Anonymity – Chapter 3

Rating: PG-13 in this chapter
Disclaimer: See chapter one
Summary: The morning after the night before.

NB: Please suspend your disbelief in this story – Malcolm's not aquaphobic! Not really important but if I didn't mention it I'd have nitpickers (like myself) commenting.

Malcolm woke up slowly, realising with a sinking feeling in his stomach that the grogginess he was currently experiencing would undoubtedly turn into a splitting headache as soon as he moved properly. And it was too bright. He turned his head to the side to try to get the light out of his eyes, but it followed him. He groaned and rolled over to the other side. It did the same. Then he heard something else that sounded suspiciously like stifled giggling. He opened his eyes with a snap.

Trip was standing over him, shining a beacon right into his eyes, with a grin on his face. Hoshi and Travis were also there – on seeing his eyes open they gave up trying to stifle their giggles and laughed out loud.

"Mornin' lieutenant!" grinned Trip. Malcolm rolled over and tried to hide his head in the covers. How the hell had they got in? Still, at least he was in his own bed. How had he got there again?

"Oh no, you don't, sir!" He heard Travis' voice approach and before he knew it, the cover had been pulled down to waist level. Resigning himself, he sat up, thanking the lord that he'd at least managed to get some pyjama trousers on last night.

"And what is the reason for this untimely awakening, may I ask?" he growled, trying to adjust to the light. Jesus, his voice sounded terrible, he realised, desperately hoping the others would put it down to the early morning and the hangover.

"Untimely?" chuckled Trip. "It's 10.30 – you were supposed to meet us a quarter of an hour ago to go to the beach!" Realisation flooded through Malcolm's mind. Hurriedly he jumped out of bed, wincing at the headache.

"Just meet us in the shuttlebay asap," Trip said, his grin extending. "Oh, and..." he put some pills down on the table, "Work wonders those do." With a final wink, he followed the others out of the door.

This was definitely the life, thought Trip, lying in the sun on the beach. It was a wonder they'd got there at all, after having to drag Malcolm out of bed and then having to fix the problems in their shuttle before they could take off. But, he added mentally, it was definitely worth it for this weather. He had passed this beach last night on his way to the bar and thought how nice it had looked – he was glad they'd got here. And thinking of nice-looking things, the sight of Malcolm this morning, topless, all ruffled from sleep, had been very nice indeed. He'd had a hard time keeping up the façade of cheery amused friend, especially after the events of last night. Trip let a smile cross his face slowly, then thought about going for a swim, just as a shadow crossed his face. He opened one eye slowly. Crap.

"Anyone up for a swim?" Malcolm asked as he dripped onto Trip. "It's no fun on my own." Trip stretched.

"Yeah, I'll come," he replied, getting up. "I'm wet enough already," he added, mock-glaring at Malcolm, who didn't look in the least bit repentant. "Hoshi?"

"I'm gonna wait here til Travis gets back with the drinks," the young woman replied without opening her eyes. "You two go ahead." Trip shrugged and looked back to Malcolm.

"Shall we?" Malcolm paused for a second, then smiled.

"Race you," he lanced, before setting off at a sprint, Trip hot on his heels.

After a while, the sea got a little too cold and wet, so the two men made their way back up the beach to dry off with the others. Malcolm settled down on his towel, taking a drink offered to him by Travis as Trip shook like a dog, soaking Hoshi and receiving an earful in return. Malcolm smiled to himself and lay on his back to soak up the sun. All too soon, though, he was interrupted by Hoshi's voice.

"Malcolm?"

"Mmmm?" was the only reply he could be bothered to make.

"I've been meaning to ask," she said, innocence dripping from her voice to the extent it made Malcolm suspicious. He opened one eye to glare at her. "What's that?" She pointed towards Malcolm's hipbone. He looked down. A very obvious love-bite was not quite low enough to be covered by his swimming shorts. Fully awake now, he flipped over onto his front to cover it, glaring at Hoshi, who was giggling, and at Travis and Trip who were trying hard not to do the same.

"I'll thank you to mind your own business, Ensign," he growled at her. Far from the intended effect, this only made her laugh more and prompted Travis to join in too.

"Subtle Malcolm, real subtle," Trip chuckled, winking. Malcolm groaned and hid his head in his towel.

A little while later, thanks to Travis's drinks, everyone had loosened up a little more, and Trip had to admit he was curious. He decided to try broaching the subject again.

"So, Malcolm," he started, "Where did you get it?" Malcolm glared. Trip decided to try a new tactic. "I'll show you mine if you tell me where yours is from!"

Hoshi snorted and sprayed her drink across herself in shock. Once the laughter had subsided and she had cleaned herself up a bit, Trip repeated his offer.

"Well?" he asked, winking at Malcolm. There was a pause. Malcolm took a deep breath.

"It was... in a bar last night. I... met someone there." His shy admission was met by whoops.

"Nice one, sir! Now I know why you didn't come out with us last night!" Travis laughed, not fazed by the glare he got from Malcolm. Instead, he continued in the same vein. "Your turn now, Commander," he grinned.

With a wink at Travis, Trip peeled down the top of his shorts as far as they would go without exposing him, revealing a mark matching Malcolm's.

"Nice," approved Hoshi.

"Where's yours from then?" asked Malcolm, curiosity tingeing his voice. Score, thought Trip.

"Same as you – met someone in a bar last night," he replied. "Fantastic place – great drinks," he added.

"I'll bet it wasn't as good as mine," teased Malcolm. "Mine had glowing waiters." Trip frowned.

"So did mine – maybe it's a local thing."

"There weren't any where we were," offered Travis helpfully. "Maybe you did end up in the same place as each other after all!" Trip frowned again. Did they?

"Maybe," he muttered. Then he raised his voice to address Malcolm, "Hey Malcolm, this bar you were in wasn't... specialist in any way was it?" Ignoring the confused looks of the two ensigns, he tried again when he realised Malcolm hadn't heard him.

"Malcolm!" Confused eyes looked up to meet his.

"Huh?" Trip decided to take a chance.

"You weren't in Bar Koqzutal, were you?" From the look of shock on Malcolm's face, he guessed he'd been right. Well, whaddya know? he thought. He turns out to be a man-fan after all! It was only then he noticed the blood had drained from Malcolm's face, and he was packing up his bag.

"Excuse me," he said hoarsely, nodding to the others and starting to move away down the beach. Trip called after him.

"Hey, Malcolm! Where are you going?" Malcolm didn't look back, and speeded up his walking. With a look at the others, Trip ran after him and quickly caught him up. Resigning himself, Malcolm stopped, but didn't look back at him.

"What's the matter?" Malcolm spun round to face him, bitterness evident in his voice.

"What's the matter? You may not have a problem with everybody knowing your business, Commander, but I prefer to keep some things to myself. And that was something I would rather not have had the whole crew know." The spite had faded out of his voice, and now he just looked weary. Trip tried to remedy the situation.

"Shit Malcolm, I'm sorry. I didn't realise. I mean, what were the chances that we were in the same bar?" No reply. "Besides," he added, trying to improve the atmosphere, "We're both in the same boat now. If they even bother to look that place up." The scathing look on Malcolm's face said it all – if they hadn't already guessed, they were bound to be curious enough to look it up. Underneath it all, Trip knew that was true. Malcolm plopped down onto the sand, looking out at the sea.

"Face it Trip - we're fucked." Trip sat down next to him, shocked at the tone in Malcolm's voice.

"No, we're not," he said coaxingly. "Ok, so maybe people will see us slightly differently but we're still the same people they knew before. This isn't the middle-ages – they'll accept us." Malcolm was silent. After a while, he half-smiled and looked across at him.

"So, you had fun last night then?"

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