An Old Tradition

A/N: I first posted this over Christmas of 2014. It's the only fic I haven't reposted and since it is Christmas-themed, I thought I'd tweak it a little and put it up now. It's five short chapters of nowt but fluff, written as a Christmas card to my fellow J/Cers and beta-read by the ever-dedicated MissyHissy3.

Happy festive season everyone, and here's wishing for a better year for all in 2017.

One

It was cold – so cold that she paused in the doorway for a moment, shivering and stamping her feet. The heat emanating from the take-out cup held between both of her gloved hands was succeeding in warming her fingers but not much else. She breathed in, feeling ice on the crisp air, tasting the fresh chill of it on her tongue with delight despite its sharp nip. The city was coated in white and as it fell, the snow gently layered everything in the kind of soft, forgiving silence that Kathryn Janeway had craved for seven years. Here she was, on Earth, feeling the change of the seasons for herself. It had been over a year since Voyager's return, yet still she sometimes found herself stopped in her tracks by the wonder of that simple fact. Home. She was home.

Using one hand to pull her woollen hat further down over her ears, Janeway stepped out from beneath the awning of the coffee shop she'd found and turned along the busy street. Beneath her boots the snow crunched and slid as she dodged the shoppers eddying around her. The smell of chocolate filled the air as she passed a confectioners; the sound came to her of children giggling and laughing as their parents attempted to prevent the start of a snowball fight. Kathryn walked as if through a cloud of collective joy. The mood was catching – she found herself smiling as she stopped to look in each of the colourful shop windows in turn, contemplating the intricate displays and explosion of festive lights within.

Janeway was about to turn the corner into another street when she became aware of a voice, shouting at her from some distance.

"Admiral? Admiral Janeway?"

The use of her title jarred her somewhat - she was off duty and so far out of uniform that she'd thought herself unrecognisable. Kathryn steeled herself and kept walking, upping her pace a little as she realised with slight dismay that the street she'd stepped into was quieter than the last one, with less of a crowd to hide her. She guessed she should have been prepared for this – in San Francisco, she was a known commodity and although in the first months after Voyager had first slid into orbit she'd been inundated by autograph and photograph seekers, it rarely happened there any longer. Here, though, in Paris, it seemed that someone had found her notable. She pulled her scarf up a little more and kept walking. Usually she'd be happy to accommodate admirers, but today, she just wanted to be another one of the myriad of shoppers who seemed to have temporarily deserted her.

"Admiral?"

The voice was closer this time, but still she didn't turn.

"Kathryn?"

The use of her name, coupled with her sudden recognition of who was speaking, brought her up short. She spun on her heels, her coffee sloshing dangerously in its cup.

He was standing several feet away, a thick black wool coat not quite hiding the distinctive grey of his Captain's uniform.

"Chakotay!"

Her former first officer smiled and moved closer. "Another minute and I would have given up," he said, "but I was sure it was you. It's good to see you, Admiral."

"And you, Captain." She looked him over, noting the slight flash of silver at his temple and the additional creases at the corner of his eyes. "How are you? What are you doing in Paris, of all places?"

"I'm well, thank you." He glanced around as a sudden flurry of people buffeted around them before sliding away along the street. "The Fortune is in space dock for a re-fit, so I'm on leave for the next two weeks." He shrugged. "I've slowly been getting to know Earth better over the last year. Paris was next on my list."

Janeway smiled. "You've picked a good time of year. Paris is beautiful all year round, but it outdoes itself at Christmas."

Chakotay nodded. "Until I arrived here, I hadn't realised just how popular the festival still was for a lot of people on Earth." He smiled again. "I guess, with your traditionalist upbringing, the same goes for you?"

"Oh yes," she said, with a laugh, "my mother insists on it. In two days' time I'll be ensconced on her sofa in Indiana, waiting for turkey with all the trimmings."

"What, no helping in the kitchen?" he asked, a softly familiar teasing tone entering his voice. "Or does your mother know better than to let you near the food?"

She shot him a playfully dangerous look. "Careful, Captain. I still out rank you, uniform or not, remember?"

Chakotay smiled, but even so there was a fraction of a pause before he said, quietly, "As if I would ever forget that, Kathryn."

She felt a slight flush rise to colour her cheeks and couldn't imagine why it had chosen that moment to appear.

"Anyway – I haven't asked how you are, Admiral," he went on, apparently oblivious to her discomfort. "You look well."

"I am, thank you," she said, recovering. "I've got some time off myself now, which I'm grateful for. It's been a busy few months."

Chakotay glanced at the cup in her hands. "I would ask you to join me for coffee to catch up, but I see you've beaten me to it."

She laughed at herself. "Yes. Some things never change, do they?"

He smiled. "There are some things I would never want to change. The image of you with coffee in your hands is one of them."

It was such a simple statement, but the words brought alive a spark in her that was familiar and yet almost forgotten. Janeway swallowed, feeling that damned flush rise in her cheeks for the second time in as many minutes. She glanced at the coffee in her hand. Had they added brandy to it, or something?

"Anyway," he went on, "I've been told I must visit the Louvre while I'm here. I need to go book an advance ticket. Otherwise I may find myself standing in line for hours in this snow and to be honest, this weather isn't something I'm used to."

Kathryn smiled. "Well, thank you for saying hello, Chakotay. It's lovely to see you again. For my part, if I don't get my act together and actually buy some presents, I'll be persona non grata on Christmas day." She registered belatedly registered something in what he'd said. "Are you spending your leave alone, Captain?"

"Only part of it – I'm booked in to visit an altogether different kind of Paris in a few days," he told her. "Between you and me, I've got the feeling Tom's hoping that Uncle Chakotay might be a calming influence on Miral. I think she's already becoming a bit of a handful…"

Janeway laughed. "Given her parentage, that really doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Well, I wish you luck – Uncle Chakotay."

He gave her a warm smile. "And I wish you luck with your shopping, Admiral. Merry Christmas, isn't that the saying?"

"It is. And a Merry Christmas to you, too."

Chakotay nodded, still smiling, and a moment later he was walking away. Kathryn stood, watching him go. It had started to snow again, large soft flakes that brushed against her cheeks and tickled her nose. They flurried in his wake, conspiring to hide him from view. As he went, she was left wondering where the sudden urge not to let him go had come from.

[TBC]