Chapter Two ...
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I hate it when that bloody Yank is right.
When the Commander … pardon, Trip … first approached me with the absurd idea that the Captain and Ensign Sato were 'an item', I seriously doubted his sanity. The Captain is a professional; I didn't think he would jeopardize his position by fraternizing with an ensign. The Commander … Trip … insisted however, and cited numerous occasions where it would have been 'obvious to any idiot with two eyes in his head and an iota of the common sense God gave a gopher'.
His examples seemed … flimsy at best to me: the way the Captain convinced Hoshi to leave her class three weeks early, how he was more concerned about her safety than his own on Rigel X, how he 'hovered' around her constantly. I tried to tell Trip that just because he spends an inordinate amount of time by her console, it doesn't mean a thing. She's the Communications Officer for Christ's sake. All his seemingly 'indisputable' evidence I reasonably explained away.
Except for tonight's.
Did I mention I hate it when he's right?
There was no mistaking the matter when they emerged from the wardroom. Hoshi glowed, actually glowed, and the Captain looked like he had just won the lottery. When Trip talked about getting it out in the open, I about choked. I figured if they wanted it out in the open they would let it out in the open. He said that keeping it hidden was bad for morale. It was up to us as the Captain's friends to help him out in this matter. I told him he was a blooming loony and to let it drop. He became quite irate and said if I wasn't going to help he'd get Travis to do it. I replied that Travis was innocent as a new born babe and he wouldn't know what to do with a bird if she kissed him. Trip said he needed someone to help him and two was better than one.
So that's how the three of us ended up plotting the downfall of our Captain.
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"What, you knew?" Trip looked at Travis like he had revealed a secret past as a gigolo. Apparently his pure and innocent look had been only that.
Travis grinned. "Of course I knew. It was rather obvious." Malcolm became fascinated with the decking. "He's always around her. And the way he talks to her … I can't really see anyone where I sit, so I pick up more on their tone of voice. His changes when he talks to her. Besides, he went to see 'Three Windows' with her. That has to be true love."
"How'd you know he went?" Trip still couldn't get over that Travis knew before him. It's always the quite ones …
"Ahh … I went to see it with Jessica." A slight blush stole over Travis' face.
"Ensign Cordoza? You and her? Since when?" Trip looked over at Malcolm to see if he knew about this. A shake of the head and a shrug was all he got.
"Seven months this Tuesday."
"Ah gotta get out more often." Banging his head against the table, Trip didn't notice Travis and Malcolm's grins. With a sigh he sat back up. "So how are we gonna make it public?"
"I have no idea." Malcolm crossed his arms over his chest. "'Outing Your Captain's Secret Romance' wasn't covered in Command school." He rolled his eyes, obviously not too thrilled with Trip's obsession with humiliating Archer.
"Well," Travis looked at the other two. "We could always …"
