A/N: I keep saying it, but you all deserve it -- thanks for the reviews!

CHAPTER 28

Hoshi was unable to go back to sleep after Archer's delirium fit, so she sent Mayweather away to get some rest. He had only had a few hours off before she'd called him back to sickbay, then he'd help bring Archer here, and had wound up in a wrestling match with the captain. Mayweather was probably more exhausted than she had been before her nap, although he'd never admit it.

She looked at the chronometer and was surprised to see that she'd managed almost six hours of sleep before all hell had broken loose. Thinking she better be ready if it happened again, she checked the med kit. The inventory was disappointing. There was the cartridge of painkiller she'd loaded in the hypospray last night but hadn't used. There were two cartridges of sedative, one of which she loaded in another hypo so that there would be no delay in administering it if Archer's delirium returned when he woke. But there was only one more dose of antibiotic, which was what Archer really needed. Despite her meager knowledge of medicine, she knew that a normal regimen of antibiotics ran for several days.

Reed should be along soon. She supposed she could make another trip to the launch bay then and get another of the shuttlepod first aid kits, or she could ask Reed to do it. At some point, however, they were going to have to check sickbay for more antibiotic, although she knew she would distrust whatever was found there.

She checked Archer, who seemed to be sleeping peacefully, then poured what was left of the iced tea into a glass. Dart padded over to put his head on her lap, his eyes gazing up at her as she took a sip of the tea. For such a supposedly fierce dog, he could be very sweet at times. Animals could pick up on humans' emotions, and if all he sensed were anger and distrust, no wonder he could be a terror. Environment played a big role in how both humans and animals acted. Maybe no one had been kind to Dart until she had come along.

She'd been petting Dart for a few minutes when the door chime rang. She pushed the dog's head off her lap and went to the door. She'd been expecting Reed, so she was surprised when she opened the door to find Tucker standing there.

His blue eyes glittered unnaturally bright in the dim lighting of the corridor. "Hi, darlin'," he drawled. "I thought I'd stop by 'n see how the cap'n's doin'. I ain't due back on duty just yet."

His accent was more pronounced than usual. Occasionally, her Trip would drop a "g," and he could be sloppy in his speech patterns, but she'd never heard him use "ain't." The disarming smile, however, was the same in both universes. For some reason, that made her nervous. She'd always been comfortable with her Trip's Southern charm, which was honest and without guile. But she had the distinct impression that this version of him was pouring it on because he wanted something. Or maybe, she thought, her eyes narrowing, he was trying to cover something up.

"He's sleeping, but I think he's doing okay," Hoshi told him, hoping he wouldn't want to come in.

Her hopes were dashed as he brushed past her. She caught the strong smell of alcohol on his breath as he walked by. If he'd had a few drinks, that might explain his verbal mannerisms at the moment.

More alarming was his unsteady gait as he walked toward Archer where he lay in his bunk. Tucker was the first officer, in charge of the ship while the captain was recuperating, and he was drunk? Her Trip would never do that.

Could Tucker be the person behind Phlox's attempt to murder Archer? If that was so, he might have been drinking in disappointment because it hadn't been successful. Before Tucker's arrival at the cabin, she hadn't given serious thought to who might have put Phlox up to trying to poison Archer, other than as some faceless, nameless crew member. With a start, she realized that it hadn't occurred to her that one of the senior officers of this ship might want Archer dead. They were too similar to their counterparts, if only in appearance, that it hadn't entered her mind.

The sudden realization made Hoshi's heart race. Tucker could be here to finish Archer off himself. With her background in aikido, she was sure she could take Tucker easily, especially considering his inebriated state. Unfortunately, he was already between her and the captain. She had to do something now before he could do something to Archer. She started to move in that direction, but Dart beat her to it. The dog was on his feet between Tucker and Archer, growling and baring his teeth at the engineer.

"Damn!" Tucker muttered as he jumped back. Not taking his eyes from Dart, he said over his shoulder to her, "What's the dog's problem?"

Hoshi came up beside Tucker, giving Dart the hand motion to sit. The dog obeyed, but muted growls continued to come from him.

"He's probably being overly protective because his master is hurt," Hoshi said.

"Yeah," Tucker said, wiping his face with his hand. "He's never acted like this around me before, so that must be it."

"Maybe you ought to go," Hoshi suggested.

Tucker stared at Archer for a few more moments. "Yeah," he said at last. "I got to go by engineering and check on Kelby before I get up to the bridge anyway. Can't leave that boy alone for a moment. I'm beginnin' to wonder how he ever got through fleet training."

As he turned away, Hoshi caught of glimpse of Tucker's expression. Frustration didn't come close to describing it.

At the door, he turned back to her and said, "You take good care of him, ya hear?"

Hoshi nodded. With her new-found suspicion of him, she didn't trust herself to speak. She stood there, staring at the door after it closed behind him. She'd been aware that someone on board this ship wanted Archer dead. Until Tucker's visit, what she hadn't realized was that in this crazy, mixed-up universe, every single person on board was a potential suspect. From now on, she needed to be a lot more careful about who was on the other side of the door when she opened it.

Only in this universe, she told herself, would she wind up protecting a person she had been told had committed a cold-blooded murder from other murderers. But she had no choice. As far as she could tell, Archer was the key for her to return home.

Several hours later, Reed arrived. Much to Hoshi's relief, he had anticipated that Archer would need more painkillers as well as antibiotics.

"These were still in their original shipping containers in a storeroom off sickbay," he told her as he handed over two large metal cases. "Phlox either had no need yet to restock the medicine cabinet in sickbay, or he was too lazy to unpack them. The seals haven't been broken. They should be all right."

Hoshi broke the shipping seal on the first case and opened it. There had to be more than fifty cartridges of antibiotic packed securely in the case. She quickly opened the other case and found the same was true for a heavy-duty analgesic.

"Where's Mayweather?" Reed asked abruptly.

"Oh," Hoshi said as she shut the cases. "I sent him off to get some rest."

Archer groaned at that moment. Hoshi looked in his direction to see him moving restlessly under the sheet. He was probably waking up. She was suddenly glad that Reed was here. If Archer turned violent again, she'd need help restraining him.

She gathered up two of her prepared hyposprays. She wouldn't need the third one with the last of the antibiotic from the med kit; it was too soon to give him another injection of that. Archer groaned again as she knelt on the floor next to his bed. She was ready, a hypo of painkiller in one hand and the hypo with a sedative in the other, when Archer opened his eyes. His green eyes, hazed with pain, gradually focused on her.

"Didn't I tell you to get me something for the pain?" he rasped.

At least he didn't sound delirious. She pressed the tip of the hypospray with the painkiller to his neck, and pushed the button to inject its contents. Within seconds, he let out a long sigh and his facial muscles relaxed.

"Much better," he mumbled, his eyes drifting shut.

Hoshi placed a hand on his forehead. It felt cool but clammy. "I think your fever broke," she said. "That's good."

Archer opened his eyes to squint up at her. "I had a fever?"

"You don't remember smacking Mayweather around?" she asked.

From behind her, Reed uttered a startled, "What?" It was echoed a moment later by Archer.

Hoshi pushed herself to her feet and looked down at Archer. "You woke up and thought everyone was trying to kill you. Mayweather had to hold you down so you wouldn't hurt yourself."

Archer looked at her warily. "I don't remember that," he said faintly.

"It's a good thing T'Pol came by in the middle of all of it," she told him. "I had her nerve pinch you. Otherwise, I don't know how I would have gotten you to calm down."

Archer's startled exclamation was overriden by a loud snort from Reed, who said, "That explains why T'Pol looked more smug than usual on the bridge this morning."

Hoshi got Archer some water to drink, then checked his side. She removed the bandage, noting that the wound didn't look as puffy or red as it had the first time she'd changed the dressing. It also looked like the site was beginning to heal; there was no blood oozing from it like there had been last night.

Archer asked for a status report from Reed. She'd been so wrapped up in taking care of Archer that she hadn't once wondered what was happening with Panmikar and the battle between the Imperial and Andorian fleets. She listened as she cleaned and rebandaged the wound.

The Imperial forces had routed the Andorians who, after learning of the death of their chancellor, seemed to have lost their will to fight. Casualties among them had been high, but a few of their ships had managed to limp away. From the conversation between the two men, Hoshi got the impression that the usual practice would have been to destroy all the Andorian ships, but the Imperial forces had also taken a lot of damage. In addition to casualties among the four Terran ships, Reed reported that Hernandez's ship had been so badly damaged that it was being towed back to Earth.

"Damn!" Archer muttered. "I was hoping to avoid this."

Reed cocked his head. "Sir?"

Archer batted away Hoshi's hands where she was taping the fresh bandage in place. "Aren't you finished?"

With a wry smile, Hoshi picked up the scraps of old bandage. She moved off, putting away the items she'd used to redress his wound, but continued to listen as the topic of their conversation changed.

"Phlox is a stubborn one," Reed was saying. "He lasted two hours in the booth before he passed out."

"And he didn't tell you who put him up to trying to kill me?" Archer asked, irritability mixed with disbelief in his voice.

If he wasn't careful, he was going to work himself into another tizzy, Hoshi thought, and she would have to rebandage his side again.

"No," Reed replied. "Denobulan physiology is sufficiently different from humans that the booth doesn't work as effectively on him."

The more she heard about this booth thing, the less Hoshi liked it. It sounded like some type of torture device. Despite her dislike of the doctor, she felt sorry for him, especially after his obvious fear when he'd been caught trying to poison Archer. She had no doubt he'd been deathly afraid of whoever had coerced him to do it.

Archer grunted and shifted higher up on his pillows. "Where is he now?"

"He's in the brig under guard by combat troops." At Archer's sharp glance, Reed said, "I'm not worried about him escaping. But there may be an attempt on his life to keep us from finding out who really wanted you dead. Hence, the combat troops."

It took Hoshi a moment to figure out why Reed's own security staff weren't on guard duty. He must think some of his own men might be involved or could be subjected to the same coercion as Phlox had been. Combat troops, she recalled from her own universe, often were at odds with other branches of the military. From what she'd seen here, it was even more so, considering their segregation from the rest of the crew. Or perhaps it was simply that, unlike fleet personnel, the soldiers wouldn't have anything to gain if Archer was killed.

"You have a nasty, suspicious mind, Mister Reed," Archer said approvingly.

"Thank you, sir," Reed said with a hard smile. "But we do have a problem concerning the doctor. He's gone into hibernation." With a sneer of distaste, he added, "Aliens!"

Archer let his head flop back on the pillow. "Damn," he muttered. "How long does that last?"

Reed shrugged. "I have no idea."

"Six days is the usual cycle," Hoshi put in. When both men turned to look questioningly at her, she said, "I know because the Doctor Phlox where I come from had regular hibernation cycles." She paused. "Of course, the Denobulans here could be different."

Archer mulled that over. "For the time being, I think we can count on Phlox being unable to give us any answers." He looked at Reed. "See if you can find out who's responsible."

They continued to talk for a while, but Hoshi tuned them out. She had her own suspicions about who might be responsible, but she was hesitant to voice them. What if Tucker hadn't arranged to try to kill Archer? She'd been in this universe long enough to know that any accusation like that might result in irreversible harm, even death, for the engineer. She didn't like Tucker very much, but she didn't want to get him in trouble if she was wrong about him.

She'd wait until Reed left, then broach the subject with Archer.