Title: Trapped
By: nancy
Pairing: Tucker/Reed
Fandom: Star Trek Enterprise
Rating: R
Summary: Malcolm and Trip are trapped, again, only this time, confessions are made.

***

Trip groaned, the back of his head throbbing in time to his pulse in a really painful way. Attacked again. What was it with them? Couldn't they go somewhere just once and not get jumped? At least in a bad way?

"Trip?"

Sounded familiar. He groaned again and hesitantly opened his eyes. Malcolm was directly above him, blue-gray eyes scrunched together with worry. "Malcolm? What the hell happened?"

"There was a cave in, remember?" Malcolm supplied.

Cave-in, cave-in...oh right. They'd been looking at a possible new energy source that T'Pol had just had to examine. "Why doesn't she ever get caught in the damn cave-ins?"

Malcolm smiled in relief. "Well. You're going to be all right then. Come on, let's get you up. The others are already working on getting us out, but I didn't want to try and move you until I knew you'd be okay."

Trip accepted the hand up and landed unsteadily against Malcolm, holding onto the other man for a moment. He vaguely noted that Malcolm was more solid than he looked before straightening up. Looking around, holding his head, Trip heard the sounds of rocks being picked away from the other side. They were trapped in a small area, looked like an alcove almost. A thought struck him and he demanded, "How much air we got?"

"Well, the rocks are rather porous, and it's certainly not an airtight fall, not completely, not to mention..."

"Malcolm."

"Ah, approximately another hour," Malcolm admitted.

Trip did some math, then half-grinned. "And it's going to take them a couple of hours to get through, isn't it?"

Shrugging, Malcolm replied, "Probably."

With a sigh, Trip muttered, "Great."

"Think of it this way. We've at least been through oxygen deprivation before."

"And that's supposed to comfort me how?"

"Well, it's something familiar."

Trip frowned at the other man and observed, "You're a strange man, Malcolm Reed."

Grimacing, Malcolm replied, "I'm just trying to put something positive into the situation."

"We're going to die. Not too much that's positive about that," Trip stated.

Malcolm was silent as he moved towards the rock fall and looked it over with, "Isn't that my line? Where's the usual Trip Tucker gung-ho attitude?"

Trip's lips twitched, but didn't quite make a smile. "Pounded out of my skull by a very big rock."

"We could start moving rocks out from this way, meet them in the middle."

"And use up the oxygen even faster."

"And get the rocks down even faster."

"Malcolm..."

"Trip..."

Trip snorted, taking in the determined expression on the other's face and agreed, "All right. But if I spend the last hour of my life dragging rocks, I'm going to kick your ass in the afterlife."

Malcolm's smile was brilliant as he clapped Trip on the back. "Not to worry. You can't kick it in this one."

Laughing shortly, Trip tried his best to ignore the throbbing in his head, and got to work.

* * * *

They'd actually made a pretty good dent in things before Trip's chest began to tighten from more than just the exertion. Sweat had been flowing freely for a good long while and his uniform clung to him uncomfortably.

"Hey, hey, you're slanting!" Malcolm exclaimed from far away.

Trip dropped the rock he was holding and realized that Malcolm was right, he was completely off-balance. Before he could fall the rest of the way, though, strong arms caught him and gently lowered him to the ground. That seemed to spark half a memory of Malcolm tackling him just as the cave-in had occurred. When he could speak again, Trip accused, "You knocked me out of the way! You shouldn't be in here!"

"Probably not," Malcolm confirmed easily. "That doesn't mean I wouldn't do it again."

Frowning, unable to really think clearly, Trip asked, "How come?"

Malcolm's eyes were strangely soft as a hand wiped the itchy sweat from Trip's face. "Because you're my best friend, Trip. I'd do anything for you."

There was something at odds between the words and the tone and the look in Malcolm's eyes, but Trip's head was pounding, his chest was killing him and he couldn't seem to take in a deep breath. All of it conspired to keep him from figuring out what was wrong.

"Easy now, take slow, shallow breaths," Malcolm ordered softly. "Just relax, Trip. We're done working now. Time for a break. That's it. Slower. Think about Lisa and being on the beach. Or one of those infernal barbeques you North American sorts seem to love so much."

Strangely, the words soothed Trip enough that he was finally able to breathe in a complete breath and his chest slowly loosened.

"I'm going to have to tell Phlox on you," Malcolm teased.

Trip frowned. "What for?"

"Borderline asthmatic, are we?"

Squirming under the knowing gaze, Trip muttered, "Oh, that."

"Yes, that," Malcolm replied, still smiling. "It's always good to know when your mate's going to keel over, you know. Ahead of time."

"It doesn't happen unless there's not enough air," Trip retorted.

It was then that Trip noticed that Malcolm was still holding him on his lap. Feeling far too comfortable, he had no intention of mentioning it to the proper man. Though maybe this fell under the 'best friends doing for each other' category. It should, if it didn't.

"I wanted to thank you for not mentioning my comment about T'Pol to her."

Malcolm's words gathered Trip's wandering attention and he grinned in reply. "I still might."

Snorting, Malcolm said, "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

They fell silent then, but it was comfortable, as it always was. After the shuttlepod incident, they'd grown easy with the silence. And with everything else that had happened since then, well, just being in each other's company was usually enough to make Trip happy. Maybe that should've told him something over the last few months.

It had, really, but Trip had stubbornly clung to the idea of how he saw himself. He was a man who liked women, always had. There'd been the odd man who'd caught his eye, but it had been easy enough to ignore over the years, despite the lack of stigma now attached to the label. Though there weren't any true labels any more, not like there had been a couple of centuries ago.

When Malcolm had come into his life, there had been an instant friendship, despite their mostly opposite ways. They worked together, played together, relaxed together, picked up women together, got drunk together when Malcolm would allow it, and got into danger together. It was like the perfect relationship. Trouble had reared its ugly head after the shuttlepod incident when Trip had felt the first stirrings of jealousy at Malcolm's dogged attraction for T'pol, which was apparently more than just attraction.

Still, it hadn't affected their friendship because Trip hadn't let it. He'd basically just ignored it altogether, which was pretty easy because Malcolm didn't stand a chance with the Vulcan, despite his brain size. Trip snorted at the thought.

"What?"

Blinking in surprise at the question, Trip looked up at his friend and grinned. "Nothing. Just thinking about you and T'Pol."

Malcolm's eyebrows rose almost off his face, then he asked cautiously, "In what way?"

"No offense, buddy, but she's never going to go for you, no matter how big...your brain is," Trip answered, grinning even more broadly.

Eyes rolling, Malcolm said, "You're a pain in the ass, Trip Tucker."

Darkness was tingeing his vision and his chest was tight again. Panicking, Trip grabbed Malcolm's shirt and exclaimed, "I can't breathe, Malcolm, I can't breathe!"

"You can, just relax, Trip, there's still air, I promise," Malcolm assured him.

But there wasn't any getting around the fact that he couldn't breathe. He was, in fact, starting to hyperventilate. Then, out of the blue, Malcolm's mouth descended on his and air forced its way in. Trip froze utterly, his fingers tightening on the shirt in shock.

Malcolm pulled back and ordered urgently, "Don't fight me!"

Trip nodded and Malcolm's mouth again pressed down. This time, expecting it, Trip breathed in when Malcolm breathed out. It took several minutes, but finally Trip was breathing normally again on his own. By then, though, he was exhausted and could barely keep his eyes open.

"Don't, Trip, don't go to sleep!" Malcolm exclaimed, panic touching his voice for the first time.

It seemed really important to his friend, so Trip tried to stay awake. He met the frantic hazel eyes and said the first thing that came to mind. "I love you."

Malcolm sighed in relief and answered, "Good. Back to normal."

Well shit. Malcolm thought he was joking. Frowning, Trip insisted, "I love you, Malcolm. In love. To death. Though, don't think that's all that far away. Do anything for ya. Even have sex with you, if you wanted it."

Malcolm's jaw had definitely dropped in shock, his composure fleeing before the bluntness of Trip's confession. "You're delusional."

But trip shook his head and repeated, "I love you. Ask me again when we're back on Enterprise, and don't let me weasel out of it, cause I will if I can. Scared shitless, that's me. Never loved another guy before. Besides, if you don't like guys, I'm screwed. Or, not screwed. You know what I mean. Probably am anyhow, since you like T'Pol so much."

This time the darkness wouldn't be denied and his eyes closed. He heard Malcolm screaming for help, screaming for the Captain to hurry up, but it was really far away. He vaguely thought that Malcolm shouldn't be wasting his air like that before the darkness closed around him altogether.

* * * *

Malcolm hovered anxiously as Phlox began to revive Trip. The larger alien worked calmly, but fast, his hands putting everything into place and then shocking Trip's heart back into action. Malcolm jerked forward when Trip's body arched in response to the shock, but the Captain's steady hand held him from interfering.

It had been almost ten minutes after Trip's death that they'd finally broken through the rocks dividing them. Malcolm had been near death himself, clinging to Trip with tears still trickling down his cheeks. It had wasted precious seconds, them prying him from Trip so Phlox could get to work. A few moments of pure oxygen had brought Malcolm back to normal and he was on his feet before Phlox was even done setting up.

The only thing running through Malcolm's mind was that if Trip didn't come back, there was no way that he'd be able to go on. There were two more shocks before Trip drew in a huge, ragged breath and Malcolm nearly collapsed in relief.

Phlox grinned in his own relief and looked at the monitoring device as he ran it over Trip's head and reported, "Aside from a mild concussion, Commander Tucker should have no adverse reactions to his death. He'll be able to harass us in his inimitable fashion in no time at all."

"Thank God," Archer breathed.

Malcolm silently echoed that and closed his eyes.

"Malcolm? You all right?"

Opening his eyes, Malcolm looked at his captain and nodded. "I am now."

Archer smiled and he gripped Malcolm's shoulder. "So. Should I be expecting a request for larger quarters shortly?"

Malcolm flushed under the warm, knowing smile and replied, "That's doubtful, Captain. You know how much Trip values his independence."

An unaccountably wistful expression skittered across Archer's face as he replied, "I do, yeah. Make sure you don't let him get away, though, Malcolm."

Suddenly, from that, Malcolm knew that something had almost happened between Trip and Archer. He straightened and nodded. "I won't, Sir, believe me."

"Good," Archer stated. He turned to Mayweather and ordered, "Let's get Mr. Tucker back home where the doctor can look after him properly."

Malcolm watched as they lifted the as-yet comatose commander onto the stretcher. He saw nothing inappropriate in how the Captain touched Trip, but couldn't help the surge of jealousy inside. Shoving it down, knowing that it was a stupid and pointless emotion, Malcolm followed them out of the cave and back to the shuttle.

It was about time to pin Trip down, once and for all, and not let him weasel out of anything.

* * * *

The throbbing was gone, always a good sign, and he could breathe without any trouble, which was an even better sign.

"Welcome back, Commander," Phlox's cheerful voice greeted.

Trip's eyes opened and, yep, sure enough, he was in sickbay. Phlox was looking down at him with a big grin, and Malcolm standing just behind him.

Uh oh.

Malcolm.

Damn it! Why couldn't deathbed confessions stay just that?

"Afternoon, Commander," Malcolm greeted.

Interesting. Was Malcolm going to treat his confession as a delusion? Forcing a smile, Trip answered, "Hey. I'm not dead."

"Very much alive," Phlox confirmed. "You've a mild concussion, but will live to fight another day."

"Wonderful," Trip muttered.

"If you'll excuse me, I have other patients to attend to."

Surprised, Trip asked, "You do?"

Phlox grinned. "No. I've heard that it's a good way to escape, though. See you in a couple of hours, Commander."

Trip snorted and watched him go, then reluctantly turned his gaze back to Malcolm. "Hey. You okay?"

Coming to stand beside the bed, Malcolm shook his head seriously. "That near-death experience triggered something incurable in me."

Alarm flared through Trip and he pushed up onto his elbows, demanded, "What? What's wrong?"

Malcolm answered by leaning down, sliding his hand around the back of Trip's head for support and kissing him soundly. For a moment, Trip was too stunned to respond, then groaned and opened his mouth to the gentle, insistent assault. The exchange of tongues was slow and languid, as though they had all the time in the world and weren't in the middle of sickbay.

When Malcolm drew back, Trip collapsed onto his pillows, grinning broadly and asked, "Well why didn't you say it was so serious?"

Smiling now, Malcolm answered, "Didn't want to frighten you. I've heard the rumor that you're remarkably difficult to pin down and will weasel out of any kind of emotional commitment."

Trip flushed a little as he thought about Lisa and his other girlfriends. "Well, yeah, maybe a little. But it's different this time."

Earnest, Malcolm questioned, "How? How is it different?"

"Because it's you," Trip explained awkwardly. "We do everything together and I want to keep doing everything together."

"Even have sex?" Malcolm teased lightly.

Trip groaned with embarrassment. "I really said that, didn't I?"

"You did."

"Look, Malcolm, I've never, you know, done this before, so cut me some slack, okay?" Trip complained.

"Been with a man?"

"Loved anyone."

Malcolm froze at that, then gave him a piercing look. "You've never loved anyone before in your life."

"Not like this. Not this damned, all-consuming thing that just won't leave me alone," Trip answered, practically growling in frustration. "Do you know how pissed off it made me to see you mooning after T'Pol all these months? And then, to top it off, I started thinking of ways to get you two together, just so you'd be happy."

That startled Malcolm into silence, his mouth closing with a snap. When he spoke, it was cautiously, with, "I love you, too."

Trip blinked in surprise, a thrill of heat running through him. "You do?"

A faint smile surfaced on Malcolm's sharp face and he answered, "No, I perform mouth-to-mouth on still breathing men all the time to calm them down."

"Smartass," Trip muttered, a grin tugging at his lips.

His hand molding to Trip's cheek, Malcolm said firmly, "I love you, and I'm going to make damn sure that you understand what that means before we go any further."

Uh oh. This didn't sound good.

"No more cruising for women, together or otherwise."

"Got it."

"No more half-truths or lies between us."

"Done."

"No more weaseling."

"Ever?"

"Ever."

Trip grinned and agreed, "No more weaseling."

"You're going to call Lisa, and any other girls who might think they're your one and only, and break it off."

"There goes my afternoon."

"Trip."

Trip held up a hand, placating, and replied, "Teasing, Malcolm, just teasing. It's only Lisa, and I'll call her as soon as Phlox lets me out."

Malcolm nodded slowly. "The Captain asked if we were going to request larger quarters."

"Well I hope you took him up on it," Trip answered, matter-of-fact.

Malcolm's jaw dropped again. "Ah, no, actually, I didn't."

"What? Damn it! You can just turn right around and fill out the paperwork while I snooze the afternoon away."

Stunned, Malcolm questioned, "Are you sure?"

"I think we've wasted enough time, don't you?" Trip countered softly. He reached out with his hand and his thumb brushed across Malcolm's lower lip. "I'll repeat that I don't know what the hell I'm doing, on any level, but I do know I want to be with you all the time. Sleeping, awake, whatever."

Another brilliant smile crossed Malcolm's face and he leaned in for another kiss, this one far more heated than the last. Trip moaned again and opened his mouth to the demanding kiss, his fingers sliding into the short, soft hair on Malcolm's head.

"Excuse me, but if you're going to interfere in the monitors' readings like that, I'd appreciate some warning."

"New lovers, doctor, it's to be expected."

Trip flushed for an entirely different reason at the doctor's and captain's voices. Malcolm had broken away at the first 'excuse me,' and was now looking very much like he was hoping the floor would open up and swallow him. Hmm. Not big on PDA's then, Trip noted with some disappointment. Then he brightened, thinking of all the fun that could be had with that.

Smiling broadly now, certain of the future in a way he'd never before been, Trip greeted, "Hey Cap'n. How's it going?"

***