"They are too badly injured for our skills."The pronouncement of the healer and her lifemate silenced all the quiet conversations in the great cavern. The Il'endi all looked at each other. If the healer and her lifemate were unable to save the strangers, then it truly was hopeless for the two who had arrived from sky.
"What about the kt'alini? Would that heal the strangers?"
All eyes turned to the eldest pair of lifemates, the keepers of the kt'alini that nourished and bonded the Il'endi. The pair looked at each other, communicating silently. Then they looked at the assembled.
"The ktalini would heal their wounds --" Jo'eli started.
"-- but there are no un-bonded kt'alini," finished her lifemate, Ri'vran.
"They will die without treatment," the healer said slowly.
"Would they prefer death to the kt'alini?" asked a young woman. Te'klina was unbonded as of yet, but the unspoken leader of that group of Il'endi. "They are outsiders, kt'alini may be unknown to them. They may not…accept the kt'alini."
Jo'eli and Ri'vran nodded, understanding her fears. If a kt'alini offering were rejected, it affected all kt'alini. There might not be enough for the next bonding cycle.
"We cannot let the strangers die without doing all we can for them," the healer's lifemate pointed out. "If their people come for them, we must be able to look them in the eye and tell them that we could not heal them though we tried all that we know."
Jo'eli and Ri'vran looked at each other, then stood, facing the Il'endi. "We will treat the strangers with the kt'alini."
~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~ Lieutenant Malcolm Reed slowly managed to return to consciousness, vaguely recalling the shuttlepod he and Commander Tucker were in had been fired upon and they'd lost their engines. He thought he remembered crashing on a nearby Minshara class planet, but the landing had been horrible and he'd been thrown across the pod.
//What the hell happened? Ah feel like ah've been dragged through a swamp by a herd a gators.//
Malcolm frowned. He must be more injured than he thought if his internal voice was starting to sound like Commander Tucker.
//When the hell did mah thoughts start soundin' like that uptight Brit Reed?//
"Uptight Brit?" Malcolm said aloud, irritated.
//Oh shit, he heard me!//
"If you insist on yelling, Commander Tucker, then yes, I will hear you." //Bloody stupid Yank.//
"Ah'm not a bloody stupid Yank."
Malcolm went still, realizing that, though he hadn't spoken aloud, the Commander had still heard him. Cracking open one eye, he realized that he didn't feel as much pain as he would have expected, given their rather uncomfortable landing. A chuckle made him turn on his pallet to see Commander Tucker sitting up on another pallet in this small cave-like room.
"If that's yer idea of an uncomfortable landing, Ah'd hate to see yer idea of totally shitty."
Malcolm pushed himself into a sitting position, staring down at the torn and dirty Starfleet uniform he was still wearing. Though there was blood on the fabric, attesting to lacerations and other wounds, the skin underneath was whole and unblemished.
"Ah don't know and Ah don't know if Ah wanna know."
Malcolm looked up at the commander. "How we were healed or why we're in each other's heads?"
"Both."
"You were injured beyond the skill of our healers and had to be bonded to the kt'alini to be healed. The kt'alini have bonded you to each other."
Both men turned to see an older couple enter the cave. Both were humanoid, but rail thin, with blonde hair and three ridges of rings around their necks. The cool blue eyes of the female fastened on the two Starfleet officers. "I am Jo'eli. This is Ri'vran, my lifemate. We, too, are bonded by the kt'alini."
Reed and Tucker exchanged looks. //Bonded? Like, married?// came Tucker's slightly appalled thought.
//Not like you're what I envisioned bringing home to mother.// Reed snorted. He turned to the couple, realizing their telepathic commentary could be considered rude. "I'm Reed and this is Tucker," he introduced them, ingrained courtesy coming to the fore in the unknown situation. "This bonding - does this mean that Tucker and I are lifemates?" he asked cautiously.
Ri'vran laughed. "No, not at all. Most lifemates choose to be bonded as well, but others choose to bond with someone else, and some choose not to bond at all."
"I don't remember choosing to bond with anyone," Tucker said carefully.
Jo'eli looked distressed. "For that, we apologize. Bonding against one's will is not done lightly. A bonding that goes wrong is disastrous to the pair being bonded as well as others who are bonded. But the kt'alini can cure almost any illness or injury, and your injuries were great."
"The kt'alini?" Tucker asked.
Ri'vran nodded. "The kt'alini are a lifeform that lives in harmony with us. We protect them from natural predators, and in return, they bond us and grant us their healing powers."
"How does this bonding work?" //and can it be undone?// Reed wondered.
//Already tired of being bonded, Mal my dear?//
//I'd rather not always know when you drop a wrench on your foot, Commander.//
//Spoilsport.//
Jo'eli was answering Reed's question, either unaware of the telepathic exchange or used to being around people who spoke without speaking. "The pair to be bonded are placed into a chamber with a pair of bonded kt'alini. The kt'alini enter the bodies at the top of the ridges," she raised her hand to a place at the base of her skull. "The kt'alini are then either accepted or rejected by the hosts. If accepted, the newly bonded pair are mind-joined. We were pleased that you accepted them, though we have never met your kind before."
"So you weren't even sure this would work?" Tucker asked disbelievingly.
Ri'vran shook his head. "We were not. However, we felt we had to try. It is an offense against our laws not to do everything in our power to cure those in need of healing."
//Ah guess asking 'em to undo the bonding might offend 'em, huh?//
//I would imagine so. And if our injuries were that bad…what would happen if the kt'alini were removed?//
//So…what now?//
"Come," Jo'eli was saying. "You must be hungry, and it is our eating time."
Shrugging, Tucker and Malcolm got up and followed the pair into a series of tunnels.
//Howin the hell am Ah gonna explain this one to the cap'n? 'Gee, sir, Mal n' I were at death's door an' the aliens that took us in put life forms in our bodies an' now Mal n' I are telepathically linked'. He'd think Ah was insane.//
Reed rolled his eyes at the commander's internal ramblings. //I think you have forgotten that I can 'hear' you, Commander.//
Tucker stopped in the middle of a tunnel. "Jo'eli, Ri'vran, c'n I ask you a question?"
"Of course, Tu'ker," Ri'vran responded, turning to look at the two humans.
"This whole bonding thing…the mind-joining you spoke of…how...Ah mean…" he shrugged helplessly. Reed, hearing Tucker's thoughts, understood what he was asking.
"Do the mind-joined always hear every thought of the other?"
//I could have finished it mahself.//
//And a right fine job you were doing of it, too.//
Ri'vran smiled. "While the joining is still new, the kt'alini inside are sensitive to everything their bondmates send. After a time, the joining will not be so intense, and you will only hear the thoughts the other wants you to hear, or you wish to hear. However, a bonded pair always have a sense of the other, no matter how separated they are."
"How long a'time?"
Jo'eli shrugged. "Ten cycles, give or take, depending on the pair."
//Cycles of what?//
//Their sun, their planet, their moons, a hamster on a wheel?// Trip mentally replied.
//Very funny.//
The two men glared at each other, hearing the insults, country slurs, and aspersions the other was casting upon their ancestors.
//Oh gawd, this is going to be a long ten cycles.// Trip finally moaned internally.
//Indeed.// Malcolm replied glumly.
~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~ Trip Tucker stared at the communications array on the shuttlepod. By his reckoning, it had been two months since he and Malcolm had awoken on this planet, in the company of a people known as the Il'endi, and discovered that they were bonded and mind-joined. Though the constant barrage of each other's thoughts had faded as Ri'vran and Jo'eli promised, there was still a strange feeling in the back of his mind that he had come to associate with the reserved armory officer. If he concentrated, he could hear Malcolm's thoughts, and with a little more concentration, respond. It was the same for Malcolm.
Like two weeks ago, when Trip had been working on the communications array while Malcolm had been away from the caverns with Ri'vran and a few others. Frustrated, he had mentally and rhetorically asked himself a question.
Then jumped out of his skin when Malcolm had mentally (and sarcastically) answered.
According to Ri'vran and Jo'eli, that was normal for a bonded pair. Sometimes, one of them 'said' something so loud that the other could not help but hear it. Smiling, Trip picked up a wrench and reminded himself not to drop it on his foot, or Malcolm might hear some seriously loud cussin'.
In the two months, neither man had seen hide or hair of Enterprise. With the shuttle nearly destroyed by the landing, it might have been impossible for them to figure out where they had gone after meeting up with the hostiles. Of course, Enterprise could have met up with the same hostiles, as Malcolm had pointed out, and had to stop to make repairs. He had refrained from even thinking about the more gruesome possibilities, something Trip was grateful for. He'd had enough of Melancholy Malcolm when they'd been trapped in a freezing shuttlepod while running out of oxygen. At least on the planet, among the Il'endi, they would survive.
The Il'endi had accepted Re'ed and Tu'ker, as they called Malcolm and Trip, easily, treating the two sky-strangers like members of their clan. The two Starfleet officers were slowly learning that the Il'endi were stronger than they looked, and they were highly intelligent, even if they didn't understand the technology that allowed Trip and Malcolm to 'sail the sky'. They did, however, seem to understand Trip's need to work on the shuttle, to get him back in touch with their own people, and gave Trip an empty cave to work on the pod. Trip and Malcolm, after a silent conversation in the living cave assigned to them, had decided to integrate themselves with their hosts as much as possible without influencing them too much. As a result, Trip helped to repair the basic technology the Il'endi already had, when he wasn't working on the pod, and Malcolm joined the Il'endi warriors in hunting for food for the group and in sentry duties at night to keep the large predators away from the living caverns. Neither man wanted to be a burden to the group by their mere presence. Besides, Trip enjoyed working on the inventions the Il'endi had created, and he could feel Malcolm's enjoyment of the hunt thrum along their connection.
That connection had become such a constant companion to Trip that he was beginning to rely on it. It was a link to the only other person on the planet who understood the loneliness that hit Trip from time to time, his unspoken yearning for the ship and crew that had been his home for so long. The loss of his best friend, all his friends, and his home planet - it would overwhelm Trip in the dark hours of the Il'endian night before he succumbed to sleep.
Soldering some wires together, Trip frowned. Somehow on those nights, he would awaken to find himself in Malcolm's arms, held close to the younger man like a cherished lover. He always managed to extricate himself from the armory officer's embrace before the Malcolm awoke, but the idea of being held was disturbing. He liked it, liked feeling safe in Malcolm's arms, and yet it was disturbing because he liked it too much. He didn't know if Malcolm knew about those nights, but Trip tried to bury his feelings about them deep down, where Malcolm couldn't find unless he went probing. Trip figured Malcolm was too honorable to pry.
It was several hours later, walking home after another unsuccessful day of repairs, that Trip realized something was wrong. Stopping in the middle of the path from the shuttle's cave to the living caverns, he scanned the horizon. All he could see was the late-winter grass and trees, and a few animals here and there. Nothing to be worried about, no large predators or unseasonable storms lurking near. On the other side of the caverns, under an overhang, the paddock that housed the riding animals of the Il'endi was full. The hunting party had returned, so there would be a good nightmeal. He smiled, wondering if Malcolm had managed to bag any of the tr'lkan birds the humans enjoyed. They didn't taste like chicken, but they were better than the av'ridan the Il'endi preferred.
Trip bent to pick up the repair kit he had unknowingly dropped when it hit him. Malcolm was gone. The connection was missing. Trip was alone in his own mind, something he had sometimes wished for over the months. Now, it terrified him.
Forgetting the kit, Trip began to run.
~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~ Malcolm had begged off cleaning the kill after the hunt, and Te'klina had ordered him to the healer upon realizing that he had taken an arrow across the leg when a less experienced hunter had gotten careless. He'd told Te'klina he was fine, but she believed him even less than Dr. Phlox did.
Fighting back the pain in his leg, he allowed the healer and her lifemate to bind up the wound, knowing that Te'klina would probably tell Trip about it, and headed back to his cavern. He eased himself onto his pallet and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes. Carefully, he began to build up the mental barriers that Jo'eli had helped him to raise. He needed the barrier occasionally to maintain his own sanity when the brash openness of Trip's personality threatened to overwhelm him. Though both had worked with Jo'eli and Ri'vran in the first two and a half weeks - ten cycles of Il'deni time - to cope with the bonding, Trip was still undisciplined, in Malcolm's opinion. His thoughts were as loud as the Hawaiian shirts he'd worn on Risa, and any stray thoughts found their way along the bond to Malcolm. So he'd started putting up barriers, to prevent the stray thoughts while still keeping the engineer's presence in his mind. Today he needed them more than ever - he had to think and didn't want Trip's thoughts intruding, or Trip seeking his thoughts.
During the hunt, Te'klina had approached him. She was newly bonded to another female Il'endi, but interested in Malcolm as a potential lifemate. She wanted a lifemate who enjoyed the hunt and understood responsibility to the clan.
Malcolm was somewhat flattered, but worried. If he and Trip had been here long enough for the Il'endi to view them as potential lifemates, would Enterprise ever find them? Had they run into the same unknown hostiles that had stranded Trip and Malcolm here? Had they given up on Malcolm and Trip and gone on with their mission?
Bending over until his forehead touched his upraised knees, Malcolm sunk deeper behind his mental shields. He knew his tendency to see the worst in any given situation annoyed Trip. It was an asset as an armory officer, but useless here on Il'deni. At least until he and Trip reached a point where they had to make a decision about their futures. He would quietly ponder the future himself, and let Trip bring it up when he was ready. No point in antagonizing his bondmate, as they were referred to.
Stretching out and wincing against the pain in his thigh, Malcolm stopped cold as he felt fear and pain and denial come rushing though the bond. Trip's fear, Trip's pain, and Trip's denial of something he didn't want to face.
Malcolm sprang to his feet and started to run to the opening when Trip appeared, out of breath and a wild look in his blue eyes. Afraid, Malcolm dropped his shields and staggered under the mental onslaught from the Southern man.
//Malcolm! Oh god Malcolm yer alive yer alive yer here what the hell did you do! Ah couldn't feel ya! You were gone! Ah thought you had died! You damn fool uptight Brit - do that again and I'll bust yer ass down so far that you'll be T'Pol's age before you make Ensign!//
Malcolm had covered his ears in a reflex gesture, though it didn't help. Then, inexplicably, he found himself pulled to the older man in a tight hug. A hug that intensified their bond, letting him feel what Trip had gone through - the sudden loss of connection on his end, the fear that something had happened to Malcolm. It also let him feel Trip's relief and anger. His shields slammed up again -- not to keep Trip out but rather to hide his own feelings at being in Trip's embrace. It felt…right. Like it did on those nights when Trip's despair over their situation, even in his sleep, threatened to overwhelm both men. The only way Malcolm could calm Trip down was to hold the older man in his arms, using the physical touch as a way to remind him that he wasn't alone. Though Trip slept through those embraces, Malcolm would often lay awake, feeling the contentment through their bond and wondering why it felt so natural to be holding Trip. More natural than it had felt with any of his girlfriends.
A sharp slap across his cheek jerked Malcolm back into the cavern and caused him to drop his shields. Bringing a hand up to the warmed and stinging flesh, he looked up at Trip in disbelief. Trip's blue eyes were dark with the anger Malcolm could feel through the bond.
//You were doin' it again! You're right here in this room, physically here, I can touch you but I can't -feel- you!//
Closing his eyes against the emotions that came through the bond, Malcolm sighed. "I'm sorry," he said, more comfortable speaking aloud. He allowed his genuine feelings of remorse to radiate to Trip. "I just…wanted some privacy in my own thoughts. I wasn't aware that I had shut you out completely. I could still feel your presence, so I just assumed --"
"That I could feel you," Trip interrupted. He turned away from Malcolm and walked to the other side of the cavern, unconsciously rubbing the scar at the base of his skull. It was a habit both men had picked up after the bonding. Though the scars were small and now hidden by their hair, it was a physical reminder of the kt'alini that now lived in a symbiotic relationship with each man. Sighing, Trip turned and leaned back against the wall of the cavern, staring at the ceiling. "I'm sorry, Mal. I know it's not easy, livin' in each other's heads like this. Not somethin' either of us really wanted or expected."
Malcolm rubbed his own kt'alini bonding scar. "Not really. I can't help but think it might have at least been easier for you if Captain Archer had been on that mission instead of me."
Trip gave a short bark of laughter, sheer amusement rippling through the bond. "Aw hell, Mal. The Cap'n n' I would probably be at each other's throats more'n you n' I are. We're too much alike, we'd never be able to keep our thoughts separate."
"True. And then poor Porthos would be left out in the cold."
Trip laughed again, and Malcolm smiled as he turned to the carved chest in the corner. Their Starfleet uniforms had given up the ghost a few weeks into their stay, and the Il'endi tailors had tried to adapt the traditional Il'endi garments to fit the stockier human frames. It hadn't really worked, but they'd finally come to a happy medium. The Il'endi's sleeveless ankle tunics had been shortened to mid-thigh, and leather pants added. It wasn't quite regulation, but it was clothing. Malcolm pulled out a fresh set and turned to leave the cavern.
"Where'ya goin'?"
"Bathing cavern. I did just get back from hunt, you know." Malcolm winced as his thigh protested. Kt'alini healing ability worked slower on human physiology than Il'endi, they'd discovered. Still, most wounds were healed with barely a scar within a day, even without treatment from a healer.
"You're hurt."
"I've seen the healer." Malcolm didn't bother to try to say he was fine. Trip would know he was lying. //Damn. This is going to make trying to weasel out of Sickbay early much more difficult. All Dr. Phlox will have to do is ask Trip how I'm doing.//
A burst of laughter and a rush of approval came from Trip, and Malcolm realized he'd been broadcasting his thoughts. "You're right, Mr. Malcolm 'Fine covers everything from a paper cut to evisceration' Reed. You won't be able to weasel out of Sickbay with me around, now."
Malcolm gave his companion a deadly smile. "Neither will you, Mr. Charles 'The Walking Accident' Tucker."
Trip laughed again and held up his hands. "All right, guess we're even then." He sobered a little. "I'm glad yer thinkin' we'll be getting back."
Malcolm gave a small smile and headed down to the bathing cavern. Trip caught up with him halfway down the corridor. "You don't think we'll get back, do you?" he asked, disappointment reflected in his tone.
"I don't know," Malcolm answered honestly. "Enterprise was three days from our position at warp one, maybe a week if they had to use the impulse engines. It's been two months, Trip. There aren't that many Minshara class planets in this sector of space. They should have found us by now. Don't get me wrong - I want to get back to Enterprise. It's just sometimes…I wonder if we ever will."
Trip felt along their bond and knew there was more to Malcolm's mood than just the armory officer's innate tendency to jump to the worst-case scenario. Something must have happened on the hunt to cause Malcolm to retreat so far into his mind that the bond closed and to doubt the usefulness of hope for rescue. Trip reached out and turned Malcolm to face him. "What's really botherin' you, Mal?"
Malcolm stared down the corridor, his gray eyes distant. "The Il'endi seem rather accustomed to our presence here. As if having strangers join their clan permanently is not unusual. I think they're humoring us in our efforts to contact Enterprise, and believe we're here for good. Some of them are wondering why you and I haven't taken lifemates yet, since we're 'of age', I guess you could say."
Trip snorted. "I don't think an Il'endi female would do real well on Enterprise. Not to mention Starfleet's reaction to one of us marryin' a non-human. Hell, Starfleet's already goin' to have kittens over the whole kt'alini bonding thing." Trip stopped and looked at the younger lieutenant, who was leaning his head back again the cavern wall, eyes closed now, unidentifiable emotions roiling through his mind. Trip stayed silent, sending encouragement through the bond. Malcolm would speak when he was ready.
//You think you know me rather well, do you, Mister Tucka?//
//Only returnin' the favor. You said you'd spent a lot a time tryin' ta figure me out.//
The Brit's lips curved into a sly smile. //Well, it is a tad bit easier now. You're practically an open book.//
//I've still got a few tricks up my sleeves.//
The smile faded. //Te'klina approached me about becoming her lifemate today.//
//Say what?// Trip was stunned.
Malcolm turned away and headed into the cavern that housed the geothermal pool used by the clan for personal bathing. Trip followed, floored by Malcolm's statement.
"She said she wanted a lifemate who understood the importance of the hunt and protecting the clan. Apparently, she doesn't think any of the other Il'endi understand that." Malcolm stripped off his dirt and sweat stained tunic and trousers and dove into the pool. Trip threw up what mental barriers he had as the sight of Malcolm's well-honed phsysique caused the engineer's mouth to dry up and other body fluids rush to his groin. Good lord, when had he started thinking of Malcolm as gorgeous?
"What did you tell her?" he finally asked, pleased that his voice seemed steady.
Malcolm swam back to the near edge of the pool, crossing his arms on the ledge and resting his chin on them. Trip sat down, cross-legged, so that he could see Malcolm's expression. The gray eyes were distant again, and the connection between them was murky with both Trip's and Malcolm's barriers in place.
"I told her that I was flattered, but that I couldn't take a lifemate here, since I would be returning to Enterprise. She all but said I was foolish for holding onto my 'sky-dreams'," he said in a quiet, almost mournful, voice.
Trip shook his head. "She's wrong, Malcolm. She's only known the cavern and the clan. She thinks that's all there is. You n' I know better. We've been there, we've 'sailed the stars' and set foot on other worlds. Its not foolish to want our lives back."
"How long do we keep hoping, Trip? Six months, a year, five? Ten?"
"As long as it takes."
"Even when we're the oldest bonded pair, telling stories about T'Pol and Porthos to the younglings?" Malcolm asked sarcastically.
Trip reached out and put a hand on Malcolm's arm. "Even then. Hope makes us - keeps us - human, Mal."
The barriers cracked a little, and Trip could feel the sorrow and pain Malcolm had been burying deep these past months. //God, I miss them all, Trip.//
//So do I, Malcolm. So do I.//
~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~ Trip ran after Malcolm's rapidly disappearing form, worried about the images he was getting from the younger man's thoughts. All of them were violent - and all of them involved long, slow, and torturous ways of Te'klina dying at Malcolm's hands.
Trip wondered what the hell had happened. When he'd left to check on the clan's water transport system, Malcolm had still been asleep. This time, Trip had done the comforting in the night, when Malcolm's barriers had gone down and his despair had bubbled up. Trip had to keep his own barriers solid against his reaction to holding Malcolm - mental and physical. It felt just as good as being held by Malcolm, and feeling the absolute trust in Trip that had emanated from the younger man had been humbling. Trip had wanted to remain in their cavern for the rest of the day, maybe see if Malcolm felt what Trip did. He longed to let the barriers down totally, but he couldn't do that.
Not right now, anyway, with Malcolm plotting murder. And where the hell was he going to come up with . . . Trip decided he didn't want to know. He had felt Malcolm go ballistic internally, and then the man had been storming past the shuttle cave like he was stalking an yv'rikan. Trip had been listening to the static he was now getting from the com system, but abandoned that for chasing Mal.
//Will you wait up?// he finally shouted at the lieutenant, using mind-speak since he didn't think his voice would carry far enough.
Malcolm stopped by a rock cluster and turned to face Trip. The gray eyes were almost black, and his hands were clenched into fists.
//She's trying to force my hand and I won't have it.//
//Te'klina.// Damn. Trip had hoped the Il'endi had given up on the idea of taking Malcolm as a lifemate. Mal had been trying to avoid her since the hunt a month ago when she approached him.
//She wants the prestige of having a 'sky-stranger' for a mate. Ri'vran came to see me today, said Te'klina had asked him to prepare the ritual for us. She's got the clan practically convinced it's a done deal.//
//Damn.//
Malcolm sat down on one of the rocks, propping his elbows on his knees and his chin on his folded hands. "I'd rather take my chances outside of the clan."
Trip sat on the ground, looking up at Malcolm. "Well, give me a few hours an' I reckon I can scare up some supplies for us. See if we c'n make it to the next set a' caverns."
"This is my problem, Trip. You don't have to leave here."
Trip snorted. "I'm not lettin' you go off on yer own, Loo-ten-nant, so deal with it," he drawled, dragging out Malcolm's rank in a manner sure to irritate the Brit.
"The next set of caverns is four days walk north. I doubt we'd make it." Malcolm didn't rise to the bait.
"So we stay here. Tell Ri'vran you don't want the ritual. I'll back you up, Mal. I ain't gonna let Te'klina force ya into this." Trip sighed. "I'm just sorry Ah don't have the shuttle repaired so we could take off n' look fer Enterprise."
He felt Malcolm's surprise through their kt'alini connection. "Commander, you and I both know that shuttle won't fly again until we can get it to space dock. No," he sighed. "I'm the one that's got us into this mess, now."
"Oh no, you don't. Te'klina's got us into this." Trip was angry with Malcolm for trying to take the blame. "All you've done is be yerself. An' if you try ta change, I'll kick yer ass. I like you the way you are, Mal. Gun-happy n' everything."
Trip was rewarded with a shy smile that helped some of the worries disappear from Malcolm's face. It didn't last long enough for Trip, as Malcolm, predictably, returned to the main topic. "So what do we do, then?"
Trip stared at the ground. //Seems to me,// he thought slowly, //that the only thing that would stop Te'klina is if you already had a lifemate.//
Malcolm shook his head. //I'm not taking an Il'endi lifemate, Trip. As you yourself put it, they wouldn't do well on Enterprise. And I'm not about to subject one of them to Te'klina's pique.//
//What about a non-Il'endi lifemate?//
Trip's thought had been so faint that Malcolm wasn't sure he'd even heard it. He looked down at the Southern man, who was still staring at the ground.
//The only other non-Il'endi on this planet is you, Trip.// Malcolm gently pointed out.
//I know, Mal.//
//Are you . . . proposing?//
Trip looked up to see if Malcolm was teasing him, but the grey eyes were as serious as the look on the other man's face. No humor was coming through the bond, either.
//Ah . . . Ah guess Ah am.// Trip replied, his accent thickening. //Yer impor'nt to me, Mal, n' not just 'cause yer the only other human here.// Trip slowly lowered the barriers and allowed the feelings he'd been burying to come to the surface, hoping Mal would read them. The way he felt about Malcolm, about being in Malcolm's arms, about the idea of being able to do that every morning. And how Trip felt about the idea of making love to Malcolm.
He could see and feel the surprise from the younger man, and hastily re-erected the barriers. "Look, I'm sorry," he said, getting up and turning away. "It doesn't haveta be real - once we get backta Enterprise no one even needs ta know, but it would get Te'klina off yer back." Trip stared down again, afraid he'd ruined his friendship with Malcolm. Unconsciously, he started rubbing the bonding scar.
Something made its way along the bond, and Trip's hand stilled. Images of him and Malcolm, in each other's arms, during the frenzy of lovemaking and peaceful cuddling afterward, revealed themselves to Trip. They weren't his fantasies or daydreams. He turned back to Malcolm, noticing the man had come up behind him. //Mal?// he asked disbelievingly.
Malcolm laid a hand on Trip's arm, and both men let their shields drop and their thoughts mingle, reveling in the unity of their desires.
//Malcolm Reed, would you do me the honor of becoming my lifemate?//
Stretching up, Malcolm laid a gentle kiss on Trip's mouth. Their first kiss, Trip realized. And he knew it wouldn't be their last.
//Charles Tucker, I would be honored to be your lifemate.//
Cloudy Skies