Prompt: Will - "I'm sorry, that was rude." - 'About A Boy'
Billy stared at the wall of his quarters. Had any of the infected gel packs been right behind the bulkheads. Sure the doctor had claimed the crew couldn't catch whatever had infected the gel packs but could he really be sure. Besides, what other concoctions did Neelix create that might present a danger to them.
Would he starve to death relying on his replicator rations for food? Although that posed another question - if the gel packs had been infected, could that infection be passed onto the replicated food?
The captain claimed they had purged the ship of the infection but had they really?
He was never going to see the Alpha Quadrant again. There were too many unknowns out here. Some Delta Quadrant virus or bacteria was sure to be the end of him. His best bet was to hope it wasn't a painful death.
The swish of the door opening drew Billy's attention from the wall. Looking toward the door, he watched as his roommate walked slowly into the room, leaning heavily on Lt. Dalby. The Bajoran looked like death warmed over and Billy was convinced the only thing keeping Gerron on his feet was Dalby.
"You look horrible. Shouldn't you be in sickbay, especially if it's something contagious. I don't want to catch anything," Billy said, convinced that they were seeing their first case of the virus that had infected the ship mutating to attack them.
"The only way it's contagious is if I lock you in a cargo bay with leaking plasma gas, which I could arrange," Dalby replied, even as he continued to lead Gerron toward his bunk.
Though Dalby was walking away from him, Billy still took a step back from the angry engineer.
"Not necessary," Billy replied, "And I'm sorry, that was a rude way of putting it, but he does look like he belongs in sickbay."
"The Doctor disagrees with you," Dalby replied, having reached the bunks that Billy and Gerron shared. "He thinks Gerron would do best resting in his own bed," he added, as he helped the young Bajoran onto the top bunk.
Once in the bed, Gerron immediately turned on his side to face the wall. Dalby pulled the blanket up over the younger man.
"Want me to stay?" Dalby asked, his voice void of the hostility it had held when addressing Billy moments earlier.
Billy didn't hear the reply, though he stood their hoping that Gerron would refuse the older man's company. Dalby frankly scared him and he had no doubt the former Maquis would follow through with his threats is sufficiently provoked.
When Dalby told Gerron he'd check in on him later, Billy let out the breath he was holding. Death by some unknown pathogen seemed preferable to death by an angry Maquis.