Reed's Armory -- A Malcolm Reed Fanfiction Archive ..

Title: Moment of Truth

Author: Madeline_Reed2003

Author's e-mail: [email protected]

Fandom: Enterprise

Pairing: Reed/Sato

Rating: PG

Category: Het

Sequel to: The Big Secret

Summary: Malcolm prepares for the big moment of telling Hoshi everything. Will she have the same feelings for him?

Spoilers: Marauders, Minefield

Archived to Reed's Armory on 11/23/2003.

He was scared to death, his hands shaky, like a starship going to warp 5. There was no going back. He had to tell Hoshi how he felt about her. He could hardly hold on to his work padd from the armory, and set it down on his desk. Right beside the padd was the bouquet of beautiful roses that Trip had picked out for him in the airponics bay a few hours earlier. He had been very grateful when Trip dropped them off at his quarters early that evening.

"Here you go, Malcolm, best roses on the ship," Trip said.

"Thank you, Commander! I'm sure Hoshi will appreciate them," Malcolm replied. "Did anyone see you walk towards my quarters with them?"

"No, of course not!" Trip replied.

"Good! because I wouldn't want anyone to wonder why you're bringing me a bouquet of roses."

"Oh, I'm sure they'd understand", Trip said with a smile on his face, looking ready to laugh.

A crewman walked past them, and Malcolm glanced down at the roses in his hand.

"Uh, I think it would be best if you came in, Commander", Malcolm said. He could feel the heat rising in his face.

"Thanks, but I have to head back to engineering for the weekly inspection by the Captain. Talk to you later, Malcolm, and.......good luck."

"Thank you, Commander, you too", Malcolm replied.

Trip had walked away, and Malcolm went back into his quarters to get ready. He took a long, relaxing shower, letting the tension drain out of him. When he finished, he looked carefully through his closet, wanting to choose just the right thing to wear.

He didn't have to look too fancy -- this was just going to be a meeting with Hoshi, not a party for an admiral. He remembered the suit that his father had given him, the one which had belonged to his great uncle who'd died on the H.M.S. Clemet, some years earlier. He pulled out the suit from the closet. He could almost feel his great uncle's presence as he dressed, as if the man were there in the room with him, encouraging him. Suddenly, he didn't feel quite so nervous. Surely if his great uncle could find the courage to remain at his post as his ship sank, Malcolm could find the courage to tell Hoshi how he felt about her.

As he took a last look in the mirror, the clock on his desk beeped loudly. He jumped at the noise, then went over and turned the alarm off. He only had ten minutes left before he had to meet Hoshi in the Messhall, so he ran back to the bathroom to fix his hair. On his way out the door, he grabbed the roses. He hoped Hoshi liked them.

When he arrived at the Messhall, he saw Hoshi standing near the window, looking out at the stars. He took a deep breath, and walked towards her.

"Uh, Hoshi?" Malcolm said.

Hoshi turned with her hand on her heart, and faced Malcolm with fright on her face.

"Oh, Lieutenant, you gave me a scare! I didn't hear you come in."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Ensign, I thought that you did. I'll try to be noiser next time," Malcolm replied.

"No, that's alright. And please call me Hoshi."

"Alright, Hoshi. And I suppose you can call me Malcolm."

"Well, that's better. What do you have behind your back?" Hoshi asked.

"Oh, yes, these are for you. I thought that maybe it would lighten the mood a little for what I was going to talk to you about."

"Oh, they're beautiful! Thank you, Malcolm, that was very sweet of you," Hoshi said with smiles on her face. "Where did you find them? There aren't too many fresh roses like these in the airponics bay."

"I have my resources," Malcolm replied.

Hoshi gave a smile to Malcolm, and continued smelling the roses.

"Well shall we sit down?" Malcolm asked.

"Uh....what? Oh yes, lets sit down," Hoshi said.

Malcolm pulled out a chair for her and just stared, until she looked up at him.

"So, you wanted to talk to me about something. It must be very important. Otherwise you wouldn't have given me these flowers," Hoshi said.

"Uh yes, it is something very important," Malcolm replied. He hesitated for a moment, holding his hands tight underneath the table.

"Well?" Hoshi said.

"I'm sorry? Oh yes, right! Well, what I wanted to talk to you about was, uh........". Malcolm cast around desperately for something safe to say. "Oh, could I get you something to drink?"

Hoshi looked surprised. "Oh sure, of course. I'll just have some tea. I don't really like to drink late at night, especially when I have to go to my night shifts on the bridge."

"Yes, of course, I'll be right back with your tea," Malcolm replied. He walked over to the galley display, took out a tea cup, and put it under the drink dispenser. "Tea, Hot," he said. He carried it back to the table and handed it to her.

"Oh thank you, this is great," Hoshi replied.

"You're welcome," Malcolm said. He could hear the tension in his voice; he only hoped Hoshi didn't notice.

"So tell me what you were going to say," Hoshi said gently.

Malcolm took a deep breath. "Well, what I wanted to tell you was, uh......."

"Go on," Hoshi said encouragingly.

"We've have been working together for quite awhile now, on the bridge and lately in the armory as well, for target practice."

"Yes," Hoshi said.

Malcolm took another deep breath. The moment had come. "As we worked together, I began to realize that I felt more than friendship for you. I became seriously attracted to you. I just didn't know for certain if it was real, not at first."

"What are you trying to say, Malcolm?" Hoshi asked with some hesitance.

Malcolm gazed into her eyes. "I think I'm in love with you."

Hoshi's eyes lit up with shock, and she became speechless for a few moments. "You...you're in love with me?" she said, a stunned look on her face. "How? I mean, when did this happen?"

Malcolm took her hand. "When you showed the colonists how to shoot better for when the Klingons came back to attack them."

"Really?" Hoshi said. "Well, I was actually trying to impress you that day by showing you that I had become better with the weapons in the armory. I never expected that it would make you fall in love with me."

"Well, it did, and I haven't been able to get you out of my head since," Malcolm said.

Hoshi just froze in her chair for a few moments. "Wow, this is amazing. I still can't believe it, you LOVE ME?"

Malcolm and Hoshi laughed with each other for a few minutes.

"So now we come to the next question - might you have the same feelings for me?" Malcolm asked with some nervousness.

Hoshi paused for a moment, looking in Malcolm's eyes. "Actually, Malcolm, I've had the same feelings for you for awhile. I just didn't know how to tell you that I had fallen in love with you - you're such a private man. It's kind of hard to explain."

"I understand completely," Malcolm said with relief. " I'm sure it would have been embarrassing to tell me that you felt this way about me, before you had the idea how I felt."

"So you're not mad at me for telling you about this sooner?" Hoshi asked.

"Mad at you? I thought you would be mad at me for not telling you sooner," Malcolm replied in shock.

They looked into each other's eyes and started laughing again.

"Well, this certainly turned out to be a very interesting evening," Malcolm said with a grin.

"Yes, it totally was that." Hoshi replied.

They looked at each other a moment, and both rose slowly from their chairs. Malcolm took her hand and stepped closer. He hesitated briefly, then embraced her. Their lips met in a passionate kiss.

"So what's next?" Malcolm said in a romantic voice.

"Well, we could go to my quarters and keep on talking. Or just stay here and start planning our first date until I have to go to the bridge." Hoshi suggested.

Malcolm thought for a moment. "Well, we could stay here and plan our first date together until you have to go to your night shift, but then again, it would be nice to see your quarters, too," he replied.

Hoshi and Malcolm smiled happily, took each other's hands, and walked out of the Messhall.

~the end~