Chapter 3
Jon was in his chair on the bridge as he endured the grilling Hoshi and Malcolm were giving him about his date, while Travis and T'Pol wisely decided to simply sit back and listen.
"So, did you wear the shirt I suggested?" Hoshi asked.
Jon sighed. "Yes. He said the color brings out my eyes."
"I told you!" She exclaimed triumphantly.
"Well I hope you changed your mind and decided on a movie instead of some god-awful sports game. Really, who considers that as a date?" Malcolm snorted.
"Trip does. In fact we made a little bet on the game."
Hoshi grinned. "What kind of bet?" She wagged her brows at Jon.
He rolled his eyes. "Nothing like that! Get your mind out of the gutter! We bet that if his team won, I'd have to serve him breakfast for the next 2 weeks, and if my team won, he serves me lunch."
"So, who won the bet?" She asked.
If timing couldn't get better, the lift doors opened and Trip stepped out in full dress uniform carrying a tray of food. "Your lunch, sir."
Jon grinned widely at Trip as he sat up straight in his chair, ready to receive the tray. "Well now, aren't you dressed up so lovely."
Trip shot him a glare as he handed the tray to Jon. "You know how much I hate wearing this."
"Yep. That's why I threw it in the bet." Jon chuckled as he inspected the food. "Pastrami sandwich?"
Trip nodded. "Just like you ordered, sir."
"Rye bread?"
"Yes sir."
"Whole grain mustard?"
"Of course."
"Real swiss cheese, not that fake processed crap?"
"Exactly as you ordered it, Cap'n."
Jon decided he had tortured Trip long enough as he tried and failed to hide his smirk. "Ok, thanks. You're dismissed, Commander."
Trip started to leave and got halfway to the lift. His back stiffened when he heard Jon call out. "Trip."
Trip closed his eyes for a second, biting at his lip before slowly turning with an innocent smile. "Yes sir?"
Jon picked up the pickle spear from the tray and held it up. "You want my pickle?"
Trip gave him a mischievous look, but kept that dirty comment to himself as he took the offered spear and got to the lift as quickly as he could.
Just as he stepped through the doors, Jon took a sip of his tea. "TRIP!" Jon yelled out as he turned in time to see Trip laughing and waving a hand, biting into the pickle spear as the doors closed.
Jon scowled at the closed doors. "I'm going to get him for that." He muttered.
"What's wrong?" Malcolm asked.
Jon held up the glass of tea towards the light to get a good look at it. "The tea is sweet… sickening sweet! He had to fill half the glass with sugar to be that sweet. You just don't mess with a guy's tea. It is so on!"
The bridge erupted into laughter at their captain's expense.
§§§
A couple days had passed and Jon decided to surprise Trip with a special delivery of breakfast to his quarters. Trip's hair was a mess, he hadn't shaved yet and a wide yawn greeted Jon as the doors opened.
Trip blinked through sleepy eyes looking at Jon and the food tray he was carrying. "Jon? What's this? What time is it?"
Jon chuckled. "Were you still in bed? It's 0630! Your shift starts in 30 minutes you know. Really taking advantage of your time off, aren't you."
Trip stepped to the side to let Jon in. "Yeah, real funny. I'd be happy if I could go on duty. I hear we're making a stop at Rigel IV. Can I at least go planet side a few hours just to get some air and get off the ship?"
"I'll run it by Phlox, but it's not really a shore leave. Starfleet has appointed me as a representative to sign off on some negotiation trade treaty. I'm sure the Rigelians will want to try and change a few points at the last minute, and I'll be stuck in boring meetings half of the afternoon."
"Well, I'd still like to get out for a while if I can. Change of scenery. So does this mean I'm off the hook for serving your lunch today?" Trip grinned.
"Looks that way. I'll talk to Phlox and see what I can do about letting you off the ship, but I'm not making any promises. Wish I could stay and have breakfast with you, but I need to get to work. Gardner wants a briefing with me before we get to Rigel."
"Ok, you have fun with the briefing, thanks for breakfast."
Jon smiled. "Anytime, babe. Hope you enjoy it and I'll let you know what Phlox says." He gave Trip a quick kiss before leaving.
Trip took the tray over to his table and uncovered it, eager to dive into the scrambled eggs, bacon and toast. He took a big bite of the eggs and instantly spit them out. "JONATHAN! Gawd, what did he do? Dump a pound of salt in these eggs? That's just mean."
Trip reached for his coffee to wash down the salt. The coffee sprayed from his mouth immediately. "Ugh! Pepper in the coffee? You just don't fuck with a guy's morning cup!"
He eyed the orange juice, but decided it was best to leave it alone. He got dressed and made his way to the mess hall to have breakfast there… where it was safe.
Surprised that the mess was empty and dark, he looked around perplexed, expecting to see people from the shift change getting something to eat. Instead all he saw was 1 lone steward that looked like she was just starting to set up for the morning rush. "Uh… where is everyone?"
She looked at him confused by the question. "Sir? Well, you're either very late or very early. It's 0345. I can fix you something if you're looking for a midnight snack."
Trip stood shocked for a moment. "0345? Sonofabitch." He shook his head as he walked out the door muttering to himself as the steward tried to figure out what that was about.
Trip glared at the man laying in his bed. "Cute, real cute. Waking me up in the middle of the night, making me think it was morning, spiking my food."
Jon chuckled. "Well… technically it is morning, and the food was payback for what you did to my tea."
Trip shook his head while he took his clothes off, dropping them to the floor. "So you crawled in my bed thinking you're going to make it up to me? Are we really going to Rigel or was that just part of the set up?"
"We're really going to Rigel and I do have a briefing with Gardner at 0800, and I will talk to Phlox about letting you off the ship to see the sights. As for me in your bed… snuggle?"
Trip gave him a look. "Mmm… alright, but just snuggles. Probably going to go right back to sleep as soon as my head hits the pillow anyways."
He let out a wide yawn as he got into bed, snuggling into Jon's waiting arms. "That tired huh?" Jon asked softly as he gave small kisses and stroked at Trip's hair.
Trip nodded, relishing the feel of Jon's hand smoothing through his hair. "I was up past 0100 looking over Christine's ideas about the engine. I really think it can work."
"Oh, well maybe you should go back to sleep then, but I'm not sorry about the prank."
Trip giggled as he snuggled in closer. "I know, sweetheart." He mumbled, already falling back to sleep.
Jon scowled a moment. "Are you really going to leave your clothes on the floor? And you didn't even take the tray out with you, just leaving that too?"
Trip mumbled something unintelligible before he started to softly snore.
