Captain Janeway sat at her usual corner table in the messhall. Although the room was full, being that it was peak off hours for the Alpha shift and many people came here to socialize, she felt alone. She could go up to anyone in the room and have a lively conversation, but this is what she wanted: a little down time. A quick glance around, however, confirmed her suspicions that she wasn’t the only one feeling a little blue today.
“Captain, am I interrupting you?” Seven asked as she inconspicuously approached the table.
“Oh, no, Seven, I was just reflecting. Have a seat.” Janeway motioned with her hand and the young Borg took the seat across from her.
“I have observed you are not feeling cheerful today. Are you ill?”
Janeway sighed. “No. I’m just a little down. It’s no big deal.” She sipped from her coffee mug but spit it back out after tasting the contents. Cold coffee sucks.
“Perhaps a round of Velocity will occupy your mind and relieve you of your sadness,” Seven offered. She knew the captain’s unbeaten streak would eventually end one day, but fighting for the right to remain the only undefeated player on the ship was always an upbeat challenge.
“Maybe later. I really don’t feel up for it now, Seven. But thanks for the offer.”
Seven glanced around the room and saw many of the crew in a similar state. Even Harry Kim who was a diehard optimist was looking rather glum at his table with Lt.’s Torres and Paris, who were futilely attempting to cheer him up. “Captain, may I ask why you are saddened?”
Janeway looked at the mug again, trying to decide whether or not she wanted to replicate another cup or just head back to her quarters shortly. “Tomorrow is Christmas, and we’re still thirty thousand light years from Earth.”
“Christmas?” Seven inquired. Having been assimilated at age six and spending most of her life in the Borg Collective, she didn’t remember much about the holiday. “The Christian feast on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Christ? You are sad over a birthday?”
“Yes, Seven, but it’s more than that.” Janeway didn’t really feel up for having a religious discussion right now by defending her beliefs against the various religious beliefs of alien cultures near and far, but now was as good a time as any. “Seven,” she reached out and touched the blonde’s hand tenderly without revealing to any potential watchers they were romantically involved, “Christmas is a time for giving. It’s about spending time with people you care about, and while I’m grateful we’re both off duty tomorrow and spending time alone, it just makes me sad that I can’t be with my family too. It was also my sister’s birthday so I guess I’m feeling a little low for two reasons.”
“I am sorry you cannot share Christmas with your family, Kathryn, but you are in regular communication with them. Surely they will be thinking of you at this time.” It nearly tore Seven’s heart out to see her lover so sad about something neither of them had any control over.
Without warning, the messhall doors burst open and a jolly Chakotay wearing a Santa Claus suit and an elf about the same height as Naomi Wildman trotted in bearing gifts for everyone.
“Ho! Ho! Ho!” Chakotay shouted as people turned around to see the commotion. He plopped his hefty bag on the floor and Naomi began passing out the brightly decorated presents.
How in the heck did I let this one slip by me? Neelix wondered as he watched from the kitchen, vaguely remembering reading about the holiday and all the customs that come with it.
The spirit of the room quickly brightened and everyone began feeling not so alone again as Chakotay made a short little speech about how Voyager was one big family and, Christmas or not, they were not alone.
As Naomi made her way to the captain’s table, she brought two gifts with her. “Merry Christmas, Captain. Merry Christmas, Seven.” Her smile was as wider than either woman had ever seen before.
“Thank you, Miss Wildman,” Janeway said with a smile and sounding more like her cheery self again. She hugged her ‘assistant’ and waited for Seven to finish thanking the young girl before opening her gift. It was a small timepiece and a certificate for two days off duty coming straight from the man who assigned the duty rosters. The last time he had given her a timepiece, she recalled, was during the year of hell when Voyager was being attacked every other day and near total destruction.
Seven opened her gift and was confused by the nature of it, but, considering the tag had no name, she concluded that it was meant no one specific, unlike the captain’s, which had been inscribed with a personal message. She showed Janeway her gift and also found a certificate for two days off duty.
“You got a horseshoe?” Janeway picked up the item. “Not what I would expect. It’s a good luck symbol if you hang it.” She looked up in time to catch ‘Santa Claus’ as he hurriedly left the messhall and head for other areas of the ship, no doubt to reach every crew member before his surprise was ruined, and she mouthed a genuine “thank you” to him before he left.
“You feel happy that you have been presented with a gift,” Seven stated.
Janeway turned her attention back to Seven and considered her statement. “I wouldn’t say I feel happy because I received a gift, but I do feel happy about the generous nature of this crew. And seeing Santa Claus certainly didn’t hurt.”
No response came from Seven as she reflected on Janeway’s words.
“So are you coming to see me later tonight or do I have to sneak down to the Cargo Bay again?” Janeway asked with a hint of friskiness in her voice while shifting her eyebrows and smirking.
Seven knew exactly what the captain meant and considered regenerating before her visit so she could give the captain her full energy. It was no secret Janeway had a sex drive comparable to a Klingon, and gossip floating around the ship mislead everyone into thinking she had been having wild sex with Commander Chakotay. What would they think, she wondered, if they knew the ‘ice queen’ had been the one the captain was sharing her bed with? “You are incorrigible, and yes I will come see you.”
“Good. I have to finish some reports, but I’ll be off duty around 2200 hours. See you then.” Janeway patted Seven’s hand, nodded to several people as she quickly left the room and almost pranced out the doors.
Across the room from Seven, B’Elanna shouted for her to join herself, Tom, and Harry, but she declined. She suddenly had something very important to get done before 2200 hours.
“Where are we going?” B’Elanna demanded as Tom dragged her from bed and down the corridor. She felt foolish cruising the ship in her pajamas, but this was hardly the first time she had walked the corridor in a bathrobe. She had a habit of making surprise inspections on her gamma shift engineering crew and, more times than she cared to remember, forgot to dress back into her uniform.
“We’re going to the holodeck. I have a surprise for you,” Tom insisted.
“Tom Paris! It’s the middle of the night!”
He raised his hands in defense and said, “I know, but you’re going to love this. I promise.”
They reached the Holodecks without running into a single crewperson and found they were both already occupied.
“Damn. I should have reserved time,” Tom said in frustration. His plan to surprise B’Elanna with an engagement ring on a simulated snowy Christmas morning in a log cabin was ruined if he couldn’t get into the holodeck. He had the ring in his pocket, and he could give it to her right now if he wanted, but the snow falling, a blazing fire inside a hearth, and beautifully decorated Christmas tree would have been the perfect setting.
“Can we go back to bed now? I have an early shift.”
Tom inspected the security panel and found Tuvok running one of his Vulcan programs with a privacy seal on the door. It figures. On the second holodeck panel, Captain Janeway was running a program titled “Silent Night” with no lock on the door.
“No. The Captain's running a Christmas program here. Let’s go in.”
He grabbed her hand and lead her through the doors into a winter wonderland. They stood in a snowy forest with a log cabin off in the distance. The trees were covered with snow, the sky was filled with stars, and the smell of Christmas was in the air. Everything was beautiful. It was snowing hard and the cabin’s fireplace was smoking furiously and looked inviting. When they reached the door, Tom was about to enter before B’Elanna stopped him.
“Maybe we should knock.”
He thought about it for a second or two before taking another approach. “Let’s look in the window. We don’t want to disturb her if she’s spending Christmas with her family.”
Although the windows would have normally been fogged up in conditions like this, Holodecks lacked some of the more realistic features if they weren’t programmed with absolute mania regarding detail. That was something Tom always took great pride in where others weren’t too concerned with fine details.
“It’s exactly what I wanted to show you,” Tom said as they looked in and saw the inside. There was a beautifully decorated tree standing twelve feet tall in the corner of the room by the window, two stockings hung on the fireplace, a fire blazed in the hearth, they could hear Christmas music softly playing in the background, and when they saw who was in the center of the room they both dropped their jaws.
Captain Janeway was being fondled by Santa Claus, and from the sounds of her laughter and moans, she was enjoying it! They groped each other while passionately kissing and eventually settled onto the floor in front of the fire.
Tom was the first to speak, when he could find the words. “I thought she would be spending time with her family. Rumor has it her sister’s birthday is Christmas and she was bummed out, but I had no idea she would be doing…this!”
“Well, apparently Chakotay must be irresistible in that suit,” B’Elanna added with a smirk. She continued watching and her eyes bulged out of her head when she swore she heard Janeway say, “Oh Santa, I’ve been a naughty girl!”
Janeway moaned again, this time very loud, and Tom grabbed B’Elanna’s hand. “Come on, we’re going back to bed.” It didn’t take much to excite them. Sometimes they were like rabbits: horny as hell.
As they trudged through the snow heading back to the holodeck exit, they didn’t speak. Both knew for weeks Janeway and Chakotay were having sex, a couple joined at the hip, and who wouldn’t know about them with all the noise coming from the captain’s quarters so late at night? They weren’t ones to complain about wild sexual fantasies though, not with all the wild sex they had that ended in medical emergencies, but this was too kinky for even them. When they reached the exit doors and found themselves back in the corridor, they became more shocked than before. Chakotay had just turned the corner and was heading right for them.
“Out for a late night stroll?” he asked.
“We were just heading back to our quarters.” Tom explained.
“Me too. I had a craving something spicy so I grabbed some leftover chili from the messhall. Neelix does make a mean chili.” Chakotay nodded his head, “Well, goodnight.” He smiled and continued walking to his quarters.
Tom and B’Elanna stood dumbfounded in the hall but still horny as all get up after seeing the captain go at it with dear ‘ol St. Nick and decided they would figure it all out in the morning.
The next morning Captain Janeway and Seven laid in bed exhausted, still spent from their all night sexual encounter that included not only twice in the captain’s quarters, but once in Seven’s alcove, and twice in the holodeck with each one seducing the other while wearing the Santa suit.
Kathryn thought about her family that morning before Seven woke up. She thought about Phoebe, her mother, and although she hadn’t thought about him in years, she thought fondly of Mark. She knew she still loved him like a friend, but she also knew she was in love with Seven more than she had been with anyone in her entire life. She leaned over, brushed the hair from Seven’s face, and gently kissed her cheek. There was so much about this woman she loved, and she wanted nothing more than to be back home in Indiana showing Seven her roots, but that would come one day. For now, she had the best partner anyone could ask for, and for that she was eternally grateful. Sometimes, when you least expect it, the universe hands you a gift like no other. And that makes Christmas, and every day, precious. “Merry Christmas, love.”
The End