28
"That's enough running for one day," she said, opening up the door.
"Different physical things," he said, taking his jacket off. "This your desk?"
"Isn't it obvious? The other one has that huge picture of Jenny's fiancé."
Doug looked. "That's Ramirez. He's in Engineering here, too?"
"No. He's on one of Saturn's moons. I forget which one," she said, "I'm not so sure Jenny's quite got it figured out where they'll live when they get married."
"Well, she can probably be an engineer anywhere," he said, kissing her cheek and placing his jacket on her desk chair.
"I, uh, can we talk just a tiny bit?" she scratched her hand, which was still covered with intricate silvery scrollwork.
"Of course."
"It's, just, I feel like we kind of skipped over some things. Things that may be more important than we realize."
"Yes." he agreed. "Seems like jumping into bed right now, this very minute might not be the best of ideas. Despite our desires."
"I, uh, I wanted to tell you. I spoke with Treve yesterday."
"Treve? And?"
"Well, I asked him if his people ever go to places and eat food that other people have prepared. He said they do it all the time, and it's a very, I guess the word is fashionable, thing to do."
"That bodes well," he said, "Is there a location you, um, have in mind?"
"Yes. Or, rather, it was Treve's idea. Fep City. It's one of the smaller cities on the second-largest planet but it's where the artists and musicians and the tastemakers hang out. Plus there are other ships coming in all the time – Klingons, Orions, Andorians and others. He said he doesn't have much of a diplomatic career any more but might want to work with me."
"So, you don't need a business partner?" Doug asked, looking at her a little worriedly.
"Oh, I definitely do!" she touched his face. "But it pays to have someone else who knows the space and the clientele. I think it could really work."
"I'm in," he said, "If you'll have me."
She kissed him softly. "Of course. You know I love you. I can send this now." she opened up her computer.
"What's that?"
"My resignation."
"Oh, um, Lili?"
"Yes?"
"I think we should talk a little more. You need to really know what you're getting yourself into. Not just for the place. But with, with me."
"Yes?"
"I have things I need to confess to you. And then you should decide, well, decide if it's all worth it. And I'm excited about this, about all of it, but I'll abide by whatever you want."
"What kinds of things?" she asked.
"Dark things. Things you won't like," he said.
"Listen," she said, cupping his face in her hands. "I know this much. I know you're a killer, multiple times over. I know that you lived under a moral code that was different – no, nonexistent – versus the one here. I know that you've got a past. But I think you – we – have got a future."
"These are what you'd think of as atrocities," he said, swallowing hard. "I mean, fourteen is not the number. Not really. The real number is a lot higher."
"More humans?"
"Denobulans. Xindi. Klingons."
"You went to war a lot, Doug."
"I killed Denobulan children," he said, "And I got a medal for that."
She trembled a little. "Did you bring it with you?"
"No. It was the first thing I put into the disposer yesterday. I, um, this is all I brought." he emptied his pockets onto her desk, next to her communicator. A few changes of underclothes and socks. "I have, I have nothing else."
"Don't you have a knife in your left boot?"
"No. I gave it to Tripp Tucker before I left. I didn't want to have any of that with me. I don't want to feel like I need it."
She nodded. "These are –" she took his hands in hers "– as clean as I suppose you can make your hands. It is, that is all in the past and over on the other side of the pond. And so long as it doesn't come here, as long as you're done with all of that, it's, it's going to be all right."
"I, my temper, Lili. I might not be able to control it."
"Well, we're gonna fight sometimes, Doug."
"Yes, I know."
"Would you, would you ever hit me?"
"No. Gawd, no. I never did that. There were fellows who did on my, uh, side. That always sickened me. I intervened whenever I could. But no, I draw a line. I don't hit women. Neither did Tucker. But others certainly did." he shook his head.
"I think you'll be all right," she said, "I think we will be more than a little bit all right."
"I don't deserve you," he said, sitting on a nearby chair and running his hands through his hair, parting it over to the side unevenly. He folded his arms behind his head and looked up at her standing in front of him.
"Don't say that," she said, "Let me look at you."
[img] .[/img]
He smiled slightly. "I also want to thank you for the best meal I have ever, ever had."
"Well, they're not all like that. I think Brian Delacroix is making dinner."
"What makes you think we'll be leaving here for dinner?" he asked. "If you, um, if you'll still have me."
"Yes, I will," she said, getting onto his lap. "So we'll save those cookies for later. A little, um, fortification."
"Crumbs in the sheets," he said, "Or maybe I'll just use your body as a table."
"I was thinking."
"Oh?"
"I'd like to, um, do it the way we did it the first time. You remember?"
"Of course. I was just sleeping, minding my own business, when I get pushed into this wall. So I push back and this girl is kissing me, so I kiss her back and then suddenly we're naked and it is hotter than anything."
"You kissed back? I kissed back. You kissed first."
"Ha, it's like you thinking I'm shorter and I thought you were taller. I guess we both wanted it to be equal."
"I still do," she said, "So no more about who deserves whom, or what."
"All right. But I still say you kissed first," he said, kissing her gently. "Hmm, our clothes aren't going to just magically come off. You'd better take off the dress so it doesn't get messed up."
"Okay." She got up and pulled her dress off.
He said, "You still have those markings on your arms and legs that the Calafans gave you."
"Yeah. Phlox says he can remove them whenever I want. Do they bother you?"
"Hell no. It's a road map." He smiled, taking his shirt off, revealing a grey tee. "Ha, what's this?" he said, and reached for one of her baseball caps. He put it on. "I could play fourth base, eh?"
[img] .[/img]
"There is no fourth base. It's home plate, silly." she knocked the hat off his head. "Focus, Doug."
"I can't stop focusing," he said. He stared at her for a moment. "More beautiful than I thought."
He pulled her in close and pushed her into the wall.
"Ow!" she cried out.
"Oh, sorry," he said, "Here, maybe, uh, let's get into bed."
She threw the blanket off and got on top of the top sheet. He lay down next to her and kissed her. "I, Lili, I want to take you there first."
"Doug, you don't have to."
"Yes. I don't, I don't kid myself. I know that women don't always get there. And I don't want you to feel you need to spare my feelings if it doesn't happen for you. So let me do this for you."
"All I, all I want to do is please you."
"You already do. Put your hands up a sec," he said and, when she had done so, he lifted the camisole off, and then took off his tee shirt. "That's what I want," he said, "That skin to my skin."
"Even though this skin, is perhaps, a little older than you thought it was?" she asked.
"Doesn't matter," he said, "What matters is, it is yours."
He concentrated. Touching, tasting, caressing. She gasped and moaned so much that she became hoarse. And then became giddy, giggling and trembling, body jumping.
"Now," he said, and took off his boxers. She looked at him and gasped. "What's the matter?" he asked.
"It's, uh, it's like good news and bad news."
"Oh?"
"The good news, Doug, is, the proportions. The, uh, bad news is also the proportions. Frankly, I'm a little afraid of you."
"I'll, uh, I'll be careful," he said, "Hold back if I have to." He kissed her neck. "Are you ready?"
"Yes." she whispered hoarsely.
When it was all over, he lay there, panting. "Huh. Are you, how do you, how do you feel?" he asked, once he had some semblance of his voice again. She felt incredibly hot.
"It's a little," she gasped, "It's like my first time all over again."
"Are you, how do you feel?" he repeated.
"I feel," she said, and trembled a little, "a little like I got hit with a phase cannon."
He smiled down at her. "Lili, you're so –" he didn't finish the sentence as she suddenly looked strange.
He looked down and she backed away slightly and sat up. They could both see it – a dark, purplish-red, rapidly spreading J-shaped stain on the top sheet.
"That's not, uh?" he asked.
She shook her head. "Call Dr. Phlox," she said weakly. "I think I'm hemorrhaging."
29
It was a blur.
Doug was well-trained for emergencies, but this was the first time he'd ever been so truly emotionally invested. Not even the first time Susan had had a blackout had he felt this.
So he had no idea how he'd had the presence of mind to pull boxers on, wrap Lili in the top sheet, throw the blanket over her and even open her communicator and scream for Phlox. He barely remembered picking her up, holding her limp body and running in the hallway to Sick Bay.
He was somehow sitting on one of Phlox's stools, next to some experiment or another, while a bat squealed occasionally in a nearby cage and Phlox was behind a sheet with Lili and all Doug could do was sit there and stare at the floor and repeat to himself, over and over again, "That's never happened before. That's never happened before. That's never happened before." And on and on and on and on, again and again, the same four-word mantra.
Phlox finally came out from behind the sheet. "Doc?" Doug asked weakly, looking up.
"She is stable for the moment. But I will have to perform microsurgery, and I will have to do it soon. All of her inferior and superior vessicles are shredded. There's no other way to describe what I'm seeing. These are, these are the blood vessels in the pelvis, just past the uterus."
"But you can, you can, she's, uh ...?"
"There are no guarantees," Phlox said, "Her chance of survival is not good. She is in shock."
Doug stared into space, starting the mantra all over again.
Phlox ignored him and opened his communicator. "Phlox to the Captain. Yes, Captain. Major, uh, Lieutenant Commander Hayes is here at Sick Bay. He should be confined to quarters, at the very least."
"What's going on?" Jonathan asked.
"He has critically injured Ensign O'Day. She may not survive. It is, it is my understanding that, if she were not to survive, that you would need to get him to the nearest Starbase to face charges."
"I'm on my way with a security team. Archer out."
Doug kept repeating the mantra.
"Look, Hayes," Phlox said, "I don't give a damn whether it was intended." This got Doug to stop, and he looked up and listened. "And it doesn't matter anyway, not so much, not with second or third degree homicide."
"Homicide?"
"Yes. If she dies, you will be thrown into the Brig and we will detour in order to bring you to justice, Zoph."
"Zoph?"
"Uh, Hayes. Do you – do you know what I found? I mean really, really found?" Phlox's voice was rising and a vein was standing out on his neck.
Doug shook his head silently, feeling sick.
"It's not just the vessicles," Phlox explained. "There is blood on both sides of her mouth. Her throat is rubbed raw."
"Throat? We didn't, uh, oh, never mind," Doug interjected.
"Yes, her throat. And I found fluid where it's not supposed to go, farther back in the abdominal cavity than a human woman's body can allow. There's blood on your shorts, there's blood under your fingernails," Doug looked in both places. It was true. "I don't know what, what you do, although I can guess, how you, you get your pleasure. But you have wrung her out like a rag."
"Doctor ..."
"No. You will listen. Human women aren't shaped that way. Neither are Denobulan women, or Andorian women, or Vulcan women. Klingon women are. You could, you should just take up with a Klingon woman. She would be better shaped to, to accommodate you. This is assuming that you ever get out of custody."
"Gawd. That never happened on, on the other side of the pond."
"Pond? That's all quaint and cute but it was no pond that you crossed! It wasn't just some hop, skip and jump to a new playground. You crossed a barrier. It was supposed to be a significant barrier. There was a reason it existed, and breaching it wasn't easy for a reason. You and her are barely the same species. It is all out of proportion. These, the species, they should not be mixing this way. I don't, I don't see it as being possible or being at all worth it."
"You're Denobulan, doc!" Doug said, "It's the planet where everyone's on the make. Where there's love and sex everywhere. It's one huge party."
"Yes. But we don't go around harming the ones we love. I mean, is it a thrill for you? Does a snapping bone get you excited? Do screams of pain make you climax?"
"Doctor," Doug said, rising and finding his voice a little, "I know that many years ago, humans didn't see it as being worth it to mix races. I mean, it was about twenty years ago, I would walk around the streets of Titania with Susan, my girl at the time. And people still stared. But most of them didn't. Most of them were okay with seeing a couple where the races were mixed. And, and I think it's going to be that way with species, too. Maybe not right now, but some time. This is going to come up again. We're not the first, and we won't be the last."
"Then if this procedure works, I will name it after you."
"Me? I don't need that kind of glory."
"I'm not speaking of glory, Zoph. Uh, Hayes. It is to serve as a warning to all human females, and Denobulans, and Andorians and Vulcans and Xindi sloth women and Orion women and any others who might benefit, to, to warn them away. From you."
Doug balled his fists and then closed his eyes. Bad idea. Bad idea, he thought to himself. "Mark of Cain?"
Dr. Phlox didn't get a chance to answer as Captain Archer came in with Deb Haddon and Chip Masterson.
"What's the news?" Jonathan asked.
"I will have to perform extensive microsurgery," Phlox explained. "And survival is far from guaranteed. I cannot have this man in here. I need to concentrate."
"Understood. Doctor, go do what you need to. We will get Hayes back to his, uh, her quarters," Jonathan said. Dr. Phlox left.
Jonathan sat down on a stool. "Hayes, sit."
"Yes, sir," Doug said softly, sitting.
"We'll probably have to explain your rights to you, if, if, well, I hope it doesn't come to that," Jonathan said, "Let's, uh, let's try to think positively."
"Positively, sir?"
"Yes. Think about what will happen if – when – she recovers. When."
"Sir, I've made up my mind. If she recovers, I'd like permission to, to leave Starfleet. And just, just get on one of these ships and leave."
"With the Ensign?"
"No. Just me," Doug said.
=/\=
"I hate the fact that he'll have a cast on his arm." The Empress complained.
"Well, I agree that it doesn't look good, but the child does have a broken wrist. It was a lot easier for you to take MacKenzie falling on you than for Jun to take it," said Dr. Morgan.
"Still. Well, and these cuts I've got. There won't be any permanent scarring?" she asked, looking at her cut face in a small hand mirror.
"I don't believe so, Empress."
Masterson came in, holding something small. "Empress, we have some more findings from the investigation."
"Oh?" Hoshi asked.
He presented the item to her. "D. Hayes." she read off a piece of cloth. "So he's our bomber. Did you find his DNA at the site?"
"On what was left of the uni, yes. Still no sign of Tucker and Cutler, but we have evidence that the transporter was run at least once."
"Keep checking. I don't think we'll head to the surface to look for them. This ship needs repairs, not a wild goose chase, not even for a competent Engineer," Hoshi said.
"Yes, Empress," said Masterson.
"Oh, and Masterson?"
"Yes?"
"You're promoted to run Tactical."
"Uh, thank you, Empress, but won't MacKenzie hate that? He's in line before me."
"I have other things in mind for him," she said, "Dismissed."
=/\=
"I came as soon as I heard." It was Jenny. "How is she?"
"Not so good," Doug said.
She put her hand on his. "It's, Phlox will do whatever he can."
"Look, can you stay with her?" he asked. "I, uh, I'm being confined to quarters."
She nodded. "Captain, Commander Tucker knows I'm here."
"Okay," Jonathan said, "Come along, Hayes."
=/\=
"Why should I listen to anything you say?" Treve asked the ruddy Baden.
"I don't suppose I have much credibility with you or anyone else on this side. Still, it's time, I think. On the other side, the system is weak and, and, well, your mother's counterpart is dead. I gave the injection of tricoulamine. I should be held accountable. And, and Polloria. It was, it was her idea. She is here. Your authorities need to find her."
"So you're turning yourself in?" asked Treve.
"Yes. I can no longer live with this. That is why, that is why I am here, on this side. But she, she's here because she doesn't want anyone to hold her, ever. If she can't be in control on our side, she'll try to be on yours, and become the High Priestess here."
"We don't – well, the government is still debating it. We might scrap the whole idea of a High Priestess altogether." Treve explained.
"Still, your mother remains the High Priestess for now?" Baden asked. Treve nodded. Baden continued. "I don't imagine your mother is safe."
"My mother is still comatose."
"Doesn't matter," said Baden. "Polloria will make sure that your Yipran, on this side, is dead, too."
=/\=
Doug was back in Lili's quarters. He grabbed the stained bottom sheet and threw it into the laundry. And then got into the shower, bloodied boxers and all, and started sobbing.
=/\=
Lili saw a familiar face. "Treve?"
"Yes," he said, coming closer, coppery arms exposed. "It is agreeable to see you again."
"I don't know if I'm asleep. I guess I am."
"You must be."
"I spoke with your counterpart."
"Oh?"
"And he said," Lili stated, "that your, er, his, mother is improving. He also said he knew that your criminals had escaped over here."
"Well, I wouldn't exactly call it an escape," Treve said, "My sister is in charge of things now. You remember her, yes? She's just not strong enough, so nothing was really done and there were no real consequences for Polloria and Baden."
"So why would they come here?"
"For Polloria, since she's not the High Priestess here, I imagine she will try to fulfill that role there. As for Baden, he's a weasel and probably followed her to be a part of all that."
"Treve, er, the other Treve, he said their counterparts were in custody on his side. I don't think they're going to be able to do what they're planning."
"I don't know," said the ruddy Treve. "Our people are filing back and forth every night, it seems, and I don't believe that kind of exchange will end soon, if ever. Anyone can move freely, or somewhat freely. It's not exactly chaotic but it is throwing our society into a bit of a tizzy. Details are going to be forgotten or glossed over, and a little matter of confining a criminal just might not happen. I am thinking that that is a part of Polloria's strategy – to continue to sow this kind of discomfort until it morphs into out and out chaos."
"I hope it's not too chaotic," Lili said, "I'm thinking of retiring from Starfleet and settling here."
"Oh," Treve said, "How very interesting. And it does," he smiled, "make this idea I've had kicking about a bit, it's making that idea all the more plausible."
"Idea?"
"Oh, yes. Would you consent to be my nighttime lover?"
=/\=
Doug got dressed again, sat in Lili's quarters and pulled out her PADD. There was a file he hadn't noticed before. He opened it. It read:
'Dear Doug,
I'd like for you to know exactly what you're getting yourself into. These are links and passwords to every financial account I've got.
Love,
Lili'
He peeked at her finances. She had had a modest salary but had saved most of it. There were few big trips and no extravagances or expensive luxuries. And no gifts for anyone for years. "I think you need to be more aggressive with your investments," he said softly. "Assuming you'll be able to actually enjoy them."
The door chimed.
"Uh, come in."
It was Malcolm. "Hayes, I don't know very much about what happened as that is to protect the Ensign's privacy. But I want you to know that, if it ends badly, you won't be around long enough to get to the Brig. I'll do it myself."
"Reed, look, you don't wanna do that."
"No?" Malcolm's voice was rising.
"No. You don't want to become a killer of men. Not for this," Doug was surprisingly calm.
"Don't be so sure. And don't try to get out of it."'
"Reed, man, I gotta tell ya."
"Tell me what?" Malcolm was livid.
"Tell you that I won't stay with her. That this is enough, it's, it's more than enough. I can't do this to her again."
"So you would abandon her if she could no longer give you what you, what you wanted? You're despicable."
"No, no. It's that, she's a very passionate woman. I wouldn't want her to be obligated, if we could, could no longer, you know. I would, I would set her free. I mean, you're sweet on her."
"I –? Hayes, it's not that."
"No. It is. She said she thought you were hitting on her."
"It was," Malcolm was considerably calmer, "it was that I finally noticed her."
"Noticed? How could you not notice her?"
"It's that," Malcolm sat down in Jennifer's desk chair, "it's that women in love are just, they're so much more beautiful."
"They're even more beautiful when it's you they're in love with."
"I, I wouldn't know."
"Oh, c'mon, Malcolm."
"No. I don't." Reed admitted. "But you did not see what we did, at luncheon today. The way she looked at you. And, I have to admit, the way you look at her. I, I know that, that whatever this all is, that you, at least I don't think, that it all went very pear-shaped but that you didn't mean to harm her."
"I didn't. Gawd, there's nothing I wanted less than that," Doug ran his fingers through his hair and looked down.
"I can, I think I can see that. But leaving her? Surely that would be another horrible blow to her."
"How can I stay?" Doug asked. "I don't want that part of her life to suddenly be switched off. And to not be able to really touch her. My God, that would be torture."
"You'll see what, what the doctor says," Malcolm said.
"He's about as angry with me as you are."
=/\=
Lili laughed. "Treve! I am a lot older than you probably think. And you have Jennifer. And I'm, I can tell I'm badly hurt."
"Well, being hurt does not matter. This is a dream. You can fly and sing and make love all you like. And, huh, your age. Jennifer is older than I am and that part's all right."
"You're being ridiculous. I'm just not wired that way. And I don't think she is, either." she inadvertently touched his hand, and there was a small spark. "Huh, that's odd. I wonder what it means."
"That happens all the time with contact from one side to the other. No real meaning."
"Even so," she said, "I am not looking for anyone. We humans just aren't wired this way. And how can you be thinking of betraying Jennifer like this?"
"Betraying? Oh, dear, is that what you humans think our nighttime relations are?"
"Well, yes."
"Well, no. We all know about it, and we all do it. And we do it in order to keep our daylight relationships together. You see, the nighttime one – that person is subordinate. And they know they are. They aren't jealous; it's simply the nature of things. So they act as supporters, helpers, champions, if you will, of the main daylight relationship. You would, I would come to you if I had problems with Jennifer, get your advice and the like. You'd come to me with your issues with your man, whatever they were. Of course, there would be times when we would be doing far more than simply talking. But I think that, since I am with a human woman, it would be most beneficial for me to get this, this advice," he looked her up and down, "from a human woman such as yourself. And, I have to admit, I enjoy her attentions so I do wonder about whether other human woman are similarly, uh, gifted."
"Treve. I, I'm flattered. But my conscience, it just doesn't bend that way. I would consider it to be disloyalty. And I think, I heard the doctor say – I may be, I may be dying. Or I may not recover much. Or not able to, to be with Doug again. Not that way."
"Not have physical relations?" Treve asked. Lili nodded. "Well," he said, "surely there must be some way for things to be repaired and improved."
"But –"
"But nothing. Your doctor exists to serve you. If there's anything I know of Baden, it's that he lived to serve, although not for the best of motives from the best of masters. Still, cannot you speak with your doctor about somehow, I don't know, altering you? Making it possible?"
"I don't know. I think right now the plan is to make sure I live at all."
"Very well," Treve said, "You may find the idea of a lover in the night to be very attractive yet."
"You're still trying. Please, uh, stop trying. I can't think of that right now."
"My apologies. I do, ah, yes. I believe you may be pulling toward wakefulness now. Let me know if you change your mind."
He vanished.
=/\=
"Come with me," Malcolm said.
"I'm supposed to be confined to quarters."
"I know. I can override that so long as I escort you." he opened the door. "Haddon, Masterson, you come with us."
He took Doug back to Sick Bay, where Jennifer was still waiting.
"Doctor," Malcolm said, "we will stay out of your way. And if things go very wrong, we will of course escort Lieutenant Hayes to the Brig. But right now, his place is here."
"Your timing is impeccable," Phlox said, "I finished up about an hour ago. She should be coming out of the anesthesia soon."
30
"Medical Log, Dr. Miva. Today, we got a very interesting new patient in the Main Hospital. The patient is a human male. Age unknown. Says his name is," the doctor, a female Calafan, read off a chart, "Charles Tucker. Came in with two human females, one has false calloo on her extremities. Also arrived with the elder brother of the High Priestess. Treve has been taken into custody." she paused to clear her throat.
"Now for information on the patient. Patient presents with severe, extensive radiation poisoning and a facial scar approximately four centimeters in length. Radiation poisoning is being treated with Cledden in injectable form. Patient is responding well to treatments. Note: patient may be slightly delusional, as per the human female who does not display false calloo. According to that female, the patient has been incorrectly referring to her as his wife."
=/\=
Doug and Malcolm waited in Sick Bay. Doug stood over Lili's bed. She opened her eyes tentatively, and smiled at him weakly. "You know, your eyes are still like stones."
"Yes," he said, letting out a breath in relief. He came closer to her. She reached out and touched his hand. He bent over her and she touched his face and kissed him.
"I missed you," she said.
"Did you dream?" he asked. She nodded. "See anyone I know?" he asked.
"Yes. Treve."
"Treve? And how's he doing?"
"He propositioned me, actually."
Doug smiled. "So, uh, what did you tell him?"
"Douglas!" she gasped in mock indignation.
"Hayes, I suspect you're in trouble if she uses your full name," Malcolm said, hanging back.
"Malcolm?" she asked. "Come here a second. I have a secret to tell you."
Doug straightened up and switched places with Malcolm who said to him, "Do you know anything about this?"
"Nope."
Malcolm came closer and bent over Lili. "Yes?" he asked.
She brought her lips to his ear and whispered, "Thank you for everything you have said, and done, and everything you haven't said. And," she paused, "when it happens for you, I know it will be just as epic." She kissed him on the cheek, close to his mouth, brushing his lips slightly at the opposite corner. He shut his eyes tightly and kissed her back on her cheek, close to her mouth, and for a split second he could tell himself that his mouth was really two and a half centimeters to the left and was really squarely on hers. He put his hand behind her back and lifted her off the bed slightly in a hug.
She broke the embrace first and fell back a bit onto the hospital bed. "Doug?" she asked.
"Yes?"
"Am I all right? When can we be together again, and try again?"
"We can't," he said, as Malcolm walked back and lightly pushed him back to her. "We just, we can't."
"Where's Dr. Phlox?" she asked.
"I am right here," Phlox said, parting the curtain in order to join them.
"I'll just. Here," Malcolm said, parting the curtain and leaving the little bed area. "Masterson, Haddon, you too, Jennifer. Let's wait outside." They followed him to the hallway in front of Sick Bay.
"Doctor, I understand what's happened. That the parts just don't, they don't fit. But what does this mean?" she asked.
"I have repaired your inferior and superior vessicles. Or, rather, I have repaired some of them while most were fused together or rerouted. There was also a hole in the back of the uterine wall. That's been repaired. The cervix is all right but had an abrasion. I also cleared your pelvic cavity of foreign fluid in order to prevent peritonitis."
"Thank you. And?" she asked.
"And that is a great deal of work. Lieutenant Commander Hayes may not be able to get here in time again, if there is another time. It is your prerogative – you are both consenting adults – but I would advise you, as your personal physician, that it would be an exceptionally foolish course of action."
"Doctor, I have a question. And, and, please bear with me because I don't know the anatomical terms and I'm sure my analogy is faulty. But, let's say I was stuffing a Thanksgiving turkey. I would gut it, remove the giblets, that sort of thing. And then I'd have all sorts of room to play around with. Add a cut up lemon or rosemary twigs or whatever."
"I'm not following you," Dr. Phlox said.
"Well, what if you took out something I, I wasn't really, well, using. Then would there be enough room?"
"You don't exactly have spare organs to just toss out. And that kind of butchery went out over a hundred years ago," Phlox said.
"No. There's one. Doctor, what if you gave me a hysterectomy?"
"Ensign, your uterus is, despite the repairs I have just made, perfectly serviceable. I can't condone just removing it."
"Well, I mean, I'm forty-eight years old. I won't be able to have children for more than maybe three years from now, at best. I'm already perimenopausal. If you take out my womb, well, doesn't that just kick off menopause and then it's over and done with? And then you'd have room?"
"Lili, maybe you shouldn't be talking this way," Doug said, "Don't go under the knife on my account."
"It wouldn't matter any way," Dr. Phlox said, "The cervix would still be in the way."
"Couldn't you just, I don't know, push it up and tie it off or something?" she asked.
"No, it's a part of the uterus itself," Phlox said, "Let me think about this." He went through the curtain and walked to a different part of Sick Bay.
"Lili, this is crazy," Doug said, "And I'm not going to be all right with you just tossing aside childbearing."
"I don't have children," she said, "I never, we never really talked about this. Is that something that you, you want?"
"I don't know," he said, "I never had a future before. It's hard for me to think in these terms. But – no matter what – I don't want you to just give all of that up, even to give up the possibility."
"I have an idea," Phlox said, returning. "In anyone else it would be more complicated, but since your inferior and superior vessicles have already been altered, well, that's why I am entertaining this idea at all."
"Go on," she said.
"I can deliberately prolapse the uterus. Bring it farther in front than normal, and up, not down. Then, as you suggested, pull the cervix up and secure it with an organic mesh. You'd probably feel a bit more bladder pressure at times, but otherwise you should barely notice it, I am thinking," Phlox said, "It is an interesting medical challenge."
"What if, Doc, what if she got pregnant?" Doug asked.
"Well, that's the truly tricky part. An embryo would implant in about twenty-four hours. And the uterus and cervix would have to be restored to their original positions in order to allow for proper fetal development. Or to terminate the pregnancy, if that was preferred. Therefore, you'd need to know if the Ensign were pregnant within a day or so of fertilization."
"I'd have to go to a doctor and get a pregnancy test every time we made love?" Lili asked.
"No," Dr. Phlox smiled. "You'd only have to test once per day. And there are home kits you could use. If the test were positive, you'd visit your doctor immediately. The Calafans have advanced medical technology. With your records and anatomical information supplied by me, they could reverse the procedure, and reinstate it after childbirth."
"That's a lot of tests," Doug said, "We'd, um, we'd buy them in bulk."
Lili smiled at him. "Yes. Doctor, do you think a pregnancy is even possible?"
"Yes. I'd say it's more of a certainty in this instance. Even with the birth control shot. When I, Hayes, when I had a chance to investigate a previous, er, sample, I tested its durability. Everything is rather resilient."
"Doctor, I never fathered a child on the other side of the, uh, in the other place."
"Circumstances are different there," Phlox said, "The birth control shot, I estimate, will have an efficacy of perhaps sixty percent, versus nearly one hundred percent in the usual scenario. Assuming that this all works, of course."
"And if it doesn't, we'll try a hysterectomy?" Lili asked.
"That would be the next logical course of action."
"And if that didn't work?" Doug asked.
"Then I'm afraid we're out of options," Dr. Phlox said.
"No, Doc. We're not," Doug said.
=/\=
"MacKenzie! Wait up!" Hoshi called out, following Aidan in the hall near Sick Bay.
"Oh, yes. Empress!" he waited for her.
"I was thinking," she said to him. "You know I don't have a sitter anymore."
He motioned to walk a bit but she stopped him. "Uh, Empress? Can't one of the women –?"
"No," Hoshi said, "I need someone with a firm," she began to touch the outside front of his uniform and work her way downward, "hand." She smiled, seeing he was getting aroused.
"Empress, I'm, uh, no good with, with children."
"That's all right," she said, unbuckling his belt and then reaching in. "Oh, how very interesting."
"Emp –"
"Call me Hoshi," she said.
"Ho-Ho-Hoshi," he could not get the word out, "I, uh, Tactical?" his voice rose as she played with short hairs.
"You may have heard that I'm looking for a father for my next child. Jun's just got to have a little brother. So when you landed on me that got me to thinking. And while you're a coward, you've still got good ... genes. So that's my, huh, proposition to you. Babysitter and father to my next son, or ..." she paused for a second and squeezed him hard, "or we leave you on one of the rocks in this system. What's it gonna be?"
"Uhhh..."
"I'll take that as a yes." she began to get to work while crew members stared.
"Uh, Emp, uh, Hoshi?" His voice squeaked high. "Please don't, um, huh, squeeze quite so much."
"I'm the Empress. I'll do what I like."
=/\=
"Why not, uh, handle the problem from, uh, the other end? From, from my end," Doug said.
"Hayes, she won't really feel much of a difference. But for you it would be a significant loss of sensitivity. And it would be as difficult to condone as a hysterectomy."
"Doc, I don't, uh, I don't volunteer this lightly. And a lot of me is screaming to take it back."
"Doug, really, I don't think you'll have to," Lili said.
"I don't want your, your body taking all of it," Doug said, "This is my fault, not yours."
"It's not fault," she said.
"Well, this is all a moot point if the initial proposed procedure works," Phlox said, "Perhaps it will, and we are speculating fruitlessly."
"How will you, uh, know how far to move everything?" Lili asked.
"I know the answer to that one," Doug said, "Take measurements."
"Measure twice, cut once," she said.
"Yes. So before I proceed, you would need to, Hayes, you'd need to become fully aroused. I will, uh, wait outside." He parted the curtain again.
Doug began to grab at himself.
"No, wait," Lili said, "Let me help you."
"You don't have to."
"I want to," she said.
"You really want to do that?" he asked.
"Yes," she said, "I love you. I want to please you. And I want to be a part of you feeling good."
"I'm used to – except in our dreams – I'm used to women using that act as, well, as currency."
"They shouldn't," she said, "I don't want to do it out of a sense of any sort of obligation, or to try to entice you to do the same for me later. I just want to do this, right now, for you."
"Here," he said, guiding her. It took a few minutes. "I, um, I'm ready now, Doc."
Phlox came back in. "I see we're ready." he took measurements. "Hayes, you can, uh, finish up. There's a room over there. I will prepare her for surgery now."
Doug was about to go when Phlox added, "I'd like for you to provide a sample while I've got you here. But Hayes, do try not to break the beaker."
When it was just the two of them, Lili looked up at Phlox. "I know you don't approve of this."
"I, well, I've been unfair," he said, "And have been treating you as if you were barely out of childhood when that is not the case. And I, I spoke with Hayes. He mentioned that there are going to be other couples with this kind of mismatch in the future. He is absolutely right."
"Then let this experiment – for that's what it is, I don't kid myself – be a first step to bringing all of them together."
Doug returned. "I, uh, left it in ..."
"Yes, yes, of course. Now I really would like to work alone," Phlox said.
"When will you be done?" Doug asked.
"About two or three hours, I suspect. The worst part is done. Microsurgery was the most difficult part, and it's already been accomplished."
"And when can we, can we try again?" Lili asked.
"Forty-eight hours. And not a second sooner. Now, it's time. Hayes, I will contact you. Ensign, start counting backwards from one hundred, by threes."
"One hundred. Ninety-seven. Ninety-four..."