AN :: When Garak disappears from the station the DS9 crew track him to an abandoned military facility and have to search the complex on foot for him. Doctor Bashir finds him on an operating table with a mysterious incision behind one ear. One-shot. Complete.

WARNINGS :: Mild suggested violence. Risk of Feels.

DISCLAIMER :: Star Trek and all involved characters and locations belong to CBS/Paramount and Gene Roddenberry.

Julian

Ahead, Doctor Bashir saw a light, a bright mark in the dark murk of the abandoned facility. Careful steps and his phaser held at the ready. Then he saw the table, a flat pallet suspended on a single column at its center - And a body atop it.

A Cardassian body in civilian clothing.

Bashir tapped his combadge with haste. "Doctor Bashir to Team Four! Get me a medical team to section twelve, level eight immediately!"

He rushed forward to the table where Garak lay unconscious on his back, stowing his phaser and drawing his tricorder as he went.

Scanning the Cardassian, he touched the man's forehead, taking his pulse, then his thumb and forefinger pried open his eyelid to check his pupil response. "Garak? Garak can you hear me?"

A harried breath issued from the Cardassian and his eyes squinted. "Julian..." He tried to move but Bashir held him still.

"Don't move, Garak. Just stay still while I get a full scan..."

"...Julian..." Bashir looked up to find Garak's eyes open.

Still scanning and monitoring Garak's heartrate, Bashir smiled. "What's that?"

"It's your name, Doctor. Isn't it?"

"You only ever call me 'Julian' if you're picking on me for my fascination with James Bond."

Garak almost chuckled. Then he grimaced. His head was cocked over to his right. "I can't feel my legs..." his voice worried.

Bashir consulted his tricorder. Garak seemed to be coming to... "It's the sedative in your system. Nothing else is wrong, neurally at least. And nothing broken... You have an incision behind your left ear. Garak, do you remember anything that happened?"

The Cardassian let out another uncomfortable breath. "No... Just being in my shop... then..." another noise of discontentment, "bright light... a bright light... Then nothing." He swallowed. Wanted to shift. His head hurt too much to risk turning it out of its awkward angle.

"You don't remember anything else? How you got here?"

"No..." Garak wiggled his toes. "...Julian... I can feel my feet..."

Bashir looked at him. Again, his given name. It sent an odd kind of squirm through him, worried more may be wrong than the tricorder told. He *never called him 'Julian.'

"The sedative is continuing to wear off."

"...Where are my shoes?" Garak asked with a disgruntled voice, his feet bare to the chill air.

Then Bashir saw the alert on his tricorder - "Stay still, Garak. Your shoes are right here on the floor, but I don't think you'll be needing them. There's a phaser burn on the back of your right thigh. By the time you can feel your legs enough to walk, you'll be in too much pain to try."

"Wonderful. Don't you have some kind of sedative in your kit?"

"I don't know how it could interact with whatever's in your system. It may kill you." Bashir's mind spun with calculations. "There's a med team coming..."

Garak moved his legs slightly - and cringed. "Julian -"

Bashir leaned close. "Don't move, Garak. Just stay still."

The pain was increasing. His vitals fluctuated. Bashir saw the Cardassian's eyes droop, his head slumping...

"Garak!" He leaned over the older man, touching his grey face. "Garak, you have to hold on. Stay awake for me - I need you to stay awake!"

A groggy noise. "...Julian..." Garak's lids cracked again.

"That's it. Stay with me - stay awake, Garak. Let me see those blue eyes of yours."

But he was drifting, shock trying to set in.

"Garak! Stay awake!"

"...Julian... My head feels all foggy... Don't... Don't leave me... Julian..."

"I'm not going anywhere, Garak. Just hang on!"

"...Ju...lian..."

~.oOo.~

He *ached! His whole body ached... But the cold had mostly abated...

He eased open his eyes... to the bright light and all too familiar com panels of Doctor Bashir's Infirmary. - And *there were those soft brown eyes and amiable smile.

"Well, look who's awake. Garak, do you know where you are?"

The Cardassian let out a breath. "The station Infirmary." His voice was low, rough.

"Yes, good." Bashir smiled. "And what is my name?"

Garak smiled at the tease. "*Julian Bashir," he returned it, emphasising the doctor's given name.

"Excelent, *Elim." Bashir teased. "I'm never going to let you forget that."

"Mmm... I'm sure." Garak shifted mildly. "What happened?"

Bashir took on his more serious, professional expression. "You lost consciousness just before the med team got to us. We had to carry you out. The Defiant wasn't able to get a transporter lock through whatever material the structure was made of. But, you're fine now. No serious damage, and the sedative seems to have dissipated safely from your system."

"And I still have both my legs?"

"Absolutely." The doctor smiled again. "And your shoes are right here when you need them." He joked again.

Garak felt groggy... heavy... "Good..." He was safe. "Thank you... Julian..."

An odd smile crossed Bashir's face as Garak drifted off.

"Thank you... Julian..."

~.oOo.~

AN :: these little scenes just pop into my head... this one's not connected to anything - though Sparticus328 has mentioned doing an addendum for this idea, so keep an eye out for that. i hope it's clear enough that in the first scene, Garak's voice is very quiet, weak. this piece was inspired by Garak getting his wire in Andrew J. Robinson's "A Stitch In Time," the ep "Empok Nor" in DS9 season five, and Garak generally ending up in the Infirmary a lot. this is intended to be extremely cannon friendly - all refs to eye color are bedside manner or Garak being Garak and not intended as bald flirting. the subtext *is, after all, cannon.