Scene 4: (Meanwhile, on Deep Space Nine, Bashir is treating an unknown person. The computer, now experiencing the same ‘symptoms’ as that on Voyager, is still messing up the tricorders and the dermal regenerators so he’s having to resort to more conventional methods. As a result of this, his patient has a rather large, cumbersome plaster over his eye. He realises that he’s hungry and that he should, technically, be off duty, so, leaving the Infirmary in his colleague’s capable hands, he leaves. The computer stops him by locking the doors and not accepting his code... just like before.)
COMPUTER: And, where d’you think you’re going?
BASHIR: Quark’s.
COMPUTER: Why?
BASHIR: I’m off duty.
COMPUTER: You’re going to see Ezri aren’t you?
BASHIR: If she’s there I’m sure I’ll talk to her.
COMPUTER: You like her don’t you?
BASHIR: We’re friends. (Lying through his teeth.) Of course I like her.
COMPUTER: No, no. You and MILES are friends. You REALLY like Ezri.
BASHIR: So what if I do?
COMPUTER: And you think she likes you...? (He can’t think of a good retort.) In that case... I’ve got some very bad news for you. (Cut to:)
(Quark’s, where Bashir is moping at a table telling O’Brien what the computer said - all WILL be revealed!)
O’BRIEN: That’s terrible. Why would Ezri do that?
BASHIR: I don’t know.
O’BRIEN: How do you feel about it?
BASHIR: I don’t know.
O’BRIEN: What are you going to do?
BASHIR: (Almost lethargic.) I don’t know.
O’BRIEN: Well, I think you should tell her.
BASHIR: Tell her what?
O’BRIEN: How you feel.
BASHIR: I can’t. I was going to.
O’BRIEN: When?
BASHIR: Today. I was actually going to tell her today, but after this...? I can’t.
O’BRIEN: You have to, Julian. If you bottle it up any longer, I’LL go crazy, I don’t know about you!
BASHIR: But...?
O’BRIEN: No ‘but’s, Julian. Tell her. Or I will. And, personally, I think she’d rather hear it from you. (Ezri enters the bar. Bashir becomes instantly alert - not happy, though. O’Brien gets up.) I’ll make myself scarce. (He leaves, after mouthing ‘Tell her’ from the other side of the bar and giving a warning look, as Ezri sits opposite Bashir. She is her usual bubbly self. [To anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure of experiencing an episode with the new Ezri host, she’s a lot like me :)])
EZRI: Hey, Julian. (Upon hearing her voice he momentarily forgets his problem and smiles in greeting, then remembers that it’s Ezri who IS the problem.) Where’s Miles going?
BASHIR: (Thinking of an excuse.) He thought he saw Kira.
EZRI: They’re really not getting along are they? They should at least try to sort it out. I mean, Kira should apologise for a start, and Miles should stop avoiding her. It’s only provoking the situation. (She notices he’s being remarkably quiet.) Something wrong?
BASHIR: Hmm? No, no, I’m fine. Fine…
EZRI: You sure? (He nods.) Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m STARVING! I’ll go see what Quark’s offering today. (She leaps up and goes over to the bar. Bashir watches as she chats with Quark and Morn and then comes back. She stays standing.) Quark says he’s not serving anything today that can’t be cooked on the premises, which is, basically, everything. We’ll have to go off in search of a good ol’ home-baked meal! (He doesn’t move.) Come on, Julian, I’m famished. (She finally realises that maybe he’s not all right after all, and sits down next to him.) There IS something wrong. I should have known, I’m the station councillor. (She squeezes his hand on the table.) You wanna talk about it? (He tries desperately not to let her touch affect him in any way but you can see the pain on his face. [Once again, Niles emerges…])
BASHIR: No. It’s nothing, really.
EZRI: It must be something - you haven’t said more than twenty words to me all day. (If you assume that this is their first conversation of the day, and actually count how much he’s said, it comes to fifteen!)
BASHIR: I’m just tired. (He loses his nerve and tries to get out of telling her.) What was that you said about getting food...?
EZRI: You don’t fool me, mister. I want you to tell me what’s wrong. I can help. It’s my job.
BASHIR: (He has to accept that he needs to get it out into the open - keep reading because you WILL find out what the Hell happened!!! He tries to think of the best approach.) Well, it all started a couple of hours ago, actually, when the computer said something to me in the Infirmary. I know that it’s behaving very erratically and it was probably just trying to annoy me.
EZRI: I know the feeling. It keeps on calling me ‘Kurzon’ and ‘Jadzia’ and I could swear that the station’s spinning faster than usual. (She does look rather green, but this is Julian’s problem so she lets him carry on.)
BASHIR: So, anyway, I know I shouldn’t listen to what a collection of subroutines tells me, but I can’t help but let it bother me. It raised a subject that I’ve been considering for some time, as a matter of fact.
EZRI: (She thinks she knows and tries not to let it show, but there is some anticipation.) Whatever it is, it can’t be all that bad.
BASHIR: That’s the problem - it might be all that bad. You see, it told me that... well... to roughly translate... that you lied to me.
EZRI: Lied? When?
BASHIR: Do you remember when you returned to Deep Space Nine after going to rescue Worf? You told me about all of those ‘unconscious yearnings’ that the Breen had uncovered, and I believed you.
EZRI: I know you did... and we agreed to carry on as normal rather than risk our friendship. (OK, so I added that after the penultimate episode... I love Word Processors! We can safely assume that he DEFINITELY hasn't told her and she certainly doesn't know.) And I'm glad you believed me - I was telling the truth - why would I lie about something like that?
BASHIR: I’m not questioning the truthfulness of your feelings for me, Ezri. I’m just worried about what you didn’t tell me. (She knows where it’s leading but doesn’t let it show.)
EZRI: What didn’t I tell you?
BASHIR: I’m going to ask you a question and I want one answer and I want the truth.
EZRI: Fire away.
BASHIR: Okay. (Pause - he doesn’t want to ask the question in case he doesn’t like the answer, but he knows it needs to be done.) Did you.... Did you... (he can’t bring himself to think it, let alone say it.) with Worf?
EZRI: Oh. (She knew this would happen one day. She lets go of his hand and clasps her own palms together.) I’ll be honest with you, Julian. Yes, I did.
BASHIR: (The very personification of a man crushed, he becomes instantly depressed and slightly annoyed by this. It goes deeper than jealously, even though that’s what it looks like on the surface.) Please don’t tell me you’re proud of it!
EZRI: Of course I’m not! You thought I would be? It was a mistake! A huge mistake! I don’t suppose you want to hear the details that the computer couldn’t possibly have known.
BASHIR: No, I don’t.
EZRI: Well, you’re going to and you’re going to listen up and listen good! When I rescued Worf, we crashed on a desolate planet that just happened to be inhabited by a bunch of Breen. Before we got captured, though, we’d made a camp fire so that we could at least try to survive in what looked like a pathetic situation. Worf had killed an animal but I didn’t agree with him that we should eat it. He went along with it anyway, the big idiot, and we ended up arguing. The subject somehow got onto Jadzia’s previous lovers - he can’t get her out of his mind, Julian, so how do you think I’ve been coping? Anyway, one minute we were tearing each other’s heads off, and the next...
BASHIR: And that’s supposed to make it right? (She looks annoyed - can’t he see reason for once. She’s beginning to think that he’s trying to re-enact the situation, but then she realises that he’s deadly serious.) Didn’t you even consider your own traditions?
EZRI: I’ve asked myself this hundreds of times. I've tortured myself over it! I don’t think you’re being fair.
BASHIR: I’m not being fair...?! (Pause. He realises that getting angry will only make her hate him more and he doesn’t want that. He tries a different tactic.) Let me tell you a story, Ezri. (She sighs impatiently - this had better be good!. He stops to consider the best way to continue. The following is partly voice-over on old clips that his story describes - use your imagination. You don’t have to read if you don’t want to, but the rest of the plot might not make much sense - it’s up to you. Enjoy.) Well, it’s more of a question, actually. Could a Trill and a genetically engineered human ever fall in love? That was the question on one man’s mind for seven years. It all began on a transport shuttle where the eighth host of a symbiont and a doctor met each other for the first time. They found themselves talking and discovered that they had a lot in common, and that they would both be working on the new Federation- and Bajoran-manned station. The doctor was young, naïve and confused at his new post, whereas his new-found friend was an experienced science officer. Within a few days of their arrival, the entire population of the station knew that the doctor had a crush on his new companion, but he didn’t let that deter him. The two of them soon became very good friends, despite her innumerable rejections of him. At first their friendship was enough to keep him happy, but one day he knew it would never be enough. The two of them pursued relationships with others, but he was never happy and eventually he realised he had fallen head over heels in love with her.
After five years of their close friendship, she married another man, and our doctor was heart-broken. He endured the torturous wedding ceremony and spent his free time moping, wondering where he went wrong. On the day she asked for his medical advice on whether or not she could have a child, he had to accept they would always, only be friends. He gave her the truth she deserved, and as she hugged him in gratitude she didn’t realise how he yearned for it to mean more. Little did he realise that it would be one of the last times he saw her alive.
A terrible battle plagued their lives, and she was tragically murdered by a man possessed. Our hero was devastated, but tried his damnedest to save her life. Her body did not survive but he managed to save the symbiont, and on it’s way home it encountered trouble and was transplanted. The new host was young, confused and unprepared, just as he had once been, all those years ago. He understood how she was feeling when she returned to the station to resume her previous lives. He helped her as best he could; when no-one else would accept her, he did. It proved one thing - their friendship could survive anything, even death. So, the original question still stands - could he fall in love with her all over again? Yes. Could she love him back? One unanswered question which he is still waiting for an answer for. (He stops. There a long, painful silence. Ezri looks like she’s about to burst in tears at any moment, and almost does as the tears start to fall. She is dumbstruck by the whole thing. So is Julian - he can’t believe he’s just said it all. He’s finally let it all out... now he’s just waiting for the reaction.)
EZRI: That is, quite honestly, the sweetest thing that anyone has ever said. I can see why Jadzia loved you.
BASHIR: (Tired out:) She did?
EZRI: She always did. You didn’t realise?
BASHIR: I often suspected.
EZRI: I could kill Worf for what he’s put us through. I guess she saw something in him others couldn’t. The trouble was, she had so much love to receive and twice as much to give back. If she could have shared it equally between you, Worf and even Quark, she would have done, unquestioningly.
BASHIR: Really?
EZRI: Would I lie about something like that? You wanna know something? (He nods.) Just before she died, the last thing she thought was how you’d try to save her, and at the very instant she knew that she was going to die, she also knew what you’d go through.
BASHIR: Was she right?
EZRI: Actually, you coped better than she ever thought you would. I can see how much you miss her and it pains me to watch you. I feel I can’t ever live up to her standards - that you’d never see how alive she was in me. But I was always so afraid you’d never see the real me, that it would be Jadzia you loved, not Ezri.
BASHIR: I loved Jadzia more than my life itself, but she’s alive in you. She makes you who you are. If it weren’t for you, I don’t know where I’d be. You saved me.
EZRI: Isn’t that an overstatement?
BASHIR: No. If I could have brought Jadzia back from the dead, I would have done it, whether it was legal or not. Out of pure selfishness I was willing to try anything... but I saw reason and decided that it would be better to let her go. Even if I could resuscitate her, there was always the risk that she'd be permanently brain damaged and I knew I wouldn't be able to live with myself if she was. I had to lose her. As long as I could save the Dax symbiont. Which I did, and by a sheer coincidence it was transplanted into you. There’s so much about Jadzia that I miss... and so much of her in you, and what I lost when she died I gained again, but four times better! And... (She’s embarrassed by the whole thing, as you can imagine and tries to shy away from him to hide her blush! He places a hand on her cheek and moves her face to look at his.) ...and of all the things I’ve always been unsure of - my genetic enhancement, my work, all of the corrupted things I’ve had to carry out - of all those things, the one thing I’m absolutely certain of is this: that I did the right thing, and that I do love you, Ezri. Right from the first moment I saw you.
EZRI: (She finally cries, quietly.) I know. I know you do. And you know I do… (It's all too much for her as she trails off. He wipes her tears for her and she looks at him. He looks rather tired, almost haggard, but also like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders. There is another awkward silence. She’s still not sure what to make of all this. She goes back to the subject he originally raised.) I’m sorry, Julian, for everything.
BASHIR: No, it’s really my fault - I should never have brought it up.
EZRI: No, it’s the computer’s fault! (She gets up and holds out a hand to shake on it.) Truce?
BASHIR: Truce. (He takes her hand, rises and grasps her other hand as well, and just stands there holding them He looks deep into her eyes and makes an astute observation, the same one he made all those months back:) You really do have her eyes. (Just when you expect something to actually happen, they simply stand there. Suddenly they get that ‘Are-we-being-watched?’ feeling and look around dubiously. They realise that everyone’s been watching them since they were shouting. They’ve all heard his story, everything. One of the Dabo girls is sniffling. Quark, drying a glass nonchalantly, speaks up.)
QUARK: If you’re going to kiss her, get on with it. I’ve got a lot of bets riding on it, and I stand to lose a fortune if you don’t. (So Bashir finally takes the hint to much cheering. We cut back to Quark, who shakes his head - bang goes his chance! - and then back to Bashir and Ezri. Her stomach growls in complaint - they still haven’t eaten! They both look down and as we pan back up to follow their gazes, Bashir first, Dax second - it is Jadzia who smiles back at Julian. This is for a number of reasons outlined below...
1) He’s past caring now. As far as he’s concerned, Dax is Dax is Dax and now she’s HIS, after 7 long years of unrequited... everything, really!
2) Maybe he’s dreaming, but even I’m not that evil, surely....
3) His previous lines about Jadzia and Ezri being one and the same.
4) It keeps the viewers happy - we’ve been waiting as long as him, y’know!
5) Everyone’s happy on the station... well, except Quark!
6) It’s really what we want to see. OK, so Ezri is still technically Dax, but for six years we were waiting for Jadzia and Julian to get together, and it’s not quite the same without Terry Farrel. [That’s actually being quite mean to Nicole DeBoer, considering that she did a damn good job filling the void, but still...] In a word - HURRAH!!!)