Chapter Text
The war waged on, and Benjamin did his best to find morale boosters where he could, though it was tricky now as there weren’t any big holidays he could pull inspiration from. In recent weeks, DS9 witnessed significant events that have shaped the current mood of the station. The Dominion threat looms large, but the installation of Rom’s self-replicating mines had successfully blocked Dominion reinforcements, creating a tense stalemate. Within this atmosphere, Starfleet had recognized the psychological strain on the station's crew, given their strategic position near the wormhole. In response, they are actively exploring various strategies to boost morale at DS9. Keeping this in mind, Ben managed to encourage lunches together once a week among the command crew, in an effort to build on the camaraderie they had nurtured during their holiday celebrations.
“At least we’ve managed to halt the Dominion from sending reinforcements thanks to Rom’s self-replicating mines. Hopefully, that will encourage Dukat to refrain from attacking, since it will mostly be Cardassian troops on the line, rather than Jem’Hadar.” Kira remarked as they waited for a waiter to take their order.
“Yeah, I still can’t believe how Rom was able to get those things onli-” Miles started to say as Julian arrived with Harley on his shoulders and Babar skidding behind him, sliding into Jadzia’s calf, who immediately reached down and started petting the Donud.
“Nice of you to join us, Doctor, though I thought Harley was staying in your office and Babar in your quarters?” Ben asked as Julian sat down.
“Sorry! Sorry! Brarbald Shoazk came in with a sprained wrist just before my break. When someone discovers a terrarium that Harley can’t escape from, please let me know, as she keeps escaping from hers, and Garak finds it amusing, so he’s not helping. As for Babar, Odo recently discovered that Donud’s have limited wall-climbing abilities, so Babar can reach the button to open my quarters and come find Garak or me.” Julian explained as he sat down, petting Harley as he did so while glaring at Babar, who merely snorted at him. Ezri cocked an eyebrow as she asked,
“So, Keiko gave you two escape artists for pets?” Julian nodded as he took a sip of the water Kira had ordered for him when they sat down.
“JULIE-BEAN!” Julian’s eyes widened behind his glass before he sharply turned to do a spit-take, avoiding his crewmates. They all turned to the entrance of Quark’s and had a little trouble understanding what they were seeing as there was a… person standing there, wearing a pink pantsuit, a white, wide-brim sun hat, with a long, flowing scarf. Julian coughed as he fought to regain his breath before shouting,
“Freddie?! What the, *cough*, hell are you doing here?!”
“That’s his cousin, Freddie?!” Kira asked as she took in the man whose outfit clashed with his orange mustache. Suddenly, another voice called out,
“Out of my way, you dime-store Joan Collins! You are not going to be Julian’s first contact after all these years!”
“Laurie, slow down! You’re going to spin out if you keep going at that speed!” Another voice called out.
“She deserves to spin out after calling me a ‘dime-store Joan Collins’!” Freddie argued as two more people came into view, one a girl in a wheelchair who did almost skid out as she rounded into Quark’s, and the other a young man who looked like he just stepped out of some ancient western novel.
“Laurie?! Ibrahim?!” The young man actually jumped over an empty table at Julian’s cry as he stood up, and grabbed him around the middle as they made contact.
“Yahoo! Cousin Julian! You’re a sight for sore eyes!” Harley hissed at the sudden movement, but was unable to do much as the man spun Julian around like he weighed nothing (which, some argued, he did).
“Ibrahim! Put me down!”
“Now, Hima, you put your little cousin down. So I can hug him!” A new person, dressed similarly to Ibrahim, with skin darker than Ibrahim's and Laurie’s, called out as he rushed over to hug Julian, who let out a breath as he was grabbed around the diaphragm.
“Uncle Khaled! Hima cheated! He knows I can’t jump over tables!”
“Oh, please! With the way you were going, you would have smashed through those tables if you had to!” Quark came out to see what all the noise was, and paled upon seeing Laurie Bashir in the flesh after her little program.
“You!” Laurie turned at the new voice and smiled a grin Garak would have been proud of as she greeted,
“Hi, Qwook, how did people like my programs?” Before he could answer, a new voice called out,
“Brother, I think you’d better let go of Julian before that snake turns you into its chew toy.” A woman a little younger than Julian came in with two small Vulcan children in tow.
“Aw, Annie, I’ve had bigger snakes than this noodle take a bite out of me and Hima, with a lot more venom, too! And I can’t help being excited! It’s been so long since I’ve seen my favourite nephew from my least favourite sister!” Before any of the apparent Bashir clan could speak, the male Vulcan child said,
“That statement is illogical, Uncle Khaled, given that Cousin Julian is the only child of Aunt Amsha, whom you have stated your dislike of numerous times; he is your only nephew by her genetic line, thus rendering him incapable of being either a favourite or least favourite nephew; he simply is.”
“Streck, little partner, the fact that Amsha could produce anything I even remotely like is a miracle.” Khaled plainly remarked as he finally released Julian, who gasped for air.
“Wonderful, Uncle Khaled, we come to visit Julian, and you almost suffocate him.” A new, male voice remarked, causing the crew to turn and see a man with a walking stick and a woman of short stature enter with an Afghan Hound. The pair was as tall as their hound, who was immediately greeted by Babar as he came over to shake noses with.
“Oh! What an adorable creature, Duke! What is he?”
“H-he’s a Do-Donud, named Babar; he’s friendly, he just likes to shake noses with new people. You must be Es-Esmeralda.” Julian managed to gasp out.
“And you must be Cousin Julian; Duke told me a fair bit about you, including his regret over letting so many years of silence come between you. I must say, I can see the family resemblance; you’re both so handsome. Please, call me Esme; Esmeralda can be a bit of a mouthful.” Duke and Esmeralda easily navigated their path around Julian’s other family members to greet Julian, who knelt to properly hug both of them. Duke looked a great deal like Julian, while Esmeralda had long blonde hair she kept up in a bun, pale skin, and lovely green eyes.
“You were right, Duke; a Julian hug is quite an experience!” Esmeralda gushed, to which Duke laughed.
“Good to see that hasn’t changed, cousin.” Three more women entered Quark’s, and Kira had to restrain herself as Tamara Bashir, better known as T. R. Becker, came into Quark’s, along with a woman covered with tattoos, spikes, piercings, and an eyepatch (had to be Batya), and another woman who looked a great deal like Julian.
“Tamara! Batya! Amira! I can’t believe you’re all here!”
“Yes, and so thoughtful of you all to leave the old men with that damned paperwork to fill out.” Julian could hardly believe his eyes as an Aenar came into view, along with a man who looked a lot like Richard Bashir, though this man walked with a cane. An Orion woman walked closely to him.
‘Cho’Chathan Shebob? Uncle George?”
“Who were you expecting, boy? A couple of showgirls? Eh? Nah!” The old man asked as he came closer, his cane tapping as he walked.
“Don’t be fooled, Julian; the grumpy old sod is happy to see you.” Annie expressed. Benjamin felt the need to introduce his crew to Julian’s obvious family.
“Uh, welcome to Deep Space Nine, I’m Captain Benjamin Sisko, this is Major Kira Nerys of the Bajoran military, Lieutenant-Commander Jadzia Dax, her husband, Lieutenant-Commander Worf, Lieutenant Ezri Tigan, and Chief Petty Officer Miles O’Brien. I had no idea you were all coming. Going by the doctor’s reactions, he didn’t either.”
“Oh! I guess you didn’t get the memo! Here, I have a copy here!” Freddie remarked as he pulled out a PADD, only for Laurie to pinch it, throw it at Ibrahim, who, in turn, gave it to Ben. Ben cocked an eyebrow at their antics, but read the PADD and saw that Starfleet had hired Freddie’s acting troupe to perform for DS9 in the hope of boosting morale, with Freddie getting permission to bring along some ‘additional crew’.
“You listed your family as ‘additional crew’?” Finally, Miles had to ask,
“And why are you dressed like that? You lose a bet or something?” Julian facepalmed as Freddie cocked an eyebrow and answered,
“Of course not; the only one foolish enough to bet against me is Julie-Bean here; this is how I normally dress. I take it Julie-Bean never explained that our troupe is made up of drag queens?” Kira cocked an eyebrow as she asked over Jadzia’s snort,
“What’s a drag queen?” Tamara decided to answer.
“It’s a male performer who adopts a flamboyant or parodic feminine persona, with glamorous or exaggerated costumes and makeup. Freddie here just prefers dressing in feminine styles; you should see his Scarlet O’Hara outfit when he’s in a Gone with the Wind mood.” Laurie snorted as she offered,
“Yeah, even though he should play Barbara O’Neil’s role!” Freddie gasped and turned from where he had been checking Ben out to cry,
“Oi! I am the same age as Duke! Who is only a year older than you!” Before he could go further off, George rolled his eyes, drew out a whistle, and blew into it, noting Julian’s wince and ignoring Quark’s scream as he did so.
“Sorry, Julian, but this family’s drama levels could make Bacon choke! Now, we are Bashirs, Al-Satti’s, a human porcupine, and one flaming queer; we are not a bunch of ill-mannered jackanapes! Line up and introduce yourselves properly to the boy’s CO and fellow officers; sound off!” The Aenar, as the oldest, stepped forward first as the others organized themselves.
“I am Julian's Cho’Chathan, Shebob Ch'Azirrehr-Al-Satti. I was married to Julian’s maternal grandfather until his death, and most of his children still consider me family even after all these years.” Next was George, himself who introduced,
“I am George Bilal Bashir, brother of Henry with a dubious relation to him, and Julian’s uncle. This is Sishkelle, my live-in companion since my wife died; she’s a little shy around new people.” The lovely Orion woman shyly smiled as she nodded her greeting. Next up was Khaled, removing his pinched-front hat as he did so.
“Howdy, partners; I’m Khaled ibn Rashim Al-Satti, Julian’s maternal uncle, and happier than a dog with a targ bone to meet my nephew’s colleagues.” Jadzia and the others noted that Khaled had a smile similar to Julian’s, complete with dimples. Next up was Ibrahim.
“Hi there! I’m Ibrahim ibn Khaled Al-Satti , and I’m just as happy to see my little cousin and his home after so many years apart.” Julian and Ibrahim had a similar twinkle in their eyes when they were honestly excited, a twinkle that had sadly been absent for a few months in Julian’s eyes.
“I’m Tamara Ruth Bashir, though one or two of you might know me as T. R. Becker, Julian’s paternal cousin, and it is so nice to see Julian’s home after hearing him talk about it for five years.” Tamara and Julian had similar noses, but Kira couldn’t resist asking,
“Why go by T. R. Becker?” Tamara smiled as she answered,
“Ah, Becker was my mother’s maiden name, and I thought people might be more willing to try my books if I had a more posh, not to mention gender-neutral, name. I also wanted to stand apart from my speed-pod racing sister and my dancing brother, both of whom used the name Bashir, to say nothing of my baby cousin.” Julian blushed as he was referred to as the baby of the family.
“Freddie - that’s F-R-E-D-D-I-E - Duncan MacGregor, do not call me Frederick, or I will ignore you. I am related to Julian via marriage between his uncle and my uncle, and despite what some speed nuts think, I am the best-dressed of his cousins.” Laurie snorted but allowed Duke to introduce himself next.
“I am Duke Amir Bashir. This is my lovely wife, Esmeralda, and our dog, Duchess. When he was smaller, I was Julian’s first dance partner.” A few chuckled at the image as Duke smiled at his cousin, who was blushing.
“Laurie Rose Bashir, speed-pod racer and little Julian’s former chauffeur.” Laurie revealed with a smirk, which had Jadzia ask,
“How did that work? You’re only a couple of years older than Julian.” George snorted as he answered,
“Simple; my daughter was a speed demon even as a child, always zooming her bike around, giving her mother a heart attack, and Jules was always trying to follow her around, but he didn’t have the motor control necessary to ride a bike. So, Laurie had me attach a sidecar to her bike, and she drove Jules around; he loved it.”
“That did not happen!” Julian denied, to which Laurie smiled as she held up a picture and remarked,
“Picture says otherwise, Doc.” Julian dove for the picture, but Laurie easily evaded her cousin.
“Behave, you two.” George scolded as Laurie handed the picture to Jadzia, who was now the one dodging Julian’s attempts to grab said picture. Sure enough, there was a tiny Julian in a sidecar, decorated in snakes and mice, attached to a bike being peddled by a little Laurie.
“Oh, Julian! You were so cute!” Jadzia gushed as she handed the picture to Miles, who laughed at the picture.
“If anyone is still listening, I’m Amira Nour Bashir and, if it means anything, Julian, their words are pink; they think you’re cute in a nice way, not a mean-spirited way.” Her words caused the others to pause just as Kira received the photo, allowing Julian to grab it from her; however, Ben grabbed it from him and had to admit that his CMO was cute as a little boy. Miles was curious and asked,
"What do you mean our words are 'pink'?" Amira answered,
"I have synesthesia, which means that when one sense is stimulated, another sense is triggered. For example, being able to smell colours. Meanwhile, I can see and physically feel spoken words; this has allowed me to become quite skilled in several languages, as I can recognise when a word is mispronounced or misinterpreted, as well as detect emotions associated with words. Just now, when the Commander was speaking, I saw her words as a rose-coloured vapour, meaning there was a certain fondness. As she spoke, the words swirled around me like a soft, pink mist, warming my senses. It was like being enveloped in a gentle embrace of colour and emotion. Had she spoken her words with a gamboge-orange or olive-green vapour, they would have been sharp and acidic, making me brace myself for impact, and you would have seen me prepare to deck her." Her statement hung in the air, adding a new layer of understanding about her abilities.
“Amira!” Julian scolded, to which Amira shrugged,
“I protected you from bullies when you were eight, and I was nine; I don’t intend to stop now.” Batya nodded as she added,
“That goes double-ditto for me. I’m Batya Efrat Fuchs, another cousin of Julian’s through marriage, as I’m Aunt Fatima’s niece, but I grew up alongside Julian and the other nutjobs.” Ezri and Jadzia smiled at the protective females in Julian’s life. Finally, it was Annie’s turn.
“And I’m Julian’s Aunt Annie Virana bint Rashim Al-Satti of the house Abraak of Betazed, with my two children, Streck and T’Seto. I’m his aunt even though I’m almost two years younger than him because my father was Julian’s maternal grandfather.” Both children offered the Vulcan salute and offered,
“Live long, and prosper.”
“I thought you had a Klingon girlfriend?” Jadzia asked, to which Annie sighed,
“Yes, but the poor dear got called home for important family matters just before Starfleet hired Freddie’s acting troupe to perform for you all, so she and Anuk had to return to Qo’nos.” Ben looked at Julian’s… clan, for lack of a better word, noticed that Quark’s was unusually quiet today, and asked,
“We were just about to have lunch; would you care to join us?” Julian was looking at him as though he had lost his mind while Jadzia and Ezri looked hopeful, and the assembled Bashirs, Al-Sattis, and two miscellaneous glanced at each other before Amira asked,
“You wouldn’t mind? It’s been a long time since we’ve seen Julian in the flesh, and I am very intrigued by the snake on his shoulders, seeing as how Uncle Ri-”
“Amira.” George said in a warning tone, confusing the others, but Amira merely apologized,
“Sorry, Uncle George. I mean, Dickie and Amsy hated animals and never let poor Julian have anything, even a goldfish.”
“To be fair, I do think a goldfish would have died within a week of me taking care of it; my attention span was not the greatest.” Julian defended. Ezri decided to save that topic for another time, as Julian’s attention span improved significantly when he was interested in something, like how well Harley and Babar were doing under his care. Just then, Laurie winked at Julian and chimed in with,
“Oh, Julie-Bean, your attention span was like a magic trick - disappearing as soon as there was something else to capture your fancy! But you could be attentive when it came to things like reptiles and Kukalaka. I still remember that time you sat for three hours watching that documentary on various reptiles and desert animals; I don’t think you even flinched when you saw the spider wasp lay her eggs in the taran-”
“Laurie, I don’t think anyone about to eat wants you to finish that sentence,” George informed his daughter, who shrugged. Miles had a feeling he knew what she was about to say and appreciated the censorship.
“Fish are not ideal pets for everyone; while they are calm, low-maintenance, and space-efficient, the fact that you can’t interact with them in the same way you can with a dog or lizard leads some people to find them a boring pet. Fish can be wonderful pets, but you, Julian, require a more interactive pet.” Shebob noted as some of the wait staff moved tables around to accommodate the much larger group. Tamara then asked,
“Yeah, not like Hima’s pet, remember Nutsy, Julian?” Julian thought for a moment before exclaiming,
“Oh, yeah, the sugar glider!” Ibrahim laughed as he remembered his childhood pet.
“Yeah, that crazy bugger just loved dive-bombing everyone! Hey, Julie-Bean, remember the first time Dickie met Nutsy?” Julian snickered as he remembered,
“You, you would have thought he had just met a dragon, the way he screamed as Nutsy dive-bombed him!” Khaled decided to add his two cents when he snorted,
“I think you mean screech there, Julian; honest to Betsy, I didn’t know a man could reach those kinds of chords after puberty! And there was Julian, calmly holding his hand up for Nutsy to land on!” Miles, Jadzia, Ezri, and even Ben found themselves chuckling at the image. Kira asked,
“What’s a sugar glider?” Rather than explain it, Laurie held up a PADD with the animal in question, both in-flight and on a tree.
“Julian’s father was afraid of that?” George wanted to snap, but Sishkelle’s hand on his arm restrained him as he corrected,
“Sperm donor, if you please; that man hasn’t been a father to Julian in a very long time.” Ezri looked at George with appreciation, and even Miles thought he could see where the man was coming from; this man obviously encouraged his children’s desires, unlike Richard Bashir.
“Yeah, and then the bast- pardon my French, ladies - but the nitwit tried to kill Nutsy, while Julian was holding the thing! I wasn’t a fan of the flying rat dive-bombing me all the time, but trying to kill my son’s pet, in my home, while my nephew is holding him? You can bet I decked him, good and hard! Amsy whined as she always did whenever someone disagreed with Dickie, completely ignoring the facts of the matter, but Baba soon had her quiet.” Khaled explained.
“To answer your question, Major, Rich-” Julian was interrupted by Duke, quickly exclaiming,
“Don’t say his name around Dad, Julian! Just call him ‘Dickie’, it’s what the rest of us do.” Julian glanced at his uncle and noted the tightening grip on his cane. Deciding to ask later, Julian carried on,
“Uh, Dickie has a hatred of all rodents or vermin as he saw them, so seeing one jumping towards him would have been a most unpleasant experience. Still funny to hear him shriek like that, though.” Julian snorted at the end, which had his cousins chuckling and snickering as the wait staff brought them some water. Batya, who had snagged a seat next to Julian, placed a hand on Julian’s cheek, allowing the crew to see her painted nails as she asked,
“How long has it been since you ate anything, Julian? You’re looking a little pale.” Julian shrugged as he answered,
“Had an early start today when a ship of Bolian merchants arrived with a breached warp core, thankfully just some second-degree burns and smoke inhalation. I grabbed a protein bar around… 0700, maybe?” Batya rolled her eye before digging into her bag and pulling out a packet labelled ‘iced vovo biscuits’ and handed it to Julian. Miles noticed that Ibrahim had also reached into his bag, but seeing that Batya had something for their cousin, removed his hand from his bag.
“Here, nibble on these until our food gets here.”
“Batty, we’re going to have lunch.”
“Yes, we are, and it’s going to take time for everyone to decide on their meals, input them into the replicators, even longer if this guy actually cooks, and then serve everyone. That’s a long time with only a ration bar in your stomach.” Batya had gentled her voice, as though she were actively trying to cajole her cousin into having a little snack as they waited for their lunch. Still, Julian argued,
“I can’t be the only one eating; it will feel weird!” Batya kept her tone gentle as she suggested,
“Well, why don’t you ask your crewmates if they want one? I’m sure it’s been a while for them as well.” Julian nodded as he turned to Miles and asked,
“Do you want an iced vovo biscuit, Miles?” Miles had never heard of such a thing and asked,
“What are those?” Julian smiled as he described the treat.
“They’re a really nice treat from Australia; it’s a biscuit topped with pink fondant, raspberry jam, and coconut.”
“Thanks for the offer, mate, but that sounds awfully sweet to me.” Miles wondered at Batya’s glaring eye as he turned down the sweet, but Ezri, who understood Julian’s problem and what Batya was doing, asked,
“Can I try one, please, Julian?” Julian quickly nodded and handed her one, as did Jadzia, even as Worf shook his head in decline, as did Kira, but Ben took the offered biscuit. Freddie decided to speak up as well as he took something out of his handbag.
“I take it no one will mind if I munch on some Edinburgh Rock while we wait? It’s been a while since I had breakfast myself. Oh! And Julian, after lunch, I have some wonderful, fresh shortbread back on the ship for us to share. Does anyone care for a piece?” Freddie asked even as he handed a piece that looked like chalk to Julian. Laurie looked as though she was gearing up to make a crack, but Tamara and Duke both shook their heads at their little sister. Kira wondered about the odd sibling behaviour but asked,
“What is it?”
“Well, they’re a soft candy that has a sweet, mild, and fruity taste from my native Scotland; I’ve always enjoyed them. By the way, does the owner know how to make a Shirley Temple? I love to have one with my lunch.” Kira decided to try the Scottish confectionery as Miles wondered about the childish drink, and Jadzia answered,
“I’m not sure; Quark usually serves alcoholic beverages, synthale, or root beer.”
“Oh dear, I never drink root beer at lunch; it always makes me sleepy.” Kira wondered about Freddie’s odd behaviour as she tried the bizarre treat, finding it a little weird as it melted in her mouth. Still, at least it wasn’t as sweet as the pink thing Ezri, Jadzia, and Ben were nibbling on. Ben, remembering Amira telling him that Freddie was on the wagon, hence their variety of non-alcoholic beverages for holidays, suggested,
“I’m sure Quark can make you one after you tell him how to make it. If not, we still have a number of your family’s holiday beverages on file, like the pomegranate-citrus punch or limonana; both very popular and you could have one of them.” Freddie smiled as he thanked,
“Thank you very kindly, Captain Sisko.” Only for the assembled family members to deadpan,
“Freddie.”
“I’m allowed to say thank you over a nice gesture, you barbarians.” The crew wondered at the odd behaviour, but were distracted when Laurie asked,
“Are you going to remove your hat or are you worried about a two-pound robin flying around in here?” Freddie blushed even as he untied the scarf that kept his hat pinned to his head, and fired back,
“You, dear speed demon, have never heard about the voles that inhabit this station.” The crew were surprised when, as Freddie removed his hat, his hair came with it. Ibrahim quickly informed his cousin of the problem.
“Um, Freddie, your hair?” Looking down, Freddie blushed as he realized what had happened.
“I do apologize for that; I completely forgot about the hatpin.” Freddie quickly put his wig back on, with Annie smoothing it down for him. Jadzia asked,
“Premature baldness?” Freddie shrugged as he replied,
“In a way, I have alopecia areata, an auto-immune disorder which caused me to lose most of my hair as a young man and, rather than deal with people staring at me for something other than dashing good looks or my acting skill, I had a series of wigs made, as well as mustaches such as this one.” Freddie paused, letting the information sink in, and then demonstrated by removing his mustache and, proving to be a bit of a joker, put it on Annie. She smiled, twitched her lip to make it move, then remarked,
“Thank you, Freddie, but I think it looks better on you than me.” Annie gave the mustache back, and Freddie took it with a grin, though he decided to leave it off, given that they would soon be eating and he hated combing crumbs out of his mustache. The servers then came by, and everyone ordered, with the servers promising to try and make Freddie a Shirley Temple, though Tamara noted,
“Surprising you didn’t get a chocolate egg cream, Julian; you always loved those as a child.” Julian smiled as he remembered the frothy chocolate drink.
“No one could make them like Aunt Alona, though Grandad always gave it a good shot.” T’Seto spoke up with,
“Ko’mekh makes Streck a vanilla egg cream and a strawberry egg cream for myself whenever she feels as though we have done particularly well with our studies, which is strangely often.” Julian smiled at his aunt and cousins as Jadzia asked,
“What’s a chocolate egg cream?” Shebob answered her.
“It’s a frothy drink that originated in New York, made with chocolate syrup, cold milk, and seltzer, receiving its name, supposedly, from the froth that comes from vigorously stirring the seltzer into the milk and syrup; as Julian stated, Rashim often attempted the drink, but could never get the stirring rhythm just right.” Ben rather suspected Julian would receive a chocolate egg cream in the near future, either by Trill or by a certain sneaky Cardassian. Meanwhile, Jadzia couldn’t resist asking,
“So, do you have any more pictures of Julian as a child?” Julian, who had a mouthful of biscuit, protested,
“Hey!” Khaled finished his drink and went to the bar to get a refill, taking note of whoever looked low, and gently scolded,
“Finish what’s in your mouth before you speak, Julian; you’re so thin, I’d be afraid of crackin’ a rib as I give you the Heimlich.” Duke smiled as he responded,
“Lots.”
“Hey!” Jadzia and Miles smirked at the idea of seeing Julian as a toddler and maybe even as a baby. Ben could no longer resist asking,
“Can I ask why Julian’s sidecar had snakes and mice painted on it?” Julian groaned even as his uncle explained,
“Because, even at three years old, they were Jules' favourite animals as he loved the texture of reptilian scales - gave my poor wife a heart attack when we took him to a zoo, he wandered off, and we found him petting a crocodile of all things! - and he loved how mice would twitch their whiskers against his hands, saying it tickled. He found one, once, while they were visiting us and decided to stay instead of just dropping him off like normal. He set it down near Archie, who was afraid of mice but could see how excited Jules was, so he did his best to stay calm, which is more than could be said for my former brother.” Julian was beginning to see the picture even as Kira asked,
“What did he do? Scream?”
“No, the ignoramus picked up a paperweight and went to crush the little cherry thief.”
“Oh no! And, cherry thief?” Ezri exclaimed/asked as Khaled came back with some fresh drinks, including one for Julian, whose glass was half full.
“My wife grew cherries in our backyard, but we had recently noticed that some were missing, and the mouse was nibbling on a cherry when Jules brought it in, leading us to assume it was the thief. Uh, Julian, would you mind getting me a glass of water to take my pills with? I have trouble taking them with tea.” Julian didn’t notice his uncle’s odd tone of voice as he nodded, not even questioning why he should get it when such a task was Sishkelle’s job. Once he was far enough away, George concluded,
“The mouse was saved, thanks to Jules, who covered the mouse with his hands, which led to the nincompoop hitting Jules’ hands.” One could hear a pin drop as George finished recounting the story. Even Worf had to ask,
“Do you speak truthfully?”
“I’m not liable to forget the way Jules screamed when it happened, Commander, nor the way my wife and sister screamed at the imbecile as Archie hit him with his handbag, the way my father-in-law and sister-in-law screamed at each other, or the way Tamara, who was also afraid of mice at that time, grabbed Jules’ mouse to take him outside to safety, and Fatima cuddled Jules while Amira and Freddie tried to calm him down as Henry ran to get some ice. Fortunately, it was one of my mother’s lighter paperweights and didn’t do any serious damage but Jules bruised easily and they always hurt. They threatened to take Jules away since we were ‘unfit’ to look after Jules, since we ‘allowed’ him to play with ‘diseased vermin’, but Alona grabbed him by the ear, dragged him away, said something to him, and they left shortly afterwards, leaving Jules with us.” Before more could be said, Julian came back with a glass of water, and George wiped the somber look off his face as his nephew handed him his water.
“So, what kind of pills are you on, Uncle George?”
“Nothing to worry about, just a slight calcium deficiency along with some high blood pressure medicine; the doctors think I need to relax more in my old age.” Julian nodded, but his crewmates could see him itching to examine his uncle and see if those doctors missed anything. Wanting to take his mind off it, Kira asked,
“So, how long will you be here?” Freddie answered,
“Well, that will be up to you lot; if Starfleet notes a marked improvement in morale, we could be asked to stay for as long as a month, but we will be staying here at least two weeks.” Laurie smiled as she leaned over to Julian and remarked,
“Which means we can do Family Game Night.” Julian’s eyes lit up as he remarked,
“God, I can’t remember the last time we did Family Game Night! Pairs?”
“Obviously; no game is equipped to handle sixteen players, more if your boyfriend and friends want to play, though the boyfriend and Constable are not allowed to play Clue! I am not playing against a cop!” Khaled remarked as their food arrived, causing the others to laugh. As they prepared to eat, Ben noticed that each of Julian’s relatives had a slightly larger-than-normal portion of food, and wondered about it as Ibrahim tried a bite of his chalupa and remarked,
“Julie-Bean, will you try one of these chalupas? They taste a little off, but I can’t put my finger on it.” Before Julian could agree, Ibrahim passed one down via his cousins. Julian tried it, but shrugged his shoulders as he commented,
“Tastes fine to me, Batya?” Batya took a barely noticeable bite before commenting,
“I know what’s wrong; no tabasco!” Batya then pulled out a personal bottle of the condiment as Ibrahim concluded,
“Oh yeah, that’s it; not spicy enough!” Ibrahim pulled out his own bottle as Batya poured some on Julian’s chalupa and handed it back to him.
“Hey, wait a minute; this is Ibrahim’s chalupa!” Julian pointed out even as he took said chalupa.
“Yeah, and you took a bite out of it.” Ibrahim pointed out, to which Julian rolled his eyes and snarked back,
“You can cut that part off, you big baby!”
“Yeah, but I can’t remove the hot sauce Batya put on it; only you and she like them that spicy.” Julian again rolled his eyes as he ate the chalupa. Annie spoke up,
“You know what else we have to do while we’re here? Potluck! Rinna tried Hasperat once and told me it was delicious! Not to mention, I’m dying to have Khaled’s Carne Asada Tortes and his homemade salsa again!”
“Name the time and place, Annie, and we’ll have enough to feed the whole corral.” Khaled answered his sister’s plea, to which Ben asked,
“You cook a lot of Mexican?” Khaled nodded as he explained,
“I always wanted to work with animals, and a spot opened at one of the best veterinary colleges on the Texas/Mexico border, so my roommates and I would often treat ourselves to some authentic cooking, and that was where I met Ruby, who gave me my son, Hima. She ran off with my former best friend, but Hima and I made it work. Still, I found Mexican food had lots of flavour and didn’t deserve the reputation it had, so I learned to make it in my dorm; got into trouble more than once for that.” Jadzia cocked an eyebrow as she remarked,
“Julian, you didn’t say your uncle was a vet.” Julian blushed as he explained,
“Sorry, when I said he took care of the equines in the rodeo, I meant he actually takes care of them, but his passion put him in the rodeo, so I always use that to explain his job, especially since he’s part of the sharp shooting act.” Ezri and Worf noticed Batya, who had gotten spaghetti and meatballs like Julian, snuck some of her own meal onto Julian’s plate as Khaled and Ibrahim nodded, adding,
“Yeah, Dad was a traditional vet at one time, but when the Space Rodeo was just getting started, they needed someone who knew how to take care of horses, cattle, sheep, and their alien cousins, so they asked my dad. I had no real plans myself as all I liked doing was flying, and that’s when the rodeo said they wanted to bring the concept of air shows back, and I was hooked on the idea myself.”
“Why not join Starfleet like your cousin? You could have become a pilot there.” Ben asked, which caused an awkward silence to descend on the table as Tamara tried to explain,
“Uh, none of us have been interested in Starfleet since great-grandma Watley served, until Julian joined.” Ben wondered at the tenseness in Tamara’s voice and asked,
“Why not?”
“Uh, Major! I read somewhere that Bajorans actually had a form of long-distance travel that had nothing to do with warp engines. Is that true?” Esmeralda asked, going off the subject of Starfleet for now as the Major responded,
“Uh, yes, actually; the Captain himself proved this a couple of years ago when he and his son Jake built what we called a ‘lightship’ which they then used to reach Cardassian space.” Laurie took up the narrative as she asked,
“Really?! That’s just incredible; how did it work?” Getting the feeling that Starfleet was a tense subject for the Bashirs and Al-Sattis, Ben went along with this line of conversation, hoping to avoid any embarrassment with Julian. As lunch ended, he was a little surprised to see Molly enter Quark’s with Yoshi in her arms.
“Molly? Are you alright?” Miles quickly turned in his seat, got up, and ran to his daughter.
“What’s wrong, Darlin’?”
“Mommy got a notice that one of her plants looked sickly in the arboretum, so she asked Lieutenant Ekucee to watch over us for a few minutes, but then our quarters got so cold, Yoshi is still shivering! The Lieutenant got us out quickly, and I came to tell you.” Before either could say more, a large coat was wrapped around Molly.
“There you go, little lady; that should help fight the chill off.” Molly looked up at a man who looked a little like her Uncle Julian, especially as he smiled down at her.
“Are you related to Uncle Julian?” Molly asked as she was led over to their table, as Miles took Yoshi to help warm him up, before handing him over to Julian, who ran hotter than most. Miles was thankful that Yoshi stopped shivering.
“Uncle Julian? Well, little lady, I am Uncle Julian’s Uncle Khaled, so you may call me Great Uncle Khaled, if you wish. Who are you?” Miles answered for her,
“She’s my daughter, Molly, and Julian is holding my son and his godson, Kirayoshi. I’d better go check on my quarters.”
“Need a hand? I may be a pod racer, but I am still an engineer.” Laurie offered as she wheeled over. Before Miles could accept or decline, Shebob spoke up.
“Julian, I hate to ask this in public, but may I please do a deep scan of your mind? I’m sensing rather severe psychic damage?” Shebob asked, looking over at his grandson in concern; his psychic abilities had Julian’s mind appearing like a giant sore, like someone had attacked his mind with tooth and claw. Annie spoke up as well,
“I’ve been sensing the same, Chada; I realize my abilities aren’t as strong as yours but it feels quite painful, Julian; what happened?” Before Julian could say something, Jadzia theorized,
“Could that be residue from the Lethean attack two years ago?” All Bashirs (save for Amira and Tamara) and Al-Sattis, as well as Freddie and Batya, froze as Jadzia’s question hit them, and Tamara became very nervous.
“A Lethean attack? Are you saying my cousin was attacked by a Lethean?! When did this happen?!” Duke asked,
“And why weren’t we told about this?” Annie asked, looking at Julian, who had frozen where he was holding Yoshi.
“Well, uh, at least it wasn’t as bad as the time he risked poison gas to save Dax. I mean-!” Tamara tried to soothe things over, causing Amira to facepalm at her cousin’s stupidity, to which Khaled asked,
“He did what?! And you two knew about the attack?! What else has my nephew gone through apart from being attacked by a Lethean, risking poison gas, not to mention being a Prisoner of War for five weeks, all before having his privacy violated by my brain-dead sister and her limp-dick husband?!” Julian was as still as a statue, which had Kira take Yoshi from him, and Julian nodded his approval as he tried to reason,
“Uh, I can explain.”
“Tamara? Amira?” George’s voice had taken on a calm note that hadn’t been present at all during lunch, and even Ben was trying to think of a way to get his CMO out of Quark’s until the man had a chance to calm down. Even Babar and Harley seemed to pick up on the tension in the room as Babar stood by his master and Harley wrapped herself tighter around Julian.
“Yes, Uncle George?” Amira asked as Tamara asked,
“Yes, Daddy?” George looked at his niece and daughter with a level stare before fixing his gaze on Julian and asking,
“Just what has your cousin experienced since coming out to this spinning top?”
“Uh…”
“Well…” Both girls struggled to answer their uncle/father, and even Worf was beginning to worry about the man’s tone which was similar to Captain Picard’s when he had to deal with Q.
“Uncle George, if you’re on blood pressure medication, you really shouldn’t worry yourself…”
“Laurie, work with the little hobgoblins to find what we want. Julian… Henry is gone, Archie, Zara, Fatima, my Alona, Rashim, and my mother are all gone now, leaving myself, Annie who is younger than you, Khaled who deals with animals that could be spooked at any moment and crush him, that bitch who should have have protected you, and my former brother who I see now couldn’t raise a slug without bungling it - both of whom lost their rights when they couldn’t raise a little boy who had a smile as sweet as sunshine on a spring day, even if he couldn’t tell a cat from a dog - to watch over you.
That means it's our job to worry about you when you do reckless things that put your life in danger, such as joining a hypocrisy like Starfleet instead of taking the money and house Rashim left for you on Taslau III, a non-Federation planet where you could have practiced as a doctor without any legal complications. I know I lost some rights to worry about you when I let you fall out of our lives, but I like to think I gained some of my rights back when Alona and I were there for you after the accident with Freddie. We are a family, Julian, and that means caring deeply, even when it comes with tough love, and I mean real tough love, not what those imbeciles used to defend their actions. So, you are going to stand there while I read this file and find out just how badly and how many times you've put your life in danger. Then, Tamara, Amira, you, and I will have a long talk about these things. Agreed?" Julian gulped as George was handed a PADD, and he nodded,
“Yes, Sir.”
“You call your captain, Sir, boy! Not your family!” Julian blushed, and the DS9 crew actually felt a little intimidated by Julian’s uncle even as Khaled and Annie read over the man’s shoulder, and Shebob asked Streck and T’Seto what they had learned.
“On a scale of one to ten, Laurie, how much trouble are they in?” Freddie asked, to which Laurie advised,
“You want my advice, Tammy, Miry, and Julie-Bean? Give your hearts to God, because your butts belong to Dad.”
“You were possessed by an alien being during your first year here?! Is this a space station or a setting for a haunted house?!” Julian flinched as Uncle George just began his file, and Ben found himself torn; the officer in him was annoyed as Starfleet records were being hacked right in front of him, but the protective father could sympathise with the man who obviously cared about Julian’s safety.