"You know," Commander Rzepka's voice sounded only half serious. "I was just in sick bay for dehydration yesterday. I don't think drinking is a good idea."

"I'm sure one drink isn't going to kill you. I promise I won't tell." Captain Ezri Dax held a mostly full bottle of Saurian Brandy in one hand and two glasses in the other. Rzepka heaved an exaggerated sigh and held out her hand.

"Please, twist my arm some more."

Soon, the women were sitting on the floor of Dax's quarters aboard Aventine, mostly drunk and enveloped in fits of giggles. When the giggles of unknown origin faded, Rzepka realized she was about to tell a drunken tale. She didn't care.

"We had a fight yesherday." She giggled at her own words sloshing out of her mouth. A few drops of brandy spilled out of the lip of her glass and she quickly wiped them from her pants.

"Ehh?" Dax replied. "You cray - you crazy. No, we dinnt."

Rzepka nodded in protest. "Yesh we did. Me and Shhooolian."

"Oooohhh..." Dax replied, leaning against the leg of an end table. She looked into her empty glass, clumsily pulled herself up and retrieved the bottle from the bartop. It was almost empty. She poured more into her glass, spilling a good amount over the top of the glass and on the bar. She paused for only a short moment for she stuck out her tongue and licked the bartop clean, sucking up the liquid in her puckered lips.

"Eeww, Zee!" the commander screamed, releasing another round of giggles. "That's disgusssing!"

"I can just waste ack-ohol like that!" she hollered back, also giggling. "It's an important vantage... veeentige... you know!"

"Are you even old enough to drink?!" Rzepka shot back. A few more moments of giggling led to the Captain - now only dressed in her undershirt and uniform pants - making her way back to the floor beside her friend.

"We had a fight." Rzepka suddenly confessed. "And it was our worse so for."

Dax giggled again at Rzepka's speech. "You're... you're drunk."

"I know..." Rzepka admitted. "So are you."

"Didja win?" Dax's giggles subsided suddenly as she thought about the fights she used to have with the doctor when they were dating.

Rzepka shook her head. "I don think so. We called it a draw."

"So did you already haff da make up sex?"

"What?! NO... no not yet..."

"So what's the problem?"

Rzepka laid her hands over her face. "He said I haff... an invisibility... no invINsibility... complex."

"Well..." Dax started, looking into her glass again before taking another sip. "you do."

"What?!" Rzepka sat up in place as the room spun even faster. "I do not!"

"Yep... how many times haff you been sh-oht?"

The commander looked up at the ceiling again. "A few. Ah guess."

"And how many times haff you knocked on defs door?"

"Ok ok... a few..."

"And how many times haff you ignored the rules and got in big trouble?"

"Geez... okay!" Rzepka shouted, looking at her friend again. "More than a few."

"How many times hasss your career been on da line?"

"Stop! Okay... I getda point," Commander Rzepka said loudly, reaching out for her friend's mouth. She clumsily placed her hand over Dax's mouth. "Damnit."

"What?" Dax calmly asked, leaning her head back to stop the spinning. "It's true."

"I frikkin hate it when he's right," Rzepka admitted, looking into her own glass again. She told herself to stop drinking over an hour ago, but she didn't. "I suck."

"You don suck. Yoooouou're just drunk," Dax exclaimed, letting herself be overcome with giggles again. Rzepka was less than impressed.

"No, Zee," she protested. "Ere's more. You can't tell him I toljou okay?"

"Okay," Dax immediately replied, stifling her giggles.

"He's got... PDS.. no.. PTS... No.. PTSD. Yeah. He's got P...T...S...D."

In a moment, Captain Dax's sobriety kicked in. She sat up and looked at Commander Rzepka carefully. "Oh my goshhh. Are you shure?"

Rzepka nodded. "That's what his therapisss tole him."

"Kym, that could be serious. Whasshe doing about it?"

Rzepka shrugged her shoulders. "Nothin' cept drivin' me crazy."


When Captain Dax opened her eyes the next morning, her hangover greeted her like a punch in the face. Vaguely remembering the days when Curzon and even Jadzia used to drink Klingon Blood Wine all night and never have as much as a headache in the morning, she groaned when she realized she was on duty in an hour.

A sonic shower helped a bit and she finally dressed and made her way out into the living room. Commander Rzepka slept soundly on her sofa, covered with a dark green blanket. Dax tried to keep as quiet as she could, but the commander woke anyway when the captain ordered a raktijinio.

"Morning, K." The captian took her cup from the replicator and sat in a nearby chair.

"Geez, you're on duty this morning?!"

"Yep, but you can stay as long as you like. I won't kick you out," the captain paused while she sipped her coffee. "Are you guys required to have counseling before you return from leave?"

The commander sat up, momentarily pausing to allow the room to stop spinning. "Not that I'm aware."

Dax scoffed to herself. She knew how stubborn the doctor was about receiving medical care, she knew he would be even worse with getting mental health care. If it wasn't required, he wouldn't do it. At least, he wouldn't stick with it. "When are you leaving for Betazed?"

"Day after tomorrow," Rzepka replied, pulling herself off the sofa and limping to the replicator. "Coffee. Half Caff with creamer. Hot."

"When's he leaving?"

Rzepka shook her head as she slowly dredged back to the sofa. "I dunno. There's a transport leaving for Earth tomorrow," she replied. "And Defiant is departing for Starbase 23 this afternoon. So I'm not sure."

Dax sat quietly, thinking. "Let me get some sources together and I'll call you this afternoon. I think you both should seek counseling while you're gone. I can put you in touch with some good counselors."

The commander furrowed her eyebrows and sipped her coffee. "Why do you think I need counseling?"

Dax stood, straightened her tunic, attached her comm badge to her shoulder and smiled.

"I heard you think you're invisible." She immediately turned and left, leaving a dazed and hung over Commander Rzepka alone to think about - and regret - the night before.