Chapter 9

Disclaimer: See earlier chapters!

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Jon watched, entranced, as T'Pol carefully spooned plomeek soup into her mouth. His own pancakes sat forgotten in front of him.

T'Pol closed her lips around another spoonful, sliding the spoon out of her mouth slowly. She raised her eyes to his and he realized she knew exactly what she was doing to him.

She dabbed her mouth delicately with her napkin. "Is Commander Tucker not joining us this morning?"

Jon reluctantly dragged his mind back to duty. "Um…yes, he's supposed to. We still need to come up with a plan of action for dealing with the…incident on Rashila. I told him to meet us here…"

Jon stood up and went to the comm. He pressed a button. "Archer to Tucker." They waited. To no avail.

Jon glanced back at T'Pol. "You might try Ensign Sato's quarters," she suggested blandly.

"Oh," Jon said, feeling stupid. "Right."

He pressed the comm again. "Archer to Sato." There was a lengthy pause, and Hoshi's husky voice came back.

"Sato here."

"Um…Hoshi, is Trip there? I need to speak with him."

Another pause.

"What's up, Cap'n?" Trip's voice was restrained impatience.

"Trip, are you planning to meet us for breakfast this morning?"

"Mmm…" Trip said distractedly. "No?"

Jon rolled his eyes. "Perhaps I wasn't clear, Commander. This isn't a request. We have business to discuss."

Silence. Just as Jon was totally losing his patience, Trip responded, "Mind if I bring along a guest?"

"Fine. I'll see you in ten minutes."

Jon released the comm and returned to his seat. He took a bite of pancake, leaning over the plate to keep from spilling syrup on his uniform. Looking up, he found T'Pol watching the progress of his fork.

He grinned at her. "Too bad you don't like sugar. You don't know what you're missing."

"On the contrary. I have developed something of a sweet tooth since coming aboard Enterprise."

"Oh really?"

****

Twelve minutes later, Trip and Hoshi skidded to a stop outside of the Mess Hall. Out of breath, he turned to her. "Do I look ok?"

She inspected him and nodded. "Me?"

Trip looked her up and down. "Oh yeah…" He leaned in for a quick kiss and wound up staying for the full show. Pulling back, he whispered, "Have I ever told you how adorable you look when ya wear your hair in that ponytail?"

Hoshi smiled and patted her hair absently. "It's all I had time for, as late as we're running."

"It was worth it, darlin'," Trip told her with a lusty grin.

She grinned back. "Well, come on. Let's get this over with so we can get back to better activities. Don't want to waste a day off."

Trip winked and dropped her hand. "Guess we'd better try to look professional for a few minutes."

Hoshi nodded and they entered the Mess Hall together. Judging by the looks they got, they weren't fooling anybody. Still, they held their heads high as they walked to the Captain's Mess.

When the door opened, they saw Captain Archer and T'Pol engrossed in each other over pancakes.

"Cap'n, you aware you got a Vulcan's mouth stuck to your finger?" Trip asked. He struggled to keep a straight face and failed miserably.

T'Pol and Jon jumped apart, T'Pol wiping discreetly at the maple syrup on the corner of her mouth.

"Join us, Hoshi," Jon said. Lowering his voice threateningly, he added, "Trip."

Far from feeling threatened, Trip grinned at him brightly.

Trip and Hoshi took their seats, and the steward brought in two more plates of pancakes.

"Before we continue eating, I feel there are some things we need to discuss," Jon said, glancing around the table and sitting back. "There are some new...pairings on board. Starfleet will have to be notified."

Trip immediately got his back up.

"Cap'n, I gotta say if Starfleet has a problem with this, that's too bad. I don't intend to stop seeing Hoshi," he said defiantly.

Hoshi flushed and smiled, pleased.

"I won't end my relationship with Commander Tucker, either," she said.

Trip smiled at her dotingly and reached out to squeeze her hand.

Jon grinned at them, glad for his friends.

"The Captain and I intend to see that the crew is allowed to live the life they want," T'Pol said.

Jon put his Captain face back on.

"The main thing is setting an example," he said, looking pointedly at Trip and Hoshi. "We can't have anymore scenes like the one T'Pol came across yesterday. You need to show a little more restraint."

Hoshi flushed and Trip smiled.

"So, you're sayin' be more like you and T'Pol? More restrained?" Trip said thoughtfully.

Jon eyed him warily.

"I guess. Yes, more like us," he smiled over at T'Pol.

Trip grabbed the syrup and poured an abundant amount on his plate. Hand on the bottle, he smiled sweetly at Hoshi.

"Syrup, darlin'?" he asked.

"Yes, thank you, Charlie," she said, offering her own sweet smile.

Trip promptly let go of the bottle and dipped his hand into the syrup on his plate, holding out his sticky fingers to her.

Leaning in, Hoshi wrapped her hand around his wrist. She carefully licked each individual finger until it was wiped clean of syrup.

Jon and T'Pol watched the exchange silently.

Trip suppressed a groan at the feeling of her rough little tongue moving over his fingers. There'd be time for that later. At the moment he was making a point.

He and Hoshi turned their heads as one and grinned at Jon and T'Pol. Hoshi burst into laughter.

Jon cracked a smile, and T'Pol arched her eyebrow.

"You're both hilarious, Commander, Ensign. An absolute riot," Jon said.

Smiling, Trip opened his mouth again. Jon pointed his fork at him, cutting him off. "Shut up and eat your pancakes, Trip. Before I decide the two of you need to spend the day at your stations after all."

Trip eyed at him contemplatively. Jon was probably joking…

He thought about maple syrup and Hoshi's tongue.

He ate his pancakes.

****

FINIS