DBIP rotating in my mind:
Kira on finding out Julian's parents are on the station commenting something like "Oh? Is he doing okay with them here?" Sisko asking her what she means by that, and Kira kinda backtracking as she realises she doesn't actually know that much about Julian's parents, but explaining that she'd just got the impression that they hadn't been the best of parents.
"You never asked him why he didn't like those - oh, what do you call them? Those purple vegetables you like so much. He said his parents always made him eat them, and I asked if his family didn't have a replicator then but they did - apparently they just thought he should like the same food they did, or something?"
"I had no idea."
"And then there was the time - oh, maybe I shouldn't mention this, I don't even know if he remembers telling me - we'd been at Quark's - but, it's... Well, he tried to hug me and I said no thank you and he backed off apologising. But then he started to tell me about how he understood not liking hugs because he never used to as a child but that, in his words, you have to hug your parents when you're a child whether or not you like it, and that he'd learnt to put up with it but that he'd never want me to have to put up with him—"
"... I get the picture."
"I mean, those are the only times I've ever heard him talk about his parents so maybe I'm reading too much into it, I don't know. But it just struck me as odd, that's all. It's certainly not how Bajorans treat their children."
"It's not how humans are supposed to treat their children, either."
And then with this in mind, and Sisko already questioning what Julian's parents were really like, when Richard and Amsha go to him he doesn't at all accept whatever self-aggrandizing version of their story they try to sell him (because you just know they're positioning themselves as martyrs for their son). He remembers how Richard had said that they're the reason Julian's studying medicine, and that they'd had to push him into it, and delves into that - what sort of a push was it? Were you pressuring him into Starfleet? - until Richard cracks with a "Well of course we weren't actually going to throw him out if he didn't apply - it just seemed like a good incentive at the time. And it worked, might I add—"
"Richard—"
"You threatened to throw your son out if he didn't enter an application for a job of your choosing that would require him to lie repeatedly throughout his career?"
"Pshh, he'd have had to lie in any career worth pursuing - a small cost to pay for his gifts. At least, it seemed that way at the time. I appreciate that now—"
"Now, Mister Bashir, all you can do is hope that this confession of yours will save his career. And I simply don't know how much I can do."
The scene with Admiral Bennett doesn't really change from what we see, although maybe it's framed as "The details in your father's confession makes us inclined to offer you clemency - you may keep your commission" rather than "Your father is going to prison in exchange for you staying in the service".
But afterwards, Sisko tells Amsha and Richard that he has matters to discuss with Julian, and that they ought to return to their quarters. Julian looks at him warily, wondering what's about to come, and sits down, trying not to let his exhaustion show.
"If you'd like a few minutes to yourself, Julian, I know this must be a lot—"
"No, sir - thank you. I'd rather know what it is that you need to tell me."
"If you're sure...?"
"I am, sir."
"I thought you might want to know a few more details about what your parents told Admiral Bennet. The most major one being that they told us about the threats they made in order to coerce you into studying medicine at Starfleet."
"They... They did?"
"They did."
"That's..." Julian goes very still for a few moments. "I mean, in hindsight I don't think they ever really meant it, you know - and even if they had, it's not like I'd have, I don't know, starved or whatever... There are places you can go to, the council would have given me an apartment same as anyone - I was 17; I wasn't helpless—"
"But it felt like a real threat to you, at the time. You didn't want to go through all that, surely?"
Julian looks away. His shoulders drop. All at once, he seems impossibly young. "No," he says quietly. "Maybe I should've done it, I don't know. But I was just too... I mean, I—" He looks up again: his gaze does not quite met Sisko's, however, but veers slightly too the left. "I can't really complain though, can I? Dad was right - I love being a doctor. And I wouldn't— I wouldn't trade it for anything, and I guess that includes all of this stuff, too? Right?"
Sisko takes a deep sigh. "I'm not certain that anyone can answer that. But what I do know is that you deserved better - far, far better - than the treatment you received from your parents. Which brings me onto the second thing we should talk about — although we don't have to go into it right now—"
"Whatever it is, sir, I'd like to know—"
"Alright. The thing is, although Starfleet will be able to prosecute your father for the illegal genetic engineering, they can't do a thing about the coercion into the service, and the other ways that they mistreated you - that's outside Starfleet's jurisdiction. Any charges of abuse would have to be brought up in a civilian court —
"Abuse?"
"Yes. Like I said, it's not something we need to discuss right now—
"My parents weren't 'abusive', captain."
"The definition of 'child abuse' would tend to disagree with you, Julian."
"I... No, this is absurd, I'm not—" Julian starts standing up. "Thank you, captain, for all you've done, but—"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset—"
"I'm not upset, I'm just— I..."
Sisko wonders what he should say to try and make this better, but Julian breaks off his pause before he gets there.
"Actually, sir, I should go and tell Miles that I'm staying - he thinks I'm resigning - so if it's alright with you I'd rather, I mean, can I be dismissed, sir?"
"Yes, Doctor. Off you go," Sisko says softly. Julian retreats hurriedly, and Sisko is left with a frown creasing his forehead, and a problem that's somehow worse than the looming Dominion threat.
(just for the record I also want this to be in a julian-has-been-part-of-s31-since-the-academy AU so also in this whole scene he's kinda fucking himself up with the idea that he kind of wants to tell Sisko about them and gave any more secrets now that s31 can't hold his enhancements over him but also he's terrified because the fact he's enhanced has been taken weirdly well but Sisko will never be okay with the fact he's been going behind his back this whole time.
Of course, now Sisko has this context he's gonna try and restrain his initial disbelief and anger into "Fuck, of course this kid ran straight into the arms of someone saying they fully accepted him, he never stood a chance".)
