Christmas
By Coral
Disclaimer: Star Trek is Paramount. Late for Christmas but you know what they say... better late than never! Though in this case, the opposite may have been true...
Paris jumped out of bed.
"Oh, goody!!" he yelled, seeing the bulging stocking at the end of the bed.
'Be-boop'
"Come in!" Tom cried, still totally hyper, and Harry came in, also carrying a bulging stocking.
"Wow!" Harry said, looking at Tom's. "That's really full!"
And the two sat down and started ripping open presents.
Harry was first.
"Oh, yippee!" he cried. "I've always wanted one of these!"
"What is it, what is it?" Tom asked, bouncing up and down on the bed.
"It's a rank pip," Harry said, proudly fixing it to his pajamas.
"Hey, look!" said Tom. "I've got one too!"
Finally the two got through their stocking and headed to the mess hall for breakfast. As they walked in, they could hear that the subspace radio had obviously been tuned to the local radio, and it was belting out Christmas songs. In the corner, Seven was singing along.
"Oh when the Borg man brings the cube, oh well he just might like to know..."
Tom and Kim sat down, and Neelix brought over their breakfast and handed them each a cracker.
"Here you go Tom and Harry. Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas," Tom replied, giving Neelix a hug, but Harry had noticed that Seven was under the mistletoe, and ran off to kiss her.
Tom pulled his cracker with B'Elanna, and was overjoyed to find a plastic shuttlecraft inside. "I am never going to lend this to Chakotay," he vowed.
It was midmorning, and the time that everyone had been waiting for finally arrived - present time!! They all filed onto the bridge, where the Captain and Chakotay were waiting by the Christmas Tree. Naomi's eyes lit up at the sight of the hundreds of presents underneath. Neelix and Tuvok started to hand the presents out, wishing everyone a happy Christmas as they did so.
Tuvok was sufficiently pleased to receive 'How to Mind Meld Safely' from his Captain, a book he had been wanting for years and never been able to afford. He instantly ran off to try the techniques on his new Teddy Bear, a gift from Neelix.
B'Elanna began running around the bridge, slashing her new bat'leth around and nearly decapitating Seven in the process. Speculation raged for days afterward as to if it was an accident or not.
Tom Paris and Harry, typical kids, had ignored their presents of model starships with working phasers to make wrapping paper snowballs with which they were currently pelting each other and anyone who happened to get in the way.
Seven was admiring her new outfit from the Doctor, a leather miniskirt and leopard print top, and imagining herself in them already. She would have to wear them to the party tonight.
The Doctor was overjoyed to receive a complete set of Vidiian organs to study at his leisure. No one ever knew just how many months of negotiating it had taken the Captain to procure them.
Finally the bridge was deserted as the crew rushed off to play with their new toys, and only Janeway and Chakotay were left on the bridge, with two remaining presents under the tree. Picking them up, they handed them to each other with an awkward smile.
Chakotay opened his first and was surprised to find a freeze-dried shuttle. Tears started to well up in his eyes and he blinked them away.
"Kathryn... Captain... it's just what I wanted! How did you know?"
Kathryn smiled secretively, but to tell the truth, studying the lost shuttle list had given it away. She turned to her present and opened it to find an empty box. Her bottom lip trembled. No, she couldn't cry in front of him... "I don't understand," she said, a wobble in her voice.
"Your real present is in your quarters," Chakotay explained, and she smiled, cheering up instantly. She ran to the turbolift as fast as she could heading for her quarters.
Chakotay pressed a button.
Sure enough, there was a massive present in her room. Hurriedly unwrapping it, she opened the box and found -
"Chakotay?!" she gasped.
END