Chapter Text
Malcolm watched Trip and T’Pol from across the mess hall. It was kind of late to have lunch, but the senior officers had just come out of a meeting about the nearest system. The mess hall was mostly empty besides them, excepting a half dozen other crewmen. Across the room Trip was gesturing animatedly, while T’Pol listened. Malcolm could have sworn he saw the barest hint of a smile from her perpetually neutral face. They made a strange pair, that was for sure. When they had first gotten together, Malcolm had been surprised to say in the least. Well, surprised, and though he hated to admit it, jealous. He knew that Trip was going through emotional hell when it happened, and while he had long given up on getting together romantically with the engineer, it had frustrated him that he couldn’t have been the one to be there for his friend. Still, he was glad Trip had found someone.
“It’s crazy how much they’ve both changed since Enterprise first left earth.”
Malcolm snapped out of his thoughts, realizing he’d been staring. Hoshi was sliding into the chair across from him. “You’re one to talk, Lieutenant,” he said, trying to recover quickly and change the subject.
Hoshi smiled. The Lieutenant title was still felt strange every time someone used it. It had only been a bit over two weeks since her promotion. “Yeah?”
“I still remember a certain young ensign who nearly had a panic attack her first time off the ship. Now I’d pretty much only trust T’Pol to be calmer in a crisis.”
Hoshi’s grin grew at the compliment. “Yeah, well, I remember a certain Lieutenant who I had to go to Phlox just to figure out what kind of food you like,” she teased back. While still far from the open book that most of the rest of the crew seemed to be, Malcolm had long since stopped avoiding sharing some of his life with his friends.
“Well, I had to do something,” Malcolm joked, “For the longest time, anytime anyone wanted to get me a present, all they’d ever do is give me is bloody pineapple because they didn’t know anything else to about me. Which, don’t get me wrong, I love pineapple, but the next birthday I got nearly ten pounds of the stuff.”
Hoshi thought back on the memory. “Oh God, do you remember when you thought I was flirting with you?”
Malcolm chuckled. “Yeah wasn’t until awhile later that you explained to me that you’re much more likely go for T’Pol than me.”
Hoshi’s smile dropped slightly, much to Malcolm’s confusion. Hoshi was normally very open about preferring women; there was no reason for her not to be. “Hoshi, are you alright?”
Hoshi shook her head slightly and picked up her fork to continue eating, eyes suddenly fixated on the food. “I’m fine.”
While Malcolm didn’t believe her fully, he knew it was usually best to let his friend explain things in her own time. He watched Hoshi’s gaze shift to across the mess hall, where Malcolm had been looking earlier.
“Do you think they’re still together?” she asked, suddenly.
Malcolm started at the frankness of the question. “Huh?”
“Trip and T’Pol.”
Malcolm didn’t know how to reply. “Err…”
“I mean like romantically. Obviously, they’re friends.”
“Err…I think so?... I’m not really sure it’s appropriate to…Why?”
Hoshi blushed slightly, not answering, suddenly very fixated on her food. It took Malcolm a moment to put two and two together. T’Pol. Malcolm felt a pang of empathy. “Oh, Hoshi.”
Hoshi sighed, looking back up at Malcolm. “It’s kind of stupid of me, isn’t it?”
“What? No, Hoshi,” Malcolm said, almost a bit too quickly. “It’s not stupid.”
Hoshi gave a small, melancholy laugh. “I’d guess you’d be sympathetic to my plight.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know, with how you feel about Trip and all.”
Malcolm’s eyes went wide for a split second before he regained his composure. How the hell had she figured that out? Am I that obvious?
Realizing Malcolm’s sudden alarm, Hoshi tried to comfort him. “It’s okay. I sort of just figured it out on my own. You’re not obvious or anything. I’m a communications expert; I’m rather attuned to body language.”
Lieutenant Hoshi Sato, mind reader extraordinaire, Malcolm thought with a touch of dry humor.
“I haven’t even told Travis my suspicions,” she continued, “well not since the well before the Xindi, anyways, and even then, he thought I was out of my mind.”
“Good.” Malcolm was fine with people knowing he liked food that wasn’t pineapple, but even Hoshi knowing about his ridiculous crush on the Commander was a bit too much. They finished their meal mostly in silence.
Hoshi finally got up to clear her tray. “Guess I’d better finish fine tuning the UT with all the new languages,” she said lightly, “204? I’d never thought I’d come across a species that rivals earth with its number of languages.”
When she left, Malcolm turned his attention down to his PADD. It contained the notes from the meeting. He tried to concentrate on it. The nearest planet contained three M-class planets, at least two of which were inhabited. The species that inhabited them, the Rustians and Verisians, had been Warp capable for about four centuries now, which admittedly made Malcom slightly nervous. If their ships technology had been advanced for so much longer, chances were that their weapons were also superior. The Captain had assured him that database gave no indication that either species were hostile, but Malcolm knew how quickly things could go south with first contacts. Besides, “No indication of hostility” didn’t exactly mean they were peaceful either.