This is a Christmas story, folks! :-) SILENT NIGHT By: Lauren Taylor Blinking colored lights were hung across the mess hall, and a Christmas tree stood tall in the corner, overly decorated. Neelix stood back and admired his work. It was nice, but could use more. From what Samantha Wildman had told him, this holiday, Christmas, was a big decorating holiday, and he didn't want to do anything wrong. He heard the doors behind him woosh open, and smiled. His work was about to get an audience. He turned around to see Tom and B'Elanna enter the mess hall, Tom's arms around her shoulders. They stopped suddenly when they noticed how... different the mess hall looked. "Well, what do you think?" Neelix asked, grinning like crazy. "Um... it's nice, Neelix. Is there going to be more?" Tom asked, fearing the worst. "Of course there is, lieutenant! Now, you two lovebirds just sit down and pretend I'm not even here." Neelix told them as he pushed them towards a table by the tree. "Will the two of you be having dinner tonight?" he asked. "Yeah, bring whatever you're fixing." B'Elanna said, thankful that he'd actually leave. He left, and Tom gazed around the mess hall. B'Elanna looked at the Christmas tree, and laughed. "He's really going all out for this. Who was the idiot that mentioned Christmas to him?" she asked herself. Tom looked at her, surprised. "You know about Christmas?" he asked. "Of course I do, Tom." "I... I just figured... well, with a Klingon mother and everything..." he admitted. "I celebrated Christmas every year until I was five, when my dad left." she said quietly. Neelix came out of the kitchen carrying on a tray two plates of food, two glasses of tea, and a gaudy candle holder with a tall red candle in it. He placed the plates in front of the two of them, and then stuck the candle holder in the middle of the table. The candle holder was gold, and had holly leaves all around it, with a snowman in the middle, holding a bunch of candy canes. The two of them stared at him until he got the hint and left. B'Elanna looked at her plate, surprised. The food looked... edible. He'd made a typical Christmas dinner, ham, mashed potatoes, everything. "What did you and your dad do on Christmas?" Tom asked after he took a bite out of the surprisingly delicious ham. B'Elanna took a sip of her tea, and smiled at the memory. "We would go to Earth, in Vermont, where my dad's brother Rick, and his wife Jeanie owned a ski lodge. I never got to go skiing, I was always too young, but I still loved being there, in the snow. It never snowed on Kessik." she told him, with a dreamy look in her eyes, "Dad would take me to the lounge, and we'd play games and tell stories in front of the fireplace. Uncle Rick taught me how to ice skate, and sometimes I'd have snowball fights with Aunt Jeanie." she added, her voice getting a bit choked. She took another sip of tea, and looked up at Tom. "How about you?" she asked, "What did the Paris family do on Christmas?" "Same as you, a ski lodge." he smiled. He paused for a moment as he remembered the lodge. "A ski lodge... in Vermont..." he realized. "What was it called?" B'Elanna asked, highly doubting that it was the same lodge. "Wintertrails Resort." he said. B'Elanna stared at him in open-mouthed shock as Neelix stepped out of the mess hall carrying something big and plastic. "You've got to be kidding!" Tom exclaimed to B'Elanna. She shook her head, and they laughed. Neelix smiled at the two of them as he placed the gigantic plastic thing near the tree. It was a plastic Santa, and, when Neelix flipped a switch, it waved and began saying in a very mechanical voice, "Ho, ho, ho. Ho, ho, ho." "I wonder if we ever met. I met a lot of kids when I would visit there." B'Elanna wondered. Tom glared over at the Santa Claus, which was already bugging the hell out of him, and then looked back at B'Elanna. "Who knows? I also remember not being able to ski for awhile. It was worse for me, my sisters, Amanda and Molly, were older than me, and they were able to ski before me. I remember I would get so bored, sitting there ice skating when they got to ski." he laughed. "I remember that Aunt Jeanie taught me how to build snowmen. I loved making them, the year I was four, I made about eight of them outside the ski rental room." she paused as she glared at the Santa, and as Neelix turned on some Christmas carols, "A couple days after I built them, I went outside to... talk to them," she said with a smile, "and, someone had knocked all of them over." she laughed. Tom burst out laughing, and couldn't stop. Other crewmen came in the mess hall, stared at the decorations, glared at the damn Santa, and then looked at Tom. ^Silent night Holy night All is calm All is bright^ "What is wrong?" B'Elanna asked him. He had a sip of tea, took a few deep breaths, and began speaking. "The year I was four was the first year both of my sisters were able to go skiing, and I was bored. My mom and the two of them were getting their skis, and I wandered off. I saw these... um... eight snowmen and..." he couldn't finish his sentence as he burst out laughing. B'Elanna put two and two together, and burst out in hysterical laughter as well. "Tom! I cried for days about that!" she yelled through her laughter. "I laughed for days about that! It made my Christmas!" Tom exclaimed. ^In the meadow We can build a snowman^ The two of them were almost in tears laughing when Harry, having already heard the rumors about how the mess hall looked, entered with Seven. He saw Tom and B'Elanna at the table in the corner, laughing hysterically. He decided to ask them about it later, and took a table near the couple with Seven. She looked around at the decorations with a questioning look on her face. "I do not understand the purpose of all of this... lights and trees and..." her voice trailed off as she looked at the plastic Santa. Harry laughed when he saw the look on her face. "What?" he asked. "What is that?" she asked. "Santa Claus. Do... do you remember anything about Christmas?" he asked hesitantaly. "No, I do not. These human holidays are illogical. I do not see the point of placing items onto a tree and having a plastic Santa waving to you." she told him. "It's not illogical, Seven, it's fun! Look, people happy, exchanging presents, going to parties, basically having fun!" he exclaimed to her. Tom stood up from his seat, walked over to the Santa, and flicked the switch to make it shut up. He got applause from some of the people in the mess hall. Tom took a bow, and sat back down with B'Elanna, and began mentioning something about snowmen. ^It's the most wonderful time of the year There'll be parties for hosting Marshmallows for toasting And caroling out in the snow^ "I still do not understand all of this... nonsense." Seven explained to him as Neelix brought out some leaves of some sort, which he hung over the door. Harry sighed, and stood up. "Well, I guess we can leave. I just wanted you to see all of this, maybe understand something from your past." he told her. She stood up, and walked out with him, not noting the sorrow in his voice. When they got to the door, Harry leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Ensign, what was the purpose in that?" she asked. "Mistletoe." he grinned as he walked away, leaving a confused Seven still standing in the doorway. ^The first Noel The angels did say Was to certain poor shepherds In fields where they lay^ "My dad left three weeks before my sixth birthday, and about two months before Christmas." B'Elanna told Tom, "I was so miserable that year, I didn't want to do anything, except go to Vermont with my dad. I knew that he was probably there, skiing and having a great time. But I couldn't be with him. My mother never cared about these human holidays. All that mattered to her was the Day of Honor." B'Elanna told him, smiling at that last sentence. "I didn't think the Day of Honor was that bad." Tom told her, with that grin on his face that B'Elanna loved so much. "On Christmas day, the first one without my father, I went to my friend Dougie Naismith's house. He had both his mom and dad, and they were celebrating Christmas. The next year when I came there, his mom had gotten a present for me, a silver necklace. Each year, I'd celebrate Christmas with his family, and his mom always got me a present, a game, jewelry, a book, whatever. It wasn't much, but I was so thrilled to get something." she said. "Sounds nice. What happened to Dougie?" he asked. B'Elanna had never mentioned any childhood friends of hers. "Well, when I was ten, he moved away, to Earth, somewhere. It was three months after Christmas, I missed him so much. And, that's the last time I ever celebrated Christmas. When I was at the Academy, I always wanted to go to Wintertrails, see who was there, but I was too nervous, too afraid." she explained to him, "I'd give anything to go back there someday." ^Chestnuts roasting on an open fire Jack Frost nipping at your nose Yuletide carols being sung by a choir...^ ****************************************************************** "Tom what the hell is this?" B'Elanna asked him as he led her through the halls with a blindfold on, two days after their conversation in the mess hall. "You'll see, you'll see." he whispered. He walked up to a set of doors, and walked inside the room. He took B'Elanna's hand with one hand, and took the blindfold off with the other one. B'Elanna blinked her eyes to adjust to how bright it was in the holodeck, and then opened her mouth in shock. There was a huge wooden lodge, three stories high, and other wooden buildings all around. An ice skating pond was straight in front of them, and, over in the distance were mountains with people skiing down their slopes. "Merry Christmas, B'Elanna." Tom told her with a smile, "Wintertrails Resort. I hope you like it." he said as he put his arm around her. She was speechless. "Tom... this- this... oh, god, I don't know what to say! I love it!" she exclaimed. "I'm glad you do. Now, I think you're old enough to go skiing this time, so we'll have to get you dressed. Let's go to the ski cabin, and get what we need." he explained to her. As they walked to the ski cabin, B'Elanna noticed something. Behind the little cabin were eight snowmen, all with hats and scarves and gloves on. She froze, but Tom kept walking. As she stared at the snowmen, she heard snow crunching behind her. Tom put his arm around her waist, and kissed her on the cheek. "Merry Christmas, B'Elanna." he whispered. "Merry Christmas, Tom." she whispered back. ^Through the years We all will be together If the fates allow Hang a shining star Upon the highest bough And have yourself A merry little Christmas now...^ THE END Yay, no one died! Legal stuff: Paramount owns 'em, we just borrow 'em Comments may be sent to TomLover@aol.com or to queenofdeath@hotmail.com