Prompt: Kate - "Yeah. With my bare hands." - 'The West Wing'
Billy stared at the holographic version of his roommate. Since he had initially created the program, he had revisited this scene plenty of times, whenever he had started getting the urge to hurl the nearest object he could physically pick up at the Bajoran. Not that Gerron was a terrible roommate to have. Billy realized he could have done much worse - Chell for instance. The Bolian never shut up. He probably even talked in his sleep.
The rope had quickly gotten boring. It was too easy. He had contemplated trying a knife, but even knowing it was only a holoprogram, the idea of someone else's blood on him, and what kind of disease he might pick up bothered him. The baseball bat hadn't been a bad idea. Yeah, there was blood, but he had been able to keep from getting it on him. The next thing he had wanted to try was just strangling the Bajoran with his bare hands for his next therapy session and he had thought this was going to be the perfect time.
All Tal had talked about during dinner was how pale Gerron had still looked after his near death experience in the cargo bay. Though the Bajoran had stayed with his Maquis comrades, it hadn't stopped Tal from going over to check on him, showing the same concern for Gerron that she did while convincing him that he wasn't dying from whatever new fear had seized him.
So, after dinner, when Tall had said she was planning on taking a shower and curling up with a book, he had come here, planning on venting his frustrations before going back to his quarters. The problem was, staring at the holoimage of Gerron, all Billy could think about was how bad Gerron had looked last night when Dalby had helped him back to his quarters, the Doctor having treated him for plasma exposure and released him. Frankly, Billy thought it wouldn't have hurt for Gerron to spend the night in sickbay and wondered if a human doctor would have kept him. As it was, Billy hadn't slept much, as he kept listening for Gerron's breathing. All he could think about was that if the Bajoran stopped breathing and Tuvok found this program then they would blame him for Gerron's death. Somehow he didn't think that Dalby would think twice about strangling him with his bare hands in that case, or slitting his throat. Billy doubted the older Maquis had any qualms about getting blood on his bare hands.
Besides, maybe he could like Gerron if he gave himself a chance. It wasn't like Gerron was actively trying to get Tal's attention. He couldn't be blamed for Tal's good nature. Besides, Billy supposed having another Bajoran onboard was a comfort for her. Perhaps he could try getting along with his roommate for her sake.
"Computer, delete program BillyAlpha."
With a computerized chime, the image of Gerron faded leaving only the blank holodeck. Turning, Billy left the holodeck.