Part 3

Trip walked with a concerned Hoshi as they followed Malcolm and some others from his security team take the crewman – still singing, this time butchering a Gilbert and Sullivan tune – to sick bay. He could see how worried she was, and let himself grab her hand. Just to reassure her, of course. He had no other motives. Nope, not a one.

She gave him a quick look of gratitude and they entered sickbay, in time to find out that the young man was the "very model of a modern major general." Phlox gave the crewman a sedative and as he slipped off into sleep, the doctor began to shoo all of them out of his domain. At Hoshi and Malcolm's protest, Phlox promised to alert them the minute he found anything out. Just as they approached the doors, however, they opened to reveal Captain Archer holding an enormous bunch of flowers in one hand. In the other he brandished a length of pipe.

"Where is she? Where is the fair princess?" Jon exclaimed to the wide-eyed group gathered before him as he held his pipe aloft with all the finesse of... well, a man in a purple-blue jumpsuit and a pipe. Before they could even respond, he saw T'Pol lying in the far end of the room and rushed to her side, discarding flowers and pipe as he dropped to one knee and pressed one of her hands to his chest. "Fair maiden! The stories, they are true!" he cried out and turned to Phlox, who was watching him with the carefully considering eyes of one who knew he had not a moment to waste. Hoshi saw that the doctor readied a hypospray behind his back.

"And what stories are those?" he calmly asked as he slowly neared the captain, slightly nodding to Trip and Malcolm, who began to approach the captain from the other direction.

Jon gave a look of disgust at Phlox's question, and stood in what could only be described as a heroic pose, one hand on his chest, the other gesturing to his sleeping beauty. "The stories of a beautiful foreign princess, lying under a foul enchantment! I must save her, it is my destiny. Where are the dragons I must slay to free her from this foul spell?" he demanded just as Trip and Malcolm each grabbed an arm. "Release me, miscreants!" Jon shouted as he struggled against them. Phlox quickly injected him with a sedative and the captain quickly dropped off into sleep.

The others quickly put him into a bed and fastened restraints to him, just as they had earlier done to Crewman Davis. The four of them just looked at each other for a moment, taking in the bizarre behavior they had just witnessed. Finally, Malcolm interrupted the silence, his voice a welcome tone of calm and authority. "Commander Tucker, It appears that you now have command of the ship. I recommend that you, the doctor and myself immediately initiate the appropriate security protocols until this situation is remedied."

Trip closed his eyes for a moment, before exhaling a deep breath. When he opened his eyes, he nodded to Malcolm before turning to Phlox, his voice just as calm as Malcolm's had been. "Doc, you got any ideas what's happening here? Was the vaccination not effective?"

"To be honest, I cannot say for certain. I have not even had chance to study Commander T'Pol for a day before these two other cases appeared. From what I have seen of the Commander, neither the allergen nor the vaccine itself seems to be the cause. It could simply be coincidence that three of the crew who went down to the planet have become ill."

At that moment, Chef's startled voice sounded over the comm. "Lieutenant Reed! We need your assistance straight away in the mess hall!"

As Malcolm immediately left, Trip went to the comm panel. "Commander Tucker here, Lieutenant Reed is on his way. What's going on?"

"Sir, it's Ensign Mayweather!" Chef exclaimed in a panicked voice. "He's… he's throwing chairs and tables around and…" he paused, clearly not sure if he should keep talking. "He's growling, sir! I… I … I think he thinks he's a bear!"

Trip gave a look to Phlox. "I think we can scratch coincidence from the list, doc."

Hoshi quickly grasped his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze between both of her own. He looked down at her and grinned as best he could. "Still sorry you missed shore leave?"

Hoshi sighed as she collapsed in a chair in the mess hall. She was glad to get away from both the bridge and sickbay – or, as they had all taken to calling it, the "command center," since they were constantly there to confer with Phlox and check in on Jon and T'Pol. They hadn't moved from their orbit above the gas giant since the strange outbreak had occurred over three days earlier. Hoshi had communicated with the planet the crew had been to, but had gotten no answers. The public health authorities there had seemed as puzzled as Phlox: they had had both human and Vulcan visitors before, and had never heard of such a reaction.

Moreover, while the illness seemed to be only affecting those who had taken shore leave, it had not affected all those who had gone to the planet's surface. So, it had been an almost constant state of wary anxiety as they waited for another member of the crew to be taken into the makeshift quarantine facilities Malcolm had devised. Actually, Malcolm had wanted to isolate the entire crew who had contact with the planet's surface, but Trip had vetoed that idea. So far, over half of the crew was already in quarantine, and they needed every hand they could get to keep Enterprise functioning while trying to solve the mystery of the illness.

If Hoshi hadn't been so tired, the thought of how some of the crew had acted in the last few days might have brought a slight smile to her face. Some had been like Crewman Davis, apparently acting out on inner, suppressed desires. Hoshi thanked God that Malcolm hadn't been one of those affected, or heaven only knew what kinds of explosions the man could have unleashed on the galaxy. Others, like the Captain, had apparently become other personalities. Travis the bear had been strange enough, but who could forget the sight of the most hulking member of the armory department thinking he was a ladybug? A ladybug that spoke English. An English-speaking ladybug who would rhapsodize to anyone listening about the utter delights of being the "cutest little thing in the whole wide world." Malcolm had been aghast.

Once this was cleared up, there would be some pretty embarrassed people on board. Once this was cleared up. Hoshi refused to accept that this wouldn't be solved soon.

"Tired, darlin?" Trip's voice brought Hoshi back into the moment. She gave him as much of a smile as she could muster. She was so proud of him: he was under so much pressure, but remained such a calm and reassuring presence to everyone on board.

"You have no idea," she answered, and then took in his own disheveled appearance. "Then again, I guess you probably do."

He laughed and went to stand behind her and gently kneaded her shoulders. "You're gonna wear yourself out, Hosh," he gently reprimanded her as a sigh of pure pleasure escaped from her. He smiled at that. "You've got to get some rest."

At that, Hoshi turned her head slightly to look at him. "You're a fine one to talk! When's the last time you got some sleep?"

"That's true," he answered, his eyes twinkling. "I am pretty beat. You know, you're more than welcome to rub my shoulders, too. Heck, you can rub as much as you want, I won't complain none."

At that, Hoshi burst out laughing, and Trip was glad he was able to joke with her again, after all the stresses of the past few days. He hoped he could remind her of how much fun they'd had at that movie night. He had been waiting so long for the right opportunity. Maybe soon, he could get her to think of him in a new way, one that...

"Unhand her, buffoon!"

The strident order rang through the mess hall as a young ensign that Hoshi recognized from engineering practically ran towards them.

"Buffoon?" Trip echoed incredulously even as he moved to stand between the man and Hoshi. He could already see that someone was calling for assistance. "Look Ensign, let's just calm down here. Why don't you tell me what's on your mind?"

"What's on my mind? Don't you think we should change that to what's on your mind, Commander? Oh, but I've forgotten, we all know that you have a one-track mind," he replied nastily, then turned love-sick eyes onto Hoshi, who was staring at him from her position behind Trip. His face flushed with anger as he turned back to Trip. "I've seen how you treat women, Tucker, and I'm not going to let you hurt her! She deserves better than someone like you!"

Trip couldn't believe how angry he was getting at what the young man was saying. He knew that the ensign was just ill, but it was making him see red that this particular delusion had focused on Hoshi. "Now see here!" Trip began, unable to keep all of his anger out of his voice, and Hoshi quickly placed herself between the two men.

"Please, Ensign," she began, in a calm voice. "There's no need to be angry at Commander Tucker, he was just being considerate. You work with him in engineering, you know how much he cares about the crew."

The young man stared at her, his big, brown, puppy-dog eyes filled with adoration. "He's not even that good an engineer, you know," he replied breathlessly, desperately wanting to impress her. "He acts like he knows everything, but it's the rest of us that make him look so good." Hoshi could hear Trip's choking response to the young man's claims, and made a motion behind her back to hush him. "I could make you anything you could ever want!" the ensign continued. "I'd do anything you asked! Let me show you how much I…"

The ensign didn't get to finish his vows, for at that moment he had slipped into unconsciousness as Malcolm injected him with a hypospray. As Malcolm and some others took him into quarantine, Trip turned Hoshi around to face him. "Are you all right, sweetheart?" he asked, his concern shining so sincerely on his face. Hoshi forced herself to remember that he was just a friend.

She nodded yes, but he only frowned before adding, "You need rest. I'll walk you to your quarters." After some brief, half-hearted resistance to the suggestion, they left the mess hall. As they walked, he tucked her arm through his own, and she wished that it hadn't felt quite so good.

They walked in silence for a bit before Trip finally spoke. "So it looks like you've got an admirer."

Hoshi blushed. "Yeah, and it only took some kind of alien virus for a man on this ship to fall for me," she nervously joked as they approached her cabin.

He stopped in front of her door and looked down at her, catching her hands in his own. For the first time, his eyes were a mystery to her. "Don't say things like that," he responded in a low voice, his accent practically caressing her ears. "You know as well as me that he must have had some real deep feelings for you hidden for a while. He only acted on what was already there."

Hoshi forced herself to tear her gaze from his eyes, but she didn't move and only looked away in embarrassment. "Well, I hope you don't hold it against him. He didn't exactly flatter you."

Trip gave a throaty chuckle. "I think he would have said similar things to any man he found you with." Neither of them spoke until Hoshi brought her eyes up to his again. "I reckon I can understand that," he whispered.

Hoshi just stared at him for what seemed like an eternity, and then he saw that blush returning to her cheeks. Had he ever thought of her as adorable? He must have been half-blind: she was beautiful. "Good night," she whispered as she ducked into her cabin.

A smile covered his face as he stood alone at her closed door, and with a spring to his step, walked to his own cabin.

As soon as he entered, the comm sounded. "Commander Tucker?" Doctor Phlox's super-cheerful voice came flooding through. Trip could practically see the huge grin on the Denobulan's face – a grin that had been noticeably missing lately.

"Yeah, doc?" he answered, his hopes rising.

"I believe I have some good news."

Trip smiled; things were getting better and better.