The BLTS Archive-The Best Gift
by monkee (wiecek@earthlink.net)

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Disclaimers: Paramount owns Star Trek Voyager and all of its
characters.

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"A stuffed sehlat? That's the best gift you ever received?" Tom asked,
incredulously.

"Yep," Torres stated, unequivocally.

"But sehlats are Vulcan, aren't they?" Harry asked.

"Yep," she said again.  She looked around the table at her dining
companions, Harry, Tom and Chakotay. She could tell by their faces
that she was going to have to elaborate, or she'd never hear the end
of it. She sighed, then explained, "My father picked it up for me on
some Starbase. I was really young - five or six, I think.  He told me
that it reminded him of me...cuddly but strong.  DON'T LAUGH, TOM!"

Tom held his hand over his mouth, trying not to laugh, but unable to
suppress a broad smile.  Harry and Chakotay were faring about as well
-- or maybe a little worse.  She heard a distinct guffaw from Harry's
side of the table.  She scowled at all three of them.

"I'm not laughing," Tom said, quickly - too quickly, in fact, and he
WAS laughing, if only with his eyes.  But he put a hand on her arm
affectionately, so she decided to let it slide.  "In fact, I'm
inclined to agree -- cuddly but strong.  I like that!"

She couldn't help but grin at him.  He was a P'tak, but she loved him
anyway.  And she saw no need to reveal any more about the best gift
she'd ever received.  No need to tell them that it was the last
birthday gift she'd gotten from her father, as he'd left them the
following year.  No need to say that she'd torn the toy apart in a fit
of rage when her mother told her he wouldn't be coming back. Because
despite everything, it had been special to her, and she still
associated it with the feeling that her father had cared for her a
great deal.

Tired of feeling so exposed, she turned to Harry.  "What about you,
Starfleet?  What's the best gift you ever received?"

Harry didn't even have to think about it.  "My clarinet," he replied,
immediately.  "My first clarinet.  My parents surprised me with it the
day after my first recital.  I'd been using the one of the school's
clarinets, but after they heard me play, they decided to get me my
own."  He smiled, his eyes misting at the memory, even after all these
years.  "I can still remember how it smelled when I opened up the
case.  And how it just sparkled -- all that black and silver.  It was
a beautiful instrument.  Just beautiful."

A few years earlier, he might have been reluctant to talk about this
memory so openly, but no more. Tom and B'Elanna were his best friends,
and he knew Commander Chakotay would understand as well.  And if
B'Elanna could open up, so could he.  And it wasn't like he had to
tell them everything.  He didn't have to tell them that his mother had
cried.  He didn't have to tell them that he had, too.  Some parts of
special memories were not meant to be shared.

He sensed someone else looking his way, and turned slightly to see the
Captain smiling at him.  She was sitting at a nearby table -- Chakotay
had asked her to join them earlier, and she'd looked tempted, but
declined.  She'd been reading reports while she sipped her coffee and
picked at her stew, but apparently had been distracted by their
conversation.  He nodded subtly her way, careful not to draw the
other's attention to her.  She nodded in return, her mouth still
quirked in a half smile, and returned her attention to her reports.

He looked around the table at his friends, who were all smiling at his
memory. Except for Tom, who looked about a million light years away.

"Well, Tom?" he prompted.  "What was the best gift you ever received?"

Tom hesitated.  He knew what he wanted to say -- had known the minute
this conversation had begun -- but technically, what he was
remembering hadn't been a gift.  There had been no holiday, no
birthday, no special occasion in volved -- it had just been a spur of
the moment decision of his father's.  A rare and random act of
camaraderie toward his only son.  He decided that it counted -- it had
been a gift of time.

"It was my first flight," he finally said.  "My Dad took me up on an
old S-Class shuttle.  Two seats, no warp drive, manual helm
controls...I was eight years old, and I was terrified."  B'Elanna was
already smiling. He'd told her this story before, long ago, and many
times since.  "I couldn't even keep the ship level, at first," he
continued, not looking directly at anyone at the table, his eyes
focused on the past.  "But then, suddenly, it just all made sense, and
I was flying.  Flying.  It seemed like that clunky old shuttle was
responding to my every thought -- I never wanted to stop.  I can
still remember the look on my father's face when he watched me.  He
didn't say much, but he let me fly that thing until it was nearly out
of fuel.  I'll never forget that day."

Understanding looks from his table companions brought him back to the
present.  The memory was so pure, so sharp, even now.  Definitely the
best gift he'd ever gotten.  He opted not to mention that he'd been
chasing that feeling of euphoria ever since, and it had gotten him
into trouble over the years. That it had caused the accident at Caldik
Prime.  That it had contributed to his recent problems with the alien
ship, 'Alice'. Those incidents didn't diminish what had happened to
him that day.

A sound from a nearby table caught his attention.  He turned to see
the Captain putting a PADD down and looking over at him with tears in
her eyes.  She leaned her elbows on the table and rested her chin on
her hands.  She looked down and chuckled softly to herself, then
looked back at him sentimentally.  "Sorry," she said, "I couldn't help
but hear that.  I...I've heard that same story from a different
perspective."

A different perspective?  What did she mean?  He took a deep breath as
he realized she must mean his father's perspective.  His father must
have told her about that day.  He wondered what he'd said about it.

"I'll tell you about it sometime," she offered, with a crooked smile,
folding her arms on the table in front of her.  "It's something I
think you'd like to hear."

"I would," he said, softly.  But not now.  Not here.  He'd rather hear
that story one on one.  He wanted to distract the others and decided
that her comment had placed her squarely into their circle.  So it
wouldn't be out of line to ask..."So, Captain.  What was the best gift
that anyone ever gave you?"

She rubbed her chin thoughtfully and concentrated on the question.
"Hmmm..." she said, drumming her fingers on the table.  He, Harry,
B'Elanna and Chakotay watched her with equal anticipation.  Then he
saw her eyes light up with recognition.  He knew right away that she'd
thought of something.  But she hesitated, and he knew she was debating
with herself on whether or not to share it.  Her face was easy for him
to read, after all these years.

"The first thing that comes to mind," he prompted.  "Come on..."

She rolled her eyes and laughed sheepishly.

"Come on..." he pressed.

"Oh, all right," she said. She looked down at her table, then back up
and over at their table.  "It was a bathtub," she said.

"A BATHTUB?" he, Harry and B'Elanna exclaimed, in unison.  Out of the
corner of his eye, Tom noticed that Chakotay had gotten very still,
but he was too caught up in the Captain's revelation to give it much
thought.

Her mouth quirked into a smile.  "A bathtub," she confirmed.

He sputtered, "That's IT? A bathtub? Aren't you going to elaborate on
that?"

"No, I am not, Mister Paris," she grinned, gathering up her collection
of PADDS. "Captain's prerogative, and all that."

She stood and walked over to their table.  "Actually, I have to be
going," she said.  "Clearly, I won't get any work done if I keep
eavesdropping on people's conversations.  Good night, everyone."

He, Harry and B'Elanna nodded and wished her a good night as well.
And she left, lightly touching Chakotay's shoulder on her way out.

Tom turned his attention to Chakotay.  He looked stunned, and was
staring down at the table, his mind far away.  He was almost
imperceptibly nodding his head and there was just the smallest hint
of a smile on his lips.  Tom exchanged a glance with B'Elanna, then
surreptitiously kicked Harry under the table to get his attention. 
This was very interesting, indeed.

"Chakotay..." he called out, waving his hands in front of the
commander's face.

Chakotay blinked, then looked up.  "What?" he asked, confused.

"Your turn," Tom said.

"My what?" Chakotay asked, still distracted.

"Aren't you going to tell us what your best gift was?" Tom asked.

Chakotay looked at Tom without really seeing him.  He tried in vain to
concentrate on the question and the moment at hand, but he just
couldn't.  He actually felt light-headed, and, although her touch had
been gentle and brief, he could still feel the sensation of her
fingers on his shoulder.  He had not been expecting her to say what
she had said -- it had really thrown him.

He suddenly noticed that his three dinner companions were staring at
him expectantly.  He had to get out of there. He didn't want to lie to
them, but the truth would be difficult for them to believe, and
inappropriate for him to share.

He grinned.  "Maybe some other time," he said.  They all groaned.  "I
have to go, too," he explained,  "The Captain isn't the only one with
a lot of reports to read tonight."

He pushed his chair away from the table, stood and bid them all
farewell.  They nodded, mutely, with various expressions of disbelief
and bemusement on their faces.  He wasn't even all the way through the
door when he turned back and saw that they'd put their heads together
and were talking animatedly.

Well, there wasn't anything he could do about that -- he'd just have
to let them talk.  There was no way he could tell them that he had
received his best gift ever just moments ago. He wasn't sure they'd be
able to truly understand that a heartfelt acknowledgement of
something, even years after the fact, could be the most meaningful
gift of all.

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The End