Gaven spent the rest of the morning in the isolation room, recovering himself until he was right enough to retreat to his quarters for the day. Meanwhile, the rest of Julian's day settled back into a typical normalcy. Julian was not about to just dismiss what had occurred and there were good odds that they both new it. So it wasn't surprising to Gaven when, sometime later that day, the computer indicated someone was waiting at his door.

"Come in," Gaven said from his spot on the sofa he'd planted himself on with a blanket, pillow, and datapad in his lap.

A purposeful looking Julian stepped into the apartment and waited for the door to close behind him before he cut right to the chase of what had brought him there.

"Explain," Julian demanded.

"Which part?" Gaven could tell the doctor was not very pleased and had been brooding about it most of the day.

"How about we aim for just about all of it. How's that?" Julian almost spat.

"Won't you sit down?" Gaven offered, intentionally ignoring the doctor's tone.

Julian obliged him but never took his eyes off the man.

"Well shall we do this interrogation style or do you want to go with a softer interview like approach?" Gaven inquired while adjusting his pillow before folding his hands in his lap.

"What did that woman tell you and how did you go about getting it out of her?" Julian wasn't pulling any punches and launched right in.

"Interrogation style, it is." Gaven sighed and cleared his throat. "As far as I can tell her species communicates using a combination of throat sounds, sign language, chemical signaling, and emotional telepathy. Her clothing and posture indicated she was likely an important figure from a matriarchal society. Perhaps an emissary or even a cultural leader. While you might not have understood her, she clearly understood what she was doing enough to realize where she needed to take her child for treatment and who to ask for aid. You'll have noticed the adult's body temperature was significantly high. Probably a kind of biological normality. As a mature adult, I'd wager that it was typical to see. The child was a juvenile though, too young and underdeveloped to regulate its body temperature in the same way she could. And so, as children are apt to do, the little one likely came down with a run of the mill fever in transit that just got a little out of hand. As for what she said to me when I linked with her for lack of a better word…"

"Linked? So, wait a moment. Did you link with her? As in telepathically?" Julian pressed.

"I linked with her, yes, biologically. It's more empathic than it is telepathic although in theory if I was dealing with certain species with telepathic abilities, I suppose I could probably communicate with them in that way. As I said, this was more emotional and biological. As a result, I was able to piece together a few theoretical possibilities. Since she knew you couldn't understand her she was mainly trying to show you what to do instead. Frankly, she found your lack of comprehension to be highly frustrating. That was the gist of it."

"She thought me stupid?" Julian protested.

"In not so many words. I think a closer translation to her sentiments would have been that she found you to be inept.'" Gaven replied smiling slightly.

"Oh. Well that's just so much better. What do you mean, in not so many words? Stupid and inept or both SINGLE words." He fumed.

"Can we get past this, please? I think that you're letting your indignity sideline you from your other burning questions." Gaven muttered.

"Right. So how did you know the little one wanted to latch onto you?" Julian continued.

"I figured that if the mother could have controlled the child's temperature herself, she would have. I also hypothesized that assuming she was from a matriarchal society there was a possibility that in her culture males would be expected to fulfill nurturing aspects of parenting. When it comes to survival, juveniles tend to do what's instinctual. A hungry juvenile mammal, for example, will on instinct seek out its mother's teat and try to latch. This child was trying to do the same thing to us by latching on so that it could try to disperse its body heat. We were the only males in the room after all. So I made an educated guess and it just happened to be right. Despite my empathic advantages I still use modern deductive reasoning, doctor." Gaven explained.

Julian tilted his head down and then up again as if he saw some opportunity.

"Are the Oum a matriarchal society, by chance?" Julian asked carefully.

He was no doubt trying to back his way into inquiring about the gill-like openings upon the man's abdomen.

Gaven knew what Julian was fishing for and tried to hold back an amused close-lipped smile. "No as a matter of fact."

Julian didn't say anything and waited.

"My people, doctor, do a tremendous amount of compensating for the radiation exposure we're afflicted by. While my people have developed a natural tolerance, we can't generally escape the logical consequences of such exposure. Congenital disabilities are common, as well as severe deformities and other deficiencies during the development process. That's why my people developed telepathic and empathic abilities. To ensure communication and connection between those who would otherwise not be able to achieve it through natural biological means. Procreation is orchestrated very carefully by my people, and for the most part, a large amount of congenital abnormality is acceptable, even embraced and preferred in Oum society. Many Oum are intersex with varying reproductive abilities." Gaven explained.

"Your people embrace genetic mutation and deformity? Well, that is a new one. You look remarkably developed considering what you're inferring." Julian noted gently trying to hold back a deep sense of alarm at the idea.

"Sometimes anomalies happen. Oum like myself who do not present with any distinct abnormalities have their genetics harvested so that we may breed others like us for service or be bound to compatible gentry in order to prolong their lives." Gaven said neatly.

"You're bred into servitude for being born unencumbered? That's ludicrous." Julian protested.

"It is the honor and duty of the bondservant to act as living extensions of our bondmaster's minds and bodies. My people covet their mutations as the highest expression of beauty and individualism." Gaven let out an exulting sigh.

"Every culture has its unique appreciation for aesthetics," Gaven said distantly. "Anyway, it doesn't matter now, I'm human. Remember?"

"Remarkable." Julian got to his feet as his mind began to spin and spin forming fast connections around what the other doctor had revealed. "I think we did a fair good amount of work today. I'm glad you were there, and I look forward to seeing what other professional adventures we can get up to. Well, I suppose I've taken up just about enough of your time for the evening. I think I'm going to go and seek out a good…game of darts. Care to come along?"

"No. Thank you, Doctor. I'd rather stay in and get an early start tomorrow. I'll see you then." Gaven replied.

"Yes. Tomorrow. Goodnight then." Julian saluted and headed for the exit. His mind reeling like mad despite his calm looking demeanor.

"Oh. Before you go, Doctor Bashir. The answer to the question you didn't ask me is 'yes.' I am functionally intersex. I'll see you in the morning." Gaven's eyes had fallen back upon his datapad though he didn't need to look up to know that Julian had stiffened before he'd recovered himself and let himself out.

In his absence, Gaven smiled to himself indulgently but the satisfied feeling lasted only a minute before his memories had him scowling once more.

For the next few days, Gaven kept to himself while working and spent a great deal of his time out of the office. Starfleet didn't have any records or documentation on the species he and Dr. Bashir had treated, and Gaven wanted to remedy the fact.

His absence gave Julian ample time to consider the things Gaven had said and not said about his people. More than anything he was finding it frustrating not to be able to vent about his thoughts openly. Julian's tolerance for his unfulfilled curiosity finally got the better of him by the end of the second day Gaven had been away. Apparently, he was conversing and spending time with the alien woman.

"I don't like it," Julian grumbled as he and Jadzia examined some data regarding the Poly radiation they were supposed to be analyzing.

"Don't like what?" Dax distractedly asked as she compared the Data Gaven had given her to other known radiation types in the computer database.

"All this cloak and dagger business we're dealing with. Here we are trying to beat back the Dominion. Everything is in shambles, and then out of nowhere a man appears who possibly could be the answers to all our problems, but we're not allowed to know a damn thing about anything to do with him. Who are the Oum? Why after all this time have they changed their behavior and allowed one of their own to leave the planet?"

"You know Julian sometimes you need to stick around a little longer during briefings. I think Dr. Ore has been very candid about why he's here. More so than he is required to be. It also seems he's quite willing to answer questions when they're directly put to him and asked by people that are allowed to know. If you want insight into his culture, homeworld, and circumstances so badly why don't you just ask him about it?" Jadzia muttered.

"I have a little. Frankly, it seems downright bewildering to know even a little of what I've learned." Julian confessed.

"Maybe that's the whole point, Julian. All politics aside maybe Dr. Ore left his home world because he was disturbed by the same things you are. Different cultures have different rules and expectations. Usually, people get expelled because they're either unwilling or unable to conform to those rules and expectations. I feel sad for him, frankly. It's just that he's so brilliant and has so much to offer and now he's lost everything. Did you know that he has an eidetic memory? All of the data he gave us from his homeworld was transcribed from memory. He wasn't able to take anything off world with him. Can you imagine what that must be like?" Jadzia asked rhetorically.

Julian did know what it was like to be eidetic given he had the same ability. Though somehow he doubted that Dax had gotten it completely right. It appeared that Gaven had many unique skills that no one would have suspected.

"What I am happy about is I think he might have found a friend. There's this beautiful red woman I've seen him with the last few days. He looks peaceful around her. Who knows, maybe there's something there." Dax shrugged.

"Somehow I doubt it. Gaven's probably looking to write a dissertation on her for Starfleet or Vulcan." Julian muttered dismissively.

"Wow, so that's it. Huh. You disappoint me, Julian, I thought you were above that kind of pettiness." Jadzia said flatly. "I can't believe you're jealous of Dr. Ore."

What? No. I'm not jealous of him. That's ridiculous." Julian protested.

"Is it? Did you see his equivalency scores? They're not fabrications. Dr. Ore has enough medical and scientific knowledge in his fields to put both of us to shame, and I've been through how many lifetimes? He's an amazing asset to have on our side. Face it, Julian. You're used to being the best around here. You're a medical prodigy and everyone likes you. You've already achieved so much so quickly, and now you're faced with a man that might just be better than you and you don't even have the satisfaction of knowing how much better he is or how he got to be that way. You like him too, and it bugs you that you have to really try with him." Jadzia pointed out in her matter-of-fact way.

"Well, he may be brilliant, but he's also deeply depressed, isolated, and…and I'm really at a loss for how to help him. I just wish I knew more about his circumstances." Julian admitted as he thought about the medical trouble Gaven was heading towards and how little Julian had yet to learn that could help him.

"Well considering he gave up his planet, his people, his culture, and his identity…I'd say that is to be expected. As for the rest, maybe the best way to help him is to be there for him. If he'll let you and if you can manage it. I can't imagine what it must be like to keep such huge secrets about your life from people." Jadzia mused.

Julian, on the other hand, could imagine it and felt creeping wedge of empathy wiggle its way into his chest. "I'll have you know I've tried to befriend him. I ask him out to lunch, to darts…He never takes me up on any of it or extends an invitation in return."

"Maybe he doesn't like public places. Think about it, Julian. He knows we're all curious about him and he knows he has to be careful what he says and where. Although it seems like when you ask him things directly and in private he's more than willing to answer questions and converse about his experiences. Maybe instead of inviting him out to things you should try spending time with him in private." Jadzia pointed out. "It can't hurt to try."

Later that evening Gaven was in his quarters for the day writing reports and trying to ignore the lurking darkness of his thoughts. The night had been painful for him with dreams of his final days on Oum as well as haunting memories of what had come after. When he eventually awoke, he found himself in intense physical and emotional pain. Greif consumed him and his muscles ached with the muscle memory of long hours of interrogation and subtle torture.

Writing the reports through the day in his quarters instead of in his office had helped to contain but not relieved his suffering completely and had served only to numb him until he felt utterly hollow and wrung out inside. Putting down his pad after several hours of work done lounging upon his favorite sofa, Gaven finally put his pad aside and crossed his arms to stare into the space of the room. How long was he to go on like this? He wondered. Displeased with himself Gaven finally stood, he'd grown stiff from lounging in one position for so long and moved towards a display table that sat near the far wall of his quarters close to the entry door.

Gaven hadn't meditated on his feelings for some time. He preferred to live with the debilitating and intrusive heaviness of his feelings instead of trying to purge them. Maybe in a way, he felt that holding onto his suffering was likened to holding on to the memory of his world now lost.

On the table was what looked like a simple collection of crystals and a dark stone obelisk or two. At the center was a small, engraved metal box that glowed and pulsed gently. Gaven hovered near the metal box his eyes focused on it. Eventually, he took it up in his hand. Sighing to himself, Gaven turned around and allowed himself to slide down into a sitting position on the floor with his back rested against the display. He then held the box in front of him and hesitated a moment before he triggered it to open and display the three-dimensional image of himself standing and laughing with a figure hanging upon his back.

"Come, Lopel Ner. Look! Look! Look! See? We've missed it again. I don't know how I'll ever forgive you." The box said as it projected a brief hologram of Lopel Ner chuckling and clinging to his back.

The audio of the memory box made Gaven suddenly smile as tears welled once more in his eyes and he choked a little, mourning both easy men he saw reflected before him. Gaven raised his free hand to touch the projection which flickered and replayed itself a few more times.

"Yes, we've missed it again, Lopel Ner. We've missed it again." He repeated to himself.

Gaven might have given himself over to a few heart-wrenching sobs had the bell on his door not suddenly rung jarring him into hurried composure. Getting quickly to his feet, Gaven closed the box and put it back in place before he briskly scrubbed at his face and upon the second ring brought himself to answer the door.

"Doctor…What, what can I do for you?" Gaven was surprised Julian was on the other side of the door holding in his arms a bottle of some blue liquid and a package of food.

"Good evening, Doctor. A patient of mine gifted me with a bottle of blue Acrelian mead and since I happened to be on this side of the habitation ring, I thought you might be interested in testing it with me. I'm told it's supposed to have quite an interesting effect. I also brought dinner along. I figured if the mead isn't to our liking, we could console ourselves with something more palatable. Since you helped on the patient case last week, I felt it only fair that you get half of the resulting spoi…" Julian had been making such a show of his gesture that he hadn't bothered to look at Gaven directly until just near the end of his speech.

When he did, he was alarmed to see the state the man was in. The good doctor looked sick and pale, his eyes seemed more hooded than usual and appeared bruised as if he'd been rubbing at his face all day and though his clothes were in order, he radiated a disheveled wild kind of energy that made his hawkish glare almost alarming.

"Gaven are you ill? You look like hell." Julian muttered.

"I'm fine. Please, come in." Not wanting to discuss his state of mind out in the open Gaven saw no choice but to retreat into his quarters and allow Julian to come with him. "I'm just a little out of sorts today."

"Why do I feel as if that is an understatement?" Julian inquired lightly.

"Because it probably is." Gaven smiled slowly, unable to resist subtle honesty just then.

"Well, perhaps it's a good thing I dropped by. Nothing beats a somber mood than a good meal, some alien spirits, and some company." Julian said in that over-the-top stage fashion he liked to use when trying to lighten the mood.

"Really. I'm appreciative, but you don't have to do this. I'm quite alright." Gaven protested.

"Oh contrar', I want to do this. And anyway, I outrank you as the CMO of this station and your physician. Sit and eat something. You'll feel better, and it'll make me feel better to see you do it." Julian wasn't above pulling rank and professional status when it was warranted. "I don't know what's going on with you, but it's been building for weeks and I'm not the only one worried about you. I am however able to help you. If you'll let me."

"I see." Gaven said, "In that case, I suppose it would be rude of me to avoid your charity and professional concern."

Gaven settled into a chair near the small round dining table and gestured for Julian to proceed.

"Good," Julian said approvingly as he jumped right into unpacking in that directive way that indicated he was in no mood to be swayed.

For the next forty-five minutes, Julian watched with a doctor's concern as Gaven slowly ate whatever was put before him until he started to gain back some proper coloring. Julian was almost sure the man hadn't eaten since the day before, and once he had, it seemed like his mood lightened considerably.

"Well, doctor? Shall we get started?" Gaven suddenly said when he caught Julian starting to stare off into space for the lack of conversation between them. "I'm sure you didn't come here just to feed me. We should find something safe to talk about."

"Indeed. I know. What was it like on that Vulcan Freighter? You were there for some time, I understand?" Julian dropped out of his stupor and launched right in.

"Eight months. Granted I was mostly unconscious for the first three, but it was still a long time. As candidates go, I can see why the Vulcan's are a desirable first contact species. At the time they found me I had been expelled from Oum and was floating around in space barely clinging to life. I think if they had not had some telepathic abilities, they might have accidentally blasted my tomb-like transport out of space or ignored it outright. But one of them felt my distress and convinced the crew to investigate and ultimately extract me." Gaven said candidly.

"That's terrible. Why not just kill you on your world if your people were planning to go about it like that and leave you for dead anyway." Julian muttered.

"Peace Doctor," Gaven said evenly looking down into his lap. "The Oum are not as cruel as they sound. My people don't believe in execution. But they do believe in honorable suicide when certain conditions have been met. My actions on Oum warranted the course that was taken, and, in many ways, it was an exceptional kind of compromise."

"I'd like to think being exile from one's home planet when you are not a species that allows contact with other ones could be likened to willfully murdering a person. In spirit anyway." Julian remarked. "I don't understand what you could have possibly done to deserve being jettisoned like that into space."

"Mm. I willfully defied the rules of my culture in an unacceptable way. The knowledge of that choice weighs heavily upon me. But in the end, it was my right to decide the means of my ritual suicide and if I had no intention of dying in the process that was of no consequence to the fact that an example still had to be made."

"So, it was a calculated gamble." Julian was trying to follow along without prying too much into the specifics of the situation. "Did you really plan to be found out in space?"

Gaven scoffed. "At the time I can't say I was in any condition to be calculating about anything. What I do know is all thought and feeling has a certain frequency. Who is anyone to know what can and does pick up on such things?"

"You called the Vulcan's to you?" Picking up the implications, Julian felt impressed. He hadn't thought Gaven's telepathic abilities were as strong as all that.

"In my suffering and despair, I reached out to anyone or thing that could have been listening on the off chance someone heard me. To my surprise someone did. As for being on the freighter the Vulcan's treated me like they would most first contact situations, with caution. Although my telepathic abilities convinced them rather logically that I was from an advanced, intellectually aware, and space capable species. So, since they weren't a science vessel but happened to be carrying well connected passengers, they had no choice but to drop me at the closest Vulcan controlled starbase as a refugee." He explained.

"There was a young Vulcan ambassador who happened to be traveling with them. He was the one who saved my life. When we melded our minds, he found due reason to assist me and over time the other Vulcan's curiosity outweighed their sense of risk. I like to think they came to respect both my emotional depth and the strong mental control the Oum cultivate which I think feels like an intriguing contradiction of logic to them. In exchange for my assistance with some problems they had later, they agreed to allow me to learn about their culture and eventually opened their common database to me. I essentially spent the rest of my trip absorbing information in a containment bay." Gaven finished.

"Fascinating. Do you know how to do that neck pinch thing Vulcans are so famous for?" Julian asked with childlike interest. "I've always wanted to be able to do it but can't seem to get the technique right."

"Yes, and it's probably because your energy exchange isn't fine-tuned enough. Humans can achieve it, but it requires some telepathic predisposition and projection. Most humans aren't self-aware enough to accomplish it." Gaven explained.

"But you can do it?" Julian noted.

"Yes. But then again, I'm not a human, and as you've seen, I have some telepathic and empathetic abilities natural to my species." Gaven replied humbly.

At that Julian finally cracked open the mead and poured for them. "Speaking of that. I've been meaning to ask you something on the personal side having to do with something from a while back. I swear you answered my question but naturally that led to more questions and being a doctor and in the name of scientific discovery I was just wondering…I mean if it's too personal please feel free to not tell me about it…"

Gaven chuckled slightly. The first time Julian had ever seen him exhibit evidence of a sense of humor.

"You want to know about the…" Gaven wiggled a pointer finger between his chest and abdomen indicating he knew exactly what Julian was referring to from before. "As I said before, doctor, the answer is yes."

Julian grinned wide and blushed slightly proving he was both satisfied and embarrassed by the suggestion that he'd possibly been thinking about Gaven's anatomical features for so long. "Have you ever carried children?"

With a smile still on his face, Gaven picked up his mead glass and sipped from it before answering in that humble though amused way he had of displaying when he felt warmed by someone else's interest in him. "No."

"Is…Uh. Do all Oum come equipped?" Julian asked taking a big swig from his glass.

Gaven smiled more fully and drank again. "You don't have to be so delicate about it, doctor. And the answer is no. I requested to be genetically modified later and was given carrier rights through augmentation. Procreation you understand is a very delicate matter on Oum since most of our people are either sterile or biologically incapable of carrying offspring safely. Breeding is carefully controlled and often done via surrogate, those like me are particularly favorable because we have ideal bodies for the task that put less stress on a fetus that is already likely to struggle to form completely in the first place."

"Interesting. For a people who reduce the able like yourself to a subservient position in your society they still largely prefer you for…carriers." Julian's indignity began to rise slightly.

"Life is full of contradictions." Gaven sympathized.

"If you requested the modification you must have been planning to…" Julian surmised realizing too late that it was perhaps insensitive for him to ask more probing questions about Gaven's intentions.

Gaven didn't say anything, but the look on his face said more than Julian was comfortable with.

"I'm sorry. Forget I said anything. You've been more than candid on the subject to appease my curiosity." Julian backtracked.

"Do you want children, Julian?" Gaven asked casually. His smile had dropped away and was obstructed by his glass as he finished it off.

"Well, I don't know really. It would be such a big decision, and I haven't met anyone that fit the bill if you will. Many humans like to be paired when it comes to these things. But, uh, yes. I suppose I would like to be a parent if I ever got the chance. I like to think I'd make for a good father someday despite not having the best of models to work from." It didn't escape Julian's attention that this was the first time that night Gaven had addressed him by his first name instead of by his title.

"The Oum like to be paired too whenever possible but for more practical reasons and not just emotional ones," Gaven remarked.

At this Julian was tempted to ask what Gaven's circumstances had been regarding the subject while on Oum but he thought it impolite just then and refrained from posing the question.

"Right. I believe it's time for a second round." Julian said to change the subject.

"Yes. This may also be a good chance for you to explain this game of yours to me you're always talking about. What was it called again?" Gaven asked.

"Darts. It's called darts." Now it seemed it was Julian's turn to smile.