Kira Nerys had just finished dealing with the dreary task of processing and debriefing the crew of the T'Pring when she received a call from Odo.

"Major, at your earliest convenience would you please meet me in my office." she sighed, nearly too tired to attend to the whim of her friend.

"Is it an emergency Odo? I'm kind of swamped."

"Oh no, It's just nearly time for our meeting with Doctor Bashir and I assumed from your phrasing earlier that you wanted to meet with me privately before we met with him." Kira pressed an exhausted hand to her forehead and sighe once more.

"Odo, I completely forgot about the meeting."

"Shall I cancel it then?" She seriously considered it.

"Why don't you call Doctor Bashir and tell him it's been postponed. I'm not in the mood."

"Understood."

"But keep your schedule open, once I finish this paperwork I'd like to talk to you."

"Got it." The comm line died and Kira ran her fingers through her hair tiredly. She didn't feel like going all the way down to the Security chief's office, but she knew that talking about her frustrations and worries always helped to calm her, and that there was no one better to talk to than Odo.

She finished sending the last of her reports to Sisko's office, when Jadzia walked over.

"Hey Kira, can I ask you a favour?"

"If it's work related, then don't bother. I am done working today."

"No, no. Well, A little-" Kira rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

'Well?"

"It's Garak. I need you to ask Odo if he's noticed anything peculiar going on with him?"

"Why are you so worried about Garak?" Her disbelief was mixed with enough genuine curiosity to keep the Trill talking.

"He blew up on Sisko earlier, and so Sisko asked if I could check in on him. I plan on doing that, but I want more information beforehand." Kira's brow furrowed in concern.

"That doesn't sound like Garak. The worst I've ever seen out of him was blatant sarcasm and snark, and that was when some militia men were beating the shit out of him."

"So you'll ask Odo?"

"Oh yea. We'll get to the bottom of this. I may not like him on principle, but that doesn't mean that I want him to be upset or to suffer."

"Alright."

"I do have one question. Why did Sisko give this job to you? Isn't Garak Julian's territory?" Jadzia nodded.

"He's still busy with our visitors." She paused, instinctively rubbing her chin in thought. " Though I wonder if that's not an excuse."

"That doesn't make any sense, Garak and bashir are as close to friends as Cardassians are capable of having." She scoffed, incredulity filling her voice. "Hell, the way that Garak looks at Bashir they may as well be married!" Jadzia chuckled.

"I think that's a bit of an exaggeration."

"Only a little one." Both women smiled and Jadzia rolled her eyes.

"I'm going to finish processing those shipping manifests from the the Marani ." Kira stepped away, walking directly to the turbolift with a less dread, and more curiosity than before.


Odo sat in his office, waiting for Major Kira to come waltzing in with a huff. He knew that the best remedy for her hard days was a nice warm cup of tea, and a friendly ear. This, however, was the first time that she had blatantly canceled part of her work just to talk, which meant that today had been exceptionally trying. Something that the Changeling had found odd, as it had been -to his knowledge- a fairly routine day. Odo's computer monitors picked up Kira's presence on the promenade, and he turned to his office's replicator.

"One Tarkalean tea, 26.3 degrees celsius." The replicator whirred and a small green mug appeared, followed by a steady stream of the reddish orange liquid." No sooner did it finish than Major Kira walked through the office doors, and flopped right into her usual seat. Odo stood and grabbed the mug, from the replicator and carried it over to his guest. "Here you are one Tarkalean tea, just as you like it." The Major smiled and carefully grabbed the mug, letting her hands brush against the Constable''s.

" Thank you Odo, you always know what I need." He smiled his tight, thin smile and perched himself on the edge of his desk.

"So tell me Major, what has happened today to get you this distraught?" Kira sighed.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing! This has been the single most monotonous day of my existence. There's been no fights, no docking accidents, no disgruntled shipmates and irrate captains. Everything has gone absolutely smoothly all day today." Odo tilted his head, confused.

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"Well yea, I guess." She sighed once more and ran a hand over her face. "I think it was the Vulcans that did me in."

"Oh? How so?"

"They're all so-" She fought to find a word that fit . "-Dry, I guess. I mean, with nearly all of them you get the exact same reports, verbatim, and you have to write that down. After 14 crewman and a Captain it gets really boring."

"14? Aren't there 15 crewmen aboard the T'Pring? "

'Yes, but the medic, Sakkhet, was not nearly as dry as the others. He seemed nearly expressive, for a Vulcan."

"Hmmm.'
"Anyway, I guess it's just the tedium of the day. Has anything interesting happened during your day?"

"Oh, two minor scuffles at Quark's a little tiff at Garak's and this morning's incident."

"Wait, what happened this morning?"

"Doctor Bashir and Garak broke onto the Promenade before curfew." Kira laughed.

"Really?"

"Yes, they both claimed to be attempting to get extra work done, but I found both of them asleep at their stations." The Major smiled.

"You sound suspicious. "

"I am. Anything involving Garak is suspicious , and the doctor has been known to get in over his head. My thought is that they're conspiring together."

"Odo, there are dozens of reasons for them to be on the Promenade together that early in the morning. I mean, have you considered that they just happened to both be trying to catch up on some work? Like they say?" Odo harrumphed and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I don't take things at face value Major. That often leads to errors in judgement. No, something else is going on here."

"Well what happened at Garak's shop?"

"A Bajorin man attacked Garak when he thought that Garak was making a pass at his fiance. Garak refused to press charges, so the whole incident was dismissed."

"Wait, someone attacked Garak?"

"Yes, it wasn't a vicious attack, it barely seemed to phase him, though his jaw was slightly discolored. He didn't provide any resistance.:" Kira shook her head.

"That might explain it."

"Explain what?"

"Apparently Garak was uncharacteristically vicious when Sisko spoke to him today. To the point that the Commander wants Dax to check in on him."

"Lieutenant Dax? Why not Doctor Bashir?"

"Bashir has been busy with our guests from the Gamma Quadrant. He couldn't be bothered with Garak." Odo scoffed.

"Something else must be going on there. I've never known Doctor Bashir to ignore anything involving Garak." Kira nodded.

"You're right there. He did fly to Cardassia just to attempt to help Garak when he was sick. "

"No, something else must be going there." It was at this moment that Doctor Bashir walked into the room.

"Hi, sorry I'm late, I only just got Glib and Fall back on the T'Pring. " He looked between The Major and the Constable and frowned.

"Am I interrupting something?" Odo sighed and opened his mouth to speak when Kira interrupted him.

"No, no, we were just discussing the need for added Promenade Security during Curfew, and we wanted to ask you if you have any suggestions." Odo turned to Kira, who ebowed his leg."

"Err, yes. Considering that you weren't met with any resistance, we thought it was pertinent to ask you." Bashir crossed his arms.

"You called this meeting yesterday." Kira nodded.

"Right well, now this meeting is about this. So, any thoughts?" Bashir shook his head.

"Aside from adding a fourth shift of guards, which seems excessive, you could add an alarm system. One that's audible on the promenade, and in the guard's quarters. That would scare off intruders, and get someone there to deal with them much more efficiently than just having the Ops signal go off." Odo nodded, his expression blank.

"Thank you doctor. That is, umm, helpful." Bashir put his hands behind his back and rocked on his heels.

"Is there anything else you needed? Or can I go back to work?" Odo stood from his perch on the desk.

"Umm, I don't think-"

"Actually." Kira said, as she stood quickly from her chair and faced the doctor. "What's going on with you and Garak?" The doctor jumped slightly and crossed his arms over his chest, his entire demeanor changing.

"Nothing. Why do you ask." Kira sighed and leaned back against Odo's desk.

"Julian, you are the go-to guy for Garak problems. Usually, if he so much as frowns you are right there to interrogate him about it. As far as we can tell you're the closest thing he has to a best friend."

"Or any friend for that matter." Odo mumbled.

"I don't see where you're going with this."

"Talk to Garak, Julian. He's not acting like himself today, and frankly you're the only person on this station even remotely qualified to." Bashir nodded and then shook his head, slight panic rising in his chest.

"No. I'm sorry, but everyone is allowed to have a bad day. Especially Garak. I mean living on this station already has him on edge, and I highly doubt that he's fully recovered from that incident with the implant. Who knows what has him upset!" He threw his hand into the air to accent the point, and then sighed, his whole body appearing to sag. "Look, you came to me as the leading knowledge on Garak,so here's my advice. Leave him alone. Let him deal with things his way. It isn't our place to go around meddling in other peoples personal lives." The doctor backed slowly to the doors, waiting for them to open. "Unless he's experiencing a medical emergency don't ask me about it again. I have work to do." He turned and left. Kira spun on Odo and smacked his arm.

"I thought you canceled the meeting!" Odo cringed away.

"My apologies major, it slipped my mind." Kira sighed and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Yea well at least now we know that whatever's got Garak upset involves Julian." Odo frowned.

"Indeed. He was extremely uncomfortable the moment Garak's name was mentioned, and then he got agitated and dismissive. Which is suspicious. Do you think it could have anything to do with this morning?" Kira shook her head.

"I don't know. But we aren't going to be able to figure it out by pure speculation. I'll tell Dax what we know and then she can talk to Garak."

"What makes you think that she can get anything out of Garak? The man is as deceptive as a Triniallian Hiding bat."

"She's a few centuries old Odo. If anybody could figure out how to get something out of Garak, it's her." Odo sighed and slid into his chair.

"I hope you're right Major." As much as Odo didn't want to admit it, he was worried for he doctor, and even a little concerned for the Cardassian.