"What in bloody hell is this? Is this a tax audit or a medical procedure?!"
Malcolm had come to pay a visit to Hoshi the day she received her Denial of Coverage. Upon seeing the letter, Malcolm grabbed her and very nearly mowed down everyone in his path as they hurried to Sickbay.
"This can't continue," he said, clearly struggling to keep his British level. He caught himself before throwing the letter on Phlox's desk and opted to crush it in his fist. The desk was filled with S.H.I.T requests and denial forms. It would have been very easy to lose the letter in a pile that size.
"Can't we appeal to a higher authority?"
Hoshi loved the way Malcolm said the word 'authority'. She offhandedly wondered if he was into bondage. She spied Malcolm's weathered hands and calloused fingers--as he clenched and unclenched his fists at Phlox's apparently nth rendering of S.H.I.T's lawful clauses and legal restrictions.
It's true, sometimes she liked it rough.
In response to that thought, the parasite somewhere in her brain shimmied this way and that, setting her head on fire with a pain so great she wanted to stab herself--with the pen that came with the clipboard holding the thirty carbon triplicate S.H.I.T appeal forms.
But not this rough.
Hot tears sprang to her red-lined swollen eyes and she couldn't stop her lips from quivering like an autumn leaf on a winter tree. As it was, she, the brilliant linguist, didn't even hear the loud crack that drew Malcolm's and Phlox's eyes back to her. Unfilled white, yellow, and blue forms fluttered to the ground. The clip had given away from the board.
"I'm sorry," she whispered with a raw rasp, her chin to her chest. "I shouldn't have gotten sick."
Malcolm's eyes rounded incredulously. Phlox's thick shoulders started to deflate.
"I shouldn't have let the Xindi put those things in my head..." She was having trouble keeping her voice steady, but the words were tumbling out. "It's...all...my...fault...I didn't mean to...cause...so much...trouble...I picked...the wrong plan..."
At this point Phlox was no longer paying attention to Hoshi. Indeed he was most fascinated and rather terrified by the dark aura that seemed to emanate from the normally stoic armory officer. Yes, it appeared the man was very upset and angry. Perhaps not the best person to help Hoshi deal with these convoluted health insurance bureaucracies.
Yet, before Phlox could get another word out, Malcolm planted himself in front of Hoshi. Her tears were splattering over his meticulous shiny black boots, but he paid that no heed. Instead, he took her by the hands and spoke gently.
"You must marry me, Hoshi."
Her puffy red eyes could not open much wider, but there was pure astonishment in her face.
"This S.H.I.T is...vile," he spat, very nearly with actual spit, "As a fellow officer, I can't stand for it. Once we are married, you will be a British citizen with its care system, there will be no need to persist on squeezing blood from this damned stone." In a quieter voice, he continued, "If you wish to divorce when you are well, that will be perfectly all right...well, not...perfectly." His Adam's apple bobbed as his cheeks pinked.
Speechless, Hoshi simply there stood with her mouth slightly agape.
After what seemed like an eternity, Malcolm squared his shoulders and took a deep breath. His hands released hers and instead came to hold her tear drawn cheeks. His hands were rough, Hoshi thought, but there was gentleness in his touch. The piercing blue in his eyes made her knees weak and her heart thump.
"If you don't know what to say, it means you've already thought of everything. So say yes, because whatever you've thought about, none of it matters," he said as his thumbs brushed against the salty remains of her tears. He smiled, gently, graciously, and adoringly into her upturned face, and it was all she could do to keep standing.
She moved her lips. They seemed to work. She blinked her eyes. Them seemed to work too.
Without yet another thought, she spoke, as if things were finally clear for the first time.
"I love you and you love me!"
Malcolm's smile faltered, her words shocked him to the core. "P...p...pardon?"
"It's true!" Hoshi exclaimed, the truth was a surprise to her as well.
"You...love me?" he asked, cautious as ever.
Though it pained her to smile, Hoshi couldn't but smile hugely at the man she loved.
"Yes."
"Yes?"
"Yes."
"You mean...?"
"Yes!"
And then they kissed passionately, oblivious to Phlox's enthusiastic clapping in the background. Not only did he get a free show in human romantic relationships and a proposal, he now had less S.H.I.T to deal with.