Title: Vanishing Point - Missing Scene

Author: Ana_P

Rating: PG-13

Category: General, Humor

Codes: R, S

Summary: What if Hoshi hadn't given up on her Morse Code tactic so easily...

Disclaimer: The usual crap.

A/N: Thanks to my wonderful betas, crisiskris and CJ!

Archive: Linguistics Database - all others ask.

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Hoshi furiously paced back & forth, "I can't believe this is happening! First I fade away, and now two perfectly intelligent people can't recognize Morse Code! Of course this would be one of the times the Captain listens to logic instead of his gut instinct!"

She forced herself to stop pacing. It was getting her nowhere. "Calm down, Hoshi. Breathe. Think. Your plan would have worked if the Captain hadn't turned stupid... seems to happen when she's around…have a theory on that...focus, girl! Who else would possibly recognize Morse Code…Malcolm!"

She raced off to locate the armoury officer.

After checking the armoury and the bridge, Hoshi skidded to a halt outside of Malcolm's quarters. She hesitated, wondering if this was really such a good idea; she would be entering his quarters without his knowledge. This was a disquieting thought since she knew Lt. Reed was an intensely private person.

"Well, it's not like you can knock on the door. Get moving!" she muttered to herself. With a sigh, Hoshi pulled herself together and entered the Lieutenant's quarters.

She looked around - she didn't see Malcolm, but lights were on and the terminal at his desk was activated. As she stood there, taking this in, Malcolm walked out of his lavatory, toweling off his hair and humming. Her back to him, Hoshi belatedly noticed the clothes laid out on the bed.

Not able to stop herself, Hoshi turned around muttering, "Oh no, oh no, oh no..."

"Oh my." Hoshi found she couldn't breathe. Malcolm had his back to her; except for the towel at his head, he was totally nude.

"Well could be worse - at least he hasn't turned around," she tried to console herself. To her chagrin, she realized that there was a part of her disappointed by the fact. At that moment, Malcolm turned around.

"Oh my, oh my," she gasped. Were the environmental controls malfunctioning? It seemed to be getting warm and hard to breathe... She felt rooted to the spot.

Still nude, Malcolm headed towards his terminal, where Hoshi was standing. For an awful moment, she thought that Malcolm could see her. The scare jump-started her mental processes. "SOS, Hoshi. That's what you are here for."

"Riiight. You can barely put two words together at the moment," retorted the brutally honest part of her mind. That was when she realized that she was still staring. No, ogling was more like it.

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Hoshi gave herself a shake. Then she quickly left Malcolm's quarters, before she gave in to the impulse that wanted to prolong the unexpected peep show. Once in the hallway, she stood staring at his door, trying to regain her mental balance.

As her mind settled, she wondered what to do next. Maybe the Commander or Travis knew Morse Code. No. Decidedly not. If Malcolm was off shift, it was likely they were too. With her luck, she would catch whichever one she found first in his quarters, in some state of undress. Unbidden, in quick succession, images of a nude, damp Trip and similar images of Travis flashed in her mind. Her breath became shallow. Nope. Hunting down Trip and Travis was definitely not a good idea.

Calming herself yet again, Hoshi decided that she had better take the aliens on unassisted. It would be safer that way. She gave a snort, muttering, "I never thought I would consider confronting hostile aliens by myself a preferred choice."

Shaking her head, she gave Malcolm's door one last look. She grinned; Hoshi suspected that she was going to have some really interesting dreams in the near future. With another bemused shake of her head, she set off to deal with the intruders.

Finis

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