Chapter Text
Benjamin Sisko had come home.
“When will you be back?”
“It's hard to say. Maybe a year, maybe yesterday. But I will be back.”
“And I will be waiting.”
Ben opened his eyes…
And found himself at a dinner table.
In a house on Bajor, the rolling Kendra Valley visible outside the window.
His house. Our house.
And he felt a hand on his shoulder, another hand on his back, and he looked up to see –
“My family,” he said out loud with an enormous smile. Kasidy and Jake, standing side by side, beaming down at him.
“Welcome home, Dad,” said Jake.
“We’ve been waiting for you,” said Kasidy.
And Ben rose from his seat and embraced his family and was home.
“How did you know I was coming?” Ben asked, as Jake spooned out a serving of chicken paprikash.
“I dunno, Dad, maybe all this hanging around Prophets and Emissaries have given us a touch of clairvoyance,” said Jake.
“Or maybe we knew you couldn’t resist Hungarian food!” Kasidy called from the kitchen.
Ben smiled but still felt unsure. “Is this a dream?,” he wondered.
“No, Ben, this is no dream,” his wife said as she sat down at the small table, overladen with food. She reached out to grasp his hand, as Jake held his other. “You are home and you are with us, and that is all that matters.”
Looking at his wife and son, time seemed to pause for Ben.
Then he saw Kasidy give Jake a mirthful look, and tilted her head toward Ben, smiling. To Jake she said, “Do you think he’s ready?”
Jake smiled back. “I think so,” and got up from the table to go into an adjoining room.
“Ready for what?” Ben asked, still smiling and unsure.
Jake emerged from the room with a bundle of blanket in his arms. Kasidy reached up and gently took the bundle into her hands, and turned it to reveal–
“Joseph Sisko Yates”, Kasidy said. “Exactly one week old, today.”
Ben’s eyes erupted in joy and tears. Wordlessly, he lifted his hands to ask. And wordlessly, Kasidy gently and carefully passed their son into his father’s arms, and Ben Sisko held his son for the first time.
Little Joseph’s eyes were wide open, wandering around the room, trying to piece together all of the lights and shadows laid out before him. But then his eyes found Ben’s face, and he smiled with a little happy noise and burp. Once again, time paused; Ben Sisko’s entire universe consisted of him and his child.
Then Joseph’s brow furrowed, his eyes scrunched closed, and he started to cry. Ben started to rock him and softly coo at him. “Everything’s fine,” he said, his baritone somewhere between a murmur and a whisper. “See?” he said, as he caught Joseph’s gaze again and gave him the biggest smile he physically could make, “Everything is just fine.” Joseph quieted for a moment, but then resumed crying.
Ben looked up at Kasidy. “Is he taking a bottle yet?”
Kasidy tilted her head with a half-smile and a comme ci comme ça gesture of her hand. “Sometimes.”
Jake walked over to the cooling unit in the kitchen and elaborated. “He’s fine with his mother bottlefeeding him, but doesn’t seem keen on anyone else. He and I have had… long discussions on the matter,” he said, returning to the table with a bottle in hand.
Cradling Joseph in his left arm, Ben accepted the bottle from his older son. Looking down again at Joseph, he managed to catch the baby’s eye again, and started to sing.
Nonsense syllables in a jazz melody in operatic tone. Joseph calmed as he was distracted and entranced by the music. Still singing, Ben slowly brought the bottle up to his son’s cheek, and softly rubbed the teat at the corner of his mouth. Instinctively, Joseph opened his tiny little mouth and Ben popped the bottle right in. Joseph began suckling loudly as Ben continued to sing. Jake and Kasidy looked at each other with knowing grins; neither was surprised.
This continued for several minutes, before Joseph slowed, and eventually stopped. Ben lifted the bottle from his son’s mouth and put it on the table, before leaning down and giving him a kiss on his forehead. He looked up at Kasidy again. “Is it nap time now?”
Still smiling, Kasidy replied, “Right this way,” and stood up from the table. Ben slowly stood up as well, his son still in his arms. Kasidy came by his side and clutched his arm. Unhurried, she led him to the nursery where Joseph’s crib waited for him, the blinds drawn and the lights dimmed. Ben carefully laid him down. Joseph was already half asleep and cooed happily to himself.
Ben stepped back, still enchanted by his son. Kasidy wrapped her arms around him, and he returned her embrace, his eyes never wavering from Joseph’s tiny sleeping form.
Kasidy whispered in his ear. “Welcome home.”
Finally Ben looked away from his son, and looked into his wife’s eyes as he held her in his arms. Time paused again.
Then Kasidy’s face became illuminated – literally, as is someone had turned on a light. Ben looked down and realized that he was illuminating her, his body glowing with light that then faded.
“I don’t understand,” he said, confused again and now distressed.
A look of sadness passed across Kasidy’s face, her eyes watering with tears. “It’s alright, baby,” she reassured him.
“Jake,” Ben said to her, as he broke away from her arms and hurried into back out into the kitchen to find Jake again – one more time. One last time?
But Jake was waiting for him. “Hey there, Old Man,” he said with a disarming grin. “No need to rush.”
But Ben disagreed, and hastily wrapped his arms around his son. His younger son was small enough to be held in his arm, but his older son loomed over his head.
Jake chuckled just a little bit, and returned the hug. He whispered to Ben, “It’s okay, Dad. Everything will be fine. We’ll see you soon.”
Ben pulled his head back so he could see Jake’s face while he still held him. Ben saw emotions flickering across Jake’s face that he had never seen before. An ebullient happiness. The same look of sadness that Kasidy had had. And an aspect of peacefulness that seemed well beyond Jake’s years.
Ben started to glow again, illuminating Jake’s face. But rather than fading, the light became brighter and brighter.
The last thing Ben saw was Jake looking him square in the eyes, speaking with a reassurance that reminded Ben of his own father, saying, “We’ll see you soon, Dad. We love you.”
And Ben Sisko disappeared.