AN: Thanks to Triptacular (Phlox probably could have, but maybe he was kind of distracted at the moment... or maybe the author was kinda distracted, too ;) ), Gammaent and Exploded Pen for reviewing!

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Part Four

The first thing that penetrated the dark haze around his brain were voices that were fading in as if someone were turning up the volume on a radio. Malcolm lay very still and listened, until he could make out the words.

"How can I tell whether he's back to normal?"

"Essentially, you can't. But it will establish itself more sooner than later if he isn't."

An ironic chuckle. "It sure did last time."

A pause. "Don't worry, Commander. I am positive that Lieutenant Reed will be in his right state of mind when he wakes up."

Somehow, Malcolm had the feeling that his mind was having a little trouble processing information at the moment. He took in the words, but their meaning seeped through to him only partially. At the mention of his name, he came a little closer to the surface of awareness, and slowly opened his eyes, only to squeeze them shut again as bright lights blinded him. He licked his lips that were quite dry, and heard steps approaching. Carefully, he squinted and tried to make out who it was that had come up to the bio bed he was lying on. Slowly, Phlox' round face came into focus.

"Ah, Lieutenant," the doctor said, smiling. "Welcome back."

Malcolm opened his mouth to say something - he wasn't exactly clear on what he would say - but found that his tongue was sticking to the roof of his mouth. He cleared his throat and tried again.

"Where's Trip?" He heard his own words, and found that they actually made sense. He'd realized that the voices he had heard before had belonged to Phlox and his partner, so Trip should be around somewhere.

Sure enough, a second later he heard Trip's voice speak up from somewhere behind Phlox.

"I'm right here, Mal." Trip appeared in Malcolm's field of vision, and he was smiling as well, even if the smile looked a little... off. Malcolm raised his hand - he didn't know exactly what he was planning to do, reaching for Trip's hand seemed like a possible option - but when he had moved it only a few inches, he was stopped by something that was tightened around his wrist and keeping him from moving his arm. Malcolm frowned, and as he looked down he saw that both his wrists were circled by Phlox' patient cuffs. Despite the wooziness that was still filling his head, Malcolm felt a surge of anxiety run through him. He tried to remember how he'd come to be cuffed to the bio bed, but his mind seemed rather blank in that respect. He remembered that he'd had the worst stomach ache he'd ever experienced, and that Phlox had diagnosed appendicitis and had wanted to operate on him. But as far as Malcolm knew, the doctor wasn't in the habit of cuffing his patients to the bio beds after surgery. He looked up at Trip and Phlox in bewilderment.

"What are those for?" he asked, and Trip and Phlox exchanged a look whose meaning Malcolm couldn't quite figure out. It seemed as if they were silently trying to agree on something. Then Trip turned back to him, and Malcolm felt his partner's hand settle on his arm.

"Mal, are ya sure you're feelin' alright again?" he asked. Malcolm frowned, considering the question.

"I'm fine," he said. When Trip's worried expression didn't relent, he added, "I'm feeling a little woozy."

"An after-effect of the sedatives," Phlox provided helpfully, but Trip paid him no attention and kept his eyes fixed on Malcolm.

"What about the Suliban?" he asked, confusing Malcolm even more.

"Suliban?" Malcolm asked. He couldn't imagine how Suliban would fit into the picture of him having his appendix taken out. Then a thought came to his mind, and he felt his chest tighten. "Did we have a run-in with the Suliban while I was-"

"No, not at all, Lieutenant," Phlox said, stepping forward and putting a hand on his shoulder. Malcolm gave him a distrustful look - he knew that it was not beyond Phlox to lie to him about the ship's status to keep him from "making a fuss", as the doctor would certainly call it. Phlox smiled at him. "Enterprise spent the time you were in sickbay cartographing an asteroid field. There were no incidents whatsoever."

"That's true," Trip added, smiling at him as well. "Ohnmar even went ahead wi' the phase pistol inventory, even though the Cap'n wanted to reschedule. Said she didn't want you ta think that yer crew can't do an inventory without havin' you to tell 'em what to do."

At that, Malcolm frowned. His second in command, Lieutenant Ohnmar Hsan, was a great security guard with considerable leadership skills, but when it came to the administrative part of the job, she could be somewhat... lax. He appreciated her enthusiasm, but would have preferred to oversee the inventory himself. Well, he would have to read the reports, then. He turned his eyes back to Trip. "Well, then... how do the Suliban come into this?" he asked. "And why am I cuffed to the bed?"

Again, Phlox and Trip exchanged a look, and Malcolm wished they would stop doing that. It was starting to annoy him a little.

Phlox had obviously come to a decision, because he smiled broadly at Trip, who had a doubtful expression on his face. To Malcolm's relief, the doctor then began to remove the restraints.

"I don't think we need those any longer, do we, Lieutenant?"

Malcolm didn't think Phlox expected an answer to that, so he kept silent, which the doctor didn't seem to mind in the slightest. He just bent over the bed and removed the right restraint as well.

"There you go," he said cheerfully, and Malcolm pulled his hands up to his chest, scratching the back of his left hand with his right one. He didn't want to leave his hands near the edge of the bio bed, in case Phlox for some reason decided that removing the cuffs had been a mistake, after all.

The doctor didn't seemed inclined to do so, though. Judging from his expression, Trip was the one who wasn't entirely convinced that Malcolm should be released. This observation both confused and worried Malcolm. Something must have happened while he had been out, but for the life of him he couldn't remember what that might have been. Before he could ask again, though, Phlox spoke up again.

"Well, gentlemen," he said, "I think I'll leave you alone, then. Mr. Reed, do you need anything?"

"No, I'm good," Malcolm said, and Phlox nodded.

"Well, then. Call me if you need me, alright? I'll be right next door."

Malcolm looked after the doctor for a moment, then turned his eyes back to Trip, who was standing a couple of feet away and smiling somewhat nervously. Malcolm gave him an inquiring look.

"Trip?" he asked. "Is everything alright with you?" He propped himself up on one elbow, and realized that he had obviously moved too fast when his vision blurred and his head began to spin. A second later he felt a steadying hand on his shoulder.

"Whoa, Mal," he heard Trip's voice as he let himself be pushed back down on the bio bed. "Take it easy."

He blinked a few times, and the image before his eyes slowly came back into focus. Trip was looking down at him, and Malcolm felt a caressing hand brush his hair back. The lack of aggressive behavior on Malcolm's part had obviously convinced Trip that there was no danger in his partner, for the slightly wary expression he had worn before had been replaced by a worried frown. "Phlox really doped you up, huh," he said.

Judging from the sluggish reactions of his mind, Malcolm thought that Trip was probably right. He didn't think that he had felt as out of it as now when he'd woken up after the surgery on his leg. At least people had not been acting as weird as they were now. He cleared his throat. "Trip," he asked, "what happened while I was out?"

"Uh, well..." Trip took his hand. "You had a reaction to the anesthesia," he said. "You... well, you sorta freaked a little."

"I "freaked"?" Malcolm asked. Trip sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, well, Phlox said it happens from time to time. He said it's nothin' serious, he jus' didn't want ya ta move around too much. That's what the cuffs were for."

Trip reached out to pull up a chair, and Malcolm closed his eyes for a moment, trying to remember any of the "freaking" that Trip had mentioned. There was something, blurry and shapeless, at the very back of his mind, and Malcolm concentrated, trying to recall some rough details. He remembered a feeling of anxiety, bordering on panic, and a feeling of great danger... to Trip? to Enterprise? Both? He opened his eyes and looked at Trip, who was now sitting beside the bed and resting his elbows on its edge.

"Why did you mention the Suliban before?" he asked.

"Well," Trip said, reaching out and beginning to play with Malcolm's hair, caressing it. It was a pleasant feeling. "Ya know, you were convinced that the Suliban had taken over Enterprise." He smiled. "Were pretty persistent about it, too. Couldn't convince you otherwise."

Malcolm felt his ears grow hot, trying not to imagine himself ranting like a madman about a Suliban invasion that was only happening in his head. Suddenly, a thought came to his mind.

"What time is it?" he asked, and Trip glanced at the chronometer on the monitor above the bed.

"Seven o'clock in the mornin'."

Malcolm remembered that he'd come to sickbay around 2200 hours, so he had probably woken from the anesthesia in the dead of the night. He looked at Trip. "You were here all night?"

Trip pursed his lips. "No, not exactly," he said. "Phlox called me around half past two, when... well, ya know, an' after that I stayed. But I did catch some sleep, on one o' the bio beds."

"I'm sorry, Trip," Malcolm said, feeling rather guilty at the thought of Trip being woken up in the middle of the night and having to sleep on one of the narrow, uncomfortable bio beds. "I didn't mean to cause any trouble."

"Don' apologize," Trip said with a smile. "Wasn't your fault."

Malcolm answered the smile with one of his own, then closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of Trip's fingers gently stroking his hair.

He must have dozed off for a while, for when he blinked his eyes open again, he found that Trip wasn't sitting beside the bed anymore, but standing a few feet away, talking to Phlox.

"... haven't experienced any lasting pain, Commander?"

"Nah," Trip answered, shaking his head. "It hurt like a bastard, but it's alright now. Told ya, doc, I'm okay."

Malcolm listened to the two of them with growing worry. It sounded as if Trip had been hurt in some way. He had seemed fine before, though...

"Just making sure, Commander," Phlox said. "Lieutenant Reed does have considerable strength. I want to avoid overlooking any serious injuries."

"Sure, doc. I'm fine, though. No need ta worry."

The conversation seemed over, and Phlox turned away and steered towards the counter on the other side of sickbay, while Trip turned back to Malcolm's bio bed.

"Trip?" Malcolm asked and sought out Trip's eyes as his partner raised his head. Phlox' last statement had triggered a feeling of dread in Malcolm. Something must have happened, he had done something to Trip, using "considerable strength". Trip gave him a smile and sat back down on the chair.

"Hey, Mal."

"Trip, did I hurt you?" Malcolm asked. Trip's change of expression from a friendly smile to surprise to a rather awkward half-grin did nothing to ease Malcolm's apprehension.

"Well," the engineer said, "no, not exactly. I mean, yes, but... well, not exactly hurt me... ya didn't mean to, so don't worry 'bout it."

Malcolm frowned, and despite Trip's protests propped himself on one elbow. "What happened, Trip?" he asked, trying to penetrate the haze that was surrounding the memories of last night. "What did I do?"

"Well..." Trip said, a rather embarrassed smile playing about his lips.

"What?" Malcolm heard the urgent tone in his voice, and silently cursed the fact that he simply couldn't remember. "What did I do?"

"Well, you... ya really wanted ta get outta sickbay," Trip said hesitantly. "And... well, ya know, ya thought Suliban were on Enterprise, and at some point you decided that Phlox an' I were Suliban, too."

Malcolm stared at his partner, the dread he was feeling intensifying. "What happened then?"

"Ah... well, ya tricked me into takin' off the restraints," Trip said, his cheeks reddening. "And..."

"And what?"

"Well, if ya really wanna know, ya squeezed mah balls," Trip said. Silence followed his words.

"I did what?" Malcolm asked when he was more or less sure that it wouldn't be only a horrified squeak that came out when he opened his mouth. Trip sighed.

"Ya squeezed my balls, an' then you ran off to chase your Suliban," he said. "The Cap'n an' T'Pol caught you jus' before ya could barricade yourself in yer quarters. T'Pol used the nerve pinch on you so they could getcha back to sickbay."

Usually, the thought of Captain Archer and T'Pol having to chase him like a runaway puppy while he was rampaging through the ship, on the hunt for non-existent Suliban, would have had Malcolm writhing in embarrassment, but at the moment Malcolm didn't give it any consideration at all. He stared at Trip, horrified.

"I'm so sorry, Trip," he said finally, reaching out to touch the other man's arm. "I... I'm really sorry, I... I didn't mean to hurt you-"

"O' course you didn't," Trip said with a smile and put his hand over Malcolm's. "Ya didn't know what you were doin'. An' besides, I'm alright. No damage done."

Malcolm gave him a doubtful look. "Still..." he said, not quite able to accept Trip's quick and complete forgiveness. He himself had once received a very rude kick into his private parts when his roommate at boarding school had decided that if it was him who was going to have to write the extra essay even though it was Malcolm who had initiated the practical joke, then Malcolm should have to suffer as well. Malcolm remembered the excruciating pain and the realization that he'd rather write a dozen extra essays than have his balls kicked again. The thought that he had done this to Trip somehow called for some kind of punishment, even if there had been extenuating circumstances.

Trip however just shook his head. "Don' worry 'bout it, darlin'. At least I got a story to tell."

The thought of Trip writing one of his many letters home and telling the Tucker Clan the entertaining story of how he had gotten his balls squeezed by his boyfriend almost made Malcolm cringe. His feelings must have displayed on his face, because Trip gave a laugh and took his hand. "Nah, don't worry, I won't tell anyone." He paused. "Gotta tell Silik, though, next time I see him. Bet he won't dare go near you after that."

At that, Malcolm had to laugh despite the guilty feeling that was sitting in his chest. The movement sent a twinge of pain through his stomach, and he winced, quickly stifling the laughter and lying back down on the bio bed.

Trip frowned. "You okay?" he asked. "Should I get Phlox ta give you somethin' for the pain?"

Malcolm shook his head. "No, I'm fine, thank you." He smiled. "Just don't make me laugh."

"Ah'm not supposed to make ya laugh?" Trip pursed his lips, making a show of looking thoughtful. "Yeah, well, I guess then Ah'm not gonna tell ya 'bout that one time when I pulled Lizzy up the old flagpole so she could keep a better lookout for Mom and Dad. Or that other time when I put a fake tarantula in mah mom's bed, an' she called me the Tuckers' worst addition to mankind since granduncle Winfred. Or that other time-"

"Stop it, Trip," Malcolm managed between gasps of suppressed laughter. "Stop it, that's evil."

Trip grinned broadly. "Sorry, darlin'. I'll stop."

Slowly, Malcolm managed to get his breathing under control again and cleared his throat, reaching out and wrapping his fingers around Trip's hand. "I guess I deserve it, though," he said with a rueful smile. Trip shook his head.

"Nah, you don't," he said, then considered. "Well, jus' a little, maybe."

Malcolm stifled another chuckle, then closed his eyes and tightened his grip on Trip's hand. All of a sudden he was feeling very tired again.

"Thanks for looking out for me," he said quietly, and felt Trip's fingers in his hair again. When his partner spoke, Malcolm could hear the smile in his voice.

"You're very welcome, darlin'."

To his own surprise, Malcolm felt wetness creep up behind his eyelids, and swallowed quickly. Get a grip, he told himself, and was glad for the tears of laughter that were still hanging in the corner of his eyes. Usually he was not a person to get sentimental. Must be those sedatives Phlox mentioned before.

He licked his lips and turned his head to one side, savoring Trip's closeness, and a few minutes later was fast asleep.

Epilogue soon to come up!

Please let me know what you think!