Chapter Seven

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Hoshi walked back through the forest after taking care of some basic needs, smiling at the intrusion of real life into the fantasy of being stranded on a deserted planet. Coming around the shuttle she saw Trip sitting by the small fire he had started.

Her stomach did a flip as she met his eyes. Did she really like him, or was it the situation they were in that was causing her to wonder what his kisses were like, how his rough hands would feel as they touched her skin . Hoshi stopped that train of thought and quickly sat down.

"What do you want for breakfast?" Her head snapped up at the sound of Trip's voice. He nodded at the last two field rations. "We have pork chops or chicken potpie."

Grimacing, Hoshi looked at the innocuous packages. "I knew we shouldn't have eaten the good ones first. I'll take the chicken if you don't want it."

"We didn't think we'd be here this long." Trip handed her the potpie. "I heated them when you were gone."

Hoshi sighed before breaking open the crust with her fork. "What will we do for dinner?"

"That pool we found has some fish, I'm goin' t' try and see if I can catch somethin'. Some of these trees have what looks like fruit, you can take a scanner and see if any of them are edible."

"The mighty hunter goes out and kills something while the woman stays and gathers fruit?" Hoshi sarcastically muttered. She flushed under Trip's gaze. "I'm sorry."

Tossing aside his empty plate, Trip moved to sit next to her. "What is it, Hosh? Are you alright?" She turned away as he took hold of her hand.

"It's been three days and we haven't heard anything from Enterprise and we're out of food and we could be stuck here for the rest of our abbreviated lives."

"Hosh," his thumb traced circles on her palm. "We were supposed t' meet up with them yesterday, so we're only a day overdue, this planet has lots of food, and if I had to be stuck here for any length of time I'm glad it's with you." Trip leaned forward trying to look her in the face.

"Don't!" Thinking he was going to kiss her, Hoshi scurried away.

"Hoshi, what's wrong?"

"I don't want to start something that I'll regret once we get back to Enterprise." She looked over to see Trip's befuddled face. "I'm . I want to be sure what I feel for you is real, not because of ."

"You didn't have these feelins on Enterprise? At all?"

"No . I did . somewhat ."

"D'you think maybe it's just bein' with me for three days straight that maybe have . accelerated them a little?"

". maybe ."

Trip got up. "I won't lie t' you, Hosh. If you were willin' t' give me more, I'd take it in a flash." Hoshi could feel his eyes on her as she stayed silent. "I'm goin' fishin'. Yell if you need me."

She listened to him walk away.