Rites of Closure: A Star Trek Story

Chapter 2: San Francisco

Residence - Lieutenant Commander Jephrom Dex Revere
Starfleet Academy, San Francisco
Earth

The door slid open, and Josephine took her first look into the quarters of her ex-lover in several years. While the arrangement of the new apartment was different from the old, many of the personal belongings were the same. The chess board on the coffee table in the living room. The kal-toh set sitting on the window sill. The bookshelf stacked high with antique paper and ink editions of classic novels and books on philosophy. These things reminded her of old times, reminded her of the man she once loved. But that man was dead and gone. Because amongst all those familiar items and assets, there were so many things the old Jephrom could never have used to adorn his home.

On the wall hung a collection of ancient and modern weapons, from antique muskets to modern phaser rifles. On a desk in the corner, where Jephrom once kept an untidy stack of PADDs for scientific research, lay the many intricate parts and pieces of a dismantled land mine. Finally, the kitchenette in the corner was filled with foreign spices and strange cooking instruments. In the days when they were together, Jephrom had so lovingly embraced his adopted human heritage, Josie never could have imagined him having a taste for anything else. But now all that had changed. Dex had made him a different man.

As she was observing what appeared to be an Andorian egg beater, Dex emerged from the back hallway, his hair wet and uniform untidy.

"Josie," he said, looking slightly surprised to see her. Josie realized at that moment that she had come in unannounced. Thankfully, Dex rallied immediately, saying, "You found the place all right?"

She could only nod.

"Well," Dex said, stepping into the kitchenette. "I was about to make some Ktarian eggs, if you're interested. It's one of Jedson's recipes."

"I really only came to hear what you had to talk to me about," Josie said, finding herself suddenly wanting to be surrounded by anything but the familiar yet unfamiliar apartment of her former lover. "I'm just wondering what was so important that you couldn't tell me at the funeral."

"It's a... private matter," Dex said, smiling quietly as he pulled two large eggs from refrigerated storage. "At least, the Symbiosis Commission considers it so. They wanted me to go all the way to Trill for the ceremony."

"Ceremony?"

"Yes, the Trill Rite of Closure," Dex said. "I think I've told you about it before."

Josie's heart sank. She remembered the details of the ceremony quite clearly. When Jephrom had first joined with Dex, he'd regaled her with tales of his former hosts' experiences with the ceremony. He'd told her how he would likely need her to participate when his own time came. But in the years since their relationship had ended, she'd assumed he'd have gone through the procedure by now. He certainly had enough close friends and contacts on Earth. Why did he need her now?

"Why me?" she asked, sounding perhaps more bitter than she intended.

"To be honest, the Symbiosis Commission would have preferred that no one but an unjoined Trill participate in the ceremony," Dex admitted. "But the ceremony is as much about trust as it is about biological compatibility. I know we've had our... differences in recent years. But you're still one of the people I trust more than anyone. I'd be honored if you would take part."

"I can't," Josie found herself saying almost immediately. There were a few seconds where only the sound of Dex's egg beating could be heard.

"You can't?" he finally asked, not looking up.

"Of course not," Josie said. "How could you ask me for something like this?"

"Josie, you're one of the most important people in my life."

"No, I'm not, Dex. I'm not," she insisted, feeling the hair on her neck bristle. "I'm sorry, but I was an important part of Jephrom's life, of Xeth's. But Xeth is gone, and so is the man I used to know."

"Josie, just because I joined with Dex doesn't mean I'm not me," Dex insisted. His eggs had already begun to brown. "I'm so much more than that now."

"No, you're not," Josie said, the truth simply spilling out of her now, the truth he couldn't see and she could never accept.

"The man you used to be," she said. "He died when Xeth died. And Dex had nothing to do with it. You stopped being you. You stopped taking risks. You stopped loving the things you once loved. Your whole life has become about protecting that thing in your gut, rather than living. And anytime that has caused problems for you, you've blamed others. First Captain Folsom, then Commander T'Vol, and finally me."

Several long moments passed where neither of the pair said anything. Dex scraped his burned eggs onto a plate and dumped the pan into the sink, having not even bothered to use half the seasonings he'd set aside beforehand. In his eyes, Josie could see the hints of pain, but also pride. The conversation had moved beyond the ceremony and into the things that neither of them were able to articulate.

Surely he must know that this cannot work, she thought.

"Josie," Dex said, leaning on his hands over the counter. "Thanks for stopping by. You're right, I shouldn't have asked this of you. I'll find someone else for the ritual."

"Jeph, I'm~"

"It's all right," he said, stepping around the corner to put his hand on her shoulder. "It was wrong of me to ask, with all of our history."

Josie could only nod and let herself be led out of the apartment. This was not the homecoming she'd expected, but those were words she'd needed to say for a long time. Hopefully Jephrom would take them to heart.

Maybe then he could finally find some closure.

For her sake, and for his own.