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"Oh, I didn't know you had a pet." Jadzia said as an Earth cat rubbed against her leg. "Hi." She crouched to let the cat smell her hands.
"He usually stays in the bedroom when people are over." Kira replied. "Shy boy."
"Aw, you're a pretty boy." Jadzia cooed as the animal rubbed his head against her hand. "You've never talked about him though." She continued her conversation.
"No real reason to." Kira shrugged. Jadzia wondered how long her friend had had the cat, she didn't see any food or water dishes, or any toys in the main living space of Kira's quarters.
After a few months Jadzia still thought it odd that her friend didn't ever talk about her cat, but Miles didn't talk about Chester, either, so it wasn't unprecedented behavior. And the cat was comfortable with Jadzia, she'd visited Kira's quarters a few times to feed and play with the cat when Kira was off the station and he'd rubbed against her just the same as when Kira was there. He appeared to not be a very needy companion, though he was interested in some of the toys Jadzia replicated.
"Uh, that's not yours." Kira said as they chatted on the couch, looking behind Jadzia.
"Hey, Mister." Jadzia greeted as the cat sniffed her bag. "I'm staying overnight, what do you think about that?"
"I don't know." Kira smiled. "You're taking his spot in bed."
"Oh no." Jadzia chuckled. That night the cat curled up between them, both women reached out to pet him and laced their fingers on his furry back.
Jadzia had a handful of boxes full of things to move to Kira's quarters. Her girlfriend was late to help her move, so Jadzia stacked 2 boxes and carried them to Kira's quarters to get her. The door opened and Jadzia called a hello as she put the boxes down. She didn't get a response. She poked her head in every room and didn't find Kira. She hit her commbadge.
"Dax to-" At that moment, the door opened to Kira, holding a cat carrier. "Hey."
"Hey, sorry." Kira sighed.
"Everything okay?" Jadzia worried.
"Yeah. He wasn't acting right so I took him to Bashir, but he thinks it's just stress." Kira opened the cat carrier and the cat walked over to rub against Jadzia's leg like nothing was out of the ordinary.
"Aw, poor baby boy." Jadzia scratched his ear. "Did we stress you out? Are you going to cause destruction when we go get the rest of my things?"
"Hope not." Kira replied. "How many more boxes?"
"Just 3." Jadzia replied. Kira carried 2 back, and when Jadzia emptied the first box the cat hopped in and laid down.
"We found Kira's cat's new favorite toy last night." Jadzia mentioned as she worked with Miles, realizing she couldn't remember the cat's name. They constantly called him by silly and cute names.
"What's that?" Miles asked.
"Springs. He loves to chase them and try to destroy them, even though his back claws don't always connect to what he's kicking."
"Chester hardly chases anything." Miles chuckled.
Jadzia and Kira were planning their wedding, and all their friends were very congratulatory and had plenty of ideas. So now the cat was involved. Jadzia had suggested he wear a little jacket, and get his name embroidered on it (that way she'd know his name). Kira had asked Jadzia to take him to Garak's for measurements and everything. Jadzia could easily do most of that.
"I need your help." She told Garak as she tried to hold the cat still.
"I cannot help you with the cat, I need both hands to measure." He replied.
"It's not that. We want the cat's name embroidered on the jacket, but I don't know what his name is." Jadzia admitted.
"Did you ask your fianceé to confirm the spelling?" He asked.
"She just said normal spelling."
"Do cats respond to their name?"
"Not this one."
"Who would know the cat's name?"
"Maybe Julian?" Jadzia guessed.
"I'll ask him tonight." Garak nodded.
"Thanks."
Julian didn't know the cat's name, and Jadzia had no other ideas for people who might know. After dinner Jadzia admitted her long-running fib.
"Nerys, I have an odd question." She started. Kira nodded her to continue. "I've been trying to avoid it and figure it out on my own for months, maybe more than a year."
"What is it?" Nerys asked.
"What's the cat's name?" Jadzia sighed in defeat. Kira chuckled at her.
"That's what all this has been about?" She asked. "Jadzia, I never named him. When you said you wanted his name on his jacket, I thought you had picked one of his nicknames as his official name, and I was happy to go along with whatever you chose." Kira grinned at her and Jadzia couldn't help but laugh as well.
"Well that explains that. Yes, we're talking about you." Jadzia pet the cat as he curled up on her lap. "We still have one problem though. We have to pick a name for him."