Christmas, 2387
"Damn it Kathryn, would you stop squirming around so much, you'll only tighten the knots further."
He tactfully omitted to mention the other side-effects of such close contact, but she'd discover the truth soon enough if she kept rubbing up against him like that.
"Admirals... don't... squirm!"
She glared at him from behind a curtain of auburn hair, her eyes alight with the fire of battle. He knew he was walking on thin ice given her reaction to his now exhausted repertoire of bondage jokes but he couldn't resist. Where she was concerned, he never could...
"They do if I do this."
Leaning forward he buried his face in the mass of hair gathered on her shoulders, inhaling her scent as his lips zeroed in on the sensitive flesh just below her ear.
"Chakotay!" What had started out as fury melted into a moan as she collapsed against him.
"Q was right. You are angry when you're beautiful."
"Arghhhh!" The glare was back, boring a hole in the middle of his forehead. "Don't mention his name. All we need now is for him to appear and I swear my life is over." She turned her attention back to the knots that bound her hands together. "Things are bad enough without adding Q to the mix."
"Relax, Kathryn. After all, its not as if we're in any real danger... though I admit this might put a dent in that kick-ass reputation of yours."
Gritting her teeth, Kathryn growled menacingly at the man trapped within her embrace.
"Memo to me. Maim you once I've finished with that damned Vulcan."
"Be reasonable, Kathryn..." Chakotay punctuated his words with a stolen kiss. "Tuvok did warn us about the war games scheduled for Christmas Eve. It was just our bad luck that the first people we bumped into in Starfleet HQ were a bunch of heavily armed cadets..."
She snarled at him this time. "I don't remember you being this understanding when they grabbed us and demanded that we reveal the location of the 'enemy' HQ, or suffer the consequences."
"You have to admire their nerve."
"What about when they accused us of being impostors, sent in by Tuvok to spread misinformation?"
"I'll admit that comment about your lack of height was pushing it, but they handled themselves well. Let's face it, they could have tied us up separately to the railings over there. Instead I get to hold you in my arms." He kissed her again, nibbling on her lips until her felt a reluctant smile tugging at them.
"What about the children?"
"They're safe at your mother's, tucked up in bed waiting for St Nicholas to deliver his annual haul of presents. If I remember correctly the games terminate at 0100, which means..." Chakotay glanced over at the chronometer on the far wall, pausing for a moment as he watched a new day being born. "...Merry Christmas, Kathryn."
She followed his gaze, her frown dissipating as she read the time displayed there... 0001 and 20 seconds precisely.
"Merry Christmas to you too."
"This wasn't quite how I'd planned to spend Christmas Eve, but then when has anything we've been involved in gone exactly to plan."
He would have said more but she stole his breath with a kiss.
"Not that I'm complaining... but what was that for?"
"For not saying 'I told you so'." She paused again, resting her forehead against his. "We wouldn't be in this mess if I hadn't insisted on filing that damned report in person."
"I wouldn't have dreamed of mentioning that. Well, not 'til after you'd vented your frustration on a certain Vulcan and his merry band of cadets."
His words drew her thoughts back to the bindings around her wrists. Relaxing into his embrace she let his words flow over her, drawing comfort from his nearness.
"Perhaps St Nicholas will stop by on his way to your mother's with a sharp knife and a compression phaser rifle."
"A girl can never have enough weaponry, but I think we can do without the knife." Kathryn grinned at him in triumph as she withdrew her arms from around him.
"How the hell did you do that?"
"That, my darling... is for me to know and you to find out." With a mysterious smile she turned her attention to his bindings, her fingers making light work of the complex set of knots.
"Okay, Houdini. Now what?"
Kathryn merely grinned at him, before directing his gaze to the ceiling tile in the far corner of the room.
"Cast your mind back to the time when you were a lowly Cadet. Remember those rumours about secret passage ways and concealed entrances that were supposed to riddle HQ?"
"Every Cadet remembers them. Hell, most of us spent many a sleepless night searching for them but no-one ever came up with any hard evidence."
"That's because you were looking in the wrong places."
Laughter echoed off the walls as he picked her up and twirled her around.
"I love you Kathryn Janeway, did I mention that lately?"
"I love you too. Now stop moaning and give me a leg up."
"Yes, ma'am."
It was another hour before the door to their makeshift prison cell opened. Three cadets stepped nervously into the room, their faces turning a sickly shade of green as they realised the room was empty.
"It would appear that the admiral left you a message."
Tuvok's voice cut through their misery, directing their eyes to the words scrawled across the far wall in what looked suspiciously like lipstick.
MY OFFICE
0900 MONDAY
BRING A TOOTHBRUSHK. Janeway, Admiral
"We're dead."
It was a statement of fact rather than a question, and earned the cadet in question what had become affectionately known throughout the Academy as 'the eyebrow'.
"That would appear to be the logical conclusion..."
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