CHAPTER 4

Hoshi hurried to her cabin, the long legs of the captain taking her there more quickly than ever before. She forgot to duck when she entered, however, and hit her head on the edge of the door frame.

Never in her life had she felt sorry for a tall person simply for being tall. In fact, it was rather the opposite. She had always envied those long-legged beauties that men drooled over. But rubbing her battered forehead, she felt sorry for tall people and the problems they had that she hadn't even considered. How did Jon keep from smacking his head every time he turned around?

She glanced at the padd where she had dropped it on her desk before going to bed. Instead of picking it up, however, she headed for the bathroom. She forced herself to stand in front of the mirror and look at herself.

She winced at the sight of the developing bruise on Jon's forehead. Nothing like damaging someone else's body that you were borrowing. She hoped she was just borrowing it. She didn't want to be like this forever.

Turning on the tap at the sink, she cupped the big hands and let them fill with water. Jon had incredibly big hands compared to hers. She flexed the fingers and let the water run through them, mesmerized by being able to control someone else's hands as if they were her own. Well, they were her own, at least for the time being.

Sighing, she splashed some water on her face and turned off the tap. She glanced at herself in the mirror as she dried her face on a towel. Green eyes stared back at her.

Frowning, she grabbed her comb and ran it through the mussed hair.

"Ow!"

She'd forgotten that she now had much shorter hair. Apparently a lot thinner too. She'd scraped the scalp dragging the comb through with as much force as she usually did. Compounding the problem was that Jon was a lot stronger than she was. She'd have to be more gentle if she did that again.

She could see her irritation showing through on Jon's visage in the mirror. She stuck out her tongue and almost gagged as the image of the captain did the same. She wiggled the eyebrows suggestively and giggled. Puckering up the lips, she made kissy noises, and dissolved into a fit of laughter.

She was still making faces when the chime sounded.

It was almost a physical effort to get herself under control. She recognized the signs of hysteria but, as she went to answer the door, hoped it was just reaction to the stress of the situation.

The sight of the person on the other side of the door killed any last remnants of laughter.

"Malcolm," she said evenly, drawing herself up to Jon's full height and glaring down at her significant other.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Hoshi relented and stepped back, allowing him into her cabin. Malcolm stepped a few feet into the cabin and stopped as the door slid shut behind him.

"I came to apologize," he said softly, looking anywhere but at her. "I know it's you, Hoshi, it's just..."

Hoshi wasn't willing to let him off so easily. She understood his stand-offishness, but if there had ever been a time when she needed his support, it was now. Was he so hung up on male-female issues that he couldn't accept her as she appeared now? Okay, maybe that was a bit much, she had to admit, but the least he could do was try to be more understanding.

"I'm in a man's body," she finished for him, bitterness in both her tone and posture.

Malcolm gazed at her forlornly and nodded his head. "I'm sorry, Hoshi, it's almost too much to comprehend."

"Malcolm, it's me. Really. Whatever makes me Hoshi, whatever it was that you fell in love with, is inside here."

Impulsively she stepped toward him, taking his hands in hers, but she dropped them immediately as he flinched and pulled back.

"I'm trying to accept what's happened," he said hastily, "but this is so bizarre. I can understand that your personality has been switched with the captain's, but certainly you can't expect me to...treat you the same...now that you're in..." Malcolm ran a hand over his face. "Why did it have to be the captain?"

"Is it the rank thing? The captain outranking you?"

"No," Malcolm said with a dismissive wave. "It's just..."

"What?"

Malcolm gulped. "He's so much bigger than I am."

"Oh, Malcolm!" Hoshi cried in understanding and threw her arms around him, taking a perverse satisfaction that Malcolm couldn't get away from Jon's strong arms. Malcolm could easily have broken her hold if she was still in her own body.

She finally felt him start to relax when she murmured, "He's not bigger than you where it counts."

"I'm not going to ask how you know that," Malcolm said in a prim voice against Jon's chest where Hoshi held him.

A rumble of laughter welled up in her chest and she let Malcolm pull away from her this time. He stared at her, his unease plain to see as Jon's hearty laugh boomed through the cabin.

"I keep telling myself this is only temporary," Hoshi said, looking down at the body she was inhabiting. "Gee whiz! He must have the biggest feet on the ship!"

Malcolm chuckled at that. "The better for stomping on me when I get out of line." He stopped and looked directly at her. "I'm trying to deal with this, Hoshi. And I'll do everything I can to get you back the way you were. But don't expect any public shows of affection right now. I just can't do that, not with you looking like the captain. It's not right."

Hoshi sobered. "I guess I can understand that. Not that you were very demonstrative in public before."

"Well, let's get that data padd and get back to sickbay, shall we?" he asked.

Hoshi smiled knowingly. She knew he had changed the subject on purpose. They'd discussed his aversion to showing affection in public before, and she knew now wasn't the time or the place to have that discussion again.

And it was probably just as well that neither of them had broached the subject of sex. She wasn't even ready to think about that. What if she and Jon couldn't be switched back? No, she wasn't going to think about that now.

She grabbed the data padd and headed for the door, Malcolm following behind her.

"Would you quit grinning at me?" Jon demanded.

"I can't help it, Cap'n," Trip said, emphasizing the title and trying to wipe the smile from his face but failing miserably. "I have to say you make a pretty good-lookin' woman."

"Damn it, Trip! This is Hoshi's body you're talking about. It's not funny. We've both been violated, for heaven's sake!" Jon paused for breath. In a quieter voice, he continued, "It's damnably awkward, being in this body."

Jon's obvious distress put a damper on Trip's inclination to make fun of the situation. The engineer stepped over to where his captain -- his now shorter-than-him and very definitely feminine-looking captain -- was seated on the biobed, and frowned as a new thought struck him.

"How's the rest of the crew gonna react to this?" Trip wondered out loud.

"Right now that's the least of my worries," Jon said irritably. "Phlox and T'Pol have got to find a way to reverse whatever caused this. I don't know if I can stand being in Hoshi's body much longer."

"Doc was right about the hormones, huh?"

Jon's head shot up and he stared at Trip but saw only concern on his friend's face. "That's not the half of it. Of course it's different being in a body that's the opposite gender than what you're used to. But Hoshi is not only a subordinate officer under my command, she's a friend. I feel like...I'm afraid to..."

At Trip's encouraging and sympathic expression, Jon rushed on. "I feel like I shouldn't even touch myself, because it's not my body, it's Hoshi's!"

"I hadn't even thought of that!" Trip said. "But...but you're living in it now, so..."

"I know. There are certain things I'm going to have to do, like shower and... you know. The least I can do is take care of her body while I'm 'borrowing' it."

"Just don't let Malcolm near ya," Trip said with a snicker.

"Trip," Jon said dangerously and saw the engineer's eyes widen.

"You really are Jon in there, aren't ya?" Trip said. "That was the best imitation of pissed-off captain I've ever seen."

"Hoshi imitates me?" Jon asked.

Shaking his head, Trip hastily explained. "No, that didn't come out right. I meant that you are the captain 'cause nobody else can do that expression that way. You're right, this is confusing," he said, scratching his head.

The sickbay doors opened and Hoshi and Malcolm walked in.

"I've got the padd with the recordings of the inscriptions," she said, walking over to where Trip was standing next to the captain.

As Hoshi and Jon began calling up the recordings and dumping them into one of the computer tie-ins, Trip leaned toward Malcolm and said quietly, "Ya look a little out of breath."

"Hoshi always walks fast," Malcolm said, "but now she's got the captain's long legs. I almost had to run to keep up with him -- er, her." Malcolm shook his head. "I'm so confused."

"Me, too, Malcolm," Trip said wryly, giving Malcolm's shoulder a sympathetic squeeze. "Me, too."