#v. consequences

[jsbashirmd]

purring starter for @lietwice

Julian is sick. It's frightening--he can't remember ever being so ill, and even knowing the cause of it doesn't help, because there's no known effective treatment for this particular virus in humans. He's been lethargic, nauseous, achy, and itchy, and, most worryingly, cold, despite it being the dead of Cardassian summer.

They'd tried to keep it from the children, but after a few days, Soren had stopped by. It's been a rotating door of concerned family since then, but all Julian really wants to do is to be held by Garak, and so he has been, because his enjoined continues to be the best in the galaxy. It's day eight of the illness, and Julian is laying exhaustedly in Garak's arms when a rumbling starts in his chest, entirely out of his control. Something in him vibrates, sounding for all the world like a purr, and Julian blinks in open confusion before putting his own hand over his chest to try to find the source of it. "Is that... Do you feel that?" he asks.

[jsbashirmd]

[[ plotted starter for @lietwice

Garak was hiding something. For a month, he'd entirely disappeared, keeping himself out of sight, for all that he communicated normally through messages of various sorts. Julian was convinced that it was due to an injury he didn’t want to admit to. But now... Now he'd caught a couple glimpses of him looking well enough, but his messages were strained. Maybe he ought not have bothered with a friend so insistent on being secretive, but how could he not, when he knew no one else would?

So Julian made another house call, with the intention of overriding the lock this time if Garak didn't respond. But something saved him the trouble. A child's voice came through the thin wall, followed swiftly by Garak telling them to stop, and then the door slid open, and in front of Julian was a wide-eyed Cardassian boy who was looking up at him with something that looked very much like relief. "Abba!" And then he was being hugged, and then climbed, and he reached automatically to support the child, but he looked at Garak with mild panic as he did.

[jsbashirmd]

@lietwice sent:

[ CARRY ]  for one muse to find the other injured and carry them to safety. ( I don't mind which way around it is! could be an away mission of some kind, or post-war cardassia either during relief and rescue efforts or a fight of some kind has broken out or something like that. or an attack on the station, that could also work. or anything else you can think of! )

Julian doesn't often pick up his husband. He's capable, certainly, but it doesn't really seem to surprise and delight him the way being picked up surprises and delights Julian. So it's only at times like this, few as they thankfully are, that Julian shows off his strength in quite this way. Garak is half-buried under the collapse, barely conscious and certainly concussed, but he's low priority to everyone else on the scene.

"Hey. Hey, love. You're okay. I'm right here." He's already removing the rubble, but he's trying to be careful about it. Strategic. "I'm not going anywhere until you're out and okay." And he's not. He wouldn't leave for anything. It takes almost twenty minutes to get Garak free, but Julian still doesn't give him much warning before picking him up and getting them both quickly back from the unstable area. Then he just continues, carrying him all the way to one of the medical tents. "Can you talk to me, darling?" he asks when he's finally set him down again.

[jsbashirmd]

unplotted and unprompted starter for @lietwice

"Garak." Julian didn't bother asking if his husband was awake--he knew he was just as certainly as he knew he'd rather not be. He just tapped the scale he'd been rubbing for several minutes now and then picked another to give the same treatment. "Do you ever think- It's ridiculous, but do you ever think about how your life might have gone if you'd been raised in entirely different circumstances? What if my parents had been caught when I was still young? I could've been raised alongside my cousins, no moving around or hiding. Or I could've been dropped into an institution I'd be stuck in for my whole life. Or maybe I would've been taken in by someone involved in arresting them. It's just... I think about that sort of thing because my childhood was so..." He sighed. "I hope Emkari doesn't ever have reason to dwell on those sorts of thoughts, but maybe it's inevitable?" Their baby girl was sleeping soundly in her bassinet only a few steps from their bed, but he wasn't worried about her waking from the sound of their voices.

[jsbashirmd]

[[ semi-plotted starter for @lietwice

Whatever clear alcohol Cardassians used in their mixed drinks, it had an unfortunate effect on Julian. After going out with his friends from the hospital several times now, Julian was well aware of the problem, but unfortunately, it also tasted amazing, and it was a fun problem, despite the scandal it inevitably caused when he exposed more and more of his skin in drunken attempts to cool off.

"Come on, darling! It would be so much more fun with you there," he said, following Garak into the next room. "Everyone wants you to come. Emma and the boys are fine on their own for a few hours, and I want to dance with you."

[jsbashirmd]

@lietwice sent:

⌚️ ( okay consider julian who has been married to garak for like 10 years on cardassia, getting the chance to talk to early ds9 garak. or, alternatively, obsidian order garak meeting ds9 julian or married cardassia julian )

When Julian awoke, he was immediately aware that he wasn't in his home. It smelled different, to start, and though the walls were in the correct places, it was decorated differently. It was also overpoweringly, suffocatingly hot. He looked first for his communication device, then for his husband and children, and when he found no sign of either, he quickly and quietly exited the unfamiliar home to widen his search. It took a matter of hours for him to discover that this was his home, but it wasn't his time. Then, his entire focus changed--his whole mission became to find his husband, whether or not Garak was his yet, and he tried not to think too hard about just why he was doing that.

It took weeks. Nearly two months, though that was partially because Garak was off-world for much of that time, but as soon as he caught sight of him, tending, carefully to his little garden of orchids, Julian was finally able to relax. He shouldn't upset the timeline, he realized. He'd seen him and he was safe and as he should be at this time, and thus reassured, Julian should just live as unobtrusively as possible while he tried to get back to his own time. But he couldn't help but linger, just for a while, and unfortunately for him and his good intentions, Garak was not content to be watched, especially by a stranger.

"Oh!" he exclaimed quietly, as soon as their eyes met. He cursed, then spread his hands to show he was unarmed, then made no other movements. "Hello. Not that it's likely to help or to convince you, but I promise I'm not an enemy operative here to spy on you."

[jsbashirmd]

@lietwice sent:

"I just have to open the window..." ( Selek and Soren trying to sneak out lol )

Julian caught the snatch of conversation from a full two rooms away, and he paused for a moment to let the annoyance pass over him. After all these years, his children still underestimated his hearing. And more importantly, they were sneaking out? At bedtime? He had to admire their confidence in their own limited ability to look rested when they weren't. He shook his head, then followed the sound to Soren's bedroom, where he quietly opened the door, then crossed his arms.

"Hello boys. And where are you off to?"

[jsbashirmd]

[[ I dunno, man. I can't seem to make myself do drafts. I want to, but I can't. So here's this. @lietwice

Julian liked to consider himself a calm and reasonable person. Gentle, even. Which was what made it so frustrating when Garak drove him to cross those self-imposed boundaries. He hadn't really bitten him--his teeth had just scraped Garak's hand as it pulled swiftly back--but he certainly had intended to. "You're adjusting my trousers, Garak, which means your hands shouldn't be anywhere near my mouth." It was, frankly, a sensory nightmare today already, and drawing it out wasn't his idea of a good time. "Could you stay on task, please?"