Title: Who Needs Enemies 3: First we'll take you down back to the meathouse

By T'Pau Silver

Who Needs Enemies 3: First we'll take you down back to the meathouse
by T'Pau Silver

Lauren wasn't a vengeful person. A lesser woman in her position might feel the need to seek vengeance on Malcolm Reed for stealing her love but not she. She wasn't about to stoop to that level. There were plenty of ways to get her man without having to hurt Malcolm.

To start with, she was the only one who knew. Maybe a little publicity was all she would need.

She herself wasn't homophobic but she knew a lot of the guys on the ship were. It must be something to do with the military. Even in this day and age a lot of people still couldn't deal with anything different. She'd never understood that. It just seemed that at the moment she was a minority, which worked just fine for her.

She wasn't a very cunning person. She had never had reason to try and plan anything before. She didn't even plan her days unless absolutely necessary. And she didn't really want to hurt

Travis, but she had to help her poor boy see the truth.

~*~*~*~

Travis was feeling a lot better. Everyone was still guessing who he was dating but now Travis was secure in the knowledge that if anyone picked the right person he could stand up proudly and say yes. He had even felt well enough to go with Malcolm to the mess hall for breakfast. He would have thought with the amount of time he was spending with Malcolm, someone would have guessed already.

Malcolm was talking to him, Travis wasn't listening. He wanted to do something. He wanted to reach out and take Malcolm's hand. To kiss Malcolm thoroughly on the lips. To do anything to show everyone his love for Malcolm.

He wondered if he could trick Hoshi into asking if they were a couple. Probably wouldn’t take much but Malcolm would know he had cheated and wouldn't be pleased. Travis just wished he could admit his relationship. He wasn't ashamed of it and he knew Malcolm wasn't either, the older man just wanted what he felt was best for them.

Why couldn't Malcolm leave Travis to decide what was best for once? Sure Travis was younger and more inexperienced but he knew people, especially the way people got on long space voyages. And he knew that even if people were hostile at first, they would eventually grow to accept it.

He greeted another crew member cheerily and silently prayed for them to ask. He was trying his best. He sat close to Malcolm and kept brushing against the older man. When they spoke Travis would lean over and whisper in his ear in a very intimate way. But most people didn't even consider the possibility. They were considered straight until proven gay. It was actually quite infuriating.

He glanced around the room. Glen was sat across the room with some friends. Lauren, he knew her well, she was always hanging around his quarters. Sometimes he wondered if there wasn't something going on between those two. Peter, one of Glen's security friends. It seemed every guy on the security team but Malcolm was butch. Not that he minded. He loved Malcolm just the way he was and any of the idiots who had had problems with Malcolm at the beginning because he was so small had quickly changed their minds.

Travis' attention was distracted again by thoughts of his lover. He watched Malcolm eat. His soft lips wrapping around the piece of toast. His jaw tensing. His throat moving as he swallowed. How Travis wished he could lean over and kiss those lips. Run his hands over the firm chest, then down, under the hem of the shirt and up again, teasing the nipples while deepening the kiss...

"Travis," Malcolm exclaimed, distracting the young man from his previous train of thought. "Did you hear a single word I said?"

"No," Travis admitted sheepishly. "I had more interesting things on my mind."

They smiled at each other, eyes locking. Travis wanted to lean over and kiss his lover so badly.

"Hey."

Travis sighed as his attention was pulled away from more important things once again. Lauren stood there grinning at them. Malcolm smiled at her and Travis managed to smile at her to.

"I hope I wasn't interrupting anything?"

"Of course not," Malcolm assured her. She pulled up a chair without waiting to be asked. Travis moved slightly closer to Malcolm, brushing the back of his hand against his lover’s. Malcolm didn't respond.

"I just saw you here and thought I might talk with you," Lauren continued, grinning. Travis shifted visibly closer to Malcolm, hoping she would either leave or question them. Maybe she was just as oblivious as everyone else.

"Look, there's something I wanted to talk to you about," she said after a moments silence. She fell quiet again and the two men sat watching her. Finally she drew a deep breath and said in a very loud voice "Are you two going out? You know, like boyfriends?"

A lot of eyes were suddenly on them. There was murmuring as people speculated on the answer and the people too far away to hear were told what Lauren had asked. A sea of faces turned to look at them. Travis pulled himself up proudly and was about to respond.

"No," Malcolm said, perfectly calmly as if it was blandly obvious. "Where would you get an idea like that? He has a girlfriend."

Everyone seemed to accept this and turned back to their conversations. Lauren whispered something about being sorry and left.

Travis couldn't take his eyes of Malcolm. Malcolm just sat there, calmly eating toast. He didn't even look up.

He couldn't sit there anymore. Travis stood and practically ran from the mess hall. Head down, he went straight through the corridors to his quarters. Why hadn't Malcolm said yes? He had promised! He had promised Travis if they were asked directly, they would say yes. Travis had never thought of Malcolm as someone to go back on his word but now he wondered how much he really knew about Malcolm at all.

He stumbled into his quarters and collapsed on the bed, his shift on the Bridge forgotten. Why had Malcolm said no? Was he ashamed? Was Travis not good enough for him? That couldn't be it. He knew Malcolm cared about him.

But he'd said no. Why? Was it something Travis had done wrong? Maybe he had pushed Malcolm too hard. Maybe Malcolm was planning on leaving him soon and said no to save them both the embarrassment for nothing. But why?

Travis couldn't stop the hot tears running down his cheek. If Malcolm had lied to him about saying yes what else had he lied about. For all he knew everything Malcolm said might be a lie.

He just wanted to curl up and die.

The door opened but Travis didn't look up. He didn't want to see Glen looking at him with pitying eyes or some random person from the mess hall, following him through morbid curiosity, or even worse, Malcolm. He couldn't deal with that. Not now. He never wanted to see Malcolm again.

"Ensign?"

It was the Captain’s voice. Travis' eyes shot up to find Archer stood in the door. He tried to wipe the tears from his eyes but couldn't stop crying.

When Archer saw Travis his expression softened. He came and sat down beside him.

"What's going on?" Archer asked. Travis fought to keep his tears under control. Malcolm wouldn't want him to cry. Not that Malcolm mattered much anymore.

"I'm sorry sir," Travis said, trying to get himself together.

"You were late for your shift," Archer commented softly, probing for information.

"I'm sorry sir, it won’t happen again."

"Just tell me what's wrong Travis."

Travis looked up sharply. Archer looked genuinely concerned. Travis suddenly wanted to confess to Archer. To confess everything. But he couldn't, Malcolm wouldn't talk to him again. But he didn't want Malcolm to talk to him again. It was all so confusing.

"I swear, whatever you say won't go beyond this room."

"It's Malcolm," Travis burst. "He said he'd say yes then he didn't and now I don't know what to do or where we stand or..."

"Whoa!" The Captain interrupted. "Calm down for a second, your not making any sense."

Travis threw his head back and took deep breaths. Had to stay calm. Had to relax. He couldn't afford to freak out. He had to stay calm.

"Malcolm and I have been involved in a romantic relationship for a while now. I've wanted to tell people but he keeps telling me to wait a little longer and I didn't argue because I didn't want to upset him. Then when I got home one morning my roommate was in and he thought I had a girlfriend. He told everyone. I got upset and Malcolm promised me if anyone asked directly I could say yes, then in the mess hall someone asked and he immediately denied it. Why would he do that? Is he ashamed of me? Am I not good enough for him? Does he really care that much about what other people think?"

Archer was quiet for a few moments, taking in everything Travis had said. For his part Travis tried desperately to fight back tears. He must have done something wrong, and now the Captain would know to. Now the captain would hate him to and no-one would talk to him and...

"Travis, I understand you’re upset. Take the day off; I'll make sure someone fills your post.

Would you like me to send Malcolm down here to talk to you? I'm sure he has a reason for what he did... maybe if you just talk to him he can explain it."

"Thank you sir, but I think I just want to be on my own now."

"I understand. But remember Travis, you're not alone. There are a lot of people on this ship who care about you. If you need to talk, you know where my office is. If you need more time off just tell me."

"Thank you sir," Travis whispered. Archer cast the young Ensign another glance then, realizing there was nothing more he could do, he left for the Bridge. Travis collapsed back onto his bed and back into his thoughts.

~*~*~*~

Lauren glanced up from her engineering console. She felt bad about what happened that morning.

She had chickened out, she should have pushed it. But she still got the desired result. Travis ran out of the mess hall, close to tears and Malcolm sat there staring after him. Maybe it wasn't after the passionate break up she was hoping for but still...

She had wanted to go and comfort Travis. She knew she had to get to him quickly if she was going to make any impact on him before he convinced himself that Malcolm was a good person again.

She'd wanted to so badly. She was even quite sure her comfort would be accepted in Travis' current frame of mind but Glen had stopped her. He had told her Travis just needed time alone and that her shift was due to start in 10 minutes. She'd realized he was right, about the shift anyway. He was wrong about Travis. Travis needed her and she was going to prove it.

But first she had to wait until her shift ended. She just had to wait and the waiting was driving her crazy. All this time her baby was probably sat alone crying about that stupid guy.

Malcolm would never be right for Travis. Well, maybe, in some dimension where she had never been born. But she was here and Travis would be hers.

She had to get to him while he was still hurt and impressionable. She knew that if she acted now she could make Travis realize what she had known all along, that Malcolm was no good for him.

Malcolm was no good for anybody. He was just a big no-good blob!

She tried to concentrate on her work but thoughts of her Travis kept her from focusing on the console. Her Travis needed her. Why was Commander Tucker to keep her Travis from getting what he needed? No-one, that was who.

But soon it would be ok. She would convince Travis she was all he needed and they would have their happy ending, and she wouldn't have to worry about interfering Armoury officers any longer.

END