and when she did, she had to double check to make sure she was indeed in sickbay. The last thing she remembered was being on that alien ship and...

            Well, being in sickbay was much more likely than what had happened on that ship.

            "Ah! Ensign Sato! You're awake! Good, good..." Doctor Phlox appeared over her, scanning device in hand.

            Struggling to sit up and clear her head, she glanced around sickbay to make sure it was really there. Memories of the ship continued to flood back to her. "What happened? Are Malcolm and Trip okay?"

            "Lieutenant Reed is not in his best condition." Phlox replied, glancing at the various readings. "You and Commander Tucker seemed to have escaped relatively unscathed."

            "Aside from one hell of a headache..." The engineer's southern drawl turned Hoshi's attention away from the doctor. He was standing there, looking as healthy as could be.

            The Doctor lingered for a moment, peering at the readouts above her head once more before nodding approvingly. "You seem to be in fine health, Ensign. I'll be feeding my animals, so call if you need me."

            Trip moved over to Hoshi, his eyes straying to wear Malcolm lay, still unconscious. "How ya feelin', Hoshi?"

            "Like a bulldozer hit me," she sighed, "But imagine how Malcolm feels. Here I am, complaining, and he's unconscious..."

            "It's not your fault he wanted to save your life, Hoshi. He did what he thought was best."

            The linguist stared blankly ahead of her, trying to piece together all the events. There was the strong memory of that 'I love you' ringing in her mind, but she couldn't accept who she knew within her soul had said it. A distant laugh came from her as she shook her head, "I was thinking the most absurd things, Trip. You wouldn't believe."

            "I bet I could."

            "I thought that I was dead. I honestly thought I was dead, and God was talking to me." she chuckled at the irony of it all, "And he really had that British accent like in those biblical movies they sometimes show on movie night. You know what he said? 'I love you.' I was just thinking...'there really is a God, after all. And he actually loves me.' But you know what?"

            At the sight of the tears glimmering in her eyes, the engineer took a hold of her hand, smiling weakly. "What?"

            "It was Malcolm telling me that he loved me, wasn't it? Not some supernatural deity, but Enterprise's armory officer."

            Trip's silence was her answer. She knew then that she was right. The truth that she'd been trying so hard to turn into a lie was real.

            "And now he might die, all because he loved me and wanted to be some hero." Her tear filled eyes turned to Trip, pain lancing her words. "He was such an idiot."

            The engineer found himself at a loss of words. He gripped both of her hands as tightly as he could, his voice low and comforting, "If I've learned anything about Malcolm, he sure as hell doesn't die easily. He won't give up, Hoshi. As pessimistic as that Brit can be, he doesn't give up."

            He leaned forward to lay a kiss on her forehead before pulling back, smiling weakly. "I'm gonna go, okay? I have to do go to engineerin' for a while. I'll check on you later."

            "Bye, Trip… Thanks for listening to me ramble."

            "Anytime, Hosh. Anytime."

            She watched the doors close behind him and she sunk back down into the medical bed, eyes closed as she tried to sort through the chaos in her mind.

*********

            It felt like a house had fallen on him. Every inch of Malcolm Reed's body was sore and it took all of his will just to open his eyes and force them to focus. It was obvious that he was in sickbay and all the lights had been dimmed. It appeared he had woken up sometime at night.

            His eyes searched the room for Phlox, finding no trace of the Denobulan in sight. Perhaps he was in another room... The officer was just struggling to get up when he saw a form wrapped up in a blanket and curled in a chair near his medical bed.

            "Hoshi?" He whispered, staring in awe as he realized that it was indeed the linguist. A soft groan issued from the sleeping woman.

            "It is indeed Ensign Sato," The quieted voice of Doctor Phlox made Reed turn from the sight, shocked that the man could appear so quickly. "She's been coming to sickbay for the past two days, watching you. The only reason she ever leaves is to do her shift. That's quite a friend you have there, Lieutenant."

            Malcolm could only stare in awe, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to speak. "What...What happened, Doctor?"

            "Captain Archer managed to retrieve the away team, obviously."

            "Very enlightening, Doctor."

            "I believe you're stable for now, and since you're conscious, I suppose it would be quite good for you to go the mess hall." He continued, eyebrows raising it what seemed like amusement, "I'm sure Ensign Sato would be more than happy to accompany you."

            The armory officer swallowed, staring at Hoshi as Phlox went off to do whatever he did once more. He slowly inched off the medical bed, gently laying his hand on her shoulder. "Hoshi? Wake up..."

            "What time is it?" The woman groaned, eyes slowly opening at first, then rapidly widening as she saw who was standing over her. "Are you okay? Are you feeling alright?"

            "Just a little sore, but no real problems..." He lied, smiling down at her. "Doctor Phlox wanted me to go to the mess hall. Care to join me, Ensign?"

            He wasn't sure if that was happiness or complete shock, or perhaps a mix of both, that went across her face. She stared, still wide-eyed, for a moment, before replying with a simple, "Okay."

            He walked towards the door, the linguist walking just behind him. He remembered all too well what had happened on that alien vessel and he knew that the two of them had a lot to talk about...

((Hmm...I have a fair amount of satisfaction with this chapter. I always worry that these things are so horribly out of character, tell me if they are, yes?

One more chapter to go with this...Let's all hope I get to it soon.))