The BLTS Archive - Let It Snow on a Winter Wonderland
by Kate (k4writer02@yahoo.com)

---

Published: 01-24-04

Updated: 01-24-04

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Paramount in
any way, shape or form, nor do I own Star Trek
Voyager or the characters mentioned in this story.
I am not making a profit.

Archiving: POV, of course, anyone else just ask!

Author's Notes: First, thanks to Briana, who
graciously acted as my beta reader. I really
appreciate your input. Thank you, Briana!

Response to the weather challenge and the holiday
challenge.

Here are the requirements, as listed in emails
from the chakotaytorres yahoo group

Weather: Chakotay is a moderate temp guy ("Tattoo"
- "...where it's so hot.") And B'Elanna loves
warm/hot weather? ("Displaced" - "...and we can be
warm while we're NOT doing it.") The situation:
they both get stuck someplace where it's frigid
and they both end up complaining about their
situation. Maybe...it's an away mission? Shore
leave gone wrong? How do they make the best of it?
And most importantly, how the heck do they stay
warm??

Holiday: Write a C/T holiday story (that means
Christmas, Channukah, Kwanza, whatever it is that
you celebrate this time of year) that includes

x- a romantic Chakotay. I'll leave it up to the
author to determine what this means.

x- snow and a snowball fight. 'Cuz I'd like to see
one. lol

x- Mistletoe.

x- a reference to Santa Claus.

x- this line: "I hate being cold."

Background for my story: This is AU, early Voyager
(think season 3, up to and including Worst Case
Scenario). Please be flexible. I try to be as
correct as possible with details, but to err is
human.

---

It is December 24th, by the old Earth calendar. To
most of the crew, that means Christmas Eve. Even
the non-human non-Terran crewmembers are planning
to celebrate Christmas.

The festive mood is enhanced by the fact that
Voyager met a friendly species, traded with them,
and is fully stocked and fueled for the first time
in a long time. However, the ship detected a
dilithium source a little off course. Voyager
continues trading, but send a shuttle crewed by
B'Elanna and Chakotay on a quick little away
mission to pick some up. It's supposed to be
routine, but no Voyager away mission has ever been
routine.

---

"Chakotay, I don't think the Sky Spirits like you
anymore," B'Elanna teased her friend, as she
picked through the rubble of items that the
roughed landing had shaken loose in the shuttle.
"I mean, how long were you the best pilot the
Maquis had? And how many times have we crashed
since you started driving shuttles out here?"

"Your support is overwhelming," Chakotay told her
dryly. "Help me find the spare medkit. I want to
put it in my pack, along with the freeze dried
food."

"Spare?" B'Elanna asked, looking up from busily
packing her own pack.

"Every time we crash-," Chakotay stopped as
B'Elanna glared. He sighed. "Ok, every time I
crash one of these things, someone can't find a
medkit. I put four in the shuttle, just in case."

"You're paranoid. We didn't even crash. We
landed."

"Is that what it's called when you control the
descent of approximately a ton of metal against
wind sheers of sixty miles an hour to rest on a
shelf of ice? With the engines at 40% efficiency
because of the extremity of the temperature?"

"Oh come on, you're not taking me seriously about
the Sky Spirits?" B'Elanna asked in disbelief.
"You're a good pilot. We landed without scattering
pieces all over the atmosphere." She smiled. "So
you've had some tough luck." Chakotay gave her a
glare two steps shy of evil. B'Elanna worked in
silence on her diagnostic for a full five minutes.
"I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Chakotay said. "Don't worry about
it."

Awkward silence. "I got the signaling beacon
going." B'Elanna finally offered. "We should go
dilithium hunting. That would be a nice Christmas
present to Voyager, wouldn't it?" she asked with
forced cheer.

Chakotay evaluated her warily. "I suppose that
makes me Santa Claus?"

She nodded. "I bet I could find something in the
shuttle to turn your hair white," she offered.

"Torres, I'm on an away mission with you. I don't
need you to make it your personal mission to give
me gray hair," he told her dryly.

She laughed in delight. "Are you afraid of me?"

"You're not supposed to be making the best of
this." He gestured vaguely, and she wasn't sure
whether he meant his company, the shuttle, the
planet, the weather, or the work right before her
holiday. "You're supposed to be ranting while I
placate you."

B'Elanna smacked the console. "Try environmental
controls now."

"What was that?" Chakotay asked, trying a code
sequence.

"Old engineer's stand-by. If it doesn't work, hit
it."

"If it still doesn't work?"

"Hit it and swear at it."

"Then?"

"Pull out the duct tape." B'Elanna said
cheerfully. "Cause if you hit it twice, if it
wasn't really broken before, it is by then. Or it
should be."

Chakotay laughed. "Was that the secret to keeping
Liberty in the air, even with my piloting?"

"The secret there was spit, bubble gum, and
prayers."

"Prayers?" Chakotay turned away from his console
to look at her. His breath misted in the air.
"Didn't think you were the type."

"Not me." B'Elanna flashed him a smile. "You.
Gerron. Dalby. Ayala."

"Dear Sky Spirits, please don't let us crash. Let
us live to fight another day?" he joked.

"More like, 'Please give the crazy woman whatever
she wants so she doesn't kill us all.'"

"In the Maquis, as long as you kept four systems
operational at any one time I figured I was
getting more than I had any right to expect,"
Chakotay teased, but there was pain in
remembrance.

"I always gave you at least five systems," she
corrected. "Waste processing. Engines. Shields.
Weapons. Showers."

"I understood the first four, but I know a few
crewmembers who would've put replicators before
showers."

"They don't have Klingon sense organs. Being
around thirty other unwashed humanoids would've
put me in a really bad mood."

Chakotay bit his tongue and refused to make a
gratuitous reference to her infamous tussles with
Bendera whenever one or the other got his or her
temper up.

She tucked her hair behind her ear. "And the
Vulcans would've agreed with me."

"I don't think it's going to get much warmer in
here," he told her in a resigned tone. "I've got
standard issue Starfleet winter gear with the
medkits if you want to go dilithium hunting."

"We'll leave a message for Voyager encoded with
the beacon?"

"Extracting the ore shouldn't take long," Chakotay
agreed. "Should we bring the camping gear?"

"Why?" B'Elanna shrugged. "We calculated orbit.
Nightfall shouldn't happen for at least six and a
half hours. Thanks to precision flying worthy of a
maestro-" she saluted mockingly. "We should be 700
meters from the strongest source of dilithium in
the next three star systems." She beamed. "I do
believe in Christmas," she declared, with too much
joy for sarcasm and too much cynicism for
sincerity.

He shook his head in mild disbelief. "I can't
remember the last time I saw you like this."

"I can't help it. I like Christmas." She looked out
the window. "I even like snow at Christmas."

Chakotay stopped assembling the pack to look at
her. "I thought you HATED the cold."

"I do. I hate being cold," she agreed readily.
"But I'll put up with it for one week of each
year, from December 24 to January 1."

"What about snow?" He smirked. "You used to say
snow was just fine, as long as you were inside
with a spiked raktajino, looking out at it. Then
you could close the curtains and hibernate till
everything melted and it was safe to go outside
again."

"Your memory is too long," she said. "I'm in a
good mood. It's Christmas Eve. Harry replicated a
tree for my quarters. We're going to decorate it
tonight, with Tom and Kes."

"You're willingly spending time with Paris and
Kes?" Chakotay asked.

"It's Christmas. And she talked to me before they
started going out."

"What?" Chakotay almost did a double take.

"Remember when she time traveled and saw the
future? Well, she saw that she loved Tom and he
loved her and they got a chance to be together because
I died. She warned us about the people who were
going to kill me, but she wanted the life with
Tom. She asked if I minded. I decided I didn't."

Chakotay knew better than to challenge stubborn
B'Elanna.

"When they leave, Ayala's coming over and we're
going to reminisce a little and drink some of the
cider we stashed after the last away mission in
memory of the Maquis at home, and the ones we lost
out here." She sobered. "After Insurrection Alpha,
a lot of people are remembering how much we meant
to one another. I don't think anyone wants to take
over the ship," she reassured him. "It's thirty of
us to more than a hundred Starfleeters. We've
blended and melded, but that program forced us to
remember that we used to be separated."

Chakotay sighed. "It's not easy-balancing personal
identity and crew unity."

B'Elanna agreed, then continued discussing her
plans for the evening. "The engineering staff and
Maquis are invited for a little something." She
tweaked something with her scanner. "That is, if
we get back in time. After this mission, I don't
have to worry about Engineering. Diagnostics are
not only acceptable; they're almost optimal. We
have backup supplies of everything. Truth be told,
the only thing that would make me happier would be
a complete overhaul of all ship's systems."

Chakotay coughed, as if to say 'yeah right, you'd
let anyone else touch your ship'.

She ignored him as she tightly cinched the pack of
provisions. "Carey's in charge, but he has Vorik
breathing down his neck, so I'm not too worried."
She was almost petulant as she spoke. "We are
ridiculously over-packed for this mission."

"I am not leaving this shuttle unprepared,"
Chakotay said. "You're trying to pull fate down on
our heads by talking about how good everything is."

B'Elanna made an impolite Klingon hand gesture.
Chakotay wasn't sure if the spirit of the gesture
were directed at him or at fate in general, but he
made an ancient sign against evil on his chest.
"You have a tricorder?" he prompted.

"I know my job," she snapped.

"Tricorder, check. Medical tricorder? Dermal
regenerator?"

"Part of the medkit," she said.

"You're carrying one?"

"You have one."

"We should both have them," Chakotay said.

"What's with you? You're jumpier than an officer
in training on his first command. You haven't
double checked equipment since Dalby's phaser
malfunctioned that time we broke into the Cardy
weapons depot."

Chakotay sighed. She sounded annoyed, but she was
competent and calling that into question was
insulting. Underlying the annoyance was genuine
concern. "Something feels off," he confessed. "I
try to follow my head, but my gut's telling me
that there is something WRONG here."

B'Elanna evaluated him. She trusted Chakotay. She
respected him as an officer and her best friend.
He had amazing instincts that had saved them
numerous times in the Maquis. Unfortunately, since
merging with the Starfleet crew, he had
consistently shut down his instincts to focus on
the logic demanded by Starfleet discipline and
Kathryn Janeway. She didn't want to live through
the consequences of something too strong to
ignore. As far as B'Elanna was concerned, if he
said something was wrong, it was wrong. "Okay,"
She said. "We don't need the dilithium that badly.
We have backups. We can just go back to Voyager
now."

"What, tell the captain we didn't even try to get
the dilithium because I had a bad feeling about
it?" Chakotay shook his head. "And can't you
picture Ayala? He'd laugh me off the ship. I'd
have to do things 'The Maquis Way' for at least
six months to get any respect from Dalby. I'm
getting a headache thinking about it. No, I'll
just be jumpy the whole time. We should eat."

"Okay," B'Elanna said, feeling like part of a team
rather than a subordinate. It had been a while
since he confided in her. "Let's do a gear check
first. I'll look over your pack; you look at mine.
Anything's missing, ask about it. And remember, if
we lose one pack, two have to be able to survive
on the other."

"Cute," Chakotay told her. "Glad that you remember
that little speech." He had given it on more than
one occasion, when she left behind food and
medicine in favor of tools and scanners.

"Cute?" she asked, offended. "As far as I'm
concerned, that speech should go in the manual for
away missions. Right before the full listing of
Murphy's laws and their correlatives."

Chakotay laughed. "Engineering in-service?"

"Now that's motivational speaking," she fired
back, reveling in the camaraderie. "Chakotay,
where did you find this?" She dangled the item in
question in front of him. She rotated it in her
fingers so she could see it from every angle.

"You know what it is?" he asked.

"Sue was considering splurging her replicator
rations on one. As punishment for spending her
duty shift daydreaming, I made her explain the
significance of a parasitic weed wrapped in ribbon
to Vorik," B'Elanna informed him.

Chakotay pulled out two prepared meal packets and
split them open. He shook his head. "That's not by
the book discipline." He emphasized the word
discipline, because in officer training, the
curriculum had spent a considerable amount of time
exploring the differences between punishment and
discipline.

"By the book only works when you use the book."
She shrugged. "I use the book when I have to, but
I know when I have to."

"I didn't hear that," Chakotay said. He handed her
the bag of nutrient enriched powder. "If the first
officer heard that the Chief Engineer used
Starfleet protocol selectively."

"Saying stuff like that is what scares Ayala and
Dalby and the others. When you talk like that,
they think you're not angry any more. They think
you're giving up on the cause, that even if we get
back to the Alpha Quadrant you'll go back to
Starfleet instead of the Maquis."

He flinched.

"And you of all people know how much restraint
it's taken to accept as much Starfleet protocol as
we do." They began to eat their meal of
prepackaged freeze-dried nutrient-enriched white
dust.

Chakotay made a face, remembering instances that
she and the other Maquis had not shown restraint.

"Gerron doesn't wear his earring on duty. Henley
leaves the headband in her quarters, even though
it irritates them both," B'Elanna pointed out.
"They're on time to duty shifts and we don't
gamble more than anyone else on board."

Chakotay raised an eyebrow, and tried to choke
down a mouthful of powder.

"It irritates them. The headband is just
adornment, but the earring has deeper spiritual
connotations for Gerron. Like your tattoo." She
looked at his face. "But you get to wear your face
everyday. They just wait to be off duty."

Chakotay frowned, thoughtful. He hadn't expected
insight to the crew from Torres. She was his
friend, but he knew her strengths and her
weaknesses. Her strengths were mechanical, her
weaknesses social.

B'Elanna misinterpreted his frown. She swallowed
and defended her claim. "And look at me. I work
with Vorik every day. I don't treat him
differently than the rest of my staff and I don't
avoid him. Some days it kills me," she said it
fiercely. "My human half crumbles like a pathetic
little-" She hurled a derogatory Klingon word for
female victim into the air. "He didn't-my body-but
since that day I feel weak. Sometimes. Other
times, I'm so angry I can't breathe, can't speak,
can't do anything except not explode. My Klingon
half can feel his throat in my hands, can smell
his blood." She took a bite of food to give
herself some time to get herself under control.

Chakotay didn't trust himself to speak, so he
chewed, and remembered how violated he felt when
Seska stole his DNA. It was a different case, but
on some level, he could imagine the violation she
was suffering. Why hadn't he realized how she felt
sooner?

"The doctor is making me do therapy on the
holodeck. As far as therapies go, it's about as
effective as that holographic woman he programmed
for Vorik." She bit her lip, sipped some water,
trying to rinse the taste of the powder/poison
from her mouth. "I've thought about asking Tuvok
for help. Since he is Vorik's mentor, it would be
kind of weird. And he's so stuck in Alpha Quadrant
mode that if I admitted that I look at Vorik and
see an assailant-he would transfer Vorik to
another department or start treating me like a
live grenade, and that's not fair. He's a good
engineer. I'm professional enough to recognize
that the department needs both of us." She winced.
"I work with him everyday, but I get so angry."

"The blood fever was months ago," he whispered,
trying to suppress the anger and shame her words
had provoked. Why hadn't he seen it earlier? Was
he so self-centered? "Why didn't you come to me
sooner?"

She shrugged. "We're on the other side of the
universe, so I get latitude and flexibility. I use
it. If I'm a little eccentric, my staff writes it
off as the crazy angry Klingon Maquis. They've
seen enough of Dalby's outbursts to expect bad
behavior from angry Maquis. It is better since
that class," she tried to reassure Chakotay. "But
it's at the point that I notice myself
overreacting. It affects me. Not my job
performance, not yet. But I don't want to be
removed from duty, so I'm doing the responsible
thing. I'm seeking effective treatment." There was
defiant anger and vulnerability in her stance and
tone. "If you can't help me because you're my
friend, tell me and I'll find another way."

Chakotay reached out to her and nodded. "First
step, admitting there's a problem. You did that."

She took a deep breath.

"I'm honored that you trusted me enough to bring
this to me," he said.

"You're placating," she protested.

Chakotay touched her hair, running his fingers
through it. "I think you are amazing. You are my
friend. Probably my best friend. I don't know what
I would do without you. I don't tell you often
enough how much you mean to me. I'm sorry for
that, but we're going to do better."

She pulled away. "You're trying to distract me."
She was flushed. "Why do you have mistletoe hidden
in your backpack during an away mission?"

"Long story," he told her. "Very long." The
unflappable officer was blushing, but there was no
telling whether it was the display of emotion or
her question that embarrassed him.

The expression on her face said it all, but she
verbalized, "I have time."

"I don't want to tell you," he said.

"I told you my secret." She waited.

"I confiscated it." he finally admitted. "Tom and
Harry were using it for no good. Just put it back
in there."

B'Elanna tried not to laugh. "Tom and Harry, up to
no good? Who ever would have imagined?" She looked
at the rations, the tricorder, the medkit, the
scanner, the box for transporting the dilithium, a
heavy emergency communication beacon, a tent, a
blanket, several spare power sources, a space
heater, rations, water, and the phaser. "You think
you'll need all of this?" The pack told her more
about his state of mind than anything else had.

"No," he said. "But I'd rather have it and not
need it than the other way around."

She tucked extra socks in his pack, then replaced
the first item that caught her attention. "You
should come over tonight. Drink something stronger
than cider with Ayala a bit. He needs it." She
nestled a few "breadcrumb beacons" in the fabric.
They would set the beacons along the way so they
could retrace their steps, even if a freak storm
blew in. She had attached five to her belt, as had
Chakotay.

Chakotay had stacked all her belongings in a
circle around himself. "Oh?"

"He misses the boys," she said. "He believed in
the Maquis cause with his whole heart. You know
there's no other way he would've left his sons.
But now, with the holiday, he's on the other side
of the universe. It's the third year in a row.
He's realized that the time we've been gone is
equal to Joey's age when we got thrown out here."

Chakotay said nothing. Seska and that baby had
brought a gaping hole in his life to his
awareness. He was more sympathetic now to the
crewmen who missed their young children and to Sam
Wildman, who lived on the razor's edge of
appreciating her daughter and fearing for Naomi's
safety.

B'Elanna tugged the strings tight on the bag.
"Ayala doesn't talk to me as much as he used to.
He sees me as something of a time bomb, since
Bendera, and Suder and Vorik's attack." She
nervously tied a knot.

"Ayala would talk to you. He knows how important
your sister was to you. Your family. We've been
out here three years. I know Voyager's a family
now, but the Maquis were the first family I ever
knew. Some family, right? Out of 31, we had three
traitors and a sociopath." She blushed. "No
criticism. You didn't know. Neither did I. I'm
just trying to say that betrayal hurts, and
believe me, some of them are hurting. I mean,
Tuvok was a traitor and we have to answer to him.
Paris is an ally, under your protection, even
though he was willing to sell us out to them.
Seska betrayed us twice and pretended to have your
baby. Jonas betrayed us. Suder lost it totally.
Hogan got killed. We lost Bendera." She choked.
"Ayala's starting to feel like he's losing your
friendship, that the Starfleeters are seducing you
away. A lot of the others are scared too."

"And you?" Chakotay asked gently. He wasn't sure
if she were rambling aimlessly or purposely
leading somewhere.

"I know you're the same man you have always been,"
she said with uncharacteristic quiet conviction.
Usually she shouted her beliefs at the top of her
lungs. He tested the power source on her tools. "I
know you are still devoted to your principles.
It's just that we're not sure where your
priorities are. It's starting to freak a few
people out."

Chakotay looked up from her pack. "My priorities?"

"Like when Seska said she was having your baby.
Did you go to Ayala, who used to be your right
hand, the father of three boys? Did you go to
Dalby or Gerron, who know what it is to live with
rape and the children of that crime? They know how
hard it is to accept a child forced on you. They
wanted to help you, but were afraid your temper
would snap."

Chakotay said nothing, but tension creased his
forehead. So she wasn't just purging her emotions.

Relentlessly, B'Elanna continued. "Did you talk to
Chell, who used to be everyone's counselor and
best friend? Going outside your old friends, what
about your new ones? Say, Sam Wildman, the only
other single parent on this ship? Did you come to
me, a child of mixed races who knows what it's
like to attempt to live two lives?"

Ashamed, Chakotay tried to look away. He had
thought that the memory and consequences of Seska
and the child were for him to live with alone.

Her eyes bored into his. "Instead of talking to
any of the people who love you and worry about
you, you went on a vision quest to talk to your
dead father." She stood, and pulled on a Starfleet
parka. "I respect your beliefs, Chakotay, but
talking to spirits while the living are worried
that you're going to flip your lid wasn't the best
choice you've ever made."

"Any more criticism?" he asked, carefully putting
the medkit at the bottom of B'Elanna's pack. He
debated about it, then layered in food, water, a
blanket, a heater with sufficient power to melt
the water, and extra warm clothing. He placed the
cutting instruments and storage container on top.
Hopefully they wouldn't need anything else. After
a moment's hesitation, he threw an extra commbadge
in her pack.

He stood and pulled on his own parka. He attached
his belt to the outside, checking that the
breadcrumb beacons were present. He then checked
that the climbing gear on his belt was in working
condition. He silently held out his hand for
Torres' gear.

She handed it to him. "I'm not criticizing," she
said. The expression on his face caused her to
backtrack hastily. "I'm critiquing." His face did
not change. "But wouldn't you rather know what
your friends are thinking? Hear what scares them?"

"Why did they choose you as the ambassador?" he
asked. "Is there enough tension in this?" He
snapped a rope in her direction.

"That's not my climbing cable. It's for the tent,
just in case."

He softened. "I know, I'm jumpier than a gagh in a
breakfast bowl. I'm sorry. There's something eerie
about this place."

B'Elanna sighed, tried to shrug off the uneasiness
that he was transferring to her. "You just hate
the cold."

"Perhaps." He inclined his head. "But tell me, why
are you the ambassador for the Maquis?"

"Because I'm tactless. They knew I wouldn't beat
around the bush."

Chakotay honestly laughed. "Are you going to seal
the shuttle?"

"We haven't detected any lifesigns, but that
doesn't mean what it should. The cold and the wind
aren't optimal sensor conditions. We already
powered down the engines. I'll leave environmental
controls running just enough to make sure the door
doesn't freeze, but other than that it's shut
down. I'll seal it when we leave."

Chakotay agreed. "How much climbing are you
expecting to do?"

"About a hundred meters. Little more"

"Solid ice?"

"Covered in snow."

"Can you handle it?" Chakotay asked, staring into
her face.

"700 meters," she said, with false bravado. "It's
less than a mile."

"Torres, this is not a question from a friend.
From a superior officer, can you climb 330 feet of
ice, hike the rest of the way through subzero
temperatures, climb into a cave, take off your
gloves, harvest dilithium with nothing but a spare
heater to keep back the frostbite, package the
crystals, put your gloves back on, make the return
trip across the plain and down the ice mountain,
and into the shuttle?"

"Don't make it sound like so much fun," she
snapped. "I can do it. I am half Klingon, but even
Klingons can survive in low temperatures, given
appropriate resources."

Chakotay helped her to put her pack on her back.
He checked her gear one last time, then tied the
straps with finality. She did the same favor for
him and they set off. At first, the grim mood
persisted. Neither of them like working in subzero
temperatures. The ascent was arduous, but after
that the ground leveled. B'Elanna closed her eyes
and pretended that she had returned to Kessik and
the frozen ponds.

"When I was a little girl, I loved to skate," she
confessed. "In that one week a year, I tolerated
snow and ice, of course."

Chakotay laughed. Dressed entirely in white and
gray Starfleet issue, she almost blended into the
white of the sky and the earth. Only her face
jumped out in vivid color. With her eyes closed
and face upturned to the soft fat flakes, she
looked like a work of art. If he were an artist,
he would've called B'Elanna "Bliss." Perhaps
"Peace." Maybe "Christmas Angel."

The sound of a sickening smack pulled him out of
his thoughts. He coughed. "What the hell?" he
demanded.

B'Elanna was innocently dusting her hands and
smirking. Her pack rested on the crust of ice and
snow. "A really big snowflake hit you," she told
him. "The Sky Spirits are starting to take aim.
You should throw one back at them-"

She shrieked and dodged, as he winged some snow in
her direction. "Not bad for an old man," she
taunted, scooping snow into her hands and tossing
it at him.

He grabbed some snow and finally managed to hit her.

She was laughing as she hurled insults, and danced
around him, scooping snow and tossing it with
careless grace. They wound up in a stand off, each
holding a snowball, each easily able to hit the
other.

He was grinning, but suddenly began to cough. He
doubled over. Convinced that the cold, altitude,
exertion, thin atmosphere, or some combination
thereof was hurting her best friend, B'Elanna
dropped the snow and knelt beside him. "Chakotay?"
she whispered, reaching out to remove the pack,
turn him on his back and perform CPR if necessary.

As repayment for her concern, she wound up on her
back lying on the ice, with a face full of snow.
She spluttered in outrage. "Cheater!" she accused.
Her voice echoed back to her

"I won." He smirked.

"You cheated."

"I can't believe you fell for it."

"I try not to hit a man when he's down," she said.
"Someone honorable taught me that. Gee, what was
that crazy Indian's name?" She stood in
indignation, brushing off the snow.

Chakotay smirked. "It's that kind of cunning that
kept us in the air. I won't apologize for it."

She snorted. "I don't want you to. Why get mad
when you can just get even?" There was snow in his
face before he could blink. Ten minutes later,
they were both exhausted and gasping. "Truce?"
B'Elanna offered, panting as she struggled to
breathe the cold, thin air.

"Truce." He panted an agreement. He held out his
hand. She took it, no tricks, and they shook.
B'Elanna lifted her pack and fastened it on her
back, while Chakotay used the tricorder and the
most recently placed breadcrumb beacon to orient
them.

She followed him to a narrow aperture in the rock
face of impressive cliffs. They slid in feet first,
flashlights attached to their hoods. Chakotay had
pulled out the phaser, in case an animal chose to
make its home in this cave. B'Elanna stripped off
her pack and gloves and began to collect the dilithium.
She worked quickly, but carefully. They couldn't
afford to damage the dilithium, but even with the
heat and light source nearby, her hands were freezing.

Chakotay made a complete survey of the cavern,
then started to help her package the crystals. He
was determined that they would not collect more
dilithium than they could carry. He set about
packing the crystals efficiently. They couldn't
afford to waste space in the packs.

When he had finished, he noticed her shivering.
She had pulled the gloves on again, but her jaw
was trembling, though she did not allow her teeth
to chatter. "This weather is ridiculous," she
complained, as he once again checked her gear and
harness. She returned the favor as he nodded.

"What about the charm of winter?"

"It's worn off. I'm remembering how much I hate
being cold."

"Let's go. We'll get back to the shuttle, take off
and rendezvous with Voyager a little early."

"I still think they should've moved in and taken
up orbit instead of sending a shuttle," B'Elanna
mumbled.

Chakotay didn't answer in words, but he tugged
sharply on her pack. "Making sure it'll stay in
place during the descent." He smiled innocently.

She made a face. "All these layers, and you know
the wind is going to cut straight through and
sting like anything."

"Just think about the warm shuttle and the
raktajino that's waiting for us," he encouraged.

"Raktajino?" she asked, frowning.

But either he didn't hear her, or he chose not to
respond as he led the way to the shuttle. They
crossed the plain without playing in the snow.
B'Elanna was right. The biting wind had picked up.
They descended the 300 meters of sheer ice with
extra caution. Neither of them fell or scraped or
broke anything. Chakotay was almost overwhelmed by
the sensation of waiting for something terrible to
happen, something to go wrong. And of course, it
did.

"Where's the shuttle?" B'Elanna stared at the
place where they had left the ship. "The wind
couldn't have blown snow to cover it that
quickly!"

Chakotay said nothing, but he readied his phaser.
B'Elanna pulled out a tricorder. Her scanning led
them to the edge of the ledge where Chakotay had
landed the shuttle. "I don't understand. The
readings say it's still here."

"Look down," Chakotay prompted her.

She mumbled an obscure expletive. "Did the wind
blow it down there?"

"No," he said. "That's why we landed down here
instead of on the plain. The ice mountain breaks
some of the wind."

"Well it didn't take off on its own," she said,
frustrated. "Did it?"

"No," Chakotay said. "You sealed it, right?"

"Yes I sealed it. I turned off everything."

"Even environmental controls?"

"Especially those," she agreed. "If we had left
the power going, there's no telling if the heat it
generated would've weakened the ice."

"Say the replicators stayed on," Chakotay spoke
into the wind. "Would that heat cause the ice to
weaken?"

"It could, I guess," B'Elanna said. "The
replicators draw on an incredible amount of energy
in order to materialize the requested item."

Guilt crawled across Chakotay's face. "Let's get
down there," he suggested. "We'll know more once
we see the shuttle."

"Chakotay, it's dangerous. What if it gets dark?"

"Nightfall isn't scheduled for another hour."

"Do you honestly think that two intermediate
climbers can get down that-" She indicated the
ravine. "In an hour? It's totally uncharted. It's
not worth the risk."

"We'll manage," he said.

"What if we get stuck halfway down, with no
light?"

"We can do this," Chakotay said, filled with quiet
confidence.

"Okay, say we do get to the shuttle. How do we get
it open?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"If the replicators melted the ice enough for the
shuttle to fall down a ravine, some water was
probably generated. By now, the doors will be
frozen over. I know we have a heat source and
cutting tools and even light sources, but do you
really want to expose your hands to the elements
in order to get that door open?"

Chakotay met her eyes. "Do you want to spend the
night exposed?"

"We have a tent," she said weakly.

"How do you propose staying warm?" he asked. "Or
getting off planet to the rendezvous point?"

"Voyager will come for us if we don't make it to
the rendezvous point," B'Elanna said.

"Tomorrow. Maybe the day after. Do you want to
live on these packs for two days?"

"We could do it."

"We could, but it would be miserable. The shuttle
is right down there. All we have to do is get to
it."

B'Elanna choked back the urge to cry. She was cold
and tired and miserable. "You left the replicator
on for me, didn't you?" ahe asked, performing a
gear check before they began the descent. "So I
could have hot raktajino while I looked out at the
snow?"

"For both of us," he confessed. "I should've asked
you why you were shutting down everything."

"I should've checked all the systems, not just the
primary ones." She sighed.

"You're not angry?"

"Not with you. Thanks for the thought."

"Merry Christmas," Chakotay offered weakly,
tugging at her harness. "Do we have enough cable?"

"Yes," she said.

And then they climbed. They climbed for a long,
long time. It felt much longer than an hour, but
within sixty minutes, they were standing outside
the shuttle. B'Elanna held up the light source,
while Chakotay manipulated a heated cutting tool.
"Of course the door froze shut," he mumbled.

She bit her tongue, and did not say 'I told you
so.' "Try upping the power on the tool."

"If I do that, it'll cause a feedback loop and the
thing will explode in my hand," he said crossly.

"Not if you exchange the second and third
circuits," she argued.

"This will work." He said fiercely.

The wind howled, and B'Elanna concentrated on not
letting her shivering affect the steadiness of the
light. If she weren't so cold, if her hands were a
little bit steadier, she would be wielding the
tool that should open the door. But life is what
it is, so she clamped her mouth shut while
Chakotay struggled with the tool.

Finally, thirty minutes after true dark had set
in, the shuttle opened. They got inside, sealed
the hatch and stripped off the winter parkas,
hoods, boots and gear.

Though her hands were blue and trembling with
cold, B'Elanna began tapping in control codes.
Miraculously, the tumble into the ravine had not
damaged the shuttle too badly. Environmental
controls began to hum and B'Elanna basked in the
slow increase in temperature. Chakotay cleaned the
raktajino which had caused all the trouble and
spread out two bedrolls. "We shouldn't try to
leave tonight," he reminded her. "There's a storm
blowing in. The wind sheers would crumple the
shuttle like tin foil."

"We can't afford to get covered in snow," she
reminded him.

"Worry about tomorrow tomorrow. I brought shovels.
If necessary we can clear the top, then take off."

"If we can get the door open," she pointed out. "I
have a bad feeling about this."

"So do I. But we can't fly through a storm with
winds like that, so we'll just have to buckle down
and wait it out."

She shivered, nodded. "So much for cider with
Ayala."

"So much for turkey a la Neelix," he tried to
cheer her.

"I thought he wanted to make mincemeat pies,"
B'Elanna remembered.

"The captain demanded turkey."

She nodded. "Eggnog," B'Elanna said. "There's
going to be eggnog."

"Not till New Years." He smiled. "You'll get some,
don't worry."

"I don't want any. Remember what it did to Tom
last year?"

"The very reason I confiscated the mistletoe."
Chakotay smiled.

"We have time for that long story now," she said.
"We shouldn't sleep tonight. The heat is on very
low - just enough to keep us from freezing, not
enough to melt anything outside. It's not good to
sleep when it's so cold. And anyway, we should
leave as soon as the storm breaks."

Chakotay agreed. "So an entire night together."

"Talking," she said, feeling an odd twinge of
regret.

"We should wrap up together in the blankets to
stay warm. Body heat and all."

B'Elanna felt her temperature rise a degree or
two. "You learn that from the elders of your
tribe?" she teased, remembering the usual source
of his survival skills.

"I may have lived on a planet so humid that it
makes Florida summers feel dry, but my people
didn't forget the stories of the cold days on
Earth. We learned how to keep warm and alive in a
blizzard, though we didn't get to practice that
much."

"Your sister was more traditional, right?"

"She was so interested in the past that she left
home to study archeology on Earth," Chakotay
confirmed. "Then she fell in love and got married
and had babies and kept digging in the dirt."

"Think she's still doing it?"

"Till the day she dies or the grant money runs
out."

B'Elanna nodded, fetched a granola bar, broke it
in half, handed the larger part to Chakotay and
sat on one of the benches. "Merry Christmas." He
joined her with a blanket. They curled up together
and stared out at a night of alien ice and
moonlight.

The conversation waned, and they simply enjoyed
each other's warmth and presence. At midnight, she
stirred. "We should sing, or something. It'll keep
us awake."

"Sing?"

"When I was a little girl, before my father left
we celebrated Christmas and Three Kings. We went
to Mass and watched la Posada and made luminaries
and sang Christmas carols. I remember the songs
best."

"What was your favorite?" he asked, enjoying the
effect of moonlight on her skin.

"'Winter Wonderland'," she said. "It's this silly
little carol about building snowmen and walking
around, but I always liked it."

"I always liked 'Let It Snow'." Chakotay offered
reflectively. "It's about staying inside by the
fire with the one you love."

B'Elanna flushed. "Sing it for me?"

So he quietly serenaded her, conveniently
forgetting that the music was stored in the
computer databanks to play any time at all.

At the end, he leaned forward and kissed her
lightly. She blinked.

"It's the most wonderful time of the year," he
supplied. "Shame to waste all this ambiance."

"Ambiance?" The unromantic B'Elanna demanded.
"What ambiance? It's freezing, we're in a metal
box at the bottom of a ravine, it's Christmas Eve
and our dinner was freeze dried poison powder."

"But we're together, with absolute privacy, with a
blanket and shelter inside and moonlight and snow
outside."

"I never took you for that kind of romantic," she
said. "I mean, you joined the Maquis and you made
it to Captain and you believed in their cause, and
that showed a romantic streak, I mean who else
would find romance under such impossible odds? But
I never thought that you would be moved by moonlight
and privacy."

He laughed. "If you're so practical, why did you
join the romantic Maquis fools?"

"You made me believe in your dream. You were so
passionate about the injustice of Cardassia and
the colonies that you made me believe I could make
a difference in someone's life."

He breathed and cuddled her to his side, feeling
that faith like that was a gift.

She leaned over and kissed him. It was his turn to
blink at her. "The mistletoe," she explained. "I
think someone was trying to get revenge on you for
confiscating it. Or maybe someone had booked the
shuttle for a rendezvous tonight." She laughed,
and pointed up. Sure enough, a sprig of mistletoe
identical to Chakotay's confiscated specimen hung
directly above their heads.

"Like I said, ambiance. Moonlight and mistletoe
and a pretty girl." Their third kiss lasted longer
and raised the shuttle temperature a full degree.

She pulled away to meet his eyes. "Chakotay, I
want this, but only if it's real. I want to be
able to look at you tomorrow and the next day and
every day for the next seventy years . ." She
blushed, wondering why she sounded like an
inexperienced virgin. "That didn't come out right.
What I mean is, you're my best friend and we're
responsible adults. I could do a roll in the hay,
but you can't. You'd lose your self-respect, or
your respect for me, or some combination thereof
and that would be a disaster. So if this is some
crazy romantic impulse that you're going to regret
the second the hormones go away--"

He stopped her speech with his lips. "It's not an
impulse," he said. "I've wanted to kiss you for a
long time."

She laughed breathlessly, no longer caring whether
he had understood her or not. "You have?"

He nodded, and kissed her again.

"Since when?" she demanded.

"Since I saw you being fierce and vulnerable
fighting that Cardassian in the shuttle bay. Since
the Caretaker took you. Since you looked like an
angel in the snow today."

She rewarded his answer with another kiss. "Why
did it take you so long?" she demanded.

"I was your Captain. There's no honor in taking
advantage of your subordinate."

B'Elanna protested. "This subordinate was totally
willing. And you and Seska were an item."

"She wasn't really a subordinate. On the ship,
sure. But she worked Maquis Intel for years before
coming into the field with us. Besides, I'm older
than you are."

"Do you know how ridiculous you sound?" she
demanded.

"Must be because there's all this blood singing in
my head. I can't think."

"Me neither." She laughed. He kissed her again and
she felt dizzy. Of course, at that moment an alarm
trilled, informing them that the storm had broken
temporarily. It would return with greater force in
a short time, but the proverbial eye of the
hurricane was directly above them.

Amorous activities would have to wait. B'Elanna
coaxed the engine to life, while Chakotay
maneuvered the shuttle straight into the air.
Tense and motionless, B'Elanna waited until they
broke free of the planet's atmosphere. She gasped.
"I wasn't sure it would work."

"Add it to the list of Christmas miracles,"
Chakotay told her, as she cranked up the heat on
the environmental controls and ordered a hot drink
from the replicator.

She smiled. "What else is on the list?"

"Going chronologically or in order of importance?"

"Importance."

"I think you rank number one, the kisses tie with
the conversation we've had for number two, finding
the shuttle undamaged after its fall, and taking
off successfully follow. Landing the shuttle
without crashing it, and finding the dilithium in
good condition round out the list."

She grinned. "Can't argue with that." She kissed
his tattoo, his temple, and then his forehead.
"You forgot about the mistletoe."

He laughed.

"Merry Christmas, Chakotay."

"Merry Christmas B'Elanna." He kissed her lips,
and let the autopilot take the shuttle to the
Voyager rendezvous.

---

The End