Disclaimer and summary: See part 1

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Part Sixteen

It was late in the afternoon when MoZdee walked into the
doctor's office. As she stopped in the front of his desk, the EMH
turned away from his console and looked at her questioningly.
"What can I do for you, SicA?"

"Have you figured out why some of my crew is sick?"

"I believe so. I just need to run a few additional tests to confirm
that my suspicions are correct," the doctor answered.

SicA smiled fleetingly, obviously pleased with the doctor's
progress. "I know enough doctors to realize that you don't want
to tell me what's wrong until you are sure," she said. "But, please
comm me the minute you get your test results."

If the doctor was surprised by SicA's polite tone, he hid it well.
"Of course, SicA," he said. When SicA didn't move, the doctor
lifted an eyebrow. "Is there anything else you want to know?"

MoZdee cocked her head slightly and studied the hologram in
silence. After a moment, she answered his question. "Yes. I'd
like to know what GenA was doing in here earlier."

The doctor leaned back in his chair and prepared to lie through
his holographic teeth. "GenA felt unwell so, in light of the illness
of others of your species and the fact that *I'm* the one
researching it, he came here to get a physical exam."

MoZdee suddenly looked worried. She glanced quickly into the
main part of sickbay, wondering if she had missed her mate-to-be
in one of the bio beds when she came in. She noticed to her relief
that she hadn't, and turned her attention back to the doctor. "How
bad is it?" she asked, fearing the worst even though GenA wasn't
in sickbay.

The doctor sighed and assumed a somber expression before
answering. "I gave GenA an complete physical examination and
discovered that he had somehow caught a virus. It was nothing
serious and fortunately, I was able to treat him. I kept him here
for a couple of hours to be sure that he was cured, then suggested
that he return to his own ship." He hesitated for a moment, then
added, "However, after GenA left, I went over his medical
journal again to be absolutely certain that I hadn't overlooked
something." he trailed off, waiting for SicA to prompt him to
continue.

He didn't have to wait long. "Did you find something else?"
MoZdee asked anxiously.

"Yes, I did," the doctor admitted. Seeing SicA's slightly
impatient expression, he frowned and said, "I need to inform
GenA of what I found, then it will be his decision if he wants
anyone else to know."

For a brief moment MoZdee's eyes flashed with anger, then she
suppressed it and gave the EMH a pleading look. "Please,
Doctor. He's my fiancé, I *need* to know what's wrong with
him."

The doctor pretended to consider it, then nodded slowly. "Very
well. But it's a violation of doctor/patient confidentiality so you
can't tell him that you know," he said seriously. He waited for
SicA's nod of acknowledgement before he continued. "When I
went over GenA's medical journal, I discovered that he's had the
virus for quite some time. It did more damage than I realized.
Damage that I can't fix." He hesitated for a moment, then
elaborated. "The virus caused GenA to become sterile."

"Sterile?" MoZdee repeated with a slight frown of confusion.
Then understanding hit and her eyes widened. "You mean that he
can't have children?" When the doctor nodded in confirmation,
she asked, "Are you *sure* there's nothing you can do?"

"I'm positive," the doctor answered, then remembered something
and added, "GenA can *never* have children, not even if he
change into a female."

"I see." MoZdee was silent for a while, then shook off her
disappointment and returned her attention to the doctor. "Please
continue your research, and let me know the minute you find out
what's wrong with my sick crew," she said, and left without
waiting for the doctor's acknowledgement.

Voyager's EMH barely suppressed a smile of satisfaction as he
watched SicA leave his office. He hadn't been sure if she would
believe his lies, but he was obviously a better actor than he had
thought. The doctor resisted the urge to sigh as he returned to his
work.

*****

MoZdee walked through Voyager's corridors, barely holding
onto her temper. None of the crew she passed on her way to the
captain's quarters spoke to her. They knew her well enough to
recognize the signs of her anger and no one wanted to have that
anger turned on them.

MoZdee stood in the middle of the living room of the captain's
quarters for a moment. Then she let out a feral growl and stalked
over to the desk. She picked up the padds and threw them at the
nearest wall. When that didn't help, she lost her temper and went
through the quarters like a whirlwind, destroying everything that
wasn't bolted to the floor.

When MoZdee finally got her temper under control again, the
captain's quarters were completely trashed. She looked around,
slightly surprised that she'd made such a mess. Then she
shrugged indifferently. She'd get one of her crew clean it up
later. Right now, she had to decide what to do about GenA. No
matter how much she'd like to kill him, she couldn't. He was the
youngest child of the PreeVo Regent and assassinating him was
likely to result in civil war.

The last OmsCa/PreeVo conflict had been eight centuries ago. It
had started out as a disagreement between the two regents, and
despite the ministers' attempt, the regents were unable to reach
an agreement. Before anyone really knew what happened, civil
war broke out. MoZdee snorted to herself at that thought. It had
been more of a feud than a simple war. It had lasted for six
decades and only the death of the two regents had put an end to
it.

Unfortunately, by that time two thirds of both races had been
annihilated and the two races hated the sight of each other. No
one, not even the LecSe wanted a repeat of that 'incident'. It had
taken the better part of two centuries before the OmsCa and the
PreeVo stopped trying to kill each other on sight.

MoZdee shook her head as if to dispel those depressing thoughts,
then got her mind back to the problem at hand. There had to be
some way she could get out of the engagement with GenA
without causing a lot of trouble. It was too bad that he wasn't
already married, she thought. That would've solved her dilemma.

As she tried to find a solution, MoZdee frowned as a memory
came to her. Something about the PreeVo marriage law when the
regent's children were involved. If she could only remember
exactly what the law said..

MoZdee sighed in annoyance when the exact memory escaped
her, then turned and left the captain's quarters and went to the
transporter room. She was going to return to the "Yuzla" and
check the ship's computer because unless she was mistaken, the
law about the marriage of the PreeVo regent's children held the
answer to her predicament.

*****

Chakotay lay in bed, once again wrapped in Tom's arms. Like
that morning, the younger man was asleep. Chakotay could feel
the soft puffs of Tom breath rushing over his neck and smiled
slightly. He'd forgotten how nice it was to be held like that; so
securely.

Unlike Tom, Chakotay wasn't able to sleep. Not that he wasn't
tired; his mind just wouldn't rest. It kept going over what Tom
had told him when they were in the shower earlier.

*~*~*~*~*

"The doctor gave me your message about pretending to be
Derek," Tom murmured quietly against Chakotay's lips. "Wanna
tell me why you want me to impersonate your deceased lover?"

Chakotay drew back a bit and looked into Tom's eyes. "I had an
idea earlier on how we can talk privately," he muttered. "But for
it to work, we'll need to act like lovers."

"What's your idea?" Tom asked, keeping his voice down.

Chakotay smiled slightly, then leaned in and kissed Tom gently.
"You'll see," he answered against the other man's lips. Before
Tom could say anything else, Chakotay increased the pressure
against his mouth.

When Tom gasped, Chakotay took advantage of his open mouth
and slipped his tongue inside. Tom stiffened for a moment, then
relaxed and returned the kiss. As it turned more and more
passionate, he moaned softly and tightened his arms around the
older man.

Finally, the need for air forced the two men to break the kiss that
had spun out of control. Tom rested his forehead against
Chakotay's as they tried to get their breathing back to normal.
"Wow," he breathed quietly.

The corners of Chakotay's mouth twisted up in slight
amusement. "Yeah," he agreed. After a moment, he drew back to
look into Tom's darkened eyes. "I need a shower," he said and
untangled himself from the pilot's arms. "Join me?" he asked,
having noticed the confusion and slight disappointment in the
blue orbs.

Tom's eyes widened when he suddenly realized what Chakotay
had meant earlier. He nodded and followed the other man into
the bedroom. The two of them quickly undressed and put their
clothes in the refresher, then went into the bathroom.

Chakotay turned the shower on, then glanced at Tom. "Can we
talk in here?" he asked, hoping they could.

Tom smiled. "Yes. SicA doesn't monitor the bathroom. She
would consider that an invasion of privacy," he answered with a
snort.

Chakotay nodded. He'd suspected as much. "Get in, Tom. You
need a shower more than I do."

Tom didn't comment on this. He knew that the Commander was
right. Unlike Chakotay, Tom hadn't showered this morning.
"What about you?" he asked instead.

Chakotay lifted an eyebrow. "I'll wait until you're done."

Tom glanced at the shower stall, then he turned back to
Chakotay. "The shower is bigger than in ordinary quarters. Why
don't we share?"

Chakotay blinked in surprise, then nodded. "If you don't mind?"

Tom shrugged. "Nah, we're grown men. We should be able to
share a shower without too much trouble."

Chakotay chuckled at that. "Yeah, we should," he agreed, then
stepped into the stall, closely followed by Tom.

*~*~*~*~*

A soft whimper from the man behind him broke into Chakotay's
thoughts. He carefully turned around in Tom's arms until they
were face-to-face. He frowned in concern when he saw the
distressed expression on the younger man's face. Tom was
obviously having some kind of nightmare.

Chakotay lifted a hand and gently stroked Tom's hair. "Shh. It's
alright, Tom. You're safe," he whispered, trying to calm him. To
his surprise, it worked. Tom let out another whimper, then
burrowed closer to him. He buried his face in Chakotay's neck,
then returned to a deeper sleep.

Remembering what Tom had told him in the shower, Chakotay
wasn't surprised that the blond pilot had bad dreams. Anyone
would get nightmares if they'd been through the same thing. He
was just amazed that Tom held up as well as he did. Despite the
fact that SicA had tried to brainwash him, Tom was disobeying
her orders.

TBC