((because I can't RP it, why not write it? Post canon, placed in the same dumb AU where flight crew+Vickers live and David and Shaw still go off to space. I'm so sorry that this is eventually going to become a whole series of Janek/Vickers fics about them being...well, entirely too domestic.
Anyhow, going to do this now, so uh...))
And then it was that time of year again, and Meredith remembered why she'd vowed to hide every bauble and burn every strand of tinsel she could get her hands on the previous year. There was always some new project going on when she got home and Janek was always up to something, whether it was hanging stockings on the mantle or stringing garland down the handrail on the stairs to the loft. Frankly, it irritated her, but she was usually gone for most of the day anyhow or for days at a time on business with little time to spare for her partner, so she felt that she might as well indulge him for constantly putting up with her absence. As far as she knew, Moses didn't mind as long as she'd agree to take the actual holiday off for him. Meredith reluctantly agreed when their first proper Christmas together came around, but only after a quick coaxing with sturdy fingers and strong coffee. It didn't hurt to have a little comfort in the holidays for once, something she'd missed having in her childhood, and she had to admit that she didn't entirely mind the penthouse smelling like fresh gingerbread.
Christmas morning was her favorite morning of the year thanks to Moses, always starting with fluttering kisses to her jawline and the smell of cinnamon. He insisted that carrot cake and cocoa was the best breakfast to wake to, having warmed a slice for her on one of his snowflake patterned red plates with the matching mugs.
"Come see what Santa brought you, Vickers. Promise it's all good." She attempted to resist rolling her eyes and huffed in amusement instead before pushing him away gently. The cake and cocoa was accepted only after she shrugged into Janek's robe, still warm from his heat. As usual, the cake was delicious and Moses wouldn't let her leave the bed until she was finished with it, sipping his own mug of cocoa and humming carols until it was time to drag her off to the tree. Meredith pretended to gag on the cake just once, causing Janek to chuckle and reach for the plate. The game was the same as every year, just a small tradition of teasing one another until it was time to exchange gifts and watch old movies on TV under the god awful reindeer blanket Moses bought one year while shopping for decorations.
When she finished her cake and half the mug, and only then, Meredith let Moses lead her to the haphazardly decorated tree. For such a large tree, there weren't many presents underneath it, but neither seemed to care. Janek was more for decorating and cooking than having many gifts, but what he did choose for his partner was spectacular. There were the spectacular shoes from the first year with the wedge heel, mattering more to Vickers that he didn't mind that she made this effort to be intimidating and in fact encouraged it.
"You wouldn't be Vickers if you presented yourself any differently. Well, maybe you would be, but you wouldn't be the lady I fell for."
The year after was a bartender's set, complete with Janek's newly acquired skills. She'd gone into work with the worst hangover the next morning, but the night had been worth it and watching Moses free himself from the handcuffs the next morning was the best payback she could ever hope for. Meredith didn't expect too much this year and prayed to whomever was listening that wasn't one of those Engineers that he hadn't gotten a dog like he'd said he would. She groaned at the sound of barking, relief washing over her when she was presented with a plush doberman.
"I was going to murder you if that was the real thing, Captain." She scratched behind it's ear for good measure anyhow.
"I know, which is why I'm getting the real thing for your birthday." He placed a small box into her lap with a grin. "Until then, you'll just have to deal with that and me." The box was ominous, small enough for a ring and big enough to make her feel dread. "Promise it won't bite, Vickers. Just open it." Janek sat next to her and waited calmly, finishing of the contents of his mug as she opened the present.
"Ohthankgod," she sighed, laughing after. "Only you, Moses. This is about the Dior thing, isn't it?"
"Third anniversary is the one where I'm allowed to buy you a diamond, right?" That earned him a light punch to the arm and a lap of CEO, the toy dog's barking activated as Meredith squished it between them.
"That doesn't mean you're allowed to buy me a pin that looks like an accordion with diamonds on it, you oaf. Remind me why I let you live here again? You decorate my penthouse in glittery plastic, bring in a live tree, and continuously cook for about a month and a half out of the year. Anyone else would be kicked out almost instantly." She glanced up at him, cupping his face in her hand. Janek was a handsome man, she decided, his eyes bright with a mischievous twinkle when he wasn't working or concerned. Vickers liked that.
"Because I'm your Captain, and without me you wouldn't have a guide to follow any other map than the one your father left."
"You're a rubbish Captain and you let Raval and Chance navigate the ship for you on the Prometheus. We just let you make decisions to make you feel important. I only keep you around because you're nice and good at your job." Her hand moved to the back of his neck to draw him in closer, resting their foreheads together.
"And what's that, if navigating isn't?" Janek's palm rested flat against the small of Meredith's back, smiling back when she smiled at him.
"You're a Captain alright, but you make sure I'm making better decisions in my personal life than my father did in his. And that's why I keep you around, because you're one of those good decisions." Meredith pressed her lips to Moses's, softly nipping at his lower lip and noting it tasted like sugar and mint. "And because you make good mint chocolate cocoa, which you've been hoarding from me all morning. Ass." She leaned in to bite a little harder when he started to laugh at her, breaking the seriousness of the moment for something more playful.
Thus was Christmas in their household, the same eagerness from him and interest from her as was on the Prometheus years ago. They were different people now, but not without the dynamic that brought them together and the same fears holding them back. The biggest change that Vickers found was that they were working towards resolving some of things holding them back together, and that for once in her adult life she didn't seem to mind having someone around for Christmas it it meant the holidays could be this good.
