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Jon woke up to the sounds and smell of Sickbay, and of Trip and Phlox peering over him.

"He's waking up now, Commander," he heard the Doctor say.

His eyes flickered open, feeling slightly woozy still. He managed to focus them on Trip. Then it registered that he'd just seen Trip dead on the Bridge. "Am I dead?" he asked.

Trip's eyes widened a little, but he smiled a relieved smile. "Nope Cap'n, 'fraid not. Though you did hit your head. You're the last one to come around."

Jon tried to sit up, but was pushed back down by both Trip and Phlox. "What?" he asked, getting increasingly more confused.

"Don't move Captain," Phlox admonished patiently.

"Turns out T'Pol and the Doc worked out what the blob wanted from us." Trip told him once Jon had laid back down. "It wanted our emotions, in particular, fear."

"What?" Jon said again, sounding a bit thick, even to his own ears.

Phlox came to his rescue though. "Yes Captain. It seems that the creature thrives on electrical impulses, the majority of which it would absorb from the sun which it and its species covers. This one however had become – dislodged- for lack of a better phrase, and to survive it latched on to the closest thing which it could get these electrical impulses from- Enterprise. Now these impulses weren't anything to do with the sort of electricity the ship would give off, but instead, what our brains give off- it sensed a bountiful food source in us, and it affected us when it attached itself to our hull. It gave off certain waves which all of our brains could perceive which prompted fear in us, as that was the specific wave of electrical impulse it needed."

Jon struggled to take it all in. "So what you're saying Doc, is that we all hallucinated, seeing things that weren't actually there so it could take the electrical impulses our brains created from that fear and it digested it like food?"

Phlox nodded. "Essentially, yes Captain."

"And it affected all of us," Trip said, making Jon look at him. "We've got relieved crewmen all over the ship comparing each other's phobias."

Jon made to sit up again, "And everyone's alright? Everyone's alive?" he asked, desperate to know.

Phlox shrugged, "yes Captain. Everyone has just had a bit of a scare, that's all."

"I think that was more than just a 'bit' of a scare Doc," Jon said, but he lay back again, relieved.

Trip explained in a bit more detail for Jon's sake, seeing his friend still not completely convinced. "You see, everyone really did just have a mass hallucination- Malcolm was in the turbolift convinced that he was about to drown, Hoshi was stuck in the EM Chamber, Liz thought her room was on fire. And everyone lost consciousness when the creature had had its fill. You were the only person on the Bridge because everyone had been so terrified of their individual hallucinations." Trip laughed, "You should have heard Mal swear a blue streak when he'd heard that the Bridge had been deserted! Although he didn't blame anyone, he just was - unhappy- about the whole thing!"

Phlox smiled. "Now then Captain, you must rest. You were the only person on board in the end to receive an injury when you hit your head, and you must sleep for a couple of hours, it will do you the world of good. Then I think some Rest and Relaxation for the entire ship is in order."

Trip nodded enthusiastically. "I couldn't agree more Doc," he said as he made to leave. "Night Cap'n," he said to Jon.

Jon smiled back at his friend, managing to banish the fear he had had that his friend had seemed to definitely dead to him beforehand. He had been so convinced that he'd seen his crew dead, and yet here was Trip joking about Malcolm as usual. It was more comforting than anything else he could have said at that point. So normal. He smiled at his friend. "Night Trip."

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The next morning, Jon had been released from Sickbay, and the Enterprise had made a hasty trail away from the blue sun with the evolving amoeba.

It was a Tuesday night, so it was movie night, and he and Trip were walking towards the Mess Hall for dinner before the film began.

"So what movie are you showing today Trip?" Jon asked as they walked.

Trip looked at him and grinned, "well after recent events, I thought 'The Blob' might be a good call!"

Jon rolled his eyes. Trip really was incorrigible, but it was good to see that even after all these years and after everything that had happened to the crew of the Enterprise, they could still all joke. He had woken up that morning seeing the faces of the dead crewmen, and it had taken him a second or two to remember that everyone was in fact okay, and no one was dead, but his breathing had still elevated enough to make Phlox scan him again before he'd left Sickbay and assure him of a friendly ear, should he need to 'talk about his experiences'.

Trip had told him about his experience in Engineering with all the bugs and spiders. Apparently Rostov hadn't even been in the room, let alone been covered in bugs and cobwebs. Trip had shuddered several times as he'd told Jon, but he'd managed to laugh at the end of it.

They went into the Mess Hall and through it to get to the Captain's Mess. Jon saw Crewman Hughes sharing a joke with Ensign Morris on one of the tables near the cantine, and Jon shook his head in wonder- there was certainly a lot of life here, for which he was eternally glad and grateful. The thought that these wonderful people might have been dead had shaken him to his very core.

As they went into the Captain's Mess, T'Pol was already there waiting for them, sitting as Trip and Jon sat at the table.

"Well, that was one for the books," Trip said to the both of them. "Wonder what Starfleet'll make of that. I've never seen so many bugs in one place, which I'm glad 'bout, and I never wanna see anything like it again."

Jon took his napkin and placed it in his lap as Crewman Brown brought in their meals.

T'Pol also placed her napkin delicately upon her lap. "It has been fascinating to hear the fears of the crew," she admitted to them. "Some of them are quiet irrational." She picked up a spoon to eat her lentil soup.

Trip grinned at her as he leaned over to grab a hunk of bread from the middle of the table. "Fascinating, huh? Betcha didn't feel a thing." The easy grin he gave her showed that there was no malice in his words as there might have been when Enterprise left on its first mission all those years ago.

T'Pol stopped eating, spoon hovering mid-air as she contemplated his words. "Actually, I did feel the effects of the creature." She paused, wondering how much to admit to these two men. Her family, she admitted to herself. "I felt the fear of losing control." She began eating again.

Trip blinked, but realising how much of an admission that was on her part, didn't say anything more about it. "Well, everyone now knows that I'm scared o' bugs, but what 'bout you Cap'n? Did you see anythin'?"

Jon flinched, remembering yet again. "The entire crew called out to me for help, and I couldn't help a single one of them, so I found everyone dead. It was an experience I hope never to have to live through."

T'Pol inclined her head towards him. "That is not an irrational fear."

Trip grinned at the two of them, looking from T'Pol to Jon. "You know Cap'n, I think she's just said you aren't an irrational human being for once."

T'Pol's cool, dry expression went to Trip, eyebrow raising. "I did not say that Commander. I merely said it was understandable."

"Yeah, sure," was all Trip said, the three of them sharing the joke, and the relief that there was nothing out of the ordinary after all.