They stared at each other for an endless moment, neither knowing what else to say. Kira then broke her gaze away, looking down at her hands. She had no idea what else she should do. His tearful gratitude completely threw her off guard. How did you respond to an enemy who was openly vulnerable, not to mention grateful to you? Yet, as they had looked at each other just then, he hadn't felt like an enemy. And that scared the hell out of her.
Ziyal, I could really appreciate some help about now. she thought desperately.
Dukat felt almost as confused as Kira. She had looked at him so unguardedly just now. Never had he seen her that vulnerable, not to him. Could she possibly be softening toward him? The dark well of his mind laughed at such a thought, but even so, he couldn't help a small surge of hope that perhaps, just perhaps, Nerys might be willing to give up some of her hatred of him.
Kira was starting to panic. What was she doing here? Ziyal had obviously asked the wrong person for help. What possible good could she do? She hated Dukat and he hated her. That was that. Granted, he had always kept up a perverse attempt at seduction but that was as much to aggravate her as anything, wasn't it? She shook her head. No. She had done what she came to do. She had given him Ziyal's holo, she would just have to consider the promise fulfilled with that. To stay any longer would be a mistake. She started to rise, intent on escaping while she could.
Dukat noticed the sudden tension emanating from Nerys. She looked ready to jump and run at the slightest provocation. His entire being rebelled at the thought. He couldn't let her leave. Since she had been here, he had felt almost sane and certainly less depressed. She had given him something else to concentrate on and his greatest fear at the moment was slipping back into the dark miasma of his thoughts. He really didn't know if he had the strength to pull himself out again. She was starting to rise, speaking some nonsense about a mistake and he reached out and grabbed her arm before she could get to her feet. She froze and turned slowly to look at him.
He racked his mind, frantically trying to think of something that would make her stay a bit longer, talk a while longer. He grabbed at the first thing that came to mind.
"Wait, Nerys, please...would you tell me about...Ziyal? You knew her so much better...I, I'd like to know something..." he trailed off into silence, cursing his inability to say what he wanted. It had always frustrated him that he never seemed to be able to just say what he wanted to say, not when it was important.
She just stared at him for a moment and he could see her mind at work in those lovely brown eyes of hers. He felt her relax just slightly at the same time as she nodded her head.
"All right, I'll stay."
He closed his eyes and gave an inaudible sigh of relief.