I added an addendum to Chapter 3 for new readers but before I go any further I want to get it out of the way here since this was not in the original plan in writing this story. THERE WILL BE OTHER NON G/B SEXUAL ENCOUNTERS INVOLVING BOTH GARAk, BASHIR, OR BOTH. I realized the more this branched out and the larger the story grew that where I want to go with this does involve other characters to varying degrees, some romantic, some not. I hadn't wanted to alienate any readers and if anyone is disappointed or feels let down I do apologize for that. I just felt a certain constraint in placing a strict G/B limitation on myself that kept me from exploring a few other things for fun. So while the destination is the same since G/B is pretty much my OTP there are definitely going to be a few detours along the way. I'm hoping the majority of readers will stick around and enjoy the story regardless but I understand if not.
Having said that, this chapter actually comes off Garak to focus on Julian. Every so often there will be chapters that focus on other characters and this be one of them. The plot definitely grows and a few twists and turns await so thank to everyone reading, commenting, encouraging me because I received some wonderful encouragement from Prevailing when I really needed it. Thanks for reading and C&C is always welcome.
"He has my notebook." Julian Bashir's face, half obscured in the darkness of the basement's root cellar is grim. He takes a step back from the sight, fingers carding his sweat dampened hair, and sighs.
"Are you sure?" To his right, Jadzia Dax steps forward to the faintly illuminated periscope and takes a look herself. In the dimly lit night of the small room she sees the Cardassian, Elim Garak, bent over the wooden desk, feverishly scribbling, pencil moving across what is likely scattered pages before he stops abruptly. He stares at a page and she turns a small knob on the main shaft to a 2x magnification. His head shields the majority of it, however, before long he sets it back down, eraser working just as quickly. "Can you alter the angle any? Maybe down another ten degrees? I think I might be too high up now."
To Julian's left, Miles O'Brien nods, stepping onto a small stool turning another small dial higher up, slowly, carefully, until Jadzia tells him to stop.
"There. I think..." Julian nearly holds his breath in that moment of silence as she steps away allowing him to take the look once more. He looks carefully, watching those same motions, foot beginning to tap just a touch impatiently.
"C'mon..." Julian whispers softly as he continues to watch. Next to Garak sits a small wooden table folded out, a silver tray with a glass of cold rokassa juice and an indulgent piece of chocolate cake untouched at the centerpiece. Garak has made no motion to reach for either in the time since they've been watching. "God it's like he's doing it on purpose." Julian steps back again in frustration leaving Jadzia to once more pick up the slack. "You're certain that he would have no way of knowing it's here? If the light refracts wrong it's possible that he could tell something's off, couldn't he?" Miles shakes his head.
"There's no way. I told Gocke exactly what I needed and I know his work. It's solid. You'd only be able to see it if the side we're looking for were backlit and unless you or I light a match it won't be anythin' but dark. And the rest of the time I got the shutter wound on a timer to close so as long as Leeta winds the hall clock every morning it'll stay shuttered til the few hours we got now. I had Rom play around with it some when we were working. And with the insulation made to dampen the sound that Cardie bastard won't hear any of it." Miles takes a seat of a wooden crate of potatoes.
"I might have to object to your choice of words, Chief," Jadzia chides him from her position as look out.
"Sorry," he replies with a roll of his eyes behind her back. "The Cardie gentleman." She ignores his sarcasm.
"You know, Julian, this is still an awful lot of trouble to go through when you're still not sure that he even has the book or that he's-"
"Oh no," Julian interrupts holding his hands up. "No this is not me or rather, this spyglass might be me but if you're talking about the room modifications, the insane security measures, the remodel of half the building that is all Leeta's doing."
"It was still part of the plan," she counters mildly. "We needed access to the room to take back the book."
"Right, we needed access to the room and we coulda done that a million different ways. But who suggested we tear the upstairs apart to fortify the building?" Miles snorts affecting an exaggerated falsetto as he continues. "Oh Aanya is too smart to just fall for anything. Aanya won't believe anything short of his life being in danger. Aanya trusts me, I'll handle it." Miles clears his throat finishing in his normal voice. "She handled it alright. No sign of the book or anything else to tell us who he is and now the place is locked up tighter than the bloody Borg cube. Couldn't have darling Aanya stubbing his little toe now, could we? I'm telling, you Jadzia, this Garak, Marritza whatever he's calling himself is up to something."
Julian takes a seat next to Miles, consternation molded onto his face like a mask of death. He watches a small black bug slowly crawling across the dirt floor in the darkness.
"Do you think he's gotten to her? She's not stupid. She said when the bounty first came down from Central that there's no way it could possibly be him. Kira thinks she's protecting him, that every clue pointed to him being Marritza. But I don't believe for a moment that man- Garak or not- is her lover miraculously returned, especially when she confirmed herself it doesn't look like him. Especially when there are so many other things wrong with this whole situation."
"And what if he's exactly who he says he is, Julian and we've gone through a ridiculous amount of trouble for nothing?" Jadzia hasn't moved the the periscope watching with a particular intensity.
"Leeta thinks he's a member of the Order," Julian counters as the beetle starts tracing a line along the seam of wall and floor. "She said it's the only way he could possibly know the things that he knows short of being Marritza himself, She said Marritza told her once they're all completely mad, they're all murderers married to the State, they're like pah wraiths with scales."
"I'd say she wouldn't be too far from the truth with that one," Miles mumbles. He's thoughtful at that but shakes his head. "But like you said then what's his game? Nyissa is hundreds of miles from here and even the nearest town you'd see a Cardie is a day's travel. He shouldn't even have any business here."
"Unless he's after Leeta," Julian can't keep the worry from his voice.
"Nah. He'd have killed her already. Or worse. There's always worse. No, it's not her he's after but even so I don't trust that snake far as I can throw 'im." Julian can feel the tension in Miles' body next to his and he automatically puts a hand on his shoulder. He feels a hand close over his and squeeze in return, his eyes closing briefly as if to savor a lost moment, not daring to speak.
"I think he's quite charming," Jadzia protests mildly.
"You think Quark is charming," Miles fires back with a snort.
"Quark is charming." Her expression turns serious as she turns to Julian instinctively, not able to see him nearly as well. "You asked me earlier how far along he is, Julian. I don't think he's gotten it yet, even if he has the book. We're not that far in our lessons. He grasped the cyphers easily enough and I think he's able to read some of the other word form variants... maybe more than he's letting on but I don't think he's anywhere near the level of abstract poetic metaphor that he'd need to be to get it. I've held back on some of the other codes, that aside. And you said the primary camouflage of the code itself is based on abstract syllogisms and suppositions that are on a key in your office. He hasn't been in your office since the day you met him," she points out. "I can't imagine even a member of the Order could decipher it that readily.
Julian is tense, and he exhales sharply.
"You're sure there's no way into the room now?" he asks Miles, voice climbing just an octave of desperation. "I mean you designed the thing, you and Rom, you can't seriously mean to tell me you can't break in for one book?"
"Oh I can break in yer highness, but can I get in and out without Leeta, or Jadzia's boyfriend finding out? S'not as simple as picking a few locks, the mechanisms on that door, on the windows are designed to spec so's to keep Mr. Garak from hurting a hair on that sneaky Cardie head of his. And so we do break in, what then? We've already been in there and didn't see anything but a locked suitcase. And even if we find some magic way of picking that lock- and I'll tell you I took a quick look, yer not getting that thing open without a helluva lot more skill than I've got- and we don't find the book we rouse his suspicions. Shoulda let Kira finish what she started if ya ask me."
"I don't want him dead," Julian hisses, his voice sounding horrified at the prospect. "I mean for all I know... for all we know he really is what he says he is but..." Julian trails off.
"But we've already come this far now, haven't we? And you already told me there's no way he could be a tailor. Don't go doubting yourself, mate. Odo confirmed it, there's no such man as Elim Garak. An' that Marritza fellow's alive and well."
"But that still leaves the bounty, doesn't it?" Julian finds himself thinking aloud, grasping at the piece of the puzzle he knows he has to be missing. "Someone set a bounty on him, him as Marritza not him as Garak and only someone who knew he was going to be here, who knew that Leeta would be one of the few people in the entire universe who could find him even disguised, then that..." Julian trails off, his eyes wide. "It's him! He had to have set it on himself! It fits perfectly! Who sets up such an elaborate ruse to murder themselves but what if that's his game? What if we're playing right into it?"
"Julian, mate." Miles looks almost pained. "Back it up, Mr. Data, I'm afraid you've lost me." Julian shakes his head furiously, sitting forward, nearly folded over as he tries to swallow and catch his breath.
"Right, sorry." Julian removes his spectacles, fogged over faintly with moisture. He wipes them off, hand faintly trembling. "Lets assume that Leeta is correct then. Mr. Garak is a member of the Obsidian Order. tasked with God only knows what. We can sort that out later when we have more time. Or if he's not if he's... " Julian takes another deep breath. "He's one of them... and he's here for me... and why would he take the book if he wasn't... But regardless he needs to operate without drawing attention to himself but that's impossible. There are no Cardassians in Indigo on permanent business, he has no connections to anyone here, and he has to know whatever ruse he comes up with will be uncovered soon enough as small a town as this is. But what if he can create a connection to someone here? What if he can convince everyone he is someone that he's not even while wearing a different face. Enter Leeta. Enter Marritza. He puts a bounty on Aamin Marritza and makes sure everything points to him being Marritza even engineering a very real threat to his own life. And here you have it. Everyone believes he's Marritza even as they call him Garak to his face and even as he denies every bit of it. And now he has Marritza's former lover sheltering him and protecting while he goes on to complete his mission and we have to get that book back and then find out why he's really here and what he's doing."
"Well right now, he's taking his shirt off," Jadzia tosses out, breaking the eerie spell of the tesnse mood. Julian sits up ramrod straight, lunging, nearly yanking the periscope away from her.
"Well don't just stand there and watch him undress!"
"Careful with that!" Julian lets go almost immediately at the scolding by Miles.
"At least give the man some privacy to change," Julian hisses, flustered suddenly. She takes the view back unperturbed.
"If he's a dangerous Cardassian spy, we need to have constant vigilance, right?" Jadzia's tone hardly speaks of vigilance and the appreciative hum that follows only reinforces her true motives for continuing to watch. "Are you sure you don't want to look, Julian? You ought to know what you're in for, after all."
"Absolutely not! And for one I cannot believe you're being so dismissive of this. Were you not listening to a word I said? You've only sat with the man a few times, you cannot possibly believe that he's just some tailor wandered down from Cardassia Prime to hock a few garters and slips. There was a way he looked at me, Jadzia. Not once but twice. More than that I think. And the way he reacted when I startled him. I'm telling you he's no ordinary man."
"Oh no he's not," Jadzia agrees all too eagerly with a nod of her head against the lens and he nearly yanks the view back again.
"You sure he wasn't looking at you for another reason, Julie?" Miles stands and pokes him in the side joining in the teasing. Julian fixes a glare at him in response batting that hand away. "Don't tell me a fella as vain as you didn't even consider he might be sweet on you."
"Don't call me that," Julian answers sourly taking a step back and nearly tripping on a sack of some overly starchy Bajoran root vegetables.. "You know, taking care of yourself shouldn't be synonymous with vanity and don't think I haven't seen you jogging laps around the town perimeter the last few months."
"Can't a man take a little stroll without everyone in town gabbing about it?"
"There's definitely something to be said for a man who keeps himself in shape," Jadzia agrees and moves over just as Julian practically shoves her aside.
"God, fine you win! I'll..." Julian trails off seeing Garak still seated at the desk, a study of concentration, but most of all fully clothed. He crosses his arms with a huff.
"Find what you were looking for Julian?" She smiles at him sweetly but then looks just as serious as he was a moment ago. "I don't want you to be right, you know. But you could be right. And I don't think he's been asking after you because he wants a date." Jadzia crosses her arms looking down at the ground quietly. Miles as well is silent and Julian leans back against the wall not caring that dirty crumbles into his hair. He shuts his eyes frowning deeply.
"God I'm getting to damn old for this."
"Yer two years younger than me, Julie I don't wanna hear that from you. Damn, how late is it? Think I was supposed to be home already."
"I'll be sure and tell Keiko that you and I weren't up to anything untoward," Julian assures him. Miles snorts.
"Think at this point she might send me off in my Sunday best. Well, in for a penny, in for a pound, what's the plan then?"
"Plan?" Julian laughs. "Yes, right, plan... Don't get killed? How's that for a plan?" He laughs softly, bitterly. "All these years thinking they'll never-"
"I've got a plan." Even in the darkness Jadzia's smile is almost scary as she turns from one man to the other. "I know exactly how we're going to get into Mister Garak's room. And I know exactly how you're going to get the book." She puts an arm around Julian as he steps forward to hear, her eyes dancing wickedly before whispering softly, quickly in his ear. And he listens, eyes focused on Miles who stares back, expression starting to mirror his own, the unspoken connection between them conveying far more what words cannot. Julian listens, the pit of his stomach coiling in a way he can't quite understand as she speaks to him for what seems a thousand years before pulling back triumphantly, an eyebrow raised seeming to await his approval. It takes him a moment to find his voice and when he does the fist words out of his mouth are,
"Absolutely not!"
"I wasn't asking you, Julian. I'm telling you. We're doing this. And before you start telling me how crazy I am or how worried you are if this goes wrong maybe I should remind you that I can take care of myself." She shakes the long sleeve of the jacket she's wearing this evening, the tip of a blade peering out dangerously. "It wouldn't be the first time I've had to kill someone, after all."
Coming to another semi Choose Your Own Adventure moment also! So, drop me a line, should Garak figure out what Julian & Co are plotting or be completely in the dark?
