Chapter Seven

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Malcolm escorted Hoshi into the mess hall. It was breakfast time and now was as good as any time as any to start socializing her. He made it a point to be early so that the morning rush hadn't started. In the event things went wrong, he didn't want an audience. He handed Hoshi a tray and told her to follow him.

He couldn't help but grin as he looked over his shoulder and saw that she was mimicking every move he made. He picked an omelet, fruit cup and toast with juice. She had the same things on her tray down to the positioning on the tray.

As he set the tray on the table, she smiled at him. Malcolm couldn't help but smile back. He moved around the table to pull her chair out and in turn she moved around the table opposite him, confusion showing on her face.

"Come here." He pulled her chair out and motioned for her to sit down. "It is customary for a man to pull a young woman's chair out for her."

Hoshi grinned. "Papa always pulled Mama's chair out." She sat down, but didn't take her eyes off Malcolm.

Annoyance crept into his demeanor, but he kept a check on it. "This is going to be more difficult than I thought." He shook his napkin in frustration and placed it on his lap.

Hoshi copied the behavior, smiling. Remarkably, she didn't copy the pattern in which Malcolm ate his food. She ate the toast first, skipping any butter or jam.

"She certainly does love her bread," he thought to himself, then gasped as he witnessed the way in which she ate the next item.

She took a slice of pineapple and brought it to her lips, the tip of her tongue poking out of her mouth to lick the juice. Her teeth sank into the piece and she closed her eyes savoring the morsel, unaware of the seductive nature.

Malcolm coughed, omelet catching in his throat. "Bloody hell! She's just a child! She's just a child! She's just a child!" He kept chanting that thought like it would protect him from the ongoing vision of her delectably eating the pieces of fruit in her cup.

Somebody clearing her throat brought Malcolm from his self-imposed purgatory. Em Gomez stood in front of him yet behind Hoshi, tray in hand.

Hoshi continued to savor the fruit in front of her, paying no mind to the interloper.

"Is everything okay, sir?" Em asked, shifting uncomfortably on her feet.

"Yes, yes. Never better," he replied, then shoved some eggs into his mouth.

"You looked like you were struggling with something," Em stated, observing her superior officer squirm uncomfortably in his seat. He motioned for her to sit with them.

"I don't want to intrude." Em stood off to the side and witnessed the young wild woman take a grape and peel the skin off it with her teeth. "Perhaps I should leave you two alone."

"No, please have a seat. Dr. Phlox states that Hoshi needs to be socialized. Where better to start than somebody she has already ostracized?" Malcolm reasoned.

Em sat down and started eating. Hoshi scooted her tray away from the other woman and turned her back to her.

"Hoshi, turn around," Malcolm stated in a firm tone.

Hoshi realized that ignoring the other person at the table was not acceptable to Lieutenant Reed so she sat face forward and picked through the omelet, eating the cheese and meat but leaving the egg.

"You really should eat your eggs, Hoshi," Malcolm said as he watched her avoid them.

Hoshi stared at him. She didn't like eggs.

"I don't like eggs either," Em stated in an attempt to engage Hoshi in conversation.

Her attempt was met with an air of contempt; one a child would give an adult who was trying to persuade her that liver and onions were like candy.

Malcolm wanted to tell her to answer Em, but knew better than to get between two women who obviously held each other in great disdain.

At that point, an icebreaker arrived. Charles Tucker III walked into the mess hall, served himself and sat down in the last chair opposite Em, winking at her. "Mornin'."

Malcolm nodded his head in acknowledgment and continued chewing. Em glared at Trip, managing to keep her blush to a minimal pink on her cheeks. Hoshi looked at Trip with curiosity.

Trip held his hand out to the young woman. "Charles 'Trip' Tucker III. You can call me Trip."

Hoshi hesitated at first, but could feel the genuine warmth in his greeting. He seemed easygoing and didn't want her to do anything she didn't want to do, like eating eggs. She extended her hand, grasping his and shaking it vigorously. "You can call me Hoshi."

"So, where are you from?" Trip asked curiously while taking a bite of a bagel.

"Mars colony," she replied.

"Whereabouts on Mars colony. I have some friends there, maybe you know them?" Trip gave a side-glance to Malcolm, knowing how approachable he wasn't.

Hoshi looked down at her plate and mumbled an apology. "I don't know."

"That's all right. I was never very good at geography either." Trip conceded, changing topics. Phlox had told him about their guest, stating that she was orphaned at the age of six. She probably stagnated emotionally at that age. Well, he had nieces about that age so he had a pretty good idea on how to approach her and get the information Malcolm wanted out of her. Knowing Malcolm, he had tied her up and put a spotlight on her in an attempt to achieve the goal.

Hoshi's eyes lit up. "Language Arts."

"What about Language Arts made it yer favorite subject?" Trip asked.

Malcolm could hardly believe what he was witnessing. In two minutes, the engineer had gotten more out of her than he had been able to in two days.

Hoshi blushed, never one to be prideful. "I liked all the awards."

"Oh, really! What kind of awards?" Trip prodded gently.

Hoshi shrugged her shoulders, not sure where to start. "I had lots of awards."

"Pick one or two."

Hoshi thought for a moment and blurted her choices out. "I once got an award for translating an ancient Sumerian text. Then I got an award for comprehension in Sanskrit. Then there was an award for excellence in Swahili. Then…"

"Wow, that is quite a list of accomplishments ya got goin' there, Hoshi," Trip interceded, perplexed. "I bet your parents were real proud."

At the mention of her parents, the spark in her eyes extinguished. Her mother would chastise her, telling her she was prideful and needn't show off. Her father would tell her to stop showing off, but at the same time let her know that he was proud of her grades.

Trip could tell she had shut down just by the set of her shoulders. He kicked Malcolm under the table and glared at him. He knew Malcolm wanted to ask more questions but now was not the time. So, Trip folded his napkin, placing it on his plate. "Well, it was nice talkin' to ya. If you get a chance, swing by and visit engineering."

Trip stood, glancing at Malcolm and winking at Em, earning a distinctive growl from the woman, and walked out.

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