The musical cadence of the warp core's gentle thumping vibrated lightly throughout the ship. It was soothing. For a moment, Trip slowly relaxed under the covers, his ears filled with the white noise. If he could just dose off and suddenly find it was morning—

A loud, snarled intake of breath sounded the return of Jon's snoring. He whistled as he breathed out, then snorted as he took another deep, even breath.

These couldn't be the sounds of a healthy man, Trip mentally groused. Only, he had dragged Jon to see Phlox, but there was nothing medically wrong with him. There was no reason for any medical procedures. But what about Trip's sanity?

Jon sucked in one long snore, ending with a grunt as if the air had just become stuck in his throat.

Trip squirmed on the bed, fussing with the covers around him and tossing himself from his stomach onto his back. He shot Jon a dirty look in the dark. 'Stay with me, Trip,' he thought sarcastically as he recalled Jon's whisperings earlier that night. 'I can't be that bad.' And then those damn puppy dog, "don't you love me" eyes he gets, Trip thought. It always did Trip in.

What was this? The third night he'd been kept up until past 0200? True, Jon had been quite awake and…active until 2400. That Trip wasn't complaining about. But Jon just hated it whenever Trip snuck off afterwards to his own quarters.

A snort and Jon rolled closer to Trip. His hand reached out for Trip as he continued into another full-blown snore.

Damn it, Trip's grandfather didn't snore this bad. And the man was a legend in his family. One had to get to bed before granddad did or you'd never get to sleep. Trip inched out of Jon's grasp, none too gently rolling Jon back the other direction.

The movement quieted Jon for the moment, but Trip knew the snoring would resume momentarily. Was he going to have to lean to sleep with earplugs? High-end earplugs?

In the relative silence, Trip suddenly heard another snoring body. Oh, no…It couldn't be. Now did they ever make a pair? He sat up indignantly in bed to look down at the floor by their feet.

Porthos whimpered, feet kicking lightly against his pillow as he dreamed, before he resumed his quiet snoring and heavy breathing.

Unbelievable!

Just then, Jon's snoring returned with a vengeance. Trip could have sworn the walls shook, and he suddenly wondered if the Bridge could detect the disturbance with internal sensors.

"That's it!" Trip tossed his half of the blankets up over Jon's head as he scrambled to his feet. He needed some sleep. Now. He searched around in the dark for something—anything—to wear.

Jon coughed as he half woke in the middle of a snore. "Trip?" he mumbled, turning toward Trip's side of the bed again.

"I can't sleep. I'm gonna go to my quarters. Go on back to yer snorin'." Trip gave up and pressed on the desk lamp. He grabbed his boxers and yanked them on.

"W-What?" Jon seemed to suddenly realize his head was covered in blankets and he tossed them off, squinting at the light. "You can't sleep?"

"No, I can't sleep," Trip mimicked. He got a tad testy when he didn't get enough solid sleep. Finding his jeans, he pulled them on. Where the hell was his shirt? He looked around, annoyed.

"I'm sorry," Jon yawned, rubbing one of his eyes with the palm of his hand. "Maybe I should persuade Phlox to take another look at me."

"Be a good idea if you ever want me to sleep here again." The comment came out a little too bitter, but he didn't notice. Instead, he finally found his shirt underneath the desk. He didn't remember their lovemaking being *that* frantic. How'd it get there? He stood up and tossed an agitated glance at Jon as he worked to get his shirt on.

Trip stopped with one arm in. Jon looked crestfallen, staring down at the sheets and picking at the fabric absently. God, all he wanted to do was sleep. It didn't have a thing to do with how he felt about Jon. He sighed and tugged his shirt completely on.

"Jon?" Trip flicked off the lamp and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. "I just need to get some sleep, all right?"

"All right," Jon answered automatically, reshuffling the blankets. "Go get some sleep then."

"Jon, it's got nothin' to do with you, okay? Not with how I feel about you. You know I love you. I just gotta get some sleep. You and Porthos always team up on me, ya know." He reached out to pat Jon with his last comment.

Jon chuckled lightly. "Porthos snores?"

"You never noticed? He's got a pretty good snort, but he's just an amateur compared to the pro here."

Jon finally took Trip's hand, squeezing it. "Okay. You go sleep then."

"Ya sure?"

"Yeah, Porthos and I will get back to our chorus."

Trip could almost see Jon's smile in the dark. "All right. Night." Trip stood and padded barefoot for the door. "Let's just hope I can't hear you two from my quarters." He flashed Jon a sleepy grin as he stepped out the door.