Hugh was furious to say the least. 'They talk about me like I'm not even there!' In his anger he stormed into the Mess Hall and ordered hot chocolate. As he took a seat he took out a copy of his plans for Christmas. He had finally come to the conclusion of what was going to happen. With only a week ha had to start soon. There would be a magnificent dinner that would be followed by a formal ball. Hugh would then have to talk to Chef about preparing the excellent dishes and how they'd be presented. 'Something magical would happen and they'd forget all their problems.' "You look like someone did you a great crime." Hoshi said as she took a seat with Hugh. "Someone did."
Hoshi had seen the whole thing between Hugh and the Captain, She couldn't blame either of them for being mad, yet she felt worst for Hugh who only came along to drop off a PADD for the Christmas party. Hoshi was even able to read it. It was a scene out of a fairytale. "I read your plans for the party. They were fantastic! It will be lots of fun, and I can't wait to go!" Hoshi saw a small smile so she was doing good. "Did you? I'm very proud of those plans. Took me hours to finalize them. And all the work is only about to begin. They both looked at each other.
"I could help you, just not during my shifts and as long as I get enough sleep at night." "Deal!" Hugh smiled and shook her hand. "Let's get to work, but where do we start?" "I imagine we should start wit the food. We gotta make sure that Chef will make all the food." Hoshi then perked right up. "I can talk to him, because not many people can get through to Chef." "Ok then I'll start with the invitations, and the music." They both stopped and looked around in the crowd, and could see Archer coming towards them. "God I'm in shit! He looks pissed." Hoshi quickly cam to the same conclusion. "Yeah he is, you want me to leave?" Hugh suddenly torn back to reality responded. "You don't have to if you don't want to." "I'll stay." "Thanks."
Jon now had to deal with a big problem. It isn't like him to keep information from people if they should know it. Yet something about Hugh made him keep this from him. 'How is he going to trust you if you won't trust him? I suppose he has the right to know.' "Hoshi do you mind if I talk to Hugh alone? "Hoshi quickly got up and turned to leave. "Yes sir, talk to you later Hugh." With her now gone Hugh was alone with the Captain. "Mind if I join you?" "Do I really have a choice? You're the Captain of the ship, you can do whatever you want and don't want to do." Hugh just sat there, and Jon never realized how much Hugh was hurting. "Well I'm asking you." "What if I say no? Will sit down anyways?" "I don't know."
"Oh just sit down! Just say what you want to say." Jon took a seat and began. "You don't know why we're out here do you. Well we're out here because..." Hugh listened to Jon's story. The attack on Earth, going to stop a bigger weapon. Hugh was in shock by the end of the story. 'God they really are in a bad situation.' "Now as for you to keep the morale up on this entire mission, I think you should be Morale Officer. I don't see any problems with the appointment or any of my senior staff so congratulations. "Thank you Captain." "I will expect you to join us at all senior staff meetings, I want continuous reports of ship morale." "Yes sir." Hugh was leaving this a winner and so was the crew. "If you will excuse me Captain, I have a party to plan."

****

Now that he only had a week to prepare. With the help of Hoshi, Chef had agreed to the preparation of the meals. Hugh had sent the invitations to the entire crew. Getting the invitations, and not just getting told about it over the Comm. system was enough to turn the entire atmosphere electric for the days leading up to Christmas Eve. Hugh could feel the ship morale going through the roof! Only to wonder if it will last or just die away. Hoshi had given so much of her time that she was very excited about seeing the finished product.
As the final days approached both Hoshi and Hugh had arranged to have the crews eat their meals somewhere else while the room was to be transformed. "God this is beautiful." Hoshi said as they both looked at the room. They transformed the room into a winter wonderland. There was none of the dull silver gray to be seen. The tables were set in beautiful white satin. As they worked the room for the big day, there would always be a member of the crew to "walk in" to catch a glimpse of the beautiful scene. "God you could set your watch by them." Hugh said as he passed Hoshi a fluff of cotton to resemble snow. "Oh my God! I had an awesome idea!" "What is it?" Hoshi was enjoying this very much, it beat sitting in her room reading a book. "Is it possible to have the environmental systems snow?" "I don't know let's find out!"
They both walked to Engineering to find Trip. As they walked in they saw both Malcolm and Trip... cuddling. "Excuse me Commander?" Hoshi said as she tried to figure out what was going on. Both Malcolm and Trip quickly broke apart and looked extremely embarrassed. "What can I do fer ya Hoshi?" Trip said trying to cover the awkward silence. "Make it snow." Trip just looked at them very confused.

A/N: Review??