666

"Damn, don't ya dare schedule another drill without warnin' me beforehand," Trip ranted as he and Malcolm were walking back to their quarters. "Especially, don't ya dare schedule another drill when I'm off duty and relaxin'. I broke my personal record and almost my neck, runnin' to Engineering."

"If it's any conso--lation, I had forgotten about the drill myself," Malcolm bit back. "And in any case, it isn't such a bad idea to give the crew a -- little surprise from time to time. Keeps them nice and alert."

"At this time of the evenin' I don't want to be 'nice and alert'," Trip replied testily. "Good night, Loo-tenant," he ground out, opening his door and shooting Malcolm an incinerating look over his shoulder.

"Sleep ti-- tight," Malcolm grumbled back. "At least you will be -- able to," he murmured to himself as he continued on his way.

As soon as he was safely inside his quarters Trip went to the comm. link.

"Hosh, are you there?" he paged.

"Yes. Gawd, I wish Malcolm would tell us when he plans his ridiculous drills!" she growled. "He knows how on edge I get when there is an emergency."

"He'd notified the Capt'n, so his conscience is clear," Trip replied peevishly.

"Then you were right," Hoshi said, changing subject abruptly. "T'Pol's 'technique' didn't work."

Her voice held a note of something that Trip thought was as green as Vulcan blood. He grinned inwardly. Malcolm really ought to make a move with Hoshi, he mulled.

"Well, it's all up to you now, Hosh," he replied. "If you fail too, Phlox will have to knock him unconscious."

"I may beat him to it," Hoshi murmured to herself.

"What was that?" Trip asked, not sure he had heard well.

"Nothing. I'll wait until tomorrow morning. Perhaps the night will cure him," Hoshi replied.

"Yeah. I really doubt he'd be in the mood for any of those breathin' exercises right now," Trip chuckled. "Night, Hoshi."

"Night, Trip."

Hoshi stopped in front of Malcolm's quarters and took a deep breath. She had slept badly and was still quite mad at the man. She had told herself she was angry because of the surprise drill, but if truth be told something else had got on her nerves. It seemed that the entire male population of Enterprise were reduced to total incoherence when they found themselves in proximity of T'Pol, and Malcolm – correction, Lieutenant Reed – was no exception. She had noticed how uptight he got near the Vulcan officer.

She shook her head to dismiss the disquieting thought of a certain lieutenant drooling after T'Pol and raised her hand to the door bell.

A moment later the door swished open and an exhausted-looking and unkempt Malcolm in sweat pants and T-shirt appeared before her, his dark hair tousled. This frail version of the usually pristine and fearless Armoury Officer was so terribly cute that Hoshi's anger immediately dissolved.

"Ho-- Hoshi," he muttered, glancing at his watch. "Is anything the matter?"

Hoshi bit her lips not to smile. "No, Lieutenant," she replied. "Just came by to make sure you had heard the alarm clock."

"Oh, that's -- kind of you." Reed smiled tiredly. "Didn't really need to, though, con--sidering that I haven't slept a wink because of my hiccupping," he added gloomily.

"I'm sorry," Hoshi said sincerely.

They looked at each other in silence for a moment.

"You know," Hoshi added, knitting her brow. "I may be able to help you."

Malcolm smirked. "Hoshi, look… it's not that I don't be-- believe you, but T'Pol said the same thing when she came last -- night and…"

"T'Pol?" Hoshi's frown deepened. "She came to your quarters at night?"

Gosh, it was fun to make Malcolm cringe!

"Uhm, yes, well, just to help me re--lax," Malcolm stuttered, feeling the beginning of a blush when he realised how that could be interpreted. "I mean, to help me concen--trate, bloody… to help me with my hiccup," he tried to explain.

"Well, if you allowed T'Pol to help you, it's only fair that you do the same with me," Hoshi said resolutely. "May I?" she added, taking a step forward.

Malcolm swallowed. "I still have to shower and shave and…"

"This will only take a few minutes," Hoshi replied with an ingratiating smile.

"Well, in that -- case I suppose…" Malcolm trailed, stepping aside and grudgingly letting her in.

"So," Malcolm asked tautly, leaning with his back against the door, which had swished closed, and crossing his arms over his chest. "What is your special -- remedy for my bane?"

"Respiratory exercises," Hoshi replied, turning to face him.

"Like holding my breath?" Malcolm enquired, narrowing his eyes. "That's a w-- waste of time," he said with a snort.

Hoshi had come prepared to having to fight Malcolm's stubbornness. "Oh, no, that's old-fashioned," she agreed, trying to appear casual. "I know of a couple of different exercises that you should try," she said nonchalantly.

Malcolm sighed. "Let's hear them," he challenged, sounding totally sceptical.

"All right. Here is the first one."

Hoshi looked straight into the blue-grey eyes of the obstinate, unyielding, often intractable, self-sufficient and… and… so-damn-lovable-in-his-present-bedraggled-state man before her and felt her knees weaken. She cleared her throat.

"Breathe slowly and deeply in while thinking 'breathing out' and then breathe slowly and fully out while thinking 'breathing in'"," she instructed, pronouncing every word clearly.

Malcolm snorted, shaking his head. "That's ri-- ridiculous; you don't ac-- actually expect me to do that, do you?" he exclaimed.

"Well, you did the exercises that T'Pol suggested!" The frustrated words were out of Hoshi's mouth before she could stop them. She saw Malcolm tilt his head and knit his brow, obviously intrigued by her outburst. "I… I mean," she faltered.

Malcolm's mouth twitched into a half smile. "Really, Hoshi," he said, a glint of amusement crossing his eyes. "I could never do -- that."

Hoshi crossed her own arms in an exasperated gesture.

"No m-- more than I could manage doing T'Pol's con--centration exercises," Malcolm hastened to add.

Yeah, I bet you couldn't, Hoshi thought grumpily, you were too distracted! But she forced a smile on her face and replied, "All right, I can understand that this exercise might sound a little… strange." She straightened her shoulders, to gain a little confidence. "We'll do the second one, then," she said resolutely.

"And wh-- what might that be?" Malcolm asked, eying her warily.

Wait and see, Lieutenant. Hoshi took a few steps towards Malcolm, who immediately uncrossed his arms and pushed himself off the door, standing uneasily in front of her.

"Take a deep breath and hold it in," Hoshi instructed.

"I thought we had agreed that this was -- old-fashioned and ineffective," Malcolm complained.

Hoshi shot him a commanding glare. "Take a deep breath and hold it in," she repeated.

Reluctantly, Malcolm inflated his lungs, standing straight and tall.

Hoshi bit her lips. Come on, Ensign, she steadied herself, after all from what you can see he's not armed. In one swift move she reached out with her hand and pressed on Malcolm's stomach, pinning him against the door.

The reaction was immediate and violent. Malcolm jerked back, expelling all the air in one audible puff, and then doubled forward, banging his head hard against Hoshi's.

Hoshi's vision blurred and she swayed backwards, bringing a hand to her forehead.

"Hoshi!"

She felt Malcolm grab her and pull her to him, and she fell forward. The next thing she knew was that she was in his arms. She looked up, cursing her blurred vision at a moment like this and squinting to make sense of Malcolm's expression.

"Are you all -- right?" he breathed out on top of her.

"Never better," she heard herself murmur back huskily. Gosh, had she actually said that?

"Ah… I'm so -- sorry," Malcolm stuttered a few inches from her face, still without releasing her, his warm breath sending a shiver down her spine.

I'm not. "Really?" she asked with a nervous giggle.

"I mean, I'm sorry I hit -- you," Malcolm expounded. But he made no move to let her go and she could actually feel his heartbeat through his T-shirt.

They looked at each other in silence, Malcolm seemingly frozen except for his jolting. Hoshi felt irritation chase away the butterflies in her stomach.

Malcolm Reed, are you going to kiss me or not?

Well if this stubborn man didn't make a move, she would! Hoshi steeled herself, closed her eyes and raised herself on her tiptoes, bridging the gap between their lips.

Malcolm startled and moaned 'Hosh…', but nothing would stop her now. She felt his breath catch and his muscles tense up. He silently hiccupped against her lips a couple of more times; then held her tighter and leaned into the kiss.

TBC