CHAPTER 5 – Fancy Broccoli

Naomi spent the rest of the day enjoying her book. When it was time for her mother to come home, she hid it under her bed. She would share it eventually, but for now the book was just for her and she wanted to enjoy in secret. It was, quite possibly, the nicest thing anyone had ever given her.

But now she had a bit of a dilemma. She was enjoying the trading experience but she seemed to be at a dead end. She had one hour of holodeck time left with which to bargain but no idea who might want it. She decided it best to talk with Neelix in the morning. And that's exactly what she did.

"An hour of holodeck time?" Neelix repeated, rubbing his chin. "Hmm…." He shrugged. "You know, I'm not sure who would need that right now, or more importantly, who would pay for it. I'll tell you what, I'll keep my ears open and if I hear anything I'll let you know."

"Thanks Neelix," she replied, somewhat forlorn.

"This might be a good time for you to take a break for a while. The best soups are the ones that are left to simmer," he advised her. Naomi shook her head. Neelix seemed to have an awful lot of platitudes about waiting around for things to happen.

The Talaxian was wrong. Her soup wasn't simmering, it was boiling. For the next week she felt as if her hearing were on Red Alert. She was constantly searching, listening, hoping that something would jump out at her. She dreamed about that holodeck hour and what it might turn into. She attempted interjecting herself into conversations but they just ended awkwardly. She tried scanning the holodeck logs to see who might not have had a turn in a while. But everything ended in a dead end.

The whole business was becoming rather tiresome until one day she noticed that she wasn't thinking about it quite as much as the day before. Another week passed. One morning after her mom left for breakfast, she decided to pay a visit to Neelix before her morning lessons. She was going to inform him that she was officially done with trading and ask that he join her for an hour of play with Flodder.

"Ah, Naomi!" Neelix greeted her cheerfully. "Just the girl I wanted to see."

"Oh?"

He sidled up to her by the breakfast counter. "You still have that hour of holodeck time, don't you?"

Naomi nodded, defeated. "Yeah, I do."

"Well, it just so happens that your soup is done simmering," he replied with a smile.

"Someone needs my holo-ration?" She asked, astonished.

"Yes ma'am. I overheard Lieutenant Ayala this morning saying that he wished he had an extra hour of time for his date with Megan Delaney tonight. Apparently, he only has two and he's hoping it will be more of a three hour kind of thing…if you know what I..." Neelix waggled his eyebrows, then realized who he was talking to and cleared his throat.

Naomi smiled brightly. "That's great!" Then she looked suddenly downtrodden. "You know, I like this trading stuff, but it's hard for me to ask for something in return. I feel sorta guilty."

Neelix nodded. "That's normal, and it's good. It means you're a kind and giving person. The type of person someone would want to be friends with." He put his arm around her. "So, I'm going to help you out one further. I happen to have it on good authority that tonight is Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay's weekly dinner together. It's the Captain's turn to cook, which is something she absolutely hates to do. I also happen to know that Ayala's father was a chef in a very nice restaurant back on Earth. The lieutenant has a stash of replicator recipes that he keeps very close to the chest. But I'm fairly certain that if you ask on behalf of the Captain and his former Maquis Captain, he'd be willing to share."

Naomi nodded with a grin. "Excellent!"

She was back in the game.

Tracking down Lt. Ayala, who now insisted on being called "Mike", had been a piece of cake. Actually, it had been a piece of triple-chocolate cheesecake which the Captain and First Officer would be having for dessert this evening. Right after they dined on mushroom-stuffed prawns, cranberry walnut salad and pan-seared Atlantic salmon with something called 'ragout' and fancy broccoli. Naomi wasn't quite sure what all of those foods were but she thought that it was sounded like something adults would enjoy. She much preferred spaghetti and meatballs, with chocolate milk of course.

Mike had been all too happy to share his recipes in return for the hour of holo-time. He was apparently quite fond of Megan and was about to tell Naomi what he had planned to do with that hour, then thought better of himself and stopped talking. She wondered why people kept doing that.

As for the Captain Janeway, Naomi decided that she didn't want anything else in return. Truth be told this trading thing had been more stressful than fun. And there was no way she could ask the captain of the ship for any kind of payment. She was perfectly happy to let the experience end with a nice dinner for the command team. So, she transferred the replicator recipes to a PADD and left it leaning against the door to Janeway's quarters. Then she dusted her hands of the whole matter and went about her day.

The next morning in the mess hall, while studying for her upcoming quiz on cell division, Naomi was greeted by a most unexpected guest. Commander Chakotay sat down across from her and slid her a glass of apple juice.

"Commander?" Naomi asked, surprised.

"Good morning Naomi," he replied with a dimpled smile. She always thought it was funny how his cheeks poked in when he was happy. "I had to come by and thank you for what you did for Captain Janeway yesterday."

"How did you…." she trailed off. It was basically his ship too, after all. Of course he would know.

"Dinner was delicious. It was quite possibly the nicest meal Kathryn and I have had in the last seven years."

Naomi blushed. She thought it was strange to hear him call the captain by her first name. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"You know, Kathryn always hates her turn at cooking. She jumped to conclusions and thought that I was the one who left the PADD," Chakotay explained. "I figured you wanted it to be a secret, so I didn't clue her in. I hope you don't mind. I kind of took the credit."

Naomi shook her head. She didn't mind at all. "How did you know it was me?"

"Ayala mentioned it."

"Oh, right." Maquis, she thought and took a sip of the apple juice.

"Actually, I should have thought to ask Ayala myself for his secret recipes. I didn't realize he was holding out on us all these years," Chakotay winked. "Anyway, I wanted to thank you and to give you something. Actually, I'd like to teach you something in return."

Naomi's bit her lip. She had expected her trading days to be behind her, but here she was again the recipient….

The commander stood to take his leave. "I'll meet you at your quarters after Alpha shift, around 1630. Make sure you have a clean table we can work on."

Naomi nodded at him with a grin. "Okay!"

Naomi's mother returned to their quarters promptly at the end of Alpha shift to find her daughter cleaning. Red alert klaxons rang in her head and she stopped dead in her tracks just inside the door.

"Are you….cleaning?" she asked, just a little bit astounded.

"Yup," Naomi replied. She shoved a bunch of drawings into the waste recycler then hurried to pick up a pile of building sticks and stuffed animals from the floor.

"Um. Thank you. Is there a reason?" Her mother asked hesitantly. For a moment she thought there might actually be something really wrong with the girl.

"Commander Chakotay," Naomi replied. And she hurried into her bedroom with her belongings.

"Commander Chakotay." Samantha repeated. "You're cleaning for the first officer?"

"Yup," Naomi shouted from the next room.

"Okay….." Samantha shook her head, confused but rather pleased. Their quarters had never looked better.

"He's coming over." She scurried back into the living room. And just then the door chimed.

"He's here!" Naomi said excitedly. "Come in!"

With a little bit of shock, Samantha Wildman welcomed Voyager's first officer into her home for what was definitely the first time.

Chakotay regarded the woman. "I hope I'm not intruding Ensign, I promised Naomi that I'd teach her how to make a dreamcatcher this afternoon."

Samantha shook her head. "Not at all Commander, please come in and make yourself comfortable."

"Off-duty Chakotay is fine," he said with a smile and Naomi saw those strange little dimples come through again. Then he turned to the girl. "Okay Naomi, where should we set up?"

By the time they were done two hours had passed, two ice-cream sundaes had been eaten well-before dinner and together they had made a very elaborate dreamcatcher. Naomi had also heard several stories from Chakotay's childhood and a few colorful legends.

The dreamcatcher was made of sticks woven together with a tacky string and purple feathers – her favorite color – and had shiny iridescent beads tied into the center. He helped her to hang it on her wall. Then he explained that good dreams are clear and know their way to the dreamer as they descend through the feathers. The bad dreams however, are confused and cannot find their way through the web. They would be trapped until the rising of the sun burned them away. Or in her case, when she turned her lights on in the morning.

After he left she admired their handiwork. Upon contemplation, she was further pleased to realize that the best part of the afternoon was getting to know the commander better. She also, of course had the dreamcatcher and now possessed the knowledge on how to make another if she wanted to. That was like three trades in one. And all for the low price of some really fancy broccoli.