As Malena sat beside Zerrad’s bed she was
very relieved that he was on the mend but after her three day vigil in sickbay
she was
All too conscious of the fact that she had
shown her hand to the rest of the crew in regard to her feelings for him and
there was no putting the genie back in the bottle.
The Tornado was about three days out when
Terrell Vorton decided it was time to bring his patient out of his medically
induced coma.
So he sent Malena out of sickbay so he
could slowly reduce his sedation.
“But I could stay and help” she said
“You need to go and eat something, freshen
up and change so that when he wakes up he sees you at your best” he said
“You do know that I’m an Obgaron
shapeshifter and the freshening up thing doesn’t really work for me” Malena
pointed out
“Yes but you can eat and you can change”
Terrell said “So go”
She reluctantly agreed and as she left the
sickbay she realized just how hungry she was so she headed straight for the
mess room and she got there just as Asti was leaving and tantalizing smells
escaped through the open door making her mouth water and she hoped Bagg would
have something inside to satisfy her appetite and she was not disappointed.
“So what’s the passenger’s story?” she
asked as she wiped her mouth on her napkin and Bagg filled her in with the
little information he had managed to glean from her over scones and coffee.
“So is she running away from her past or
running towards her future?” Malena asked
“A little of both I think” Bagg replied
enigmatically but the nuance of his reply went unnoticed as Malena’s mind had
wandered back to sickbay.
“So todays the day” he said
“What?” she exclaimed
“Isn’t the Doc waking the patient today” he
asked
“Yes” she replied suspiciously
“So there will soon come a moment when you
will no longer be holding the hand of an unconscious man” he pointed out “and
he might well question why the co-pilot of the Tornado is keeping vigil at his
bedside and holding his hand”
“I know but…” she began
“It’s obvious to all of us how you feel
about him” Bagg said “And you can’t undo that”
“I know that” she said and sighed
“So have you thought of what you will say
to him when he wakes?”
“I have thought of little else” she replied
“Although at first I didn’t even dare hope he would wake up, and then I have
run the scenarios through my head until my ears bleed”
“I know, from what the Captain has said,
that he has feelings for you too” Bagg said “if that helps”
“Thanks but I already knew that” she said
“it’s not the disposition of his feelings that concerns me, it’s more
complicated than that”
“It always is” he said philosophically
“So what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to go and hold his hand and
watch him wake up” she replied
When Malena Endia arrived in sickbay
wearing her smartest outfit she found the Healer, Terrell Vorton, at Zerrad’s
bedside and he turned to look at her as she entered and smiled
“Perfect timing” he said “He should come
round in the next few minutes”
“What will he think?” she asked “When he
finds me here”
“He we think he’s in heaven” he replied and
she sat in her familiar chair and leant forward and took his hand in hers and
stared intensely at his face looking for signs of consciousness.
It was almost ten minutes before his eyes
betrayed signs of REM and then the corners of his mouth twitched, but that was
all that happened for a full five minutes until the moment his eyes fully
opened and they looked straight at her before flicking down to his hand and
back to her face and then he smiled and she returned that smile with interest.
While this was going on Terrell tended to
him and when he was satisfied all was well he left them alone.
“How long have I been here?” he asked
“Five days” she replied
“And how long have you been here with me?”
he asked
“Five days” she replied
“Does that mean what I hope it means?”
Zerrad asked hopefully
“It means that I nearly lost you” she
responded and they sat in silence while they contemplated the implications of
what had been said until he broke the silence.
“You’re lovely”
“You know that this isn’t me” Malena said
“this is just the form I took, of a 27 year old human that I met on a remote
mining colony when I first entered Legion space, and that was more than 20
years ago, so I don’t look like this, and the person that I touched in order to
look like this is twenty years older now and no longer looks like this herself
and is probably a grandmother by now”
“You’re still lovely” he repeated
“But you haven’t seen what I really look
like” Malena pointed out
“Then show me” he said
“No one has seen me as an Obgaronian for 20
years” she said
“It’s ok, you don’t have to” Zerrad said
“No I want to” she said and got up and
walked over to lock the door, then she walked into the adjoining cubicle and
undressed.
As an Obgaronian shape shifter she could
transform at will but she could only shift into a being she had touched.
Only the briefest moment was required and
then it was in her memory banks and could be recalled when required.
She could also manipulate that memory and
add or subtract from it, for example in her everyday life she chose to take the
form of a 27 year old human girl, but she chose to be the human girl and wear
clothes on that form, but it wasn’t necessary, she just preferred it that way
which was why she needed to undress before she revealed her true self to
Zerrad.
And when she had done so she emerged again
this time in her natural Mercurial form of liquid silver glass which was very
pleasing to the eye.
“This is me” she said and his jaw dropped.
“Wow” was all he could manage to say and
then after a minute or so she slipped back into the cubicle and the brunette
came out and walked over and unlocked the door.
“So now you know who I really am” she said
“When I said I thought you were lovely, I
wasn’t revering to the beautiful brunette outer shell, I meant you’re lovely,
inside”
Zerrad said and she returned to her place
at his bedside.
“So you’re not put off now you’ve seen what
I am?” Malena asked
“Of course not” he said earnestly
“But are you sure about us?” Malena asked
“It’s what I’ve dreamed of” he replied
“But you know we can’t….. couple?” she said
“It’s physically impossible”
“I don’t care about that” Zerrad said
“I can feel you and hold you and that’s all
I need”
Malena smiled, then let go of his hand and
climbed onto the bed and lay down beside him.
About ten minutes later Terrell returned to
the sickbay with Lyris in tow and found the couple asleep, Zerrad had his arm
around her and Malena had her head on his chest.
“Well that’s a shocker” Lyris said
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