Another Day in the Messhall

"Clipping Clu-pons" POV challenge

Another Day in the Mess Hall

By Windrider

Rating: PG
Genre: Humor, POV Challenge
Spoilers: Harbinger, just a little.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Phooey.
Summary: Just another day in the Expanse. Just another day in the Mess Hall. With Chef and his excellent eyes...

A/N: A reeeeeeeeeally big hug and thanks to Distracted for being my beta. Couldn't have done it without you! Enjoy, everybody! :)

At some ungodly hour of the morning, although it's hard to call anything "morning" in space, a large, bearded man was moving purposefully around what was laughably called the kitchen of the Enterprise. Breakfast was basically ready, only requiring the occasional stir or flip. Said bearded man, usually just called Chef, had sent his stewards out to the Captain's ready room with his breakfast - an omelette with the last three of the farm eggs.

Last night, Chef had found Captain Archer staring out the viewports that surrounded the many tables and chairs of the Mess Hall. Seeing more than just a desire to stargaze in his captain, Chef joined him at the window. In a rare moment of levity, Archer asked Chef why he was still paying him, when the Mess Hall looked about as clean as a brothel on Q'onos.

A few weeks previously, an anomaly had ripped through the Mess Hall, tearing up half of the tables, and blowing out the lights in one corner of the room. Shortly thereafter, another anomaly had hit Main Life Support. The crew having decided they would rather breathe than eat comfortably, the Mess Hall was still in line for repairs.

Chef had smirked at his boss, then was surprised by another rare event. Archer became wistful. He confided in Chef that when he was very young, he'd gone with his father to a friend's farm in Iowa, and had been served an omelette for breakfast, made of eggs collected that morning.

Archer wondered aloud if he'd ever get back to that farm, and both men stood in silence for a moment. Then the Captain apologized for his melancholy tone, and Chef gently replied that there was no reason to be sorry. They said goodnight, and went their separate ways.

Now, with his two Delta-shift helpers gone to deliver what he hoped would be a little pick-me-up, Chef was left to clean out the remains of the previous meal left in his sorry Mess Hall. He didn't mind. It gave him a chance to get a feel for the crew and its mood. A lot can be learned about a person by the way he eats his food.

Chef brought out the breakfast for the day, along with some cleanser and a scrubbing pad. Settled into observation mode, he was wiping down what remained of the Mess Hall tables when the door opened and Commander T'Pol walked in. Chef glanced up, glanced back down, and then stopped. Looking back up at T'Pol, he thought something seemed... off.

T'Pol entered the now even more ironically named room, and walked to the drink dispenser. She ordered her tea, grasped her mug, and sat down at a table facing the door.

All of this was perfectly normal, and yet... was it Chef's imagination, or was she moving a bit more... stiffly... than usual? Even gingerly? Chef stared at the First Officer for a moment, then upon realising he was staring, shook his head. No. He must be imagining things.

Another few minutes passed without incident, other than a piece of stuck-on protein and an eyebrow raise, and then Commander Tucker entered the room. Again, nothing unusual about that. The two commanders were often both on the same shift, therefore tending to eat at the same time. Tucker got his coffee, and sat at T'Pol's table. Also not unexpected. They often sat together for meals.

Chef was watching them out of the corner of his eye while wiping down another table. Yep, just another day in the Expa-

He froze, and turned his head to stare at Commander Tucker. Now he was certain he wasn't imagining things. The Chief Engineer was walking just a fraction slower, and when he sat down, he eased himself down carefully.

More carefully than usual.

Even with all the abuse the ship, and by extension, its Chief Engineer, had been through recently, Tucker was generally pretty relaxed in the morning. All that neuropressure was certainly-

No.

Chef looked over again. T'Pol had taken a sip of her tea, Tucker had his hands warming, wrapped around his mug, and leaned forward slightly to speak to T'Pol.

No. They couldn't be...

Though he was too far away to hear more than the murmur of their voices, Chef could see the tension in Tucker's stance, in the way he tightly gripped his coffee cup. He said something to T'Pol, obviously trying to look and sound casual, and failing at it quite spectacularly. After a pause, she replied in a similar tone, setting her tea down smoothly on the table. Tucker suddenly got cocky, smirking a bit as he spoke. T'Pol then said something that took the wind right out of his sails.

Shifting to a closer table, Chef strained to hear their conversation, but no such luck. He could hear Tucker, sounding angry, hurt, and a little bit defensive. His punishing grip on the metal was back. T'Pol's retort was cool, and met with sarcasm as she lifted her cup to her lips.

There was a brief lull in the conversation, during which Chef shifted to yet another table. This time, he caught Tucker's far-too-casual comment.

"...doesn't mean we can't keep doing the neuropressure, though..."

Chef almost burst out laughing when he saw T'Pol's expression, but he bit his cheek, and turned back to the already clean table.

Maybe he'd make some more pecan pie. Commander Tucker was going to need all the help he could get.

~ Fin ~

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A whole mess of folks have made comments

A sweet little first fic. Thanks for submitting to T/T!

Riker as Chef? You've accepted TATV?

I got an advance peek at this one, but I have to say that I was impressed from the very beginning. I feel like I've met Chef now, and I really like the guy. Thanks, Windrider!

BTW... Who said he was Riker, Patrick? He seems MUCH too perceptive for that. : )

Oh, how cute! Poor Trip did need all the help he could get at that point in time. It's funny how sometimes when you're in a relationship, you might not realize that your behavior is quite obviously giving you away. Even if you happen to be Vulcan, LOL! A great first effort! I hope you continue to write. : )

Good job!

Thanks everybody! I'm glad people liked it! This had been floating around in my head ever since I'd heard of the challenge, and I finally got the urge to write the thing. It turned out better than I'd hoped! And no, TATV is dumb and should be hated. Or something like that. ;)

A chef story nicely done i liked Chef's observation about Archer ,Trip and T'pol the day after Harbinger a fun story. Windrider you did a grat job for your first story. I hope you'll write some more stories soon.

Lol! Nice job. I enjoyed this. Thank you for the Chef POV.

I don't think just b/c the Chef was bearded means he has to have been Riker. I really wish they WOULD have done something with Chef in the finale OTHER than what they did.

Anyway... Great job Windrider! Great idea for the POV and nice little scene as he's trying to get the scoop of what's up with the two. Tucker's poor, injured body easing into the chair is damn funny, T'Pol was a lil rough apparently =D

bra-vo!

OK, you dipped your toes in the water with this. You can write. Now go crazy and give us that epic story locked inside you!

That was fun and great! Made my day. And what a perspective on Harbringer, gave Chef a great personality.

Cute!

Excellent job! In Trip's defense, he was knocked out by an alien earlier ... although we all know that it was T'Pol that ruined him for human women. And T'Pol moving stiffly? Heh...

And I've gotta know: was Archer's Iowa friend named Kirk by any chance? :D

Maybe.... Seriously, Chef was a lot of fun to write. The beard I threw in for kicks! :)

Nice one, Windrider! I hope this is the first of many.

Very insightful. Body language give so much away.

This was cute! And YES, Trip can really use some pie!

Good work, Windrider! I could see Harbinger unfolding from the moment T'Pol went to the drinks dispenser and ordered her tea - nice to see it again from this perspective. I hope you'll continue writing and posting here.

Another truly unique POV after I thought all the unique POV's had already been discovered! Now, are you also going to delight us with one for the new challenge?

Very cute fic. :)

Isn't it odd that they talk about Chef for all of 4 seasons and never show him in person, except as an imposter on TATV?