Close Encounters of the Regulan Kind
Malcolm sighed in contentment as he let himself sag bonelessly
against the warm body curled up behind him. It was more than a week
since their encounter with the Romulan minefield and his leg had finally recovered
enough to permit bed sharing. He felt a mildly painful scrape on his
thigh, like the passing of an untrimmed fingernail, and then a light stroking.
He smiled, he hadn't thought Trip was awake. He snuggled closer to
his lover, enjoying the sensation. "Mmmmmmmmm, that's nice love."
"Hmmmmmalcolm." The mumbled word was a soft puff
of breath on the back of his neck. He felt an arm wrap possessively
around his waist and a hand lightly ruffle the hair at the back of his neck.
His heart positively sang with joy at feeling so loved, but he couldn't shake
off the feeling that something was wrong. He sighed, sometimes his own
paranoia bothered him. He mentally ran through the situation, trying
to figure out what could possibly be amiss. He was still on sick leave
and the captain had ordered Trip to take 24 hours off. The comm hadn't
sounded and his computer monitor was dark. He was snuggled warm in his
bed with Trip. Trip, who had an arm around him and was playing with
his hair and now stroking his kneecap. Wait a second. Malcolm
froze.
"Trip?"
"Yeah Darlin'?" Was the still sleepy reply.
"Is your hand on my knee?" Malcolm willed Trip
to answer positively.
"What? No." Malcolm was out of bed and halfway
across the room as fast as his healing leg would allow. He could see
something on his knee so he seized a padd from his desk and swatted at the
creature. Time seemed to slow down as the writhing creature cartwheeled
through the air and landed in the lap of a startled Trip Tucker, who had
sat up at Malcolm's rapid departure. Trip's head snapped downwards
and he regarded his lap in apparent disbelief. Time seemed to slow
down even more as Malcolm watched Trip's beautiful blue eyes roll upwards
until only white remained. Trip slumped backwards in a faint, knocking
his head against the bulkhead on his way.
Malcolm paused only to open the comm before leaping onto
the bed. He plucked the creature off his love and flung it away while
calling for the doctor and a security detail.
__________________________________
Once again, Malcolm lay in Trip's embrace. They
had both been released from sickbay an hour previously with orders to "actually
rest this time" as Jon had so elegantly put it. Malcolm remembered the
looks on the faces of the captain, two armed security officers, and the doctor
as they burst into the room. He'd been straddling Trip's waist while
he checked the other man's breathing, one hand with a death grip on a phase
pistol trained on the lavatory door. He must have looked like a complete
lunatic.
No harm had been done in the end though, with the possible
exception of Trip's pride. He'd suffered a fair bit of teasing from
the captain after he finally woke up in the infirmary. The creature
had in fact been Phlox's Regulan bloodworm making its predicted reappearance.
Malcolm was surprised by how little it had hurt when the creature left him. Maybe
a numbing agent of some sort... An arm tightening around his waist drew his thoughts
back to the present.
"Hey Mal."
"Hey you. Feeling better?"
"Yeah. I'm sorry about..." Trip trailed off
and sounded embarrassed when he continued, "Passing out."
"At least I can count on you, Mr. Tucker. You'll
pass out at the first sign of danger."
"Hey!" Indignation was clearly present in Trip's
voice. "It was just...Well, you know me and...creepy... crawly... squirmy
things." Malcolm could feel Trip shudder and took pity.
"Hush, Love. Give me a kiss. You're really
quite brave."
"Ya think so?"
"I know so."