DISCLAIMER: Amber is mine. No one else is.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I do have an ending in sight for this fic, and the chapters will be coming much quicker now that I know how the story will end. But it won't end without a healthy dose of Amber/Trip! I'm sorry this chapter took so long, but I've been a little busy writing sports fics with the Olympics and all. Guys will probably be bored to death with this chapter. Sorry! I promise to have more action in the next one. I have been alerted by a review from Sarahjane that this is a "Mary Sue." So I did some soul-searching, looked at the story, took a litmus test, and discovered that Sarahjane was pretty much right. My intent was not for Amber to be a Mary Sue at all. So while this chapter will be continuing the pattern, I'm gonna try to pull Amber out of the Mary Sue slump for the next few. Also please note that I hardly ever write romance, so this is a real step out for me. Sorry if it doesn't seem too realistic.
RATED: G. Maybe PG for some romantic themes.
THE SECRET LANGUAGE
CHAPTER TWELVE
"What am I going to wear?" Amber signed frantically. She was leaning into her closet, flinging clothes left and right. Hoshi was turning into a human clotheshorse.
Hoshi sighed and put the clothes on Amber's bed. "Amber." She tapped her friend gently on the back. "Speak. Don't sign." When she was frazzled, Amber would revert back to sign language. That was a habit Hoshi would have to break her of.
"What am I going to wear?" Amber repeated. Her voice was now completely normal sounding, and someone who didn't know might believe she had been born hearing. Her vocabulary was improving, although her pronunciation needed considerable work in some areas. As soon as that problem was cleared up and her brain could handle the sounds, Dr. Phlox said she could return to work.
"Uh…clothing?" Hoshi asked, trying to lighten the mood.
Amber didn't find it very funny. "Hoshi!" She said. "I don't have anything that will work! I'm not going on a date in my uniform or my pajamas!"
Hoshi almost laughed at that mental image. "You mean you don't have anything dressy?"
"No!" Amber wailed. "No, I don't!"
"OK, come with me." Hoshi said, taking her arm.
"Where are we going?" Amber asked.
"My quarters." Hoshi said.
"OK, Amber, here's something." Hoshi said, holding up a coral red silk dress that stopped just below the knees. "It's a size eight, it should fit you."
Amber looked at the dress with an uncertain look on her face. "I don't know…"
"Come on!" Hoshi urged. "Red's a fantastic color on you!"
"All right." Amber said, ducking into the bathroom to change. She emerged a few moments later wearing the dress. "Does it look all right?" She asked uncertainly.
"You look great!" Hoshi gasped. "Trip's gonna be bowled over."
"Bowled over?" Amber asked, contemplating the unfamiliar expression.
"Yeah." Hoshi said. "You know…he's gonna think you look so great he won't be able to speak."
"Oh." Amber giggled. " 'Bowled over.' I like that."
"Here are some shoes." Hoshi took a pair of red satin heels out of her closet.
Amber examined the shoes. "They're tall." She said.
"Well, now Trip won't have to bend over to kiss you." Hoshi said.
Amber blushed. "Do you really think he'll kiss me?"
"Of course he will." Hoshi said. "He asked you on a date, do you really think he's not going to kiss you good-night?"
"I hope he does." Amber said, pulling on the shoes. "Am I ready?"
Hoshi examined her friend. "Uh…what about makeup?"
Amber gave her a blank stare. "Makeup?"
"Yes." Hoshi said. "You do know what makeup is, right?"
"Of course." Amber said. "But I've never worn any before."
"You've never worn makeup?" Hoshi asked. She didn't know a single girl above thirteen who hadn't experimented with her mother's makeup and then tried to sneak out of the house with it on. But then, Amber wasn't a regular girl.
"No." Amber said. "I've never been on a date before, or any formal occasion."
"Well." Hoshi said. "There's a first time for everything."
Contrary to what many of the crew might think, Hoshi had amassed quite the cosmetics department in her bathroom. She never really used them, as she didn't think Starfleet was a career in which they were really needed, but she always had them on hand in case a black-tie affair suddenly popped up. Now, she would use them on Amber.
"Come on." Hoshi led Amber into the bathroom and sat her down on the toilet. "OK, first foundation." Hoshi opened her cabinet. She hoped Pale Ivory would work-it was the only color she had.
"What's that?" Amber asked.
"Foundation." Hoshi explained as she crouched in front of Amber and began carefully applying the thick liquid to her face. "It smoothes the skin tone a little bit." Hoshi had never put makeup on anyone before, except for her cousin Barry when she was nine. Barry had been five at the time and had seen no harm in it. Hoshi's mother had nearly strangled her, but Barry's mother had thought it was hysterical. She had even taken a picture. Hoshi and Barry still had a good laugh over it every now and then.
"All right." Hoshi said as she finished.
"Am I done?" Amber asked.
"Nope." Hoshi said. "OK, uh…" She located a tube of mascara. "Keep your eyes open."
"What are you doing?" Amber asked.
"Mascara." Hoshi said. "It helps make your eyelashes look a little longer." Truth be told, Amber didn't need a whole lot of mascara. But it never hurt to put a little on.
"What now?" Amber asked as Hoshi screwed the lid back on.
"Eye shadow." Hoshi said, choosing a light tan color. "Close your eyes."
"You do this every day?" Amber asked.
"Not every day." Hoshi said. "In fact, hardly ever. I just like to have it on hand in case I need it." She put the eye shadow away and pulled out the blush.
"That tickles!" Amber squealed as Hoshi began to apply the blush. "Oh, sorry." She quickly apologized. "I hate that sound…what's it called…"
"Squealing." Hoshi supplied.
"Right."
"It's OK." Hoshi said. "All young human girls do it."
"That doesn't make it all right." Amber said.
Hoshi quickly blended the blush. "Now for the tough part." She said. "Lipstick."
"Lipstick?" Amber repeated.
"Yes." Hoshi said, rummaging through her cabinet. "Ah, here's one." She pulled out a pale pink. "It's smudge proof." She took the cap off and began applying it. "So it won't come off when you eat, or when Trip kisses you."
Amber seemed to consider that. "No, I don't think he'd like to wear my makeup, would he?"
Hoshi laughed, thinking of the incident with Barry. "No, he certainly wouldn't." She grabbed a brush and ran it through Amber's short brown hair. She spritzed it with some hairspray and gave Amber a quick look-over. "There. You're done."
Amber looked at herself in the mirror. "It feels wired."
"Weird." Hoshi corrected. "It feels weird."
"That too." Amber began to walk uncertainly on her high heels. "I've never worn these shoes before…what did you say they're called?"
"Heels." Hoshi said.
"They're very uncomfortable." Amber said as she rounded the corner to Hoshi's door. All of a sudden Hoshi heard a crash. "Oof!" Amber said.
"Are you OK?" Hoshi asked, pulling Amber up. The young ensign had fallen off her shoes and into the wall.
"Yes." Amber straightened her hair. "Thank you, Hoshi."
"Anytime." Hoshi said. "Have fun tonight. And don't fall on the way there!"
Amber flashed Hoshi a grin and left. Hoshi didn't have the heart to tell her there was lipstick on her tooth.
Knock-knock-knock.
"Amber!" Trip said out loud. "Use the doorchime!" He called. A few seconds later, the doorchime rang. Straightening his shirt, Trip went to the door and opened it. His eyes widened involuntarily when he saw Amber standing in front of him in a red silk dress and…was she wearing makeup?
"Uh…Amber!" He stammered, finally finding his voice. "Uh, come in! You look…ravishing."
"Is that a good thing?" Amber asked, walking in stiffly. Trip noticed that she seemed a little taller than she had previously. Looking down, he saw that she was wearing high-heeled shoes.
"Yes, it's a very good thing." Trip said, leading her over to the table and holding out her chair for her. "Sit down." He said, gesturing to the chair.
Amber sat down, seeming glad to get the weight off her feet. Those shoes couldn't be comfortable.
"I had to practically brainwash the chef to get the steaks in here." Trip said. "We're pretty far from the kitchen, you know."
Amber smiled politely.
"So when did the doctor say you can come back to work?" Trip asked. "We miss you, ya know."
"When I improve my pronunciation and my brain adjusts to the sounds." Amber said, taking a bite of her steak.
"Mm." Trip said. "Can Chef cook or what?"
"Sure can." Amber said. "A lot better than my mother."
Trip laughed at that.
"Is something wrong with that?" Amber asked, looking somewhat alarmed.
"No, oh, no." Trip said. "It's just that…well, I've never heard someone dump on their mama's cookin' before."
"Dump on?" Amber asked.
"Yeah. Uh…say it's bad." Trip said.
"My mother wasn't a very good cook." Amber said. "I only saw her cook on Christmas. She was always worried, so the turkey was overdone."
"That doesn't sound too good." Trip said.
"It wasn't." Amber recalled with a slight laugh. "It was always dried out."
"My mama wasn't much of a cook." Trip said. "My daddy was the cook in our family. There were seven of us kids, you know."
"Seven?" Amber asked. "I was the only one!"
"You shoulda seen dinner at our house." Trip chuckled. "Daddy would deal the bread like he was dealing cards."
Amber gave him a blank stare. "Dealing out cards?" She asked.
"Yeah. You know…" Trip suddenly realized that, being an only child and deaf for most of her life, Amber had probably never played cards before. In Trip's house, it had been a way of life. "Have you ever played cards before?"
Amber shook her head.
"Well." Trip went to his nightstand and got out a deck of cards. "There's a first time for everything."
"Aha!" Trip hollered as he slapped the jack. "Gotcha!"
Amber scowled. "Drat." She said.
Trip just laughed. For the past half hour, he had been engaged in teaching Amber to play slapjack. It had been fun, but Amber was being beaten like a rented mule by Trip.
"Let's try again." Amber said.
Trip raised his eyebrows. "You're very persistent."
"I couldn't have gone eight years through Starfleet Academy if I wasn't." Amber said. "Now try again."
Trip and Amber started laying their cards on the table as fast as they could. "YES!" Amber whooped as she beat Trip to slapping the jack. "I got you! I got you!"
Defeated, Trip sat back in his chair. "You're worse than my brother." He said.
Amber just laughed. It was a beautiful sound.
"I had fun tonight." Amber said as Trip walked her back to her quarters.
"So did I." Trip said.
"That 'slapjack'…we'll have to play it again sometime." Amber said. "It was…exciting."
"There are a whole bunch of others, too." Trip said. "I could teach you those, too."
Amber stepped a little closer, trying to initiate the kiss. "Could you?" She asked.
"Mm-hm." Trip said, leaning down towards her and then suddenly going in for the kill. It startled Amber only slightly, but soon she shoved herself into the kiss. "I love you, Commander Charles Tucker III." She whispered.
"Call me Trip." Trip said. "And I love you, Ensign Amber Scott."
Amber smiled slightly. "Call me Am."