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Kira watched disinterestedly from the top level of the promenade as Bashir and Garak strolled leisurely back to the Infirmary after their lunch date. She sighed. The doctor was going on about some old Earth tradition to the apparent (feigned) interest of the Cardassian.
"Ah, it's quite fascinating, actually,” Bashir began enthusiastically. Kira rolled her eyes. "It comes from the Old English for 'All Hallow's Eve', which was when they thought that the spirits of the Underworld were closest to the world of the living. Or, something like that..." he trailed off.
"Really, my dear doctor? And how did they choose to mark this occasion?" Garak asked.
"At first, they would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off evil, but over time it evolved into a more secular affair. Nowadays children dress up and go around asking for sweets, and adults watch horror movies designed to terrify us and joke around about superstitions like black cats and full moons. It’s really quite good fun!” he replied.
“How odd that your species hasn’t evolved past this primitive celebration.” Garak said, dryly. Now Bashir rolled his eyes. “I do have a certain curiosity for Terran delusions, however.”
“Well, luckily for you, I had Quark find me a holoprogram of a vintage 22nd century horror movie! We have to escape from a high school while a rageful killer tries to come after us.” The doctor was punctuating his words with dramatic hand gestures, almost smacking a nearby Bajoran child in the face. Kira heard Garak enquire about what sort of clothing he’d need to prepare for this endeavour as they walked out of her hearing range. Bloody Federation types with their holosuites, she thought, irritated. Kira never could understand what they saw in them. Was real life not stimulating enough? Going the rest of her life without ever having to use a phaser again would be far preferable to seeking out violence in her free time. Unless the phaser was pointed at Dukat. And possibly not at the lowest setting. Grinning at that thought, she set off to meet Dax and discuss the newest plans to send a runabout to chart a meteorite in the Gamma Quadrant.
Some time later, Kira and Dax were sitting at Quark’s drinking pints of Synthale. Jadzia was trying to get the Major to let her hair down a bit (well, poor choice of phrase) as she had noticed Kira had been stressing over the situation on Bajor. She laughed as Kira finished a story about Sisko finding out some antics of Jake and Nog, and began to formulate a plan.
“Hey Nerys, would you like to take a trip to the holosuites some day soon? I wouldn’t mind a chance to dress up in some beautiful costume or another,” she asked, somewhat coyly.
Kira remembered Bashir’s ramblings about the old Earth tradition that she had overheard earlier that day.
“Oh, you know how I feel about holosuites.” Kira replied. Even Jadzia had been infected with the Federation make-believe bug. She was about to make a snarky comment on that topic when she noticed Dax was leaning towards her, smiling just the way that made her eyes sparkle. “Now that you mention it, though, Julian was going on about a holoprogram he has that’s based on a Terran horror movie. I think it’d serve him right for bothering us all the time if we borrowed it for an evening.” she conceded. Dax leaned back, satisfied.
“Does tomorrow night sound good?” Jadzia said.
“Sounds like a plan.” Kira thanked Quark and walked back to her quarters, looking forward to some much needed rest.
Kira felt very self conscious in the suit she had to wear for the program. Jadzia had claimed the role of the fair maiden in distress, which was apparently a common character in Earth media at the time. That left Kira as the maiden’s prom date, an Earth version of the Bajoran religious balls that used to be held. She didn’t like to think much about Bashir and Garak playing those characters, but probably one of Julian’s blonde spy girls would fill Jadzia’s role. Engrossed by her disgust, she looked up to see Jadzia sitting at the bar at Quark’s. Her dress was bright purple, and it was made of a peculiar shiny fabric that reflected the light wonderfully. Kira’s breath caught for a split second, before she scolded herself. Here we go again , she thought. Snap out of it.
“Will you go to prom with me?” she asked, trying her best to look nonchalant while reciting the line she memorised from the holoprogram description.
“Gladly.” Jadzia said. She took Nerys’ arm, and they strolled up the stairs to the holosuites. “Looking forward to it?” Dax said, deliberately poking the wasps nest. Kira glared at her, albeit somewhat gently.
“Well, may as well get it over with. It’ll be a good distraction from the troubles on Bajor.” She knew Jadzia enjoyed pushing her buttons. They often teased each other, but neither of them took it seriously. She thought fondly back to that time where they both had to crowd into that tiny Bajoran space shuttle, and were poking fun at each other right until they crash landed. The feeling of Jadzia’s hand on her arm as the Trill pulled her up again flashed unbidden into her mind. Damn it! came her thoughts. Right after that trip was when she finally admitted to herself that she had feelings for Jadzia. Maybe it was the Bajoran nose Dax wore, she laughed. Even if you fancy her, you know she doesn’t fancy you. Just stop fantasising about this– Jadzia’s elbow dug into her side.
“Hey, back to reality, Kira. We’re here!” Jadzia said, as they walked through the holosuite doors. They found themselves on a street in America, Nerys remembered from the program notes. There was a row of houses stretching out towards either side of them, and behind them was a quaint suburban bungalow with two holograms waving goodbye and taking photos of them with what Kira could only assume was a very primitive type of computer. A sleek black car pulled up on the road in front of them, and the driver invited them to get in.
“You first.” said Kira, and she helped Jadzia lift up the swishing purple fabric of her dress. There went her heart again, blast the bloody thing. When they were both sitting down and the car was cruising along, they caught each other's eyes and burst out laughing.
“Weird, isn’t it?” Kira said. “Haven’t been in a vehicle that touches the ground in a while!”
“Last time I was in one of these was back when Emony was at the gymnastics competition on Earth.” Jadzia said. She smiled wistfully, as Kira noted she often did when recalling her past hosts. They were soon engrossed in conversation about Earth sports, until the driver pulled over.
“We’ve arrived!” he announced. “Enjoy your night, ladies.” They thanked him and climbed out of the limousine. Kira heard Jadzia gasp, and as she looked up she saw a horrible looking modern, cuboid building, with a massive sign that read ‘Senior Prom 2137’. It did not suit her Bajoran sensibilities in the slightest, and neither did the wreath of blue balloons surrounding it. Clearly Dax felt the same way, as she turned to Kira clearly trying not to laugh, which made her mouth do the triangle shaped thing it was oft to do in these situations.
“Reminds of some of your parties.” Kira deadpanned. Jadzia laughed heartily, not in the least offended. Kira watched her eyes crinkle and smiled sadly, waiting for the critical thoughts to come flooding forth. Before she had time, Jadzia took her arm again and led her through the doors to the gymnasium.
“You’re very thoughtful today, I’m glad you’ll have a distraction from all that while you dance the night away with me.” Jadzia said, in her usual flirtatious manner. Kira could never tell if she was just always like that, or if she really meant it. Well, she never thought Jadzia meant it with her, obviously. By that point they were inside the gymnasium, and looking around she noticed the same nauseating decoration scheme was filling the room. There was even a photo booth with props of stars and moons, which she surmised was due to the outer space theme. Julian did have a peculiar sense of humour, she supposed. He had probably gotten it altered to be relevant to Deep Space Nine. That sounded about right.
“Do you think Julian chose these decorations especially?” Jadzia asked.
“I had the same thought exactly.” Kira said. Being in such close proximity to Dax until this point had kept Kira’s mind off of her distaste for holosuites, but now that had worn off and frustration set in. What was she doing here? Jadzia seemed to notice her change in mood immediately, and frowned. Kira pulled herself out of it and walked them both to the middle of the dance floor. The son playing was upbeat and light, and they soon began to move in time to it. Jadzia was far better than Kira, although the Bajoran supposed that was because she had had many more lifetimes to perfect the art. Kira was however coordinated enough, although less confident.
“Do you know when the horror bit starts?” Kira yelled, straining to be heard over the blasting music.
“It should be soon!” came Jadzia’s shouted response. Abruptly, the song ended. A new one began, slow and emotional. All the couples around them held each other, swaying slowly to the beat. Dax took Kira’s shoulders in her hands, looking gently down at her. Kira copied the people around her and held Jadzia’s waist. Now there was no stopping her heart from beating nearly out of her chest. She could barely meet Jadzia’s eyes, although she managed a weak smile in an attempt to make the situation less awkward. The worst part was that Jadzia seemed to be perfectly calm. Surely she couldn't have felt the same way, or she would have been as much a mess as Kira. Despite the constant battering her hope got, she sensed a small flicker of it in her chest. Looking at Dax in the low light, swaying back and forth, she couldn’t imagine anything more beautiful. ‘I found a girl, beautiful and sweet. I never knew you were the someone waiting for me.’ That was enough to make Kira almost cry. She could tell the song was about to end, and she rested her head on Jadzia’s shoulder, looking up into her eyes, hope tearing her apart. Jadzia looked down at her, and her lips moved almost imperceptibly closer to Nerys’. She closed her eyes, saying a prayer to the Prophets.
Suddenly, the lights shut off completely. They broke apart instantly, as did everyone around them. Gasps of shock went around the room, interrupted by a high pitched scream coming from the opposite corner. The sound pierced Kira’s ears, and she and Dax ran over to see what had happened. There was a small scattering of light from the emergency exit signs, and in the red glow they could just make out a female figure laying sprawled on the ground. A knife stuck out of her back, blood staining her yellow dress and pooling around her lifeless body.
The other guests staggered back, disgusted, before turning and running away as fast as they could. Kira knelt down to feel for a pulse, out of curiosity more than anything. She supposed this was the beginning of the horror part of the program. She shook her head at Jadzia, who raised her eyebrows.
“I suppose this is it!” Dax said, gesturing at the empty room. “Now all we have to do is escape, or catch the killer. At least, that’s what the program said.”
“Sounds like a plan. Let’s try the doors first, though I have a feeling it won’t be that simple.” Kira replied. They jogged towards the closest set of doors, when the lights flickered on and off again and Kira saw Jadzia fall from her peripheral vision. Dax yelled and hit the floor.
“Jadzia, are you alright?” said Kira, as she ran to meet Dax.
“Yes, I’m fine. Just caught my shin on the table leg, that’s all. It hurt like hell though, probably going to leave a bruise–” she stopped abruptly as they both noticed a drop of deep red blood trickling down her calf. Kira looked at her, wide eyed with shock.
“But… the holosuites. That’s not in the regulations.” she exclaimed, sounding slightly more panicked than she would have liked. “Computer, end program!”
Nothing happened. “Computer, end program!” she tried again. Nothing. “Damn it,” she swore. Jadzia tried too, to no avail. Kira stood up and paced around in the dark, scratching the back of her head in frustration.
“So, I guess we’re stuck here.” Jadzia said. Kira nodded. “I’m sure the rest of the crew will figure out something is wrong when we don’t come back. Quark will want us out in time for his next client.” Jadzia huffed.
“If we can be injured, we might be able to die if the killer comes after us. We’ll have to make sure we stay safe until we’re rescued.” Kira said.
“Well, how hard could it be?”
Quark looked at the clock. Odo was lurking at the corner of the bar, for the third time that day, which meant it was around 1900 hours. Hang on, he thought, wasn’t that when Jadzia and Kira were meant to have finished the program? He checked the monitors he had jerry rigged to keep an eye on the holosuite corridor, and noticed that their suite was still in use. Grumbling about overcharges, he made his way to the third suite and pressed the manual override button. Silence.
“Computer, come on! Let them out already.” he said. A twinge of worry emerged in the back of his mind. Wouldn’t hurt to get O’Brien to have a look, he thought. By the time the Chief arrived it had been twenty minutes with no sign of the women. He hoped they were alright, if only because he wanted them to come and buy some drinks after they finished.
Kira was pacing around, running her hands through her hair.
“I can’t believe this is happening. It'd be fine if we were just stuck, but now your leg. And it just had to be Julian’s ridiculous horror movie!”
“Nerys, relax.” Jadzia replied calmly. “Let’s just get me bandaged up and then we’ll find our way out of here.”
“Bandaged?” Kira turned to look at Dax’s injury and was shocked when she saw a gash down the length of her shin. “Do you need a hand?” she asked, worriedly.
“I’m alright, I’ve been through enough minor scrapes in my years.” she said, clambering to her feet. Kira felt somewhat relieved, as Dax loved to reference her age if it made her point. That was, until Jadzia stumbled and almost hit the ground, but Kira caught her by the waist. Dax put her arm around Kira’s shoulder and they walked to the exit. Kira’s heart skipped a beat. She could feel the warmth of Jadzia’s body against hers, and hear her breathing heavily. Just get to the door, and then we’ll find somewhere with a medkit. Thankfully, the door wasn’t locked.
“This way?” she asked, as they reached the hallway. Jadzia agreed.
“You know what, at least it’s the two of us. I’d hate to be stuck here with anyone else.” Dax said, although she was quite out of breath and her words came with difficulty.
Kira smiled despite feeling like she might faint at any moment.
“Here we are!” she said as they reached a room labelled ‘Nurses Office’. She laid Jadzia out onto the bed, locked the door and searched for the medkit. “How are you feeling now?” she asked.
“Okay. It does hurt, though. It feels weird to be in pain in a holosuite.” Jadzia said, her voice sounding stronger now that she was able to rest. Kira came over with a bandage, and applied it with steady hands. Benefits of her experience with the resistance, she supposed. Dax’s hands shook.
“Thank you.” Jadzia said, smiling earnestly. Kira took her by the hand and pulled her to her feet.
A loud bang came from the door. Dax jumped, but Kira jolted into hyperalertness. She whispered to Jadzia.
“Suppose that’s the thing that killed the girl?” Dax nodded. Kira slowly strode backwards towards the bandage scissors, the closest thing to a weapon she could find. The crash on the door came again. The lock was straining against the pressure of whatever it was that was being bashed against it. Jadzia glanced at Kira, fear in her eyes. Shaking herself internally, she got into the focused mindset of a Starfleet officer. She stood up and moved slightly behind Kira.
“When it breaks down, we’ll get out and run to the left, alright?” Dax said. Kira agreed.
She took a deep breath. 3, 2, 1. The door burst open and a horrifying figure lay behind it. The man wore a blood spattered suit, and before Kira could react the knife he was holding was stabbed into her chest. She cried out, and staggered backwards into Jadzia.
The Trill grabbed her by the arm and yanked her past the man. They spilled into the hallway and turned to frantically sprint away from the ghostly figure that was chasing them. Kira’s ears rang with the sound of her failing heartbeat as Jadzia practically dragged her along. Once they were past another set of doors, Dax threw Kira against the wall, and picked up a broken locker door to wedge it against the one separating them from the killer. He pounded his fist against it as Jadzia scooped Nerys into her arms and took her into a classroom, laying her on the floor. Kira could just about see Dax’s beautiful face looking panicked as she stared over her, before getting up. Her eyes darted around the room in search of anything that could be used to stop the bleeding.
“Nerys? Nerys, listen to me, okay? Just keep focusing on me talking. Can you do that?” Dax said, a thread of panic woven through her voice.
“I..” Kira could barely keep her eyes open. Jadzia rushed back over. She tore a piece of her dress off, and stuffed it around Kira’s wound.
“That’s it, just stay with me, alright?” Her voice broke slightly at the last word. She moved her bent leg to support Nerys’ back, and put one arm around her shoulder and the other pressing the fabric onto her chest. “It’s alright. We’ll be out of here in no time, I’m sure.” Kira mumbled something. Eventually the bleeding slowed, but Kira didn’t seem to come back to full consciousness.
She opened her eyes and turned to see Jadzia’s face but within an instant she was in a cave, laying on a cot, listening to the screams of the injured ring off the stone walls. Firelight flickered on the rock above her as she slipped in and out of consciousness. She reached to her chest only to find her hand covered in blood, which soaked her clothes and the bed she was on. Figures with medkits hurried past her, shouting to be heard over the wailing but they never stopped to talk to her or help her. Some were faces she knew; other Bajoran fighters or Starfleet officers from the station. Sisko ran by, then Bashir, rapidly firing orders at the nurse he was helping move a patient. Dax came over, her mouth moving over and over again as if she were saying something, but Kira could only hear the horrifying screams. She began to convulse from the blood loss and the pain, before closing her eyes and falling back under.
“Nerys! Nerys!” Jadzia yelled. Kira opened her eyes in shock.
“Jadzia?” she asked, weakly. Jadzia’s sigh of relief shook her entire body.
“Yes, it’s me! It looks like you had some sort of flashback. You were shouting and twisting and turning, I thought I’d lost you.” Dax said.
“I was… I was in the resistance, I had the same injury after we raided a mine. It felt like I was back there…” Abruptly she began to sob, making pain emanating from her wound wrack her body. “I don’t… what’s happening?” She struggled to get the words out through the tears streaming down her face.
“Hey, hey. Nerys, you’re here now, with me, in the holosuite program you stole from Julian, right?” She had had a similar experience after she received the memories of Torias’ shuttle crash, so she knew somewhat how to help. “Just try to feel my hand on your arm, and take deep breaths.” Kira copied Dax’s breathing pattern, and focused her energy on Jadzia’s hand gripping her arm. Her fingers were gripping tightly enough to cause Kira pain, and it served to ground her, slowly making her head return to normal. She noticed she was shuddering, but Dax just slid her body behind Kira’s and let her lay back between her arms.
“Thank you.” Kira whispered.
“Of course, Nerys.” Kira relaxed against Dax, trying to keep her breath from hitching and making her hyperventilate again. She felt safer than she ever had before, here with Jadzia’s arms around her.
She must have fallen asleep, and feeling Jadzia’s chest rise and fall silently, she realised that Dax was too. Slowly the Trill stirred.
“Are you awake?” Jadzia asked.
“Yes.” Kira said gently. She hoped Jadzia felt the same way, entirely comfortable and joyously content in this moment.
“I–” she began, but was cut off by the lights coming on and the walls falling away.
She awoke to the fluorescent lights of the medbay. Frantically, she turned her head looking for Jadzia. Bashir noticed, and walked over and smiled at her.
“Feeling alright?” he asked. “That was quite the injury you got there.”
“Where’s Jadzia?” she said, hurriedly.
“Funny, the first thing she asked for when she woke up was you. She’s just in the other room getting some rest. Her leg needed stitches, but it was nothing compared to yours.” he said.
“So she’s okay?” Kira asked. Julian nodded. “I can comm her if you like? She went to her quarters to change.”
“No, thanks.” Kira said, but when she tried to get up to walk to Dax’s quarters the pain radiated from her chest again. She winced and lay back down.
“I think I will.” he said, tapping his combadge and telling Dax that Kira was awake. “She can only stay for a few minutes, because you need to rest.” Kira sighed, but agreed. Nerves washed over her. Would Jadzia remember what had happened? Would it be awkward between them? Surely not. She suspected they would just forget about the whole thing. Maybe that’d be better, she decided, despite the small flicker of hope returning. Jadzia rounded the corner and smiled when she saw Kira.
“Glad to see the doctor’s got you fixed up!” she said as she walked to Kira. “It was horrible watching him beam you away to the infirmary while I had to stand there and explain what had happened to everyone.” Kira didn’t know what to say. Jadzia gently took Nerys’ hand in hers, and smiled at Julian, who took the hint and walked away. Kira found the ability to speak.
“I’m glad you’re okay too. Thank you so much for-” she groaned in pain.
“You’re welcome. I’m just happy I could help you.” Jadzia shut her eyes as she remembered Kira convulsing in her arms. “Just happy you made it.” she repeated.
Julian returned to hover over Kira, politely asking her to leave and let Nerys rest.
The rustle of an artificial breeze whispered through the leaves in Keiko’s converted cargo bay. Kira strolled down the pathway, fretting in her head about the events of the last few weeks. The situation on Bajor had thankfully cleared up, so she angrily told herself that she should be feeling fine. She had a long history of burying painful emotions; why was she suddenly unable to calm down? She sat down on a bench and put her head in her hands. Kira knew that it had to do with Dax. Jadzia seemed to want to carry on as if nothing had happened, and she would come up to Kira with a big smile on her face, asking her to Quark’s, or talking about some scientific discovery or another. Nerys just couldn’t deal with it, and so she had been avoiding Jadzia ever since she got out of the medbay. It was painful to see Dax’s sadness when she excused herself from their conversations, or went the long way around to her quarters. Kira wished she could pluck up the courage to actually have a conversation with Jadzia, and to talk about her feelings, but each time she tried her emotions rose too high and she fled from them.
Startling her from her thoughts, a hand tapped her shoulder. She jumped up and turned around to see Dax looking down at her.
“Sorry, did I surprise you?” Dax said, smiling mischievously, as usual. “I’m glad to finally catch you alone, for some reason our paths never seem to cross any more.” Her face slowly fell, and she realised the gravity of the situation. “Fancy a stroll?”
Kira nodded, her heart nearly beating out of her chest. They walked slowly along the flower strewn path.
“I, uhm… I’m sorry for avoiding you, it’s just, well, it’s been difficult to see you after what happened.” Kira said. She cringed at herself, hoping Jadzia would infer what she really meant and not take offense.
“I understand. I suppose for me it was easier to pretend that nothing had changed.” Dax said. A moment of silence passed, as they waited for the right words to come.
“Thank you again, for all you did. I am really glad it was you who saw me like that.” Kira said, to break the quiet, if nothing else.
Jadzia suddenly took Kira by the shoulders and turned her so they were facing each other.
“Nerys, I need to tell you something.” She quickly steadied her breathing, and the touch of her hands was like fire on Nerys’ skin. “I know we’ve been friends for such a long time, and I would never want anything to get in the way of that, but I think I’ve started to feel more than that, I-” Kira’s soul leapt, and her eyes darted instantly to Jadzia’s. She smiled warmly, and Jadzia visibly relaxed.
“I feel the same way.” she said, still smiling more brightly than she had in a very long time.
“Really?” Jadzia replied, her voice climbing in pitch more than she probably would have hoped. “Oh, Nerys-.” Kira leaned up and kissed her, interrupting what was sure to be a never ending stream of words. Jadzia’s mind short circuited, and she briefly froze before the sensation of Kira’s hands in her hair brought her back. Nerys’ disbelief at having actually made the move melted away as she leaned in to Jadzia’s lips. She felt electric shocks travel down the length of her body. Jadzia’s mouth tasted of the chapstick she wore, and Kira knew she would remember the taste for many years to come. They pulled away briefly, looking into each other’s eyes, before Jadzia’s hands reached around Kira’s waist, and she kissed her passionately. Eventually they parted, and Dax took Nerys’ hand.
“Glad we’re on the same page, at last!” Dax said. Kira laughed loudly.
“Me too.” She looked up at Jadzia, who smiled back. Kira remembered all the times she had wanted to kiss Jadzia, and the many times she had beaten back the hope that she would ever get the chance. She felt joy rise up in her heart as she thought about how her hopes had finally become reality.