~~~

Happy Holidays
by Mark Russel Stanley

~~~

"Garak!"

He blinked at the unaccustomed hail: Julian was practically yelling from
across the Promenade. The young human hurried to his shop, and burst in
with a huge grin on his face. Garak smiled back much more sedately. "Can
I help you, Doctor?"

"That depends. Are you interested in furthering the cause of our little
cultural exchange?" Julian's face still glowed, but his tone changed to
match Garak's.

"Always, my dear."

"There's a human holiday coming up: Christmas. Would you like to
celebrate it with me? Captain Sisko is giving all the Christians two
days off, so we can spend time with our families. Miles invited me to
spend it with them, but I'd rather spend it with you..." Julian's
enthusiasm was beginning to build in his voice again, but he paused to
confirm, "If you don't mind?"

Garak chuckled affectionately. "As long as it doesn't involve anything
too unusual, I'm sure I would be happy to spend 'Christmas' with you."

Julian grinned and kissed him soundly. "Come to my quarters for dinner
and I'll tell you all about it."

~~~

"What do garishly decorated trees have to do with the birth of your god
as a mortal?"

Julian sighed. "Do you want a full history lesson, or do you want to
learn the story and the traditions?"

"I would like to know how the traditions grew out of the myth. It
doesn't seem very congruent."

They were on the couch, drinking wine and kanaar, after dinner and a
preliminary explanation of Christmas.

"That's because in order to convert the pagans that surrounded them,
early Christians appropriated many of the pagan traditions and festival
times, integrating them into their own celebrations. Tree decoration was
originally part of a celebration of the mystery cult of Cybele in
Classical Rome..." Julian sighed. "Are you sure you want to hear this?"

"Quite certain, my dear! This does sound fascinating: in attempting to
convert the pagans, the Christians were in fact themselves converted.
Does every festival you celebrate have its roots in paganism?"

"Yes, Garak, but that's not really the point!" Julian leaned his head on
his hands in frustration. Blocked temporarily from his view, Garak
smiled fondly. How lovely his face was when it was flushed with the heat
of argument, how passionate his voice as he pressed his point.

And surely he knew why Garak did this... "What is the point, doctor?"

"To spend time with the people you love, and celebrate life. To give of
yourself to them, let them know how important they are." Julian looked
up. "You know how much I love you, Elim. I want to spend Christmas
showing you."

Garak smiled gently at him and moved closer. "When does Christmas
start?"

"Christmas Eve is tomorrow night. I have... mmm... I have tomorrow and
the next day off." Julian's eyes shut as Garak nuzzled his throat. "Oh,
Elim, yes..." He wrapped his arms around Garak's neck, brushing his
ridges. The slim, hard body writhed and squirmed under the Cardassian as
Garak laid him back on the chesterfield.

"What will you give me as a Christmas present?" Garak whispered. Julian
moaned softly and began to open his tunic.

"Me."

Garak chuckled. "But Julian, my dear, I already *have* you! Don't I get
something else?"

Julian glared up at him, holding back a smile. "How about a text by John
Stofford on the history of the relationship between paganism and
Christianity, from the first century to the twenty-fourth?"

"It sounds like a rather lengthy treatise."

"It's five thousand pages contained in twelve paper volumes."

"Oh, my dear, that would be lovely. It would keep me occupied for at
least a week or two!" He planted a kiss on Julian's lips to stifle the
sarcastic comment that was obviously forthcoming. "How long did it take
you to read?"

"Two months. But *I* was in medical school, you arrogant beast, so wipe
that look off your face!" Julian grinned suddenly and kissed him.

As they kissed Julian worked at the fastenings of Garak's tunic, taking
it off slowly, groaning at Garak's practised hands on his own body as
his uniform fell to the floor.

"Elim, let's go to bed."

"Ridiculous, my dear, we just had dinner!" Garak said cheerfully,
squeezing Julian's rear.

Julian growled. "Please!" he demanded through clenched teeth.

The Cardassian smiled down at him. "Since you ask so nicely..." He stood
smoothly, holding out a hand to the young human. "Shall we, my dear?"

Julian took his hand, his eyes shining. "Merry Christmas, Elim," he
whispered as he led him into the bedroom.

~~~

THE END