Prompts:

1. The story must involve a glove in it.

2. During the story, a character has someone make a meal for them.

3. The story must have a barracuda at the end.

Missed Opportunity

"So. Are you going to tell me why you wanted to meet out here near the woods? Or are we just going to stand around?"

The Doctor crossed his arms and tried to ignore the mounting discomfort in his ethical subroutines. "It's quite simple, really," he said flatly. He pulled off one of his gauntlets and threw it to the ground in front of Chakotay's feet.

Chakotay looked down at it, then up at the Doctor's blank face. He let out a single incredulous laugh. "Are you sure you want to bring back such an archaic practice? You of all people? Since no one else is around I'm willing to let this go and never speak of it again, if you are."

"I stand by my challenge."

Chakotay looked down and let out a low breath, hand resting on the pommel of his sword. "No offense, but I guarantee this isn't going to go well for you. Are you sure?"

The Doctor drew his own sword. "You would do well not to discount me so quickly."

Chakotay met his gaze, his mouth set in a thin line. "If you insist." He drew his sword and started to take a step forward.

"Computer, freeze program!"

Chakotay froze.

The Doctor whirled around to glare at the intruder. Of course it would be Tom Paris. "Lieutenant, what are you doing here?"

Tom's eyebrows were knit together. "I could ask you the same thing, Doc." He sighed when the Doctor continued to glare. "You've been acting like something was bothering you- I guess I was concerned. From the look of it, I was right to be."

The Doctor lowered his gaze and tried to ignore the part of him that was glad for the interruption, but that part of him quickly won out and the frustrated anger he had been trying to hold on to dissipated like vapor. He threw the holographic sword to the ground in disgust. Still, he found himself saying, "It's only a holodeck program, I don't see what the problem is."

Tom snorted. "You know exactly what the problem is. If this didn't bother you, you wouldn't look like you just swallowed a bucket of nails." He paused, crossing his arms. "You wanna talk about it?"

The Doctor scanned over the medieval English countryside with lowered eyes before nodding. "Computer, end program."

…

Tom didn't waste time once the door to the Doctor's office in Sickbay was closed. "This has to do with Seven and Chakotay, doesn't it?" he asked quietly.

A flash of irritation went through the Doctor's matrix like a jolt of electricity. He sat down in his office chair while Tom leaned against the door. "Yes, it does," he said sharply. His mouth twitched into a wicked grin. "Clearly my program is governed by quite childish impulses."

"Ha!" Tom smiled. "Doc, believe me, you're not the first one to do something stupid because the woman you love is in a relationship with someone else."

The Doctor scowled. "That's no excuse." He let out a frustrated sigh. "How could I attempt to do something so... barbaric? Even if it was just a holoprogram, I was there acting out of anger, out of..." he waved his hand, "spite, jealousy. It goes against the most fundamental aspect of my programming, the precondition to do no harm."

"It's adaptive, remember? You can't keep falling back on this idea that you're just a bunch of subroutines mashed together- you're more than that now." Tom paused. "You're always insisting on that yourself- why is it so hard for you to actually believe it?"

The Doctor stood and turned away from Tom, crossing his arms. "Because the very nature of what I am is still a program. I don't have a flesh and blood body like you do- I never will." He paused. "Maybe… Maybe this is better for Seven. For evertone."

"Doc..."

"Please, Lieutenant." The Doctor faced Tom again, keeping his face carefully neutral. "I appreciate your concern. And I thank you for barging in on the holodeck when you did. But I'd like to be alone now."

Tom straightened up with a sigh. "If you say so, Doc." The Doctor nodded and Tom opened the office door to leave. He paused. "Y'know... I'm no expert on what it means to be a hologram, but it sounds to me like there's more going on here than just your feelings for Seven."

The Doctor frowned, but didn't say a word.

Tom sighed again and left.

Irrelevant

"I must say, Seven, you've certainly turned the tables on me," the Doctor muttered. He frowned at the knife that apparently refused to slice the carrots the way he wanted it to. "I fail to see the relevance of this little activity of yours."

Seven raised an eyebrow, not bothering to suppress the smile that rose to her lips. "Is it not relevant enough that a situation may arise in which I am incapable of preparing a meal, no replicator is available, and I am still in need of food?"

The Doctor gave her a flat look. "I'm surprised you would give that as an argument, given the low probability of it actually happening." He continued to use the knife without looking and promptly sliced into his holographic thumb. He glanced down. "Well, that's one advantage of being a hologram. I'm not subject to the same culinary mishaps as you organics."

Seven sighed and nearly found herself rolling her eyes- a habit she was picking up from the Doctor. "It would still be more efficient to learn how to use the knife properly."

The Doctor continued to fumble. "Which would be far easier if you would simply help me to write a cooking subroutine. Though I still don't see why I would really need one."

"You have often pointed out to me the benefit of 'taking my time' when it comes to assimilating knowledge and improving certain skills. I thought this would be one such instance in which the same rule applies to you." She held out her hand and spoke again before the Doctor could protest. "Allow me to demonstrate."

The Doctor glanced up at the ceiling and sighed before pushing the cutting board, knife, and half-chopped carrot toward her.

Seven held the knife with a slightly different grip. "It helps to keep the far edge of the blade in contact with the cutting board." She demonstrated, chopping off thin slices of carrot with speed and Borg precision that would eclipse the skills of all but the best chefs on Earth. She placed another carrot on the cutting board and pushed it back toward the Doctor. "Please try again."

The Doctor gave her a skeptical look before picking up the knife once more. "All my surgical knowledge and you would think I could cut some vegetables without a problem."

Seven didn't stop at having the Doctor cut carrots. Next were onions, tomatoes, dicing garlic, basil, putting ingredients together, applying heat correctly, stirring when needed, rushing to lower heat when the pot started bubbling too aggressively, adding the proper spices in the proper quantity (unlike Neelix, who was always far too generous with his spices), then finally cooking and arranging a plate with aesthetic presentation in mind.

One full hour, several sarcastic quips (from both of them), and a very messy kitchen later, Seven asked the Doctor, "Would you like to try your creation?"

The Doctor looked at her in confusion. "I'm a hologram, I don't... Ah!" His face lit up with excitement when Seven held out her metal-laced left hand.

It was a simple ratatouille, and the Doctor was sure it must not be nearly as good as something Seven could have made herself, but he would remember the taste of it for a very long time.

Ancient Earth Customs

"Lieutenant Torres."

B'Elanna sighed. "We're not on Voyager anymore, Seven, you don't have to call me that." She leaned her elbow against the arm of the sofa and rested her head against her hand. She briefly wondered at the strangeness of the moment. Never during her days on Voyager had she imagined she would one day sit on a sofa with Seven of Nine, the Doctor between them keeping her own quarter-Klingon child occupied.

"I fail to understand the educational value of this... game show. Did Lieutenant- Did... Tom... explain?"

B'Elanna suppressed a snicker. She had to admit, half of the reason she insisted on Seven calling her and Tom by name was because it so obviously made the former drone uncomfortable. It was a minor way of keeping their old animosity alive- B'Elanna still wasn't used to the friendship that was developing between them. "He didn't. Not exactly, anyway. He did mention that this was a very popular children's show toward the end of the twentieth century. You know he's always been interested in studying that time period, its why he had his Captain Proton program."

"Miral certainly seems to enjoy it," said the Doctor happily as the infant bounced on his knee.

They all four became quiet as a new challenge started for the contestants on screen. A giant stone head explained to the four challengers the rules of the "temple challenge"- an elaborate puzzle involving multiple rooms and items they needed to find and collect which would ultimately allow them to collect the "electrified key of Benjamin Franklin". Soon, a contestant dressed in silver and another dressed in blue rushed into the temple.

"I must say, this is quite involved," the Doctor said.

Tom entered the room with a bowl of freshly popped popcorn. "It sure is, Doc." He plopped himself down on the carpet in front of B'Elanna, offering the bowl of popcorn to her and Seven in turn. "I thought Miral would like it. It didn't air for very long, but I thought it was pretty interesting. And it does have some educational value- that's Ben Franklin's key!"

One of the contestants ran into an intimidating looking "temple guard". The silver-clad challenger was led outside and their teammate ran into the temple at top speed, apparently trying to make up for lost time. From the limited understanding B'Elanna had, the challenger in blue seemed to be making quick progress through the temple's many rooms.

"The story surrounding Benjamin Franklin's use of a key and a kite in learning about the use of electricity is apocryphal at best," Seven said. Her gaze, however, was trained rather intently on the TV. If B'Elanna didn't know better, she would swear Seven was enjoying the show.

B'Elanna shifted. "Tom, can you help me with something real quick?"

Tom looked up at her with raised eyebrows and talked around a mouthful of popcorn. "Sure." He stood and they both left the room and went to the kitchen. "What's up?" he asked.

B'Elanna shook her head and leaned against the counter, where she could see the Doctor smiling at a laughing Miral and Seven leaning toward him, her attention focused on the game show. "Just... look at them. Isn't it strange?"

Tom chuckled. "What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean. A holographic doctor, an ex-Borg, and our daughter. Our daughter, Tom. Isn't that strange?"

"What, that we're married and have two of the biggest dorks in the galaxy for friends?"

B'Elanna crossed her arms. "They're not the only dorks in this house."

Tom grinned and kissed her forehead. "Can't argue with you there. But yeah. It's strange." He glanced out the kitchen entrance at the three people on their sofa. "I wouldn't change it at all if I could."

"Me neither."

Triumphant music erupted from the TV, and the show's host proclaimed, "And the winners are the Blue Barracudas!"