Discovery of the Spirit

Title: Discovery of the Spirit

Chapter: 6/?

Author: Wesleys_Lady

E-Mail: Brutal_Howell@hotmail.com

Rating: R (Violent Flashback) to NC-17

Category: Romance/Angst/Drama/General

Pairing: Archer/Original Character

Summary: Trip and Katie devise a plan to trick their attackers. Jon professes his love with interesting results.

Disclaimer: See Chapters 1 – 4

Archive: See Chapters 1 – 4

Feedback: I would appreciate it. This is my first Fic, and I hope it’s getting better with each chapter. I am enjoying the feedback so far (even the one bad one). Please give me more. For those that get irritated that I might be doing some disservice to these amazing characters, I apologize. I also beg that those people cut me some slack…as I am writing this whole story off the top of my head, without the benefit of notes.







Discovery of the Spirit

Chapter 6



By



Wesleys_Lady





SICKBAY



Kathleen could smell the dampness of the San Francisco night. There was an echo of their boots hitting the pavement. ‘No, please. God, don’t do this to me tonight.’



"So, how do we correct the micron variant in the main coils?" Henry Archer loved testing his protégé. Watching her process Engineering problems was a work of art. ‘Not tonight! Today was a good day!’ her mind screamed. She knew from experience that all her protesting was futile.



"Well, we can increase the size of the injectors in the nacelles. It should take some of the pressure off the coils," she found herself saying. The approval flashing in Henry’s eyes made her proud.



"That just might work, Kat. Can you think of any other possibilities?" He always preferred to teach her this way. It forced her mind into tracks that she might not have found without guidance. And from the way she was thriving, she loved being pushed to her limits. Kathleen was rolling all the different possibilities in her mind as they were approached by three men in hooded cloaks. She looked up as they blocked the sidewalk and would not allow them to pass. "Can I help you, gentleman?" Henry Archer had asked; clearly annoyed at their rudeness. Without a word, the trio dropped their hoods and Kathleen saw them for what they are – Vulcans. The men drew knives from the sleeves of their clothes. "Run, Kat!" Henry tried to push her into an opening between two buildings. She heard a groan and spun to see her mentor crumble to the ground. A fourth Vulcan had joined his friends. They didn’t seem interested in her. She was going to use that as an advantage. Her eyes flew in search of anything she could use as a weapon. She found a branch that she broke one end off, giving it a pointed end – along with a broken piece of window. Without even thinking, Kathleen ran and plunged the piece of glass into the closest Vulcan’s lower back – severing the being’s spinal cord. The man collapsed, but not before he turned and plunged his knife into her chest, just below her clavicle. The weight of him snapped the handle off, leaving the blade still in her.



"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!" she screamed. "Get away from him!" The other three turned their weapons toward her. ‘Well, that was what you wanted,’ her mind told her. She could feel her chest getting tighter; and knew full well the first one had punctured her lung. Odds are that she was going to die, but she was going to take the rest of these guys with her. She pointed the sharper end of the branch at the closest one. They split up and surrounded her on three sides. Kathleen did what her brothers had always taught her to do, she put her back against the closest building, That would eliminate one side open for attack, and she could keep a better eye on them.



"We are not interested in you, child." The tallest Vulcan had said. "We only seek the one called Dr. Archer. It is not necessary that you should die with him." She glanced over to her left and saw Henry’s unconscious form. The Vulcan on that side of her made a motion toward him.



"I will not let you kill him," she was absolutely terrified. The tall one just arched an eyebrow at her as she moved to intercept his friend. She swung the branch as hard as she could, and connected right between the man’s eyes. Unfortunately, she had to move away from the wall to do this – leaving her right side exposed. She tried to compensate by swinging the branch around, but she wasn’t fast enough. One alien plunged his knife into her right shoulder and drug it down her arm. His friend managed to slice a big gash into her chest. She screamed in pain – but stood her ground.



"You are strong, little one. And brave…an asset to your species. You cannot win against three of us," without warning, the two rushed forward – pushing their blades into her abdomen. Kathleen spun away with the knives still stuck in her body. She almost cried when she turned, and both aliens had fresh knives in each hand. The third was still blinded from the blow he sustained. She was in pain, bleeding severely, and was finding it more difficult to breathe. She did the only thing that would give her mentor a chance to survive…she pulled the blades from her own body and ran directly at their attackers. After that, all she remembered was pain…bright bloody searing pain.



"NNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!" She screamed and sat bolt upright in bed.



"Kat! Kat, wake up! It’s Jon," she just began rocking back and forth, moaning. "It’s Jon. Come on, sweetheart…you have to wake up for me." Archer was terrified. He had been trying to wake her for over five minutes. She kicked at him with enough force to push herself off the mattress. The impact of her hitting the floor seemed to bring her out of it. Jon jumped out of bed and went to her side. He held her face in his hands – forcing her to look at him. "It’s me." As she started to come out of it, she noticed the trickle of blood coming from the corner of his mouth. She touched his lip.



"Oh god, I’m so sorry." He shook her off. He didn’t give a damn about a little blood. Archer was worried about her. He sat on the floor and gathered her to his chest.



"What the hell was that?" she looked up at him, sheepishly.



"Sometimes I have nightmares." She must have struck out and hit him in her sleep. He felt her trembling as she pulled away from him. "They’re very vivid, and very bloody. Always ends in the same spot." She got up on shaky legs and went back to the mattress. "I’m sorry, Jon. I should have warned you."



"Was this about dad?" she just nodded. "How often have you had these, Kat?" he needed to know. She just shrugged her shoulders. Archer shook his head. "How often?" He said a little more sternly.



"They were almost daily fifteen years ago. But now, once or twice a month on average." She sighed. Kathleen, hoping to change the subject, got up to get some antiseptic. She held his chin while she cleaned the cut on his lip.



"Kathleen." Archer tried to grab both her hands in his. "Kathleen." He said a little louder. "Stop, stop, stop." He waited until he had her attention. "What usually brings them on?" When she didn’t answer, he spoke a bit louder. "Kat, I’ve had nightmares – granted not to the extent you probably have – but I know something normally brings them on." She didn’t have to think about it. After years of dealing with them, she knew the nightmares were exacerbated anytime she was injured. Almost like clockwork. ‘Why am I worried? Maybe he can help me?’ she wondered. She nodded.



"Hold me?" Kathleen was going to need to rely on his strength as well as her own. He laid on the mattress and open his arms. She gratefully went to him. After taking a shaky breath, she began. "When I get injured. Injuries, they cause the nightmares. It must be a sympathetic response, I don’t know. I usually scream myself awake." He began rubbing small, soothing circles on her back. Archer wanted her to tell him the details – but not tonight. He didn’t think either of them was ready to confront it tonight.

He had already pushed her to face too much today, as it is.



"You’re safe, now. I’ll keep you safe. Go back to sleep, Kathleen. I’ll stay awake and keep watch." She did feel safe in his arms. She laid her head on his chest and used the soothing sounds of his heartbeat to help her get to sleep. Jon couldn’t have slept, even if he wanted to. His mind was racing. He promised himself that he would keep a close eye on her. In her sleep, Kathleen snuggled closer to Archer’s body. He smiled down at her…she felt safe in his arms. As strong as this woman was, it was extremely gratifying to believe that she might actually need him. He smiled as he started to doze off…they had gotten past one huge obstacle today, they would get past this too – Together.









SICKBAY, Morning



Archer looked up as he saw Phlox coming through the doors. He put his finger over his lips to tell the doctor to stay quiet. Then he looked down at the sleeping bundle in his arms. Thankfully, the rest of the night had been uneventful. The doctor walked quietly to where they were laying.



"I am glad to see the Lieutenant sleeping peacefully," he whispered. Jon wondered why he sounded like that was a rare thing. He hugged Kathleen tighter and gave her a gentle shake.



"Kat," he spoke soothingly. "Kat, it’s time to wake up." He smiled when she grumbled and tried to roll over. "Kat, come on…we have to wake up." More grumbling. Archer decided on a different tactic. He was just curious whether it would work. He winked at Phlox before clearing his throat. "Lieutenant Kane," he said, trying to use his stern voice. "You have sixty minutes to report to the bridge." Kathleen’s eyes snapped open and she sat straight up. When Jon laughed, she turned and narrowed her eyes at him.



"That was a rotten thing to do," she said in good nature. He put both hand up in mock surrender.



"I’m sorry," he chuckled. "But you were sleeping like a rock." Archer stood up and stretched. "You can take the woman out of Starfleet, but you can’t take Starfleet out of the woman?" he teased. He had tried to wake her gently, but the military approach was what worked like a charm. Kathleen had to tamp down on the lust that rolled in the pit of her stomach when she saw him stretch out his frame. She was relieved to see that he hadn’t noticed. But someone else had. Dr. Phlox was standing a few feet behind Jon, and saw everything.



"Morning, Doctor," she mumbled. The doctor noticed her discomfort and occupied himself with the necessary tasks to allow her to return to duty. He checked the recordings from her monitor and frowned when he saw where they spiked at around 3am.



"Captain, I thought I instructed you to call me if there was a problem." Archer had been so preoccupied with calming Kathleen that he had completely forgotten. At the time, it didn’t occur to him that the stress of her nightmares might affect her vital signs. He cursed himself for being so foolish. He was about to apologize when she came to his defense.



"It wasn’t anything serious, Doc. I just had a nightmare," she explained. Jon was a bit nervous when Phlox frowned at the news. He had never seen the doctor do anything but smile…even in the worst conditions.



"I thought we had your nightmares under control, Lieutenant?" the news was troubling. Lieutenant Kane was an extremely special case to the doctor. She was not only a learning experience for him…over the last eight months, he had come to consider her a friend. He was amazed by her resilience, both physically and mentally. Her body had taken more damage than he had ever seen on a human. He had seen bigger, and supposedly stronger people crack under less. Yet, the Lieutenant had managed to remain one of the more decent members of her species. To Phlox, it was an enigma. But, the nightmares – they were a different story. She had come to him almost daily, when they first left Jupiter station. They were placing an increasing amount of stress on her – and it was affecting her health, as well as her interaction with the crew. It took them about a month of work, but they had managed to get them under control…or so he thought.

Kathleen noticed the concern in the doctor’s eyes.



"We did. I don’t think it’s like before, Doc. Yes, I had the nightmare. But Jon got me to lie back down. And I don’t think I woke up since then," she looked to Archer for confirmation.



"No, she slept up until now." He shot Phlox a look that said, ‘I want a full explanation of this conversation, later.’ The doctor gave him a nod. He seemed satisfied with the facts, for now.



"Alright, but as ship’s physician, I want to be notified – by either one of you – if they continue." ‘Fair enough,’ Kathleen thought. She did feel good. This was a new thing for her too. Usually after a nightmare, she wasn’t able to get back to sleep. Now she felt rested and relaxed. She felt a bit guilty at Jon’s tired expression. Her sleep had come at his expense. "You’re vitals were stable up through the rest of the night. So I will clear you to return to your quarters. And Captain, I report to you that Lt. Kane is fit for duty as of now." Archer walked up behind Kathleen as she was had her arms over her head and was stretching. When he wrapped his arms around her, she jumped slightly. A thought occurred to him.



"Are you ticklish?" he smiled, wryly. And she knew that little fact would come back to haunt her later. Or right now, she mused. She was squirming in his grasp as he began to tickle her. "You are!" She tried to turn herself to face him and gasped when the shirt rubbed hard against her burns. She jerked away from him. It took him a second to realize what happened. "Kat, I’m sorry!" He gently rubbed his hands up and down her arms. "I forgot about the burns."



"It’s OK, so did I," she replied. As they started to gather up the bedding, Phlox found the jar he was looking for.



"This salve should help with the burns, Lieutenant. If they are still bothering you tomorrow, come back and see me." He gave her the jar and returned to his office to give them some privacy. They left the pile in the corner and headed for the door.



"Can I bring these by tonight?" She was referring to his clothes she had on. "I’d like to clean them for you, first." He shook his head.



"That shirt looks sexier on you, than it does me." ‘I wouldn’t be so sure of that,’ she thought. "Keep it. I just have one request though," she could see the devilish twinkle in his eye. He held her gently – mindful of the burns, this time. She shivered as he bent down and nibbled on her earlobe. "Model this shirt for me…Privately." If he hadn’t been holding her, she would have melted on the spot. She turned her head and their lips met in a kiss that turned his knees to jelly. "Is that a yes?" his voice was haggard.



"Yes," she gave him her best seductive smile. ‘Two can play at this game, Mr. Archer,’ that, she was sure of. As they were about to leave, the doors to sickbay opened and Trip came tearing in.



"Get a move on, you two. I got breakfast waitin’ for ya at Katie’s. I figured you’d want to eat in peace before ya went on duty." Kathleen broke away from Jon and went over and hugged Trip. "How ya feelin’, darlin’?"



"Anxious to get back to work," she confessed.



"Cap’n, I got a request to make," he looked at Archer. He took a data padd from his pocket. "I gathered all the info on the attack yesterday mornin’. I was figurin’ that with all Katie’s degrees, we have her sort through this and see if she can’t find something’ we missed." The Captain considered it to be a great idea. She did have some expertise in astrophysics as well as engineering, after all. He looked at Kathleen; she clearly wanted to help.



"All right. But pull up the sensor logs too. Would you rather go through them from Engineering?" He asked her. She nodded.



"There seems to be a perfectly good office I can use down there," she teased Trip. "It will give me a chance to affect some repairs while I’m down there." She smiled at her friend, "Will you help me go through the sensor logs?" She wanted his help as a sounding board too. It was a routine they had perfected long ago. Trip nodded. "Just let us get some breakfast, then I’ll be right down." She hugged the engineer again before he left. Archer took her hand in his.



"Let’s get this day started," he sighed.









ENGINEERING –Chief Engineer’s Office



It was already past lunch and they hadn’t found a thing. Kathleen and Trip had trudged through every file he brought, along with the sensor logs from the last month. Something was nagging at her though…but she couldn’t put her finger on it. She threw the data padd across the office in frustration.



"Damnit, Trip! There’s something here and we’re missing it! The answer is right in front of us…I know it!" she was getting angry. She owed it to Jon and the crew to catch whoever attacked them. It was her job, for Christ’s sake.



"Actually, the answer might be over there," he pointed to the thrown data padd – trying to lighten the mood. She chuckled. They both looked up when there was a knock at the door. "Enter." Trip called out. The same young ensign that brought in the breakfast she had with Jon, came in. He was carrying a tray with wrapped sandwiches, coffee, and two pieces of Pecan Pie.



"Ensign Cooper," the surprised ensign smiled at her. He was pleased that the Captain’s girlfriend remembered him. "What can we do for you?" He set the tray down between The Lieutenant and Commander Tucker.



"Um…" he began shifting from foot to foot. "The Captain said that you and Commander Tucker were gonna work through lunch, so I offered to bring you a tray." The two engineers looked at the tray thoughtfully.



"Did you pick out the food, Cooper?" Kathleen asked.



"Yes, Lieutenant. I figured sandwiches wouldn’t get in the way of what you were working on. Commander Tucker has an affinity for Pecan Pie. So even if you didn’t, I knew he’d eat both pieces." She chuckled at this, putting the ensign at ease. "And the coffee wasn’t exactly a tough choice. The engineers drink most of our supply anyways." Now it was Trip’s turn to laugh. ‘The kid had a point,’ he mused. Cooper reached into his pocket for the only thing he couldn’t fit on the tray. He set the small container on the desk in front of Kathleen. "I remembered you liked strawberries, so I set this aside for you." He smiled nervously at her.



"Thank you, so much, Cooper. This was very thoughtful." She really had to get back to work, but she didn’t want to be rude. "Is the Captain still in his dining room?" The ensign nodded. She took a blank data padd end typed in a few notes. "Could you please see that he gets this?" The ensign proudly took the padd and exited the office. Trip broke into a full belly laugh.



"Man, if you’d have blown a kiss at that boy…he probably would’ve exploded." He began laughing harder. She just waved him off.



"OK, you’ve had your laugh. Let’s get back to work." Tucker forced himself to calm down and get serious. Kathleen watched him reach across the tray and grab a sandwich. He unwrapped it and went to crumple the wrapper when she jumped from her chair. She slammed her hand on the Comm panel. "ENGINEERING TO BRIDGE!" She yelled. Trip jumped out of his chair as well. He didn’t know what the excitement was about, but she had locked on to something.



*"Bridge here, Lieutenant,"* Archer’s voice came back Kathleen was taken aback, she didn’t expect to hear his voice. Cooper had told her he was still in the dining room.



"You have to polarize the hull. Polarize the bloody hull!" she was sure of what she saw.



*"Lieutenant, what...?"*


"Captain…our friends are still out there. I’ll explain when I come up, just do it! Trust me, sir." Trip could already tell her mind was racing a mile a minute. They heard Archer give the order to Malcolm. She breathed a sigh of relief.



*"I’ll expect you in my Ready Room in 20 minutes. To explain why you just scared the hell out of the Bridge Crew."*


"Yes, sir. Engineering out." She didn’t even turn before Trip wanted clarification himself.



"What do ya mean they’re still out there?!" She started throwing everything around until she found the info she was looking for.



"The tachyons! I can’t believe we missed the tachyon levels!" She shoved the padd under his nose. He didn’t understand where she was going with this. She shook her head. "You and I both know that Warp Engines produce a certain level of Tachyons." He did. "Most of the excess tachyons are expelled through ports on the exterior hull." He knew that too. Kathleen called up the sensor logs. "Look at this…this is a sensor log from five days ago. Look at the corresponding tachyon levels. Normal. Now look at the one from yesterday morning…and their tachyon levels. The levels are 100 times what they should be. The only way our sensors would pick up those kinds of levels, is if something was there to deflect the tachyons back toward the ship." She called up anther screen, " These is a current sensor reading from around the ship." She pulled up the correlating Tachyon levels and handed them to Tucker. Using her reasoning, he could see the levels on the Port side were through the roof.



"Damn!" he exclaimed. "Bastards are ridin’ along our Port side." He was proud of Kathleen. This was precisely the reason he wanted her to go through info after everyone else. She saw things that might not be normally apparent to everyone else. "Come on, Katie. Let’s get this up to the Cap’n." They scooped up the material and ran towards the lift.







READY ROOM



It took them all of five minutes to explain their findings to Archer. He was pissed. These – whoever they were – had fired on his ship! They had been lucky that Kathleen was the only one seriously hurt. A fact that the Captain did not find refreshing.



"Trip, can you brief Malcolm and T’Pol on what you discovered? Now that we know they’re there, maybe we can prepare a little surprise for them." Trip gave a nod and headed for the Bridge.



"Good job, Katie. I knew you could find them." He stated before he left. Archer smiled at the admiration in his friend’s voice.



"He’s right, you know. We all went over this information for almost seventeen hours yesterday – and came up with nothing." Kathleen was only half paying attention to him. She was trying to run through some possibilities of how to get their new "friends" to come out and play. Jon wouldn’t be as open to diplomacy as he normally was…and part of that was her fault. He noticed her distraction and just sat back and let her think. Trip had suggested that, ‘if her mind gets a wanderin’ , just ride it out. Tryin’ to interrupt is about as easy as herdin’ crickets.’ Archer didn’t mind waiting. He had come to understand that he could be happy just being in the same room as this woman. He loved so many things about her. One of the most comforting things was that they didn’t feel the need to fill the silence with useless noise – like most new couples did. When she looked up at him, he smiled. "Find a solution?"



"For what?"



"To get our visitors to show themselves. Have you come up with anything?" he chuckled at the completely stunned look on her face. "How did I know?" She nodded. "I’m getting to know you, Kat. You found them, so it’s only natural you want to flush them out into the open." He folded his hands across his desk. "Tell you what, if we can’t come up with something by the end of the shift, you, Trip and I will get together and pour over everything we have." Truth is, he wanted to get these guys as bad as she did. And with Trip and Kathleen, he would have two of the best minds in Starfleet at his disposal.



"I want Hoshi there too," She replied.



"Hoshi? Why?" he inquired. Jon could understand if it was a communications thing – or something to do with the translator. But this was straight up Astrophysics and Engineering.



"She has an ear for things out of the ordinary. Hoshi can pick up things that we might miss," she wanted her there…end of story. ‘Good thinking,’ Archer thought.



"Okay, we meet in my quarters at 1700," Kathleen shook her head.



"No, she won’t feel comfortable. You’re her Captain, and to be honest…I think she likes Trip. So my quarters are a nice neutral ground," she knew how to bring out the best work in people. A skill taught to her by Henry Archer, and then later perfected in Starfleet Officer Training Corps. Jon conceded the point – although he was a little surprised at the idea of Hoshi and Trip. "Trip and I can gather all the data. We can meet at 1700 at my place." He smiled broadly – for an engineer, she sounded an awful lot like Command staff.



"Yes, Lieutenant." He replied in a stern voice. He gave her a mock salute to let on that he was kidding her. She blushed, realizing that she was disrespecting Jon and his rank by talking to him like this.



"Sorry, sir. Request permission to invite Ensign Sato to our gathering tonight?"



"Permission granted." Kathleen turned to leave. "Kat," he called to her. "This was an informal discussion. I don’t ever want you to feel you’re disrespecting me by speaking your mind. Remember ‘Without fear of repercussions from the other person," he was reminding her of the condition she had set to him at the beginning of their relationship. She gave him one of "his" smiles.



"I remember. Thank you, Jon." He felt the warmth of her gaze.



"Go on, I’ll see you tonight."









KATHLEEN KANE’S QUARTERS



Archer had arranged for food and refreshments to be brought to her quarters. He showed up two hours early to help her set everything up. Kathleen had converted her desk into a bar/table long ago, so it didn’t take them long to lay everything out. She "borrowed" the small couch from his quarters so that they would all have a place to sit. He shook his head at his own stupidity. Jon had sweat pouring down his head and back from moving the furniture around. She had offered to help, but the testosterone overloaded his common sense…and he insisted on doing it all himself. He could tell from the satisfied smirk on her face that she wasn’t exactly impressed. He dropped one end of the couch, laughing at himself.



"Help!" he pleaded. He pulled off his shirt and used it to wipe the sweat off his face. At the sight of his naked chest, Kathleen’s heart rate jumped and her breath caught in her throat. His abs tightened as he felt her hand trial up to his chest. Jon’s blood was on fire. He reached out and cradled the back of her head in his palm. What he saw in her eyes nearly sent him over the edge. Her emerald-green eyes had darkened with lust. He stepped into her embrace before his knees buckled. Archer reached down and helped her remove her own shirt. He paused when she trembled. "You have no idea how badly I want this," his voice was dripping with need. "But if you’re not ready, I can wait." Kathleen touched his face.



"I want you, Jon. More than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. But I’m scared," she almost cried in frustration. "I’ve never been with a man before." She told him, almost expecting him to push her away and leave. He held her face in his hands, looking into her eyes. He didn’t want to screw this up. They had only known each other for weeks, but what he was about to say to her…he meant with his whole heart and soul.



"That doesn’t matter to me. I don’t know how it happened, or why. But I know that I am head-over-heels in love with you Kathleen Elizabeth Kane. You have filled up the holes in my soul. And I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you. We can go slow…or we can do this another night if you’re not ready. I will wait as long as you need me to." There was no way she would refuse him. She would trust him to take things slow. She reached behind her and unclasped her bra.



"Show me. Show me what it feels like to be loved." Jon’s world spun at her words. He snatched her into his arms and kissed her with such intensity, that fireworks were going off behind his eyes. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself in tighter. Kathleen would have crawled inside of him if she could. She could tell he was holding back for her benefit. And she loved him even more for it. When she reached for his belt, Archer figured she would be more comfortable if he was naked first. He groaned when she ran her fingers over his fly. He wouldn’t last long if she kept doing that. Jon broke the kiss and stepped back enough to get his arms between them. He took off his belt and opened his pants.



"Let me." Her eyes followed every move he made. When he slid his pants over his hips, it was Kathleen’s turn to groan. Jonathan Archer, the one and only love of her life, was standing before her in midnight blue boxer-briefs. He held his arm out, "Come here." When she stepped forward and took his hand, he led her toward the bathroom.



"W-w-what are we doing?" She asked as they came through the door. Archer smiled at her.



"I’m taking a shower," he hooked his thumbs in the waist of his boxer-briefs and took them off. "When you’re ready, you can join me." She just stood there speechless as he climbed into her shower and started the water. Jon knew this was the hard part for her. He would keep his back turned so that she didn’t feel pressured. ‘Waiting a few minutes might actually be a good thing,’ he thought as he looked down to see his penis standing straight out from his body. He wanted her…he wanted her so bad, it hurt. But he loved her enough that he would choke on his own lust before he pushed her into anything. He started humming to take his mind off of the throbbing. Kathleen watched his back for a few moments. It took some effort for her to force herself to take the rest of her clothes off. She looked down at her scars, and thought the worst. "You’re wrong, you know." She almost jumped out of her skin. "The scars don’t make me think you are any less beautiful." He called out to her without turning around. "I don’t love you any less, because you have them. And I will always think that you are the most stunning woman I have ever known." That gave her a new surge of courage. She took tentative steps to the shower door and pulled on the handle. He was rinsing the shampoo out of his hair, so he didn’t see or hear her step in. When he came out of the spray, Jon saw that she was looking at him with the strangest look on her face. "What is it?" he asked. Kathleen just shook her head.



"You can have any woman you want, why me?" Did she really think she was unworthy? Couldn’t she see the magnificent angel that she was? There was a chair on one side of the shower. He took her hand and led her to it. When she sat down, Archer got on his knees in front of her. She was completely mesmerized by the soulful look in his eyes.



"One of my favorite poems is called ‘The Song of the Wandering Angus.’ It’s about a man’s search for unattainable perfection." He took her hand and pressed it to his chest – over his heart. "Just the fact that you exist, proves to me that perfection is NOT unattainable. I don’t have to search, because mine is right here." He trailed a finger down her trembling jaw, and didn’t stop there. His hand continued downward – across her scars – and he rested it on her abdomen. Jon was finding it difficult to concentrate. The smell of her sex was forcing all the blood in his body to pool in his groin. Without thinking, he began rubbing his hands up and down her thighs. The tip of her tongue slipped between her lips, wetting them. And Archer’s groin clenched at the erotic sight. She reached out to him, fingertips brushing against his chest.



"Make love to me, Jon." He leaned forward and covered a nipple with his mouth, tongue teasing it erect, lips sucking. One hand caressed the breast while the other moved down to test her wetness. Kathleen moved, arching against him, aching for his touch. Jon slid his fingers inside her and flicked his thumb across her clit. She jumped against him, crying out as her arms went around his neck, forcing his mouth up to hers. He laved her throat, nipping at the tender skin as he moved across her shoulder, between her breasts to bathe her stomach with his tongue. Archer trembled as he touched her, reverence in every motion. He’d fantasized about Kathleen…how it would be to make sweet, passionate love to her – and now it was real. Moving lower, his tongue continued it’s erotic caresses, moving between her thighs to taste her. She arched against him, crying out as she reached for him. But he was too low.



"Jon…" it was more of a moan than anything. He smiled against her flesh, tongue plunging deeper, tasting her sweetness. Kathleen panted, chest heaving as he set off all her passions. He rolled back on his heels to observe his handy work. He laughed as she sat up, a predatory look in her green eyes. She leaned forward and kissed him, smiling against his lips.



"What’s so funny?" Archer coaxed, running his fingers through her silky hair.



"Nothing…just thinking of the future." He growled, deep in his throat. The sound aroused her even more.



"I’m thinking about the present. And if you don’t do something pretty soon, I’m going to take charge again, young lady." Kathleen grinned as she stood and helped him to his feet. She turned them in the shower and pushed Jon down to where she had just been sitting. She assumed his position – on her knees in front of him. She tentively reached out and caressed him, leaning forward to lave the stiffening organ, inhaling the scent of him. Her strokes grew longer and firmer as his erection grew until finally she heard the familiar growl. "Kat!" Jon sat up and grabbed her around the waist. He pulled her up until she was straddling his hips. "I want you, NOW!" Everywhere he touched her burned and her body screamed for release. Afraid to wait much longer, lest he lose control of himself, he helped her raise herself above his penis, and gently pushed himself into her. Kathleen’s mouth opened in a silent gasp as the fullness invaded her, filling her. He felt her tense and stopped, clenching his jaw with the effort. "All Right?" he managed, looking down into green eyes, cloudy with passion. She nodded, losing herself in his gaze so alive with desire for her. Jon began to move, slowly at first, then faster as they built a rhythm between them. She held onto him, riding with them as he took them higher, and then plunged them both out into the universe where stars exploded in her head, making her dizzy – and she held him tighter. With a last thrust, Archer came, expelling his passion and his love into the woman above him. They were both gasping, trying to catch their breaths. "Kat…" Jon found that his voice wasn’t working properly. No wonder, Dear God! He had never felt like this before. A thought suddenly occurred to them both… "Trip and Hoshi…" they mumbled together. They had been so preoccupied with each other that they forgot about their guests. Kathleen lifted herself off of Archer’s lap. They both groaned at the loss of contact. She ducked her head out of the shower and checked the clock.



"It’s 1632, they’ll be here soon." She informed him. He pulled her back into the shower with him. He wrapped his arms around her. She didn’t try very hard to get away. "Jon, we have to get ready." He sighed, she was right. They were meeting here tonight for a purpose. And no matter how much he wanted it to be…this wasn’t it. He nodded.



"OK."



KATHLEEN’S QUARTERS – 1700



Trip knew something was different as soon as Archer answered Katie’s door without his shirt on. He could just tell. He looked around to see whether his other friend was within earshot – she wasn’t.



"Somethin’ happened, didn’t it?" He whispered to the Captain. There was no point in denying it. It was probably written all over his face. Scratch that, he KNEW it was written all over his face. Before he could answer, Kathleen came out of the bathroom.



"Not that it’s any of your business…but yes, something happened." She grinned at him. She couldn’t hide anything from Trip any more than Jon could. Trip hugged her and spun her around.



"Congrats!" Kathleen pushed away from him, smiling.



"Fine, now stop grinning at me like an idiot. Hoshi should be here any second." The sudden change forced everyone to be serious. They had a threat to neutralize. Tucker saw Jon pull one of his shirts out of Katie’s dresser. Now THAT he hadn’t seen coming. When the door chimed, Kathleen went to answer it. "Hoshi…come on in." The linguist followed her in over to the pile of info that was stacked on top of the table.



"I’m not sure how I can help, but I’ll do what I can." She gave Archer a nervous smile. He motioned for her to sit down.



"That’s all we want, Hoshi." Kathleen was amused to notice that she had chosen the seat next to Trip on the couch. Her and Jon sat on the floor while Tucker passed out data padds to everyone.



Over the next eight hours, they had been able to isolate several more individual characteristics of the ship that was following them. But had so far, not been able to come up with a viable plan to draw them out. Around 1am, Jon noticed Hoshi beginning to drift off to sleep. He decided to put an end to this meeting.



"All right. Meeting adjourned. Trip, can you please escort Ensign Sato back to her quarters?" The sleepy ensign was a bit annoyed, she didn’t need a babysitter. Her argument died in her throat when she saw Trip’s face.



"I’d be glad to," Tucker replied to the Captain’s order.



"We’ll continue this at the beginning of shift in a few hours," Jon wanted them to manage a few hours sleep. He walked the two to the door and showed them out. Before he turned back toward Kathleen, he felt her arms snake around his waist.



"Stay the night with me?" she asked into his back. "Please, Jon. I don’t want to be alone…not tonight." She needed the reassurance of his presence. He turned in her embrace.



"I’d love to." He replied. She didn’t know it, but tonight, he needed her just as much. ‘The traps could wait until the morning,’ this was a time for them…and he wasn’t willing to share.