A Traditional Valentine's Dinner Tradition

Posted on Sun Jul 19th, 2026 @ 12:33am by Lieutenant Kally Kellerman & Captain Calypso Skyie
Edited on on Sun Jul 19th, 2026 @ 12:49am

2,527 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Valentine's Day
Location: Holodeck 1
Timeline: February 14th

Kally wiped her hands on a dishtowel and surveyed her prep work. She'd saved the kitchen program she had and was glad she did so, when she realized she needed something for Valentine's Day. It wasn't a holiday she traditionally celebrated, or celebrated traditionally for that matter, but now she had a reason, and she wasn't going to miss out on it.

It was absolutely a romantic setup, the small table for them already set up, though the pair of candles weren't lit just yet, not until the right time. Cally wasn't certain what she should be doing, so she mostly hovered around watching. They'd had her in the kitchen on a couple occasions, with Kally informing her in so many words that she was now forbidden to cook anything more complicated than macaroni and cheese, and then only with supervision. "You know, we could always just replicate something?"

"And we could always just use my toys to get off," Kally said. "I'm trying to make a point here."

"Whoa, pax, I surrender.." Cally raised her hands as Kally snapped at her, "I'm sorry, I just... Don't understand."

Kally put the lid back on the pot she'd been checking and turned and walked over to Cally, taking her girlfriend's face in her hand and leaning up to kiss her in apology. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that as harshly as it sounded. My point was, I want you to see me make an effort," she said, solemnly, "and I want you to see that I want to make an effort." She sighed and looked down. "Valentine's Day used to be a day I avoid, or a day things would go south for someone. This is the first time I've been in a relationship on Valentine's Day that I wasn't trying to sabotage, and I don't want to risk feeling like I was slacking."

Calypso reached down and tipped Kally's face up to give her another kiss, "You know I don't think you're slacking, right?" She wrapped the doctor up in a hug, knowing that she probably needed it, "You've been going out of your way to make me feel special, setting up events with others for us, just being absolutely amazing. You're the first girlfriend I've actually had for a Valentine's Day in well, ever, I think, and that counts boyfriends too I should add, and if anything, I'm the one that isn't making enough of an effort."

Kally held her tightly. "You do great," she said. "You hug me when I'm sad, you indulge my love of Terran musicals, and you have never once turned me away. I don't know yet what I need in a relationship, but you've always figured it out and given it. I appreciate that." She held her tightly for a moment and kissed her again.

"You are indeed the very model of a modern med'cal miracle." Cally squeezed tighter, the pun of that famous Gilbert and Sullivan tune that Kally had somehow turned into an ode for the medical profession still a bit puzzling for her. How could anyone go through that rhyme that quick and still get it right? "As for adapting to your every need? If one thing doesn't work, I've got a history of others so that something else always will. And I always will find it. Until then, I'm not planning on you getting away from me, so you're stuck with me, Kally Kellerman."

Kally's eyes were wet and she leaped straight up, wrapping herself around Cally and kissing her hard before letting out a squeak and dropping to the floor, only saying, "the kartoffelklöße!"

She quickly ran back to the stove and pulled a lid off a pan, then sighed with relief and grabbed tongs, pulling golden brown spheres out and onto a rack to drain and cool a bit. "All right," she said, "would you light the candles and make yourself comfortable?"

Part of Calypso wanted to go back to taste-test the delectable-looking balls, but knew that she wouldn't be allowed to do it, so instead she grabbed a fire-starter and lit the two candles, making sure they had caught before she put that off to the side and reluctantly took a seat. She genuinely wanted to help, and Kally thought that she worked too hard when she really didn't.

Kally opened the oven, grabbing a couple of tea towels and pulled a roasting pan out of the oven. She extracted a portion of the roast's liquid into a small sauce pan and stirred, finishing up a gravy. Within a few minutes, she had a platter with slices of meat, golden brown balls and bright red cabbage. "I hope you like sweet-and-sour combinations," she said. "My father loves this meal, so mother makes it for special occasions."

"So long as you aren't feeding me brussels sprouts, or whatever that Vulcan fish is that they find in their caves, I think we'll be good." Cally said brightly, "That sweet-and-sour chicken that someone once found for me was pretty good, but I think this is going to be different." It was just another minute, but then the cook had brought the platter over between the two of them.

"Firstly," Kally said, sounding like she was grossly offended," brussels sprouts are delicioius when they are cooked correctly, and you are now obligated to try some of mine." She stuck her tongue out and smiled. "Secondly, we are having another type of cabbage, and it's almost as delicious, so put on a smile for me and try it, hm?" She placed it down on the table and sat down next to Cally, picking up the serving tongs and gesturing to each section. "Sauerbraten," she said pointing to the roast, "mit kartoffelklöße," she pointed to the boiled and fried potato balls, "und rotkohl," she finished, pointing at the cabbage. "A hearty German Sunday roast meal," she finished, smiling proudly.

"And it looks absolutely wonderful!" Cally said as she reviewed the three dishes in front of her with obvious relish, "Es sieht um... kostlick?" Cally asked, before hastily adding, "Auf." Foreign languages weren't her forte, but she had been trying to learn some German, knowing that Kally spoke it fluently.

Kally grinned. "YA tebya tak sil'no lyublyu, i eto bylo prosto prelestno," she said in rapid Russian, giggling at Cally's face. "German and Russian growing up," she said. "No doubt you'll pick up a few words of each hanging around me, including an impressive amount of curse words. And if I may say something in your native way..." she leaned over and tapped Cally's temple gently.

Cally’s chuckle of amusement at her girlfriend’s multilingual antics trialed off, but how could she deny her. If it had been a request from literally anyone else? She thinned one edge of her shields to the point where someone standing on the inside could see and hear what was immediately on the other side. The love and affection that greeted her tempted her to very nearly drop the shield entirely. Almost. Her internal picture of herself pressed her lips to the eggshell-thin wall as she sent an outward message of affection.

Kally gave her a kiss and smiled at her. "Now, before it gets cold, help yourself," she said.

Delicately, Calypso reached out for the potato balls, grasping one between two fingers and rapidly transferring it to her plate, “Ow! Hot!” Another one, “Owwww, hooooot!” She stuck her tongue out at Kally’s laughter before making a move for the other dishes, using the provided serving utensils for them, then braved the heat of the balls again, picking one up and taking a crispy bite out of it, “Mmmmm, mgigsh, dshh shh…”

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Kally said, proudly, taking a bite and dancing a bit in her seat. "Mmm. It's not quite my mother's, but it's close," she said approvingly, smiling at Cally. "Since we don't have any Valentine's day traditions between us, I figured maybe we could start some. Next year, when we've had more time to get you properly trained up, we'll cook it together."

"I suppose I could probably boil the water without setting fire to the kitchen." Cally giggled after swallowing the bite that was in her mouth, using her fork to somewhat delicately spear some of the cabbage, waving it around, "I may even have graduated to making rice or boiling potatoes!"

"Are you kidding? With my instruction, you'll be charring vegetables and roasting meat with the best of them!" She took another bite and smiled. "And maybe by that time you can teach me how to shoot a phaser rifle without closing my eyes in fear."

"A rifle?" Cally shook her head, "The pistol is easier, but you already know how to use that, since you've already proven you have." She gave Kally a broad smile, "But I can teach you the rifle, I'll have you picking off targets at a thousand meters once I'm done with you, cool and calm like a real pro."

"Not two of my defining adjectives," Kally said. "Should've seen me earlier. I was a nervous wreck before you arrived." She gave a half-hearted chuckle to laugh it off, but looked down at her food with too much interest.

"Ah, you must have thought that I was going to try to add something to the meal you were cooking." Cally said with mirth in her voice and a grin on her face, going back to her disasters in the kitchen, "Couldn't be nerves about me coming over, because the number of times we've been to each other's quarters is um... Well, a LOT. You know, I still remember you saving my life the day we met!"

That brought a more genuine smile to Kally's face. "First time we met, first time we were together, first time I felt I belonged here," she said. "That was a really good day." She took Cally's hand. "Course, that was easy, I knew what I was doing then. Getting you out of your clothes and fooling around in Sickbay, that's second nature to us." She winked and smiled softly. "Thanks for making my first day here the best I could imagine."

Cally brought Kally's hand up to kiss it gently, the grin on her face as she remembered literally getting peeled out of the more-than-skintight 'uniform' she'd worn to get the goat of Admiral Towers. "It's not that I'd planned it, but I'm glad it happened. It beat what I would have have had to do if it hadn't happened. I probably would have been in a pool, that had been my go-to when meeting my more senior officers, but then I'd probably have had you and Katie there together and I would have been SO confused when I'd have invited you two into the pool with me."

Kally snickered. "Confused? You'd have been thrilled. Katie would've been confused. She was panicked enough when I told her what we did." She sighed happily. "I couldn't stop smiling about it though. Said this was the best ship ever. And I'm still happy here. I need to kiss whoever got me transferred here, and not Starbase 80."

"Twas a time when we were considered a worse assignment than '80." Cally grinned, "At least that was until we finally gelled as a crew. Oh sure, there are still some people I'd like to dump out an airlock that are still aboard, but not very many at all. I think I can finagle getting a few transferred out in this cycle, maybe even bring aboard some new quality replacements. Assuming, of course, my reports are being read by the right people."

"Here's hoping," Kally said. "Who knows? We could become one of those 'normal' and 'respectable' ships if we're not careful." She took Cally's hand and leaned over, kissing her. "I think we should make this a tradition. We need to get some traditions going. We have a romantic date, cook a meal, and refine the crew manifest." She giggled and kissed her again.

“Maybe without the crew manifest but.” Cally laughed and kissed Kally once more, “But romantic date, cook a meal, snuggle up for a movie that we may or may not actually watch? I think I could get used to doing that. Don’t forget we can always go swimming, or sunbathe by a pool, or I could even beat you up in tennis here and there while you try to find ways to strip me down in Velocity or whatever else you want to do.”

"I'll strip you down in any of those scenarios," Kally said, grinning, then thought it over. "Maybe not tennis. One trip and that'll go wrong." She shrugged. "But a tradition or two would be nice." She ate quietly for a moment. "Admittedly, I don't have a history of relationships to draw from, so I've thought a lot about my parents recently. I think about the things they do together, the little in jokes, the way my father'll grab my mother from behind and how she pretends to be annoyed by it. The little 'traditions' they have over the years always seemed sweet and somewhat silly at times, but...now I kinda want that." She looked up at Cally and smiled shyly. "Figure today's a great day to start."

"My list of quality relationships consists of a boyfriend in high school, then random flings here and there until you!" She tapped Kally on the nose with the last word, "I may have had a boyfriend for a week at a time or so, but those were rare and tended to end pretty quick, so any traditions we make with each other are going to be that much more special. They're going to be things and events that I'm going to cherish with you, and only you."

Kally generally didn't like to cry in front of people, but she couldn't help a few happy tears leaking out. She wanted to joke that she had the same string of weekly boyfriends, or tease Cally that their random flings hadn't exactly ceased, but she was too happy to think about saying something and ruining the moment. "That means a lot to me," she said, finally. "I could think of one more tradition we could implement."

"Oh? Only one?" Cally had to ask.

Kally stood up and leaned over, kissing Cally softly. "We abandon dinner and run back to your quarters, lock the door, and get absolutely no sleep," she said, grinning.

"You know? I think that's a great idea." Cally stood as well, edging around the table and taking a hand of Kally's to squeeze once before dropping it, "Last one there has to make breakfast in the morning!" She didn't even pause, taking off for the door with a laugh.

It took Kally a half a second to process, before she rapidly shouted, "Computer-recycle-foodstuffs-and-end-program-I-MEANT-METAFORICALLY-RUN!" and took off after Cally at full speed, grinning ear-to-ear even though she knew she'd be making breakfast completely exhausted.

 

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