For my wonderful friend Bec. I plan to finish this within about 24 hours. Please do review though!
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek, sadly. Or J/C would have been together!
It had taken him days to perfect the recipe, a base that was not too crumbly but not to dense or buttery, a creamy texture for the inside that was light but dense at the same time, the perfect amount of flavour, not lacking but not so intense that it would be over powering. He'd asked almost every one on the ship to try some and comment on what they thought about it and every time something had been a little off, but this time he had finally gotten it right, he had successfully made the perfect coffee flavoured cheesecake. Now all he had to do was make it just as perfect once again and present it to his captain.
What had prompted him to make this cheesecake in the first place, he had no idea but he was certain that it would be a great hit. He had used Marie biscuits and butter for the base, blended them together so that the butter would still be slightly hardened rather than melted, to give it a smoother and denser base that still crumbled in your mouth. He had experimented with the filling, tried mixing all the ingredients in all at once and separating out different ingredients to mix in later to see which method resulted in the smoothest and creamiest mixture. Finding that beating the caster sugar, cream cheese and sour cream first, followed by a dash of coffee liqueur and a dash of coffee essence before beating in the eggs one at a time, had been the best result.
Once the base was cooked and the mixture was done, he baked it in the oven for about fifty minutes before letting it cool and refrigerate over night for the cheesecake to be the perfect consistency. Tomorrow would be the day that he carried his masterpiece onto the bridge and into her ready room where he could finally see if his creation pleased her.
Morning, it was finally morning and his duty shift was not far off. He busied himself with various tasks such as making the bed, tidying his quarters, showering and putting on his uniform before retrieving his cheesecake from the little refrigerator he had, covering it up, grabbing the serving tools he needed and leaving his quarters. Entering the turbo lift and telling it to take him to the bridge, he couldn't help the smile that crawled across his face. When the turbo lift doors swooshed open, as he previously guessed, his captain was not in her command chair.
Every single morning to this day, she would always go straight to her ready room after saying hello to her bridge officers, for a cup of coffee. She never deviated from this ritual unless something or someone required her presence on the bridge or somewhere else. So of course he headed straight to her ready room doors and pushed the chime. He waited for her response.
'Come in'. Came her usual reply to a request for entry. I preceded forward and the doors opened to let me in before closing behind me once I was safely inside.
She was sitting behind her desk, coffee cup in one hand PADD in the other, reading through one of the many reports that had been piled up on her desk. She raised her head too look at me and her eyes darted to the covered plate in which I held. A look of curiosity and surprise became present on her features and she smiled one of her contagious smiles.
'What is this Chakotay?' I couldn't help but smile myself at her interest.
'I brought you a little something I thought you might like.' Walking over to the couch, she followed and sat down as I placed my gift on the table in front of her. I waited until she was comfortable before I lifted the cover to reveal to her what it was I had brought her. She must have been impressed because her expression lit up and she gasped in amazement.
'You brought me cheesecake? For breakfast?'
'Not just any cheese cake, coffee cheesecake.' Her smile seemed to widen upon hearing this piece of knowledge and I could see she was eager to try it, despite her last comment about eating cheesecake for breakfast. Picking up the knife I cut out a large slice, gently lifted it from the cake and placed in on a little plate with a dessert fork and handed it too her. She looked at it intently, trying to decide whether she indulged on it now or saved it till later, but her desire to taste it got the better of her and she ever so gently cut off a small piece with her fork and placed it in her mouth.
I was holding my breath in anticipation of her reaction, hoping that this cheesecake would blow her away. I watched her face, to see if I could gauge her thoughts, I couldn't but I could see that she seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it.
'Chakotay! This is amazing!' I sighed with relief as she took another mouth full, within seconds it was gone. 'Did you make this?'
'Yes. It took me a while to perfect it but I got there in the end. At least I think I did?'
'It's fabulous. You do realize when this one is gone you will have to make it again?'
'I do realize that captain.' I smiled again; she seemed to have that effect on me.
'Well, you seem to be quite the chef, how come I haven't had the pleasure of indulging in your cooking skills?'
'Well I only just finished installing my kitchen. Why don't you come over for dinner tonight? We can have our regular dinner over home cooked meals instead of replicated ones?'
'Sounds like a good idea to me. How about I come over at six?'
'That sounds fine to me.' I turned to leave before abruptly turning around to say one last thing. 'Enjoy the rest of the cheesecake.' I could hear her laughing before she managed to reply.
'I will Commander, don't you worry about that.' And I left feeling accomplished and satisfied that I had supplied her with something that would allow her to relax, if only just for a short while.
What I didn't expect was the way I would feel later that night when we were alone, together, in my quarters, so close together that I could feel her warm breath on my skin as I looked down into her eyes, searching for what I didn't even know I had been looking for, love.
