Just a Little Crush

Part Three

Back on the bridge the next morning, Hoshi couldn't help noticing Malcolm was staring at her whenever she stole a glance in his direction. Liz was right – he is staring at me, oh God, I don't know where to look. Once or twice she actually happened to look and catch him in the eye, whereupon they both hurriedly looked away. After the third time it happened, Hoshi had to chastise herself. Now he'll think I like him. Maybe he's thought it all along. Ever since that time I had to find out his favourite food. But what'll I do if he really does like me? What should I do if he says something…? I can't say I like someone else, he might guess… oh god, this is complicated.

"Hoshi? You there?"

Hoshi suddenly realised she had been ignoring the captain.

"Oh! Sorry, Captain, what did you say?"

Jonathan Archer just smiled at his communications officer. "I said how is the Comm system coming along? Do you know how much longer we'll be without the UT?"

Hoshi looked down at her panel and did a few calculations. "I can't really say, Captain," she said slowly, checking her data. "Maybe within the next couple of days. Commander Tucker is using his engineering team to check the main circuitry, but we can't really say for sure yet."

"Keep working on it," Archer said. "Did you have any luck decoding that subspace message we received this morning?"

Hoshi shook her head. "Not yet, sir. I'm using nearly all other possibilities but without the UT, translating an unknown language in a few hours is impossible. I'll keep on it; but I can't make any promises."

Archer shook his head. "Do your best, but make the Comm system and getting the UT back online your top priority. I'd sure like to know what was in that message though."

The captain gave Hoshi a wistful smile then moved on to talk to T'Pol. Hoshi stared at the garbled message in front of her, but no matter how much she stared, it still didn't make any sense. She needed to concentrate. Stop thinking about Trip! And now Malcolm… This is so stupid. If only I could figure out one word on this damn message I might be able to concentrate… Fat chance.

--------------------------------

"You alright, Hoshi?"

"Hmm?" Hoshi looked up distractedly.

Trip glanced at her and straightened up from the panel he had been working.

"You've hardly said a word this afternoon, it's not like you."

Hoshi gave him a wry smile. "Is that a subtle way of telling me I talk too much?"

Trip looked at her earnestly. "Its more a commander's way of telling you I know somethin's botherin' you, isn't it, Hoshi?"

"It's nothing… okay, not nothing, but it's stupid – really. I shouldn't be brooding on it."

"On what, Ensign?"

Hoshi lowered her padd resignedly. "You're not going to let me wriggle out of this one, are you?"

"No chance," Trip smiled.

He has a really sweet smile, Hoshi thought. Stop staring though or he'll think you're an idiot.

"We received a subspace message this morning. It originated from a nearby sector, from a race we've never met before. It could be an invitation or a warning or anything, but we don't know. I've been trying to translate it…"

"But without the UT I guess that's pretty difficult?" Trip surmised.

"Not difficult, impossible. I'll be lucky if I can translate two words before we leave their space."

"So what's botherin' you? We knew this would happen if we took the systems offline. You're doing your best – the Captain knows that."

"But it's so frustrating," Hoshi clenched her hands in exasperation, looking Trip square in the eye. "I know that that message makes sense to someone. It's got logic and reason, it follows grammatical rules. But I can't understand it. It means nothing to me, and I've no way of getting into it. I'm a linguist. It's my job to make sense of languages - but I'm stumped. I feel like I lost the use of my tongue or something… what?"

She stopped as she realised Trip was grinning at her. He shook his head and turned back to his work.

"Oh nothin', nothin'," he smiled to himself.

Hoshi walked over and hit him lightly on the arm.

"What is it?"

Trip looked up at her. "It's just funny that's all, to hear you talking like that." He smiled again. "I never thought our jobs had much in common, but what you're saying sure does sound familiar."

"I'm listening," Hoshi relaxed a little against the wall.

Trip continued to grin at her. "I remember shoutin' off at Captain Archer more times than I can mention about the warp drive and getting it working properly. It didn't make it any easier knowing that the Vulcan's were whizzin' happily back and forth between Vulcan at warp 6, either. Even now, I know there must be a way to get our engines to go above warp 5, but I'm damned if I know. Now that's frustratin'."

"Okay, sounds like you know what I'm feeling," Hoshi nodded, smiling. "How do I get over it?"

Trip shrugged, and reached for his tricorder. "My advice is to get away from it. Unwind a little, take the night off. There's not much we can do about what we don't know. Might as well give ourselves a pat on the back for what we do, and remember," he nodded at Hoshi, "there's no human alive who knows more about alien languages than you."

Hoshi slid down the wall she leaned against so that she was crouching against it. She felt so tired, and a little confused, but she looked up at Trip pleasantly.

"Thank you, Commander," she said. And can I just add that I'm feeling exhausted and frustrated and having you smile at me and cheer me up feels better than anything. In fact, I really really want to make a move on you right now, but –

"C'mon, Hoshi," Trip held out a hand for her and pulled her to her feet. "You're off duty as of now – that's an order."

Hoshi nodded, "I've got a nice bottle of Burgundy in my quarters calling my name," she laughed to herself.

"Sounds good," Trip said, glancing at her.

"Would you… would like to join me?" Hoshi said hurriedly. "I've got two glasses…"

Trip looked a little taken aback; Hoshi's brain kicked in a minute too late. What have you done? Why did you just say that? He looks really strange, oh God…

"Dah, er, well, I think one of us should finish up here really, not that I, no, um…. Another time, perhaps," Trip stuttered out. He took a big breath. "I'll see you tomorrow, Hoshi."

Hoshi shut her eyes and turned round. "Goodnight, Commander," she called, hurrying to the turbolift as fast as she could.