Chapter 15

"How is she?" Data asked him as Trip stood back watching his team work, chewing at his fingers with the other arm folded across his chest.

"She's hanging in there." Trip replied. "They found no forensic indications of who did this on her body or the sheet. You need to check for blood in bathrooms, it looks like they put her in a sonic shower before they dumped her. She's too clean. There should have been more blood from her injuries. They may have cleaned her up to facilitate carrying her through the ship. She'll have been bleeding profusely. Wherever they did this there will be spatter everywhere. Maybe they missed some if they cleaned up."

"Doctor, I hope you have not involved yourself in the retrieval of evidence?" Data asked.

"Of course not. I want whoever did this nailed to the wall. The last thing I'd do is jeopardise any case you may have. I also realize I'm the prime suspect as the estranged husband."

"Seeing as you mentioned it. Security have requested that you return to your quarters. Your dog is preventing them from performing the security sweep." Data advised him.

"I'll go now. She's going to be out of it for a while anyway." Barclay clenched his jaw. "Thank you sir." He turned and walked away. The team were stood at his door when he arrived, it was open and there was a sound of barking and growling. He whistled and the dog ran to him obediently.

"Did you want to stay while we perform the search Doctor?" the security officer asked as he walked away.

"Why? Were you thinking of planting evidence?" he asked. "Go ahead and search, I've nothing to hide." he said tiredly and strode along the corridor with J'hordak at his heels.

"Doctor, she's starting to come round." Barton said as he returned to Sickbay.

"Could you put him in my office please?" he said handing him the dog that was under his arm. J'hordak growled at the med-tech, "Alyssa would you mind? Must be your aftershave Barton." he smiled briefly at his tech as he put his dog in Alyssa's arms. He rushed to Taryn's bedside and grasped her hand. "Hey Sweetie."

"What happened?" she murmured and looked up at him plaintively.

"We're not sure. We found you all banged up. How much do you remember?" he stroked her long hair gently.

She frowned. "I was getting dressed in my quarters." She shook her head. "I don't know."

"That's alright." He kissed her hand. "It may take a while. You had some intracranial bleeding, your memory may be affected. But you're going to be fine." he smiled at her. "Everything is okay."

"No," she shook her head. "I'm sore, they must have…." she started to cry. "Oh God Trip…"

"I know." he whispered, as he took her in his arms. "You're safe now though." he cradled her against his shoulder. "We're going to catch whoever did this okay?" he kissed her forehead. "We're going to get them." He sighed and looked at her face, wiping away her tears with his thumb. "I know things have been bad between us. Would you rather I stayed away?"

She shook her head. "Unless that's what you want?" she sniffed.

"I want to wrap you up in cotton wool and never let you out of my sight again." he forced a smile.

"Doctor Barclay, could you come with us please?" Trip turned to look at the security officers and nodded.

"You try and get some rest. Alyssa's here okay, and Barton. They'll take care of you." he told her then turned to Nurse Ogawa. "I know we have security posted but I want the dog to stay with her. I want him right beside her." He kissed Taryn's hand tenderly. "I'll be back soon."

…

Barclay turned the warped piece of silvery metal over in his hands. "For a start, I know that you can't dispose of a combadge by recycling it in a replicator although it does screw them up. Secondly why would I bring her combadge back to my quarters to dispose of it when I have legitimate access to the entire ship? Thirdly, why would I rape and try to kill her when I've been trying to win her back? And fourthly, why would I try to find her and stop her being disintegrated in the nacelle? Surely it would be in my interests to destroy the evidence?"

"Maybe she told you she wasn't interested in reconciling and you lost your temper?" Worf suggested. "Maybe you had second thoughts about leaving her for dead? Perhaps it was an act to throw suspicion away from yourself?"

"She already told me she didn't want to reconcile in front of Deanna Troi. She's humouring me to get custody of our dog in the divorce but while that doesn't mean I'm not going to try and convince her otherwise, battering her brains out isn't my idea of romance."

"We found your DNA and her blood in her quarters as well as the blood of her roommate."

"Is Lisa okay?" Trip asked with concern.

"We are still looking for her." Worf intoned. "Her combadge was also in your replicator. The security team informed me they could not gain access to your quarters because of your pet. If you claim you didn't put their combadges in the replicator how could anyone else have got in there to do it?"

"I can't explain that. I can't explain the DNA either, I've never been to my wife's new quarters, not since she moved there anyway. I can't rule out being called there on a medical emergency before that. I've probably been in everyone's quarters at one time or another." Trip stated. "I am forensically aware however and a doctor. If I wanted to kill someone and get away with it I'd do a better job don't you think?" he asked Worf. "Certainly with less blood everywhere at least and I'd have deactivated this and left it with her to be destroyed in the nacelle." he waved the damaged combadge.

"You're very calm about all this." Worf noted.

"It's in my job description to be calm Commander." Trip stated, "I'm not trying to be evasive. I wish I had better answers for you because every moment you spend investigating me is a moment you aren't looking for the son of a bitch who left my wife for dead." Barclay paused to control his temper and looked away. "Check my dog for phaser burns. Even a stun setting may have singed his fur but not be visible to the naked eye and he was pissed when I got him from our quarters. I assumed your guys had been antagonizing him. I'd run a tox screen too and check him for needle marks. There are only a few people he'd let in without objecting but it's possible someone used a dart gun or a blow pipe."

"A dart gun?"

"A projectile weapon that fires a hypodermic needle that deploys with a small explosive charge. It's how they used to stun animals before phasers. Still do on a number of worlds."

"You know a lot about it?" Worf commented.

"I trained and worked as a vet before I got my medical degree." Barclay stated. "Animals aren't always co-operative when it comes to anaesthetic. Especially in the wild."

"There are rumours that following your separation your wife has become romantically involved with Dr Heathcliff…" Worf stated.

"She says they're just friends." Trip interrupted, not even wanting to hear the man's name. "Have you questioned him?"

"Did it make you angry to hear the rumours?" Worf asked.

"Of course it did, I was jealous as hell but that gives me a motive for killing him rather than her surely?" Trip argued. "She said she'd been getting letters, she called them creepy love letters and thought they were from me but they weren't. She told Deanna and me that she'd take them to security yesterday. I told her to show them to you."

"She didn't, and we didn't find them in her quarters." Worf told him and he blanched. "Following a recent counselling session she confided in one of her colleagues that you spent the night on the holodeck immediately before you filed for divorce. She intimated that you not only had a relapse of your holo-addiction but you indulged in an orgy at Miss Langford's House of Pleasure."

"That was a misunderstanding, yes I went to the holodeck and ran the Deadwood program but I didn't indulge in any orgy. We talked that over in a subsequent session, it's old and inaccurate news. I filed for divorce because my… male pride was dented and I was an idiot. Yes, I want her back but if she wants it to be over it's my own stupid fault. I'd have no one to blame but myself, certainly not her. I'd never hurt her, not intentionally. I never stopped loving her, I've never been unfaithful and to me holograms count as adultery." Trip tossed her twisted silver combadge onto the table. "This DNA evidence, what form did it take?"

Worf paused and pulled a package from a box beside him on the floor. "We found this on the floor beside her bed. It is covered in your DNA as well as hers."

Barclay turned the clear package over in his hands, visibly moved as he looked at the blue t-shirt that was spattered with green blood. "Um…it's my undershirt…she'd…any time I was off the ship or even on an away mission overnight I'd always find one of my dirty shirts in the bed when I got back." he raised his clenched hand to his mouth, then shifted uneasily in the chair. "She…um…she used to say she couldn't sleep without my smell in the bed. She must have taken it with her when she moved out. I didn't know…I don't know why she kept it so long after…God, I'm a fucking idiot Worf. I never should have let her out of my sight let alone tried to divorce her." Trip looked up and frowned as an officer entered and whispered something in Worf's ear.

"You may go." Worf stated and stood.

"To the brig or am I confined to quarters?" he asked.

"You are free to go wherever you wish, but I urge you not to interfere in this investigation." Worf glowered at him threateningly.

"Just like that?" Trip asked with a frown.

"Nurse Ogawa found signs of phaser burns on your animal's fur. I do not believe you would stun your own pet."

"I'm a little offended that you think I'm capable of rape and attempted murder but would draw the line at shooting a dog but I realize you have a job to do." Trip stated as he stood.

"I hope there will be no…animosity between us. I realize you are a private man and many of my questions were extremely personal..."

"Just, find whoever did this Worf. Much as I'd like them dead Taryn believes in justice and she's the injured party. Find them, make the case airtight and we'll be square."

…

"Are you okay?" Taryn asked as she ran and hugged him when he got back to Sickbay. He wasn't surprised she was up and about. Resting was a concept alien to his wife. "They said you were being questioned. How could they think that you would..?"

"It was rough." he said dramatically and nodded to Alyssa as she indicated she was heading to the lab. "They shone this light in my eyes, then Worf got out the rubber hose and the thumbscrews. Then there was the w…waterboarding…" He smirked. "They always question the husband in cases like this. It's fine." He rubbed her upper arms. "I got a little sick in my mouth when he mentioned your paramour, Commander Academy Buzzcut, the midget."

"It's Doctor Academy Buzzcut and he's hardly a midget, he's five ten and he isn't my paramour." she argued.

"I wouldn't blame you if he was, I've been an asshole of the first order."

"What if..?" She stopped and looked away.

"I know we've had our differences but I hope you know you can ask me anything?" he said as he stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers then took her chin and turned her face to his.

"W…what if they got me pregnant? I never restarted birth control and…" she asked desperately. He took her hand and lead her to the biobed then grabbed her by the waist and lifted her onto it. He picked up her notes on a padd and checked them. "See that entry? That's a post-coital contraceptive, part of the standard protocol for sexual assault unless it's culturally or religiously inappropriate." he told her then tossed the padd aside, picked up a tricorder and scanned her. "I know your cycle is haphazard to say the least but you aren't ovulating, you haven't ovulated in the last week and you aren't ovulating in the next few days from these hormone levels." He put down the tricorder and took her face in his hands. "No way are you pregnant. In fact there was so little evidence…we think he used a prophylactic or an object of some sort."

"You're in Dr Barclay mode." she said and cupped his cheek in her hand. "Make sure you aren't alone when you let your shields drop Trip." He let out a strangled sob and she pulled his face into her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry this is all my fault." he sobbed. "If I hadn't pushed you away I'd have been there to protect you." He held her close. "I'm so sorry."

"Shh. It could have happened anyway. We don't know, we just don't know."

"I came so close to losing you forever. I don't mean…I know…I'm not assuming we're getting back together but you would have been…they were about to…you were on the catwalk and they were going to test the nacelle…If you don't want me back I can live with it but the thought of you disappearing and my never knowing what happened to you…it's more than I could bear."

"There are failsafes." she told him as she stroked his face. "Sensors that check for biological substances as well as life-signs."

"The Captain said they were offline."

"I need to talk to the Captain, or Worf." she insisted.

"Have you remembered something about what happened?" Trip asked.

"No, but it takes a very specific skillset to take the biosensors offline without it showing up on the panel in Main Engineering. You'd only spot it on the Ops or Engineering Station on the Bridge if you were looking for it but the main panel would light up like a Christmas tree. I'm sure the Captain has thought of it but…"

"I never should have made you resign your commission." Trip stated with regret. "You belong at Ops."

She shook her head. "I said that to hurt you. I love my job now. I loved my life with you even though we weren't getting pregnant. I loved you. I still love you." she admitted. "But maybe we should call it a day. Things got so horrible and maybe there's no way back to what we had. It's my fault as much as it is yours. I never shared how I felt about my infertility either…"

"If that's really what you want I'll sign the papers. I'll do it now." he sniffed and headed for his office with J'hordak and her both following him. He picked up the padd and stylus and signed then went to hold it to the terminal to upload it but she grasped his wrist. "What? Do you want to check that I signed my real name? I didn't put Phil McGroin or I P Freely. Look? R E Barclay Cubed MD DXVM."

She sighed. "Do you think you could get to a point where you look at me and…don't think about what happened today? Will I always be damaged goods to you?"

"You aren't damaged goods to me now…" he stopped and looked at her incredulously. "Is this some sort of test?" He watched her reaction carefully. "Oh Sweet-stuff, what happened today doesn't define you and it never will. Not to me." He grasped her hand on his wrist and pushed the padd against the reader. "There, we're divorced or we will be in a minute or two." He lobbed the padd over his shoulder and dropped to one knee still clutching her hand. "Will you marry me?"

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" she pulled her hand away.

"Probably. I've not had the best day." He stood and picked up his mug. "Someone raped my wife and tried to kill her, shot my dog, tried to frame me and I just got divorced from the most amazing woman in the universe." He sipped his drink. "And my coffee is cold." He emptied it into a nearby plant carelessly and dropped the cup onto his desk as he slumped into his seat. "I need a vacation. Let's go to Hawaii." He looked up at her as she paced back and forth.

"I wanted us to have a conversation about this, not an immediate divorce. I'm calling Counsellor Troi. You've seriously lost the plot." she said and turned his terminal to face her on the opposite side of the desk to him.

"I mean it." He gazed across the table into her eyes. "Marry me and come to Hawaii, or Vegas, or Risa or what's that place? Bognor Regis. Anyplace you like."

"You want to get married?" He nodded. "And go to Bognor?"

"I like the name," he smirked, "Bognor Regis. It's like a contradiction in terms. A bog fit for a king."

"It's a shithole Trip." she argued. "Maybe that's a bit harsh but it's a seaside town in England. Every time I've been there it's pissed down with rain. It's not Risa by a long chalk." She looked at him earnestly. "Why do you want to get married? We just got divorced."

"In that case I can ask you out on a date as we're both footloose and fancy free." He spun around in his chair. "Where do you want to go? Screw it, let's just go to bed. We never did date really did we?"

"You've finally snapped." she whispered. "All that repressed anger at your mother walking out when you were a baby has finally caught up with you."

"She did me a favour, you've met my half-brothers the psychopath and the nervous wreck." Trip stated dismissively.

"You only have one half-brother." she argued.

"My point exactly, she drove him schizo." Trip stated. "You only said you wanted to call it a day because you think the fact you were raped diminishes you. Well it doesn't. I feel the same way about you right now as I felt yesterday and the day before and every day since the moment I first laid eyes on you. The legal papers don't matter jack shit and honestly, if we hadn't been in Starfleet I might never have proposed and we would still be together because we love each other."

"You divorced me just to make that point?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes." he replied sullenly.

"You stupid arrogant prick!" she snapped and stalked from the room.

"Wait? Where are you going?" he said following her.

"I'm taking my dog and leaving. I've got no reason to stay now, we can't live together unmarried thanks to Starfleet's ludicrously out-dated rules on dependent spouses and no way am I sharing a room with…" she froze and looked up at him with fear in her eyes. "An object…you said an object…maybe it wasn't a him…It was a her." she looked away as he grasped her upper arms. "She hit me with a…it was a bottle I think…Kanar, it was twisted like a kanar bottle and she…oh God." He held her against his chest as she sobbed. "I need to talk to Worf, she attacked me but…" She sniffed and wiped her tears on the back of her hand.

"What? What are you remembering?"

"I'm not sure, it's not clear. But there were two of them. Definitely two. Male and female." He kissed her forehead tenderly and pressed his communicator.

…

"Where are you Taryn?" Deanna Troi asked in the darkened room.

Her eyes were closed and she was sitting cross-legged on the floor in the centre of the room, her long raven hair loose about her shoulders. "I'm getting changed in my quarters, I've just got out of the shower and I'm wearing a towel. I'm meeting with Trip soon. I'm not looking forward to it." Her lip quirked and she shifted the pressure of her fingers on her palm. "The door is chiming."

"Answer the door." Deanna prompted.

Taryn frowned. "Lisa locked the door again. I have to open it manually. He has a phaser." she frowned. "He stunned me."

"Who?" Deanna asked.

"His face is…I'm too groggy. I can't see clearly." Her breath began to hitch.

"You're safe. It's just a memory." Deanna assured her and Taryn adjusted the position of her fingers to calm herself. "Your mind is there, but physically you are here with us. The pain is there. You can't feel it here."

"I'm on the floor, he keeps telling me he doesn't want to hurt me. If I don't fight him it won't hurt, he wants me to enjoy it. He has a hypospray, he says it will help me relax. He's picked me up. He carrying me to my bed. I want to fight him but, I…I keep blacking out. He's on top of me, he's… no he's not naked his jumpsuit and underpants are pulled down and his shirt is open. He's in uniform. He's a science officer, or medical, it's blue. His jersey is blue."

"What else do you remember about him?"

"His smell, it's… I know his aftershave from somewhere." She shook her head. "I can't place it. He's lean. He has chest hair, I can feel it when I push him away." She winced, "It hurts, make him stop!" she screamed. "No!" Her eyes snapped open, her breath ragged.

"It's alright, you're safe." Deanna told her. "You did really well."

"Trip?" she looked into the darkness.

"I'm here, it's okay." He crouched beside her and took her in his arms. "You got a lot more detail that time. Things we never told you like how we found a sedative in your system."

"But I still don't know how the bottle fits, and the woman. It's a woman's arm holding a twisted bottle and she's hitting me over and over again." She sobbed as she gripped his shoulder, her face buried in his neck. "It's there every time close my eyes."

"It'll come in time." he assured her as he stoked her hair. "It's only been a week, you're doing so well Sweet-stuff."

"I think I need a nap if that's okay?" she asked softly.

"Of course it's okay." he cupped her cheek in his hand and kissed her forehead. "Do you want me to call you in a couple of hours?" She nodded and stood up. J'hordak followed her into the bedroom and she closed the door behind her.

He began to pace in the small chalet they were staying in. It was in the grounds of Taryn's grandmother's riding school. Trip had left the ship with her as soon as they found the body of Taryn's room-mate in the other nacelle during the security sweep. He took a leave of absence so he could stay with her and make sure she was safe. She was the only witness and with no other evidence they had hit a brick wall with the investigation. Deanna switched off the recording device and eyed him appraisingly as he paced, rubbing his face thoughtfully. "You think she's confabulating." she stated.

"I think it's a possibility don't you? She could be inserting me in the memory to fill the gaps in the jigsaw. She could be describing me. We've certainly…I haven't necessarily undressed all the way every time we've made love. I've gone home and found her in a towel and things have got intense." He fidgeted with his hands, "Admittedly I haven't drugged her and shot her with a phaser in order to have sex with her in a while." he added facetiously. "That was in bad taste. I'm sorry." He stopped and rubbed his neck distractedly. "Thank you for not suggesting it was me who did this to her."

"This type of violence just isn't in your nature Trip. But perhaps we should consider excluding you from the room during these sessions. Your mating bond with her may be influencing her in ways we don't understand."

"I want to be there for her, but I think these sessions take as much out of me as they do her." Trip admitted.

"The fact she's able to induce the state herself and only needs my guidance is helping her feel empowered I think. But she's struggling to distance herself from the memories in a way that would be more effective under hypnosis. She starts reliving the trauma and as a part Vulcan that carries risks."

"I know. I'm checking her neural function regularly for signs of her lobotomising herself to handle it but… Do you have any idea how high the suicide rate is for Vulcan rape victims? It scared the shit out of me when I read about it. I wonder if helping her remember is a good idea. She's so exhausted after she tries to relive it all."

"You said yourself her brain injury is still healing and she's requiring more sleep as a result and don't forget the social element to those statistics. Vulcans are intensely private regarding their mating practices, they repress emotion because their emotions naturally run high and they handle trauma poorly. They are a remarkable species in terms of physical resilience but they are extremely high strung and susceptible to shame. In many ways Taryn got the best out of all three species. Orions are capable of great emotional strength, as are Humans and she seems much closer psychologically to their mindset than that of a Vulcan." She smiled. "I wish I could read her emotionally. Not just that it would help with this process but hybrid psychology is a fascinating and under explored field."

"Maybe she's better off not knowing but that bastard is out there and for all we know he'll try to finish the job."

"That's a distinct possibility Trip. Power Reassurance rapists often contact the victim following the assault but the level of violence used against her would seem to rule out that type of attacker."

"So she must be right that he had a partner?"

"By contrast Lisa wasn't sexually assaulted, the attack on her was far less frenzied. She also wasn't shrouded and dumped like Taryn and was placed in the opposite nacelle, positioned almost with reverence. Perhaps she interrupted them and they felt remorse at her death?"

Trip shook his head. "Being here is helping her heal I think. Being around the horses is doing her a power of good as much as being near her family." he opened the blinds and looked out of the window across the courtyard and the paddock. "There is nothing so good for the inside of a man as the outside of a horse. It's an old saying, John Lubbock I think. Nineteenth century." he whispered.

"She didn't want to stay with her parents?" Deanna asked.

"She never does. They're nearby here and she'd have to share a room with her sister again. She's still at home, still at school and Taryn says the boys room smells of thirty years of teenage boy funk and she won't sleep in there." Trip explained and smirked. "She's right too, it stinks like a sweaty jockstrap. It's like it's in the walls or something."

"Are you still sleeping on the couch?" Deanna asked.

"No, I've been upgraded to a camp bed." He smiled at her. "I'd be giving her some space even if we were still together. The last thing she needs is any pressure. Besides, I'm a light sleeper and since we changed all the windows the only way in is that door and they'd have to get past me and the dog to get to her. I feel safer sleeping in here."

"You're still sending her mixed messages." Deanna warned.

"What, because I'm giving her my support and affection?" Trip stated. "It's the least I can do after the way I messed her around and we both know where we stand."

"You're divorced but not separated."

"We're divorced but sharing accommodation." he corrected and responded to a knock at the door.

"Sorry to disturb you." Taryn's cousin Emily said politely. "But we saw the blinds were open and Miffy sent me over. She thinks Nemesis has mastitis and wondered if you'd take a look please Trip?"

"Sure, I'll be there in a minute." Trip smiled. "I was going to check on that mare of yours soon anyway."

"Thanks." she smiled and walked away.

"You're keeping busy then?" Deanna smiled.

"I'm a superhero around here when it comes to goats with sore teats, pregnant mares and chickens with haemorrhoids." he said as he grabbed his kit. "I'm just not sure I'm the best man to keep Taryn safe." he added sadly.

"Same time tomorrow?" Deanna asked as they headed for the door.

"Whenever is good for you. Even if we go riding we don't go far."

…

Barclay was helping out in the stables. He was dressed for riding in a polo top, riding pants and boots when the sound of a transporter distracted him.

"Where is she?" Heath asked as he approached him.

"Who? We have a number of shes here."

"You know who Barclay." He snapped angrily.

"She's not here." Trip said blankly. "She went out." he added as he continued mucking out the stall.

"You let her go alone?" Heath asked accusingly, his body language becoming increasingly animated.

"Did I say she was alone?" Barclay asked, not even looking at the man, inferring he'd rather look at a pile of horse droppings than his face. "She's visiting her brother's family, he's escorting her to and fro." he explained. "Not that it's any business of yours."

"Not my business? I care about her. All the evidence suggests more than you do." Heath spat angrily.

Trip looked appraisingly at his love rival. He could see why she would like him. He had an intensity about him and his light brown eyes looked intelligent. He was younger than Trip and looked lean and fit in uniform, his hair short and dark. He didn't have a jaw as strong as Trip's. His face had a lived in quality, softer with long dimples in his cheeks. Generally, Taryn was a good judge of character, better than him if the truth be told. She never formed friendships with people who weren't genuine and worthy. He was probably a nice man who would treat her well. The kind of man he'd like to think she'd end up with if anything happened to him, not that it mattered as he had no intention of dying any time soon or letting her go without a fight. Literally if need be. Something suddenly clicked into place in Trip's mind, something that derailed his train of thought and sent his adrenal glands into overdrive. Every description Taryn had given of her assailant while under self-hypnosis flashed before his eyes in an instant and coalesced into an image that made his blood boil.

"Do you have hair on your chest?" He asked tersely and threw down the pitchfork.

"What?" Heath snapped.

"You look in good shape, you wear a blue uniform. Let me smell your aftershave?" he asked as he approached him.

"What the fuck? Look pal, you aren't my type…"

"Was it you? Was it? You fucking deviant." Trip shoved him and he staggered backwards.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Heath responded incredulously.

"Show me your chest." Trip demanded pulling at the front of the man's uniform.

"I don't have to show you anything!" Heathcliff shouted and they struggled together.

"I knew it, you bastard!" Trip yelled triumphantly as he pulled the doctor's uniform open. "It was you, you hairy son of a bitch!"

"What was me?"

"You have chest hair, you're lean and you wear a blue uniform. Just like her rapist." Trip spat accusingly, holding the man by his shirt front and shaking him.

"Pardon me, but so do you!" the doctor ripped Trip's shirt apart. "How do I know you didn't rape her? You'd already ripped her heart in two and threw her out. You don't deserve her!"

They fell to the ground, grappling and trading punches. Rolling in the muck and straw as they struggled.

"Much as I cherish the secret fantasy of two handsome, bare-chested men wrestling homo-erotically in a pile of horseshit, what the fuck is going on?" Taryn asked with her hands on her hips standing over them.

"It was him!" Trip shouted, still struggling on the floor. "The body type, the uniform, the hair, even his stinking aftershave!"

"It wasn't him." Taryn said flatly. "He wears the same aftershave as my Dad. I'd have recognised that straight away." she explained. "Besides, he's been on Vulcan at a conference for the last fortnight."

"I just got back and heard what happened. Are you okay?" Heath asked her earnestly while held in a headlock.

"I think you should leave." she stated clearly.

"Yeah, go on. Get out of here." Trip shouted breathlessly and released his grip on his fellow combatant and they both struggled to their feet, both with superficial injuries and black eyes that were starting to swell shut.

"Both of you. Get your shit out of the cottage and go back to the ship Trip. I don't need this. You both claim you care about me yet the first chance you get you beat the crap out of each other. How is that supposed to make me feel? You're doctors and you're acting like two dogs fighting over a bitch in heat."

"It wasn't like that…" Trip protested.

"I don't want to hear it. I'm sick of the sight of both of you." She strode off towards the main house. "You have an hour Trip. I don't want to see you when I go back to the cottage."

"Great, now she has no one protecting her." Heath said accusingly.

…

"Taryn? Please open the door." Trip said as he knocked. He'd returned to the ship as she had requested but found she had flatly refused the Captain's offer of a security detail and night was beginning to fall in her part of the world. "I don't need to stay, or even come in. I just want to talk." She opened the door. Her expression hard. "I'm sorry. I get jealous, you know that. I know I have no right to anymore…Look I just want you to be safe so please let me get someone from security here? Or I'll just stay out here and keep watch if that's okay? I can't just leave you here on your own."

"I have J'hordak." she stated.

"I know he's a better shot with a phaser than I am but you don't have to rub it in." Trip smiled as she began to snort with laughter. "I'll stay out here tonight and we'll sort something out tomorrow for the longer term okay?"

"You don't have to stand outside." she conceded and he looked at her with hope in his eyes. "I'll get you a chair." She snorted as his expression fell. "Come in you big prat. I can't leave you out in the cold." She told him with a gentle smile. "Don't think all is forgiven though. I'm still pissed off with you."

"He started it." Trip defended as he stepped inside.

"No he didn't." Taryn corrected. "I know you too well to fall for that one."

"You like him don't you?" Trip asked quietly.

"Yes, I like him a lot." she stated. "But the last thing I need is for things to get more complicated and I've told him that."

"He's in love with you."

"He thinks he is. But he doesn't really know me." she said as she helped Trip set up the temporary bed. "He loves the idea of me and that's not the same thing at all. I'll get you some PJ's from the replicator."

"I was in love with you before I knew you." Trip said softly.

"He's not you." she replied and handed him the pyjamas. His hand touched hers inadvertently and he felt it, the love and the passion, some would call it the spark between them.

"Trip…" she gazed into his eyes. "I…I can't…Not with anyone. Not after…It's just too soon."

He cradled her cheek in his palm and smiled apologetically. "I know." He kissed her forehead tenderly with his eyes closed.

…

J'hordak was barking loudly, rousing him from his sleep. He grabbed the phaser he kept at hand and rolled out of the camp bed and into a crouch. Taryn appeared in the threshold of the bedroom door with her phaser in her hand. She hissed for the dog to be silent, shut him in the bedroom and made eye contact with Trip.

"Someone's outside." Taryn whispered and he nodded, hearing the veranda creak.

Trip crept to the window nearest the door keeping low to avoid casting a shadow in the room and peeked out. The shadowy figure was lurking by the door holding a weapon of some sort, a crossbow and they were unlocking the door from the outside. Trip signalled to Taryn that they were armed, his back pressed to the wall still crouched. He fought to control his breathing but his heart was pounding. He signalled Taryn to go back into the bedroom but she shook her head and assumed a combat stance, turning sideways to make a narrower target with her phaser trained on the door. He rolled his eyes, you can take the girl out of Starfleet but you can't take Starfleet out of the girl it seemed.

The door flew open and the man burst in. Taryn hit first, stunning him with the phaser and he loosed the bolt, narrowly missing her and hitting the door frame. The man dropped to his knees in front of Trip but was still conscious.

"Hold your fire!" Taryn shouted. "It's Uncle Fred."

"What?!" Trip shouted. Standing and grabbing the man by the collar and hauling him to his feet.

"I thought you went back to the ship Trip…" the man slurred, feeling the effects of Taryn's phaser.

"Oh, so you thought you'd come sniffing around Taryn with a loaded crossbow in the middle of the night did you?" Trip shouted.

"What's going on?" Beth asked as she appeared at the door.

"Ask your lecherous husband." Trip told her angrily but dropped the man on the floor as he passed out. "He thought I wasn't here and decided to pay your niece a nocturnal visit." he explained acidly.

"Disgusting…bastard." Beth kicked her husband in the gut to emphasize each word. "I want a divorce, you cock-sucking cunt." she shouted as she grabbed the isolinear skeleton key from his hand and stormed off with her fair curly hair bouncing.

"What do you want us to do with him?" Trip called after her, then turned to see Taryn dragging him out of the cottage by the ankle, letting his head bounce off the steps down from the veranda.

"He can sleep it off in the courtyard." Taryn said and stalked back into the house, she put her phaser down on the dining room table and went to the replicator.

"He could choke if you leave him like that." Trip told her.

"So?" Taryn replied coldly as she sipped from a glass of water. Trip sighed and went to roll the man onto his side with his foot. Sometimes the Hippocratic oath was a bitch.

"I think Beth got it the wrong way round, the problem is he's a cunt-sucking co…" he didn't finish the word, all he knew was pain at the sound of the phaser on kill as he fell on top of Fred. He looked up and saw a man smile as he walked past and into the cottage. A man he knew well, before everything went black.

Author's note:

Any and all comments are welcome, along with predictions of whodunit.