"I don't know what to make of this, Colonel…" Bashir stood dumbfounded holding the data pad that Colonel Kira had just given him.
"Don't get to excited but as of right now Starfleet has bigger fish to fry; a reprimand is in your file and Admiral Ross is trying to smooth things over with the Trill Science Ministry. He reminded them that we have greater opposition to face at the moment. Too much time would be wasted on trying to take down of an 'over-zealous' doctor who was just trying to help his patient."
"I suppose I should thank him."
"Perhaps but it will have to be when you return in one month."
"I don't understand…"
"As of right now you are temporarily relieved of duty; Admiral Ross suggested that you use that time to, how did he put it, 'Think about the error of your ways.' Lt. Kelsey will be running things in the infirmary until you return. The admiral and Senator Cretak will be here for a strategic meeting tomorrow and the next transport to Earth leaves in two hours, I suggest you be on it." Kira finished, Bashir nodded and asked,
"What about Captain Sisko, when will he be returning to the station?" Bashir had been personally informed by the Colonel along with the other senior officers this morning that Captain Sisko had decided to take a sabbatical. The captain, Jake and Cassidy Yates had left last night.
"The captain didn't say, but while he's gone it's my job to keep this station and the crew together."
"I wish I didn't have to leave…" Bashir looked down at the pad that was still in his hand.
"That makes two of us, but the sooner you leave the quicker you come back."
"Right…Colonel…" Bashir seemed at a loss for words but none were needed Kira knew what was on the doctors mind.
"Don't worry, Julian; I'll keep you informed on Jadzia's status." Bashir nodded and quietly left. No sooner had Bashir left did the office door chime.
"Enter." She sat down behind her desk and waited for her new guest to come in.
"Nerys, are you busy?" Odo smiled warmly, his hands behind his back in their usual position. Kira returned his smile.
"Never too busy for you, to what do owe this unexpected visit?"
"I just came to see how you were doing; I haven't seen you much since…" Odo took a seat in front of her desk.
"Yeah I know, I'm sorry with everything that's happened and now Sisko's gone."
"It's a lot to take in."
"To say the least," she sighed deeply.
"How is she?"
"Physically she is fine, as healthy as ever apparently she just can't remember anything."
"It's hard to believe that it was only a month ago that we had game night with her and Worf." This memory made Odo chuckle, he couldn't get over how badly that night had gone; at least for Worf. Kira started to laugh too; she wished she could go back to that night.
"I can still see Worf's face when he pulled that card about virginity." Kira's laughter got louder as she replayed that night in her head…
One month earlier…
"And what is the object of this game?" Worf looked miserable at the prospect of playing a human game called truth or dare. In his mind he believed he was too old to play such an elementary human game. Worf sat down on the floor at Jadzia's insistence because she said it would be more fun. "Well the object is to pick a question out of this jar," Jadzia sat a jar down in the middle of the floor with about forty small white cards inside. "You read the card out loud and then you can answer the question and if you don't want to answer then you pick a card from the Dare jar; and you have to do it Worf, you too Odo!" Jadzia playfully bullied her husband and Odo. Kira smiled, in a lot of ways Odo and Worf were so much alike. Odo looked terrified at the prospect of what awaited him during this pass time.
"Okay, who goes first?" Jadzia sat down between Kira and Worf looking back and forth between her husband and friends.
"I nominate you." Worf said dryly and folded his arms over his chest.
"Okay, fine." Jadzia reached into the truth jar and then read her card. "Have you ever loved someone who didn't love you back? Yes and it was frustrating!" Jadzia rolled her eyes and laid the card face down in front of her.
"Really, and who could have been so dense as to let you slip through their fingers?" Worf couldn't imagine someone turning Jadzia down, she knew Morn had once but in truth Morn was not the brightest of men in Worf's opinion. He always found conversations with him to be a bit one sided; the guy was so long winded and would never shut up!
"You!" Jadzia accused.
"What?" Now he was confused.
"Worf, it took me over a year to get you to notice me, no matter what I did you wouldn't budge."
"I can vouch for that, she complained to me all the time." Kira chimed in.
"I did notice you, and I also noticed that you flirted with a number of men on the station."
"Moving on," Jadzia rolled her eyes and nodded to Kira to pick a card…
The game had been going on for fifteen minutes with fairly easy questions which resulted in no one having to take a dare; but the inevitable happened and it happened to Worf…
For several minutes Worf sat there staring at his card and refused to read it out loud.
"Oh come on, Worf be a good sport!" She hated when Worf clammed up like this when things got a little personal.
"I will not read this out loud. It is no one's business!" Worf insisted and laid the card face down in front of him with two others that he had previously read. Jadzia grabbed the card up and read it anyway,
"Who was the first person you lost your virginity to and how old were you?" even Dax had to blush at this question.
"If the commander doesn't want to answer then he has to do a dare, the first one of the night." Odo grinned mischievously and glanced at Kira.
"That's right, Worf." Kira pushed the dare jar over to him, reluctantly Worf leaned forward and took yet another card. Upon reading it he wished that he had just answered the first two questions.
"I will not continue with this game!" He threw the card down and moved to sit on the sofa.
"Worf, you have to its only fair everyone else is playing by the rules; now come on it can't be that bad." She picked up the card that he put down and read this one aloud too… "Sit in the lap of the person to your left for your next two turns." Jadzia couldn't stifle her laughter and neither could Kira…Odo of course sat motionless and stared blankly; he was to Worf's right.
"The commander's right, this game is ridiculous!" Odo hurriedly got up leaving the two women to laugh even harder…
Now…
"I didn't know who which one of you was more horrified at the thought of that dare!" Kira giggled.
"I think it was a draw." Odo shook his head and smiled. Soon the two settled in companionable silence; Kira was the first to break it.
"Do you think we'll ever have fun times like that again?"
"Game nights?"
"No I mean, do you think this war will ever end soon? It's been going on so long that I can hardly remember what it was like to have a normal peaceful life here on the station."
"War is a poor chisel to carve out tomorrow…" Odo thought aloud.
"What?"
"It's a quote from one of Earth's Civil Rights leaders in the twentieth century."
"Well who ever said it was right on the mark. I can't see pass this war, I wouldn't even know what to do once it was over." Kira looked sorrowful; Odo reached across the table and took her hands in his.
"Nerys, as long as I came out of this war unscathed with you by my side nothing else would matter."
Jadzia hadn't realized how long she had been reading; after she had finished with the service record she had come upon a personal record and right now she was kind of wishing that she hadn't read it. She had no idea what to make of this person who she once was. She had grown up on Trill, her parents and older sister still lived there. She made a note to try and contact them later; she thought maybe they could help her remember her life on the home world. She also looked up her previous hosts, or Dax's host, Torias, Nelanie, Curzon and the others were as foreign to her as she was to herself. But the revelation that disturbed her most was that she was married – married to a Klingon no less. The same Klingon who was standing over her when she woke up in sick bay…his name was Worf.
"Commander Worf Rozhenko." She had said that name at least twenty times in the last five minutes and it still wasn't sinking in. She had looked up his service record and she had to say that she was impressed; he was quite the decorated officer and Klingon warrior. She also saw that he had been reprimanded for dereliction of duty; the reasons had been marked confidential so she wasn't able to go any further on that subject. She did notice that the reprimand came only two months after they were married. It was after reading this she had decided to take a break and lie down. She couldn't help but wonder at this Klingon who she was married to, why hadn't he come to pick her up from sick-bay? Why hadn't he tried to see her since the day in the infirmary? Question after question ran through her mind until she fell asleep.
Jadzia awoke with a jerk at the sound of the door chime. She rubbed her eyes and sat up on the sofa where she had been laying. It was probably Keiko, she had said she would come back and check on her. Jadzia stood and took a quick look in the mirror on a wall near the door as the chime went off for the second time. She looked okay, a little tired but okay; she turned to the door and finally answered,
"Enter." The small smile that Jadzia was waiting to offer Keiko disappeared when she saw that her visitor was not Keiko…oh no, it was him…it was Worf.