Making Memories
By Laura Schiller
Based on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Copyright: Paramount
I guess he forgot after all, Ezri thought bitterly.
Today was her twenty-second birthday, and both she and Julian had spent the entire day with their respective patients. There was nothing wrong with that; she liked her job, and she knew Julian was exceptionally busy. There was a virus going around among the Bajorans on the station, their equivalent of influenza, and so he was spending a lot of time treating smptoms or giving out vaccines in the infirmary. But he might have done something this morning at least – left a present, or at least a note. Humans celebrated birthdays just as much, if not more, than Trills did.
Colonel Kira had given her a holoimage of the senior staff, gathered around a smiling Ezri; it was sitting on her nightstand now. Miles had sent a long, cheerful subspace vid brimming with news about his family life in Hong Kong. Even Worf had squeezed off a few gruff, but good-natured lines.
It was nineteen hundred hours now and here she was, sitting in her quarters and fuming. If he wouldn't contact her, she sure as hell wouldn't contact him! He had no business forgetting his own lover's birthday. Not unless there was a really good explanation, anyway. And it wasn't as if one slip-up signaled the end of their relationship. She didn't have Curzon's ego; she wouldn't just storm away … only … he had better have a damned good explanation!
The door chime rang. She bolted up from her seat.
"Come in!"
Julian stood there, smiling sheepishly; her first instinct was to be irritated, until she saw what he was wearing: a long, fluffy, dark green down coat and boots, with a tuque and gloves sticking out of the pockets. Rolled up under his arm was a blue coat, apparently for her.
"Happy birthday, Ezri," he said. "Er … I've booked the holosuite. Your present's in there."
"Aw, Julian!" She ran over and kissed him (not too much, considering how hot he must be under that coat). "I should've known you didn't forget, not with that genetically enhanced brain of yours."
"I see the surprise worked." He handed her the coat and they left her quarters, holding hands. Ezri felt a buzz of pleasant anticipation; what could they be doing? Something cold, certainly. Skiing? Ice skating? Riding on snowmobiles, or perhaps one snowmobile? Maybe just a walk through some spectacular Earth landscape.
The patrons at Quark's stared at them a little oddly, but they ignored it. Quark himself, in a hot pink suit, scuttled over beaming from ear to ear and, before Ezri could stop him, stood up on tiptoe and kissed her on both cheeks. He'd been eating his favorite tube grubs, she couldn't help but notice.
"Happy birthday, my dear!" he said in his customary high spirits. "And may I say, in spite of that coat, you look absolutely lovely tonight. Julian's a lucky man, eh?" He nudged the taller man with his elbow. Julian was clearly not amused.
"Yes, indeed I am," he replied. "So, do you have the program ready?"
"Oh yes, yes, of course! Right this way!" He gestured them over to the holosuite. "Incidentally, Dax, it's gonna be pretty chilly in there, so when it's over, remember I've got some excellent single-malt whiskey in stock. Warms you up in no time. I'll even give you a discount, in honor of your special day."
"Thanks, Quark," said Ezri politely. "I'll consider it." And she let the doors close in his face.
"He's about as subtle as a bat'leth to the head," said Julian, sounding just a tiny bit smug over his own success on the romantic front.. "Poor fellow."
Ezri was about to agree when she noticed where they were. For a moment, she was speechless. Then she smiled.
They were standing on top of a small hill, steep but not dangerously so, with evergreen trees growing at the bottom of the slope, the green standing out warmly against the whiteness of the snow. It was early evening, the setting sun just begnning to tint the snow, the sky and their faces with rose and gold. Behind them, where the exit stood, was a fence splashed with paint droplets of all colors. Two large, oval, plastic saucers – one green, one blue - sat in the snow.
Ezri recalled Worf's terse summing-up of Julian as "an overgrown child". She could just imagine the Klingon's scowl if he saw this!
"Sleds!" she exclaimed. "On my gosh! How did you know I've never done this before?"
"I didn't!" Julian was beaming now. "You mean you never – not in any of your nine lives?"
"No!"
"Not even the ones who lived on Earth?"
"They were all adults at the time," Ezri pointed out. "Tobin and Curzon thought it was too silly, and Jadzia and I just never got around to it. Thank you, Julian … you know, there are moments when I suspect I really love you."
"Only moments?" he pretended to pout.
"Hmm … only about every second."
She gave him another kiss, this time long and passionate; when they broke apart, they noticed their breath coming up as steam.
"Stop that, you," said Julian, tapping her lightly on the nose. "Or we'll never get onto the sleds. And that is what we're here for, isn't it?"
"Right."
He sat down in his sled, tucked his long legs in, and showed her how to push off with her arms to get it sliding towards the slope. She followed, and with a squeak of surprise, felt the sled picking up momentum until it hurtled down and down.
Sprays of snow flew up, some right into her face. The sled swerved, and bumped, and spun around so she found herself riding sideways. The air whipped wildly past her. She screamed.
When she slowly spun to a stop, there was Julian, a bright lock of hair peeking out from under his woolly hat. His eyes were sparkling, not only from the cold. He uncurled himself from the sled, gave her a hand up, and grinned.
"Now, wasn't that more fun than being squashed by the Persians at Thermoplylae?"
"You – that was – " Ezri had to catch her breath, not to mention her scattered wits.
"Yes," she said finally, with a half-hysterical giggle. "I guess it was."
"Your ears are red." He cupped them with his gloved hands, making her realize for the first time how cold her head really felt. "There should be a hat right in … "
" … This pocket. Not exactly built for style, are they?"
She pulled the fuzzy, baggy, surprisingly comfortable object down around her ears.
"That's better. Although I rather like your hair that way; looks like a sort of halo."
"You should know I'm not an angel, Julian."
"Sometimes I have to wonder," he replied, squinting past her shoulders as if checking for wings.
"Well, if I am, I should be able to get down first next time. Computer, bring us and the sleds back to the top of the hill."
That was one of the beauties of holodeck programs. They careened down that hill several more times, making it longer or shorter, more or less steep as they pleased, laughing and shrieking like the children their friends liked to call them. Ezri thought she had never seen anything so beautiful as Julian's face in the winter sunset, his tanned cheeks flushed with the cold, snow caught in his eyelashes and loving laughter in his hazel eyes.
"And now for something new," he said. "Computer, double the size of sled number one."
The computer obliged; Ezri and Julian stepped back.
"You can go in front of me," he explained. "How's that?"
"Hmm … well, as long as you can still concentrate … "
"You underestimate me, my lady. Come on, hop in."
So she 'hopped in', practically in his lap, and he wrapped one arm around her waist and used the other to get the sled moving.
"All systems ready for launch," he said, right into her ear. "Engage."
And away they went, with a swoop and a swirl of snow, a puff of wind and a roar of laughter.
"There's a bump!" Ezri called out. "Evasive maneuvers!"
"Aye, aye!" And he swung them sharply to the right, almost tumbling out of the sled.
"Prepare to go to warp!"
"Warp one, sir!"
"You must be joking, Lieutenant, we're going at nine-point-eight at least!"
"You're a doctor, not a pilot, how can you tell?"
"Ah, no, wait, we're slowing down – "
"Impulse power … "
Gradually they slid to a full stop, dizzy and breathless, stopping just short of the enormous pines.
Ezri found that, along with the swift motion, her energy seemed to have run out as well. She leaned back into Julian's chest and closed her eyes.
"I've always liked to say 'engage' like that," he said. "But that's the first time I've done it for a sled. Imagine … if Captain Sisko could see us now … "
"Maybe he can," said Ezri softly, glancing up at the sky, which was beginning to darken to violet. It was only a holographic sky, but the gesture was universal.
"Maybe he's sitting with his mother in the Celestial Temple right now, smirking and shaking his head at us."
They sat in silence for a while, snug in the sled, remembering the past, dreaming of the future.
"Julian?"
"Yes?"
"This really means a lot to me. You know it's a Trill tradition to find something special to do on your birthday – something that reminds you of the joy of being alive? And if you're joined, something that will add to the symbiont's happy memories. Of course, it's a bit of a tall order … a lot of us just do what we do for other holidays, spend time with family, give gifts. Well, you've really done it this time. Dax will remember today … forever."
"That's all I ask," said Julian.
"Now, Ezri, I do believe you're much more tired than you're letting on. Let's get out of here and find something warm to drink, shall we?"
"No whiskey for me, please. And no Quark. He's a good friend, but - "
"But, exactly." Julian made a face. This was not a night for Quark to get his claws on. "So – my replicator or yours?"
"Yours. Your quarters are bigger. And I've got a toothbrush there anyway. Computer, end program."
They let the holographic snow, the forest and the sleds melt into nothing, took off their hats and coats, and found out that their faces – which had been soaked with holographic snow – were suddenly quite dry.
They left the holosuite hand in hand.