Engine Trouble… In More Ways Than One!

By Moonlit Sea

Disclaimer: I don't own Enterprise or the characters all I own is this fic and the characters Lt. Karyn Kelly, Lt. Davis Adams, Ensign Mark Matsuki, Crewman Kari James & Ensign Jamie Byrne.

/-Thoughts-/

Chapter 7 - A Fight In The Mess Hall

The next day when Trip entered Engineering he hoped that Malcolm and Karyn had sorted out their little 'problem'. He didn't want Karyn to be distracted while she worked; he looked around expecting her to already be there and was surprised to see she was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Karyn?" he asked Davis as he walked passed.

"She hasn't turn up for duty yet sir." Davis replied.

This immediately worried Trip it wasn't like Karyn to be late for anything let alone her shifts in engineering. He went over to the comm. and said into it

"Tucker to Lieutenant Kelly."

There was a slight pause then he heard "Ouch! Damn it!" from the sound of it he had just woken her up.

"Kelly here sir."

"You're late Lieutenant." Trip said sternly.

"Oh no!" Trip assumed she had just looked at the time. "I'm terribly sorry sir." Came a hurried reply, "I'll be there as quick as I can Kelly out."

Before Karyn had closed the channel Trip could of sworn he had Karyn say "Ow! Damn chair!"

Then a couple of minutes later just as she said Karyn appeared in engineering and headed in Trip's direction. He was talking to Mark about the antimatter injectors.

But before she got there she heard someone say "tut tut." She looked to see who it was and saw Davis looking at her.

"Late for duty Karyn." He teased shaking his head. "That will never do."

"Very funny Davis." She said and continued towards Trip who was now waiting to speak to her.

"I'm terribly sorry about that Commander." She apologised referring to her lateness.

"What happen? It's not like ya to be late." Trip said curiously.

"I… must of not heard my alarm this morning and… overslept." Karyn answered blushing a little.

Trip could see that it wasn't the real reason why she was late but he didn't want to give away the fact that he had seen the little 'scene' between her and Malcolm.

"Perhaps we should talk about this later."

Karyn nodded pleased that he didn't ask anything further and went to work.

/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/
(Mess hall.)

Malcolm was sitting in the mess hall his shift didn't start for another hour. He sat thinking about yesterday's events. Why was he so mean to Karyn? Surely she had come to apologise and explain why she never turned up. And yet he told her that they had nothing to talk about and to start calling him Lieutenant Reed not Malcolm. The thing that really got him though was what she had said when he had closed the door on her.
'Malcolm… I'm sorry.' Her words repeating in his mind.

"Are you okay sir?" a voice said interrupting Malcolm's thoughts.

"Hm?" Malcolm said surprised to see two worried looking ensigns looking at him.

"Travis asked if you were okay." Jamie repeated.

"Yes… I'm fine thank you Ensign." Malcolm replied.

"Are you sure? You looked outta it for a few minutes." Travis said worriedly.

"I was just thinking that's all." Malcolm answered a little embarrassed that he was so deep in thought about Karyn that he was oblivious to surroundings.

He couldn't go on duty like that. Once was enough and he doubted that the captain would be very pleased with a preoccupied armoury officer on the bridge.

Then suddenly Trip walked in and headed in Malcolm's direction. Travis noticed that he looked a little pissed.

"Come on Jamie we'd better get going." He said not wanting to get involved in what ever was about to happen.

"Huh what…" Jamie was about to say but then saw the annoyed Commander coming in their direction and suddenly agreed.

When Trip reached Malcolm he stood in front of him and said
"You son of a bitch."

"I'm sorry?" asked a very confused Malcolm.
/-He looks angry no scratch that pissed, but why is he angry with me? What have I done?-/

"How could you do that to her!" Trip said raising his voice a little.

Malcolm could see everyone staring at them.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Commander." he said calmly and started to walk out.

"I ain't finished with ya Lieutenant!" Trip shouted.

"Well then Sir…" Malcolm said emphasising on the word 'Sir' making Trip angrier (if it was even possible). "Would you mind telling the Captain that I'll be late for duty." Turning round to face Trip.

Trip was using all his self-control from not going over there and knocking Malcolm on his ass then and there. He just stood there staring at Malcolm with his fist shaking at his side. When Malcolm saw that Trip wasn't going to say anything more he left, leaving everyone in the mess hall wondering what just went on. Most of them were staring at the commander wondering why he was so angry with the lieutenant.
When Trip realised he was being stared at by nearly the entire room he looked at them.

"What are you all looking at!" he snapped to which everyone returned to what they were doing and Trip left.

By lunchtime the whole ship knew about what happen between Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Reed, but by the time the captain heard it Trip had walked into the mess hall and punched Malcolm which led to a full fledged fight. Knowing how gossip can easily become distorted on a ship the size of Enterprise and also knowing that Travis was there at the time it happened Archer went to find out what really happened before meeting up with Trip.

/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/

"Care to explain Commander." Archer said as they entered the captain's mess.

"I'm sorry Cap'n. I guess I just lost it." Trip answered as he sat down.

"What could have got you so annoyed that it would make you go and yell at Malcolm in front of everyone?"

But before he got an answer the door chimed.

"Come in" Archer called out.

The door opened and Karyn walked in much to Trip's amazement.

"Sorry I'm late sir, I was talking to Hoshi." She apologised as sat down.

"You're just in time." Archer smiled.

/-Just in time to eat or to hear why I nearly beat the crap outta Malcolm.-/ Trip wondered.

"So what's on the menu today then?" Karyn asked.

"I believe its chicken casserole." Jon answered.

"Hoshi tells me that there was a fight in the mess hall earlier." Karyn said as the food was brought out.

Jon looked at Trip remembering that he never heard Trip's reply to his earlier question. /-Thanks for bringing that up Karyn-/ Trip thought sarcastically.

"But she never mentioned who it was between." She smelled the dish that was put in front of her. "Mmmm smells delicious." She smiled unaware of the looks Jon was giving Trip. (A/N don't even think about it! It wasn't those kinds of looks!)

"Really… a fight. Have you heard anything about this Trip?" Jon asked knowing full well it was him.

"A fight…." Trip stuttered, "No I ain't heard 'bout it"

"Yeah apparently this person was so angry that he just went up to one of the crew and punched him, soon it turned into a full fledged fight. Well that's what I heard anyway." Karyn continued after swallowing her food.

"Really..." Trip said nervously taking a sip of his drink.

Jon could see Trip was trembling trying hard not to yell out 'That's not how it happened!' /-Just a little more Karyn.-/ he thought.

"Aren't you hungry Trip?" she asked noticing that he hadn't touched his food yet.

Jon sighed as much as he wanted to know why Trip yelled at Malcolm he decided to bail him out of his predicament.

"I hear you were late for your shift this morning Karyn." Sticking a piece of chicken in his mouth. (A/N I've never had casserole so I don't know how it is eaten!)

It was Karyn's turn to become a little shaky and Trip's turn to know why.

"Yes… I erm…overslept." She replied.

"Oh that doesn't sound like you." Jon said casually.

"Yes well I… had a lot of thinking to do last night." She replied trying not to give too much away.

Suddenly Trip got up and said, "If ya don't mind I really ain't that hungry, I'll be in engineerin' if ya need me."

After Trip had left Karyn turned to Jon and asked
"Is he okay?"

"He's just a little… preoccupied at the moment." Jon said trying to think of an excuse.

"Aren't we all." Karyn said quietly.

But apparently not quietly enough.

"So what had you thinking all night that you would oversleep and be late for duty." Jon suddenly asked.

"I'd rather not talk about. If you don't mind sir." She replied pushing her plate away.

"Karyn…"

"Yes I know this isn't about ship's business and I don't have to called you sir." She interrupted.

"Right… now who is it Trip or Malcolm?" Jon asked knowing it had to be one of the two.

Karyn looked surprised.
"Why do you think it's about one of them?"

Jon gave her a 'I know it is so don't pretend that it's not' look.

Karyn sighed.
"Fine okay. It is about one of them." She gave in.

"Since you're fine when Trip was here I'm guessing it was something to do with Mr. Reed."

Karyn didn't say anything for a couple of minutes, which told Jon that he, was right.

"Do we have to talk about this?" Karyn asked hoping Jon would drop the subject.

"Until you tell me why you were late." Jon replied.

"I already told you!" Karyn said a little annoyed as she got up and went toward the view port.

"If you'd tell me it would also explain why Trip punched Malcolm." Jon said not meaning for the way it came out.

Karyn turned round straight away
"He what!" extremely shocked.

"That didn't exactly come out right." Jon said wishing he hadn't said it.

"You mean Trip and Lieutenant Reed were the ones fighting." Remembering what happened yesterday.

"They weren't fighting Karyn. Trip was just angry and decided to yell at Malcolm in front of everyone who was in the mess hall at the time."

Karyn didn't say a word but just left the captain's mess without even saying 'excuse me' or 'I have to go'.

"Karyn…" Jon called after her but she was already gone.

"Well you screwed that one up Jon," he said to himself.

/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/

In engineering Trip sat staring at the screen wondering if he had done the right thing by walking out of the captain's mess the way he did. Suddenly Karyn appeared and she didn't look very happy. /-Uh oh! I guess the secrets out-/ he thought.

"Commander may we talk in private." She asked not wanting to make scene.

Trip could tell by the sound of her voice that she was doing her best not to scream at him. And he was grateful that she didn't come in shouting her head off. The last thing he wanted was to lose his anger in front of his staff.

"Sure." He replied calmly.

They walked out of engineering and headed towards Trip's quarters. As soon as they entered Karyn asked
"Why did you hit Lieutenant Reed?" she asked calmly.

Too calmly for Trip's liking, he was expecting her to be shouting not at all calm and reasonable. If he didn't know better he'd a sworn she'd been hanging around T'Pol too long.

Trip sighed as he sat on his bed then answered "I didn't hit him, but that's the reason I yell at him."

Karyn looked confused "What do you mean Trip?"

"I saw what he did to ya and it just made me angry that he could do something like that."

This confused Karyn more than ever; did he mean that he saw what happened between them? If that was so why didn't he say anything?

/-She looks so cute when she's confused.-/ he thought then shook his head, /-concentrate Tucker! This ain't the time to be thinkin' how cute she is. Damn it!-/ as he realised his thoughts had gone full circle.

Slowly Karyn sat down still wondering why Trip hadn't said anything if he saw the little 'scene' that occurred between her and Malcolm.

"You…uh…saw that." She said nervously.

"I was comin' back from Engineerin' when I heard ya askin' him to open the door."

Tears were starting to form in Karyn's eyes; she sniffed and replied, "I suppose you also heard the conversation that went on."

"Conversation? You mean when you were talkin' through Malcolm's door? That's not what I call a conversation." Getting up and starting to pace.

"N-no n-not that." she answered, it was becoming more and more difficult for her to control herself not to cry.

"Oh…" Trip replied. He had stopped pacing and now was just standing looking at her. "Then I guess the part where he asked to call him Lieutenant Reed." He continued saying the last bit sarcastically.

At that point Karyn broke down into tears unable to control it any longer, she just nodded her head in reply.

"Look I didn't mean to make ya cry." Going over and comforting her.

"It's not your fault." She says through her tears, "I'm sorry."

"For what? Crying? Don't be." Trip said soothingly, "If it makes ya feel any better I wanted to punch Malcolm's lights out as soon as he said it."

Karyn giggled into Trip's chest, only a few tears remained as she pulled away from him. She was a little embarrassed at the wet patch she had created with her tears on his uniform.

"Sorry." She said shyly as she looks at his face.

"Hey don't worry about it." Trip says as he smiles. "You okay now?" he asks as he wipes away the last remaining tears with his thumb.

"Yeah… but I don't think punching Malcolm's lights out would of helped." Not caring if she called him by his rank or not.

"Who knows it might of knocked some sense into him." Trip joked.

Once again Karyn giggled and smiled at him.
There was silence between them, both looking at each other and neither realising that Trip's hand was still on Karyn's face.

/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/

Jon was on his way to engineering to see if Trip was okay after Karyn went to see him. He suddenly thought that he might need a new chief engineer in case Karyn had killed him. He chuckled to himself at the thought, as he passed a few crewmembers they looked at him strangely, wondering what he was chuckling at. Karyn wouldn't have been able to do that, no matter how angry she got she could never hurt anyone. As he walked in and looked around he saw no sign of Trip or Karyn.

"Where's Trip?" he asked a near by crewman.

"I'm not sure sir." They replied.

"He went with Lieutenant Kelly." Kari answered overhearing the question.

"Do you know where they went?" he enquired.

"No sir." Kari replied. "Lieutenant Kelly wanted to speak to the Commander in private."

/-Figures.-/
"Okay thanks." And headed out.

If Karyn wanted to talk to Trip alone there only two places they would go.
Either Karyn's or Trip's quarters.
He decided to try Karyn's quarters first and found no one there, which meant they were at Trip's. When he got to Trip's quarters he pressed the bell, but no one answered he tried again still no answer. Knowing that they must be in there he opened the door and walked in but nothing could have prepared him for what he saw.

There sat Trip and Karyn kissing, after a few seconds Jon cleared his throat to make his presence known.

"Cap'n!" Trip said in shock.
Surprised to see him in his quarters.