Christmas Day

Month 10 Day 25

1705 Hours

MacGregor

It had become traditional, on the day designated as ‘Christmas’ on the Fireball, for Captain Burke and her few selected friends to gather in the gaily decorated messhall at 1715 Hours, to exchange token gifts before they filled plates from the wonderful buffet laid out across the entire side of the room and shared the bottle of wine that Smitty inevitably gave Jane on this occasion.

Over the years, Drake had come to the conclusion that they arrived late for this meal because Jane used that last-minute hour to finally wrap their presents, but of course, he couldn’t prove that. And he inevitably arrived a little early, usually because he was hungry. But this time, he had an extra gift to give, and he had hoped he could hand it off without anybody making too big a deal out of it.

When he arrived, he had found Bugalu and his friends sitting at 2 tables pushed together, unopened gifts gathered in the middle as they joked and laughed over their meals. He had thought it would be simple enough for him to reach out and drop a small package in among the rest of them on his way to the table set aside for the captain, but before he could do that, Mac had greeted him very enthusiastically, leaving the others to also notice and greet him. Even Beth had wished him a rather chilly ‘Merry Christmas’. So with all this attention on him, he had decided to find Mac later and give her the present. Best not to set any tongues wagging.

Now Drake sat as his stomach began to growl, impatiently drumming his fingertips on the table as he waited for the others to finally arrive. Well, here we go again. Another bottle of scotch from Smitty. Unimaginative, but at least it’s something I like. He grinned at the gaily wrapped present on the table in front of him that bore Smitty’s name. It looks very similar to the one I wrapped for Mac. Wouldn’t it be a shame if I’d wrapped them and then accidentally got the wrong names on these particular two gifts? I’ll have to be suitably chagrined when he opens it. Wish I could suggest he make the exchange himself.

Warm lips pressed the corner of his mouth. “Merry Christmas, doctor.”

“What?” He turned to see a familiar blond bending over him. “Monroe, I don’t-“

“You’re under the mistletoe, doctor,” the woman explained, and moved off.

Mistletoe over the captain’s table? That’s got to be a mix-up. He glanced up. I’ve been sitting here for 5 minutes or more. You’d think someone - else - would have- His eyes grew large as he saw the sprig of greenery attached to an antigravity unit, wandering around the room at just below ceiling level. Well, what do you know? Now, who could have dreamed up... Mac! Who else? Just one more example of that infamous imagination of hers. The same brain that Smitty thinks doesn’t know a thing.

“Here already, Duck?” Jane asked, sliding into one of the empty chairs. “Was that a nurse kissing you?”

“The mistletoe was over me,” he explained.

Trying not to frown, she glanced overhead. “I don’t see any mistletoe.”

“It moves around,” he explained, searching the upper reaches of the messhall. “There it is, wandering towards the kitchen.”

Jane glanced in that direction. “How does it move around like that?”

“I’m not an engineer,” Drake returned. “Ask Smitty. Or better yet, Mac. I suspect she’s the one who came up with them.”

Takor appeared at the side of the table, its arms full of several items wrapped in colorful paper and bows. “Please assist. I fear I may drop some of them.” Jane and Drake carefully helped it deposit the gifts onto the table with the others and it sat down in relief. “I hope I have chosen appropriate gifts. I did have assistance from my yeoman. She was particularly helpful in the wrapping stage.”

“I’m sure whatever you give us will be fine,” Jane told him. “Now, as soon as Smitty gets here, we can get this thing started. I’m especially hungry tonight, and can’t wait to get started on that turkey.”

“Sorry I’m late,” Smitty stated as he slid into the remaining empty seat. He started to hand Jane a package, looked at it closely, and gave it to Drake instead, then gave the other similar-sized package to Jane. The final package was flat and a bit floppy as he handed it to Takor. “I hope you all like them.”

“I’m sure we will,” Burke stated. “And I guess that means we’re starting, so first, let’s sort out which presents belong to whom.”

While they were doing that, someone started placing small plates of various appetizers on their table, and Drake looked up. “Yellow Dog! What’s this?”

She smiled, said, “Noel,” and placed a bottle of eggnog on the table.

“Thank you,” Smitty told her with a grin as he munched a celery stick and reached for the eggnog. “But you needn’t have.”

“You aren’t a servant,” Jane pointed out.

“Yes,” she agreed, and accepted a small package from Takor.

“Wait.” Takor picked up another package and held it out to her. “For Mac.”

The NAmerInd conversationally repeated, “Mac,” and half-way across the room, the redhead looked up. After a quick search through the packages on their double table, Mac trotted over and presented one to the Sciss.

“I’m so happy you decided to give me a gift, Takor. I know I’ll like it. I tried my best to create a family spiral for you that you could put on your wall. For decoration. But 3-d items work best in... well, in 3-d. I hope you like it anyway. Good night, sirs, and... Merry Christmas.” She took the gift Takor offered her and the 2 ladies went back to rejoin their friends.

“A family spiral?” Jane asked her science officer.

“I believe a human would call it a family tree.”

“This is nice,” Smitty stated. “Very tasty.” A smudge of white on his upper lip showed that he had taken a healthy swig of eggnog from the glassful that he had poured himself.

“We’d better get these presents opened,” Drake suggested. “So Smitty can get some food in his stomach along with that eggnog.”