Jadzia Dax went alone into Quark's bar expecting only the Ferengi bartender's company. Worf had a mission on the Defiant and she had a hankering to beat Quark at games and win some latinum. She was pleasantly surprised that most of the DS9 staff had decided to join her that Friday night of their own accord. Bashir and Garak were already there. When she spotted them, she took her place with them. Next, the O'Brian's arrived. After an initial meet and greet, the pair went off together to the second level of the bar to be with themselves. Everyone in the bar turned their heads when Odo and Kira entered. They were all curious about the newest and strangest couple on the station.
Odo and Kira had been dating for a couple months now, but they had been best friends for over five years before that. They had been glued before they plunged into romantic territory. Now they seemed inseparable. They were always in constant contact. Oh, they never kissed in public after their first one on the Promenade. They were affectionate and never obscene. Odo would hold Kira or hug her from behind. They would link their arms or clasp hands while walking together. When they sat, Odo would usually rest a hand upon her hip and she placed one of hers upon his knee. Once or twice, Dax had caught him running his fingers through her hair. Dax never knew that Constable Odo could be so tender and loving. She was slightly ashamed that she had erred so much about someone's character. With all her past lives and memories, she should have seen it before.
Tonight though, there was something different about the couple and everyone could see it to varying degrees. Kira walked with more confidence and serenity. Odo seemed to have lightened up and relaxed his grim look and stance. Dax couldn't help but notice that the couple mirrored each other's movements and moods. Lovers tended to do such things. Dax remembered how her first few months with Worf had been. That was the honeymoon stage of the relationship when both partners discovered so much about each other and grew alike. Odo and Kira went beyond that. It was almost as though an invisible tether joined them or Odo was a moon orbiting his star, Kira. They ghosted each other's footsteps. When Dax cheerfully greeted them, both of them turned their heads together in synchronization. When Quark cracked a joke, the two of them smiled at the precise same moment. The eerie mirroring caught Dax by surprise.
Bashir noticed something else entirely. He looked closely at Kira's eyes. They were normally the color of dark chocolate, but tonight, there was a subtle ring of blue around the black pupils. When he looked at Odo's eyes, he saw something similar. Odo's eyes were totally blue but now he had a ring of brown around his pupils. He wasn't thrown off by Odo. He was a Changeling and could probably change the color of his eyes if he wanted. Bashir couldn't remember an occasion where he did. But Kira was no Changeling. She was a Bajoran woman. Her eyes should never transform like that.
"Is it just my imagination?"
"Is what just your imagination, Julian?" Dax asked.
He told them all about his observation, hoping at least one of them would confirm it. Jadzia looked carefully back and forth between the couple but shook her head. Quark denied seeing it. Garak merely smiled his elusive smile, so they assumed he saw nothing. Odo and Kira acted like they had no idea what he was referring to.
"Maybe I'm going crazy," Bashir sighed.
"Oh, maybe you are, doctor!" Garak chuckled.
In fact, Garak could see the rings in their eyes very clearly. Cardassians had superior eye-sight and he supposed Julian's genetic enhancements made it possible for him to see them as well. He simply couldn't resist watching the gears turning in his friend's head though, questioning his sanity. He didn't want to spoil the fun of watching Julian stumble. Odo and Kira seemed to share his delight. They flashed Garak conspicuous glances when the others weren't looking. Kira even put a finger to her lips as she rested her head on Odo's shoulder.
"What'll you have to drink?" Quark asked Kira, knowing better than to ask a Changeling what he wanted to order since it was pointless.
"Irish coffee, extra cream, extra strong," Odo responded.
The group of friends shot him a puzzled glance. Was he actually going to try drinking a beverage? Changelings didn't need to eat or drink. They couldn't even taste it. They had to assume that he was ordering for Kira. No man had ever dared to do that before. They braced themselves, expecting steam to come from her ears. They waited for her to correct him and order her usual Klingon coffee or synthale. Instead, she petted Odo's fingers.
"You heard the Constable," she purred. "The man knows me."
"Alright," Quark still sounded unsure. "One Irish coffee coming right up."
He served Kira her drink. She made a point to find the O'Brian family in the bar and raised her mug to them. The couple waved their own drinks and smiled goofy smiles back. Then Kira took a sip. The cream foam at the top lingered for a moment on her lips until she ran her tongue along, capturing every molecule of sugar. She enjoyed the puzzlement buzzing off of her friends.
"I learned to appreciate Irish coffee and Japanese sake when I lived with Miles and Keiko," she nodded up at them again.
"Ah, they shouldn't have been giving such drinks to their pregnant surrogate," Bashir disapproved.
"Relax, Julian. They only gave me tiny sips while I carried Yoshi. I didn't start drinking large quantities until after the baby was weaned, I assure you."
Bashir relented because she had actually used his first name, something she rarely did. He also knew that she was right. He was her doctor. He would have noticed if she had been drinking too much.
"How did you know that was the drink that Kira wanted?" Garak asked the constable.
"A hunch," Odo shrugged.
"That's an impressive hunch!" Dax's eyes glinted mischievously. "Can you guess what I am about to order? If you do, Kira's next drink is on me. If you don't, you have to buy me a drink. Fair?"
"Is it going to be Klingon blood wine?"
"Wrong! Now you have to buy me a tulaberry wine!"
Kira and Odo laughed in unison. He was a good sport and covered the drink.
"So what are you two doing here tonight?" Bashir was still terribly distracted by their eyes.
"We're going to spend some time in Vic's nightclub," Kira sipped her coffee.
"The holosuites? You're both using the holosuites?"
"I could have told you that, Julian!" Quark grumbled. "I'm the one that operates them and keeps the appointment book!"
"I thought you both despised the holosuites!" Dax said.
"We like Vic," Odo clarified.
"So do Worf and I," Dax nodded. "Please tell him that we said hello."
"We will."
Kira finished her drink and the couple rose to their feet at the same time and walked toward the suites. They walked so closely that they might as well have been arm-in-arm.
"What do you think it's like?" Dax blurted out as soon as Odo and Kira were out of ear-shot.
"You mean what's it like between them? Don't you already know? Aren't you and Kira close as sisters and always discussing your love lives and sharing your secrets?" Quark gave her another tulaberry wine on the house, hoping to hear some of those secrets.
"I wish Kira would tell me!" Dax's voice trembled with frustration. "It was hard enough to get details out of her about Bareil and Shakaar! When it comes to Odo, she is tight-lipped!"
"That must kill you!" Garak's eyes flashed with joy.
"It does!"
"Just get her drunk!" Quark suggested. "Kira can't lie much better than Odo can, but unlike him, she drinks and should spill the beans!"
"I tried that! You really don't think I tried? More wine please!"
"I'll cover this one," Bashir placed some currency on the table. "I must admit, I'm burning to know these sorts of details myself."
"Julian, I am surprised at you!" Garak shook his head.
"I'm afraid I don't have many of those," Dax sounded devastated. "Kira would kill me for telling you what I know!"
"Have a drink!" Quark shoved more booze at her. "We won't tell her about your betrayal, you gossiping Trill you!"
"We promise!" Bashir chimed.
"Well," Dax took very little convincing. "I took Kira out last weekend. When we started to get tipsy, I invited her to my quarters and chased Worf away so that we could talk more privately. We let our hair down and drank some more. I buttered her up with plenty of flattery. I spiked her synthale with Romulan ale-"
"You wily little she-devil!" Garak exclaimed with admiration.
"It didn't help as much as I thought it would. I begged her for details about her and Odo. She only shook her head and laughed at me. I pinched her and tickled her sides but still got nothing."
"Well Kira has actually been tortured so tickle torture is a bit ineffective," Garak said far too casually.
They all took long draughts from their glasses and mugs. Garak had his Cardassian kanar, Dax her many glasses of tulaberry wine, Quark had his Ferengi snail drink, and Bashir drank his scotch. Bashir blinked his eyes a few times to get the ugly image of a battered and bruised Kira out of his mind. He was the one that had to treat her wounds after what the Circle had started to do to her. Dax drummed her fingernails along the table and Quark cleared his throat to break the awkward silence even a little bit.
"I am sorry that I seem to have killed the mood," Garak apologized. "You said that you got nothing out of her about Odo?"
"Well, I finally got something but it was by accident. Kira had been wearing a scarf around her neck that night. During the horseplay, it came off, and I saw why she'd been hiding that lovely neck!"
"Why?" Bashir and Quark pressed.
"I pointed out distinctive marks on her skin. She turned such an exquisite shade of red! She swore up and down that they were only bug bites from her recent stroll back on Bajor, but I know that she was lying! Those were teeth marks! Odo is into love-bites! Can you believe it?"
She began to laugh so hard that she snorted and slapped the table. Quark privately decided to cut her off from further alcoholic beverages for her own sake. They laughed as much at her as they did at what she said.
"I can't help but wonder how much he shape-shifts around Kira and what exactly he turns into," Quark said with a low voice. "I used to live under his quarters. He turned into all sorts of loud and wild animals, keeping me awake at night. It was a nightmare!"
"Do you think he ever turns into other people?" Bashir was afraid to know the answer.
"Julian, you know that Odo isn't good at imitating people," Dax reminded him.
"No, thank goodness!" Quark snapped. "He would be absolutely unstoppable if he could do that!"
"Did no one else really notice their eyes!?" Bashir burst and clutched at his hair.
Garak laughed out loud.
"I believe you might have seen exactly what you said that you saw," Dax reached out a hand to squeeze her friend's shoulder.
"You believe me!"
"Well, did anyone else notice the other things? Like the two of them moving at the same time, acting almost as though they shared the same body or something?" she struggled to explain. "Maybe those are all side-effects of Changelings when they Link?"
"Kira can't Link though. She's not a Changeling."
"Well, when a Changeling and Solid Link then. You know what I mean."
"Are you sure that Kira isn't a Changeling after all? Imagine! All these years, she was a Changeling and much better than Odo at fooling us all!" Garak said.
They laughed a little uneasily at the idea.
"But really, what if that's it?" Dax whispered. "I think the two of them spent some intimate time together just a few hours ago today. What if something lingers in the…um…afterglow?"
"How would you know that about them, Dax?" Garak's interest was piqued.
She blushed, "I didn't mean to pry, honestly. It's just that Kira took a late lunch today. She left Ops at about 14:00 and was gone for over two hours! Her lunch was going late. Benjamin eventually asked for her whereabouts and I asked the computer. It informed me that she was in her quarters with Constable Odo and had not left since her generous lunch hour began!"
They all grinned wickedly.
"Well, that means that if they did engage in relations less than a few hours ago maybe it is some strange side effect I've never heard of before."
"It must be. I saw the colored rings in their eyes too!" Garak finally confessed. "I thought I noticed it once before but decided then it was a trick of the light. The next time I looked for it later that evening, their eyes were totally normal."
"Gah! Why didn't you say so earlier, Garak?" Bashir exploded.
Garak laughed maniacally and the others laughed at his expense this time.
"Dax, you've got to take Kira out again! Ger her even drunker and get even more details!" Quark shook her by the shoulders excitedly.
"Oh, I don't know about that. Odo wasn't very happy with me when Kira woke up the next morning! It was a Monday and Kira was very hung over. I went a bit overboard with that Romulan ale. Odo blamed me, rightly so, for putting her in such a miserable state."
"Did he hurt you?" Quark and Bashir asked with over-concern.
"Of course not! He just warned me that he knew what I had been trying to do and shouldn't bother attempting it again. Odo vowed that I would never have access to her alone with drinks. In the next breath, though, he also thanked me. He said he didn't have too much work to do in the security office so he was going to take most of the day off and had excused Kira from her duties. He told me word for word that he knew exactly how to ease Kira's headaches. He was happy for any extra time with her."
"How sweet," Garak rolled his eyes to hide his true feelings. "Well, I don't like to gossip, but I will say this: Kira has come into my tailor shop many times in the last couple months. She's needed repairs and practically a whole new wardrobe. Someone that lives with her apparently has a habit of ripping her clothes to ribbons in a very strange and, dare I say elegant way. She also ordered lots of silks, velvets, and leathers . I have heard that Changelings are very much into textures and sensations, sights and sounds. Whatever those two do, they're giving me good business."
Quark dropped a tray of drinks, Dax covered her mouth in shock and amusement, and Bashir almost choked on his scotch. Garak laughed again.
"Don't believe him," Bashir managed to cough the words out. "Garak is a known liar."
"We know," the others said in chorus.
"Is there a way to get a Changeling intoxicated?" Quark fired the next question.