Cerulean Stars - Chapter 99

Chapter 99

Stardate 48358.5 - May 11, 2371 - 20:27:36

“Absolutely not.” Raine told the trio that was giving her a combination of hopeful and amused looks. “If you want someone to take care of a baby ask Jadzia, because she has a lot more experience with it than I do.”

Yes, she knew the Jem'Hadar baby wouldn't be a baby much longer, but it was the general point of the matter. Because if you accepted taking care of a randomly discovered baby once, than suddenly you were the go to person for every random baby the crew discovered afterwards. And Raine liked her sleep too much to put herself in that position without a wife or husband around to share the responsibility.

“Hey now.” Jadzia returned in a tone of faux offense. “I'm still far too young to be a mother again.”

“Besides, it's a Jem'Hadar, and you're the station's most highly decorated security officer.”

“If that's your concern, ask Odo.” Raine shot back as she set a hand on her hip and glared at the other woman.

“It's only for a couple days till Starfleet decides what to do with him, Brooks.” Sisko put forward, likely hoping to distract from the other obvious parental option in the room.

“You could also take on the job, sir.” Raine said as she inched away from the biobed the baby was resting on.

“I could.” Sisko admitted with an amused smile. “However I’m afraid to say I’m woefully out of practice when it comes to changing diapers.”

“Just do what I did.” Raine offered in a sage tone as she held herself back from pointing out Jake was only two years older than Saya. “Bribe the transporter officers to beam the dirty baby out of the dirty diaper, and the biofilter cleaned baby into the clean diaper.”

The looks on Sisko and Bashir's faces were properly horrified, though the way Jadzia was biting her bottom lip to keep from laughing suggested the Trill woman didn't buy it.

“That was a joke.” Raine deadpanned as she shook her head in bemusement at the fact two Star fleet officers could be so gullible. “I changed Saya's diapers with replicated hazmat gloves just like every other parent.”

Jadzia finally couldn't hold back any longer and began openly giggling at her. “As someone who's been on both sides of the parenting fence, I think that may have just been you.” 

Turning an almost pleading look to Commander Sisko, she was disappointed to see the man shake his head. “Don't look at me, I handled changing Jake barehanded.”

Looking back and forth between the two for a moment, Rain was once more left with a sudden and distinct feeling of inadequacy.

“You know what? No.” She objected with a pout. “The mess in Saya's diapers glowed neon blue. So I stand that the hazmat gloves were perfectly justified.”

The doctor had said it was a perfectly normal effect of a bit too much Trellium in Saya's diet, but given Raine had been in the unfortunate position of not having a species calibrated milk substitute around, it had been direct from the tap of potential future health issue risks.

“You still need to decide just who is going to take care of the child.” Bashir prodded as he shot a disappointed glare at the three of them.

Raine exchanged a look with Jadiza, the Trill woman briefly flicking her eyes to Bashir as they did and the Asari gave a small nod of agreement. Because if he wanted to push the issue it was only fair that he handle the diaper duty.

“It sounds like you’re volunteering, Doctor.” Sisko put forward, beating them both to the punch in an amusing display of avoidance.

Bashir’s eyes went wide as he seemed to realize the trap he had fallen into. “What!? No! I couldn’t! I have dozens of cell cultures that need strict monitoring.”

“I have a teenage daughter who needs help with her homework.” Raine pointed out, since that was a lot more work intensive than sitting in a chair watching cell cultures maturate.

“I have a teenage son who’s trying to get me to invite his new girlfriend over for dinner.” Sisko added in with a shrug of faux helplessness.

“I have a date.” Jadzia finished, clearly holding back laughter at the face Bashir was making now that it was clear his objection was rather toothless in the face their own.

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Stardate 48359.5 - May 12, 2371 - 05:13:12

Watching Bashir chase a half naked Jem’Hadar toddler around the mostly empty halls of the promenade, Raine couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit of pity for being party to throwing the Doctor under the bus like they had.

“Do you think we should help him?” She asked Sisko in an idle tone as her eyes followed the pair. 

“No.” Sisko returned, sounding just a tiny bit bemused at the whole situation. “Odo’s already on his way, and this is good training for if Bashir ever has kids of his own.”

Thinking back to the times she’d had to chase Saya around, Raine could appreciate the logic in Sisko's argument. Even if she suspected the real reason was that the man just enjoyed seeing the normally put together Doctor outside of his element.

“Rapid growth and at least some level of genetic memory.” Raine muttered as Odo exited the turbolift, the Jem'Hadar child all but immediately coming to a stop upon seeing him. “Also a limited ability to sense if someone is a Changeling in humanoid form. Which might be an outgrowth of the same bioelectric field that gives them their other abilities.”

“Or Doctor Bashir mentioned that Odo is a Changeling and he put one and one together to get two.” Sisko added in helpfully.

“Or that.” Raine groused, annoyed with herself for completely overlooking the more obvious answer. 

“The question that's really been bothering me through, is where's the energy for the Jem'Hadar's growth coming from? Because there's no way Doctor Bashir has fed him enough to account for gaining two feet in height.”

“It's one of the things I'm planning to have Jadzia look into when she wakes up.” Sisko offered as he held a fist in front of his mouth to cover up a sudden yawn.

“Still no orders from Starfleet Command then I take it?” Raine asked hopefully.

“No.” Sisko answered as he gave her an amused look. “It seems someone let slip what was going on to several civil rights groups who are now insisting Starfleet follow standard procedure and attempt to return the child to the Dominion.”

“Now who could have done such a thing?” Raine inquired innocently, glad that had actually worked given it had been a bit of a hail mary on her part.

“I suggested it was likely Quark.” Sisko said as he shot her a knowing look that all but spelled out who he truly thought responsible for it.

“Seems like something he'd do all right.” Raine agreed with a small smile, accepting the deflection for what it was and more than a little amused at his choice given the com signal if traced would in fact lead back to a terminal at Quark's.

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Stardate 48360.8 - May 12, 2371 - 16:36:28

“She's six years older than me!” Saya complained as she all but paced circles around their coffee table. “And a Dabo Girl! That's double cheating!”

“And you're an Asari.” Raine offered in amusement as she watched her daughter do a passable impression of Jellaa’s angry stalking. “Give it a few years and you'll eclipse Mardah in every single way that matters.”

“Unless I take after dad.” Saya returned with a pout as she looked down at her chest.

Raine rolled her eyes, knowing with absolute certainty her daughter had never seen Jellaa without a sports bra on. “Trust me when I say you have nothing to worry about on that front. Because the Tendi family doesn't do small any more than I do.”

To Raine's eternal regret, as she would have much preferred to be closer to Jadzia's sporty size then the large handfuls she actually had. Though the Asari would admit they did make her look damn good in a low cut dress.

“Why do you care who Jake goes out with anyways?” She lightly teased, pretty sure her daughter was making a mountain out of a molehill given Sisko had already mentioned he was very much against the pairing. “Afraid he’s going to ditch your study sessions to spend time with the big breasted Dabo girl instead?”

“He already has.” Saya groused, crossing her arms and pouting at the clearly wrong choice on Jake’s part. “We were supposed to have one tonight, but he invited Mardah to have dinner at his place instead.”

“Ah yes, teenage boy choices.” Raine put forward drolly as she tried very hard not to start giggling at her daughter's dramatics. “But did you two actually have plans for the night? Or was this just one of the days of the week you normally get together to do that?”

“The second.” Saya muttered sulkily as she all but threw herself onto the couch. “Still not fair, she’s not even that hot compared to most of the other Dabo girls working at Quark’s.”

Given Quark had a minimum standard for his Dabo girls that wasn’t exactly saying much, though from what Raine had seen Mardah did have more of a girl next door look when compared to the other woman the Ferengi tended to employ in the position.

“If it makes you feel better she’s probably not going to be around the station much longer.” Raine offered, vaguely remembering the woman had taken off shortly after being introduced. “Most of the Dabo girls Quark employs are like that, basically just earning money to buy them transport to somewhere else.”

Usually somewhere in Federation space where they could apply for citizenship and do whatever it was they really wanted to do. Of course, there were exceptions who just enjoyed the thrill of having people hanging off them while they took advantage of those patron’s expectations to convince them to lose their money. But from what she remembered of the few conversations she’d had with the woman, Mardah was more the first type.

Saya grabbed a throw pillow and hugged it to her chest. “That’s what I thought at first, but it turns out she really likes Jake. She says he has the pahg of a poet.”

“Oh good lord.” Raine muttered, knowing full well no good ever came of a woman giving you that line.

“I know!” Saya cried, throwing her hands up in annoyance before flopping back onto the couch. “Might as well just take a line out of one of those romance novels you like so much. And it’s not even like his writings that good, always ignoring the action for unneeded character drama."

“There’s nothing wrong with romance novels.” Raine defended as she gave her daughter a pout of faux hurt. “Especially ones with a lot of action in them.”

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Author’s Notes: Poor Bashir, but as the lowest ranked officer on the totem pole baby duty was always going to fall to him.