Dinner for two.

[Lt Andrew Figueroa]

OOC: Cont. From Operations

IC:

Andrew took longer then expected to change. He had to stop by his quarters to pick up his off duty attire. His new outfit was a standard Starfleet short-sleeve white jacket with yellow stripes, black pants and a red undershirt. He entered mess hall, his hands still fiddling with his jacket as it became apparent he was still in the process of putting it on. He looked around the hall trying to find his other partner for this Dinner date.

[Lt. Hikari Makoto]

Makoto laid there stretched out on her bed, in the middle of changing clothes, considering her options. After a contented sigh, she tackled her dilemma again, finally settling on a full length traditional black dress, the upper part of it accenting her frame well without showing any cleavage, and the lower part having a high slit on one leg. She also applied a bit of makeup, which accented her eyes.

Finally, she added some high heel shoes to the mix, along with making sure her hair was neatly combed. To finish her look, she puts her combadge in the middle of her chest, and her rank pips on her neck. "So Enterprise.." she said with a grin, "how do I look?" "You look absolutely stunning, I'm sure he'll like it." "That's only part of the reason I'm going this far...the other is a trade secret." she said, giving Enterprise a knowing look, which was returned, "I'm sure you've still got it." "Thanks. Well off I go for dinner. Wish me luck." she said, walking out the door.

She walked into the mess hall a few minutes later, and saw her partner for this date, and smiled as she walked over to him. "Well hello there, you certainly have a modest form of dress." she said with a smile.

[Lt Andrew Figueroa]

She appeared before the now breathless Lieutenant. Her dress was astonishing, it grasped her true beauty. He felt inappropriately dressed but with a kind comment of his attire he lightened up, returning her smile with his own. "And you are just stunning." Telling her his honest opinion. For a moment he was lost again, his mind never can truly grasp reality whenever he was in her presence. For him time always felt eternal and he liked it. He blushed a bit as he gestured his hand towards an empty table. As they approached the table, Andrew moved a chair out allowing her to sit. "Allow me." He said as Hikari took her seat. The mess hall tonight was oddly quiet. Only a few crewmates were present eating their meals. Usual nights here consisted of loud friends and co-workers eating and drinking, while telling their odd little stories to one another. It would have been eerie if Figs paid any attention to it. Taking up his seat he looked up towards Hikari with the smile from before still on his face. The date had just begun and he was already enjoying himself. "So, how was your day?" Such a cliche line but, he had nothing else to say. His mind was still in a love struck daze.

[Lt. Hikari Makoto]

She blushed at this, "Thank you." she said, then accepted the proffered chair, sitting down and leaning back in the chair a bit. After he asked her how her day was she nodded, "It went great, and this tops it off." she said, smiling at him as she put her hands in her lap. "And how was your day?" she added.

[Lt Andrew Figueroa]

He gave a single warm chuckle at her remark. "Glad to hear that." He leaned forward in his chair as he continued "My day was a bit rough but it has been a fun ride. I am glad you had time to join me for dinner tonight. To be honest I wasn't sure if you had the night-shift tonight or not." Still smiling as he placed one of his hands face-down upon the table.

[Lt. Hikari Makoto]

"Ah well, even if I did, you could have visited me in my office, since my co-workers are off that shift and I'm the token person on station." she said with a smile and a slightly flirtative wink, before nodding, "And I'm happy to be here." she added, leaning forward a bit in her chair before remarking. "Oh, and shall we get our meal?"

[Lt Andrew Figueroa]

"Oh, right. Dinner." He was about to get up when the blue holographic form of the Enterprise appeared next to their table. "Welcome to Prise of the Enter, where we serve the best replicated meals in the Quadrant." She said with an added smile. Both the of the tables occupants we taken aback with her sudden appearance, "Enterprise, what are you doing?" The Lieutenant asked in all honestly unsure what was going on. "What does it look like? You honored guest in my fair restaurant." With that she clasped her hands together and a small group of holographic waiters appeared setting up the table with standard dinning ware, an elegant table cloth and even lit candles.

Embarrassment ran through Andrew as he looked around, he was gonna make a comment about the others in the room but to his surprise it was vacant. Those who were in the Mess earlier are no longer present. "Where is everyone?" Enterprise's smile did not vanish. "Oh my Monsieur, do you not recall? You booked the entire restaurant for you and your lovely date." She said adding a wink towards Hikari. "Wait, I did what now?" Enterprise just ignored his plea for an answer and clasped her hands together once more. On cue one of the waiters from before approached Enterprise. "This is Louis, he will be serving you tonight." Louis took an honorable bow towards to two 'guests', "When you are ready," Louis said, "I will be honored to take your orders now." Enterprise took a step back and before she disappeared she said one last thing. "Well, I will leave you two alone. Enjoy."

[Lt. Hikari Makoto]

Makoto looked around, stunned by what Enterprise had done, but taking it in stride. She gave her order to the waiter, some miso soup followed by some ramen noodles and some meat, along with some wine. She blushed as she turned to Andrew, "Wow, this is certainly quite the surprise." she said.

[Lt Andrew Figueroa]

He also placed his order, some chicken dumplings and some Honey Sesame Chicken with white rice. The waiter walked away with the meal in mind, leaving the two alone. "No kidding. The Chief is gonna have a field day with this if he finds out." He was somewhat worried of the consequences of Enterprise doing this special arrangement. The computer is his responsibility so by some alien logic that makes Andrew responsible. "You know it was quite interesting that we would be having such a lovely occasion in the middle of enemy territory." he laughed to himself as he spoke. "I always assumed I would be on a Station in the middle of Federation territory."

[Lt. Hikari Makoto]

"Ah well, at least we're having it." she said with a grin before leaning back again and stretching her arms out for a moment, before returning them back to her sides. Their orders were served and she nodded her thanks to the waiter, who had happened to include chop sticks for her. "Itadakimasu.(Or, "Thanks for the meal.")" Makoto said, having placed her hands together in front of her as she said that, then began to eat.

[Lt Andrew Figueroa]

The food arrived, thanking the waiter he began to chow down, unlike Hikari he was given a fork as his utensil. An awkward silence fell upon the two. Andrew was always bad at small talk. His fork began to poke to plate as he tried to come up with something. They both finished their meal and a smile came across his face. "You know all this time I tried to come up with something we could talk about but in the end I realized that just being with you is enough to make me complete."

[Lt. Hikari Makoto]

She giggled as he said that. "Aww how sweet." she said, before nodding. "I'm glad that I've been able to help you some...and I will admit that you're pretty cute in your own way." she finished.

[Lt Andrew Figueroa]

Still not use to such compliments, Andrew face response in his trademark blush accompanied with a genuine smile. "And your incredible in your way Makoto-kun." He looked up and asked Enterprise to play a song. The song that appeared was the same one that played on the Holodeck so long ago. Andrew got up form his chair and extended his arm towards her. "May I have this dance?" He had been practicing days on end to perfect his rhythm and movements. He wanted to show her what he had learned. He wanted to do this for her.


He wanted Hikari to enjoy herself.

[Lt. Hikari Makoto]

She stood up and took his arm. "I would love for you to." she said, beginning to dance with him and noticing the difference immediately. "You've improved, that's good." she said.

[Lt Andrew Figueroa]

Keeping the lead of their dance Andrew smiled once more after her compliment. "Thank you." He twirled her around in a small spin at the appropriate part of the song. He continued the dance, his eyes never leaving her sight. The feelings were there but they were different. He was begging to understand his heart more and more as he spent time with her. He was not as confused as before about his feelings but more certain then ever. Their dance continued even passed the end of the song.