Because Marlaya's wounds were so serious both Trip and Marlaya skipped de-con and went straight to sickbay. He laid her down on a biobed and Phlox immediately began scans. Trip stood back so that Phlox could get on with things and hopefully help Marlaya. He looked over to one corner and noticed an incubator. He moved over to it and saw that the twins were in it, their heart beats being monitored on a screen on the wall. Phlox noticed the two teeth marks on the back on her right hand. He began to scan the area and quickly injected her with several different substances. Once he had done that he began to bandage up the hand. He also began to bandage up her head and linked her up to a drip, having taken a small sample of her blood to replicate so he could begin a blood transfusion to replace the lost blood. Once he had done what he could he turned to Commander Tucker.

"I've done everything I can for her now Commander. The rest is up to her to sort out." He reported. Trip stayed looking at the twins in the plastic incubator.

"What are her chances?"

"I can't say."

"What's wrong with the twins?"

"I don't know. It happened about 3 hours ago. I was taking scans of them while Ba'Dan was here and realised their scans are not normal, but I have no idea what's wrong with them. I have done what I can for them." Trip just sat in a chair, he was so worried about all three of them that he couldn't stand any longer. John, T'Pol and Malcolm soon entered, after Crewman Cutler had cleared them through de-con. Phlox took T'Pol to another bed so he could sort out her wounds. From her bed, she looked over at Marlaya.

"How is she?" She asked as Phlox began to wrap a bandage round her head.

"She has been bitten by a venomous snake and she has a fractured skull." Malcolm had gone and stood next to Marlaya, and he'd begun to stroke her hair. "I've given her the antidote for the venom, but I'm afraid there's not much I can do for her head. If she does regain consciousness it's very possible that she'll have some brain damage."

"What do you say her chances of survival are?" Archer asked sighing heavily looking at the two men that had been caring for Marlaya the most, Trip and Malcolm.

"Very slim. I suggest that no one enters sickbay for a while so that she doesn't have any disturbances." John nodded his head.

"I'll make it off limits. If everyone needs you you'll have to go to them."

"Understood."

"Captain, can I stay with her?" John faced Malcolm

"We may need you on tactical."

"But if Doctor Phlox does need to go out something could happen to her, someone will need to stay to keep an eye on her."

"It would be useful Captain." Phlox said as he put down a scanner onto a nearby table.

"All right. I'll put Ensign Hiller onto tactical for as long a necessary, I'll also put him in charge of security."

"Thank you sir."

"I'll send Trip down with food whenever you get hungry." Malcolm nodded his head. For several weeks Malcolm stayed in sickbay, keeping an eye on Marlaya. Even when enterprise was attacked by Klingons and Tactical Alert came on he wouldn't leave her side. He had to stay with her. Using Marlaya's blood and DNA, Phlox was able to synthesis a remedy for the twins and they made a full recovery. They were moved to Trip's quarters where they could be looked after. It was starting to look like Marlaya would never wake up again. It had been nearly three months since she received her injury and Malcolm had stayed with her no matter what. He cared about her, he was beginning to think that deep down he may even love her. Every day the crew prayed and hope that that day she would wake up and be as right as rain, but every day they went to bed knowing that she was still down in sickbay lying on that bed with Lieutenant Reed by her side.

It was about 11:00 hours on Tuesday the 5th April 2155 and Malcolm was looking at all the cages where Phlox had some of his exotic pets. An odd beep or two from the screen over Marlaya's bed sent Malcolm back over to her side. He watched her waiting for any movement. But nothing happened. But surely that odd beep meant something. Was he going to call Phlox to take some scans just to make sure, or was he going to wait a bit longer to see if anything would happen? He sighed and sat down on the chair. He decided he would wait. Maybe after being in a coma for so long it would take a long time for her to fully wake up. Maybe today was the day she would wake up!

10 minutes passed, then 20, then 30, then an hour, but still no movement from her, and no more odd beeps had been heard. Folding his arms on the edge of the bed, Malcolm placed his head in the man made pillow, hoping he could fall asleep.

"Malcolm?" The voice was very quiet, but enough for him to hear it. He jerked his head up to see that Marlaya's eyes were open! She had finally woken out of the coma.

"Marlaya! How are you feeling?"

"I have a terrible headache." She said finding it hard to talk. Malcolm clenched her hand in his and held it tightly. Tears had begun to fall down his face.

"I've been so worried about you."

"The twins?" she said trying to sit up. Malcolm put his hands on her shoulders and kept her lying down.

"They're ok. They're in Commander Tucker's quarters."

"How long have I been here?"

"About 3 months. We were lucky we got to you in time in those woods. Any longer and with that head wound and the snake bite and you would've died."

"What about Nailos?"

"He came back with us. He's been spending time with Captain Archer I believe. Now you just stop asking question, you'll need all the strength you can get to get you back on your feet again." Marlaya nodded. He stood up to move over to a COMM panel.

"Malcolm, who's Commander Tucker and Captain Archer?" Malcolm turned round to face her. His eyes filled with shock that she didn't even know who he had just been talking about.