Chapter Text
“Computer, time?”
“07:43.” Jadzia frowned as the computer confirmed her suspicions; Julian was almost a full half hour late to their breakfast. Julian was a creature of habit; he got up at 0600, read over his schedule for the day, did his morning stretches, showered, and then, depending on the day, joined Jadzia for breakfast at 07:15 on the dot. The fact that not only was Julian late, but he hadn’t commed her to let her know he’d be late, was extremely bizarre.
“Computer, locate Dr. Bashir.”
“Dr. Bashir is currently located in his quarters.” That was even stranger; Julian should at least be in the Infirmary as his shift started in less than fifteen minutes. Thinking his alarm had failed to go off for some reason, she made her way to his quarters. Entering his quarters, she saw no sign that Julian had left his bedroom, so, becoming concerned, she entered his sleeping quarters and found him still in bed; very unlike Julian indeed. As she came closer, she noticed his laboured breathing and the sheen of sweat on his brow; growing concerned, she gently called,
“Julian?” Receiving no answer, she touched the hand that was resting on top of the blankets and hissed when she felt hot flesh. Julian tended to run warmer than average humans, but this was hotter than normal. Seeing the tricorder he kept in his quarters for the rare occasions when Garak came by, and he managed to sneak in a medical scan, she picked it up and started scanning Julian. Nasal congestion, hacking cough, bouts of vertigo, temperature reaching thirty-nine degrees - all signs leading to one conclusion: Yrridian Fever, which Julian had made sure to inoculate them all against when there was word of it potentially hitting the station… but did he remember to inoculate himself? He began to stir.
“Julian?” Managing to open his eyes, Julian groaned,
“Oh no, I’m dreaming about Jadzia again; she’s going to kill me.” Smiling, she assured,
“I’m not going to hurt you, Julian, and you’re not dreaming; it’s almost 0800 and-”
“I’m going to be late! Sisko’s going to kill me!” Julian worried as he tried to roll out of his bed, almost hitting his head on a bedside table if Jadzia didn’t grab him.
“If Benjamin tries to kill you, he’ll have to go through me! Julian, you have Yrridian Fever; I thought you inoculated everyone? Did you remember to inoculate yourself?” Julian struggled to talk as he struggled to get out of bed.
“In-inocu-inoculated Ensign Hausen last. Then, be-before I could inoculate myself, that shi-ship with the burned Bolians arrived; all ha-hands on deck. I, I meant to give myself a shot in the morning, bu-but that merchant’s wife, Rozar, went into labour and Dr. Girani has never delivered a Gorn baby before, and they bite when they’re first born. Th-then Miles came in with a dislocated shoulder after an accident on the Promenade involving Nog and some faulty equipment from Quark's. And just when I thought I had a moment, Odo called me to check on a Bajoran with suspicious sympto-”
“I get it; a million-and-one things happened to keep pushing it to the back of your mind, and now we’re down our CMO.” Jadzia grunted as she finally managed to push Julian back on the bed, all his energy spent, and he now panted as he tried to catch his breath. She tapped her comm badge.
“Dax to Ops.”
“Ops here, go ahead, Dax.” Kira answered her.
“I’m afraid Dr. Bashir is out of commission for a couple of days; he was unable to inoculate himself against the Yrridian fever.”
“Is it serious, Old Man?” Sisko took over, to which Jadzia replied,
“Not if he stays in bed; he’s got a stuffy nose, a cough, a slight fever, and potential dizzy spells, but no sign of nausea or vomiting, headaches, delirium, or trouble breathing beyond the stuffy nose. I think if we keep him in bed for at least two days, make sure he gets plenty of fluids, and takes the Antitussives recommended at the appropriate times, he should be fine. I’ll give him his first before I report for my shift, along with some breakfast, as he’ll need his nutrients.” Dax explained as she replicated the syrupy concoction Julian would need to take, as well as some oatmeal with elderberry syrup on top (he would need something sweet for a treat after taking that medicine; it smelled like an old Klingon’s boot!).
“Affirmative. Will he need to be quarantined?”
“No, he did manage to inoculate the rest of the station, so we’re all immune; I would just limit visitors since rest is still one of the best medicines.”
“Understood. Doctor, you’re off the roster for the next two days.” Julian managed to fight through his haze enough to apologize,
“I’m sorry about this, Commander; I’ll try to get caught up on my paperwork in the meantime.” Something in Julian’s voice, altered due to being stuffed up, made him sound very young and worried about being seen as unreliable, must have been heard by Benjamin as his voice softened a touch as though he was talking to Jake, and rebuked,
“Negative, Doctor; you are to stay in bed during this time and not strain yourself. This means that, when you aren’t sleeping, you turn on the audio feature for any book you want to read, listen to music, or put a holofilm on for you to listen to, understood?”
“But Commander, I can-”
“I’m not taking a chance of you getting sicker, Doctor; you either adhere to these rules, or you’ll have to be transferred to the Infirmary, understood?” Julian sighed as he replied,
“Yes, Commander.”
“Good, see you in half an hour or so, Old Man. Sisko out.” Jadzia nodded, unseen, as she prepared a small cup of Julian’s medicine, hoping it tasted better than it smelled; sadly, once contracted, the vaccine or medicine could not be administered via hypospray as the system was sensitized and could react negatively. Julian apologized,
“I’m sorry I’m making you late, Jadzia.”
“Don’t be silly, Julian; it’s not like you got sick on purpose. Now, take your medicine, and then you can have some oatmeal with some berries and honey.” Jadzia presented the cup to Julian, who flinched at the smell, tried to take it, only to spit it out again over his pyjamas.
“Julian!” Jadzia lightly scolded as she cleaned up the spill, though she had guessed it wouldn’t be pleasant on the tongue; still, Julian was a doctor.
“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I just wasn’t expecting it to taste so, so pungent!” Julian whined as he wiped his chin with his hand.
“Guess I should have warned you; don’t worry, the taste of the oatmeal will remove the medicine, and I’ll leave an assortment of fruit for you to nibble on during the day until lunchtime. For now, do you have any spare pyjamas? I don’t want to leave you with a wet spot.” Julian nodded, so Jadzia went to get the spares as he fumbled to get his shirt off. As she turned around, Jadzia stopped in shock; in the three years they had known one another, Jadzia had never had any occasion to see Julian with his shirt off, the closest being when the weather controls went on the fritz, and Julian had worn a purple tank top to combat the heat. Even there, his bare arms had been just that; bare. Apparently, under the tank top was a completely different story; Julian’s torso was covered in, of all things, tattoos.
They were perfectly aligned so that, unless Julian wore something with spaghetti straps, one would never guess his chest (and back, she noticed as he tossed his shirt in the direction of the hamper, twisting slightly as he did so) was covered in, frankly, works of art. Over his heart, he had a rather large Staff of Asclepius, a common symbol associated with medicine, and the detail on the twin snakes wrapped around the staff were just remarkable. In the upper left corner of his chest, there was the molecule model for penicillin, while the right corner of his chest had a bird carrying some sort of branch in its mouth. Jadzia noticed that, under the molecule, there was a quote: A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself-and especially to feel, or not feel. Whatever you happen to be feeling at any moment is fine with them. That's what real love amounts to - letting a person be what he really is. -Jim Morrison
Under the bird with the branch in its mouth, Jadzia noted there was a small cluster of tattoos that looked like children's toys, including a teddy bear, a tin soldier with only one leg, and a ballerina on pirouette. She wondered what those meant. Though the teddy bear was pretty obvious, given Kukalaka’s significance, it reminded her to grab him so Julian could cuddle him while he wasn’t feeling well. On Julian’s stomach was a black stallion reared back on its hind legs, though, instead of a typical black mane and tail, it had one of blue fire. There was nothing to the left of Julian’s torso as the horse’s tail took up quite a bit of space, but on the right, under the horse’s hooves, was a small cluster of bees gathered around a beautiful white and purple daffodil. Jadzia thought about examining Julian’s back, only to realize that the daffodil continued under Julian’s waistband. Just how much of his body had Julian-?
“Jadzia? Can I lie down, please? I’m getting cold.” Julian whimpered, snapping Jadzia out of her trance, and she wanted to smack herself, leaving poor Julian shirtless while he was sick, and she still needed to get him to take his medicine and eat something.
“Just a minute, Julian; let’s try again with the medicine now that you can brace yourself for the flavour.” Jadzia put the shirt over her arm, poured more medicine into the cup, and this time Julian took it, though it looked like he was fighting to keep it down. Reaching over, she gently rubbed his back, which allowed her to see his back covered in tattoos as well; the area she was rubbing, his right shoulder blade, was covered by a beautiful parasaurolophus in vibrant blues and greens surrounded by pink flowers. On his other shoulder, there were more molecular models for compounds like insulin, morphine, and aspirin; all vital but simple contributions to medicine. Under the parasaurolophus was another quote, this one stating: Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. -Martin Luther King Jr.
Beneath the molecular models, there were a series of plants, such as aloe vera, some kind of bushy plant that had green and purple leaves, and a plant she didn’t recognize, but there were a lot of them. Beneath the quote from King, there was a group of animals, smaller than some of the others, but Jadzia couldn’t understand the significance of the animals since they were all different; there was an orca, a spider, a rat, a sehlat, a hyena, a snake, and… a pigeon? Some got fierce or dangerous animals as a sign to how tough they were, but those were where others could usually see them; these were on Julian’s back, which was usually covered, so one would only see them if he was intimate with them (she had treated him to a holosuite where they went swimming, and he had worn a full bathing suit), and why, of all birds, a pigeon?
Under the plants, Jadzia saw another quote: “Man!” I cried, “How ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom!” but Jadzia couldn’t see where the quote had come from as she was at the wrong angle. Then, under the animals, there was… ginger and garlic? She couldn’t help snorting as she recognized the images. Julian got over his repulsion and asked,
“What?”
“Why do you have ginger and garlic tattooed on your back?!” Jadzia asked with a laugh as she gave him his shirt and reached for the oatmeal. Julian chuckled as he explained,
“Not only do ginger and garlic do wonders in things like stir-fries, soups, and marinades, but they also have medicinal uses, such as ginger being used for nausea, tooth aches, and being an anti-inflammatory, and garlic helps lower cholesterol and blood pressure, improve circulation, helps with detoxification, and other things. You like my tattoos?” Jadzia gave him a bite of oatmeal as she replied,
“Well, you certainly got them done by someone who knew what they were doing, and not many get such diversity; most go for animals or symbols, but you have those as well as quotes, plants, and molecular models. I like the horse.” Jadzia teased. Julian swallowed and explained,
“A friend of mine got a tiger on a dare one night, was nervous, and asked me if I would get a new one as well. When I asked for suggestions, he suggested a horse; there was a joke about a flaming mane, but the artist thought that traditional colours wouldn’t stand out against my skin. She didn’t tell me these concerns and applied a blue flaming mane to an Arabian horse without my approval, but the friend thought it looked awesome, and I have to admit I liked it, so I kept it.” Jadzia nodded, once again marveling over Julian’s ability to eat around his food without choking. The medicine may have been disgusting, but it went a long way in clearing Julian’s head enough to hold a conversation.
“But those other animals; you’re not the kind of person to get a spider or snake tattoo to look cool, especially on your back. And why don’t you have any on your arms?” Jadzia found that most confusing, given that Starfleet had nothing against tattoos, given that uniforms often covered them, and a simple cover could be applied during diplomatic functions where skin might be seen.
“We’ve come a long way from people thinking that tattoos and such were associated with ‘punks’ or a ‘rough crowd’, but some people see them and are still a little wary when they see them. My biggest specialty lies in pediatrics; combined with dealing with species that may not understand and be repelled by them, I worried about making my patients uncomfortable, so I kept them off my neck, face, and arms.
As for the animals, they all have bad reputations and are largely misunderstood; pigeons were war heroes because they were trained to carry messages between units without the need for a radio signal and are very intelligent. Snakes and spiders are vital for pest control. Rats make excellent pets because they are clean, quiet, and intelligent; I wanted a rat as a pet as a little boy, but my mother killed it.” Jadzia looked at Julian sharply when he admitted this, but he didn’t notice as he continued,
“My great-Jadda used to tell stories of killer whales, how intelligent they were, family-oriented; she once said that, while out at sea, her betrothed was attacked by a shark, and a pair of killer whales came to his rescue. I have no way to know if it's true, but Jadda Yasmine loved to tell me that story and said that her mother wept when they went extinct. Hyenas were once seen as slobbering, mangy, stupid, and scavenging poachers; in truth, they’re adept hunters that lions often steal from, using their greater size. They are good mothers, intelligent, and social animals. And a Sehlat is this enormous animal with six-inch fangs that resembles a bear, but Vulcans keep them as pets. But you better get going, or Sisko will wonder if you got lost… or kidnapped again.” Jadzia rolled her eyes as she put the bowl in the reclimator, got Julian a bowl with various fruits to munch on, and said,
“Fine, but I want to know about the ballerina and toy soldier with the missing leg later.” Julian yawned as he and Kukalaka nuzzled down into the sheets, but mumbled,
“The Steadfast Tin Soldier by Hans Christian Anderson; look it up and watch it played out to Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2, Allegro, Opus 102 - it has a happy ending in that one, opposed to the original story.” Jadzia arched an eyebrow, but merely left to officially begin her day.
As Jadzia walked through the corridors, she couldn't help but reflect on the friendship she shared with Julian. Despite the challenges of their lives on the station and the demands of their individual duties, there was an unspoken bond that transcended words. In moments of vulnerability, like the one she had just shared with Julian, Jadzia was reminded of the comfort and trust that defined their companionship. She smiled softly, knowing that as long as they stood by each other, they would always find strength in their connection.