TITLE: Cooking up Trouble
AUTHOR: Matt, Oct 2002
SUMMARY: Kathryn’s loose in the kitchen. But it’s all for a good reason!
RATING: G
DISCLAIMER: Not mine, at least, not the characters… but they did create the woman who couldn’t cook!
THANKS TO: My dear not-beta, SaRa, who managed to work through this spur of the moment piece.
Clang! Bash! Wallop! Groan!
Why, oh why had Kathryn ever thought she could actually bake a cake for Chakotay’s fiftieth birthday? He’d never wanted anything special for his birthday, not in the eight years she had known him. So why had she tackled this outrageous task?
Jealousy, she muttered to herself. She’d seen the amazing work of art that Phoebe had put together for the twins’ birthday, and she’d wanted to do something of equal worth. Once more, Kathryn tried to pry the cooked dough out of the pan to no avail.
She laughed, she had to or she thought she might cry. She had followed the recipe to the letter, had double-checked the ingredients, the measurements. She’d not even made it from scratch, having had the replicator come up with a decent base cake mix.
Kathryn flung the cake pan down on top of the stove again. Maybe brute force might persuade this thing to relinquish its hold on Chakotay’s birthday gift. She pushed the knife down into the gap between substance and metal; the mix hadn’t even spread across the pan as it was supposed to.
“Argh!” she cried again as she threw the pan down one more time. He would be home soon from visiting his cousin, and she had wanted the first birthday they spent together on Earth to be special.
Kathryn finally gave up, sunk to the floor and wept.
Chakotay found her there an hour later. He called out her name in alarm, fearing something desperately wrong. “Hey,” he said softly, pulling her into his arms. “What’s wrong.”
“Everything,” she sobbed. “I had the perfect birthday lined up for you. I’d been planning for weeks. And now,” she sniffed. “It all goes wrong because I’m so damn helpless.”
“No, you’re not,” he comforted. “You’re anything but… you’re a strong, capable woman who led a mismatched crew on an amazing journey, facing down countless enemies on the way. I don’t know of anyone else that could beat the Borg before breakfast, have the Hirogen for lunch and still have room left for the unknown. Chakotay smiled as he quoted an old line of Tom’s.
“Oh, don’t,” Kathryn sniffled. “Don’t talk about eating right now.”
“Why not?”
She nodded her chin upward to the stovetop. “That was for you. I don’t know why I even bothered.”
Slowly, Chakotay stood up and peered over the edge of the stove. Cautiously, he picked up one of the baking tins, and peered inside. Feeling a little more confident he sniffed it. Finally, trying desperately to keep from grinning, he looked back down at his wife. “You attempted to cook?”
“Oh, don’t,” she said again, bursting into a fresh round of tears. “It was going to be so special, you know.” She took a look at the man who was now laughing freely. “It isn’t funny,” she snapped.
“Oh yes, it is.” He slid back down, cake pan still in hand. “Kathryn, haven’t we all learned by now? We don’t love you for your cooking skills…” He pushed the tin away and it went skidding across the floor, coming to a stop with a thud against the door. There was a soft padding of feet and Tinker, their red setter, buried her nose in the would-be cake, wolfing it down in great bites. “Okay, so the dog likes it,” Chakotay commented dryly.
It was enough to finally cause a smile to break out on Kathryn’s face. “Wonderful,” she said. “I’ve learned to make dog food.”
“Better than nothing.” He stood up and hauled Kathryn to her feet. “Come on, let’s go out to eat, and then you can drag me to Tom’s surprise party that I’m not supposed to know about.” He took in her expression. “Oh come on, he’s done one every year for the past seven years. A little thing like being home on Earth was not going to stop him.”
Kathryn nodded. “Okay. Just try to act surprised.”
“Don’t I always?” He ran a finger down her cheek. “Now, go on, wash your face and put some clean clothes on while I clean up here.” Chakotay gave her a light kiss and watched her leave the room. “Here, Tinker,” he called and picked the second cake pan off the counter. “Dinner’s served.”
FIN
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