The Three of Us

Part 17 - Hard Questions

"Are you up for a breakfast meeting today?" Diana asked Patti. They were in Sick Bay. Doctor Phlox was nearby, feeding the animals while Nan Myers stood guard. Will got up from a stool where he'd been sitting all night and yawned and stretched.

"Yeah, I am," said Patti, "I don't, well, no one, has the time for me to hang around and recover from this. Those guys have to be caught."

"You'll have to deal with it at some point," Phlox reminded her, "I will be here to help, of course."

"Thanks," she sighed.

"I can take you to any appointments you need," Will glanced over at Nan.

"I, uh, I kinda have a bodyguard," Patti said.

"I'm no bodyguard," Will said, "It's, um, that's not the way I mean it."

"Oh."

As she thought it over, he checked the time. "The meeting's going to start soon. We'd better not be late. Let's go," Will said.

=/\=

Lili and Brian wheeled a cart into the Observation Lounge, where the senior staff already was. Patti sat between Hoshi and Diana. Susie Money Lattimer followed behind Lili and Brian and remained on the alert. She made quick eye contact with Nan and Jay and they both looked back for a moment.

"We have a Mexican frittata today," Lili said, "with toast and jam and avocado slices for a garnish. There's lots of fruit and a bowl of Scottish steel-cut oats for Commander T'Pol of course. The frittata has cheese in it, so I also made some regular scrambled eggs for anyone who doesn't want cheese."

Malcolm glanced at her briefly, at her impossibly light blue eyes as she said that. He nodded, very, very slightly. She hadn't forgotten, and he knew that she was communicating to him that she wasn't angry with him and did not suspect him.

"Ensign O'Day," Captain Archer said, "you're a part of this meeting, too. Maybe let Crewman Delacroix do all of the serving this morning."

"Well, sir, this is a rather large group," she said. And it was – it was Captain Archer, T'Pol, Tripp, Malcolm, Will, Jay, Shelby, Travis , Phlox and Hoshi, with Diana, Patti, Lili and the two bodyguards, Nan and Susie – fifteen in all.

"I can manage," Brian said.

She found a seat between T'Pol and Jay. Jay watched as Brian put out the jams for toast and Lili switched the jam jars so that the blueberry was right in front of the Major, as always. He nodded slightly at her, knowing that she hadn't forgotten. He figured that meant that maybe, just maybe, she didn't suspect him of the attack or the graffiti. He swallowed, nervous again, particularly because of her proximity to him, but at least he was more hopeful.

"We all know why we're here. There have been two incidents. And they may or may not be related. We need to get to the bottom of these things, and also agree on a suitable punishment. I'm also open to hearing about any ideas for preventing any similar incidents in the future," said the captain.

"Well," Lili said, "what happened to me, sir, it's hardly noteworthy, versus what happened to Patti."

"Ensign," T'Pol said, "it is a symptom of a lack of order."

"I can post MACOs on every deck," Jay offered, "and restore order."

"Who's to say the MACOs aren't responsible?" asked Malcolm sharply. "I can post Security teams wherever you like, Captain."

"Who's to say Security isn't to blame?" Jay shot back.

"It could even be Engineering," Will said, "Why the hell were those lights out, anyway?"