The old man squinted against the afternoon light, peering over the rolling hills and dipping valleys toward the horizon. The sun was indeed bright, and he looked away with water in his eyes.

"You shouldn't do that."

A feeble hand lifted, and trembled as it swayed in what the man hoped to be a convincing show of dismissal. "I can do whatever I damned well please; I'm a hundred and seventeen years old you know."

"As you keep reminding me. Please, Sir, don't try to get up. You must let the medication take effect before we go on your afternoon stroll, remember?"

Old bones cracked as the man kept with his stubborn idea of getting up from his chair. "You know, Cedric - I'd like to take a stroll alone today, if you don't mind." The young man looked at him suspiciously. "Don't give me that look; I've done it before."

"Sir," the boy sighed, "It's not healthy. What if something should happen to you? I've heard some disturbing rumors about a wild gettle stampede going on in the area. I'd feel more secure if you allowed me to--"

"Secure, secure, secure!" the old man cried. "You'd feel more secure, and I'd feel like an invalid. Be a good boy and let me take my damned walk alone!" And without letting the medication take effect, as he was wisely told, the man grabbed his cane, and strut off into the high blades of grass, waving an insubordinate hand at the man behind him. "If I die in the middle of a walk, then I'll die in the middle of a walk. I've lived too long to let my final years be dictated by a fool of a boy!"

Cedric sighed and watched his Great-Father amble toward the distance. He shook his head before he turned and headed back inside the habitat. Inside, comforting warmth and low light greeted him. He sat by the window, and watched the shrinking spot that was his Great-Father with apprehension.

"Still the stubborn old fool, is he?"

Cedric turned with a start, then realized with a frown that his unexpected visitor should not be here. "Grand-Father, please, go back to bed!"

The man smirked, patting the boy's head as he passed him. "That's a good boy - always looking out for us I see. Where's your father?"

The boy was frowning anew as he gave up his chair for his aging relative. "Out to the market to run a few errands. Mother gave me specific instructions not to let either one of you out of my site, but Great-Father just went ahead and took a walk without me!" he complained, waving helplessly at the window.

His Grand-Father chuckled, voice grated by age and disease. He glanced at the window, the chuckle lapsing into a soft sigh. "He never did like to be told what to do. He won't go very far, don't worry son. He'll feel the heat on his wrinkled bald head and come back in a hurry. He'll give you a pretty excuse on why he did it too - anything but the truth."

Cedric's eyes narrowed. "The way you're talking ... doesn't seem to indicate you have much love for him anymore."

His grand-father laughed at this - a crackling, hoarse sound. "Come come, my boy. Why else would I have lived with the old fool so many years? Of course I love him. I love him very much so. When you get to be our age, however, you can be liberal with how you talk to and about your beloved."

"Mother says your kind of love wasn't even accepted in your days."

The old man rocked slowly in his chair as he stared outside at the bright afternoon. "Yes, 'in our days', our kind of love was difficult."

"It was because of the Great War, wasn't it?"

He nodded at his grand-son. "That's right. Sleeping with the enemy, as it were, was not a good idea," he smiled crookedly.

"So what did you do, Grand-dad?"

"Oh we finally eloped. Moved to Cardassia when the War ended and settled here. We adopted your Father, and we were happy."

Cedric beamed. "Then I came along."

The old man chuckled and patted the boy's head. "Yes, your mother came along first, I believe, then you arrived," he grinned. They both looked up when the entrance to the habitat slid opened. Elim Garak ambled inside, grumping. When he saw his companion and grand-son smirking up at him, he waved his cane menacingly.

"Not a word, gents. Not one."

Julian Bashir cackled again, and leaned toward his grand-son conspiratorially. "Not bad. I think his mind is so far gone he doesn't have the wits to come up with half-truths and lies anymore."

Garak waved his cane again. "I heard that, Julian Bashir, don't think my hearing's gone yet! I can hear just fine, thank you!"

"I was just telling our grand-son how it is we overcame the war and managed to settle down together."

Garak wandered toward his favorite chair with a permanent scowl on his drooping ridges. "Bah! The war was a mistake. My people were dumb fools."

Cedric grinned. He looked at his grand-fathers, and for a moment, he swore they looked at each other with a fond look that transcended their many years together. In that look, Cedric could tell there was real love between the two men, and that love had not faded over the course of their union.

This was until Garak waved his cane at the window. "Don't sit too long there, I want my turn in the sun too."

Bashir chuckled as he rocked calmly. "You'll have to beat me into submission to get it."

"Ooooh, don't think I can't!" Garak warned.

"I'm twenty-years younger than you Garak - I can still outrun you. I'd be walking too."

Cedric leaned back - part-relieved he could obey his Mother's instructions properly now, part-happy to see his grand-fathers filled with enough spirit to fight like the old married couple they were.

The End