The BLTS Archive - Married to The Mob
Sixth in the Crisis Team series
by Blue Champagne (rowan-shults@sbcglobal.net)

---

Hi. B.C.here. Merry meet.

In "The Ninth Alternative: An Alternate Ending" Julian,
very near the end of the third season, receives a marriage
proposal from the O'Briens and accepts it. This series of
shorts peeks into the stretch during which Kira was
pregnant and living with the O'Briens, on the life, times
and borderline insanity of a household of four adults
(*two* of them pregnant in this "Ninth" spin-off, three of
them crucial station personnel) and a child, speculates on
how the events of each episode of that time span (fourteen
of them in all) would affect the members of the station's
clan O'Brien. I know, Keiko didn't get pregnant again,
accidentally OR on purpose, when she lost the carrying of
Yoshi. But she hadn't married Julian then, either. The
Ninth and this story represent my only real forays into the
world of AU. So far. <eg>

Paramount owns Trek and all things Trek, including these
characters and settings. I own the specifics of action,
narrative and dialogue, not that I'm especially proud of
them in this case. <g>

---

MARRIED TO THE MOB: Life in Hell in the Fourth and Fifth Seasons

Or;

WHAT WERE THOSE ALTERNATIVES AGAIN?

Or;

I LOVE YOU BUT I'M GOING TO HAVE TO KILL YOU

---
("Body Parts")
(A day that occurs after the first few weeks...)
---

Julian smiled at Nerys as she came in. "Good mor--"

"*Acpkth*-CHOO!"

"Here, have a tissue."

"Are you going to be in here all day? I've got to get to
Ops. I've got a line on some bigger quarters that might be
opening up."

Trip, bump. "Bloody, there a convention going on in here?"

"There is now. Good morning, Miles."

"How're you feeling, Nerys?"

"Like you wrung me into a rag last night on that massage
table. I still haven't recovered. Julian, hand me my
toothbrush. Good morning, Keiko."

"Here, Major."

"Julian! Stop calling her that, it's rude. She's carrying
our baby."

"Sorry, Kei. I suppose I'm still not used to this. Molly,
love, you're on my foot."

"Get in the tub, Molly, I'll start your bath."

"'S'cuse me, could I maybe get out the door? I've gotta get
to work."

"Go around behind me, Miles--watch out for Nerys's belly.
Don't forget to be home early tonight, Kei and I will be at
that dinner late and Nerys volunteered to cover a shift
for--who was it?"

"Acpkth--"

"Incoming! Somebody cover Molly's head!"

"--CHOOO!!"

"Catch Keiko!"

Massive splash.

Keiko, fully dressed, sat up in the half-full tub next to
Molly, who was giggling. "That's it," she steamed at the
smirking Julian, the contrite Kira and the flinching Miles.
"That is IT! Miles, you're not going anywhere until we have
two functioning bathrooms in this house again. Get your
tool kit and get cracking. Julian, help me up."

Julian pulled her from the tub and took off the towel he
had around his neck, wrapping it around her. "Go change,"
he said. "I'll give Molly her bath."

"Thanks." Keiko stalked out.

"*I'll* give her her bath and take mine at the same time,"
Kira said. "You two; out."

"I was just finished anyway."

"I'd better get on that other bathroom or work's going to
start looking like more fun than coming home. You going to
be needing help out of the tub, Nerys?"

"Get OUT! *Ackpth*--"

They lunged for the door and got stuck. Kira planted a hand
on each of their backs and shoved them through. Just as it
closed: "-CHOO!!"

Miles and Julian steadied each other and sighed.

"Another bright morning in the O'Brien household," Julian
muttered to himself, heading for the main bedroom to get
into uniform.

---

"Doctor Bashir?"

Julian looked up from his desk. "Hello, Andelghi. Is that
for me?"

"Current case files update." Andelghi handed him the padd,
fluttering her wings to resettle some newly regrown
pinfeathers.

He noticed the movement. "How's the molt coming along?"

Andelghi made a small squawk of irritation. "Slowly. You
should see the looks on the patient's faces when I come in
to treat them. They look like they're glad I'm already in
the infirmary."

"You are a bit sparsely endowed at the moment."

"And you are a hairless primate that hasn't slept for a
week. How are things at home?"

"The Zoo, you mean?" Julian leaned back in his chair and
sighed, rubbing his eyes carefully. "Well...I suppose you
might as well be the first to hear. Keiko's pregnant."

"Doctor, you're kidding me."

"I'm not. Since I had to--"

"Julian, that's *wonderful*!"

They both looked around. In the doorway was the inimitably
verbally profligate Jadzia Dax. Julian sighed, his eyes
closing. Jadzia continued blithely "I didn't even know you
were trying!"

"Jadzia, Keiko won't like it if it's all over the station
before she's even had a chance to tell her mother."

"Oh, I won't say anything." Jadzia's eyes sparkled as she
came in and leaned comfortably against the wall, folding
her arms. "I'll just be quiet."

"Of course you will," Julian muttered.

"Doctor, you were saying?" Andelghi pressed.

"Um...what *was* I saying? Oh, yes...Since I had to do
quite a bit of finagling to..." keep my haploids from
causing our potential child any grief *and*..."prevent a
couple of bad alleles from reinforcing between Miles and
me, we didn't expect my first try to work; since I was
having so much trouble with incompatible combinations, what
I actually wound up having to do, so that we'd all be
related to the baby, was take ova from Molly--her
recombinant pattern cancels the dangerous recessives--and
bring them to viable maturity." '*Please* don't anybody ask
to look at my project data.'

"You're saying Keiko is pregnant with Molly's baby?" Jadzia
said, eyes widening.

"Essentially. Keiko and Miles will technically be its
grandparents. I'll be its father, and Molly...well,
genetically she'll be its mother."

"How did your spouses feel about their husband having a
child with their daughter?" Andelghi wondered.

"Oh, Andelghi, they're not superstitious. This doesn't
involve anything like carnal relations with Molly."

"Of course, but you still haven't explained why you all
chose now to bring this pregnancy about."

"We, um, didn't, quite. This was supposed to be a sort of
trial run so that I could make sure Keiko wasn't going to
be adversely affected by the implantation procedure and the
pregnancy itself, after the injury she suffered in the
runabout; she does seem to be fine, to all indications. In
any event, the work with my genetic material and Molly's
came to something of an unexpected head--I stumbled over an
apparently viable combination almost at once, and decided
to try it; I didn't really believe it would work, but it
did, and I wound up with a viable zygote. Well, two,
actually; one died in stasis. When Keiko heard that, she
refused to wait any longer."

"So Keiko's pregnancy is why you've been looking like a
first-year resident lately?"

"Partly that..."

Andelghi gave a hop and perched on a stool, fluffing her
wings again; as she moved farther from the door, it slid
closed. "Married life not agreeing with you, Julian? Tell
your old friend Imachram."

"And your old friend Jadzia," Jadzia added, coming to stand
next to him.

"It's not that, not at all. In that respect, this last year
has been the best of my life; I've never been happier. No,
it's just general crowding. Crowded house, crowded
schedules...and Molly wants us to marry Nerys. Keiko and I
want larger quarters. Miles, I think, wants to move to
Rubidion Six and change his name."

"That bad?"

"Oh...no," Julian chuckled. "Just his way. He loves us.
Lord, I think he even loves Nerys."

"So it's just a bit much for him to take in."

"That, and I think he misses me. I may be the first thing
he sees in the morning and the last thing at night, but
most days, lately, that's all we see of each other, between
the Dominion problems--station refittings, my own prepatory
work--Keiko almost too sick these last days to leave us to
go to Bajor, taking care of Nerys and Molly...I think there
are moments he'd like to forget he has a husband and look
up his old drinking buddy and darts partner. Oh, not that
he's sorry about anything. It's just a tiring time. We'll
get through it."

"Of course you will. Julian, come on out for some Klingon
with me," Jadzia said, patting his shoulder. "Maybe we can
take your mind off things for a little while."

He smiled. "Not likely, but you're welcome to try. Join us,
Imachram?"

"For Klingon? I'm a bird, not a goat."

---

"Oh, I forgot to tell you," Julian said, already removing
the outer tunic of his dress uniform as they walked down
the corridor toward home. "Jadzia told me at lunch--those
larger quarters Kira mentioned? A bust. The Andorian family
in question has decided to remain on the station."

Keiko groaned. "She's the first officer! Assigning quarters
is her prerogative!"

"She can hardly evict some half dozen people from their
home because we want room for a bigger dining table. How's
the stomach?"

"Fine. I don't know what was in that hypo, but I put away
half a tray of cocktail sausages."

"You hate sausage."

"I know. I wish I *could* throw up. I'll be eating sea
berries for dinner all week."

"Kei...it's too early for gravid voracity to be setting in."

"With Molly it set in before I realized I was pregnant.
Doctor Crusher had to stick the tricorder under my nose
before I'd believe her...oh, no." She groaned as they
halted outside their own door. From inside could be heard
the echoing evidence of another disagreement between Miles
and Kira.

Julian sighed. "Do you want me to handle it?"

"I'll do it. You're afraid of Nerys."

"Quite right I am." They went in.

There was a brief startled pause in the interchange; Miles,
standing next to the table, which he'd evidently been
clearing, was faced off against Nerys, who, even barefoot
and in the pale-pink slit-sided tunic she wore when having
the kinks rubbed out of her, radiated sufficient outrage to
blow Miles's curly blond hair back. Molly was sitting in
the floor, observing with interest.

Julian zipped over to take her out of the combat zone as
Keiko started forward, saying "All right, you two. What is
it this time? Hold on--" she forestalled their communal
attempt to override each other with sheer volume and said
"Nerys, you first."

"He hid my springball racket again!"

"She's got no call to be throwing herself around a court--"

"I don't 'throw myself around', I just do easy backboarding
to keep my eye good! The baby's not in any danger!"

"I've *seen* that 'easy backboarding'," Miles insisted,
"and she ran into the *wall* once!"

"I caught myself! On my arm! I wouldn't hit it full on, for
Prophet's love."

"You could have fallen!"

"I'm not that clumsy!"

Keiko yelled "All RIGHT! I think I've got the picture.
Miles, you give her her racket back--*hush*, I'm not done
yet. Nerys, you start practicing in the holosuite--"

"I HATE holosu--"

"In the suite, you can play against single serves from the
computer; you won't have to dodge around quite so much,
after the one ball. I know it isn't perfect, but Miles has
a point. Your balance is changing in ways you're not used
to. We all know how good a springball player you are, but
you easily could fall. You're *used* to falling. I've seen
those miracle saves you make, too, you know."

Kira growled something, looking away. Miles growled too,
looking in the opposite direction.

"Are you two done now?"

Silence.

"Well?"

"I still say he's trying to run my life."

"I know he is, Nerys," Keiko sighed, earning her a startled
look from Kira and a betrayed one from Miles. "He wasn't
quite as bad when I was carrying Molly--there'd been no
emergency transfer into someone else's womb--but I know
what he's like. You've got to throw him a bone every so
often or we'll all be living with a big cranky bear. None
of us want that."

"Yeah," Kira sighed. "Good point. Fine. The holosuite it
is. Can I have my racket back now, Miles? It's custom-set
for rebound angle."

Julian had been standing in Molly's bedroom door, holding
her as they both watched. Molly said softly, so that only
he could hear, "When are you and Mommy and Daddy going to
marry aunt Nerys, Jh'lian?"

"When she proposes to us, sweetie," Julian said, patting
her. When Kira found out how swiftly and decisively he had
turned *her*, instead of Molly's parents, into the focus
for Molly's marry-aunt-Nerys campaign, Nerys would kill him.

But he grinned at the thought of her expression anyway.

---
(A couple of days later...)
---

"Hello, Jake. Thanks again."

"Doctor, where *were* you? She's been a lot worse than a
handful."

"I'm sorry; I was held up in the--"

"Jake!"

"I'm coming! Hang on!" He bolted into the main bedroom,
from whence he emerged pretty much carrying Keiko. "Here we
go, hold on, nearly there--" they vanished into the
bathroom, and the area in general was treated to the sounds
of Keiko's vigorous vomiting.

Molly emerged from her bedroom, blinking sleepily, holding
her baby blanket in both arms. "Hi, Jh'lian. Mommy says you
should die a horrible death. She wants to go live with
Jake."

"Mommy's sick and upset, sweetie. She doesn't mean it."

"She ast me why don't I carry my own damn baby."

"Did you tell her what I told you to? About whose idea it
was for her to be pregnant right now?"

"I said I was too little to be pregnant. I din' wanna tell
her what you said. Least not while she was throwing up."

"That was probably a wise decision." He picked Molly up and
took her back to her bed, then went for his household
medkit. Keiko hated the anti-emetics--when she took them,
she ate things she wouldn't have looked at in the most
vital of health, such as raw calamari--but Julian suspected
that at the moment, she would not be disaffected toward the
idea of drastic measures.

---

"Oh. Nerys. Hello. The spare bed giving you trouble again?"

"Shut up and rub."

"At once." Julian took just a moment to pull his boots off,
then crawled over next to Kira where she lay on the big
bed, which featured the Betazoid Arilleiliae linens from
Counselor Troi. Kira indicated several spots, then did her
best to go boneless, one hand pressed against the side of
her belly. "I'm not all *that* big yet, why am I so sore?"

"You're big enough for that Russian dance festival Yoshi
held last night while you were lying against my back to
wake me up. Also, there's the suddenness of the change. You
didn't grow into being this size over the course of several
months; your body's had no time to readjust for balance and
weight distribution, and your skeleto-muscular system is
fighting itself. And the chemical adjustments are straining
as well; your tissues are swelling and changing very
abruptly."

"Is pregnancy always this miserable?" she wondered.

"I wouldn't know. Some people have an easier time with it
than others--you're tensing up; focus on relaxing--not that
I'd presume to try to say."

Kira grinned, eyes closed, as she let herself rock in
rhythm with Julian's ministrations. "At least not to an
angry pregnant woman."

"Especially not. Are you still so angry at fate?"

"More like angry at my own stupid mistake, overestimating
the shields. At times...I actually like carrying the baby,
though I'm not that fond of Miles in my face or my various
body parts swelling up. But you know my family are all
gone..."

"I know," Julian said softly, gradually moving his
attentions down her back to the strained muscles across the
pelvic bone. "Nice to have one for a while. Not that you
won't still be one of us, after the baby's born. But we
know you; you'll be back in your own place in a trice."

"Probably." She sighed. "You don't seem to have much
problem with it, either. Falling in with the family, I
mean."

Julian smiled. "I'm quite content to be Julian Bashir
O'Brien."

"Why is that, anyway? I mean the name. Why Miles's name?"

"I don't really know; we all rather took it for granted.
And clan O'Brien means a great deal to Miles, while I've
got very little family of my own, and none I'm close
to--you flinched. Did that hurt?"

"It all hurts, Julian. Rub."

"None of it feels good?"

"Yeah, it does, but it pretty much always hurts, too. Rub."

"You'll be in here again this evening, then?"

"Yeah. Would you get Keiko? My breasts are killing me and
you and Miles are *way* too rough on them."

"Of course." He got up and stuck his head out the door.
"Where are you, my Kei? I'm afraid it's her breasts again.
She needs a pectoral rub." He went back in and said "I told
you to see Garak about specially fitted bras. The standard
style with your uniform is far too confining."

"If there's one person on this station who's right up there
with Quark as far as living and dying as far away as I can
arrange from *my*-- " she broke off. Keiko had come in,
with a bowl full of something in one hand and the fingers
of her other rummaging in the bowl's contents. "Hi," she
greeted them. At least, that was what Julian was fairly
sure she said; her mouth was full.

Nerys hid her face in the pillow.

Keiko sat on the bed. "Sushi and Captain Sisko's Creole
sauce," she said, slurping juice from her fingers. She held
the bowl out to them. "Try it. I've already picked out most
of the pickled grapes, though."

Nerys groaned.

"*I'm* going to be sick," Julian muttered.

---

"Sisko to Kira."

Kira remained somnolent.

Julian groggily reached over her and Miles to touch the
comm switch. "Bashir, Captain. I gave the Major a sedative."

"I wish you hadn't. We need her in Ops."

Miles growled. "Great. And guess which of us is going to be
carrying her there?"

Keiko suddenly lunged from her position lying against
Julian's back (where she was closest to the bathroom door)
and bolted.

"Time for another anti-emetic," Julian surmised.

"How soon do you need her, Captain?" Miles asked.

"There's time for you to pour a cup of macara herb tea down
her to counteract that sedative."

"Will do, Captain. Nerys, wake up."

"Stop shoving, I'm awake!"

"Julian!" Keiko screamed.

"Coming," Julian said, charging for the medkit.

"Come on, Nerys," Miles sighed, dragging himself out of
bed. "Let's dig you up some clothes; I'll get a reputation
for absentmindedness if I take you up there like that."

---
(The next day...)
---

"Oh. Captain. Hello. What brings you by?"

"My first officer had a tantrum this morning over the comm."

"Oh dear. What about?"

"Let's just say Minister Ibron canceled his visit over it,
and the meeting with Ambassador Sutan as well."

"Got a little abrasive, did our sister?"

"Though she hasn't got much patience at the best of times,
she's volatile, but not crazy, even confronted with
bureaucrats. She's always been able to do this job. It's
not her pregnancy--a woman who could lead armed supply
raids when she was fourteen is not going to lose her
perspective so badly over being pregnant. But Kira isn't
the only problem; Chief O'Brien dozed off in the middle of
a repair and fell through a service conduit onto the upper
level of the Promenade. He nearly landed on Vedek Airmid."

"Miles told me. While I was knitting the bone in his leg."

"On top of which, Keiko has just accepted a job from
Starfleet that will keep her aboard a Nebula class ship for
nearly two weeks--when she heard about the position, she
pulled rank on two of her people to get it--and Jake says
Molly told him she's having a baby."

"Keiko or Molly?"

"Also, it might interest you to know that Nurse Akula came
to me with a supply requisition form on which you had
authorized his ordering six desiccated Andorian cephalopods
for research purposes and a roast beef sandwich on white,
hold the mayonnaise. And Doctor Andelghi told me that you
said to her over lunch recently 'Don't chew the ice in your
drink, love, it's bad for your teeth.'"

"Imachram hasn't got any...oh. Right."

"Doctor...*what* is going on in this house?"

"It's just...things are a bit hectic right now. It'll sort
itself out."

Keiko ran through the room, saying hurriedly "Hello Captain
Julian what did you do with my brown velvet leggings I have
to finish packing!" She vanished around the hallway corner,
dodging various piles of stacked clothes, toys and other
personal belongings. She immediately reappeared, holding
the leggings, and, on her way back into the bedroom, added
"I thought you said you were going to pick up around here
Hi Nerys." Nerys, who was emerging from the bathroom,
nearly tripped on her, catching herself on the doorjamb.
"Molly!" Keiko yelled from inside the bedroom. "Bring me
that stack of padds on aunt Nerys's bedside table!"

"I'm still using those!"

"Well, I *need* the ones that have my last two weeks of lab
data--it's not my fault it got mixed up in your personnel
reports!"

"*I* didn't do that, Miles did it when he couldn't find his
repair schedule! Excuse me, Captain, I've got to get
changed, I'm catching a transport to try to make things up
to Minister Ibron watch *out*, Molly!"

Molly, her vision occluded by the stack of padds she was
carrying, ricocheted off Kira's legs and banged into Sisko,
who managed to catch her, but not the padds, which went
everywhere. "Oops. Sorry," Molly said.

"It's not your fault, sweetie," Julian assured her, leaning
over toward the front door to help her reassemble the stack.

At that point, Miles came in from the corridor outside,
fell over the crouching Julian and went down like a ton of
bricks with the flailing Doctor tangled in his legs.

Sisko swore. "At this rate, my Ops chief, my CMO and my
first officer will be as much use to me as a sack of dead
Denebian hamsters. I don't care if we have to refit a cargo
bay, I'm getting you people some more space." He grabbed
Miles by the wrist and pulled him back to his feet, then
stalked out.

Miles blinked in confusion. "What's with him?"

"Nothing," Julian said as Kira tried to worm past to the
front door, accidentally got involved with the semi-prone
Julian, staggered, kicked Miles's tool kit over, became
involved with *it* and caught herself on Julian, who had
managed to get back up but at which he fell down again,
dropping two of the padds he'd picked up.

Keiko busily began excavating her way through a pile of
wash, including Miles's and Julian's holosuite wolfskins,
sending clothing flying in all directions.

And Molly yelled from inside the half-empty toy box, where
she had retreated from the fray, "Help! I'm stuck!"

Miles said "Bloody. It's a good thing for you I love you so
much."

"Which of us are you talking to?" Kira wondered, extracting
her boot from the handle of Miles's kit. "Acpkth-CHOO
acpth-CHOO akpphth-CHOOO!!"

"All of you," Miles muttered.

Julian smiled at him.

---
(A week later...)
---

"Julian! Hi," Jadzia said, approaching him with her
raktajino and sitting next to him. "How are things at
confusion central?"

"Miles is sleeping on the Defiant while he finishes his
project with the hull integrity fields, Nerys is on Bajor
visiting Edon, Keiko isn't back from her jaunt on that
Nebula-class--what was it, the Lao Ma--and Molly and I
are..."

"Celebrating?" Jadzia grinned, then took a swallow from her
mug.

"That's one way to describe it. One little problem I've run
into...I can't sleep in that bed with no one in it but me.
I'm too used to navigating around three other people.
Molly's been sharing it with me."

"Surely a small price to pay for a few days of calm...wait
a minute. *Three* other people?"

"Um. The--well...Jadzia..."

"I won't tell. Come on, spill."

"The fact is we're having an awful time coming up with a
bed that Nerys can abide sleeping on. Until we can get her
a hydraulic antigrav mattress, she'll probably be in with
us about half the time."

"She can't sleep on a regular mattress, but she can sleep
with three other people?"

"She likes to spoon up in front of one of us so we can
support her back with one arm." "Still...isn't sleeping
with Kira kind of a problem? I mean, for one thing, I've
slept with her, and I threw an arm over her one night and
half-woke her, and she was dreaming she was back in ore
processing, and she heel-punched me in the solar plexus. My
symbiont was sore for a week."

"She hasn't hit any of *us* yet."

"The other thing...um...might explain why Keiko's been so
cranky recently..."

"As are we all, but none of us have really had the energy
for that sort of thing lately anyway. And I think pretty
soon Nerys's presence won't matter anyhow, we're going to
be so used to each other."

"Hmmm. One bed...four people...I really envy you sometimes,
Julian."

"*Who's* not getting enough of the right sort of attention
recently...?"

"Nerys sort of...glows when she's pregnant, doesn't she?"

"Get that look off your face before someone sees it and
thinks it has something to do with me. My home life is in
enough of an uproar. And besides, you don't need the First
Minister of Bajor demanding your intentions toward Nerys."
"Right." Jadzia sighed wistfully, then focused her eyes
again. "So, has Molly picked her daughter's name yet?"

"She's leaning toward either 'Siddig' or 'Hana'."

"Where did she hear *those*?"

"Her aunt Nerys suggested she name the baby for a parent or
grandparent, and the next thing I heard those were the
choices Molly was vacillating between. Don't ask me to
explain it." "Sheesh. It's a good thing you've already
named Kirayoshi. Are you three sure about letting Molly
pick the baby's name?"

"Seems the least we can do. She *was* so good as to donate
some eggs to the cause."

"About that...I'm still not sure telling her *just* what
was going on was such a good idea..."

"Heavens, Jadzia, they were *her* eggs. Did you think I was
going to throw her up onto an operating table and filch
them from her without so much as a by-your-leave? Hello,
Miles."

"Up for some company tonight? We just finished on the
Defiant."

"I think we can find room for you in a bed the size of a
small continent."

"What's the word from the Captain about the new quarters?"

"Nothing yet. He says he'll have something figured out by
the time Kira gets back."

"Thank Erin for that. Hi, Jake. Feel like having a play
with Molly this evening? Julian and I have each other to
ourselves for a bit; I thought we might take the heads off
a few holoVikings."

"Sure, Chief, if you'll tell me one thing. Molly's still
saying she's going to have a baby, and now she's adding
that Doctor Bashir is the father. *What* is she talking
about?"

Jadzia smirked.

"Um," Julian said, and sighed. "Have a seat, Jake. I'll
explain..."

---
(A few days later...)
---

"What's in this one?"

"That's...let me see...Keiko's rugs."

"No wonder it's so heavy."

"Put it *down* then, for heaven's sake, Jadzia. Or give it
to Odo. Or wait for Miles to get back with the grav truck.
I wouldn't want you to be the first woman I ever treat for
a hernia. Kasidy, not that one--it's the stands for the
floor lamps and Keiko wants them in the last--Garak!"
Julian dropped his list and lunged to where Garak was
maneuvering a crate nearly as big as he was through the
door.

"If you'd be kind enough to tell me where this goes,
Doctor--" Garak grunted as Julian appropriated one end of
the crate.

"This is Miles's workshop gear, it goes--this way--last
room on the right, end of the hall..." they got the crate
to its destination, dropped it with a thump that made
Julian wince, and the doctor said, panting, "Elim, you
could have ruptured something. For the last time, ask for
help."

Garak started to reply, but was interrupted by a crash in
the front room. Julian rolled his eyes and took off.

Kasidy and Jadzia were scrambling madly through the boxes,
crates and piles, trying to run bent over. "Molly's
Denebian hamsters," Jadzia told him. "Those things eat
cloth. Help us catch them all or Keiko's going to kill me
and Kasidy--me for bumping Kasidy and her for dropping the
run." Pieces of said run were lying on the floor, mixed in
with hamster bedding.

Julian muttered, as he and Garak joined the chase, "Forget
Keiko, Molly will have your heads."

Odo came back in with about six boxes, observed the
situation and said "Allow me, Doctor." He set the boxes
down and shrank into a razorback cat.

"Thanks, Odo--and if you could be sure not to forget
yourself and eat any of them...?" The cat glared at him,
then commenced rounding up hamsters, which he deposited one
at a time in the run, which Kasidy had hastily
reconstructed.

"I," she then said, standing up, "am going out to the Xhosa
and get some antigrav clamps and maybe a couple of my cargo
handlers. We're going to be at this all day otherwise."

"Molly's clothes," Jake said, staggering past with two
large bundles. "Where?"

"Second room from the end of the hall. Thanks, Jake. Come
on, Garak, let's try to get this mattress into the bedroom."

"Have you abandoned your worries concerning bodily
ruptures, Doctor?"

"Good point. We'd better just start moving the boxes in
until Miles gets back--no, wait. First we'll need to get
the bedroom rug down--"

He was interrupted by the event of Keiko, who was coming in
with a box of data chips, getting her feet knocked out from
under her by the razorback cat that charged through them in
pursuit of a hairless rodent, startling a shriek out of
her. Jadzia caught her around the ribs.

Miles came in behind them with the hand truck just as Jake
and Garak started muscling the mattress toward the wrong
bedroom.

"Living in that blasted closet was more organized than
this," Julian groaned.

"Maybe you should just have married Garak," Keiko opined as
Jadzia set her on her feet with a sympathetic pat to her
tummy.

"He didn't ask me, or I might have."

"Perhaps--careful, there, mister Sisko," Garak called from
the hall, "I simply hadn't gotten around to it, my dear
Doctor. Why do you suppose, after all, that I'm always
calling you that?"

Keiko and Jadzia exploded in giggles.

Miles said "Could somebody tell me why there's a razorback
cat trying to stuff one of Molly's hamsters back in the
run?"

At that point, Nerys came in, looking haggard from the
transport, and said "Hi, everyone. Could somebody tell *me*
why nobody called me at Edon's to let me know we were
moving?"

"We packed your things for you," Keiko said, glancing
around the room, sticking her box of chips under one arm
and beginning to root around. "I know we've brought them,
they must be here somewhere..."

Julian sighed. "Welcome back to the hamster run, Nerys."

---
("Broken Link")
---

"How is he?" Kira said anxiously, hurrying into the
infirmary. She stopped, seeing the empty diagnostic bed
Julian was standing next to, and looked around. "*Where* is
he?"

"You just missed him. And he's fine, considering this is
the second time in one week he's thrown his back out."

Kira sighed and laid a hand on her own back. "I know how he
feels. How did he look? I haven't seen him in a few days."

"He's still human. He's still Odo. If that's not a
contradiction in terms I don't know what is, but other than
that, I don't have much to tell you, except that he seems
to be falling into his duties as though he never left them,
as disconcerting as this must be for him."

"He really needs to work," Kira murmured. "I've been so
worried about him..."

"We all have, but you have to stop letting it upset you
quite so much. Your appetite's off and I noticed your rash
is back."

"Don't remind me." Kira leaned on a table with one hand and
scratched her butt vigorously with the other.

"Stop that."

"Hypo me!"

"I will, when it's time for your next injection. If you're
on your way home, would you tell Miles and Keiko that I'm
going to be out this evening?"

"Where?"

"Security, visiting Garak. I'm taking him a few more books.
There's not a lot to do in that cell."

("Apocalypse Rising")

"Julian, damn it!"

"Just one, Miles. Think of Hana and Yoshi. Without a
recording they'll never get the opportunity to see you in
full Klingon guise."

"Damn right because I'll *never* be put in this bloody
getup again, now turn OFF that holorecorder! And get this
God-bloody-awful Klingon garbage off me! Ack, damn it--give
me that, I'll wipe the whole blasted matrix--"

Evading his grab, Julian tossed the recorder over the
surgical bed Miles was on; said recorder was adroitly
caught by Kira (whose eye did not seem to be suffering) and
underhanded to Keiko, waiting in the doorway to the main
part of the infirmary. She tucked the imager under one arm
and her softly rounded belly in the other and took off down
the Promenade with both.

"The Speeding Sprite rides again," Sisko muttered,
examining his face in a mirrored console surface. "I don't
know, Jake...do you think I should keep the fangs?"

"*No.*"

"You *like* cutting your lip on your consonants?" Odo
muttered.

Julian had managed to reach Miles's artificially thickened
neck with a hypo; the engineer went out like a light.

Kira sauntered around to the other side of the bed, sidling
up to Julian, as a nurse began preparing Miles for the
minor surgery. "So you really like 'Hana'."

"Love it."

"You know," she informed him, smiling, "we ought to cut it
out with this stuff. There are going to be people who don't
get it."

"Let them wonder, my glowing commanding officer. If all
else fails, blame me. And now shoo, all of you; I don't
care to wake up next to *that* face in the morning."

---
("The Ship")
---

Nerys woke up; the warmth at her back had vanished. She sat
up in the dimness, realizing that there was light coming
from the door, which was open just a fraction. Keiko was
standing next to it with her hand on the switch, very
still. "Keiko?"

Keiko glanced back at her, then looked again out the crack
in the door. Nerys got up and came over to stand just
behind her, looking over her shoulder.

Julian was sitting on his heels on the sofa, holding Miles
half in his lap. Kira could just make out what Miles was
saying through the distortion of his talking against
Julian's arm. "...Quique said...he said I was his hero. I
thought he was joking. While I was trying to tape him up, I
made some comment about his sucking up to the officers...he
said I taught him everything he knew. But looking back on
knowing him...I can see now that he meant every word of it.
He was so frightened, we couldn't stop the bleeding--but he
was more worried about making me uncomfortable. So we
joked, while he was dying. I should have let him just
*tell* me, before he got delirious, before...before it was
too bloody damn late."

"Munez did tell you. He knew you heard him. You reassured
him by keeping the tone of your talk to what he was used
to--suddenly going gentle and officious would only have
frightened him more, let him know just how badly off things
were. As it was, I'd bet he was able to take some comfort
in your refusing to let it change--showing that nothing
*would* change, that he was going to live...even if neither
of you believed it, and even if both of you knew that. You
did what he wanted, Miles; you kept on being his hero. Oh,
love...go ahead. Let it come."

Keiko lifted her hand from the switch to allow the door to
open, but Nerys caught the switch before it could and put
her other arm around Keiko from behind, gently holding her
still. "No, Keiko. Either of us, Miles would want to
protect from the way he feels right now. With Julian, he
can let it out."

Keiko was still a moment, then nodded, her head bowing.
Kira pushed the switch to close the door and took Keiko's
shoulders, turning her around and pulling her close,
resting the shining dark head on her own shoulder. She
stroked Keiko's back a few moments before the other woman
sighed and lifted her head. "Did you know he threw his
medal in the disposal?"

"I got it back out before it processed," Kira told her
softly. "I gave it to the Captain to keep for him. Sisko
can't look at his, either; he's put them away, he said,
until he and Miles can bear the sight of the things."

Keiko nodded again. "I guess we should lie down; they may
be a while. Did Julian remember to give you your
flea-spider venom?"

"It's a serum, not the venom. Yes, I took it; that's
probably why I woke up." She and Keiko were crawling back
in bed, rearranging the covers.

Keiko slid up behind Nerys, slipping an arm under her waist
to help support her spine. "By the time Yoshi's born, I
won't have been able to do this for a while," she whispered
absently. "Two more months and we'll have a hard time
getting within arm's reach of each other."

Nerys took the hand Keiko had rested on her shoulder and
squeezed it comfortingly. "We can blow each other kisses."

Keiko chuckled softly, then sighed.

"He'll be all right," Nerys said. "Miles was a soldier.
He's lost his own people before."

"But Enrique was special to him," Keiko whispered back.
"Like a brother..."

"He'll be all right," Kira repeated softly, insistently.
"Julian's taking care of him."

---
("Looking for Par'Mach in All the Wrong Places")
---

An unbelievable ruckus was emanating from behind the closed
door of Miles's workroom. "Worthless soundproofing," Julian
muttered--wasn't as though this were anything new--and
signaled, though he knew Miles wouldn't be able to hear it.

He didn't. Julian went in, came up behind Miles where he
was bent over a workstation, and touched his shoulder. He
nearly got his eyebrows burned off by a low-power phaser
torch as Miles lurched in startlement.

"Mother *Danu* --" Miles shut off the torch and pulled his
face mask off, ruffling his hair up. "You keep doing that
and I'm going to behead you one of these days, accidentally
or otherwise."

Having heard this before, Julian ignored it and plunged
ahead. "You will *never* guess who came into the infirmary
today."

"Admiral Brand on the Grey of Macha." Miles pulled off his
remaining protective gear and went around Julian and out
the door, heading for the front room.

Julian chased along behind him. "No, Jadzia and Worf. And
they both had the absolute stuffings knocked out of them."

"What's new about that? They were likely trying to kill
each other via bat'leth again."

"Oh, no, not this time. Not those injuries. I didn't think
better of asking what had happened until I already had, but
when they looked like they'd rather die than explain..."

Miles turned from the replicator with coffee in hand, his
eyebrows on the rise. "Oh-*ho*. So *that's* what's got you
in such a lather, me love. Can't seem to drown that old
torch for Dax, eh?"

"It's not that at all. It's just...I mean...*Worf*?"

"What's wrong with Worf?"

"What's NOT wrong with Worf? Jadzia and that...that..."

"Klingon?"

"That overstuffed excuse for a rigor mortis-ridden lack of
imagination! How could *Jadzia* want *him*?"

"Did she seem happy?"

"Well, once I got the worst of the breaks mended..."

"Then I wouldn't worry about it. She's been around a few
centuries; she'll know what she wants by now." Miles kissed
his cheek, patting him on his way by to the couch.

Julian sulked.

"Oh, love, come on now. It's not as though you're not
busier than you can handle in that department anyway."

"Well, Keiko did tell me, the night you proposed, to leave
my options open..."

"You are absolutely chronic, Julian."

"He sure is," Keiko said, yawning and stretching as she
came in from their bedroom, apparently from a nap. "You
know what I found when I came back from Bajor early
yesterday morning?"

Miles snorted. "Julian and Nerys naked as newts, wrapped in
all the bedclothes and sound asleep. Why do you think I was
in Nerys's room when you got in?"

"Well, I asked Nerys, and she said they hadn't done
anything but sleep. As a matter of fact, she started
laughing so hard when I wondered otherwise that I had to
help her to a chair."

Julian didn't know which direction to look. "We weren't
*entirely* naked. And she likes the heat that builds up,
without being suffocating, when she's swaddled in with
someone like that. She says it's like sleeping in a warm
bath all night and she wakes up without aching."

"I'll just *bet* there's heat building up--hello, Nerys.
Hi, lovey."

"Acpkth-CHOO!"

Molly, who'd come in with the Major, holding her hand,
ducked the shower.

"Hello, everyone," Nerys sniffed.

"How's that back doing?" Keiko asked her, reaching for the
one of the lumbar pillows that littered the area and
positioning it for her in the corner of the couch next to
Miles.

Nerys eased down, with a sigh and a hand from Miles, as
Molly waited to climb in Miles's lap. "Pretty good, and the
belly muscles. Feet could be better, but really, your
husband could rent out as a hot water bottle if he didn't
have such sharp knees."

"Think you've got it rough," Miles muttered. "You've never
been nailed in the chest by one of those things. See,
whenever he's on his back, and I'm--"

"Miles!" Julian squealed.

"Never mind, I can guess," Nerys smirked as Keiko,
grinning, went to comfort the mortified Julian and Julian
turned to the replicator to order a Bushmill's straight up.

---
("...Nor the Battle to the Strong")
---

"Julian."

"Mm." He didn't look up from the terminal.

Kira advanced into the room, paused to pull her boots
off--without sitting down; sometimes, when she immediately
sat down on coming in from her shift, someone else had to
pick her back up and shake her awake for dinner--and came
to perch on the desk's edge next to Julian. "I just bumped
into Jake."

Now Julian looked up. "How was he?"

"Very, very quiet."

"I've tried to tell him not to feel bad about what
happened--it could have been anyone."

"I don't think it's that, so much as...the Captain says
Jake's feeling guilty over that Fleet boy who shot himself
in the foot. Jake believes they're just the same--that they
both did whatever they needed to do to get away alive, and
would have done anything it took--but in Jake's case, he's
lauded as a hero, and that boy gets court-martialed. Dumb
luck, as far as he sees it."

"I know. I read his article." Julian sighed. "I don't know
what else to say to him."

"It's not so much, any more, that he panicked under fire
and abandoned you. But he doesn't think he could ever have
done the things you did under those circumstances--you're
the hero, to him. Especially in relation to all that, he
looks up to you. And he thinks maybe he's misjudged you in
the past..." Kira smiled sadly, finishing quietly "...and a
lot of us have done that."

Julian smiled back at her, then looked away pensively.

She continued "I think if you found some way to let him
know that you, personally, don't think any the worse of
that boy for cracking under the pressure, it might help
him...with being called a hero, when that boy was called a
coward...and with him being worried about what *you* think
of Jake Sisko. You were there. Your opinion matters to him
for more reasons than one."

Julian considered, then stood up, shutting the screen off.
"I can't just walk up to him and tell him so..."

"No, he's too smart for that to do much good. But...okay,
you may be as subtle as a kick in the butt most of the
time--"

"That means worlds coming from you, my fainting flower."

"--but still and all, you're a hell of a healer. You'll
think of some way to get it across."

Julian touched her cheek, kissed her forehead softly, and
said "My thanks for that vote of confidence, Major."

She grinned. "Go find him. I think he'll still be at that
port on the Promenade he and Nog like. I'll tell Miles and
Keiko where you are."

"Thank you. Again." Julian started for the Promenade.

---
("The Assignment")
---

"Get that thing out of my face! For the last time, I am NOT
a pagh wraith!"

"Well you *looked* like one for a moment."

"Julian! Let her alone, *you* don't have the vaguest idea
what a pagh wraith looks like."

"Neither did you, and you had no way to tell, and it had to
nearly kill Keiko and Hana before you believed it, that's
why I'm--"

"Sneaking up on the poor woman with that bloody scanner.
Give it a rest. I told you, the thing's destroyed. I'm good
at my work, man, I knew what I was doing before we got into
that runabout."

Julian sighed and put his tricorder down. "It's not that I
don't *trust* her. I'm *worried* about her. We only have
legends for how this sort of thing affects Bajorans, and
nothing at all about possible effects on humans..."

"She's not a pagh wraith," Kira moaned contentedly; she was
lying on the massage table (which had been moved into the
front room rather than into Kira's, since Keiko was on it
sometimes too, now) on her back, knees bent, while Keiko
worked on the muscles around her belly. "Pagh wraiths don't
feel this good."

"Yeah," Molly agreed in disgust. "It pulled my hair when it
had Mommy."

"And you don't think she's a pagh wraith either, sweetie?"
Julian picked Molly up.

"Hell no."

"Molly!" Keiko snapped, spinning toward them, eyes huge.

Molly shrugged and smiled at Julian. "See?"

---
("Trials and Tribble-ations")
---

"Yours was worse."

"The hell it was. Yours looked like a wet cat on your head."

"Yours looked like shredded foam padding left in the rain.
Nerys!"

"Mm." Kira didn't look up from the padd she was working.

"Whose hair was uglier, Miles's or mine?"

"You were both beautiful," she said absently, still pushing
her stylus.

"We jolly well weren't," Miles grumped, going back to his
repairs on a portable medical scanner that had been giving
Julian trouble. "I look lousy in red, and that uniform made
Julian look like an animate broomstick."

Julian, for his part, returned his attention to the page he
was coloring on, seated at the coffee table with Molly,
both of them surrounded by stray sheets of drawing paper
with half-finished designs on them.

On her way by, Keiko leaned over their shoulders to examine
their work. "Molly! What a lovely pony! It's a Newfoundland
Roan, isn't it. And look, he's got silver trim on his
bridle!"

"Uh-huh."

"And what's uncle Julian...hm."

Julian held his drawing up. "What do you think?"

"It's...very interesting." Keiko smiled brightly. "What do
you call it?"

Julian eyed her. "What do *you* call it?"

"It's...very stylistic... "

"Miles?" Julian thrust the paper at his husband.

Miles glanced up at it, then returned his attention to the
workboard in his lap. "Head of lettuce."

Julian rolled his eyes and crawled over to Nerys's chair.
"What about you?"

"Julian, you know that me and art aren't on speaking terms."

"Don't worry," Miles said. "*That* doesn't qualify."

"Shut up, Miles," Julian tossed over his shoulder, then
turned back to Kira. "Just take a look at it, Nerys.
*You'll* know what it is."

Sighing, she did so. Then, her gaze narrowing in curiosity,
she took the paper from him and turned it forty-five
degrees, then all the way around. "It's an aerial view of
a...an immature grainfield. Are those things at the edges
trees?"

"They're wilted pieces of leaf," Miles opined.

"It's *fur*!" Julian informed them in an excess of wounded
sensibility, snatching the drawing back. "It's a *tribble*,
for mercy's sake! Are you all blind?"

Molly said quietly "I *told* you t'start with something
easy, Jh'lian."

"*What* could be easier than a *tribble*?"

"How about a snake?" Keiko volunteered. "I mean, if you
want to stick to animals."

"Animals. Right." Julian sighed and let the drawing fall to
the pile at his side, pulling out a fresh sheet of paper.
"I'm switching to protozoa. You'll all just have to take my
word about what those look like."
Keiko paused, then asked, looking down at the discarded
effort, "*Are* there green tribbles?"

"Artistic license. None of you have any poetry in your
souls."

"Sure we do," Miles said. "'There once was a tribble named
Fleen, whose fur was disgustingly--'"

Julian picked the drawing back up and hit him with it.
Miles shoved the workboard aside and grappled with him.
Molly scooted down to the other end of the table with her
current project and the drawing tools as her fathers fell
off the sofa, ending up half under the coffee table.

"You two and sofas," Keiko sighed.

As the thrashing continued, Molly calmly gathered her
things and moved to the dining area.

Keiko looked at Nerys. "Do you know where Julian keeps
those sedatives?"

"They're moving around too much for either of us to land a
hypo on one without risking a kick in the baby."

"Not for them. For us. Say, looks like they're slowing
down...uh, oh."

Kira levered herself out of her armchair with a slight lift
from Keiko, who was still on her feet, and went down on one
knee, holding Keiko's arm with one hand. "Yep. We've lost
them. Hey!" She seized the edge of the coffee table with
her free hand and tilted it up. "Take it in the bedroom,
all right? We've got lives to live out here."

Miles and Julian's horizontal clinch abruptly broke so they
could expostulate words to the effect that she shouldn't be
lifting furniture in her condition.

"Suit yourselves." Nerys let the table drop and got to her
feet accompanied by their inarticulate protestations of
pain. "But get in the bedroom."

As they crawled out from under, slipping on jettisoned
drawings, Miles muttered "Y'know, I really liked it when we
used to make love without slugging each other first."

"We're just frustrated," Julian muttered back. "By the time
we're in such deprived shape that we no longer care how
tired we are, we're already so on edge that anything sets
us off."

"There's gotta be something we can do about that."

"I'm open to suggestions." The bedroom door closed behind
them and they started yanking at each other's clothing
fasteners.

"Lost a few frustrations in the bar fight," Miles mused.
"Which was a good thing, especially after that bit with you
and what-was-her-name, Lieutenant Watley." Miles rolled his
eyes. "Your own great-grandfather, my big white Irish--"

"Don't be so self-disparaging. I happen to be extremely
fond of your big white Irish--"

"It's pretty insulting, your going to all that effort,
using such a *stupid* argument, while we were splat in the
middle of the previous century--just for a bit of fun with
a woman you'd barely met? When I was right *there*?"

"Yes, but you look lousy in red."

"And you were wearing a wet cat." He shoved Julian over on
the bed.

"At least let me get my boots off."

"Shut up, Julian."

---
("Let He Who Is Without Sin...")
---

"Keiko said what?"

"She wants to go to Risa with and Dax and Worf."

"Why?"

"Jadzia asked her and Nerys both, but Nerys can't leave the
station right now. And really, Miles, I imagine Keiko's
feeling at least as much in need of a vacation as the rest
of us. Not to mention the fact that she's been traveling
back and forth three times more than usual the last month
or so."

"You sound like you think it's a good idea."

"I do."

"Are you crazy? What about Hana?"

"Relax, I'm sure she plans to take Hana along. Risa is
heaven for pregnant women, Miles my love; it has excellent
medical facilities, a lovely climate--even if
artificial--and a plethora of hedonistic comforts, which
are even more beneficial to the gravid than to most."

"But she's insane! You know that. You remember when she
wanted to go rappelling after a fungus when she still had
Yoshi? What if she falls off a floater into a swamp?"

"Jadzia's been pregnant many times; she knows about
stir-crazy fancies. She'll be there for Keiko."

"Not if I know Worf. He'll want privacy with Dax, and then
where will Keiko be?"

"Luxuriating in a warm natural spring with two medically
qualified attendants to cater to her every whim. Besides,
she'd have other company much of the time...Leeta wants to
go as well. She's just having trouble getting the time off
from Quark."

Miles rolled over and propped up on an elbow. "Leeta?"

"You remember Leeta, surely. That cheerful buxom woman who
sat in your lap for two hours the other night while you
bought us all drinks and Kei and I lost spectacularly at
Dabo?"

"You know as well as I do that in this family it's not *my*
lap where her primary interest lies."

"Oh, she and I only went out a few times. We're just
friends, really."

"Julian! Not you. She was in bed with our wife on our
wedding night!"

"If we'd been there, Leeta wouldn't have had to bring Keiko
home. But where were you and I? Holed up in a service duct,
avoiding our own reception, because you--"

"Oh, so now it's my fault?"

"Miles, forget it. Yes, it's true Leeta and Keiko are just
a little...well...they're very fond of each other--"

"Fond. Right."

"--and I think they have been since the wedding at least,
maybe before. But if it doesn't bother Keiko, it doesn't
bother me. I think their affection is largely
that--affection. Leeta's simply that way. Your lap should
know."

Miles lay back down and Julian rolled over to rest his head
on Miles's shoulder. Miles slid an arm around him and
thought.

"Risa," he said. "For how long?"

"Jadzia and Worf plan to take a few weeks. I don't know if
Keiko will be able to arrange so much time, let alone
whether Leeta will, but I don't think it's too much to ask
for--not for our competent, hardworking Kei. Do you?"

"I suppose not."

"And you don't need to worry about the baby. In case you've
forgotten, Kei's lost the carrying of one child to
accident--an accident of her own initial instigation--and
she could have lost the baby altogether. She's not going to
take any risks."

"I s'pose I am being a bit insulting to her, aren't I?"

"Oh...maybe a bit. You're a worrywort, that's all. So it's
all right with you if she goes?"

"Yeah, I guess it is." Miles smiled. "She *will* be happy
as a clam when she gets back, won't she."

"I imagine so." Julian rubbed his face on Miles's shoulder
and yawned.

"How late did she say she was going to be tonight, anyway?"

Julian grinned in the darkness. "She said she might stop by
Quark's..."

"Quark's? Our pregnant little seven-stone wife alone in
that place this late at night?"

"She won't be alone..."

"I know, I know. Leeta'll be with her."

"And if anyone can handle any sort of trouble one can
expect to find in a bar, it's Leeta."

---
("Things Past")
---

"Come in," Kira whispered listlessly.

Her bedroom door slid open and closed. She glanced briefly
up from her desk chair; Keiko stood in a loose fall of
white silk, her feet bare, the material shifting over her
rounded figure in the light of the two small flames that
burned before the prayer mandala. Kira noted absently,
again, the way Keiko's eyes seemed to pick up the light of
a candle and reflect it back with deeper gold tones added.

"I thought you were sleeping in with us tonight," Keiko
said softly.

"I'm...not going to be very good company," Nerys demurred
with a slight shake of her head, then rested her chin on
her hand again.

Keiko moved into the room and sat down on the bed. "Julian
told Miles and me what happened...with Odo."

"Trust him to, if Jadzia doesn't do it."

"He wanted us to know because--once he read Odo's
report--he knew you'd be upset."

"Well, he was sitting right there when I came to see Odo.
He left so fast it was obvious he knew all about it."

"Did you and Odo talk long?"

"Not long."

There was a brief silence, then Kira said "Keiko...why
don't you go get some rest. I'll be lying down pretty soon
myself."

"No you won't. Even since we got you the mattress, when
anything's bothering you this much, you sleep better with
us, or else you're up all night. Pacing, sometimes."

"Oh--" Kira sighed. "I'm sorry. Does it disturb you?"

"Not the way you mean. At least not after Miles gets up to
sit with you."

"He usually massages me. It puts me to sleep after a while.
Does he ever do that low humming thing with you?"

Keiko smiled. "He first started doing it with Molly, but
sometimes I'd be so tired it would put me to sleep, too.
It's soothing, isn't it?"

"Mm." Kira sighed, smiling vaguely, then looked away from
Keiko.

Her gaze focused, and she began again, "No one who lived
through the Occupation is ever going to get completely over
it. There are reminders every time you turn around.
But...the thing that makes you *wonder*...whether it will
ever be over--you go over things in your head. You
remember, and you make your peace, or accept that you never
will, in some ways. But when...when an island of constancy
that...colored almost everything you remember--or at least
affected a lot of it--when you find out that *it* isn't
what you thought it was...it's like everything gets pulled
out by the roots. *Nothing* you remember is *quite* the way
you thought. And nothing you know now is, either, because
all of that rests on what you remember."

"Like being pulled back to square one."

"Which is what makes me wonder if it'll ever be
over--because you can't predict these things, and you can't
guard against them. If you're lucky, you never find them
out. But a lot of the time they find you, and you can't
just reject it. It's changed everything again, and there's
nothing you can do but start over."

"You...he's still your friend, isn't he? You two mean so
much to each other. I know what he did was horrible, but
I'd hate to see you lose him."

"I...there's probably going to be a...a space while we both
deal with what this has done to each of us, but I suppose
eventually, once we both get resettled...I don't want to
lose him, either. But I'm going to need some time."

"Nerys--your new bed's big enough for us both. I've been
thinking, since I got this big, that I'd like to try out a
hydraulic antigrav mattress."

"You're just trying to get me to go to bed."

"That, too."

"I'd love to have you stay, Keiko." Kira stood slowly,
crossed the room to the bed where Keiko sat with her arms
out, and sank down next to her, accepting her hug.

---
("The Ascent")
---

"He's making me nuts! What do they *do* to people at the
Academy, give them classes in creative fascism?"

"I don't know. Julian," Keiko called to her younger
husband, who was in Molly's room, helping set up a
holoprojector, "did you take any classes in creative
fascism at the Academy?"
"I got an equivalency note for field study," he called back.

Jake wasn't appreciating the joke. "You don't know what
he's been like, Professor. He criticizes everything I do,
everything I say--he tries to tell me what to EAT! I'm
moving back in with my Dad."

"I wouldn't," Miles said. "He'll be forever on at you to
make up with Nog."

"He already is, Chief, but I don't care. Dad likes him so
much, Dad can live with him."

"Deanna would probably tell you to try working out a
contract," Keiko suggested.

"What kind of contract?"

"It would specifically state what each of you can and can't
do. Like, he can't tell you how to conduct your life, but
he can tell you to pick your things up; and you can't leave
your stories lying out, but you can eat what you want for
breakfast without any comments from him."

"Not good enough. We're just not compatible, Professor."

"Come live with us, Jake," Molly said, entering with Julian
in tow. "You can sleep in my room."

Jake grinned. "I'd love to, but you've got enough people
knocking around this place. And there'll be two more pretty
soon. When are you gonna have that baby, kiddo?"

She climbed up onto his knees. "Mommy says after Yoshi."

"How about some sedative drops to put in Nog's food?"
Julian offered.

Jake perked up. "Would you really, Doctor?"

"No, he wouldn't really," Miles said, swatting Julian's
rear on his way past. "You'll get Sisko all over us,
Julian."

"You never let me have any fun," Julian complained.

"Ops to Bashir."

"Bashir here. Hello, Nerys."

"We've received a distress call--report to the Defiant. Dax
and Worf will meet you there."

"Right. I'm on my way." As he passed Jake on his way out,
he patted the young man's shoulder and said "When I get
back we'll see about those sedative drops."

"Won't matter. By then I'll have killed him," Jake grumped.

---
("Rapture")
---

Kira stood up suddenly, grabbing Julian's arms as he was
trying to pull his surgical cap off. "How is he?"

"Fine! He's going to be fine."

Kasidy was shaking Jake awake. "Jake, it's Doctor Bashir.
Your father--"

"Is he all right?" Jake asked, coming awake quickly.

"He's fine," Julian repeated. "Everyone calm down. We got
to him in time; there should be no permanent aftereffects."

"Thank the Prophets," Kira breathed, slumping against
Julian, who caught and held her, patting her back. "You can
see him if you like," Julian said, "but he'll sleep for a
while longer."

Jake and Kasidy hurried into the surgery. Kira looked like
she wanted to follow, but knew she should let his family be
alone with him, at least at first. She started to stand up
away from Julian, but swayed; he caught her arms. "Whoa,
careful...I think you need some rest. Kai Winn always seems
to have this effect on you, and the Captain's situation
isn't helping. Let me call Keiko to come take you home."

"I can get there on my own..."

"Sit down, Nerys."

She did so.

Keiko came in a few minutes, and Julian changed clothes and
went back into the surgery to help the nurses and wait for
the Captain to wake up.

Kasidy and Jake had gone back to Sisko's quarters when that
happened. Julian heard the Captain whisper something, then
turned toward him in alarm as he sat bolt upright, crying
out "No! No--you took them away!"

"We had no choice," Julian told him. "You were dying."

"I almost had it," Sisko moaned. "Almost understood it
all--and now it's gone..." he slumped in defeat.

Julian considered a moment, then laid a hand on his
shoulder. "You had it long enough to stop Bajor's entrance
into the Federation," he told Sisko urgently. "If the
Prophets' warning was true, you saved all Bajor from
destruction. I know you don't want to hear this right now,
but perhaps that was all you were meant to do--the only
significant reason you had the visions to begin with. After
all...Nerys told me that for a moment, in the holosuite
with the obelisk, you understood it all--the entirety of
Bajor's universal existence. But you forgot it
again...personally, I don't think the human mind can take
that kind of knowledge. You may have been close, but before
you could get there again, the mechanism broke down. You'd
have died before you reached that understanding."

Sisko was quiet; finally he murmured "Maybe so,
doctor...but...I..."

"I know," Julian whispered. "I know...you need to try to
rest now. Doctor Andelghi will be in soon; see if you can
get to sleep, or she'll likely zap you with the alpha
inducer."

Sisko nodded and allowed Nurse Akula to help him from the
surgical bed into recovery, his IV in their wake.

When Julian got home, Kira was in her room with the door
closed. Keiko was on the sofa with her feet up, hands
folded in her lap, gazing sorrowfully at the door. She
looked up as Julian came in. "Nerys says the Captain's
going to be fine."

"Well...physically, yes, he is." Julian lifted Keiko's
feet, sat on the sofa and rested them in his lap, beginning
to rub her arches. "But he's lost something very precious.
He may never feel quite the same as before he began having
the visions."

"How's Jake?"

"Relieved. Kasidy took him to his father's for some rest a
while ago. How's Nerys?"

"She asked to be alone, as you can see. At least she isn't
pacing."

"She walked home all right?"

"Slow, but all right."

"As I said to her, Kai Winn always seems to ruin her mood,
whether they have any bitter exchanges or not. She must be
horribly at sea over resenting her Kai so, not that I blame
her a bit for it."

Keiko nodded. "Not only that...sometimes, I wish that Nerys
either weren't so devout, or didn't serve as first officer
to the Emissary of her people's gods. It puts her in an
awful position every time something like this happens."

Julian sighed. "I know."

---
("The Darkness and the Light")
---

"Julian."

He hadn't been asleep. "Yes, my Kei?"

"She can't stop crying. Damn it, she hasn't slept since I
came back from Earth. I'm really worried. I think you
should sedate her no matter what she says about it. She
could go into labor, and she'll never be able to relax
enough to have the baby like this, and that could..."

"Could endanger her and Yoshi both, with her in this
state." Miles let go of Julian and they both got up. Miles
went immediately to Kira's room while Julian got the medkit
and Keiko waited for him.

"I wish she'd just sleep with us," Keiko whispered. "Maybe
she'd feel better if we were all with her..."

"She's been refusing so emphatically," Julian said,
following her out and toward Kira's room, "she's so blasted
independent...doesn't want to keep us awake, I'm sure. As
though any of us could sleep anyway, knowing she's in there
like that."

Kira was sitting up, slumped against Miles, who was rocking
her, stroking her hair. She raised a tear-stained face to
Julian and grimaced. "I *don't* want any *damn*--"

"Nerys! You know this is bad for the baby, and it's not any
good for you, either," Julian said, putting the injection
together. "Grieving is one thing, but you have got to stop
blaming yourself. You weren't the one killing your friends,
it was a delusional Cardassian who wanted revenge."

"I had to go--I had to be the one," Kira managed to choke.
"I had to stop him. I had to avenge their deaths...but he
would have killed the baby!"

"You weren't in your right mind. Who would be, after losing
half a dozen of her oldest friends in barely a day? Odo and
I know you well enough, we should have made sure--I should
never have left you, in the infirmary, Odo or not, though I
didn't think he'd go without telling me. Not after you
bloody knocked out three security guards and tried to get
in here while the front room was open to space." The hypo
hissed against her neck. She choked a few more times; then
her eyes closed.

"Oh, Julian..." Keiko pressed her face into Julian's
shoulder and he put an arm around her, replacing the hypo
into the kit with the other hand. Miles gathered Nerys
close, cradling her head in the curve of his shoulder, and
stood up; Julian should have stopped him, what with Miles's
back, but he couldn't bear to, the way he knew Miles must
be feeling.

Miles carried Nerys into the other bedroom, followed by
Keiko and Julian. They weren't going to be leaving her any
time soon; even unconscious, they wouldn't leave her alone.
They hoped she wouldn't try to send them away when she
woke, but even if she did, they'd respected her grim
insistence for privacy too long. It had gotten her here.

And she was their sister.

---
("The Begotten")
---

"She still sleeping?" Miles asked, peeking around the
corner.

Kira was on her hydraulic antigrav bed, wrapped in a heavy
quilt with Yoshi tucked in next to her. Keiko, in the desk
chair, smiled up at him. "She'll probably sleep for another
day, though she'll wake up to eat and like that. Human
women sleep when we've given birth because we're exhausted;
Bajoran women do it because they've relaxed themselves
into...well, into that."

"She looks like a baby herself," Miles said fondly, coming
into the room. He had a vase full of lilies. He kissed
Kira's mussed hair, then the baby's head, and smiled
goofily at them both, then looked around for a free spot in
the bouquet-laden room.

"Forget it," Keiko chuckled. "Who are those from, anyway?"

"Captain Sisko. I'm going to hang one of those signs giving
news of her condition on the door if one more person asks
me if she's awake yet. I don't think I've ever seen a
gushier bunch of people all in one place."

"And how's our little darling? Both little darlings,"
Julian said, coming in with a small gift-wrapped box.

"Still sleeping. Both of them."

"Good. Quite normal. Keiko, is there anywhere left to put
this?"

"No. You'll have to start stacking things in the spare
room."

"I already have. Come on, Miles, we'd best go; we don't
want to wake her. Keiko, why don't you take a break? That
chair can't be very comfortable."

"I think I will." She held her arm out; Julian gave her his
and she braced her legs, then held steady while he pulled
her up. "Oh, my aching seatbones--I'd better take a walk."

"Mm...hi," Nerys said suddenly, blinking sleepily.

They all instantly focused on her. "How are you feeling?"
Keiko said, coming to sit next to her and the baby.

"Great," Kira smiled. "Never better. But..." she acquired a
disconcerted expression. "...sort of like my insides have
fallen out."

"That's not surprising," Julian said, smiling too. "You
were so relaxed they probably nearly did."

"I have my old quarters all set up to move back in," Kira
sighed, "but I don't think I'll ever get out of this bed."

"You could stay," Keiko said in a rush.

"Kei," Julian scolded her softly. "We've all been at her
enough about that. Her decision's been made."

"Can't you just stay until Hana's born?" Keiko wondered
plaintively. "I really want you here for that."

"Oh, I'll be here for that, Keiko. I'm not going far. And
whenever I'm not here, just make Julian wait on you hand
and foot. This *is* all his fault."

"MY fault?" Julian demanded, eyes widening.

"You're the one who implanted the zygote in Keiko--"

"That was *Keiko*'s idea!"

"That's right, it was, but I'd rather blame you!" By this
time, Kira and Julian were both snickering.

"What the devil?" Miles wondered.

"Fine," Julian chuckled. "I never argue with a patient. Or
my commanding officer. Or you either, Nerys."

Kira giggled herself back to sleep.

Keiko got up carefully, with a hand from Miles, and gently
lifted Yoshi, retucking Nerys's blanket; they filed
silently out of the room.

"I'm really going to miss her," Miles said quietly, setting
the vase of lilies on a table. He examined the
configuration, then moved a stylized sculpture of a
sailboat and shifted the vase toward the table's center.

"We all are," Keiko whispered.

"I wonder what this is," Julian said, turning the box one
way, then another, then testing its weight in one hand.

"Who's it from?" Keiko asked.

"I don't know; I just found it by the door when I came in."
Julian fumbled through the bow for the card. "Garak," he
said, eyebrows on the rise.

They all stood there a moment, looking at each other.

"Right," Julian said, and started ripping through the
wrapping. He pulled the lid off and a note on cream-colored
paper fluttered to the floor. He bent and picked it up.

"'Major,'" Julian read. "'A baby loves the sound of his
mother's voice--and it's never too soon to learn to
appreciate the finer things. All health and prosperity to
you and Kirayoshi. Your humble Garak.'"

"Humble Garak," Miles hmped.

"What's the gift?" Keiko asked.

Julian pulled some cushioning foam from the box, then took
out an isolinear rod and read the label attached to it.
"'The Bread Tree and the Zylo Egg.'" He blinked, then burst
into laughter. "As I recall from talking with Elim," Julian
gasped in explanation, "that title belongs to an old book
of Cardassian fairy tales!"

Miles and Keiko both broke up, too. "What do they do in
Cardassian fairy tales?" Miles wondered. "Live lives of
selfless service to the Enchanted Frog for ten generations
in one story?"

They laughed harder.

Yoshi woke up and began to squirm. Keiko staggered over to
Miles and relinquished the baby; Miles tried to contain
himself and went off after a bottle of replicated human
milk.
Julian put the rod back in the box and put an arm around
Keiko to guide her to the sofa.

She leaned against him and sighed. "It's been quite a ride,
hasn't it?"

"Mm. But, difficult as it may have been at first, I
wouldn't have missed it."

"Oh, me neither. Yoshi's a lucky baby...two mothers and two
fathers."

"Well, Hana's in rather the same situation, isn't she?"

"I doubt she's going to call Molly 'mother'. Except maybe
to irritate her."

The door signal sounded. "Come in," Julian called.

Odo came through. "Is Kira awake yet?"

"Not at the moment, why?"

"This is why." With a swing of his arms, he morphed into a
giant spinning top.

With pleased cries, Julian and Keiko got to their feet and
rushed to congratulate him. "I don't think Nerys'll mind
being wakened for this," Keiko grinned, as Miles came in
with Yoshi and a bottle and witnessed the final re-morphing
of the top into Odo's usual form. Julian accepted child and
bottle so Miles could shake Odo's hand and pound his
shoulder.

"Odo, *how*?" Julian wondered. "Something to do with your
baby changeling?"

"I'd...prefer to discuss it later," Odo replied quietly.

Keiko reappeared with a blinking, dazed-looking Nerys in
her arm. "Odo?" she said in sleepy confusion. "What is it?"

Odo gazed fondly at her for a moment, then became a Bajoran
blue dove and flew to her hands. She began to laugh, almost
hysterically, and Keiko guided her to a chair and made her
sit while she stroked Odo's feathers, congratulating him
repeatedly between bursts of hilarity.

"We're so happy for you, Odo," Keiko said, "all of us." She
laid a hand on her belly. "Aren't we, Hana?"

"We are," Miles agreed, putting an arm around Julian, who
still held Yoshi. Julian just smiled, silent, for once.

---

The End