Worf would have mentally chastised himself for this incident if Colonel Kira and Keiko O'Brien weren't already giving him a verbal one. In truth they were right and this whole thing was his fault! How could he have been so thoughtless?

"What could you have been thinking allowing her to battle you!? Keiko snapped her hands on her hips and she was tapping her foot. The Klingon felt like a child being scolded by his mother for being naughty.

"Mrs. O'Brien I didn't think that…" Worf attempted to explain himself.

"That's right you didn't think!" Kira interrupted, her arms crossed and glaring at her first officer. Kira had been horrified when she had been walking down the promenade headed to Quarks when she had seen Worf assisting Jadzia towards sickbay. Jadzia had been holding a bloodied rag against her forehead and trying her best to stay conscious. Keiko had been in for a monthly check up when she saw Worf bring in his injured wife.

"Really Worf this was so irresponsible!" Keiko shook her head and stared off into the examination room where Jadzia was being checked out by Dr. Kelsey.

"I realize my mistake and if anything happens to her…" Worf's head dropped in shame.

"She's going to be fine Mr. Worf. It was only a small gash and no real harm done." Dr. Kelsey smiled brightly as he exited the examination room holding a medical data pad. Dr. Arana Kelsey had been assigned to DS9 four months ago and had been a favorite among many of the ladies on the station. He was a 21 year-old Maori, from New Zealand whose looks were something out of a story book. His black, neatly cropped hair only served to accentuate his olive skin and dark green eyes.

"Thank goodness!" Keiko sighed in relief. Worf turned his back away from the group and walked slowly towards the exit. This news should have made him feel better but he only felt worse for some reason. The doctor went on talking to Keiko and Kira but Worf was no longer paying attention. He stood at the exit gazing out at the promenade at the passersby. They all seemed to be moving in slow motion against the painful images of his mind's eye. In the blank of an eye every destructive memory which had brought him to this moment flashed through his mind. He saw his biological parents Mogh son of Worf and his mother Rae'Al; they were lying partially under the rubble of the destroyed Khitomer outpost. He felt anger and rage well up in his heart at this childhood memory. Next was the murder of his son's mother K'Elyher at the hands of the traitor Duras. He dropped his eyes to the ground momentarily and realized that those losses did not compare to what he had felt when he thought he had lost Jadzia.

In a way he had lost her indefinitely, what was left was the shell of a woman who could not remember anything about her life. He had been trying to help her for the past few days to reclaim even a fraction of who she once was; but it was clear to him now that there was no going back. Gone was Jadzia Dax and only Jadzia Lotta remained. This was something he had to accept, he lifted his eyes and stared out at the people on the promenade once more and just as he was about to return to the trio he left behind something caught his eye. It was actually not a something but a someone; a woman, a Trill woman. Besides Jadzia there were only three other trills on board, all males. She stood near a terminal leading from air-lock 7 with a mid-sized duffel bag slung over her shoulder. Worf could tell that although she was standing still and watching her surroundings, she was in a rush but didn't know where to go. After a moment she stopped a Ferengi who was walking by and she seemed to be inquiring information. Worf was about to turn away again when he saw the Ferengi point towards sickbay. The Trill woman shot a glance in his direction and they locked eyes. Before he knew it she had bee-lined for sickbay all the while keeping eye contact with the Klingon, a bold move in itself. Usually he would have taken offense to such a blatant action but this woman seemed familiar somehow. It wasn't until they stood face to face that he recognized her from a picture that Jadzia had kept hidden away in a crate in their closet.

"I'm looking for my sister, Jadzia. That Ferengi told me I could find her here."

"You are…"

"Itza Lotta-Bain and you, you must be Worf." So Jadzia had told her family about him after all.

"Yes…" He was at a loss for words, he had never even talked to anyone in his wife's family and now here stood her older sister. He was sure that Itza would provide him with yet another tongue lashing when she found out why Jadzia was back in the infirmary.

"Please, where is my sister?" She looked over his shoulder and saw the two women and man talking.

"She is inside but I feel it necessary to inform you of the situation before you see her; it may be hard for you to understand at first but I need you to try…"

"Why would it be hard, she's alive isn't she?"

"Yes she is alive but there are circumstances that…" Worf looked behind him and then towards Itza. He needed to talk to her in private away from the disapproving attitudes of Keiko and Kira. "If you would take a walk with me I will explain everything." Itza glanced over his shoulder one last time before letting herself be ushered away from sickbay. The two walked in silence towards what looked to be a sitting area surrounded by several replicators. Once they were seated Worf took a moment to gather his thoughts before he began.

Itza sat horrified as she listened to Worf recount the events that had transpired. Since the beginning of this damned war she had feared the worst for her sister. It was these troubling times that had made her wish constantly that she believed in a power higher than herself or science. If Worf and the doctors were right, her sister and everything they shared together growing up had been wiped away forever. Now she understood why Worf wanted to talk to her first, Jadzia would have had no idea who Itza was.

"Dr. Triss is right; rejoining a symbiont to a host has been tested and failed. There are eight cases on file and each ended in the death of both the host and symbiont or with permanent memory loss of the host and a vegetative state for the symbiont."

"I have been helping her to reclaim at least a part of who she was…who she is but after today I feel my efforts in that regard may be in vain."

"Maybe the key in helping her is to forget who she was and focus on who she is now. Jadzia has a chance to start over, re-invent herself. As much as you and I may dislike the idea she will never be my little sister that I grew up with, she's not my parent's rambunctious little girl anymore…and she's not the woman you married." This last gripped Worf's heart for he knew this to be truth.

"I do not know what to do." He balled his fist and placed them in his lap in fear that he would destroy the Replimat.

"I have no answer accept to be there for her, let this situation run its course and see what happens."

"I suppose that is all we can do…but I do not know if this station is the best place to help her deal with what has happened."

"You might be right about that; this place is a war zone." Itza looked around with slight disdain; she and the rest of the family had always disapproved of Jadzia's entry into Starfleet. 'You'll get yourself killed.' Their mother had shouted after a then 17 year-old Jadzia as she headed out of their home on Trill. The family had been in uproar for the last two days after Jadzia announced her enlistment.

Then…

"Jadzia, you can't do this!" Lorna Lotta grabbed her daughter by the arm right before she could make her escape out of the front door. Itza watched the exchange between her sister and mother. Jadzia was determined and nothing would stop her it seemed.

"It's my choice mother! This is what I want, this is what will make me happy and if you have a problem with it then that is your problem!"

"Are you forgetting about Elgin, he had the same fool idea you had and where is he now!? Where is your brother now!?" Lorna hoped desperately that her words and warning were sinking into her daughter's thick skull. Jadzia looked saddened for a moment and she seemed to be pondering her mother's pleas. But just as quickly as the sadness had come it left and Jadzia pulled away from her mother's grasp and said sharply, "Elgin did what he had to do and so am I!" And just like that she had walked out of her family's life…

Now…

Itza shook the thought of her brother Elgin from her mind and tried to focus on the matter at hand. Jadzia was still here and unlike Elgin she could help her sister. But the question was how?

"Maybe it would be better for her to leave the station. She needs peace and she will not get that here." Worf sat back in his chair and stroked his beard.

"My family and I are living on Earth now; maybe I could bring her back with me."

"I do not know, I promised her that I would stay with her through her adjustment process."

"Well we don't have to talk about this now; I really want to see her!" Itza stood in impatience.

"I will walk you back," was Worf's only reply.