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"Holidays"

Chapter 7 – Meeting

"Thank you all for coming. I trust you all know why I asked you here today," Captain Janeway said. She looked at the assembled members of her crew; Chakotay, Tom, B'Elanna, Tuvok, Harry, Seven, and the Doctor with his mobile emitter.

"To discuss what to do about Neelix and his obsession with holidays," Tom answered confidently.

"Obsession bordering on mania," the Doctor added.

"Correct. Now, we need to figure out what we can do about it," Janeway continued.

"It shouldn't be too harsh since he was just trying to lift crew morale," Harry pointed out.

"You weren't the one who had his workplace defaced," the Doctor countered. "I want revenge."

"The decorations, however impressive, were taken down in each instance, but something more needs to be done," Chakotay interrupted, "but revenge is a little extreme."

"I agree with Harry. Neelix wasn't trying to hurt anyone. He just wanted to boost morale," B'Elanna chimed in.

"I think we can agree that Neelix didn't intend any harm so he doesn't need to be punished. He just needs to learn not to take things too far," Janeway said.

The conference room was silent for several minutes as most of the members thought about how to do what the captain said.

"Captain," Tom spoke up. "I think I have an idea that will do just that."

TBC

Chapter 8 – The Plan

Neelix was feeling down. His latest attempts at boosting crew morale seemed to fail to the point of irritating his shipmates. He considered it uplifted seeing certain parts of the ship decorated for different Earth holidays. Having to take down the decorations was the reason he was feeling down.

He went back to the Mess Hall and nearly ran into Harry Kim, who was holding a bowl filled with frozen white stuff. "Oh! Ensign, I'm sorry."

"No harm done, Neelix. I actually wanted to tell you. I replicated some vanilla ice cream for Tom, but there's too much of it, so I wanted to see if you wanted some."

"Thank you. It's sure to perk me up." Neelix took the bowl Harry handed him. He scooped up a bunch of the ice cream and stuck the spoon in his mouth. A disgusted look crossed his face. He resisted the urge to spit out the revolting concoction; instead he forced it down his throat. "That was horrid, Ensign. The replicator messed up the ice cream."

A smile crept onto Harry's face. "It wasn't actually ice cream. It was near frozen mayonnaise. It's a prank thought of by Tom. We wanted to show you how to properly celebrate a holiday. It's supposed to be done modestly and tastefully." The smile on Harry's face grew bigger. "Happy April Fool's Day, Neelix."

Fin