Chakotay had barely opened his mouth to answer Gretchen's question when Edward said, "Unless you are suggesting that first contact between humans and aliens happened a lot sooner than the history books teach, I find it highly unlikely that he's an alien. Legends of Santa Claus have been with humans for over six hundred year, it's only been three hundred and thirty one years since first contact."
"All right, how about we let dad finish the story?" Aliyana suggested. "Whether or not we believe in Santa Claus is irrelevant. Bel said no, Chell said yes, which doesn't surprise me. Uncle Chell absolutely loves Christmas and everything about it, while at the time Bel didn't seem too fond of it."
Kathryn had never really understood why her children insisted on calling B'Elanna "Bel". She remembered when Aliyana and Edward were toddlers and neither of them could say "B'Elanna" quite correctly so they had shortened it down to "Bel". B'Elanna hadn't objected and the name had stuck. All the Voyager children called her "Aunt Bel".
"Right, on with the story," Chakotay said. "Chell dived into a lengthy explanation of how Santa Claus could have pulled off visiting every child in the world in one night, but B'Elanna seemed sadder than before."
"Why the long face, Torres?" Tom, who had snagged a chair from the next table and sat down next to B'Elanna, asked. "You know, just because you don't like Christmas, doesn't mean you can ruin it for the rest of us."
"Whatever," B'Elanna said. "It's just all so meaningless. Like I said to Chakotay a minute ago, nobody actually believes in Santa anymore."
"Wait, he's not real?" Tom asked, appearing quite hurt. "But Santa gives me presents every year. I'm always nice, never naughty."
"Somehow I doubt that," Captain Janeway, who was standing behind Tom, said. "Programming my replicator to make cold coffee is not nice, definitely very naughty. Remember that Santa knows everything."
"He sees you when you're sleeping," Chell sang. "He knows when you're awake."
"He knows if you've been bad or good," Tom joined in.
"So be good for goodness sake," Janeway joined in too.
Chakotay had hoped the catchy tune and hearing her fellow officers and commanding officer sing would cheer B'Elanna up but her bad mood only seemed to have intensified.
Janeway snagged a chair from a nearby table and sat down next to Tom. "I'm not trying to intrude, B'Elanna, but is there a specific reason you don't like Christmas? Didn't you celebrate it as a child?"
"Klingons don't celebrate Christmas," B'Elanna said and it sounded rehearsed like it was something she had heard many times and been taught to say. "Nor do they believe in something as silly as Santa Claus."
"I see," Tom said. "You hate Christmas because your mother wouldn't let you celebrate it and never gave you any presents when you were a kid."
"I can't blame her," B'Elanna said. "She's Klingon. I celebrated Christmas with my father and he always made sure I got presents both from him and Santa, but then my dad left and my mother hated the idea. She said it was a silly human ritual, as silly as celebrating one's birthday."
"So you stopped believing?" Chell asked sadly. "I'm so sorry, B'Elanna. But it's never to late to start."
"Yeah, whatever," B'Elanna said, now more sad than ever. "I showed up, no can I please be excused, Captain?"
"I suppose so," Janeway gave her consent. "But I hope to see you in a better mood at next year's party."
B'Elanna didn't answer that, just left the mess hall in a quick stride that told everyone they should get out of her way.
"That is so sad," Chell said. "I didn't celebrate Christmas as a child either but many of my human friends did. I always said that when I grew up I'd celebrate every year and I have."
"I'm actually glad you forced me to come here, Captain," Chakotay said, smiling to his Captain. "I don't think I really want to go another year without celebrating Christmas."
"Really?" Janeway asked, ecstatic, her face lighting up. "That's wonderful, exactly what I hoped for."
"Well, I might wanna call it a night too," Harry said as he stood up from the table. "I need to get my nine hours of sleep."
"All right," the Captain consented. "Merry Christmas, Harry."
"Merry Christmas, Captain," Harry said and his cheeriness sounded a bit forced.
When he was gone, Chell asked, "Is it just me, or did he seem a bit sad too?"
"I don't know," Tom said. "It might be because he never got to believe in Santa either." He paused for a moment, looking very much like he was coming up with a plan. "I have an idea how we can change that. May I speak with you in private, Commander?"
"Sure," Chakotay agreed. "Walk me to my quarters, I think it's time for me to sleep too." He stood up, patted Chell's shoulder and smiled to the Captain. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas," Janeway and Chell said in unison as Chakotay and Tom walked away.
"So, what's this idea of yours, Tom?" Chakotay asked as the two officers waited for the turbolift.
"You might not like it," Tom said warily. "It required using your override code to sneak into Harry's quarters while he's sleeping."
"So you can give him a present and say it's from Santa Claus?" Chakotay asked. "Isn't that taking the whole Santa thing a bit too far?"
"He will never know it was us," Tom promised.
"It's not him I'm worried about," Chakotay said. He shuddered to think what the Captain would do if she found out.
"The Captain will never know either," Tom made another promise.
"Well, all right then," Chakotay agreed. "I'll do it on one condition."
"Name it," Tom said.
"That we do the same for B'Elanna."
"Wait, you actually broke into my officers' quarters to play Santa?" This time it was Kathryn who interrupted the story. "Why have I never heard about that before?"
"It was for the greater good of the family," Chakotay explained. "After this, both Harry and B'Elanna eagerly attended the Christmas party and Tom and I like to believe their change of heart was thanks to us."
"Please tell me you didn't break into anyone else's quarters." Kathryn shook her head in disbelief. This sounded just like something Tom would suggest, even do but she would never have believed it of Chakotay.
"All right," I didn't break into anyone else's quarters," Chakotay said simply. "But that doesn't mean I didn't want to. I often thought about breaking into your quarters."
"To do what exactly?" Kathryn said smiling. They had been married fourteen years but they could still play that game.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Chakotay said mysteriously.
"Okay, stop it, you're grossing me out, again," Gretchen demanded. "Go on with the story, dad, what did you give Bel and Harry?"
"We gave them a small Christmas tree, a stocking with some presents, some holly and mistletoe," Chakotay said. "They both got the same thing I gave your mother that year, a framed holoimage of the senior staff. It's hanging on the wall over there."
"Aww," Aliyana said dreamily. "Did Bel and Harry ever find out it was you?"
"I don't think so," Chakotay replied. "If they did, they didn't confront me about it, but they may have accused Tom."
"Mom, if attendance was mandatory," Gretchen asked, "where was uncle Tuvok?"
"He kindly offered to stay on the bridge," Kathryn answered. "Someone had to be there, just in case and I think it was awfully kind of him to give up his evening so the rest of the family could celebrate. But I always made sure he got a present, which was always met with 'As I do not celebrate Christmas, a present is quite unnecessary, Captain.'"