A J/C Christmas Wish

By Tracy Thurman

Author's note: Okay, you wanted happier than "Christmas Party"? Here
you go! Nods to Beetlejuice!

*****************************

"No, Chakotay," Kathryn said sadly. "You know we can't."

"But Kathryn..."

"No. For the sake of the ship..."

Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light and a man appeared half
reclining on Captain Janeway's desk looking utterly disgusted.

"Oh, please. Not that old tune again. Sing me a new one, will you?" He
drawled.

"Q!" Janeway's voice took on an edge. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, for starters rapidly becoming bored to tears by the two of you.
Really, this has gone on long enough, don't you think? Fish or cut bait,
will you?"

"Q, this is none of your business." Janeway's hands were firmly on
her hips now.

Examining his fingernails, Q sighed. "True, but someone has to
do something, and I think I am just the man, you'll pardon the expression,
for the job."

Before either Kathryn or Chakotay could respond, another flash of
light momentarily blinded them.

When they could see again, they found themselves in an office of some sort.
A very busy, bustling office that looked as if it had come out of a Dickens
novel. All the furnishings looked very old, and the walls were a sort of
sepia color. Apparently it was Christmas time, because there were colorful
decorations all over the walls and windows, and a rather impressive tree
stood in one corner, with flickering lights of a strange nature. People in
various styles of dress bustled around on the other side of a glass window,
while the room they were in was apparently a sort of waiting room.

The chairs in the room, which were varied in their style, color and stages
of wear, were taken up by different species of humanoids. All of them
looked as if they'd been there awhile. Some dozed, while others looked
through what looked to be old periodicals. A few just looked off into space
looking bored and impatient.

"Q!" they both said loudly, causing some of the waiting room occupants
to lookup curiously. Of course, they received no answer.

"Chakotay," Kathryn said softly. "Where are we?"

Chakotay put a hand on her arm reassuringly. "I'm not sure, but from
the looks of things I'd say we we're in no immediate danger."

"I agree, but how do we proceed?"

"I'd say by taking a number." He pointed to a dispenser just inside
the door. Taking a card he saw they had drawn number 247,732, 221. The sign
over the door into the office area said "Now Serving Number 14".

Showing Kathryn the card, he murmured wryly, "I think we're going to be
awhile." She rolled her eyes in disbelief and they took a spot near
the office door and leaned against the wall.

Janeway glanced over the other occupants of the room, then gave a nudge to
Chakotay with her elbow. A Bolian was stretched out on an old sofa, his head
thrown back. He was snoring softly...and he held number 21 between his
fingers.

Kathryn raised an eyebrow at her partner. "Do we dare?" she whispered
conspiratorially.

"Kathryn!" Chakotay's voice was a whisper as well. "I'm surprised
at you!"

With a grin, Kathryn shrugged. "Just a thought."

Chakotay smiled at her in amusement and shook his head. They continued to
lean against the wall.

Soon a young clerk came to the door and said, "Captain Janeway?
Commander Chakotay?"

They looked at each other in disbelief. "Yes, but..." Kathryn
indicated their card, then the sign over the door.

"Oh, that thing hasn't worked in centuries. Don't mind it.
Besides, your friend Q got you in. He has some connections here."

They looked at each other in consternation and then followed the young
clerk through the door and down the hallway. They passed several offices
some occupied others empty.

They were shown into an office at the end of the hall. The clerk, whose ears
were a bit pointed, Kathryn noticed, showed them to two seats in front of a
large desk, then left, closing the door behind him. The office was
very cluttered. Books and papers covered the desk and shelves behind it.

Kathryn raised her arms to encompass the room. "Now what?"

Chakotay sighed. ..."I don't know. I guess we'll have to wait
and see."

After several minutes the door was shoved open with a bang and a woman
entered carrying four large volumes of an ancient looking set of books.
She bustled into the room and dropped her load down on the desk with a bang.

"I am so sorry to keep you waiting." She shoved wire-rimmed spectacles
up on her nose. "But you know how it is around here at Christmas time!"'
She giggled and it sounded a bit like birds singing, then she
hiccupped loudly. She giggled again and covered her mouth. "I beg your
pardon. Christmas party, you know. Anyway, Captain Janeway, Commander
Chakotay, it's an honor to meet you at last!" She held out a hand.

Kathryn held out her hand as well and found it pumped vigorously
and enthusiastically. "Er, thank you, miss...?"

"Ari, just call me Ari, everyone does." The woman had a strange
collection of clothes on. She was wearing a light blue floor length dress
with very pointed, very tall high-heeled black boots that still didn't make
her over about five feet tall, and what looked to be a man's morning coat
with tails. Her strawberry blonde hair was braided and rolled on either side
of her head, making it look like she had two cones protruding from her skull.
She had startling blue eyes, and a very turned up nose.

"Well, well, let's see what we have here. You'll forgive me if I take
a few moments to review your case? I just recently took over as your case
worker. I am familiar with it, of course, but there are a few particulars I
need to check." Janeway and Chakotay exchanged glances.

"Case worker? What...?" Kathryn began.

"Not to worry, Captain, everything is well in hand."

Kathryn glanced at Chakotay in consternation. He shrugged.

Ari sat down at the desk with a bump and pulled one of the large books toward
her. As she opened the book, the pages turned rapidly by themselves until
they reached a certain point. Ari then began reading half aloud to herself,
while adding numbers in some sort of old-fashioned adding machine with a
crank handle. "Let's see....Maquis....Caretaker....Ocampa..."

"Miss....Ari, is it? What...." Kathryn began, when Ari held up a hand and
hissed "Shush, shush, shush!" Kathryn and Chakotay exchanged glances and
fell silent.

"Ah! Here we have it! I see everything now! You came to see me just in
time! Let's see what we can do to rectify matters, shall we?" The
adding machine crank was working furiously now.

"What...?" Kathryn tried again. The hand immediately came up. Kathryn
looked to Chakotay and he smiled at the twinkle in her eye. She was
definitely trying not to laugh.

Ari stopped what she was doing and started to remove her coat, then stopped.
"You don't mind, do you? This is rather warm work." They nodded their
assent and she pulled off the jacket to reveal...something, behind her back
that had been sort of stuffed into the coat. She stretched and suddenly two
magnificent, blindingly white, downy wings appeared!

"Ah! That's much better. I get a cramp in them sometimes, but you know
how dress codes are!"

To say Janeway and Chakotay were astounded was something of an
understatement. They gawked.

Ari noticed them staring and blushed deeply. "Forgive me, I just
can't stand to have them confined all the time. You don't mind, do
you?"

Speechless, Kathryn and Chakotay merely shook their heads.

"Good. I thank you. Now back to business. Captain, of course it's no
secret that your fondest wish would be to get Voyager and her crew home,
yes?"

Kathryn nodded.

Ari smiled. "Good. Commander Chakotay, you agree?"

Chakotay nodded and murmured softly "Yes."

"But you have another, greater wish as well, don't you?" Chakotay
looked at Kathryn for a moment, and then nodded.

She giggled again. Well, we'll deal with that later, but first the Captain's
wish to get Voyager home. We are, of course, very willing to oblige, but you
see, everything happens for a reason, you understand? You're sent to the
Delta Quadrant for a reason and until that purpose has been served, well,
I'm afraid you can't get home, er, as of yet."

"We?' Kathryn latched onto the word. "Who is we? Are you part of the
Q collective?"

"Oh, no! Not at all. We know them, of course, but we are not Q! No,
indeed!"

"Then, who..." Once again, Ari held up a hand.

"That's not important. What is important is you fulfilling your purpose
and getting Voyager and her crew home, yes?"

"And just how do we do that?' Chakotay said softly.

"Well, you were supposed to figure it out for yourselves, and Commander
Chakotay was quite cooperative, at first, anyway, but Captain, I must say,
you are SO stubborn!'

Janeway blinked. "Me?"

"Yes. Well, there were several things that were supposed to happened
to various members of your crew in the Delta Quadrant, and several of them
have been taken care of, but yours, I'm afraid, has not .Look at Tom Paris
and B'Elanna Torres. They cooperated beautifully, but you two!" She
clucked her tongue disapprovingly.

"And what would that be? What were we supposed to do?"

"You and Commander Chakotay were supposed to fulfill your destiny
together, of course!"

"Our destiny?"

"Well, yes! It's as plain as the nose on your face! I mean, things were
going very well, for a while, and then, poof! Nothing! We arranged your stay
together on New Earth, the entity that made Chakotay believe you were dead,
Captain, the Killing Game simulation, and, and everything, and you still
resisted. We had to keep you in the Delta Quadrant after that! Rules are
rules, you know."

Chakotay had his head down, but glancing sideways, Kathryn could see he
was smiling. "Do you mean to say...?"

"That you could have been home long before now if you'd just let nature
take its course? YES YES YES!!!! All that rot about denying yourselves for
the good of the ship just delayed your return! I mean, really, your original
caseworker, Belle, finally gave up and washed her hands of you. She
couldn't take it anymore. I must say, Captain, you would try the patience
of a saint!"

Kathryn opened her mouth to respond when a sonorous voice from one of the
adjoining offices intoned, "I heard that."

Ari wrinkled her nose, rose from the desk and shoved the door closed with a
push from her booted foot.

"Apparently we need more privacy." She resumed her seat behind the desk.
"Ahem, as I was saying, it is of the utmost importance that you two
fulfill your destiny. You see, there is a very special little person who is
waiting..." She fell silent when both the Captain and Chakotay's heads
snapped up at that.

"Er, I've said too much, but take it from me, until you two work things
out and get it together, you are going nowhere! It's clear that Commander
Chakotay is in love with you, and I know for a fact that you are in love with
him, despite your denials. Isn't that true, Captain?"

Janeway looked nonplused. She then glanced at Chakotay and murmured,
"Well, yes."

Chakotay looked like, well, like Christmas morning, as the old saying went.
He grasped Kathryn's hand tightly and his eyes shone with
tears. "Kathryn, is it true?"

She squeezed his hand in return. "You know it is."

He kissed the back of her hand and beamed at her.

"All right, all right you two, now you're on the right track! Now shoo! Go
on now! Go have a very merry Christmas and take care of business, please, and
I'll see you back in the Alpha Quadrant before you can say Kris Klingle, or
whatever in heaven's name his name is!"

Suddenly they were blinded by a flash of light and found themselves, in
the Captain's Ready Room.

Before Kathryn had time to think, Chakotay pulled her into his arms and
kissed her soundly.

Pulling back breathlessly, she put a hand on his chest to stop him.
"Chakotay..." There was a definite warning in her voice.

"I love you Kathryn, and you said you love me. It's true isn't it?"
When she didn't answer immediately, he shook her a little. "Isn't it?
Say it!"

Kathryn sighed. "Yes, I do love you Chakotay, but...." before she could
continue, he pulled her close and kissed her again.

"No buts, you heard what Ari said."

"But we don't know that it's true, Chakotay. It could have just as
easily been something Q fabricated to manipulate us."

"Kathryn, We can only try. You have always said you'd do anything for
the sake of the ship, isn't that right? Can't we just give it a try?
Please?"

She sighed. He looked so pitiful.

"Well," she conceded. She let him pull her into his arms again.
Reaching up to stroke his tattoo, she smiled a little and shivered a bit as
he began to kiss her neck. "I don't suppose it would hurt to give it a
try. Since it's for the sake of the ship and all.... |"

Merry Christmas to all J/Cer's!

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