A/N: This was a fun chapter to write. If you like the story, review. It only takes a few seconds, and it makes me feel so loved...
A shout woke her. Kelly sat up in the bed in sick bay to see herself standing on the other side of the room. She screamed and fell off the bed. She looked down at her hands. They weren't her own. They were larger, thicker and more calloused than her own. She whirled around after scrambling to her feet, and ran over to the mirror. Trip's face stared back at her. She screamed again, and Trip clamped a thin hand over her mouth.
"Kell! Calm down!" Kelly heard herself say. No, Trip say. Doctor Phlox appeared near then.
"What is all the commotion about?" He asked. Kelly pulled Trip's hand from her mouth.
"We're in the wrong bodies!" Kelly shouted. Phlox looked from the person he thought was Trip to the person he thought was Kelly.
"Lieutenant, Commander, this is not amusing. Now sit down so I can make sure that you're all right. I'll be back in a moment." He disappeared into his 'office, and reappeared a minute later, a scanner in his hand. "The Captain has been informed that the two of you are awake."
"Doc, we're not joking!" Trip said. The door to Sick Bay opened, and Jon and Malcolm strode in.
"Captain!" Jon eyed the person he thought was Kelly, then looked over at who he thought was Trip. Kelly was starting to get very annoyed.
"Jon, Trip and I have switched bodies." She said, fighting to stay calm. Jon stared at her.
"This isn't funny Trip." He said.
"It's true Captain." Trip said. He was getting as frustrated as Kelly. Malcolm shook his head.
"I don't believe this." He muttered. Trip set his jaw and glared at his friend. "Malcolm, need I remind you who you toasted when we were stuck on Shuttle Pod one?" Malcolm felt his face burn, and fought the urge to bite his lip. Instead, he assumed his usual stance, feet spread and arms crossed tightly across his chest.
Jon shook his head. "This may just be-"
"Jon, I don't want to have to tell them about the time we went to my parent's cabin in Maine, do I?" She asked. Jon's face went from shocked to beet red in the space of five seconds. Malcolm and Trip stared at him. They had never seen the Captain blush like that. It was actually quite amusing.
"Phlox, I want to find out how this happened." Jon said. Phlox eyed him. He was still sure this was a joke. Trip and Kelly could have told each other to say those things. "Phlox?" He nodded, and sighed.
"Lieutenant, you first." Kelly moved to the imaging chamber, and Phlox rolled his eyes. He had meant the person who looked like Lieutenant Kelly, but the person who looked like Trip had moved. Kelly's body hadn't even flinched. "Comander, you're next." Her body nodded.
"Well, the brain wave patterns are normal." Phlox said. Trip and Kelly both groaned. No one would believe them now. "Or would be, if they were not in the wrong bodies." Jon and Malcolm glanced at each other, then over at the two engineers, who looked relieved to say the least. Jon knew it was because someone believed them, and they had proof.
"I'm not sure about the two of you," Jon said. "But I think it would be a bit less embarrassing for the two of you if we were the only ones to know about this." Trip rolled his eyes. No, he rolled Kelly's eyes. They weren't his.
"Well, the rest of the senior staff should be told." Kelly said. She was still trying to get used to talking with the accent. Jon nodded. He still looked uneasy though. Kelly was sure it was because she had mentioned the incident at her parent's cabin. She knew that it would get his attention. "Jon, I'm not going to say anything about it." Trip and Malcolm looked over at her, a bit confused. "I wouldn't do that. I know it wasn't the best week for you." Jon nodded.
"Keep me informed." He said, and left Sick Bay at a near run. Kelly shook her head.
"So what happened at the Cabin?" Trip asked. Kelly glared at him.
A few days later, they still had no idea how Kelly and Trip has switched bodies, and Trip and Kelly could no longer remain off duty. People were beginning to ask questions, and Jon didn't want anyone finding something out. This was as much to protect Trip as it was to protect Kelly. He knew his cousin. The two of them had grown up together, almost like brother and sister. Since he was an only child, it had been easy for the two of them to grow close when they were kids. When he had joined Starfleet Academy, he felt guilty about leaving her alone, so when he had graduated, and she was old enough to join, he asked her if she wanted to. She had, and he had always thought it had been because she wanted to. Now he knew it was because she knew he wanted her to. He had been so happy that his brilliant cousin would be joining Starfleet that he hadn't seen what it had done to her. She hadn't spoken to the rest of her family since. He knew that. During the warp five project, when Trip and Kelly had become friends, he could tell that Trip was entranced by her, and he had tried not to interfere. He was glad he hadn't, because now they were best friends. When she had come on board, he had realized that he didn't really know who Kelly was anymore. She was harder, quieter than he remembered. When he saw her in the mess hall, laughing and talking with Malcolm, Travis and Hoshi, he realized how much he didn't know her. It pained him to think about, but she wasn't still the laughing, smiling outgoing little girl she had been when he left for the academy. Now she was in Trip's body, and they still had no idea what happened. He put down the report that had just been sent up from engineering. The comm beeped, and his heart jumped. Maybe it was Phlox with a solution to the problem. He didn't want Kelly and Trip stuck in the wrong bodies forever.
"Ensign Sato to Captain Archer." Hoshi'd voice came over the speaker. Jon dragged himself up to the panel and pressed the button to respond.
"Archer. What've you got Hoshi?"
"I finished translating those inscriptions that T'Pol found in the room." She said. "I think you'll find this interesting Captain." She said.
"I'm on my way." Jon said. He was out the door on his way to the bridge before Hoshi could respond.
Travis stared at Liz Cutler. "Could you repeat that please?" He asked. She had not just asked him what he thought she had.
"I asked you if you thought something was going on with Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Archer." She said. Travis shook his head vigorously.
"No way. I talked to Trip last week. He thinks there's something going on between her and Lieutenant Reed." Liz shook her head.
"Malcolm? No way. He's way too smart to do something about how he feels." She said. Travis shot her a questioning glance as he continued to eat his midnight snack. "Everyone knows Travis. It's so obvious. She's the only person on board who has ever been able to get him to laugh." Travis shrugged his agreement. "He'll probably never act on his feelings."
"What do you mean by that?" He asked. Liz did a rather good imitation of T'Pol by raising her eyebrow.
"What I mean is that she's the Captain's cousin." She said. "Though I get the feeling they're closer. Kind of like brother and sister. Or were." Travis shook his head, but let her continue. "She and Trip have been spending a lot of time together over the past couple of days." She said. "And we all know that Malcolm has feelings for her, and have you noticed how he's been ducking Trip whenever he comes into the mess hall?" Travis shook his head.
"I heard them shouting about the engines and weapons last week, right before Malcolm started avoiding him. They sounded pretty angry." Liz shrugged.
"Yeah, but I still get the feeling that something's going on that we don't know about." She said. Travis shrugged.
"Who knows?"
Kelly and Trip were pretty much the only ones left in engineering at this time of night. Kelly had been having a hard time sleeping since they had been switched. Trip suddenly stood up and gave the panel in front of him a good solid kick.
"Hey! Watch it!" Kelly said. His kick had been dangerously close to her head.
"I don't know how you stand it!" Trip said, a little louder than he'd meant to. "I can't even get a good damn grip on the thing, and my-your fingers are so damn small!" Kelly rolled her eyes, leaning over and pulling the panel off the wall. Trip sat on the floor and put his head in his hands. Kelly glanced down through the grating of the walk and saw that the rest of the people in engineering were staring at them.
"What're y'all lookin at?" She called. "Get back to work!" Trip sighed she was really starting to sound like him.
"I have to tell you, I've got a new appreciation for you and your hormones." He said. Kelly glanced at him, a small grin on her face.
"Oh, that's not even the worst of it Trip." She said quietly. "Imagine what you're feeling now times ten for a week straight." Trip groaned, and suddenly looked a little worried.
"You're not due for it-"
"Calm down Trip." She said, scanning the plasma relays again as he checked the EPS conduits. "I'm not due for another couple weeks. I hope to God we're back to normal before then." She said. Trip nodded.
"It's bad enough having to shower." He said. Kelly snorted as she tried to cover a laugh. Neither of them had been happy about that fact. Kelly shook her head.
"I don't like being a guy much more than you like being a girl." She said. "This all seems so surreal." She sighed, sitting back. "Like a dream I'll wake up from in a few minutes." She said, then laughed. "If this is a dream, what do you think it's telling me?" She asked. Trip laughed, and Kelly grinned. When her body laughed, she got a little sparkle in her gray eyes. She shook her head. Now she knew why Malcolm always smiled at her when she laughed. He shook her head, thinking about Malcolm. He was so damn confusing. Hoshi kept trying to tell her that he liked her, but she wouldn't hear it, or didn't want to. She shook her head. She definitely wanted to know it. That was it. She didn't want to hear it, she wanted to know it. She was the type of person that liked to know things. Things like why hadn't Malcolm talked to her since she switched bodies with Trip. It wasn't like it had been intentional either.
"What are you thinking about?' Trip asked her. She snapped back to reality. She shook her head, grabbing a scanner off the floor and quickly looking at the relays in front of her.
"Nothin." She said. She was still trying to get used to Trip's accent. It made it hard to pronounce words like she normally would. She glanced at her chronometer and sighed. It was nearly 0100 hours. Were she in her own body, she would have been either asleep, or talking with Malcolm. They had been doing that a lot before she had switched. Talking. Kelly had also noticed that she seemed to be the only one he could talk with like that. Around everyone else he was quiet and all about his duty, but the two of them talked about so many other things. She felt completely at ease with him. More at ease than she had felt since Talbot.
"Thinking about Malcolm again?" Kelly blanched and dropped the scanner into the bulkhead. Trip laughed, almost falling over the edge as he rolled around. Kelly eyed him.
"You're too easily amused." She said. "You've got to be tired." She said, fishing out the scanner.
"You were, weren't you?" Kelly snorted in reply and stood up. "I'm going to my - your quarters." She said. The comm panel chirped.
"Captain Archer to Lieutenant Archer and Commander Tucker." Kelly punched the button to respond.
"Go ahead Cap'n." Kelly said.
"Hoshi's translated those symbols." He said. Kelly got to her feet.
"We're on our way up." She said. As they walked, Kelly looked over at Trip. He had been uncharacteristically quiet for the past few weeks, so she knew it wasn't about the body switch.
"Trip, somethin's bugging you." She said. It was a statement, not a question.
"It's no big deal." He said. They had been trying not to use each other's names, and he had almost called her Kelly.
"Come on." She said as they stepped into a turbo lift. They were alone, so Kelly felt just fine with carrying out the conversation. "Something's been buggin you for weeks! I can tell!" Trip just shook his head. "Trip, you can talk to me." She said. "I know I don't say it a lot, but you're my best friend." Trip glared at her.
"So Malcolm isn't?" He asked. Kelly was silent for a moment.
"This is what this is all about, isn't it?" She asked. Trip suddenly looked uneasy. "This is about me spending time with Malcolm?"
"Yeah it is." He said. "I've seen the way you two look at each other, and frankly I don't like it!"
"What are you jealous?" Kelly shouted. "Why didn't you say something!"
"I'm not jealous!" The turbo lift doors opened as Trip finished shouting the last word. He stared at the two angry-looking senior officers, then backed up a couple paces.
"I'll take the next one." He said quietly, turned and ran down the corridor. Kely turned abck to Trip as the doors closed. Seeing him standing there in her body was still disconcerting for her.
"Oh, you're not?" She asked. "Could've fooled me!" The doors opened onto the bridge, and the two of them stepped out of the lift, glaring at each other.
"This isn't really going to help us Captain." Kelly looked up at Hoshi. The only ones in the Captain's ready room were her, Malcolm, Jon, herself and Trip. They had been forced to tell Hoshi what had happened. She had figured it out. Something having to do with their speech patterns. Jon rolled his eyes.
"We know why you guys got switched, but I think getting you back is going to be pretty complicated." He said. Kelly swallowed.
"That doesn't sound good Jon." He shook his head, and looked over at the young communications officer.
"You mind Hoshi?" She shook her head.
"No sir. Did you guys wonder why only the two of you were switched?" Trip and kelly glanced at each other. The though apparently hadn't occurred to wither of them. "I'll take that as a no. Well you two were switched because you were fighting. The ancient race that lived on this planet believed that by switching bodies with someone, you could come to understand them better."
"Yeah, well I think Kelly is just as confusing now as she was then Hoshi." The Ensign rolled her eyes and continued to talk.
"Well apparently it worked for them." She said. "And the only way to reverse the effect is to go back to the room and sort out your problem." Trip and Kelly glared at each other again.
"We're sending the two of you down there, and you're not coming back until you've got this settled." Jon said. "Now get ready and meet me in shuttle bay two in fifteen minutes."
Trip and Kelly were glaring at each other from opposite sides of the room. Jon was waiting outside.
"We need to talk about this if we ever want to get back to normal." Kelly said. Trip shrugged.
"Trip, I can understand that you're jealous." She said. Trip shook his head.
"I'm not just jealous." He said. Kelly eyed him. "I'm also worried about you." He said. Their eyed met as he continued talking. "You remind me so much of Lizzie sometimes." He said. "It hurts." Kelly shook her head.
"Trip, I'm really sorry about Liz. You know how much I liked her." Trip nodded. She and Jon had come to visit him in Florida one time when they all took shore leave at the same time. Liz and Kelly had gotten on great, abandoning the guys for hours on end to go off together. "But the Xindi threat is over. They're taken care of." Trip nodded.
"That's not where I was going with this." He said. He sounded pained. "I was going to say that you're like a sister to me, and I don't want to see him hurt you." Kelly crossed the room and put a hand on his arm - no her arm. Damn this stuff was confusing. It was making her head hurt.
"Trip, it takes a lot more than you think to hurt me. I'm not made of porcelain." He gave her a smile.
"I know."
"And you're always going to be my best friend. You know that." He nodded again, and opened his arms, drawing her into a hug. There was a flash of light, and everything went black again.