Title: All is Right
Author: Cait N.
Series: DS9
Pairing: G/B 
Rating: PG

Author's Note: Set post WYLB.
- - - - - - - - - - -


"A couple reaches across 
the years that divide them, their hands forming a bridge
for tired immigrants and abandoned children.
No one finds it a tribulation to a human."

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"I'm so glad you could get some time away and have lunch with me."
Garak took a sip of his Tarkalean Tea, grimacing slightly. Even after
two years, kanar was in short supply; one had to make do with what
was available.

"I was just surprised you called me," Julian replied. There were few
things that amazed him anymore; Garak's offer was one of them.

The outdoor café was moderately respectable, and a short distances
walk from the downtown district. Cardassia Prime was still a shadow
of the world it had been before the Dominion War. After two years,
buildings were still in need of repair, foodstuffs were in short
supply, and the people were a race divided. Some favored Federation
intervention and help, while others believed that isolationism was
the only way the Cardassian people would regain their former glory. 

"I just got back from Betazed," Julian continued, "and found your
message waiting for me. My visit was supposed to be a short one, but
I ran into some bureaucratic nonsense and had to stay two extra days."

Garak waved a hand. "No excuses are necessary, Doctor."

"Julian, it's just plain Julian." He smiled.

"Very well, Julian," Garak acquiesced.

"So tell me what you've been up to. I want to hear everything."

Garak laughed. "Everything would be boring and tedious. Suffice to
say that I've been a liaison of sorts between the present government
and other governments. It's kept me busy and I've had a chance to
hone certain skills that lay dormant on Deep Space Nine."

"Dormant?" Julian looked skeptical. "You'll never convince me you
were a simple tailor."

"Enough about me," Garak changed the subject, an old and tired one,
"tell me about you. I know what you're doing on Cardassia, but how
and why? Last I knew, you and Dax were inseparable."

"Yes, well." Julian fiddled with his teacup. "Things change. Dax
accepted a post on the Monitor, and we grew apart. I know it sounds
trite, but it's true." He looked Garak directly in the eyes. "She
never was Jadzia and I realized she never could be."

Garak was silent at his old friend's honesty.

A self-conscious laugh. "Well, that was that. I was left adrift, not
liking who I was or what I was doing anymore. So I thought a change
of scenery, and occupation was in order."

"And that's when you started The Children's Alliance."

"Yes, with some help from the Federation Peace Corps and the Vulcan
Embassy, of all agencies." He leaned forward, clearly excited and
passionate about his new work. "It all made sense - hundreds of
orphaned children from the war; Terran, Cardassian, Vulcan, Betazoid.
There was a need since many families lost their children in the war
whether in combat or by planetary attacks from Dominions ships." He
shrugged. "It just made sense to put the two together. Every child
deserves a home."
"I agree, but what amazes me is that you don't necessarily place
Terrans with Terrans, Cardassians with Cardassians -"

"No, it's not about 'keeping races together', it's about need."
Julian's eyes lit up with animation. "It's based on in the individual
child's needs, and personality. The families are screened to make
sure no one is doing it out of retribution, of course, but I'm happy
to say in the year that we've been running, we've placed 170 orphans
with families, and not one has turned out to be a failure."

"So there IS a follow up?"

"Of course, it'd be irresponsible not to do one. That's one of the
reasons I was on Betazed - running an organization like this takes
many people and many resources. I don't like the politicking, but
it's all part of the job."

Garak was quiet.

"I'm sorry," Julian apologized after a while. "Sometimes I just go
on and on, and don't know when to shut up -"

"I miss you."

Julian's turn to be silent now; Garak's admission had caught him off
guard. "I miss you, too."

"What ever happened to us?"

Julian's lips twisted into a wry smile. He reached across the table
and laid his hand atop Garak's. "I was mourning for Jadzia and you
had a war to fight. We grew apart."

"What about now?"

"Well," Julian faltered. Whatever he'd been expecting from the lunch
date, this line of questioning wasn't it. "We keep in touch, see each
other more often, get together sometimes -"

"No."

Julian wasn't sure what was going on. "No?"

"No." Garak turned his hand over and took Julian's hand in his. "I
won't settle for sometime-friends, Julian. I want it to be us again,
I want you again."

Julian was shaking his head. "So many things have changed. We're
different people now, Garak."

"I know that things have changed, Julian, but you're still the same
person I fell in love with years ago. You were sitting there, and I
couldn't help but toy with you." His eyes were dark and intense. "I'm
not toying anymore. I want to share my life with you."

"It's not just me -"

"I know," Garak said, a smile on his face. "There's Jessik, the
Cardassian boy you adopted two months ago."

"How did -"

"I've been following you and your work for some time now," Garak
admitted. "I've been trying to work up the nerve to ask you out."

Julian was flabbergasted. Never in his wildest dreams could he have
ever thought that he'd be sitting in a small café on Cardassia Prime,
two years after the war ended, not only with a new son, but with
Garak wanting him. Wanting both of them, he corrected himself. And
not just for a dalliance, like they'd had on DS9, but something
deeper, more permanent.

"Take your time," Garak was saying, "I understand it's a lot,
especially coming from someone as hard-hearted and cynical as me, but
I'm hoping -"

"Yes," Julian said. "Yes," he said again, more forcefully.

"Yes?" 

Julian nodded his head. "Yes." He leaned across the table and laid
his lips gently on Garak's. Somehow, it all felt right. Work, his
family life, and now his love life. Soon, all three would intertwine.
Bridges burned and bridges built. All was right in his world. Finally.


THE END