Disclaimer: Voyager and crew are Paramount’s property; I’m just letting them out for a little fun.

There were twelve people gathered in the Sandrine’s holodeck program that night. Nearly everyone had come alone, but, oddly enough, the number of men and women were exactly equal. It was when he noticed this during a break between pool games that Tom Paris got his bright idea.

"’Mistletoe tag’? What the heck is that?" B’Elanna asked.

"It’s a game I played in high school. It’s really a lot of fun."

"And you’re going to try to get everyone in here to play it?"

"I imagine there’ll be a few that don’t want to, but as long as we have an equal number of men and women..." About half of the people in the holodeck were now gathered around Tom, interested in finding out what this new game was all about. "I’m only going to explain the rules once, so everybody has to be listening." The people gathered around Tom quickly got the attention of everyone else in the bar. "Okay, this is how it works. Basically, you’re divided into two teams, men and women. One person is ‘it’ first; it doesn’t matter which side. The person who’s ‘it’ has to chase down a member of the other team. The only difference is, instead of tagging them, the ‘it’ person has to kiss the person. Then the person who’s been tagged becomes ‘it’ and has to chase down someone else on the other team. The thing is, no one can catch anyone who’s caught them before or anyone who they’ve caught before. In other words, no one ever kisses the same person twice. The game goes on until everyone’s kissed or been kissed by everyone else on the other team. Any questions?"

Harry Kim spoke up, asking the question everyone was thinking. "Does the kiss have to be on the lips, or can it be on the cheek?"

"Well, when I played it it was usually lips, but I suppose we could vote on that or something. That’s assuming everyone wants to play..."

"This game seems quite frivolous. I do not see the purpose in playing," Seven of Nine said. The doctor had persuaded her to come to Sandrine’s tonight to enhance her social skills, but she hadn’t been enjoying herself much.

"Anybody else?" Tom asked. Captain Janeway looked around uncomfortably, but she didn’t say anything. Chakotay, trying to convince her that she needed to mingle with the crew more, had bet her she wouldn’t stay the entire evening, and she didn’t plan to lose, even though she had a sneaking suspicion he had cooked this up with Tom before hand.

When no one else spoke up, Tom said, "Well, Seven, if you’re out it means someone else has got to stay out too. You sure you don’t want to play?"

Seven sighed. "I suppose I will engage in this activity."

"Great," Tom said. "Okay, raise your hand if you want the kisser to have the option of kissing on either the lips or the cheek." Two hands went up, Janeway’s and Seven’s. "Lips only," Tom said, and shot his hand into the air as the other nine hands went up. "Okay, that settles it, lips only. Now, are there any volunteers to be ‘it’ first?"

"I’ll go first," B’Elanna said.

A few minutes later, they were ready to begin. The holodeck setting had been changed to a large, grassy field, and everyone was spread out in it. The Delaney sisters were both wearing nametags so that no one would confuse them. B’Elanna stood in the middle. "Ready, get set, GO!" she yelled, and started off.

B’Elanna caught Joe Carey first and gave him a quick smack on the lips. He turned around to find Jenny Delaney practically standing in his path, so he gave her a peck. Ignoring other men who might be easier to catch, Jenny headed straight for Harry Kim; after a fast and furious chase she caught him and held him in a liplock for nearly five seconds before she let him go. Harry quickly ran into B’Elanna and gave her a quick kiss; she got Ayala next. The only woman anywhere near him was Seven of Nine, so he quickly and nervously caught her and touched lips with her. Seven chose the male in greatest proximity to her, who happened to be Chakotay, and caught him quickly; shortly after that he got Susan Nicoletti. Susan then got Joe Carey; they’d been an item for months, and their kiss was brief but intense. Joe caught Megan Delaney, who then got Tom Paris. Tom saw Janeway across the field; since she was the only woman who hadn’t been kissed yet, he headed straight for her. Janeway got the doctor next; he got Seven of Nine, then she got Joe Carey, who was left with no choice but to kiss the captain. Janeway ran into Harry; he kissed Susan, who kissed the doctor; the doctor then found B’Elanna, who next gave Chakotay a quick peck. Chakotay then got Megan Delaney, and she got Harry Kim right after. Harry was dazed for a moment but brushed it off; now he had to kiss Seven of Nine. Her only remaining choice was Tom Paris; he got B’Elanna. They kissed for so long that the doctor was ready to begin resuscitation efforts when they finally broke apart. B’Elanna started to go after someone else, but stopped, confused. "I’ve already kissed everyone," she said.

"Okay," Tom said, "we’ve got to get another woman to go next." The first woman he saw was the captain. "Captain, you’re it," he called loudly. She looked at him for a moment, shrugged her shoulders, and kissed Ayala. He got Jenny, who quickly got Tom Paris; Tom then found Susan, his last choice; she then had to kiss Ayala. He was left with Megan Delaney, who had to kiss the doctor; the doctor then had to kiss Jenny. Jenny’s only remaining choice was Chakotay.

Kathryn was Chakotay’s only remaining choice; she was across the field from him, but she was easy to spot because everyone else, except the doctor and Seven, was sitting down. Are they all done? he asked himself as he chased after Kathryn.

She was asking herself the same question. She’d tried to keep track of the kisses, but all she knew was that Chakotay was the only one who hadn’t kissed her. Well, after this she’d be done with this ridiculous game, she thought. Then she could think about how to get back at Chakotay and Paris; they had to have planned this.

The last chase was definitely the longest of the game; the only one to even come close was Jenny Delaney’s single-minded pursuit of Harry early in the game. Janeway was faster than Chakotay had realized, and he chased her for several minutes before he got anywhere near her. He reached out and tried to grab her arm, but she slipped away from him at the last possible second. As everyone else watched and laughed, he chased after her again. Finally, in desperation, he jumped and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling them both to the ground.

"All right, you got me," she said, pulling herself up.

"Not until I’ve kissed you," he replied, and before she could do anything he locked his lips with hers.

Neither one of them was ever sure why that kiss went on as long as it did. Later, Janeway remembered thinking she should break the kiss, but she never did for some reason. It was Chakotay who finally broke away, unable to ignore his lungs’ clamor for oxygen any longer.

"Wow, twenty-three seconds," Tom said from close by. "I think that even beats anything we did in high school." Janeway shot him a Death Glare. "Well, I guess I’d better go...uh, it’s getting late." He and B’Elanna left together. Everyone else, all looking at their commanding officers a bit strangely, quickly followed.

"I’m going to get you, you know," Janeway said as they left the holodeck as well.

"For what?" Chakotay asked, trying to look innocent.

She answered him with a smile that would freeze hot lava, and left before he could say anything else.