ten_fwd | (no subject)

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"Oh, shut up Joran."

Ezri mumbled to herself. He had never been this vocal before, well, before the Rite of Emergence. Which wasn't a mistake. He did help her catch the killer, not that Benjamin or the others would ever know. That would not be a fun conversation. 'Why no, Ben, I didn't use what I learned in Forensic Psychology, I just used Joran.' It would go so well. But now? Now she had to be vigilant. Ezri wouldn't be able to bury his personality as deeply as Curzon or Jadzia. And Ezri didn't have training in the first place. She didn't want to accidentally almost stab someone with a butter knife again. Talk about embarrassing. Benjamin hadn't been exactly understanding when that happened. Thank goodness Odo had come along, and taken the knife out of her hand before something really bad had happened.

Ezri had intended to take a walk along the Promenade, clear her head. That was until she wasn't in the Promenade anymore. She was in a bar. And it wasn't Quark's. It was....Ezri took a few steps toward a console. The U.S.S. Enterprise? Oh and they were at warp. The Trill put a hand on her stomach and another on her temple trying to fight back the wave of nausea and flashes of Torias' shuttle accident. Dying. Crashing. Oh no.

"Okay Ezri, you can figure this out. Just start by not barfing all over the security guard eating his lunch. He wouldn't appreciate that at all."

Ezri talked to herself.

"One. Wormhole aliens? Two. Spacial phenomenon? Three. I could just be going nuts. That's my clinical assessment of myself."

Ezri closed her eyes, trying to sort through eight other lifetimes of memories to remember if anyone served or visited the Enterprise D. That was....Curzon or Jadzia's time? Maybe she was just hallucinating memories. Did that happen? Maybe she should qualify that. Did that happen to her? It probably didn't happen to another other Joined Trill. That's Ezri, nothing easy for Ezri.

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Henry had been sitting in Ten Forward for the first time in three weeks when he saw the woman with spots around her head talking to herself. He watched her for a moment before grabbing his bag and heading towards her, speaking once he got close enough so she hopefully didn't get a fright.

"Hey. You okay?"

Now if they had been on Deep Space Nine, the sight of a small child, a civilian, wouldn't have alarmed her. But here? The Enterprise wasn't exactly a passenger ship. Ezri thought about crouching down to his level but thought against it when she felt another lurch.

"Warp just makes me a little queasy. Actually space in general makes me queasy. I know, I know, aren't I a great Starfleet officer?" Maybe she could as Captain Picard to slow down.

"I'm Counselor....." Well if this really was the Enterprise and not a hallucination, what did she say? Did she say Dax? "I'm Ezri. Do you know what happened?"

Henry smiled. At least she wasn't asking about his family situation.

"I'm Henry." He also had the same name issue, not wanting to be related to the man who looked like his father. "And I'm not sure I like warp too much myself." It wasn't bad but maybe it would make Ezri feel better to know she wasn't the only one.

"Apparently there's a guy called Q having fun with time and space. I'm guessing you're not originally from the Enterprise?"

"Q." And she didn't see Ben around to sock the guy. Maybe when the ship slowed down from warp and she was feeling a bit more Curzon-ish, Ezri would go give Q a piece of her mind. He could have all eight.

"Hi Henry. Where are you from originally? I'm from a station in the Bajoran sector." Although technically where was she now? What was Dax doing right now?

"Storybrooke, Maine." He paused, then continued. "That's on Earth. Or it was in my time. Year 2011." Having been here a few months now, he knew what to say and how to say it.

"Bajoran sector. I've read about that. There's a space station which seems to have different names depending on who you ask but I think it's called Terok Nor in this time period." Yup. Henry's a studious one.

Terok Nor. She was right. It was either Curzon or Jadzia. "Wow, you've certainly done your homework. I'm impressed. " But the mere fact that he was from 2011 was not good. Really, really not good. This was messing things up on such a temporal level. He shouldn't be here. It was bad enough she was here. But Henry was so far out of his element.

"I'm from 2375. Do you know what year it is here?"

Henry shrugged. "Not much else to do around here." Especially when you shut yourself up in your room for three weeks to avoid your birth father and the man who looks like your adoptive father. "Besides, it's not hard when you ask people. There's a Cardassian called Gul Dukat who works there. And Doctor Julian who works there when it's called Deep Space Nine. And the computer will answer anything about history I ask it. So far at least."

He nods. He's learnt that much. "2366. Haven't figured out stardates yet though."

2366. Curzon then. He would be alive for another year until Jadzia got the symbiont in 2367.

"Gul Dukat is here?" Ezri felt her stomach sour, and her nausea increase. She flashed back to Jadzia, in the Bajoran Temple, wanting to thank the Prophets for helping herself and Worf overcome interspecies problems and hopefully conceive. But it wasn't to be. She died there. Ezri could still remember the smell, the pain. No matter how many times you went through it, dying never got any easier.

"And Julian." Oh no. What if he didn't know her yet! Oh this wasn't good. She started to tear up, easily overwhelmed now, Emony's emotions fluttering to the surface.

"You know them?" Henry kicked himself mentally and rambled on a little. "Well it would make sense than you know Julian since you work in the same space station and since Dukat used to so there'd be some overlap I guess. You'll probably see Julian when you have your scan later on and Dukat will be around somewhere, most likely with his daughter."

Realising he was rambling, he stopped. "Sorry."

Dax went a little cold, and stopped. Scan. "What? What scan?" What do you mean why scan. He means a medical scan, dummy. Julian's probably going to do a quick scan. Oh great. There was no way he'd be able to miss Dax. And if Jadzia was still around in his timeline, well, how much more could she screw things up?

Ezri wasn't sure which scared her more. Seeing Julian or seeing Dukat. Dukat was a dangerous man, a dangerous man who killed her. But, in 2366, he didn't know her. And he wasn't that crazy, so she was safe. Julian was not safe.

"Everyone has a scan and a shot with one of those...hyposprays I think he called them? Anyway, everyone has a scan and a shot when they get on board. It's harmless and painless. And Julian will probably be happy to see you."

Henry found Julian acceptable company. He wasn't fond of doctors but he was better company than any of the adults around here so maybe he was the exception. "I'm sure you'll have had one before since you're from the future, even here."

"Of course!" Ezri felt like hitting herself on the forehead, so she did. "Stupid! I should probably report to Captain Picard so he knows I'm here too. They don't exactly have my medical records back in 2366." Well they did, it was just for a 100 year old man.

"Julian might be happy to see me." She conceded. "Or...he might not. Maybe I can request another doctor."

"I met Captain Picard." Henry didn't really have much to say about the man. Mostly because he wasn't sure how his thoughts would be received because he was the Captain.

"And there's plenty doctors. Maybe you can?" Henry knew that too since he'd basically camped out in sickbay for days after the cave in on the planet.

And while she was there somehow get her records sealed from Julian. That wasn't suspicious at all. If only Garak was here. He'd know what to do. Or, she could be an adult and go talk to Captain Picard. And NOT break down in his office. Adult Starfleet officers did not go into their commanding officers quarters or offices to cry. He wasn't Ben. He wouldn't appreciate it.

"I hope so. This is getting so complicated."

"You have no idea." Henry muttered, more to himself than to Ezri, trying not to think about his own situation.

"Sickbay is on Deck 12 if you want to go there. Everyone can get there. But the bridge and engineering and all the cool things are off limits to people who shouldn't be here." Like us, Ezri.

That brought up an interesting question. Should we go to the bridge. Or....would Captain Picard prefer she just keep out of ship's business. Well. One thing was for sure. The only way to find out was to ask him.

"Well, until I'm able to find the Captain, why don't you tell me about yourself. How are you doing here? It must be really different than what you're used to."

Henry shrugged again. He had nothing better to do. "Why don't we sit down then? I don't mind talking as long as it's not all about me." Ezri had been crouching at his level for a while now so if they were going to keep talking, it made sense they used a table.

He also neatly side-stepped the questions because talking about himself wasn't the easiest subject.

Ezr nodded and followed Henry to a table, sitting down. It hadn't escaped her notice that he had neatly ignored her question about, well, anything regarding him.

Interesting.

"You're not getting away that easily. How about I ask you a question, and then you get to ask me a question. Deal?"

Henry shivered at the word Deal quite involuntarily but nodded as he sat down. Ezri may or may not notice how he keeps his backpack close to him while they're sat.

"Okay. First question..." He ponders for a moment, not really bothering to stay on the topics they have been talking about and probably asking something wildly inappropriate. But his family never was known for it's tact. "So I think you're a Trill because of the spots. Am I right?" Get confirmation first, then dig deeper.

"You really have been studying. That's quite good for someone from 21st century Earth." Jadzia would have liked this one. He seemed like a good gambler. Probably would be a hell of a Tongo player when he grew up.

"Did your parents come with you?" Or was there a guardianless boy running around a Federation Starship now, thanks to Q?

"Like I said. Nothing better to do." It was Henry's way of dealing with something new. Learn everything you could about it. Twice.

And then came the question he was dreading. But he answered it simply and without any emotion. "No."

His turn again. "So how many life times are you up to?"

Two could play that game Henry. Dax was always a good gambler. She could almost see Jadzia at the Tongo wheel, slapping down cards and coin, saying 'evade'.

"You know Henry, not every Trill lives multiple lives. Some don't want to be Joined. And it's rare to get a Symbiont. There aren't that many."

"You could have just said one. But I get the feeling that's not the case with you." Call it a hunch.

"Really? Why is that?"

If this kid said she had old eyes, she was going to hurt Julian. Or maybe Jadzia for giving Ezri her eyes.

"That's two questions. You shouldn't cheat at your own game."

Yes, he's keeping count. Feel free to pick one though.