[gutterpupper]

Change was hard to adapt to. There was no medicine or technique he had to be able to force himself to adapt; no magic hypospray to relieve the effects of feeling out of place. Miles had returned to earth to teach at the Academy. Yeah they had a couple of transmissions with each other to see how the other was doing, and even if Ezri tried to encourage him to openly talk to Miles about how he missed him, he was too conscious about dragging the other man down. But he promised himself he wouldn’t let it affect him.

“Julian, you should take some leave to go see him. Go visit and Academy and see how things ago going?” the young Trill woman suggested as they walked along the promenade.

“Nah, it’s too soon. Anyways, I still have a lot of work here to do. I’ve got that theory in neurobiology I’ve been working on. I have gathered some new data from a sample provided from one of Kadri patients who passed through last week.” His work was all that kept him busy, driving his days forward to get use to changes around the station. The Colonel had come down to seem him a few times as well as Quark coming in to find someone new to pester. It was just a gradual process after the last seven years.

So when he was unexpectedly called by Nerys to visit her in the Ops urgently, he instantly thought it may have been a medical emergency but the seriousness of her tone.

“No Doctor, not an emergency. I just need you up here right away. It’s important.”

His mind whirled with possibilities or what she had wanted as he rode the turbo-lift to his designation before talking a quick pace to the operation office where Nerys stood waiting for him. She looked at him with surprise on her eyes, only leaving Julian with more questions of what he was called for. But the answer presented itself quickly and it wasn’t one he had counted on.

“Julian. This is Steven Hansen, son of Belinda Hensen,” a young human woman informed Bashir. “He is also your son.”

“My… son?” he questioned suddenly. The name Belinda brought back fond memories of when he was younger, much younger, probably about 15 years ago as far as he could remember when he was still stationed on Earth. A romance he shared with a fellow student whom he had fallen deeply in love with but their romance was never to last. But he had no knowledge of her ever giving birth. He wanted to ask what happened to Belinda, but with the surprise that had just arrived for him at the station, he assumed the worst and chose not to ask at this time.

“I know it must be a lot to take in Julian,” the Bajoran commander spoke, offering comforting words where she could.

“yeah, yeah, I… uh…” the doctor responded as he stuttered for words. What was he to say? What was he to do?