The curtain was drawn and she couldn't see him, but the sound of his voice was unmistakable. 

"There's nothing I can do for him, Mr. Reed. There's some sort of neurotoxin in his system that is liquefying his internal organs." Phlox's voice was hushed in reverence. No matter what the man's sins, no one deserved to die in this manner.

Malcolm's voice was flat. "I need him alive, Doctor."

"There is nothing I can do," Phlox assured him. "He poisoned himself."

Malcolm cursed softly.

Looking up at the dim lighting above her bed, Hoshi held her breath. She heard people moving around in the room and the doctor's animals rustle around in their cages. She felt the grasp of sleep pulling her down, and she started to nod off.

"How is she?"

Hoshi's eyes snapped open and she looked around. Malcolm's shadow cast a silhouette against the curtain. "Please don't open the curtain," she pleaded softly within her thoughts. She was weak. The virus and the treatment had taken a lot out of her and she didn't feel up to a confrontation.

"Lieutenant Sato is going to pull through with flying colors," Phlox announced cheerily. "I hear Captain Archer is going to recommend a commendation for – "

"What?"

Hoshi winced at Malcolm's harsh inflection and watched as his shadow started to pace.

"A commendation for what?" he asked, his British accent more clipped than usual. "Being a bloody reckless fool?"

"Well, I – " Phlox started.

"The bloody, reckless fool is awake and isn't deaf, sir," she muttered calmly through gritted teeth.

Hoshi was startled when the curtain whipped to one side and she shielded her eyes.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Malcolm asked with a note of astonishment in his voice.

With great effort, Hoshi sat up. "If it weren't for me, your goose would have been cooked."

"It was bloody reckless and irresponsible!" Malcolm chastised her loudly. "What the hell did you think you were doing? Were you thinking at all?"

"I just needed a clean shot," Hoshi said slowly, enunciating each word and closing her eyes.

"Proper – "

"Arrogant –"

"- technique dictates – "

"-- self-centered, son – " With each word, Hoshi sat up more and more.

"-- appropriate cover when trying to – "

" – of a bitch!" Hoshi winced in pain and grabbed her shoulder.

"That's enough," Phlox stated calmly, shoving Malcolm out of the enclosure and shutting the curtain.

If she weren't in so much pain, Hoshi would have laughed her ass off as she heard Phlox chastise Malcolm.

"I know you're upset, but I won't have you in here arguing with my patient," the doctor's voice stated loudly. "Please leave."

She didn't hear another word from her former lover, only the doors to sickbay as they opened and closed.

--

He was so close, so damn close to finally getting some answers. Bryant had them and he was going to take them to his grave with him. That son of a bitch! Again he was left with only circumstantial evidence, but at least he knew where the threat originated.

The second sniper could have been one of a dozen species as there were several with green blood. He had the weapon secured, but it was veritably untraceable – no markings and no residual prints.

Stopping outside his quarters, Malcolm punched the code into the panel as his errant thoughts settled on Hoshi. Her actions had almost gotten her killed…the little fool. "I would never forgive myself if anything happened to her," he thought out loud as the doors closed behind him.

His behavior in sickbay was deplorable and shame slowly crept over him. He shouldn't have goaded her, but he couldn't let on how relieved he was that she was actually awake. Truth was she actually did deserve a commendation, but hearing her voice had thrown him for a loop.

Try as he might, Malcolm couldn't stop loving her. He didn't want to. If circumstances were different…if circumstances had been different…

He let his thought trail off, unable to visualize his deepest desires.

All his adult life, Malcolm had been a rake, making promises he knew he had no intentions of fulfilling to every woman he had been involved with. Hoshi inspired something inside him that made him think of different possibilities – a life outside Starfleet, something akin to a family.

Pulling his "civilian" clothing over his head, he scoffed at himself. He would never be free to pursue her, especially now that he was back to square one.

Malcolm was starting to pull his uniform on when the com sounded.

"Sickbay to Lieutenant Commander Reed."

Pressing the panel, Malcolm called, "Go ahead."

"You need to come to sickbay immediately," Phlox's disembodied voice informed him.

Malcolm was out the door before he could reply, the Denobulan's serious tone spurring him to hurry.

--

Brushing past the still opening doors to sickbay, Malcolm glanced at Hoshi's drawn curtain and frowned. Phlox was across the room tending to Bryant. "What's wrong?"

The doctor turned toward him and motioned for him to come closer. As Malcolm approached, he could see dried blood at the corner of Bryant's mouth.

Bryant's eyes were glassy as though he couldn't see, and Malcolm almost felt sorry for the man as his face grimaced in pain.

"Ahh!" he screamed, his voice raspy as air and fluid combined.

"What is it, Gregory?" Malcolm asked softy, sarcasm leaking out of his voice.

"They did this," he gasped, straining against his restraints. "Those bastards poisoned me."

Having nothing to say, Malcolm waited for the man to continue.

Bryant gave a raspy breath and started coughing, fresh blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

Malcolm looked at Phlox for an explanation.

Phlox adjusted a scanner and cleared his throat. "Mr. Bryant was indeed poisoned some time ago."

Taking the scanner from Phlox, Malcolm studied it, unsure as to what he was looking at, and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Mr. Bryant has a concentrated form of athlox in his blood," Phlox explained patiently. "It's quite harmless in humans…unless mixed with rosen."

Shaking his head, Malcolm made a motion that he didn't understand what the doctor was saying.

"This," Phlox said, pointing to a distorted spot on the scanner. "This is an alte'lc – a microscopic metallic tube, which contained rosen. Rosen and athlox form a toxin, which erodes human organs. The release of the rosen was activated by remote."

Bryant scoffed. "I don't care about their fucking movement," he wheezed, his lungs filling with blood. "They did this. They assassinated me by a press of the button because they were afraid I would talk."

"Who did this?" Malcolm asked hopefully.

More blood bubbled from Bryant's mouth as he tried to vocalize, his face contorted in pain. With his last breath spoke one name. "Soval."