Disclaimer: Nothing Enterprise is mine, nor will it ever will be. /tear/ This story has only been written for my personal enjoymnet of torturing characters. Happy reading!
The week flew by, and she spent Christmas Eve day in the mess hall with Travis, Trip and Hoshi putting up decorations. Every time she walked away from Travis and Hoshi, they would start talking in low tones. She knew what they were talking about of course. Her and Malcolm. It had been all over the ship. She wasn't sure who it had come from, but it was supposed to be a secret, so naturally it got out. She sighed and walked over to where Trip was setting up a table, or trying to. It didn't seem to want to cooperate with him. Kelly couldn't help laughing. The man could fix a warp engine no problem, but the setup of a simple table eluded him.
"Want a hand?" She asked. Trip glared at her.
"I'm fine." He grunted. Kelly rolled her eyes. Ah, the independence that was the male ego. She picked up the last of the decorations and tossed the non-breakable items to Hoshi and Travis, hanging the others herself.
"Kell, if you're going to get yourself dolled up for this evening, I suggest you start now." Trip said. Kelly looked up at him. "You've got two hours." Kelly's eyes snapped open and she groaned.
"Damn." She said under her breath. "I've got to get my dress out of storage." She hurried out of the room.
"I can't wear this!" Kelly shrieked from the bathroom. Hoshi laughed, and knocked on the door.
"What is it?" She asked. There was a moment of silence before Kelly threw the long black dress out of the bathroom. There were small pink dots all over the black fabric.
"I can't believe it!" Kelly shrieked again, coming out of the bathroom with her robe on. Her hair was done, and Hoshi had helped her with her makeup, but the dress was hopelessly ruined. "I ask him to do me one favor before we left Earth! Get my dress dry-cleaned! What does he do?" She continued to ramble about the dress for another minute before Hoshi interrupted her.
"Can I guess that this 'he' is Captain Archer?" Kelly made a face and nodded. "And I only packed on dress!" Hoshi sighed.
"I'll go see if the quartermaster has an extra dress." Hoshi said, and slipped out the door to escape the seething engineer. She laughs as she hurried down the corridor, her heels clicking on the deck plating. She was just hoping that Trip wouldn't have too much to drink this year, again. She collected two dresses from the quartermaster, though she had a feeling she knew which dress Kelly would choose.
She was right. Kelly had chosen the long black one. It was a spaghetti strap dress, long, black and formfitting. Kelly shifted around, surprised that it was comfortable. She sighed and rubbed the empty space around her neck. She would have looked better is she had a necklace, but she hadn't thought to bring one with her.
"You need shoes." She said. Kelly grimaced. She hated this part. The thin heels that never seemed to go out of style made her feel so clumsy. Reluctantly she put them on, and glanced at herself in the mirror. She hardly recognized the person staring back at her in the mirror. When she was on duty, she was a perosn, just a smart girl in a uniform. The girl, no, the woman staring back at her was beautiful. The long dakr hair was piled on top of her head with a few loose strands hanging down, and the gray eyes looked so full of life, so happy. She smiled, only increasing the beauty of the woman in the mirror. Hoshi grabbed her arm.
"Come on, we're going to be late!" Hoshi herself was wearing a red dress with a small V neck that fell just below her knees. She pulled Kelly down the hall. "Ooh, I can't wait to see the guys in their suits. I'm glad the Captain made it a formal occasion." She said. Kelly sighed as they entered the mess hall. Her gray eyes landed on the group of men standing on the other side of the room, mainly on one of them. His impossibly blue eyes seemed even bluer because of the dark collared shirt he had on under a black suit jacket. His tie was dark too. His gaze traveled down her body, and then went back up to her face. A small smile crept over his face as she walked over, but he hid it behind his glass of punch so the others wouldn't notice his gaze.
"Damn Kell." Trip said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. Kelly grinned as Jon shook his head.
"You ruined my other dress." She said hotly, taking a menacing step toward him. Or it was meant to be a menacing step in his direction. Her foot turned and she nearly fell over. Malcolm being between her and the floor was the only thing keeping her from falling over. That and the arm that was sudden;y around her waist. Trip laughed as both of his friend's faces turned red.
"Lets get you both some more drinks." He said, and vanished into the crowd. Hoshi came over with Travis in tow, and burst into giggles. She pointed at something above Malcolm and Kelly's head, and Travis flashed them a grin.
"Look up Lieutenants." He said, and joined Hoshi in laughing. Kelly flicked her eyes skyward. There on the ceiling was mistletoe. Kelly's face darkened. Mistletoe had not been on the decoration list for exactly this reason.
"Ooh, they've got to kiss now!" Trip said, with a grin that told Kelly he was the one who had put it up. He had probably made sure Malcolm was standing under it too. Kelly grinned sheepishly and Malcolm as she gave him a quick kiss. His face flushed, and she quickly looked over at Hoshi and Travis.
"Okay, so who put that up?" She asked, feigning annoyance. Both held up their hands in mock surrender.
"Uh, I think I'll go get another drink. . ." Trip said, trying to slip away.
"Trip, I'm going to throttle you!" Kelly laughed as he ducked behind Jon.