ACT TWO

FADE IN

4 INT. DS9 - RO’S QUARTERS

Nine platefuls of hasperat - a kind of burrito made with bread, vegetables and pickled in a spicy brine - are handed out around the table, at which all nine guests now sit. 

RO
Hasperat à la Ro - my father made
the best hasperat I ever tasted.
He passed the recipe down to me.
This stuff got me into the Maquis,
it’s that good.

Matthias politely waits for permission to continue. Nog picks up the hasperat and sniffs at it nervously. Cenn gazes at his plate, a faint smile on his face and his hands in a meditative pose, as if he is saying Bajoran grace. Candlewood drums his fingers on the table in anticipation.

Ro takes the last seat at the head of the table - the mother of this family - and watches them all warmly.

RO
Well go on, eat up - it’s only
good when it’s warm.

Everyone digs in, some more enthusiastically than others. Evik takes a big bite, and swoons in bliss.

EVIK
I don’t know what it is about
replicators, but they never quite
get it right. No offence, Quark,
but this is the real thing.
(another bite)
Takes me right back to sitting
around a fire, listening to my
mother read from the Prophecies.

QUARK
Make it a nice snail steak, washed
down with plenty of Sluggo-Cola,
and moogie reading me the Rules,
and I’d be right there with you.

NOG
Finish your hasperat and you can
have all the snail steak you want.
That’s exactly what I brought.

QUARK
You’re a good boy, Nog.

Candlewood is fanning his face, eyes watering.

CANDLEWOOD
Wow. Holy... Lord in... Wow.
That is some powerful stuff.

RO
Good? 

CANDLEWOOD
Definitely. My compliments to your
dad. Maybe my mom has competition
after all. We should get them together
to compare recipes.

A moment of awkward silence. Candlewood sags.

CANDLEWOOD
Oy. I did it again, didn’t I?
(to Ro)
With every fibre of my being,
I apologise. I wasn’t thinking.

RO
You know what? It’s okay. I chose
this food precisely because it
reminds me of him.

CANDLEWOOD
But seriously though, how do you
do that? How do you get through a
day without insulting every single
person you meet? Because obviously
I’ve never figured it out. 

TENMEI
You’re supposed to tell us
something we don’t already
know, John. We all knew that.

CANDLEWOOD
That doesn’t help. 

MATTHIAS
You are who you are, John. Don’t
apologise for it.

CANDLEWOOD
What if who I am is awkward
and annoying? 

EVIK
“Offer it up.” That’s what my
mother always said if there was
ever something out of my control.
“Offer it up to the Prophets to
worry about. Offer it up, child!” 

RO
What about you, Desca? Hasperat
bringing back memories of Jo’kala?

CENN
A little, yes. Hasperat wasn’t a
big thing in my family, but it’s
certainly tasty. Thanks. 

Okay, so apparently she’s not getting any more than that. A bit disappointed, she turns instead to Bashir. 

RO
Julian - have you heard anything
from Garak recently? How’s he
doing back on Earth? 

BASHIR
I haven’t had a letter in a while,
actually. Last was a few months
ago now - mentioned he’d run into
Rugal again, after all this time. 

Blank looks around the table - they don’t know who that is. Bashir sighs inwardly with disappointment.

BASHIR
Never mind. Anyway, no, not really
heard from him. Or from Miles, for
that matter.

NOG
Oh, I heard from the chief only
last week.

BASHIR
...Really.

NOG
Yeah, he was teaching a class on
subspace stress for warp-capable
shuttles, and he wanted to know
if we had any readings from the
wormhole that might be useful.
We chatted for a while. He’s
doing fine at the Academy.

BASHIR
Good. Good.

NOG
Why don’t you call him if you want
to catch up? I’m sure he’d love to
hear from you.

BASHIR
I do miss our regular holosuite
dates. Don’t really have anyone
to share philosophical debate with
over lunch these days, either. Or
to go dancing with in Vic’s.
(looks down at 
empty plate)
I suppose that’s my confession
for the evening. I’m... lonely.

RO
Julian, I’m sorry. I had no idea.

BASHIR
People move on. Can’t be helped. 

TENMEI
Hey, if you ever want to go wind-
surfing or kayaking, I’m your girl.
I’d love to have someone to jump
off cliffs with. 

BASHIR
Thanks, Prynn. But I’m not asking
for sympathy dates. Don’t worry
about it, it’s my problem.

EVIK
That’s not true, Julian. The whole
purpose of this evening is to forge
bonds between us. Your happiness
is important.

BASHIR
Well, sorry to be a party-pooper,
but I’m not sure friendship can
be forced. It either is or it isn’t.

TENMEI
Maybe. Maybe sometimes it just
takes a bit of work.

Reaction shot of Ro and Quark, as they share a look - does this apply to them? Meanwhile Tenmei nudges Candlewood.

TENMEI (cont)
Or a lot of work.

CANDLEWOOD
Why the meanness?

EVIK
Well, I’ll give you my confession
here and now - that was the best
hasperat I’ve ever had.

RO
I thank you. Not too filling, I hope,
plenty more to go around.

CANDLEWOOD
Bring it on! 

Quark gets up from the table and begins collecting empty plates - or in Nog’s case, a plate with a barely touched hasperat. Quark gives him a sly look - I won’t tell.

Not noticing this, Ro passes out plates and bowls for the main course - which is the buffet of everything.

RO
Okay - rule four! No-one is
allowed to only eat what they
brought. You have to at least try
something someone else brought.
Dig in whenever you’re ready. 

Quark is still at the replicator, dematerialising the dirty plates. Ro heads over to him, where they speak quietly. 

RO
You alright? 

QUARK
Of course. 

RO
Quark... I think we need to talk,
don’t you? Not now, obviously -
later. Once everyone’s gone. 

QUARK
If you want. You’re in charge. 

Ro smiles warmly and heads back to her seat. 

QUARK
(to himself)
You always have been. 

Then he follows her back and takes his seat beside her. 

Meanwhile everyone is digging in, passing plates back and forth. Candlewood ladles out some soup for himself. 

TENMEI
Nog, Quark, you need to try my
spaghetti vongole. 

QUARK
Uhhh, I don’t know... 

TENMEI
Honestly, it’s the nearest thing to
Ferengi food here. The vongole
part is clams, a shellfish not a
million miles from snails.

RO
Go on, Quark. Take a chance. 

He looks at her again - is this mixed signals now? Still confused, he accepts Prynn’s offer of the dish. 

QUARK
I suppose there is a doctor in
the house...

Warily, he doles out a small portion. Everyone is tucking in. For example, Nog is slicing off a nice big chunk of grey and wobbly snail steak. 

NOG
Alright, here’s something I’ve
never admitted to before. When
I was at the Academy, I used to
sneak down to the Embarcadero
all by myself and gorge on all the
seafood. Oysters, clams, shrimp,
crayfish... whatever I could find.
It made me feel less homesick.

MATTHIAS
Food has a lot of associations
like that. These frond cakes were
the first things I ever cooked for
Sibias. I’ll never forget the look
on his face. He absolutely hated
them, but he kept eating. That’s
when I knew he was a keeper.

TENMEI
Where’s Sibias from, actually?
I know he’s Bajoran obviously,
but whereabouts?

MATTHIAS
That’s part of the reason we moved
back to Bajor - to find that out. He
knew he spent some time in the
Karnoth resettlement camp, but
where he came from before that,
he was too young to remember.

RO
I helped narrow it down to the
Tilar Peninsula at least, based
off the markings on his earring. 

MATTHIAS
Yes, but we’ve never gotten
any closer than that. 

CANDLEWOOD
That just seems so weird to me. My
family, where I grew up, they’re a
huge part of who I am as a person.
I honestly can’t imagine what it
must be like to have no idea where
you come from. I mean, Hetik grew
up in an orphanage. I’ve tried to
ask him about it, and it’s like a
whole other kind of existence.

TENMEI
John... 

MATTHIAS
I do worry about Sibias sometimes.
It’s like he’s always searching for
something that he knows he’s
never going to find. Some kind
of history. That’s probably why
he went into archaeology.

BASHIR
I moved around a lot as a child. 

TENMEI
Me too. 

NOG
And me.

QUARK
I couldn’t wait to leave home. 

CANDLEWOOD
Am I really so unusual that I had
a relatively normal upbringing? I
mean, here we are - three Bajorans
in the room right now, two more of
us have Bajoran partners. Then a
service brat, a man on the run,
two others dreaming of latinum
in the stars - 

Suddenly Major Cenn, who has been eating quietly all this time, gets to his feet. 

CENN
Excuse me - I need to use the
facilities. 

RO
Just through the bedroom. 

Candlewood keeps on talking in BACKGROUND WALLA. But Ro is watching Cenn as he passes her towards her bedroom. 

She notices him wiping his eyes a little, as if trying to hold back tears. What is wrong with Cenn? 

FADE OUT

END OF ACT TWO