Reed's Armory -- A Malcolm Reed Fanfiction Archive ..

Title: The Trip of a Lifetime

Author: Zoe

Author's e-mail: [email protected]

Fandom: Enterprise

Pairing: Tucker/Reed

Rating: PG-13

Category: Slash

Summary: A wee first time story.

Comments: More fluff. a wee first time story. With a wee bit of angst. Don't worry, it's not a lot!!! You know me. Don't do angst v. well!!!

Beta reader(s): SueC, a marvel among marvels! Thanks for putting up with my fluff!

Archived to Reed's Armory on 04/23/2004.

Trip woke up in a glorious mood, despite the 6am alarm call. He had a secret. A very delicious secret. So secret that no one, not even his best friend, Jon, knew. After thinking about it for several minutes, he unfurled and stretched his body like a lazy cat.

Stretches over, he sat up, swung his long legs out of bed, stood and made his way to the bathroom, whistling as he went. One shower and shave later, he virtually danced to his closet, put on a clean uniform, and, winking at his reflection in the mirror, left his room.

In the mess hall, he gave the room a once over. Spotting the one person he wanted to see, he collected his breakfast and cup of coffee and sauntered jauntily over.

"Anyone sittin' here?" he asked, grinning widely.

"Please, feel free, Commander." Lieutenant Malcolm Reed motioned for him to sit.

"And how are we, this bright fine mornin'?"

"Trip?" Malcolm gave him a very wary look. "Are you feeling all right?"

Trip raised his eyebrows in surprise. "All right? Why wouldn't I be feelin' all right? Can't a fella ask a simple question?"

Malcolm was still cautiously looking at him. "Hmm, you look...I'll ask again, are you feeling all right?"

Shaking his head, Trip tucked into his breakfast. He was about five mouthfuls in when he realized that his breakfast partner had stopped eating, and was just sitting watching him.

"What? Do I have something on my nose?"

"No...no, I was just wondering. We haven't been on any away missions recently have we?"

"Nope...unfortunately."

"And we haven't encountered any aliens on strange spaceships recently either?"

"Huh? No, Malcolm, you know all this as well as I do."

"Uh huh." Malcolm turned his attention to his rapidly cooling cup of tea.

It was Trip's turn to look puzzled. "Malcolm, why the questioning? You gonna tell me what's going on in that head o' yours?"

Malcolm smirked. Now, Trip had always liked Malcolm's smirk. He thought it very sexy, and it sent shivers down his spine. Usually. Today, however, he didn't notice it, interested as he was in Malcolm's train of thought.

"Malcolm? Please?" He almost winced at the whine in his voice.

Malcolm finished his tea, stood up and said, "Well, normally when you are this cheerful Trip, you've either been on a very successful away mission, or shagged some alien babe!" Then he turned on his heels, chuckling at the astounded expression on Trip's face.

Trouble was, he thought, as he walked away, it wasn't some alien babe he wanted Trip to shag. Then the thought hit him: Trip obviously had met someone, but it had to be someone on board. That's the reason for his cheerfulness, it had to be, Malcolm reflected.

"Now that's depressing," he whispered to himself, unaware that Trip had followed him down the corridor and into the turbo-lift.

"What's depressing, Malcolm?" Trip said, before Malcolm had had chance to turn around and notice him.

Trip scarcely had time to finish his sentence before he was hurled against the lift walls, with an arm across his throat.

"Oh...Commander. I'm sorry, you startled me. I was miles away." Malcolm blushed as he released his superior officer. He stepped back and gave Trip some space.

"S'okay Malcolm. So, what's depressing?" Trip had a morsel and wanted more.

"Pardon me?"

"I heard you say somethang about somethang bein' depressing?" Trip smiled winningly at the man across from him. A man, who, at that very moment, had an extremely appealing innocent look on his face.

"You have such a way with words, Trip." Malcolm grinned, swiftly changing the subject. "You should have appeared on University Challenge!"

"Univer...what?"

"Oh, I think you may know it better as College Bowl? It used to be a highly intellectual quiz show for people who were at university. You would have been ideal.'Ah know the answer, is it somethang goes inta somethang to make...um...somethang?'" Malcolm easily had Trip's accent down pat.

"How'd you do that? Dang, but yer good!" Trip had heard Malcolm do his famous impression before, but not usually at these close quarters.

The lift drew to a halt, spilling them both onto the bridge. The differences between the two men couldn't have been wider than on that particularly morning.

Malcolm quietly said his good mornings, a general greeting, to the captain, Travis, Hoshi and T'Pol who were already there. Trip, on the other hand, was loud and brash, and jolly.

"Well, good morning to you all. And what a beeeeeuuuutiful day it is too. Hope you're all ready for a good, hard days work." He went to his usual spot, standing just behind Malcolm. One of these days, he thought, Malcolm was gonna catch on.

"Is there something you want to tell me Trip?" Captain Archer enquired. "I mean, it's 0730 hours, and you come onto the bridge, bright and breezy. Are you feeling well?"

"Why does everyone think there is somethang," he glanced at Malcolm, "um, something wrong with me, j'st 'cause I'm cheerful? Can a guy not be cheerful?"

"Well, sure," Archer responded, grinning. "Only, when you're cheerful, there's usually some reason for it. Care to share?"

Trip blushed. A rare occurrence in itself, but most particularly whilst on duty. Particularly when standing behind the reason for his blush.

"Cap'n? May I have a word in your ready room?"

"Certainly Trip. Sub-commander, you have the bridge." Motioning to Trip to follow him, he walked into the room, and sat in a chair. Trip sat down opposite him. And sighed. Several times.

Archer sat quietly, just watching the emotions run across his friend's face. "Trip?"

"Oh Jon, I'm so nervous, it's untrue. And I'm not sure that I can go through with my plan. Probably won't even be bothered. That's if I dare ask 'im."

Archer sat back in his chair with a puzzled expression on his face. "Um, I'm afraid you lost me there. Care to explain?"

Trip grinned sheepishly. "There's someone on board...oh god, you'll probably hate me." He held his face in his hands.

"Trip, come on. You know what you say to me will go no further. Although your euphoria just now will already have people talking."

Heaving a huge sigh, Trip began. "Well, there's someone on this ship I really like," hesitating, he grimaced, "an'...an' I'm not too sure how happy you would be if we started a relationship."

Jon raised his eyebrows in surprise, but said nothing. He could see Trip was somewhat embarrassed, and he didn't want to put him off his speech. Even though he was almost certain he knew who Trip was besotted with. Kind of obvious, actually, he thought. In fact, he'd inadvertently overheard Travis and Hoshi gossiping about them recently.

Trip continued. "I was...AM...planning a quiet meal for us, sort of a 'get to know you better' type meal. With wine, soft music, good food, candles if I can beg some from T'Pol. But now I've said it out loud, it seems a little too formal, ya know?"

Jon decided he wanted to play devil's advocate. "Why Trip? Most females love being wined and dined." He grinned, as Trip blushed even harder.

"Not Hoshi?" Trip shook his head.

"Hess then? No? Okay, um." deliberately, Jon looked at the increasingly embarrassed engineer, "Travis?"

Trip jumped out of his chair and paced up and down, an anguished expression on his face.

"Not Travis...Ml'cim." he mumbled.

Archer smothered the laugh he felt coming. "Who? Sorry, I didn't hear the last word."

Trip sat down, put his left elbow on the chair arm, rested his red face in his hand and gave up all his pretence of dignity. "It's Malcolm."

"Ahh. And you haven't told him before because.?"

"What?"

"I asked you why you haven't told him before. You've had plenty of opportunity."

"I know. But...it's Malcolm. Mr. 'if it blows up I love it' Reed, Mr. 'most dangerous man on the ship' Reed. Would you tell him?"

Jon openly grinned at the discomforted man before him. "Certainly. Particularly if I knew he liked me."

Trip made a face. "Exactly. I don't know that he likes me. But I'm fed up of waiting and watching him. And." Trip's voice tailed off as the implication of Archer's last words hit him.

"Jon? What did you say?"

Archer shrugged his shoulders. "I only said I would tell him if I knew he liked me."

Trip's heart leapt up into his mouth, and his eyes held a hopeful gleam. "You mean...you...you." he stuttered.

"He likes you, Trip. I've watched you both, mooning over one another, and it's been extremely difficult to stop matchmaking. Oh, and I'm not the only person to have noticed either."

"Shit. Who else has noticed?" Trip was panicked now. He'd thought he was being discreet. Unfortunately, discreet wasn't a word that figured largely in the Tucker family vocabulary.

Jon leaned back in his chair and observed Trip. He'd already noted his flushed cheeks, his uneasy disposition. Sighing, he couldn't let Trip suffer. "I overheard Hoshi and Travis gossiping the other day."

Jon almost fell off his chair laughing at the forlorn look on Trip's face. Apparently, he'd genuinely thought no one had noticed.

"What did they say?"

"Oh, they were just chatting about you and Malcolm. How infatuated you two seemed to be with one another. In fact, Hoshi said if one of you didn't make a move soon, she was either going to pull her hair out, or do something herself."

A slight grin on his lips, Trip shook his head in disbelief and stood up. "I guess I'd better do something then, hadn't I? See you later, Jon. And...thanks."

Palming the door open, Trip departed, leaving a smirking Jon behind. He was just happy that Trip had made the decision to do something.

Down in the armoury, Malcolm was whiling away the time. Unfortunately, he couldn't stop thinking about a certain blue-eyed engineer. What made it worse was the fact there was a huge absence of work, which gave rise to his unruly thoughts. These were making him more dejected the longer he sat at his station.

He just couldn't stop thinking about Trip and the obvious fact that he was now partnered up. Trip was all he'd dreamed about for months, and now Malcolm couldn't even cling to the tiny hope that maybe, just maybe Trip might have asked him out. Not that the engineer had ever been likely to have looked at him, he thought, gloomily. Friends, nothing more. That was all he had now.

He leant his chin on his hands, and gazed around him, his eyes not really seeing, his mind not really taking in the work that was going on around him. The longer he sat, the deeper his feeling of isolation and loneliness became.

Shaking his head, Malcolm tried to clear the depressing thoughts that were clouding his mind. Standing, he paced the floor, watching his armoury staff work quietly and efficiently, as they undertook the few tasks that needed doing. With relief, he realised that his shift was finally over, and he could leave. Why be depressed at work when I can just as easily be depressed in my quarters, he pondered glumly.

Before he could actually move, the door swooshed open, spilling the chief engineer in.

Malcolm's heart raced as he watched the former, imagined, love of his life walk towards him. He felt the blush touch his cheeks, pinking up at the sight of Trip, gorgeous sexy Trip, the Trip of his dreams. The Trip of a lifetime. The Trip who had now found someone on Enterprise, someone not Malcolm. He smirked, almost sadly, to himself as Trip reached him.

Trip noticed Malcolm's smirk and grinned. That armoury officer's smirk was so sexy, he thought. What he would give to wipe that smirk off his lips, by kissing alone. Shit, Trip, down boy! Remember, he told himself, Malcolm liked him, Malcolm LIKED him. Malcolm liked HIM!

"Hiya, Malcolm. Whatcha up to?"

Waiting for you was the answer Malcolm wanted to give. However, he dampened down his desire, and replied, "Just about to finish work. I'm a bit bored, actually." Take me, kiss me, do whatever you want to me, his undisciplined mind yelled. Quashing his yearning, he gazed at Trip.

"Um...I was wondering, er, if you...if you." Trip ducked his head, and rubbed the back of his neck. He was soooo nervous, but he was determined to go through with this. Raising his head, he glanced back at Malcolm, observing the other man's puzzled gaze. Taking a deep, fortifying breath, he continued. "Would you like to have dinner with me tonight, Malcolm?"

"With me? But...I thought." Now he really WAS blushing, his heart pounding so hard he thought it was likely to burst through his chest right into Trip's hands.

A heartbeat, a lifetime passed. Two men stood. One anxious, overwrought, desperate. The other, astounded, amazed, joyous.

"Um...Mal?" Trip prompted, his heart in his mouth, waiting for the answer.

"Yes, Trip, I would be delighted."

An exhalation of breaths, a shared smile, a walk into togetherness.

~the end~