The last thing any of them expected when they entered the quarters assigned to Mick was a party.

The three security officers looked guilty but Delenn and Mick just smiled. Four pizza boxes were on the table, along with soda bottles and bread sticks. Aware that Michael was watching him warily, waiting to see his reaction. Sheridan walked over to flip one of the boxes open, studying their contents.

"Okay. Where's the Hawaiian Pizza? I can smell Hawaiian Pizza. There had better be some left."

Mick's grin broadened and he tapped the box in front of him. Sheridan picked up a plate and flipped the box open to pull out a slice. The others joined him in getting food and sitting at the table.

"We thought some food was in order." Delenn said, gracefully catching a drip of cheese from her slice with her finger and returning it to the toppings. "This pizza is very unusual. Yet very tasty." She took a delicate bite. "We have been collating the information as we can, Captain." Delenn nodded toward Mick. "Our information on nexus gates is close to the same. They were originally created eons ago, by an ancient race and then scattered when that race vanished. They are occasionally found by beings who try to use them, usually with disastrous results. The main difference between our two realities concerning nexus gates is that Mick's people have found a way to utilize the gates." Delenn did not sound as if this was an accomplishment she approved of.

"If they're used correctly, they aren't a danger. And at this time, we only have one." Mick said in defense and Sheridan got the impression that the two of them had already discussed this. "And they're only used in situations like this."

"That does not make it right." Delenn said sternly.

"No, it doesn't." Mick agreed. "But we need a way to deal with situations like this; when others are using nexus gates illegally. Frankly few of us like it but we really don't have any other options. Unless, of course, we step back and wait for someone else to take care of it. And hope that they aren't going to use them for their own purposes." He offered her a basket of bread sticks.

"Point taken." Delenn took a bread stick. "But I still don't like it."

Mick chuckled. "In other words, we agree to disagree."

A smile flitted across Delenn's lips but she didn't answer.

Sheridan smiled as well, suspecting this was an issue that would keep both of them busy for some time but as long as they both kept a sense of humor about it, he wouldn't worry about it.

"You will find this interesting, Captain." Delenn delicately dipped the bread stick into a nearby container of dipping sauce. "Mick was raised on Narn."

"Narn?" Sheridan paused with a slice of pizza halfway to his mouth. After a moment, he lowered it, shooting a glance at Michael, who looked as startled as he did. "Well, that would explain the Blood Blade."

"How did that happen?" Susan asked.

Mick shrugged. "My father was one of the liaisons between Earth and Narn. So I was born there and raised there until I was about seventeen then me, G'Kar..."

"G'Kar!?" More than one voice said in varying degrees of astonishment. Mick blinked then looked at Delenn, who was smiling serenely.

"You're enjoying this." He accused her and she looked at him innocently. He scowled briefly. "Yes, G'Kar. My blood brother. At that time only through the Blood Blade ritual. Then again later," He reached up to trace one of the tendrils of flame on his face with unerring accuracy. "Through the FireSworn ritual."

"We spoke of many of the differences between our realities." Delenn said. "But I suspect we could talk for the full two weeks and never get all of them. They go too deeply. And he didn't finish the sentence. I believe it started me, G'Kar, and my Ferals ..."

Mick shot her a puzzled look. "Yes."

"What are Ferals?" Susan asked. She had put down her pizza and was studying the man intently, her expression suddenly cool.

"Ahhhh." Mick glanced at Delenn with a frown. "They're specialist warriors, genetically created from humans and various animal species maybe two hundred years ago. My father was this pack's Handler. When I left home, the pack elected to come with me." He paused at the looks on their faces. "What?"

"That kind of genetic engineering is illegal here." Susan said shortly.

Mick arched an eyebrow. "Was it two hundred years ago?"

Susan opened her mouth then closed it.

"No, it wasn't." Stephan said.

"I didn't think so. It is illegal now but then it was all the rage. The results are still around. What happened to the creations from genegineering here?"

"Well, ahhh ..." Susan looked at Stephan.

"They were destroyed." He said reluctantly.

"Well, they weren't in our reality." Mick reached for another slice of pizza, licking his fingers free of sauce. "So we had to do something with them. They make excellent soldiers."

"So they're what? Slaves?" Susan asked curtly.

Mick froze in mid-bite, the look on his face suggesting that had never occurred to him. After a moment, he set the slice down. "No, they're not." He said carefully, not looking away from Susan. "They're equal citizens with full voting rights, which they take advantage of religiously. They get paid very well, as much as I do in fact. Where the hell did that come from anyway?"

Susan blinked in surprise at the vehemence of the question. "The way you talk about them. I mean, Handlers?"

'The Ferals chose that title. It could just as easily be Master or Captain or Lord. The pack chooses who leads them. If they didn't like how I led, they wouldn't follow my orders. More then one person has lost their place when the pack ousted them as their Handler."

"But ... my Ferals?" Susan pressed.

"My Ferals?" He paused, studying her intently; his lips pursed in thought then he grinned suddenly. "We have a species in our reality that you apparently don't have in yours or at least I haven't seen any. We call them Taz. The species is called Taz, the individuals are called Taz because they don't give us their names. We couldn't pronounce their names anyway and we can't tell them apart. Plus they have an annoying tendency to switch jobs, positions at the drop of a hat. They do it, I think, to drive us insane."

He pushed his plate back and rested his elbows on the table, leaning forward. "I have a Taz that works for me. I have no idea, day to day, rather it is the same Taz. She shows up wearing the security bandanna that says she's working for me. Doesn't really matter, they are all excellent at whatever job they may be doing. But I refer to her as my Taz. She doesn't belong to me in any way, shape, or form. It's just a way of identifying them. I've received numerous calls telling me that the Minbari's Taz is up something. Or C&C's Taz is doing this. Or the monks' Taz is doing that. Or the ever infamous get the hell down here, your Taz is about to start a riot without you." He paused, pointing a finger at a now-smiling Susan. "That actually did happen."

"Did you go down and join in?"

"Not exactly on purpose. Let's just say that when it was over, I ended up in MedLab for two days. That damned Taz didn't even have a scratch. Of course the minute the riot started, she was up in the rafters. But the point is I don't mean it as possession. The Taz do the same thing. They refer to the beings they work with as theirs. I know that the Taz who work for me refer to me as their human. Or in G'Kar's case, as their Narn. Hell, they even refer to the Ferals as their Ferals."

"So these Ferals." Michael spoke up. "That's what you meant when you said Jack was ..." He paused, finding himself unable to finish the sentence. Mick looked at him for a long moment, obviously pondering what to say.

"Ferals have very sharp teeth and very sharp claws and they are very protective of their Handlers. A few of them had followed me that day. I'm not sure how it happened in your universe but in mine, I had found evidence that Earth Force One had been sabotaged." Michael nodded confirmation and Mick continued. "I was on my way up to report to the station's High Commander when I got waylaid by some of the conspirators. I had my spetsdods ready, could've taken them, thought I had backup. Only my backup stabbed me in the back, literally. I went down and he was getting ready to cut my throat when the Ferals hit him. When they were through, there wasn't much left of him or the three other men."

Susan lowered the slice of pizza she'd been about to take a bite of, suddenly feeling slightly nauseous.

Sheridan cleared his throat. "G'Kar isn't the Narn ambassador?" He asked in an attempt to change the subject.

Mick gave him a grim smile. "That was suggested, yes but the Centauri protested. They insisted that it would have been a conflict of interest, which it would have been. So instead he came in as High Warrior with me. Which thrilled the Centauri all to pieces."

"So you share the position?" Sheridan asked slowly.

"Yeah. It's what we're trained to do."

"Our realities are, in some ways, very different." Delenn commented and Sheridan got the impression that she had already heard much of this. "I believe the training Mick speaks of is the FireSworn training, where the tattoos come from." Mick nodded. "If I recall correctly, the FireSworn specialize in training fighting pairs then once the pair is trained, they train the pairs together, gradually training them as a complete unit."

"Yeah. These days though, we tend to work just as pairs, usually sharing positions. We've been working together for over twenty years. Between that and the Feral pack, we can pretty much write our own ticket just about anywhere."

"So why are you working at the ... what is it called? The Sacred Circle station?" Sheridan asked.

Delenn made a sound suspiciously like a laugh and Mick looked at her with narrowed eyes. "You are enjoying this."

"I take it you two have talked a great deal." Michael commented then he glanced suspiciously at Lou, who had a grin on his face as he stared studiously at his plate.

"Yes, we have." Then she said something in Minbari. Mick answered in the same language, cutting off abruptly in mid-word and glaring at her.

"Damn it! Stop doing that!" He said in exasperation.

Lou sounded like he was choking and Michael was glaring at him like he was hoping the man really was.

"Okay, what's the joke?" Sheridan demanded.

Delenn folded her hands and looked at him, eyes dancing with merriment. "One reason Mick works at the station is because he has a Minbari daughter." She smiled at their surprised looks. "The reason I steered the conversation the way I did is so that you'd understand the story better, when he tells it."

"I've already told it." Mick pointed out, picking sausage off a slice of pizza.

"It will also explain why his reality had no war between Humans and the Minbari." She said reasonably, looking sidelong at Mick.

Mick sighed. "You are way too much like the Delenn of my universe." She smiled at him serenely. "Damn it." He said in exasperation, shoving a basket at her. "Here, have a piece of garlic bread. Modesty loves garlic bread."

"Modesty?" Michael watched almost regretfully as Delenn took the last slice.

"Yeah. My daughter. As near as I could tell, her birth name was Mastei and I have a distant ancestor named Modesty. It seemed appropriate."

"You are going to tell the story." Susan made it more statement then question and he sighed.

"Okay, okay. I'll tell it. Again." He paused, running his hands over his short hair then resting them on the table, looking up and around the table. "It started about twelve years back. I was dutied to the Dawson's Christian, working anti-piracy in the Minar region when we got something we assumed was a distress signal. We headed out that way, saw this ship that none of us had ever seen before. Graceful thing, Dawson fell in love. We found out later it was a Minbari ship. At that time, well, it was just a ship under attack by a pack of pirates. We took out one of the attacking ships right off then Dawson sent me over to the ship with my crew to take care of any borders. We had to cut our way in. Never a happy prospect since it involved locking our shuttle to the other ship, making us easy targets but we managed. The Taz had an entrance ready in record time and we piled onto the other ship. Once there, we split up. Me, G'Kar, and a couple Ferals headed down one corridor."

He reached for a bread stick, absently twisting it in his fingers. "It was an unusual ship, one none of us had ever seen before but the layout seemed fairly comparable to the Christian. There was atmosphere, though of course we didn't chance taken off our helmets, and gravity. We could see damage to the walls from strong firepower and then a couple bodies. None of us recognized the species … yeah, later we found out they were Minbari … but we didn't know that then. We hadn't had contact with them at all before this." His face tightened briefly with remembered grief. "The Ferals met with the pirates first. They took us by surprise and managed to kill Joseph but Benjamin made a bloody mess out of them, with some help from us."

"Benjamin was wounded so we patched him up as best we could and sent him back to the shuttle with Joseph's body before moving on. We were finding more dead pirates then dead aliens now and we figured this led to the control center. Turned out we were wrong about that. We ended up at the end of a corridor with two dead pirates, five dead aliens, and one live alien. She had a weapon aimed directly at us. We both let our weapons drop; we didn't want to appear a threat. This apparently confused her enough that she didn't just shoot right away. We were hoping she'd realize we weren't part of the pirate band; if nothing else our spacesuits were different."

"It surprised the hell out of me when she fired a shot but it went between us and into a pirate that had been preparing to shoot us both. It was a quick nasty fire fight but we won. Four more dead pirates. Only when we turned back toward the alien, we found that she had taken a blast from one of the pirate guns. But she was still alive. G'Kar stood guard while I tried to staunch the bleeding, all the while yelling at Franklin to haul his med team over here."

"Ahhhh ... Franklin?" Stephan said, raising his eyebrow inquiringly.

"I guess I should have mentioned that. Yeah, the head of the medical personnel on the Dawson's Christian was Stephen Franklin. Anyway, I got the wound wrapped up. It wasn't pretty but it did the job. Meanwhile I was getting reports from the others. There was one hold out of pirates in a far area of the ship but the rest of the ship was clean. No other survivors could be found. Outside a second pirate ship had been destroyed and the last was running away. I directed the majority of others to take care of that last hold out and called a couple Ferals to come help protect here."

"That's when the alien pressed something into my hand and pointed toward a door behind her. I reached for my gun but she grabbed it, wouldn't let me draw it then pointed again. I finally left it in the holster and went over to check the door. That something she had given me was a flat piece of metal, obviously a key. Once I figured out how to work it, the door slid open. It was living quarters, simply furnished but very functional, reminded me a bit of some Japanese homes I'd seen. There was something here she and the others had died protecting and it didn't take me long to find her. A solemn-eyed child hiding behind the furniture. She didn't have the bone headdress the adults had but she was obviously of the same species."

He paused, reaching for his glass and taking a drink before continuing. "So I contacted Franklin, asking him if the atmosphere here was safe for us to breathe. He thought so but … I didn't bother listening to the rest. I took a chance and removed my helmet, hoping that there were more similarities then differences between our species. She didn't fight when I picked her up, except to pull my hair."

"Ohhhh, the good old days." Michael grinned as laughter erupted around the table.

Mike chuckled. "Yeah, I remember them fondly. Anyway, she didn't resist and I took her into the other room. The med team was already there and Franklin gave me several choice words about taking off my helmet. I took the baby over to, well, I assumed she was her mother. She touched the child and said Mastei and then looked at me and said something I didn't understand at the time. Later, I realize that what she said was take care of my daughter. All I could do was tell her that I would take care of the child; promised her she'd be safe."

He paused, eyes remote as he thought back on that scene. "We left the ship then. Since I'd taken off my helmet, I ended up in quarantine with the kid until medical could make sure there wasn't anything dangerous in the alien atmosphere. Unfortunately her mother died shortly after we returned to the ship. We spent quarantine getting to know each other. Spent a lot of time trying to figure out what she could eat ... garlic bread did the trick. And some soft caramel corn that Jaster makes. God, she pigged out on that! Finally had to tell Jaster not to send anymore or she was going to get sick. We were in quarantine for four weeks, which was a good thing on all sides. In fact … He paused suddenly.

"What?" Susan asked sharply.

"Well, I found out later that we were in quarantine two weeks longer then needed. Dawson authorized it. When we finally got out ... hell, I was barely through the door ... he handed me a pen and a piece of paper and told me to sign it now. Normally I'd be a little leery of it but G'Kar was right there backing him up so I did. They were adoption papers, giving her the name I'd been using for the girl, Modesty. Apparently while we were in quarantine, there was this entire mess about her. We had tried to contact the Minbari but they ignored us or maybe they didn't get our messages. Whatever the reason, we never heard from them. So all of sudden, Modesty's the hot potato in political circles."

"How so?" Sheridan asked.

"I didn't find any of this out for several hours after leaving quarantine; they hadn't been giving me information during it and now I knew why. There was the scientific community wanting to study her and then there were the ones who just knew what was right for everyone who wanted her put in a good home and ... well. It was a mess.

"So you thought the best thing was to raise her yourself. " Susan said, her voice doubtful.

Mick arched an eyebrow at her. "I made a promise and come hell or high water I meant to keep it."

"But surely there was a family to take her." Susan persisted and Mick looked at her in surprise.

"I think Susan's thinking of the fact that I'm a recovering alcoholic." Michael spoke up.

Mick looked at him for a long moment then back at Susan. "My family is prone to alcoholism in a hell of a big way but I've never been tempted. For one thing, the alcohol on Narn is too dangerous for humans to drink safely and Pop made sure that Earth alcohol was never in the house … except small amounts for cooking, of course … and by the time I left the planet, I was, I hope, old enough and smart enough to stay away from it. And if I wasn't, G'Kar was right there ready to pound me into paste if I ever even thought of taking a drink."

Michael laughed. "Now, that's a 12-step program I could have used."

"It does work. Anyway ... where was I?"

"Hot potato among the political circles." Delenn reminded him.

"Ahhh, thank you. Dawson pushed the adoption through under the radar, so to speak. By the time anyone figured it out, it was legal and nothing short of a proclamation from God could sever it. So next they started screaming about the fact I was on a fighting ship. Well, Stephan had been pushing for a transfer to an Arbitrator ship … a peace keeping ship …so Dawson managed to attach a transfer for me, G'Kar, and the Ferals to it as well. We ended up on the Masada." He grinned at the looks on their faces. "And that is where I first met John Sheridan. He was Commander of the Masada."

"Not much to say about the next six years. G'Kar and I ended up First Warrior … Chief of Security for the Masada. Stephan managed to get enough information on the Minbari that we weren't too surprised when the bone headdress started to emerge or that she seemed to grow slower then a human child. She stayed a remarkably serious child though she did have her moments. Then …" He stopped abruptly, frowning.

"You did the same thing when telling me the story." Delenn commented. "You didn't explain then."

Mick shook his head. "I'm not now either. We don't have any proof that incident had anything to do with what happened later." He glanced around the table. "We were patrolling the area around Proxima 17 when the message came for the Masada to return to Earth. It was kept pretty hushed up as to why. When we got there, we were informed that there was a Minbari fleet on our borders. They'd heard about Modesty. Actually, I don't know what they heard but it couldn't have been good. They were demanding her back. They refused to listen to any explanation, they just wanted her. Now. And if they didn't get her, they would attack."

"I was summoned down to Earth to a special committee created to deal with this situation. I left Modesty with G'Kar and went down. The Commander came down as well but they wouldn't let him in. Just me. That's when the shit hit the fan. You see, Modesty is my daughter by law. They couldn't just take her away. They couldn't sever the relationship. It was sworn and pact and nothing could break it so they were trying to get me to repudiate her. I refused, of course. She is my daughter, after all. She'd lived with me for most of her life, among humans that long. I wasn't about to turn her over complete unknowns, even if they were her people. It was getting hot and heavy in that room. Half of them were backing up Clark ..."

"Clark?" Sheridan said, startled.

"Yep. Same guy. He wanted Modesty taken away and given over. The other half was backing me. The President was trying her best to keep order. I had no idea which way she was going to jump. I never paid much attention to Earth politics. After hours of this the doors to the room broke open. Literally. G'Kar came storming in, pissed as hell. The guards were standing back and looking scared, rightly so, until Clark started yelling at them to arrest G'Kar. At that point they closed the doors firmly and went to hide.

"Huh? Hide?" Susan asked and Mick smiled.

"G'Kar and I are FireSworn Brothers. They had no right to keep him out and certainly none to arrest him. At that point the President told Clark to calm down or get out. Before she could say anything to G'Kar, he informed her and everyone there that they had no right to demand anything of me. I was a citizen of Narn as well as of Earth and as my daughter; Modesty was a Narn citizen as well. Clark went ballistic then but G'Kar kept talking. He informed them that I didn't know where Modesty was and neither did he. She was no longer on the ship and no one there knew where she was."

"That brought the house down good and proper. I thought we were both going to end up in triple locked cells somewhere near the core of the planet. Clark was screaming for the arrest of everyone on the Masada and another assh ... senator was calling for our heads. It was getting more hysterical by the moment. If it weren't so damn serious, it would have been funny. But I had an idea. I told the President that I wanted to talk to the Minbari. Send me out there and let me met with them. G'Kar thought I was nuts but it was the most reasonable solution. If I could convince them that Modesty was, in all things, my daughter ... well, it was a hope. It was alarming how quickly Clark's people agreed. I guess they figured if I got killed, they have a chance to grab Modesty and turn her over. I mean, how long could a Minbari girl be kept hidden?"

Mick paused, absently rapping the bread stick he held on the table. "G'Kar was mad as hell and so was the Commander, though I think he ... that they both ... understood. The President herself gave the orders and the Masada headed out to meet the Minbari fleet. When we reached them, I went out alone in an unarmed StarFury. They weren't talking to our ships any longer after their last demand for Modesty's return but I sent them a message. I got as far as telling them that I was Modesty's ... Mastei's ... father then everything went totally black. When I came to ... When I came to, I was tied to some kind of metal frame in a circle of light. There were people there but I could only see nine ..."

"The Grey Consul." Delenn remarked.

"Yeah, I found that out later. There were others back in darkness. I don't know how long I was there. Hours, days. They didn't ask questions. They just made demands. I tried to explain that she was my daughter but every time I tried, one of them would hit me. He was good at it too. Every blow hurt like hell and many broke a bone. That device I was strapped to didn't help either. It was some kind of device that could amplify pain. After ... well, I don't know how long it was but I was pretty much ready just to die. Between the machine and the broken bones, I was surprised I wasn't already dead."

Despite having heard all this before, Delenn looked uncomfortable. Mick paused to smile at her briefly before continuing. "Then there was this disturbance. A fight. A major one in the darkness. I didn't know what to expect but it sure as hell wasn't G'Kar coming into the light with about a dozen Minbari trying to drag him down. I'm surprised they didn't just kill him. It took almost two dozen of them to get him down and bound. He's yelling at them and I'm yelling too, fighting against my bonds so hard that I actually broke one wrist in three places. I didn't notice until I stopped fighting and was hanging again. Damn, that hurt like hell. " He absently rubbed at his right wrist.

"I don't know how he got on the ship; he never told me. All I knew was that both of us were going to die because the Minbari were ... excuse the expression ... too bone-headed to accept that a member of one species could care about another and it pissed me off. I just started talking. To this day, I don't remember what I said or how many blows I took while saying it. By that time, my ribs were pretty much a lost cause. I figured it wouldn't take too many more blows before something vital was ruptured or punctured. Then …" He paused, face tight with remembered pain, hand still rubbing at his wrist.

For a moment, Delenn looked sorry she had asked him to retell the story but before she could say anything he continued. "Then the Minbari who was doing the hitting went over to G'Kar. I was afraid he meant to hurt him but he did something worse. He pulled the Blood Blade from G'Kar's boot." He glanced up. "Do you know what a Blood Blade is?"

"I was told its part of a Narn blood brother ritual." Sheridan replied.

"Yeah. The knives are literally created from the blood of the people involved. In this case, G'Kar's and mine. I'd left mine back on the Masada but G'Kar had brought his. See, a Narn blade can't be sheathed until it's been blooded and that bastard meant to use my blood to do it. That was the cruelest thing he could ever do and I think he knew it too. Even if G'Kar did survive, he wouldn't have survived long."

"Why?" Susan asked but Sheridan who answered.

"Because he would have killed himself." Ignoring the shocked looks from his staff, he caught Mick's eyes. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"Honor is a cruel thing sometimes." There was no humor in Mick's smile. "I wasn't about to give up but I couldn't think of a damn thing to do or say. It was remarkable how quiet it was. I couldn't see the Minbari's face; he was wearing a hooded cloak. All of the nine were. But I knew what he meant to do with that knife. Then one of the other Minbari ... a much shorter one ... moved in front of him and held out her hand for the knife. They talked ... they knew English, they spoke it to me but now they spoke in Minbari. Whatever she said, he gave her the knife. For some reason, he seemed to think she had more right to kill me. He gave her the knife. To this day I wonder ..." He was staring down at the table but Sheridan suspected he wasn't seeing it. "She came over to stand in front of me. I couldn't see her face, her eyes. Just that damn hood and that knife. Blood Blades are very sharp; at least I knew that if she struck true, I'd be dead very quickly." He looked up, his face somber. "Then she raised that knife and cut my bonds."

"I hit the ground hard ... turned out a bone in my foot was broken as well ... but at that point I didn't care. I hauled myself upright, how I have no idea. I could hear arguing all around us and that first Minbari was standing behind her, talking to her rather fiercely but she was … she was offering me the knife, hilt-first. I did mention that a Narn blade can't be sheathed without being bloodied didn't I? Well, I took the knife and as she drew her hand away, she deliberately ran her hand on the blade, leaving behind the required blood before she stepped back."

"Somehow I made it over to G'Kar. At first I thought the other Minbari were going to stop me but she ordered them away. I cut him loose and he took the knife, used the robe of a nearby Minbari to clean the blade ... boy, did that piss him off ... and sheathed it. Then we waited while the nine argued. No choice. Even if there was a place to go, I couldn't run. Don't ask how long it was ... by that time I was a half a step away from total shock ... but then the small Minbari came toward us. I got to my feet ... foot ... with G'Kar's help. I wasn't about to face any of them on my knees. She stopped in front of us and pulled back her hood. I'll never forget what she said." His eyes darted toward Delenn and he smiled slightly. "'Mr. Garibaldi, my name is Delenn and I would like very much to meet your daughter.'."

"I wish I could say that I said something appropriate back but by that time I was running on sheer stubbornness and adrenaline and I'd run out of both. I passed out cold. When I woke up, I was in the Masada's Medlab and we were heading for Earth. Delenn and two other Minbari ... including the one who wanted so badly to kill me ... were with us; to meet Modesty and to judge for themselves how she was being treated. Both G'Kar and I were confined to Medlab until we reached Earth ... he'd been hurt worse then he'd been letting on and the Commander had given him a choice of staying in Medlab for as long as the doc said or in the brig for as long as he said. Considering the Commander's mood, G'Kar wisely chose the Medlab. Besides, it gave him a chance to completely review my ancestry with appropriate substitutions. If nothing else, we amused the Medlab personnel."

He reached for his glass, frowning when he saw it was empty. Zack grabbed the nearest soda bottle and filled his glass. "Thanks." He took a drink and held the glass as he continued. "It didn't take them long to realize that Modesty was now, uniquely, my daughter. Even the most stubborn of them could see that it wasn't in her best interest to separate us but they did want her to know Minbari ways. I had no problem with that. About that time, the station was being built so we were pushed forward to be the High Warrior. Makes it easier for Modesty to interact with Minbari. And that's pretty much it."

"And your suspicions about what started all this?" Sheridan asked.

"Are just that, Captain. Suspicions. The Minbari refuse to say anything about it. As Delenn put it 'We've averted one war. We won't be party to starting another'."

"Wise words." Delenn agreed and Mick smiled at her. It was obvious that, despite his harsh treatment at the hands of the Minbari, he held no ill feelings toward them.

"I'm not asking you to write it down or set it in stone." Sheridan said. "I'm asking for your thoughts about it. That's all."

Mick hesitated, setting down the glass. "Well, we're fairly certain that the Centauri were behind it. They pretty much hate our guts for helping the Narn drive them off of Narn and … I take it that didn't happen here." He finished at the looks on their faces.

"No, it didn't."

"Well. I know that the Centauri knew about Modesty. I've no doubt they'd be happy to cause us trouble. And I can't think of any other reason why the Minbari wouldn't tell us who passed the information on to them and in such a bad light."

"A question I meant to ask you." Delenn spoke up suddenly. "Who was the Minbari who first took the knife?"

"Neroon."

"Ahhhh. He wasn't a member of the Grey Council then here." Delenn paused, trying to rethink that sentence then giving up.

"Is he as stubborn there as he is here?" Sheridan wondered and Mick threw him an amused look.

"He was. After a couple months of total attitude … all right, I admit it. Attitude from both of us … we had it out in the gym. I won by virtue of staying off the ground the longest." He grinned at their expressions. "When we got finished pounding each other, he was flat out, face down on the ground. I was on my knees, mainly because I hadn't fallen over yet. They hauled us off to Medlab for five days. Neither of us could move for pretty much the whole of those days either. Delenn would sweep in every few hours to give us That Look. " He flicked a grin at Sheridan. "You know the look I mean?"

Sheridan grinned back. "You mean that look?" He gestured at Susan.

Mick looked. "Yep, that's the look." He glanced at Torque and Delenn. "And so are those. The one that females of every species acquire when the males are acting stupid. By the third time she swept in, Modesty was with her. She was too young for That Look but she had her very own 'Daddy's been stupid again' look, to which she added a new 'Uncle Neroon's been stupid too' look." He began to toss trash in an empty pizza box. "I'm not going to say we ended up friends but we did reach an understanding."

Sheridan shook his head. Well, their histories were different. No war, no Dark Star, no Starkiller. Tossing the last of the trash into a nearby box, he leaned back as Torque and Zack gathered up the boxes and shoved them down the disposal. "So what have we concerning the smuggling?" He turned the discussion toward business.

Mick reached down and picked up a bag, setting it on the table. Reaching in, he took out a chunk of ornately carved ivory. "Definitely Rathorn ivory. I recognize the carvings. Torque took a look and we've established that you don't have Rathorns in this reality so … Rathorns are sentient beings, Captain. Their ivory is their wealth. These are something I definitely want to return to them." His look toward the captain held a challenge.

"Anything we find that we can establish comes from your reality, we'll send back." Sheridan promised.

Mick nodded, replacing the ivory into the bag.

"Part of the problem is that a number of items could just as easily come from this reality." Torque spoke up. "But we have several items that could have come from Mick's reality."

"And Valera?" Sheridan asked, watching Mick from out of the corner of his eye. The other man's expression didn't change but it was obvious he was listening closely.

Michael glanced at Mick before speaking, obviously wondering how much to say. "We have a description and specifics for the Valera from Mick's reality." He said carefully. "And Torque is doing a search for the Valera of ours." He pulled an identikit from his pocket and turned it in his hands. "I've put out a BOLO on him. If he's on this station, someone will have seen him. We should have more news tomorrow." He replaced the identikit in his pocket. "He isn't the one selling the stuff. If he is the one behind this then he's using people from here to do his dirty work."

"Or he brought over people to work with him." Mick suggested.

Michael groaned. "Great. Even if we do find people from your reality, how are we going to tell them apart from the people here?" He glanced at Mick and frowned at the expression on the other man's face. "What?" He demanded.

"If I was Valera, I'd bring my own people over while eliminating the counterparts here, if they're on the station." Mick said quietly. "So there wouldn't be any confusion."

Michael suppressed a shudder. "Maybe. But that still doesn't enable us to make sure of who is who."

"No, it doesn't." Mick sounded tired and Michael looked at him closely, seeing the exhaustion in his eyes. Considering the last couple of days ... He glanced at Stephan, who was already giving Sheridan a pointed look. Sheridan caught it and nodded.

"What about that ... Kosh, was it?" Mick asked suddenly. "Did you find out why he tried to get into my mind?"

Sheridan started, exchanging a look with Delenn. "Unfortunately he'd already left the station before I could speak to him."

Mick rubbed at his upper lip. "You think he knows I'm from another reality?"

"It is possible." Delenn agreed.

"Circles." Mick muttered, not noticing the looks everyone gave him. He reached up to rub at his eyes, his jaw clenching in a manner that suggested a stifled yawn.

"I think it's time we packed it up for the night." Sheridan said firmly. "We can talk more after some sleep."

Mick looked like he wanted to argue on principle but this time he couldn't hide the yawn. "Damn." He muttered. Susan almost asked him when he'd last gotten a good night's sleep but then she remembered his son and snapped her mouth shut. As they rose to go, Mick suddenly reached out and grabbed Michael's wrist. "When that Kosh spoke, he said a word. Circles. What else did you hear?"

Michael looked startled. "Just that word. Circles." His eyes narrowed. "Why? What did you hear?"

Mick frowned, letting his hand drop. "So he didn't say it out loud. He put it into my head. Or maybe drew it from my memories." He reached up to rub at his temple. "Circles both in Light and Dark … what?" He demanded at the look on the others' faces.

"What does that mean?" Delenn asked quietly.

Mick hesitated before answering slowly. "It's from an old song about the ancient battle between Light and Dark." Then he half-sang, half-chanted. "Ways of Old to Guide and Guard, Paths to Bring and Send, Circles both in Light and Dark, From Starting until End'." He shrugged. "I just assumed he was referring to me coming from another reality." He saw the confusion on their faces. "That song is sometimes used as a focus when opening nexus gates."

"Do you happen to know the whole song?" Delenn asked.

"I do. Bring a guitar over tomorrow and I'll play it for you." Then, seeing Michael's surprised look, he added. "I take it you don't play." Mick's sudden grin was mischievous. "Believe it or not, G'Kar plays too. Better then me, in fact."

That brought a stunned silence.

"He does? Really?" Susan finally asked and Mick nodded. "Okay, my world's just officially turned upside down. I think I need to go have a lie down." She turned toward the door. "A tall drink and a lie down."

Michael shook off his surprise and looked at the three security officers. "Who … Lou? Good. We'll see you in the morning." He followed the others out the door, wishing he could indulge in a tall drink himself.