Tag: benjamin sisko

Put Yourself In the Story, Part 3

This has been a year and more in getting it to a point where I have a scene with an end point. Because fucking brain weasels. But I have it! 😀 (And I am about to start another rewatch of DS9, so it’ll be a bit before I get to where I need to, but still.)

@norcumi @theotherguysride @peachesandscream56 @nyxserpent @booksaresacredspew @aniseandspearmint @queenkit @the-vagabond-tabby

Untitled

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | more to come?

Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
AU: NOS
Word Count: 1933 (6071)
Characters: Me, Elim Garak, Julian Bashir, Benjamin Sisko, Kira Nerys

Breakfast, questions, and the start of answers.

I wake up in the same place I fell asleep, which shouldn’t be a surprise. I’d almost hoped I’d wake back home, with this all having been something between a dream and a nightmare. For a moment, until I rolled over to look where I’d put my backpack the night before, there was a fear – pointless, silly – that while I was here, what I’d had with me when I arrived was not.

It’s still there, everything is still in it, my bear is still in my arms. My tunic is draped over the chair where I’d put my backpack, and the trousers with it. I needed to ask someone about how to get new clothes, so I could have at least two sets. And where to wash my clothes. They had to have laundry facilities somewhere, didn’t they?

For now, hopefully airing it out would be enough.

I’d only just gotten dressed and ventured out into the main room, bear under my arm, to see what sort of breakfast I could get from the replicator when a chime sounded, loud and slightly discordant, as if it were meant for different ears. It took a moment to realize it was the door chime.

The door controls work well enough without having to speak, although I’m not sure I’m so glad to be this close to the person on the other side without more warning than the door chime. Garak is the same height as my brother, but substantially broader, and a good deal more intimidating in person than on the screen.

He smiles almost immediately, taking a half-step backward. “I hope I didn’t wake you, and I am quite sorry for doing so if I did.”

I shook my head, taking a deep breath and holding it for a moment. Words. I need to use words. “I was already awake. Getting breakfast.” I keep my attention on his face for the moment, hyperaware of relative position and my own vulnerability. “Never used a replicator before.”

“If you’re in need of assistance, I’m more than willing to offer mine.” Garak isn’t quite looking straight at me, head tilted just slightly in a manner that I recognize, that puts me ever so slightly at ease. Probably shouldn’t. It is Garak, after all.

I chew on my lip a moment before nodding, stepping back and aside to let him in. Not taking my attention off him, though. Even if he does react in ways that make me think I should be safe, my brain will not stop screaming at me about danger. And I don’t have any anti-anxiety meds with me; they’d all been back at the RV before this happened.

“Just want some bacon and water.” I shift my grip on my bear, hugging him as I watch Garak over my bear’s head. I know it makes me look younger, makes me look more vulnerable, but right now, the comfort is more important.

Garak doesn’t fully turn his back on me, either, moving around to the replicator in a way that allows him to face me when he stops. “It will need a little more information than that, if it’s to provide you with a satisfactory meal.”

“Room temperature water. Crispy, hot bacon in strips. No more than four strips.” I circle around to the small table, so Garak doesn’t have to face away from the replicator. Listening as he tells the replicator what to make – the bacon and water for me, something I don’t recognize the name of for himself.

“So.” Garak sets the plates down, settling across from me with a brief smile. “I understand you have some information you want to share with me regarding a war that hasn’t even begun.”

“Not just you.” I pick at the bacon with one hand, though it’s just a little too hot to eat yet. It smells like bacon, if an unremarkable sort. “Kira and Sisko and Julian, too.”

Garak tilts his head, the corners of his eyes crinkling a little with what I thought was amusement. “I wasn’t aware you and the good doctor were so well acquainted.”

I hug my bear closer, reaching for my water to take a sip. I can feel my cheeks heating, and I want to curl up and hide. I have to work to think of Julian as Bashir, if I’m not writing from the point of view of someone who would think of him so. “Not.”

“If you aren’t, than I find it curious why you would use his given name, rather than his family name.” Garak takes a bite of his food, watching me intently.

Picking up a piece of the bacon, I nibble at it rather than answering, keeping my attention ostensibly on the plate. Aware of the slow movements of Garak eating his bite, taking up the napkin the replicator had given him with his food to wipe his lips.

“The show. Julian, Jadzia, Ziyal, Jake, Keiko. Sisko, Kira, O’Brien, Wynn, Eddington, Sloane, you. Never learned anything but family names for some people. Opaka, Damar, Bariel.” I pause, setting the rest of the slice of bacon down. “Dukat.”

Garak reaches for his own drink. “I am afraid he is quite the annoyance at the moment.”

“Dangerous, foolish, desperate.” I grimace, shaking my head. “Not annoying. Annoying are ignorable. Ignore Dukat, and he does horrible things.”

“Oh?” Garak looks only mildly curious, which either means he isn’t terribly interested, or he’s very interested and is hoping that by downplaying his curiosity, he’ll get me to tell him more.

I just stare at him a moment before looking back down at my bacon, picking up the piece I’d started eating, and nibbling at it again. I’m never very hungry this soon after I wake up, and the few pieces of bacon I have will be enough for now. If I can eat them all, with the worries about everything starting to circle again. How much to tell, how much to keep secret. How much I’ve already revealed with the list of names, though that at least probably isn’t much.

The silence draws out, waiting patiently for either of us to break it – Garak waiting for an answer to his question, while I just bask in the quiet that doesn’t require any filling. And the brain weasels running in circles over things I cannot do anything about yet.

It’s the computer that breaks the silence, requesting connection for Julian Bashir.

I flinched at the sudden sound, and carefully set down the last piece of bacon half-eaten. “Yes.”

“Leri? Are you awake?”

“And almost done breakfast.” Whatever the current meal time is, I have only just gotten up, so mine is breakfast. Thank you.

“Would you mind a visitor?”

“I already have one.” I glance at Garak a moment, who is doing his best to look harmless and innocent. I’m not sure it suits him, though he does a very good impression. “Garak wasn’t polite enough to ask first.”

“You could always have not answered the door.” He smiles genially, and I bury my face in my bear a moment, letting rude words run through my head.

“Visitor. Yes. Bring Sisko and Kira?” I ask after I look up again, glaring at Garak for a long moment. “Only have to answer questions once that way.”

“Of course.” I can all but hear Julian’s smile, the amusement, and wonder how much of it is of the long-suffering sort, knowing Garak for several years already as he has. “Bashir out.”

I pick up my bacon again, nibbling at it slowly to forestall any question Garak might ask now. Or at least to give me an excuse not to answer right away.

I’ve finished breakfast, and returned the empty plate and glass to the replicator for recycling when the door chime sounds again. It still sounds off, and too loud, and I can’t help flinching even as I go to the door. Keeping turned enough to see Garak, who is sitting at the table still, his hands visibly resting on it.

I smile, brief and hopefully cheerful, when I see my expected guests, waving them in, and taking a moment to figure out how to lock the door behind them. I don’t want anyone else to show up and sneak in. This is already enough people to have to talk to.

Turning around, I look at them, Garak standing now as the rest of them are. He’s still smiling, careful and neutral, and Julian is too, trying to be encouraging, I think. Sisko and Kira are both more stoic, though I think Kira is maybe a little puzzled.

“I hope you slept well.” Julian’s smile widens just a little, and I nod. “Did you get enough to eat?”

“Enough of breakfast.” I try to smile again, but I think it’s more a grimace. “Let me go get my laptop.”

I hope there’s enough charge in it to show more than a couple episodes, because I don’t know how to transfer the information off otherwise. And doing that would probably involve telling more people, and I don’t know if I can manage that. Not right now.

I move around the edge of the room to get to the doorway to the other room. Doorway, not a proper door, and I don’t really turn my back on it, either, as I fetch my laptop out of my backpack, juggling it and my bear. Maybe, eventually, I will be able to do that, but not yet, not when I don’t really know anyone, and don’t know the place.

“Doctor Bashir tells me that you have information about a war coming.” Sisko is watching me as I come back out into the main room, glancing briefly at my laptop. His voice is even and steady enough to sound gentle, though I’m not sure if that’s because he’s trying to be gentle or because I need to hear it that way.

“Dominion War.” I set the laptop on the table, dragging the chair I’d used earlier around so I’m facing them while I get it turned on and put the episodes in order. “Soon, I think. Months, maybe, at most.”

I don’t think I’d be able to tell even if I had mapped out the time between episodes and within episodes on a timeline. There’s just too many variables, and it feels like my thoughts are starting to run in circles again, and there’s not enough time and too much information and just.

“Morgyn. Breathe.” Julian is crouching next to me, his voice grounding me in the here-and-now, but not reaching out to touch, same as he had last night. “What’s wrong?”

“Too many things, not enough time.” I rub my fingertips over the edge of my laptop, following it from the dip in the middle of the front to the hinge and back again, over and over. Letting the familiar motion and sensation soothe.

“We don’t have to know everything. Just what you can show us.” Julian smiles, meeting my gaze for only a brief moment before he glances away, up at my laptop. “How does it start?”

“Mines at the wormhole entrance to keep the Jem’Hadar in the Gamma Quadrant, and Dukat promising to take back everything the Cardassians once ruled. Including Bajor and DS9.”

I have the episode on my laptop, and it’s the first one in the player’s queue. It takes only a couple clicks on the trackpad to start it, and I scoot back from the table to let them all watch without being behind me.

Put Yourself In the Story, Part 2

morgynleri:

This is not first-person POV, but then, it’s not a part where I’m physically present, even if I am the topic of conversation. It is also much shorter. Part three will be posted when I figure out how to get past breakfast and attempting to avoid answering questions from Garak.

@norcumi @theotherguysride @peachesandscream56 @nyxserpent @kediil-eperu @booksaresacredspew @aniseandspearmint @queenkit

Untitled

Part 1 | Part 2 | more to come?

Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
AU: NOS
Word Count: 633 (4139)
Characters: Julian Bashir, Benjamin Sisko, Kira Nerys, Elim Garak

There is a discussion among four people about the station’s newest visitor.

“I don’t think there’s any way to have a clear and coherent conversation in a way we would normally interpret it as such until our guest has had a chance to rest.” Julian tilts his head back against the wall, wishing he’d had a chance to get more rest than he had before Odo’s too-early call to the Promenade. “Even then, I’m not certain what will happen. Especially not after even those brief video clips they shared, or Leri’s certainty that there will be a war, and sooner than later, unless I’m completely wrong.”

“And you’re certain Leri is willing to share this information?”

“Only with the four of us.” Julian looks up, giving his audience a wry smile. Sisko is stoic as he has been of late, though Julian can see the worry in his captain’s eyes. Not to be remarked upon, though. Kira looks frustrated, if as worried as Sisko.

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Reblogging because I’m going to post the third part shortly.

morgynleri:

morgynleri:

morgynleri:

morgynleri:

morgynleri:

… I am going to get through this episode. Or at least attempt to. Because right now, I’d love to reach through the screen and strangle Zimmerman.

“I’m sorry it upsets you" (Fuck you, this is a little beyond upset, you little shit. And that’s not at all an apology for deliberately doing exactly the opposite of what Julian requested, and making sure that he was forced to have contact with people he has done his best to cut out of his life for his own well-being.)

“It is urgent. To me.” (Still doesn’t give you the right to override Julian’s own wishes regarding contact with his parents.)

“Like it or not, they’re an important part of your background, and I need to interview them.” (Right. Right. Interviewing someone who has inflicted medical abuse on a child and then continued the emotional abuse to push that child in the direction they want rather than allowing the child to develop at their pace and explore their own path is more important than respecting Julian’s own stated desires about contact with his parents. Fuck you very much.)

…..

Gods, do I want to strangle that little asshat.

Of course he can’t stand to be in the same room with you, when you’re belittling him for making his own choices. When you’re being defensive and angry about him not wanting others to know about the medical abuse you inflicted on him. Just. Fuck you very much.

Oh, Julian.

(Not quite seven when his parents uprooted him from everything he knew, and took him to doctors who took apart all he was and created someone else in his place.)

And Miles is fucking fantastic in this scene, saying that what was done, the “enhancements” didn’t inform personality. Functionally saying that Julian is who he is despite the abuse, not because of it.

(Although the fact of them happening after Julian was already a person would have some effect on his personality. As well as the disappointment of his parents prior to them, and the change in his relationship with them after. The secrets that were constantly kept.)

Julian is trying to be smaller when he’s around his parents, ducking away from them touching him. And oh gods do I want to hit his father with a brick right now.

“We’re a little beyond worrying about your wants, Jules.” (Because of course this is all about what you want, not what Julian wants. Because what Julian wants has never mattered, unless it’s the same thing as what you want. And fucking stop with calling him Jules, because that’s deliberately refusing to use the name he chooses to use in his life.)

And then accusing Julian of behaving like a spoiled child for preferring to face the consequences of his going into Starfleet and going to medical school despite knowing what the medical abuse did to him meant he wasn’t legally allowed to do so (which is an entirely different pile of utter bullshit). For behaving like a responsible adult. *screeches*

Oh. Oh, just because you were hurting that your son didn’t measure up to the average (to the best), it justifies your abuse of him. Justifies the medical abuse, the belittling, the denigration, the gaslighting, the emotional abuse. Justifies the murder of the child you had in order to create a “better” version.

FUCK YOU.

“Good morning, Julian, we were just ignoring your choices again to make a deal behind your back to give you what we want you to have, instead of letting you make your own decisions. Because as your captain, and as the JAG admiral for the local part of the fleet, we believe it’s more important to listen to the opinions and wishes of your abusers than to yours.”

Prompt: Julian gets “phased out” (along with whomever you’d like, if anyone else) like Ro and Geordi in “The Next Phase.” Perhaps he doesn’t realize what’s happened until he looks for Garak to find out what the hell is going on.

writertobridge:

I also decided to change what happened to Julian to something different. I thought that, because Geordi and Data were involved with what happened on the Enterprise, that Miles would know about the events of “The Next Phase”. He and Data are friends, after all.

Also, established Garashir.

This got a little longer than I anticipated so I rushed parts of it. Despite that, this is still 5,036 words long. This is the longest prompt fill I’ve done to date.

Deep Space Phase

Julian rushed off the turbolift before it fully stopped. He ran to the transporter, medical equipment in hand. He only looked at the people in ops when he was settled. Captain Sisko stared back. Their gazes locked. Julian nodded.

“Energize,” Sisko said.

Julian heard the familiar hum of the transporter. Streaks of silver and gold circled around him like holding cell bars. He held still as the metallic hues glistened and throbbed in time to the hum that enraptured him. Ops remained only for a moment, then it drained into a black void that would have swallowed him whole if not for the protection the metallic beams offered. That void, too, faded. In it’s place, the bridge of a Federation vessel. Sparks and defeated wurrs heaved out of collapsing metal frames. Bodies were strewn across those metal frames and the floor, cuts and blood and burns visible even before the metal bars dissipated.

Once the transporter hum gone and the streams of metal vanished, Julian lurched towards the body closest to him and pulled a tricorder from his medical kit. He scanned. No signs of life. Onto the next body. The same. The next was the same as well. And the next. And the next. The captain, the weapons specialist, the navigator, three security offers, and two nurses were dead, their lives snuffed out through the violence of war.

Julian pressed his combadge.

“Bashir to ops.”

“Go ahead, Doctor.” Sisko again. His voice was as calm yet commanding over the connection feed.

“Everyone on the bridge is dead. I’m going to see if there are survivors elsewhere.”

“Be quick.”

Keep reading

I just finished reading Six Adults and a Child and OMG it’s really wonderful! I would love to read the continuation, where he gets to meet Garak, and eventually get put back to his regular self… unless you already wrote that and I missed the link?

writertobridge:

I haven’t written that yet.

This is when he meets Garak. I’ll write a “growing up” fic eventually. (I did get some ideas about someone trying to kidnap Jules and gather information out of him and then others coming to his aide. I might do that first.)

I know it’s been a long time since I’ve written some of these, so here are the past two stories for a refresher:
Stay
Six Adults and a Child

How Fitting

Garak gave up on the idea of seeing Doctor Julian Bashir that afternoon for their weekly lunch outing. In truth, he gave up on seeing the dear doctor at all, at least for the foreseeable future.

The senior officers weren’t saying anything about the young man’s, now young boy’s, condition. Though others whispered possibilities throughout the promenade and developed theories behind the shuttered doors of their living quarters, Garak understood what such silence from those officers meant. He contributed to the whispers and the growing rumors for the entertainment of it, but he understood the dear doctor was no more a man than any other seven-year-old human could be and the Starfleet-headed staff had no idea why. Troubling. The officers had done their best to not make it Garak’s trouble, even though he’d offered assistance, but it still weighed on his mind even while he tailored.

Though, all trouble seems to find Garak in time.

Keep reading

judayre:

So, the Deep Space 9 alternate time travel story that no one asked for.

Third season two parted Past Tense.  Sisko, Bashir, and Dax end up on earth in the year 2024 just one or two days before huge riots that got information about a bad system out and began to dismantle the system and pave the way for the paradise earth has become by the time of the series.

  Bashir and Sisko end up in one of a series of ghettos called “sanctuaries,” which are ostensibly places for people who are down on their luck to stay in while they get back on their feet.  In reality, they are super over crowded and once you get in you never leave.  There are a lot of mentally ill who don’t get the help they need, there isn’t enough food, water, or shelter to go around.  There are people who are so apathetic that they basically start preying on the other people, taking what they need and killing others.  Because of the whole time travel thing, they aren’t allowed to interfere.  Except that one of the key players in the upcoming riots gets killed trying to help them.  Sisko has to take his place.

Dax, meanwhile, is not in a sanctuary.  She is befriended by a guy in media who becomes very helpful once she finds Sisko and Bashir again and they need to get the stories of the sanctuary residents out.  Everything happens as it’s supposed to, and they are able to go home in the end.

Now, Judy is a fanfic writer.  Judy pays attention to character, especially long ranging character.  Judy doesn’t passively consume media.

Julian Bashir is a doctor first and everything else second.  He honestly tries to help the Jen Hadar while all O’Brien is worried about is escape.  He insists on trying to help the population with the Quickening even though no one has been able to do it before, won’t leave until he manages at least a vaccine, and keeps trying to cure it when he gets back to DS9.

He’s not going to look at what’s going on in the sanctuary and say “well, temporal prime directive. Can’t do anything here.”  At least not for long.

So, setting them down a few months earlier,  Bashir would completely pull a Sam Vimes “if the price of getting home is sending people to their graves without doing his damnedest to make sure they live then the price is too high.”

Bashir lets Sisko know that, here and now, there is no Starfleet and they may never be Starfleet officers again.  But he is still a doctor, and he took an oath for that too, and damned if he isn’t going to follow it.

Considering everything, he’s probably just known as “Doc.”  It is very quickly figured out that he will treat anyone for anything and he doesn’t flinch from the worst sickness or wounds.  He trades for food and water (which he mostly gives to kids and sick people), clothes and blankets (ditto), and he starts to really provide – to the best of his ability without access to actual medication or a sterile environment – the services that the people in the sanctuary need.  And he bullies them into helping each other as well.

Sisko, who doesn’t really approve but knows he can’t stop him, is mostly known as Doc’s mostly silent bodyguard.  People don’t mess with him because he takes care of everyone without prejudice, but the glowering shadow behind him certainly doesn’t hurt.

When the riot starts, as it certainly will, and the officials are taken hostage, it is very easy for Bashir to step in and take over – the people are used to listening to him.  They are surprised when he mostly keeps his attention on the hostages and lets Sisko give the orders for how to run the riot and demonstration.

Dax, meanwhile…

Okay, I haven’t thought about Dax much.  She’s certainly looking for them, and even the extended time won’t necessarily help much when dealing with the understaffed offices of the sanctuary.  There’s so much going on that who knows how much actually gets into the files correctly?  Not to mention that even if you can find the name that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to find them in the actual place.

I figure she probably gets a media related job and starts social justice blogging and upsetting the status quo.  When the riots start, the public has been primed to accept the sanctuary residents as the victims….

Changeling Julian gets killed before the events of In Purgatory’s Shadow/By Inferno’s Light, with the rest of DS9 still unaware that it’s not the real Julian Bashir.

writertobridge:

OH HO BOY.

Blatant Garashir at work here.

I also skipped a bunch of stuff in the middle because this thing got long and I have other things to do today. Yay for rough draft writing.

This is 5,940 words long. You’ve been warned.

Fall and Rise

The promenade was full of shadows. Laughter and chatter and lengthy figures that dance through the crowds and lead to various locales – the replimat, the infirmary, Quark’s. Garak didn’t follow them, didn’t stare. They were false; memories of a man who disintegrated in a targeted infirmary attack weeks prior. They, in time, would fade, as the source had. Garak hoped his pain would fade with them.

He should have known better than to fall in love. As if such a thing could be prevented.

Garak cut into his shop and allowed the doors to close behind him. Silence surrounded him. Silence and fabrics for people still lingering on the station, yearning for something beyond their drab styles and insignificant lives. They wouldn’t wait long. This sewing work, as dreadful as it was, was all he had now. Well, that and the few beings on the station that still cared for him, despite his growing distance between them.

One of those figures was likely responsible for the door opening behind him. He reached for a fabric and appeared to be examining it for rips and off seams.

“I’m afraid the shop hasn’t opened quite yet,” Garak said.

“Then it sounds like you have time to look over an encoded transmission.”

Ah, Captain Sisko. Purely work related. A matter that Garak could certainly handle, no matter how unraveled his emotions had become.

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Put Yourself In the Story, Part 2

This is not first-person POV, but then, it’s not a part where I’m physically present, even if I am the topic of conversation. It is also much shorter. Part three will be posted when I figure out how to get past breakfast and attempting to avoid answering questions from Garak.

@norcumi @theotherguysride @peachesandscream56 @nyxserpent @the-vagabond-tabby @booksaresacredspew @aniseandspearmint @queenkit

Untitled

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | more to come?

Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
AU: NOS
Word Count: 633 (4139)
Characters: Julian Bashir, Benjamin Sisko, Kira Nerys, Elim Garak

There is a discussion among four people about the station’s newest visitor.

“I don’t think there’s any way to have a clear and coherent conversation in a way we would normally interpret it as such until our guest has had a chance to rest.” Julian tilts his head back against the wall, wishing he’d had a chance to get more rest than he had before Odo’s too-early call to the Promenade. “Even then, I’m not certain what will happen. Especially not after even those brief video clips they shared, or Leri’s certainty that there will be a war, and sooner than later, unless I’m completely wrong.”

“And you’re certain Leri is willing to share this information?”

“Only with the four of us.” Julian looks up, giving his audience a wry smile. Sisko is stoic as he has been of late, though Julian can see the worry in his captain’s eyes. Not to be remarked upon, though. Kira looks frustrated, if as worried as Sisko.

Garak has a politely puzzled expression on his face, though Julian can see the amusement lurking behind it. Long enough exposure, he supposes.

“And why, exactly, did they think I needed to be present?”

“To save someone, though they didn’t say who.” Julian wonders if there wasn’t more to it, but without knowing Leri better, he can’t say. “I’m sure we’ll find out from whatever footage they have of the program that may be based on our lives.”

“They said I needed to know something sooner?” Kira frowns, shaking her head. “Who am I supposed to be saving? From what?”

Julian sighs, leaning his head back against the wall again. “I don’t know. I wish I could tell you, but I honestly don’t know, and I wasn’t going to try to get an answer when they so clearly needed sleep.”

“We can ask Leri questions when they’re awake.” Sisko nods at Julian when Julian looks up again. “Keep us informed, Doctor, and arrange whatever you think will be best for your patient.”

His patient, rather than their guest, and Julian grimaces a moment as he stands, taking the dismissal for what it is. He has an infirmary to look after, anyway, and a station full of potential patients just an accident away.

“Doctor.” Garak follows him out of Sisko’s office, easily falling into stride with him as Julian heads for the stairs instead of the turbo lift from Ops. “You said this unexpected visitor insisted that I be one of those who be present for viewing this… entertainment show. Why me, and not Sisko or Kira?”

“Because when I confirmed who, I didn’t include your name.” Julian had done so deliberately, though he didn’t think too hard on it at the time. He could have chosen either of the others, but it had been Garak whose inclusion had stood out. Sisko and Kira are part of the command staff, after all.

“And they repeated the request that I be included.”

“Yes.” Julian pauses at the top of the stairs, looking at Garak. “You can always ask them yourself this afternoon.”

“When they wake up and are available for conversation.”

Julian hopes that Leri is capable of more than a few words strung together by then. There had been nothing on the scans from the tricorder to indicate something more troubling than exhaustion, at least. Of course, some things would only be visible from observation of long-term behavior or brain scans that required a patient that could be touched, rather than flinching away from any contact they didn’t initiate.

“I’ll contact you when they’re awake.”

Garak smiles, tilting his head in a way that Julian knows is only half-sincere. Willing to wait, but only so long before he seeks his own answers. Julian just hopes Leri has enough time to sleep before Garak find their quarters and wakes them.

beautiful-rebellious-sunflower:

you guys don’t even understand how much I adore the whole ‘falling in love for the second time’ thing, it is probably my favourite ever romance trope

like, give me characters who have been in a long term relationship for years, give me characters who have been married, happily married, and who thought that was it for them, that it would never happen again and they would have to live the rest of their lives alone

give me characters who have lost the love of their life…and then let them find another one

by all means make it awkward; make them reluctant and unsure, have it take a long time, make it a slow and strange and dawning realisation but let it be real

give me characters who fall in love a second time, and have it be as real and passionate and important as anything else in their lives has been, give me characters who thought they would never be able to move on realising that you don’t have to deny your past to embrace your future, give me characters who fall in love again in spite of themselves, discovering that they’re not too old and not too broken to find happiness again

give me characters who fall in love a second time; desperately, blissfully, head-over-heels and stupid in love

because let me tell you

I live for that shit