*****
Idleness was his constant enemy. Starfleet was still unwilling to release his record, which was fine with him, but they were also unwilling to reinstate him with full rank and privileges. Malcolm couldn't blame them. Not only did he have a huge hole in his memory, but he was grossly under qualified on today's systems. Some of the systems hadn't changed in eight years while some of them had. Most systems on board were classified and off limits to him. Those that weren't -- like the food replicator...well...he could probably take it apart and put it back together with his eyes closed.
Disgusted, Malcolm shoved the schematics aside and thought about the weapons systems. They fascinated him and he had read everything he could on civilian weaponry he could download onto his PADD. His reading material was dry as much as he was interested in the subject matter, he found himself unable to stay awake. Malcolm padded across the room to the shelves and picked up one of the books Hoshi had left him. He frowned at the title – "Linguistics Database: Vulcan." Flipping the cover open, he read the inscription on the backside out loud, "Happy fifth birthday, Hoshi-chan, Love, Mother and Father."
A Vulcan dictionary for a five-year-old? What had her parents been thinking? Why would they give a child a book like this? What kind of childhood had she had?
Picking his PADD up, Malcolm pulled up the saved information – Hoshi's Starfleet record. He was avoiding her for her sake and his and hadn't seen her in a week. Wishing it revealed more details about her life before Starfleet, Malcolm perused her record. The first thing he noticed was her age. She was only twenty-four – pretty young for a lieutenant.
According to Phlox, Malcolm was thirty-four – ten years her senior. That provided even more basis for keeping his distance from her, but Malcolm knew he had no such intentions. She graduated second in her class and had been a professor at the University of Brazil in the linguistics department before her first tour on board Enterprise. She received a commendation for her work on the Klingon language and was promoted to lieutenant during her second tour.
No wonder she suffered from insomnia. The thought of having that much on his plate at that age made him cringe. Malcolm snapped the book shut and made to leave. It was time to return the Vulcan book to its owner – a flimsy excuse, but it would have to do.
--
She really wasn't a clock-watcher, but Hoshi found herself constantly looking at the clock as the minutes slowly clicked away. Her Vulcan taskmaster had over estimated the time it was going to take to translate the Pandian message, but Hoshi wasn't going to let on that she was finished. She needed to grab a quick dinner and head to bed. Tonight was the night for some serious sleep.
It had been a week since Hoshi hadn't gotten any decent amount of sleep. It had actually been a week and one day since then and she felt the exhaustion to her bones.
A tapping on her shoulder brought her out of her wonderings with a startle.
"Sorry, Ensign Sato, I didn't mean to startle you," her shift replacement stated.
"No problem," replied Hoshi and left the bridge.
She barely registered the turbolift as it carried her to her destination. In the back of her mind, Hoshi hoped she was on the right deck as the made her way to her cabin. Barley noticing the light level in the halls dimming, Hoshi did notice the shadow of the man leaning against her door. Any hopes she had of sleeping tonight vanished, but in the pit of her stomach she welcomed his intrusion as the butterflies started fluttering wildly.
Taking a calming breath, Hoshi approached him wearily. "Is there something I can help you with, Lieutenant Commander?"
The inflection of her voice and the set of her shoulders spoke volumes. Lieutenant Commander? Malcolm watched her key in her code and walk into her quarters. She was trying to establish barriers and that sparked something new inside him. He liked a good challenge.
"I was going through the books you lent me and wanted to return this one in the event it held any special significance for you," he stated slyly and stepped into her cabin, holding the Vulcan book out to her.
The door hissed shut behind him.
Great! Now he's in my quarters! How am I supposed to get rid of him now? Hoshi looked longingly at her bed, and then looked at the book he offered her.
Snatching the book from him, Hoshi quickly glanced at it and tossed it onto her desk. "Thank you," she replied tersely.
Malcolm cleared his throat and coughed. "Have you eaten yet?"
"Yes," replied Hoshi quickly, kicking her boots off. She ignored the growling of her stomach.
He heard her stomach growling and knew she had lied. Obviously the indirect approach wasn't going to work with her. "I still want you," he stated huskily, his eyes catching hers.
Hoshi stared at him, unsure as to what she just heard. Part of her registered his statement and urged her to reply. Why not give in to the inevitable? He was free after all...free from the past. Besides, she was probably already asleep and having a really good dream. Why shouldn't she enjoy herself?
Malcolm could have taken her silence in one of two ways...encouragement or disdain. He went with the first and reached for her, sweeping his hands up her arms to encircle her neck. "I want to watch you as I take you," he whispered against her lips, his eyes staring into her half-lidded ones.
"Yes," Hoshi agreed and returned his kiss with giddy abandon.
--
The noise was too persistent to ignore any longer as it penetrated the fog of her dream. Suddenly her alarm stopped beeping and Hoshi realized she wasn't alone. An unfamiliar weight circled her waist and pulled her closer. She froze as hazy memories replayed in her mind.
"Uh, oh," whispered Malcolm. "Isn't it a little late for second thoughts?"
It was too late. She couldn't pretend she was still asleep. The irony didn't escape her either. Here she was in the arms of the man she had been fantasizing about ever since she met him and she couldn't remember making love to him. And he was the one with amnesia?
Watching her reflection in the mirror, Malcolm could see her confused thoughts and couldn't resist leading her astray. He should have recognized that she was dead on her feet last night. There was no way that he could have taken advantage of her in that condition. Reluctantly, he let go of her and rolled toward the wall, stretching the morning kinks out. His almost-lover sprung from the bed in her regulation blues and bolted for the bathroom.
Malcolm was sitting up in bed, clad only in his boxers by the time she came out of the bathroom, her shirtfront soaked from where she had splashed cold water on her face. A look of confusion still reigned supreme on her face.
Chuckling, Malcolm stood up and started to get dressed, a war waging within him. Should he tell her the truth about last night, or let her wonder about it? He tugged the zipper of his gray jumpsuit up and grinned. For some reason, he felt evil. "I'll see you tonight."
The kiss was quick and to the point, leaving Hoshi with more questions than answers.
*****
Idleness was his constant enemy. Starfleet was still unwilling to release his record, which was fine with him, but they were also unwilling to reinstate him with full rank and privileges. Malcolm couldn't blame them. Not only did he have a huge hole in his memory, but he was grossly under qualified on today's systems. Some of the systems hadn't changed in eight years while some of them had. Most systems on board were classified and off limits to him. Those that weren't -- like the food replicator...well...he could probably take it apart and put it back together with his eyes closed.
Disgusted, Malcolm shoved the schematics aside and thought about the weapons systems. They fascinated him and he had read everything he could on civilian weaponry he could download onto his PADD. His reading material was dry as much as he was interested in the subject matter, he found himself unable to stay awake. Malcolm padded across the room to the shelves and picked up one of the books Hoshi had left him. He frowned at the title – "Linguistics Database: Vulcan." Flipping the cover open, he read the inscription on the backside out loud, "Happy fifth birthday, Hoshi-chan, Love, Mother and Father."
A Vulcan dictionary for a five-year-old? What had her parents been thinking? Why would they give a child a book like this? What kind of childhood had she had?
Picking his PADD up, Malcolm pulled up the saved information – Hoshi's Starfleet record. He was avoiding her for her sake and his and hadn't seen her in a week. Wishing it revealed more details about her life before Starfleet, Malcolm perused her record. The first thing he noticed was her age. She was only twenty-four – pretty young for a lieutenant.
According to Phlox, Malcolm was thirty-four – ten years her senior. That provided even more basis for keeping his distance from her, but Malcolm knew he had no such intentions. She graduated second in her class and had been a professor at the University of Brazil in the linguistics department before her first tour on board Enterprise. She received a commendation for her work on the Klingon language and was promoted to lieutenant during her second tour.
No wonder she suffered from insomnia. The thought of having that much on his plate at that age made him cringe. Malcolm snapped the book shut and made to leave. It was time to return the Vulcan book to its owner – a flimsy excuse, but it would have to do.
--
She really wasn't a clock-watcher, but Hoshi found herself constantly looking at the clock as the minutes slowly clicked away. Her Vulcan taskmaster had over estimated the time it was going to take to translate the Pandian message, but Hoshi wasn't going to let on that she was finished. She needed to grab a quick dinner and head to bed. Tonight was the night for some serious sleep.
It had been a week since Hoshi hadn't gotten any decent amount of sleep. It had actually been a week and one day since then and she felt the exhaustion to her bones.
A tapping on her shoulder brought her out of her wonderings with a startle.
"Sorry, Ensign Sato, I didn't mean to startle you," her shift replacement stated.
"No problem," replied Hoshi and left the bridge.
She barely registered the turbolift as it carried her to her destination. In the back of her mind, Hoshi hoped she was on the right deck as the made her way to her cabin. Barley noticing the light level in the halls dimming, Hoshi did notice the shadow of the man leaning against her door. Any hopes she had of sleeping tonight vanished, but in the pit of her stomach she welcomed his intrusion as the butterflies started fluttering wildly.
Taking a calming breath, Hoshi approached him wearily. "Is there something I can help you with, Lieutenant Commander?"
The inflection of her voice and the set of her shoulders spoke volumes. Lieutenant Commander? Malcolm watched her key in her code and walk into her quarters. She was trying to establish barriers and that sparked something new inside him. He liked a good challenge.
"I was going through the books you lent me and wanted to return this one in the event it held any special significance for you," he stated slyly and stepped into her cabin, holding the Vulcan book out to her.
The door hissed shut behind him.
Great! Now he's in my quarters! How am I supposed to get rid of him now? Hoshi looked longingly at her bed, and then looked at the book he offered her.
Snatching the book from him, Hoshi quickly glanced at it and tossed it onto her desk. "Thank you," she replied tersely.
Malcolm cleared his throat and coughed. "Have you eaten yet?"
"Yes," replied Hoshi quickly, kicking her boots off. She ignored the growling of her stomach.
He heard her stomach growling and knew she had lied. Obviously the indirect approach wasn't going to work with her. "I still want you," he stated huskily, his eyes catching hers.
Hoshi stared at him, unsure as to what she just heard. Part of her registered his statement and urged her to reply. Why not give in to the inevitable? He was free after all...free from the past. Besides, she was probably already asleep and having a really good dream. Why shouldn't she enjoy herself?
Malcolm could have taken her silence in one of two ways...encouragement or disdain. He went with the first and reached for her, sweeping his hands up her arms to encircle her neck. "I want to watch you as I take you," he whispered against her lips, his eyes staring into her half-lidded ones.
"Yes," Hoshi agreed and returned his kiss with giddy abandon.
--
The noise was too persistent to ignore any longer as it penetrated the fog of her dream. Suddenly her alarm stopped beeping and Hoshi realized she wasn't alone. An unfamiliar weight circled her waist and pulled her closer. She froze as hazy memories replayed in her mind.
"Uh, oh," whispered Malcolm. "Isn't it a little late for second thoughts?"
It was too late. She couldn't pretend she was still asleep. The irony didn't escape her either. Here she was in the arms of the man she had been fantasizing about ever since she met him and she couldn't remember making love to him. And he was the one with amnesia?
Watching her reflection in the mirror, Malcolm could see her confused thoughts and couldn't resist leading her astray. He should have recognized that she was dead on her feet last night. There was no way that he could have taken advantage of her in that condition. Reluctantly, he let go of her and rolled toward the wall, stretching the morning kinks out. His almost-lover sprung from the bed in her regulation blues and bolted for the bathroom.
Malcolm was sitting up in bed, clad only in his boxers by the time she came out of the bathroom, her shirtfront soaked from where she had splashed cold water on her face. A look of confusion still reigned supreme on her face.
Chuckling, Malcolm stood up and started to get dressed, a war waging within him. Should he tell her the truth about last night, or let her wonder about it? He tugged the zipper of his gray jumpsuit up and grinned. For some reason, he felt evil. "I'll see you tonight."
The kiss was quick and to the point, leaving Hoshi with more questions than answers.
*****