Malcolm and Hoshi: The Missing Scenes

Storm Front Part 1

“You’re absolutely sure you feel up to this?”

“Yes, Malcolm.  Quite sure.”  She watched him look across at Phlox, wanting confirmation.  He wouldn’t take her word for it, of course.  It was an inability that sometimes made her want to hug him and other times made her want to clout some sense into him, but that was just the way he was – the archetypal worrier.

“There’s no medical reason at all why Ensign Sato shouldn’t resume her full-time duties if she feels up to it.”  Phlox beamed at them both.  “She’s performed perfectly well on restricted duties and her neural damage has healed beautifully.  One more injection, and the remaining parasites should be gone.  And I’m sure you’d both like to be on the Bridge for our arrival back on Earth.”

“Well – shift starts in twenty minutes.  We can take a slow walk up.” She grinned.  They’d had breakfast together, and she felt good.

“That sounds like a good idea to me.” Malcolm grinned back at her, and the two of them walked out of Sickbay after rendering due thanks to Phlox.

“It’s going to be really strange coming back without Captain Archer,” said Hoshi a little sadly as they walked down the corridor.  “But we succeeded in what he took us out there to do, so I guess that’s what he’d think was the important thing.”

“Hmm.”  He seemed a little distracted.  “Hoshi, would you mind if we just stopped off at the observation lounge for a minute or two?  I was reading in there last night and I forgot my book.”

“No problem.”  It was only just down the corridor.  And there were some good memories associated with that place, so she definitely had no problem revisiting it, especially in the present company.  He’d probably be remembering that too, and he’d give her the smile that turned her heart over, though unfortunately they didn’t have time to linger – not that staging a repeat performance would be a good idea anyway, not just as the day shift was getting into gear.  The chances of them remaining undisturbed were virtually zero.

They walked through the door, but instead of going to pick up any book he turned and caught her into his arms and gave her a long, lingering kiss that left her dizzy, and not only with surprise.

“What was all that about?” she asked breathlessly, as he finally released her mouth, though he didn’t let go of her.

“I’ve ... I want to ask you something, and there’s nowhere on this ship that even remotely qualifies as ‘suitable’, but this was where we ... not that that’s ... oh, hell!”  He took a deep breath, just as her heart jumped into her throat.  “Hoshi, I love you.  And I know it’s a bit early to ask, and if you say no I’ll completely understand, but ...” he swallowed audibly, and dropped to one knee in front of her.  “Will you marry me?”

All the romantic traditions were clear on what a lady ought to do when receiving a proposal of marriage.  That said, it was the last thing she’d been expecting, and as soon as it dawned on her what was coming, every last one of her coherent thought processes had packed and left the building.  It was not, however, very likely that any of the aforementioned traditions included gawping down at your prospective fiancé as though he’d suddenly suggested throwing you out of the nearest airlock rather than making you the future Mrs. Reed.

“I’m so sorry.  I shouldn’t – you don’t ...” Mortification washed over his face at her stunned silence, and he started to get back to his feet. 

Unfortunately he was only half-way through the movement when she grabbed hold of him and kissed him.  At least, kissing him was the plan, but as he overbalanced and fell backwards it didn’t happen.  He landed on his butt, and she fell on top of him, knocking him flat.  At least in this position she could follow through with her original plan, and she kissed him breathless, not caring if Captain Archer in person walked in through the door and caught them in flagrante.

Evidently aware that if someone didn’t get a handle on the situation fast it was going to get rapidly out of hand, he eventually pushed her away long enough to get a good look at her face.

“Is that a ‘yes’?” he asked, with a smile of delight threatening to break out and split his face in half.

“Yes!  Oh, yes!”  She buried her face in the angle of his neck, reveling in the feeling of his closeness.  So often she’d wondered what he felt for her, but never dared to ask, fearing she wouldn’t like the answer; he was always deeply uncomfortable discussing such personal issues as feelings.  If sex was the only closeness she could have with him, she was perfectly willing to settle for it, but of late she’d begun to think that what they had was more than just sex.  She’d realized months ago that she loved him.  But that he loved her in return had been little more than a dream.

“Bloody hell!”  His arms closed around her, crushing her till she squeaked, at which he instantly and apologetically released her.  “Right.  So there’s something else I have to do.  If I can remember which pocket I put it in ...”

Hoshi sat up, wide-eyed, discovering in the process that his personal phase pistol shared his enthusiasm for developments, despite the fact that they were not only on duty but also in an extremely public place.  Grinning wickedly, she proceeded to make his predicament rather worse.

“If you don’t stop that I won’t even remember that I have pockets,” he gasped.

This not being conducive to their getting onto the Bridge for the start of their shift, she stopped and looked unconvincingly demure.

He exacted revenge by pretending to search every part of his coveralls, but eventually took pity on her.  From the small pocket on his right sleeve he drew out a narrow, smooth band of metal.

“I bought the stone just before we left Jupiter Station,” he said in a low voice, a little hesitantly.  “I don’t know, it just seemed like ... like some sort of talisman, some kind of hope we might get through.  And the metal, I ... I know rings are supposed to be gold, but ... it’s duranium.  Part of Enterprise’s hull. I thought you might like that, because ... well, because of everything.  I salvaged it while we were doing the repairs, and I’ve been working on it on the way home.  But if you don’t like it you can choose a proper one when we get back to Earth, of course,” he ended hurriedly.

In a little silence she watched him slip it on to her finger.  She didn’t know what the stone was, but it was a deep, vivid, clear blue oval, in which slightly pinkish lights woke as she looked at it more closely.  The band was perfectly smooth and round, but instead of being polished to a mirror finish it looked brushed, a startling contrast to the brilliance of the stone.  It must have taken him many hours of painstaking labor at an unfamiliar art to create a thing of such beauty.  It was even the right size.

“Malcolm, I’ll treasure it as long as I live,” she said a little huskily.  “But – you know I can’t wear it yet.  And we can’t tell anyone.  We have to talk it over, find out what our options are.  If we want to make this official it might mean we have to leave the ship.”

He nodded.  “Yes.  I’m aware of that.  But if that’s what it takes, then I’m prepared to pay it.”  He kissed her passionately again, and then broke off.  “And if we want to get to the bridge for the start of our shift, we’re going to have to run like blazes.”

They scrambled up, and she regretfully removed the ring, tucking it safely into one of her own pockets. 

“I can’t be late on my first day back,” she remonstrated playfully.  “You picked a hell of a time to propose!”

“I wanted to know, one way or the other, before we got back to Earth,” he answered as they left the Observation Lounge and headed quickly for the turbo-lift.  “It’ll all be so chaotic there when we get back.  I was afraid I’d lose track of you somehow, and that would be it.”

“Not much danger of that now,” she commented.  She’d been making plans for the short trip up to ‘A’ Deck if the lift had been empty, but as the doors hissed open they revealed Trip, also on his way to the bridge.  As a result of this, the plans had to be postponed, although she planned to spend every spare moment of her shift elaborating and adding to them for later.

“Lookin’ a lot better these days, HoshI!” said Trip cheerfully as they got in.  “I hear you’re back with us full time from today!”

“I wouldn’t have missed today for the world,” she said, smiling, and gave him a peck on the cheek.

“And geez, even Malcolm’s lookin’ happy!”  The chief engineer gave them both a speculative look.  “Now if I didn’t know any different ...”

“You don’t know anything, sir,” the lieutenant interrupted him ruthlessly.  But the brightness in his eyes was too great to be hidden from such an observant friend.

“Well, in that case I won’t say anything.”  But he gave Hoshi a great big bear hug, and even Malcolm was the recipient of a rather more decorous one, mainly because the lift was too small to give him space to dodge away and even an ‘Oh, bloody hell!’ couldn’t save him.

“Not a word!” admonished Hoshi as the lift reached ‘A’ deck.

“Scout’s honor.”  Trip winked.

And so they left it.