Happy Holidays, everyone! 
 
Disclaimer:  Paramount owns them, I steal them for nefarious 
purposes when the urge strikes me. 
 
Mistletoe 
by R'rain Prior 
 
 
	"Come *on* Harry, don't be such a prude!"  Tom grabbed  
his best friend's arm and tried to drag him out of the mess  
hall. 
	"No way, Tom, the last time you had a 'great idea', I  
ended up with splinters and a nasty rash."  Harry took  
another bite of his dinner and didn't look up. 
	"Harry, it's nearly Christmas and the Delaney sisters  
want to give us a *very special* gift.  Who are we to turn  
them down?" He tugged again, a pleading look on his face. 
	"You're always bragging about your prowess, Tom, I'm  
sure you can take both of them on." 
	"But, Harry, that's no fun!" 
	"It's no fun without me there?  I believe the last time  
we double dated the Delaneys you were complaining that you  
and Megan weren't getting enough privacy." 
	"Well you *were* just sitting there watching us.  I'm  
surprised you and Jenny didn't make yourselves a bowl of  
popcorn while you were at it!" 
	"You were certainly making enough noise to attract our  
attention..." 
	"Harry, *no*body goes to a drive-in to watch the  
movie!" 
	"Well, I'd never been to a 'drive-in' before, you know.   
Why don't you ever make normal holoprograms?" 
	"What exactly do you call normal, Harry?  The one we're  
going to tonight sounds rather 'normal' to me..." 
	"The one *you're* going to, you mean." 
	"Harry!  Come on, you have to come,"  Tom began tugging  
on his arm again, and the hand that Harry was bringing to  
his mouth jerked, spilling food on the table.  He jumped up  
and turned around, flashing an angry look at Tom.  "Sorry." 
	"Look Tom, maybe some other time, but I made a promise  
to myself that I would *never* again, as long as I lived, go  
on a double date with the Delaneys.  No offense." 
	"Fine, Har, if that's your decision.  If you change  
your mind we'll be on holodeck 3." 
	"Tom." 
	Tom turned back around, "Yeah?" 
	"Maybe I'll see you at Sandrine's later." 
	"Yeah sure, Har."  He flashed him his infamous flyboy  
smile and he was off.  Harry just shook his head and turned  
his attention back to his dinner. 
----- 
	At 1900 Harry signalled at B'Elanna's door.   
"B'Elanna," he said when she answered, "I was going to  
Sandrine's for the Captain's little Christmas party.  Did  
you want to come with me?" 
	She smiled, and for some reason her smile always made  
Harry nervous, "I was just getting ready for it, come on  
in."  He walked into her quarters and waited while she went  
back into the bathroom and finished doing her hair.  Or at  
least that's what he assumed she was doing--whenever Libby  
spent more than five minutes in the bathroom, it meant that  
she was either doing her hair, her make-up or both.  He'd  
never really imagined B'Elanna doing either, but he didn't  
want to contemplate what else she might be doing in there. 
	"Ready, Starfleet?" she said, emerging looking pretty  
much the same as when she'd walked in. 
	"Uh, yeah, sure," he stammered as she gently pushed on  
his back to turn him around and left her quarters with him. 
	"I thought you and Paris had something else cooked up  
for this evening," she said when they were on their way down  
the corridor towards the turbolift. 
	"*He* did," clarified Harry, "I thought better of it.   
I'll take the Captain over the Delaneys any day."  B'Elanna  
gave him a curious look and he blushed furiously, "You  
*know* what I meant." 
	She laughed, "Yes, I know what you meant," she said,  
"but you ought to be careful how you say it.  Imagine what a  
hard time you would have gotten if I'd been Paris." 
	"Well, you're not," he said, "Paris is holed up in the  
holodeck with *both* Delaneys and their holiday surprise."   
He shook his head, "I don't know whether to admire him or  
feel sorry for him." 
	"Do both," said B'Elanna, "Well, Starfleet, we're here.   
After you."  The holodeck door opened in front of them and  
they walked the short way to the front door of Sandrine's  
and entered.  They were greeted by the smiling face of  
Commander Chakotay who didn't say a word, just pointed to  
the sprig of mistletoe hanging over the door.  "Hmph.  Guess  
we know what that means, huh, Harry."  She turned to his  
blushing face, a little colour in her own cheeks, and kissed  
him, rather gently he thought. 
	A cheer went up from the crowd and they went the rest  
of the way into the room.  B'Elanna quickly spotted Geron  
and with a pat on Harry's shoulder she went to spend some  
time with her current beau.  Harry sat down with the  
Captain, since Chakotay seemed to be on sentry duty. 
	"This is lovely," he said to her, accepting the glass  
of eggnog that she handed him. 
	"Thank you," she acknowledged the compliment, "I was  
under the impression that you wouldn't be able to make it  
tonight." 
	Harry grimaced, "Tom set us up with the Delaneys.  Or  
the Delaneys set themselves up with us.  But I didn't want  
any part of it." 
	"Really," she said smoothly, "I would have thought that  
you would have wanted to spend the evening with Mr. Paris." 
	He looked at her and his jaw dropped.  She knew!  But  
he regained his composure as quickly as possible, "Not at  
the risk of another encounter with Jenny Delaney.  There are  
limits to what I'll do to spend time with the man."  She  
smiled at the subtle acknowledgement of her comment. 
	"Well, perhaps they'll exhaust him and he'll show up  
here later."  He had a rather pleasant conversation with the  
Captain, then began to wander the room, carrying on small  
talk with everyone that he encountered.  He and Nicoletti  
were engaged in a conversation about setting up a concert  
for New Year's near the door when Tom made his entrance, a  
redhead on each arm.  Harry noticed that he didn't look  
particularly pleased with the situation, and his eyes  
scanned the room until the came upon Harry's where they  
stopped. 
	Chakotay got his attention back by clearing his throat,  
then pointing at the mistletoe.  "Well," said Jenny, "this  
could be a problem.  Which one of us are you going to kiss,  
Tommy?" 
	"Yeah, Tom," said Megan, sidling up closer to him,  
"Which one?" 
	Tom's eyes caught Harry's again and he reached out a  
hand to him, "Neither," he said clearly as he pulled a dazed  
Harry Kim into his arms and kissed him thoroughly.  He  
hardly noticed that the two of them deserted him there in a  
huff with hardly a second glance.  "I've been an idiot,  
Harry," he whispered, still standing there, "Can you forgive  
me?" 
	"Right now you could get me to forgive you for  
anything," said Harry breathlessly, kissing him again,  
"Merry Christmas, Tom, I love you." 
	"Merry Christmas, Harry....I love you too."  And  
another cheer went up from the crowd as they entered the  
room together, hand in hand. 
 
--end--