Garak was fascinated when his friend Bashir explained the human holiday of Valentine's Day to him. To the young doctor's frustration, his Cardassian friend couldn't help but pick apart the harmless custom and take yet another opportunity to roast him over hot coals.
"Let me get this straight, Julian: Some dusty old man in a too tall hat decided that he hated the pagan fertility rituals that sound an awful lot like the Bajoran's rites. He declared that instead of being about fertility, which makes absolute sense, a monk named Valentine would be honored instead. That dusty book worm was employed by a religious institution that required celibacy, but he thought couples everywhere were given permission to marry and celebrate love in the religious texts and quoted that as a higher authority?"
"Yes."
"And so he was executed for defying the establishment. The same institution declared him a saint conveniently later and you all celebrate that shameless twisting of a previous holiday by handing each other Bon Bons and flowers and cards?"
"Preferably heart-shaped cards like these," Julian demonstrated.
"That is not what a heart looks like!"
"It's symbolic of the feelings between partners."
"So even the symbol is a lie? You admit this story of Saint Valentine could have been fabricated. Plus, isn't it only meant to celebrate married couples? You've made a Valentine for nearly every female on this station! Some of these are for men! This yellow one is addressed to Miles O'Brien!"
Bashir's face reddened, "Bachelors try to woo a future wife, but Valentine's Day can be a plutonic day between friends and family for those not interested in the romance. Yellow hearts and cards display affection for friends. White roses can be given to family members or for remembrance. Pink colors are for mere crushes and red is the color reserved for the more passionate kind of love."
"So it is about general love encompassing every layer of the onion, so to speak?"
"Yes!" for a moment, Julian thought he understood the concept.
"Nearly all of yours are pink or red, I notice."
"So?"
"How is a woman to feel when you give her a pink rose instead of a red rose? Especially if she sees other women wandering around the station with the same roses or someone walking around with a red one addressed from you too?"
"I try to show my appreciation for all of the women on the station, even the girls I don't personally find appealing."
"What a wholesome explanation! What you are saying is you give the girls you find ugly and pitiful the pink roses in a false attempt to make them feel better and you give multiple red roses to the women you do think you have a chance with?"
"That's not how I would explain it."
"Of course not! I also notice the women aren't flocking about fussing too much over giving a gift to their crush. Is that because men from Earth are less materialistic or is the holiday more for desperate bachelors like you? You have no white roses or hearts."
"That's because my family isn't here and you know why I prefer them not to be here."
"Why do you need a silly and sentimental holiday for such things? Why must you pay money? Sounds like something Quark would cook up and not a real romantic. Are humans so insecure that you all need such confirmation every year? What a depressing day for those that have no one!"
"Garak, we always have someone," Julian said encouragingly. "Besides, I though you and Ziyal-"
"Careful not to spread or repeat rumors!" Garak tsked at him.
"I heard she moved from the Major's rooms into yours!" Bashir ignored his cautionary tone and hoped to flip the tables on his friend.
"Don't believe everything you hear. I certainly don't believe you actually have a real Valentine this holiday!"
"Ouch, Garak!"
"I know Worf and Dax are spending the day on Risa again. Who are you going to pine for while she's gone? The Major? Dax was flattered and not simply annoyed by your pathetic advances. You would have better luck winning back Leeta! Oh, wait, she's married to that idiot savant Rom! At least Dax didn't snub you for a Ferengi instead of a Klingon. I also suspect you dated that ditzy but sweet Bajoran girl because she was a redhead like Major Kira."
"Damn, you can be quite vicious, can't you?" Julian Bashir was wounded. "I was going to give you an amber rose!"
"You can take that rose and you can-"
"Garak," a honeyed voice stopped him. "Julian is right. You are being very mean."
Ziyal had managed to surprise them, wearing a pale pink dress with roses of white sewn and bordered in crimson thread upon its mantle. She had painted her lips pink but with a bit of crimson balm smacked in the center in a heart shape like Julian's hearts. There were roses in her hair to make her appear more festive and alive and fresh.
"Aren't you a vision?" Bashir blurted while Garak stared in silence.
"Thank you, Julian! Nerys bought this for me and helped gussy me up. She's Bajoran but aware of your holiday! I think it sounds charming and splendid! I have a white heart for you, doctor, because most of the staff here are as much family to me as you are to Nerys! This other one is from her to you."
She offered two white heart shaped cards to Julian. The doctor hid his disappointment. He hoped a Valentine from Kira Nerys would be pink or red. She was single this year and he did, at times, still fancy her. He decided to be grateful that either woman had thought of him at all especially on a foreign holiday.
"You must thank Kira for me. I have cards for the both of you but only yours on me at the moment. I haven't quite fixed up hers."
"You mean you need to exchange the color scheme so you don't make an utter fool of yourself!" Garak said.
"Well at least there is one Cardassian on this station that isn't a cold, heartless reptile!"
"Go and spend some time with your holo girl Anastasia!" Garak jabbed.
"Maybe that's not such a bad idea," Julian grinned like a school boy as he made his exit.
Ziyal took the doctor's abandoned seat, still warm, and she placed her pale gray hand over Garak's. Her expression had turned devilish, a stark contrast to her normally fixed sweet mask.
"Alone at last," she whispered across to him.
"Not quite. We are still in public."
Garak didn't move his hand anyway. He could see with a quick glance around the room that most people nearby were distracted with each other. Quark always leaped upon holidays of any culture as a business opportunity and Quark's bar had many lovers and would be lovers drinking and wooing and trying to flirt with the dabo girls. They had grown too used to the Cardassian man and the hybrid girl to much care about their business. Ziyal could see that herself.
"I wonder who let slip that we moved in together? Not Nerys."
"Julian can be far more observant than he lets on. Don't let his childishness fool you, my little moth."
"A moth? Strange choice of creature for me."
"A moth can be as beautiful as a butterfly, you know? Especially lunar moths, they can be downright bioluminescent! When you spread your silver wings, my dear, you reveal pink roses of your own!"
She flushed adorably and her temperature was spiking. She had painted such a tempting target upon her lips drawing that mockery of a heart in their center. He would kiss them later.
"If I am a moth, what are you, Elim?"
"Do you know how rare it is for anyone to call me that?" he gasped.
"Do you want me to stop?"
"No, but perhaps you should. If you are a moth, I am a spider. I am a great cosmic spider spinning beautiful but deadly webs. I feed on innocent things like you and spew lies like bile from my mouth. I am an ugly silver and black creature."
"That is not true, and your tailoring work is dazzling and beautiful."
"You can look and appreciate what you see, but you mustn't get caught. I am a very thirsty and ancient spider. I don't want to drain your innocence or tear your tender wings."
"Spiders don't always kill everything they catch."
"Not right away because they are greedy. They like to hoard their food sources."
"Can a spider love his prey?" she stroked his fingers.
"That would be tragic for both the spider and the moth, wouldn't it be?"
"It could be fun!" Ziyal's eyes danced. "I know a spider's webbing is one of the strongest substances in the galaxy and yet it is so thin and delicate. I wonder if it feels like soft velvet sheets!"
Garak grinned and twined and twirled her fingers. She had painted her nails. Nerys had outdone herself making his Ziyal lovely for him. She was pale enough the color didn't look half-bad.
"Didn't your father warn you not to get involved with me?"
Ziyal became serious for a moment, "Have you seduced targets like this before?"
He was too ashamed to answer that. He almost lost count of how many lovers he had betrayed or abandoned once he sucked them dry of useful truths. He wanted to forget, but he couldn't. More than one of those haunted him. Most of his targets were despicable people he didn't mind toying with. In fact, he had enjoyed it. There was a few, however, that he couldn't help but feel an ounce of sympathy for. There was a single one he felt more than an ounce of regret betraying, but he would never repeat their name.
"Elim," she whispered again, "I know you."
"No, you don't, little moth."
"I know there is a good man in there. That's all I need to know. I know he is in there because I feel him when he kisses me."
Garak wanted to believe her.
"You can entrap me tonight, my spider, if you promise to be gentle," she turned sultry again.
"Only for a little while, my beautiful moth."
"We can stretch that time into a small eternity."
He acted like he was going to bite her but nuzzled her hand instead. She giggled.
"Maybe I'll use my fangs a bit but utilize no venom. You'll leave my web unharmed. I promise."
"I'll flutter back to you again and again. I promise."
"You really were born to love and tame monsters, Ziyal."
"Perhaps. Happy Valentine's Day."
"Happy Valentine's Day."