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"Mmm. this is delicious!"
Chakotay grinned as Kathryn took another bite, closing her eyes as she savoured the flavours. She'd been reluctant to go out to eat with him that evening, citing the pile of PADDs on her desk as her reason. But he'd managed to convince her to join him when he revealed he'd found a new restaurant he wanted her to try. "I told you you'd like it."
"Well, I'm sorry I doubted you." She scooped up another forkful and studied it a moment. "I'll never understand how people manage to come up with new meals. I can't even follow a recipe."
He chuckled, well aware of her numerous failed attempts at cooking. That's why he usually did the cooking, or they went out to eat, like tonight.
"I've never understood how you struggle so much. You're a scientist. Cooking is practically chemistry."
Kathryn let out a disbelieving snort. "Cooking is not like chemistry. Chemistry is precise, while cooking is all testing and tasting and adding a little more of this or that until you get what you want, and I can never figure out what something needs. Now, baking … Baking is like chemistry. I enjoy baking."
Chakotay raised her eyebrows in surprise. "You bake?"
"A little."
"We've known each other for seven years. How did I not know about this?"
She shrugged. "Because it's not something I do often. I never actually did it on Voyager." A soft smile crept across her face, "When I was a kid, I used to bake with my mom and my sister. We made cookies, mostly, but my mom would also try to show us how to make her caramel brownies. Phoebe's are almost as good as hers, but I never managed to get a hang of them."
"Well, your mother's brownies are unique. I always end up eating more than I should."
Kathryn grinned. "That does tend to happen. Anyway, even when we were older, we would bake cookies together every Christmas we could. I've missed that."
The light in her eyes dimmed, and Chakotay knew she was thinking back over the last seven years, of all the Christmases she'd missed, and probably of how it was all her fault. But they couldn't have that. He'd taken her out to eat in hopes of getting her mind off the long day of meetings, if only for a few hours.
"I'm sure you'll get to do it again this year."
He was rewarded with her brilliant smile.
"And in the mean time," he added, "I think I'll ask if she can show me how to make those amazing brownies of hers."
Kathryn laughed at that, a beautiful, ringing laugh. "I'm sure she will. You've got her wrapped around your little finger. She absolutely loves you."
He grinned. "She may love me, but I think she's the one who's got me wrapped around her finger. I've practically rebuilt the porch."
"She appreciates having you around."
"I'm glad to be around." He reached out to take her hand. "And not just because of your mother's brownies."