Chapter Twelve: Glasnost
--
"All that time," he groused. "You let me splash around with the spear and gather what little fish I could."
"Oh, you're one for talking," Hoshi countered as she finished molding the casting material around his foot and ankle. She stood and injected the contents of another hypospray into his neck. "You let me starve when we first arrived. You deliberately withheld food from me."
Malcolm winced as he swung his leg to the ground and tried to stand. "I was not about to wait on your royal arse, hand and foot. You're the one whose actions landed us here. You're the one who couldn't see past her own selfish nose to how your actions would affect others. What was I supposed to do? Call in reinforcements and hope they weren't the ones responsible for your abduction? I –"
"You assumed Jon was responsible for this and you were wrong. Don't you trust anybody?" questioned Hoshi wearily.
Malcolm jeered. "You're a fine one to talk about trust. You trusted your lover and look where it got you."
He could have kicked himself as soon as the words had left his mouth. She'd been so confident up to now. He'd wondered how she'd been managing, for she'd been spending the majority of her time in that blasted pool blowing bubbles.
Thinking she fashioned some sort of net to catch fish, Malcolm had watched her enviously when she'd walked into camp with twice as many fish as he caught. The little bugger had the phase pistol all along. She'd squirreled it away and had been using it behind his back.
Now he was at her mercy.
Malcolm watched as she pinched the bridge of her nose. During the time he'd been her bodyguard, he had studied her. The angrier she became, the higher she held her chin. When she was tired, she pinched the bridge of her nose.
He watched as she lowered her gaze and backed away.
"Like it or not, you're stuck with me," she said. "Says in the medical database that you will be laid up for six weeks while your ankle heals. We don't have a bone infuser in the kit."
Sighing, she added, "Look. It's over. Like it or not, we're stuck together."
Her tone was conciliatory but he scowled anyway.
"It all comes down to trust, doesn't it?" she asked.
"Yes," he replied softly.
"It looks as though we're going to have to start trusting one another," Hoshi said as she opened an overhead compartment and grabbed a ration pack. With quiet efficiency, she ripped the packet open and took the nutrition bar out. She held it out to him.
Her offer held him spellbound. Reaching for the food, he took her wrist instead. "I'm sorry." He looked from her hand to her face, unprepared for the look in her eyes.
He saw something more than concern in her eyes before she quickly turned away. He released her hand, taking the food and looking away. "Thank you," Malcolm murmured.
Taking the other bar out of the pack, Hoshi opened it and took a bite out of it. "You're welcome."
--
He was still sleeping, and she took the opportunity to go fishing and look for the phase pistol. Just in case he woke up before she got back, she left a ration pack and water for him, along with a crude crutch which he could get around.
Instead of her normal route, she walked farther downstream past the point of the attack yesterday. She needed this walk. She needed to break out of the monotony. Most of all she needed to get away from him. While walking, she scouted for a good branch to make into a spear.
Sighing, Hoshi took a break and sat near the riverbank. She needed to clear her head. The truce was too easy, his touch too profound.
She'd felt the familiar stirrings deep in the pit of her stomach. She should have pulled away but she hadn't wanted to, even though she knew what she wanted just wasn't possible.
Finally able to admit to herself that she wanted him, she wasn't prepared to admit it to him. She knew the mechanics of sex and inherently knew that first time with him was the exception and not the rule. At least that is what she hoped.
The possibility that they would never be rescued loomed before her. Her future -- their future -- was bleak without one another.
Yesterday showed her that there were dangers on this planet and that they would have to rely on each other to truly survive.
With the loss of their only weapon, they were defenseless. She had to find the phase pistol, the sooner the better.
--
Stumbling over some tree roots, Hoshi swept the bushes out of her way and made her way to the camp. She was exhausted. She'd walked a half a kilometer along the river finding high rapids and little hope that she would recover the phase pistol. So she had traveled back to their fishing ground and had used the knife to catch a few fish.
"Princess?" she heard Malcolm call out in distress.
"I'm coming," she answered, dropping the fish and running toward his voice. Maybe she shouldn't have left him alone so long. She heard a muffled sound and worried. In her haste, she fell over a tree trunk and skinned her hand.
"Hoshi?" His inflection was pained.
"I'm coming!" shouted Hoshi.
She crashed into the clearing, but didn't see anything amiss. She'd imagined him injured worse than he was, sprawled out helplessly and bleeding to death. Her imagination never did anything half-assed.
Instead, he stood there, clad only in his boxers and cast, leaning heavily on the crutch, with a rather perturbed scowl on his face.
"Where have you been?" Malcolm asked, limping toward her.
He was okay. He was mad, but he was okay, she thought repeatedly. Nerves frayed, her hands stinging, muscles aching, she snapped.
"I was out getting a manicure! What the hell does it look like I was doing?" she exclaimed.
She wasn't prepared when he started laughing, and she turned around and tracked down the fish she had dropped rather than be fodder for his amusement. She ignored him and took her time.
"Hoshi," he called out.
Finding the fish, she picked them up and composed herself. She walked back to the camp.
He had that superior, know-it-all smirk on his face when she strode into camp. A fire was blazing and she looked at it with a question in her eyes.
"I used the plasma torch to start it," he explained quickly, making a grab for the fish.
She slapped his hand away. "I'll clean them. You need to got off your foot and rest."
He slapped her hand back and Hoshi stepped away, dropping the fish and clutching her hand to her chest. "Ouch!" she hissed.
"What is it?" he asked, trying to catch her hand.
"It's nothing," she called over her shoulder and went into the shuttle. Moments later, she returned with the med kit and set it next to the fire. Opening the kit, she took the antiseptic spray and squirted her palm.
Malcolm knelt next to her with a wince of pain and took her hand in his. "This is a nasty scrape." He examined her hand closely, his breath brushing against the sensitive flesh.
She tried to yank her hand away, but he held it firmly. "It's nothing compared to your injuries," she said.
"It needs a bandage nonetheless," he announced, reaching for the large bandages with his other hand.
Trying to tug her hand away again, Hoshi huffed, "No, it doesn't. It'll be fine. Don't waste a bandage on this. We might need the bandage later."
Tired of her struggling against him, he pulled her onto his lap. "Shut up and hold still."
For once she did as she was told, exhaustion and pain stupefying her. He wrapped her hand quickly and set it in her lap, but made no move to release her.
"Why do you always fight me?" he asked softly, his breath caressing her cheek.
Whether the heat came from him or the fire she didn't care, but it centered in the pit of her stomach and radiated to every nerve in her body. "I—I d-do not." She stared at the bandage on his shoulder, a gentle reminder that he really wasn't in any shape to harm her.
He shifted slightly, leaning her against his chest. "Even now you're fighting me." His voice was husky in her ear.
What the hell was happening to her? She didn't want to move away. Was she crazy?
"I can see you're aroused," he murmured, brushing his fingertips against the wet material of her shirt. "You want me."
Hoshi gasped as the heat in her shot from her stomach to her breasts, causing a sensuous ache to build.
Drawing an impassioned trail from her breasts to her face, he turned her face toward his.
She was trapped as soon as she gazed into his azure eyes. He was looking at her lips, a heated look that took her breath away. She was weak and she would deny him nothing.
"Hoshi," he sighed against her lips before crushing them with his.
Her eyes fluttered closed and she returned the bruising kiss fervently.
It was over before it began, Malcolm pulling away and pushing her gently off his lap.
Opening her eyes, she ran her tongue over her lips.
"I want you too," he whispered, lifting his hand and pushing an errant strand of her hair behind her ear. "And I'm in no condition to offer you what you deserve."
--
TBC