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:: “Are you ready for the SQUID, Ensign?”
“Yes, Doctor, I am.”
“Then make yourself comfortable and I will apply it while Commander Tucker prepares the ADORE.”
Around the room, the bridge crew took their seats, aside from Malcolm, who elected to stand near Hoshi as he had done the last few times; while Trip fiddled with the Assessment, Detection, & Observational Reality Equipment - ADORE - and Phlox settled the SQUID - Super-conducting Quantum Interference Device - on Hoshi’s head.
She looked a little apprehensive, clearly still worrying that it might hurt. Without saying a word, Malcolm squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, and she looked up at him gratefully, her tension dissipating at his presence.
“I’ll be right here,” he murmured, and only T’Pol’s excellent hearing allowed her to glance in their direction, so low was Malcolm’s voice.
Phlox carefully set six of the SQUID’s protruding arms to touch Hoshi’s scalp at her temples and around her head, and brought the seventh to rest in the middle of her forehead. He nodded at Trip, who switched off the lights. Then he pressed a switch in the middle of the mesh that covered the top of her scalp.
The screen came on and they watched as the shapes of Hoshi, Malcolm, and Travis took shape, dressed in civvies and in the middle of what looked like a warehouse. ::
"I cannot believe that I have to say this, but you listen. Both of you listen," Hoshi said fiercely, pinning both Malcolm and Travis with her gaze. "I may not be an assassin or vigilante or ex-soldier or former fighter pilot like you two, but let's get one thing straight. I decide whether or not I need protection—not you. And I know there will be times when I will ask for your protection, and there will probably also be times when I need one or both of you to save me."
Malcolm tried to speak and she stabbed one finger at him so fiercely that he shut his mouth.
"But I will remind you that I have also saved your butts more than once, through my code-breaking and computer skills and in person. And if you think that after four years of being in your ears, directing you to people who need your help, getting you out of tight spots, sparring with you and sharing my fighting knowledge and improving my self-defence—if you think any of that has led me to being more cautious and fearful and in need of protection, then I'm sorry to have to tell you that you are idiots who should know better!"
"Hoshi," said Travis, and she whirled on him furiously.
"Did I say I was finished?"
His mouth snapped shut and he shook his head silently, his hands lifting in a gesture of appeasement.
She turned back to Malcolm. "You may be labouring under the misapprehension that I'm content to sit back and be the damsel in distress for you to save. Well, you'd better rearrange your thinking, Malcolm Reed, because the last thing I am is a damsel." Hoshi's hands clenched at her sides as she bared her teeth.
"I might not be able to kill a man twenty different ways with one hand tied behind my back, but I am a member of this team—a founding member of this team—and I am not going to sit back and pretend everything is hunky-dory while you go into danger. Especially," she raised one finger again to prevent him from interrupting, looking away as she struggled to compose herself, "especially when you disappear for a month and think the odd encrypted message will suffice, but don’t tell us what’s happening or when you’ll be back, and there are still people out there needing help. There are still bad guys to fight."
Finally her voice cracked. "You left me, Malcolm. You left us, and we had to keep going without you, without knowing what was happening, just a message now and then with no context. What did you think we would do? You have a mission and we've been helping you with that mission for four goddamn years."
She gesticulated at Travis and the warehouse in which they were standing, filled with computers and screens, weapons and uniforms. "Did you think we'd just sit back quietly and let everything fall apart because you weren't here? Let the bad guys disappear without trace so they could continue hurting people? Did you really think I would simply accept that you’d gone AWOL and do nothing?"
Malcolm could take it no longer. "So you put yourself in danger? You thought that was an appropriate response? You should have stayed here, stayed safe. Instead you went out there and were almost killed! If I hadn't been there tonight, you'd be dead!"
As for Travis… He turned on the tall young man, growling. "And you! You were supposed to keep her safe! I specifically asked you to keep an eye on her while I was away!"
Travis opened his mouth to respond, hands raised, trying to keep the peace as he looked between them. "Malcolm—"
But a dark-haired fury got in the way. "You leave Travis alone! Who do you think was my back-up while you were gone, Malcolm? Who do you think kept me safe when you left us?"
Malcolm gritted his teeth. "He was supposed to watch out for you, not encourage you to risk your life! That was his one job—to keep you from coming to harm! I specifically took off to draw the danger after me—not for you to go running in where angels fear to tread!"
His voice was deep and dangerous; he knew he was looming in a bid to intimidate her, but he didn't care. If nothing else, he was going to impress upon her how foolhardy her actions had been. She needed to stay here, out of danger, dammit!
Unfortunately for him, Hoshi was not backing down. Her eyes flashing, she stepped forward, into his personal space, crowding him.
"Need I remind you that you are not the boss of me, Malcolm Reed! Don't you dare think that being my husband gives you any kind of authority over me. Do you think I would go into a situation like that completely unprepared? After having shadowed you over the past four years? And do you think I would let Travis tell me what to do if I won’t let you?"
She jabbed a finger into his chest, hard, and he closed his eyes and clenched his jaw, praying for strength.
"Tell me, did you think you were marrying a sweet little yes girl who'd cower at the first sign of danger? Do you think I'm still that worried young thing from four years ago? I've almost died numerous times over the past four years, so I've taken steps to prevent that. Or did you somehow miss the fact that I've been training with the best in the business—my husband?"
He snapped at that. "Yes, I'm your husband, and yes, I know I've been training you, but Hoshi, I could have lost you today! Why is it so difficult to understand that I want you to be safe?" He reached out and grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her fiercely and probably painfully; she didn't flinch.
"Safe, Malcolm? None of us are safe. Safety is an illusion, especially here, in the neutral zone. I could be killed going home at night, whether or not Travis is with me—and believe me, whenever you’re not beside me, he is. The lawlessness has been getting worse by the day.”
Staring up at him, she grabbed his wrists as he held fast to her shoulders. “You could have lost me today? I have news for you—you could have lost me any day in the past month. In the past four years! Whether or not I went into the field on a mission. You drew the biggest danger away with you, yes, but that doesn’t mean everything suddenly became safe around me."
Seeing the desperation and fear in his eyes, she raised her hands to his face, cradling his jaw, and her voice softened. "I love you, Malcolm. I know you love me. I know you're afraid for me; but my love, I'm afraid for you, too, every single hour of every single day that we’re not together." Her thumbs ran across the downy skin under his eyes, at the top of his cheekbones. "I have to trust that you will keep yourself safe and come back to me. Can't you trust me to do the same?"
He let go of her shoulders and brought his hands up to her wrists, pulling her hands from his face so he could turn his head and kiss each palm before letting them return.
"I just—I can't lose you, Hoshi. You're my entire world. The thought of you being hurt, or killed, those are my nightmares. How can I do my job while worrying about your safety?"
Hoshi stepped closer again, this time sliding her arms around his waist. "You can't keep me wrapped in cotton wool forever, Malcolm. You have to remember that I'm a person with my own agency. If I sat back and let others go into danger for me, and stayed behind where it's safe, I wouldn't be the woman you married. And I can't be that person anyway. I'm not built that way."
Malcolm sighed and put his arms around her, resting his cheek against hers. “I know. I know. And it scares me, because you’ll fling yourself into danger without a second thought, especially if it involves someone you care about.”
She laughed into his shoulder. “Sounds like someone I know.”
A rueful chuckle shook him, and he touched his forehead to hers. “Pot, kettle? Okay, I deserved that.” He sighed again and kissed the top of her head. “I’m sorry I tried to tell you what to do.”
She snuggled closer, feeling cherished. “I’m sorry I poked you in the chest and got all up in your face.”
“Is anyone sorry that they yelled at me?” Travis asked plaintively. “I got it from both sides today.”
Malcolm and Hoshi laughed, and held out their arms to Travis, urging him forward to join them in a group embrace.
“Sorry I yelled at you, Travis.” Malcolm’s voice was abashed. Hoshi squeezed his waist and rested her head against Travis’ chest.
“So am I. Even though you both deserved it.”
“Yeah, okay, we kind of did.” Travis looked at Malcolm, who looked as though he might object, and shook his head. “Save it, if you plan to spend the night with your wife. I damn sure plan on spending mine with both of my partners.”
Hoshi looked at Malcolm, arching one eyebrow. “He makes a good point. I don’t really subscribe to the happy wife, happy life philosophy, but tonight is probably a good idea to put that into practice.”
He nodded at both of them, smiling. “Looks like I’ll have to accept defeat.”
“It comes with an evening of being adored by your fierce, warrior wife.”
Releasing Travis, Malcolm drew her close. “I can live with that.”
:: The Prime universe team had been casting each other startled, sometimes uncomfortable glances; but despite her diatribe and his own alternate's rage, Malcolm had moved closer to Hoshi once more. She sighed and tugged the SQUID from her head.
"Satisfied, sir?" she asked Captain Archer, and he nodded speechlessly. "Then, if you'll excuse me, I'm exhausted. I'd like to go to bed."
He nodded again. "Dismissed, Hoshi."
"Thank you." She looked at Malcolm. "Walk me to my quarters?"
"Of course." He reached out a hand and helped her stand, walking toward the door beside her before realising he hadn't been released, turning to look at Archer.
The captain smiled; Hoshi in a temper was a sight to behold, and he completely understood why Malcolm was simply following orders. "I think we can all do with a good night's sleep. Thank you for bringing us another multiverse, Ensign."
"You're welcome, sir." Fatigue coloured her words, and Travis moved up on her other side, looking concerned.
"Come on, Hoshi. Travis and I will keep you company."
She smiled tiredly. "That's my boys." The two looked over her head and mouthed at each other, Her boys? Then shrugged, put their arms around her shoulders, and led her from the room. The last thing the senior officers heard was her voice saying firmly, "And don't think you're going to tell me you're not, either." ::