Note: In before midnight, booyah. Though if it wasn't for picking up a new ST book it would've been earlier still... Anyway, more action little more bonding and a few paragraphs that took way too much research to write. Next week we're out of the frying pan and into... who knows! No real warnings here. Thank you all for reading and commenting! C&C is always welcome!


"My God, are you alright?!" Julian's voice follows a startled gasp, an intake of breath so sudden and violent that it makes Garak imagine for a moment that he's swallowed a bug. He sees Julian looking at him in the blue faint blue basting of light and he supposes he's worn his agitation far more obviously than he'd intended. He also imagines that the incipient drop of body temperature is not aiding that impression. Garak can practically feel the pale of his skin, of the ridges around his eyes like some unflattering death pall. Well, be thankful that you haven't passed out, Elim. Yes, he's terribly thankful to remain in this discomfiting state of scrutiny as Julian comes closer, examining his face with a searching physician's gaze.

"Well it may have been some time since I was able to make use of a proper exercise module," he begins, indicating his bare chest which in actuality shows little sign of such leisure since moving here. "But I assure you, doctor, all physical parameters should be perfectly normal for a man my age. Did I ever tell you that a physician once told me I was an absolutely remarkable specimen?" He manages a smile and that only deepens Julian's frown.

"That was me. Fifteen minutes ago when you weren't pale as a sheet." He holds out a hand, Garak unable to help but look behind him, glances past him to find a hallway stretching the length of what must be half the town by his estimation. The length of that narrow tunnel does little for his color, even if it is a construct of metal and not mere dirt.

"Perhaps the lack of sunlight disagrees with me," he offers.

"Give me your hand."

"Really, Julian, I'm always eager to finish what I start but perhaps this is not the most appropriate of venues." Julian snatches his wrist before he can react and he feels two fingers press to the inside.

"I suppose if I ask you what the normal Cardassian heart rate is you'll tell me you've no idea." He lets go looking adorably sour.

"You're the doctor, my dear, not I."

"Spare me," Julian answers with a trailing mumble that Garak doesn't catch. He takes a deep breath, slow, steady knowing that if he can find some other focal point that he can push the rest from his mind. He ignores for the moment Julian's head shake, seeing him instead begin a visual examination of their surroundings. That's all well and good in his estimation as h focuses on the stairwell, the useless exit that he can at least trick his mind into believing a viable egress if for no other reason than to maintain a tenuous grip on his sanity. And there's an exit. you know there's an exit because there's no way all this trouble would be placed for a dead end. You've one other key to use, after all and if Odo is to be believed there is a path to treasure, a treasure to turn the tide of a war which has yet to occur if those two are to be believed. Now if only the Gul's damned walls would stop-

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news," Julian's voice interrupts those thoughts bringing a sickening lurch back to his stomach. Garak has half a mind to tell him that anyone he's ever known to have uttered that phrase- himself included- has always taken a rather perverse satisfaction from delivering said "bad news".

"Come now, Julian, what other ill could possibly befall us in this bounteous cavern of wonder and delight?" He realizes, of course, that as soon as he speaks the words that he's yet to turn around or so much as budge that ramrod straight position he's adopted since the light have come on. In fact, now that he allows himself to more fully process the length of the long wall he notes that the entire right side is an endless row of sharp poles. And once he realizes that fact, it only takes a moment for that sickening sense of innate premonition to kick in, bringing that afternoon's impromptu lunch, impromptu to the back of his throat. He swallows it back down.

"The walls are moving," Julian states with far too much calm, looking past him. Garak feels that smile on his face crack to an almost manic grin as he counts to three while mustering the will to turn around and face the damn things head on. Of course the walls are moving, Elim. Why wouldn't they be moving? Why wouldn't this maddening trap novel come to life have a moving subterranean wall of death? Shame on you, Elim, you should have noticed that from the start.

"Are they now?" Garak asks, voice just barely holding steady as he turns fully around to face that wall of imposing impending impalement. There he sees his shirt, the tips of a few points poked through towards the ground where Julian extended to keep them both from certain peril. He sees those lined in neatly staggered rows down as far as the eye can see from floor to ceiling. He takes an automatic step backwards, off of Julian's crushed spectacles deciding in a moment devoid of anything resembling self preservation that with that final step he just very well might stand rooted there and stop moving entirely. His legs, in fact are finding that a rather appealing idea as Julian brushes past him to the wall on his left opposite the hall.

"I actually don't think that you can see it. It's just the one side though," Julian answers, completely unaware that yes, Garak can very much see it, vividly in his imaginings, closing in more and more and not just the one side, but the entire thing, compressing tighter and tighter until it crushes his chest into a painfully rapid heartbeat that nearly makes him faint.

"Oh yes... yes... moving." Garak agrees as he debates whether or not looking at the ceiling will induce any vertigo. Instead he follows Julian and sees, thankfully a distracting puzzle instead.

"I'm sure you can't," Julian says as he stands in front of a wooden wall with ten randomly placed little square doors. "I can hear it. Faintly. quite faintly, really. They must have lubed the entire mechanism... it's really quite impressive when you consider the scale of the operation in this section of town but in fact you have... Garak?" Julian ceases his examination and Garak almost curses his damn augment's hearing for likely catching his increasingly agitated breaths.

"You have the entirety of my attention, my dear I assure you."

"I'm going to ask you again if you're alright and this time you're going to tell me the truth," he says with a crossness that's particularly endearing. "Are you alright?"

"I suppose I must confess to a severe intractable agitation when the decor is this bland." He blinks only once, slowly, slowly enough that in one eye shutter he watches Julian's expression turn from silver to dark black.

"Are you serious?" Julian takes a step towards him softly.

"It's my innate sense of aesthetic, my dear. You see, we Cardassians are imbued with an impeccable eye for color and design. It's both a gift and a curse but tell me, have you ever the chance to visit Terok Nor?" Julian opens his mouth and Garak rushes past him to those nine little doors, each no larger than a post card. He doesn't give Julian the chance to answer as he examines them carefully. "It's the absolute height of Cardassian station engineering and architectural ambition."

Garak is certain that there is more that he says and while he knows his memory will retain the words in that secondary layer to easily call upon them later should the need arise, he lets that dialogue flow absently spinning the story effortlessly, deciding if he concentrates on the puzzle that he can ignore the remainder of the entire miserable situation. Recall now, a similar puzzle. But that puzzle relied on light sensors and you know that things on this world must confirm to certain scientific rules. At least as far as you know nothing, save for the aether substance, has yet to contradict any of them. But here it diverges for there should be twelve, and you didn't catch sight of any slits along the wall where there would be the poison tipped projectiles. And what would the pattern uncover exactly? You'd be a fool to trigger these but perhaps like the gas lamp they're here as a diversion...

Garak considers all of this just as he glances to the floor and sees the seam where the split would occur. Morbid curiosity leads him to wonder if not rats then what could possibly lurk beneath that space. And now that he looks up he sees the outline of an opening on the ceiling with doubtless content to maim. Julian's words echo back that the wall is moving and he still doesn't detect it. But if that is the case then-

"Can't believe you're still taking the piss," he catches Julian mumbling and he realizes that he's stopped speaking. Garak's hands are still, hovering above the upper middle door, the small polished knob just barely large enough for a finger to grip and slide. He hadn't realized that he'd stopped talking or that he'd even moved s a matter of fact and that troubles him. Garak takes a deep breath as Julian snaps at him ever the consummate doctor. "This is serious, Garak, this is not the time for lies and misdirection. If you're not well if you..." He trails off and Garak prays all too soon that will be the end of the matter.

"There is always time for lies and misdirection," he informs Julian pedantically just a minuscule motion revealing that the door would slide to the right.

"It's the space, isn't it?" Julian asks far too perceptively and Garak against every instinct opens the small door, feeling a click into place. There is a moment of utter silence, of complete stillness before a sliding noise prompts him to turn just in time to see a metal wall slide down to block the once open stairwell. Though given the properties of this substance it would seem nearly impossible to climb up it but if the walls are truly moving... He cuts that line of thought off quickly and drops his hand before it can cause him any more trouble. He isn't even sure why he did that and that troubles him greatly. "Garak," spoken softer, calmer, far more irritating in fact and whatever good intentions Julian has, this is hardly the time for them.

"You say the wall is... moving?" Garak hedges cautiously, still trying to see if those spikes, still a good foot from him, have crept any closer.

Julian nods and though Garak finds it a comfort to stare at the mocking red "X" that the door has revealed rather than the remainder of the closed off space, he turns back to Julian. He sees the aether catch those eyes, the spectacles off his face and he realizes that light is uniquely suited to reflect the eye shine that Julian spoke of. He keeps his face neutral- or as neutral as one might given the near panic that has settled nicely into the back of his mind- as he silently admires the reflective glint, green, glowing when they catch right. A shame, but he supposes it really is too much of a giveaway. Garak picks up the spectacles, seeing the bend of the bridge and the shattered right lens as Julian curiously walks around him to the doors.

"You needn't panic. Er... not yet that is," Julian amends as he studies the wall. "By my estimation it should be another hour before it... before there is... cause for concern," he finishes delicately.

"And by then we should be well clear," Garak agrees, taking a handkerchief from his pocket and wrapping the broken frames. He's far less confident than he was a short time ago, the puzzle- it is even is a puzzle, throwing him off balance. Julian, for his part seems maddeningly calm given the information that he's just revealed and though Garak's training has well instilled in him the folly of haste- of panic- there's that funny bit of his ingrained physiological process that seems unable to comprehend that this is not that closet and there's no one outside the door ready to punish him should he dare make a sound. Garak can't help but find the appreciation for that fact darkly humorous given that this is by any objectionable means a far more dire situation.

He's about to ask Julian to move aside again since this is his problem solving burden to bear, after all when Julian smiles, a wry twist of his mouth as he shakes his head.

"Xs and Os," Julian says with a soft chuckle that Garak finds irrationally annoying.

"You'll forgive me, Julian, but I thought I was the one allegedly on the verge of madness."

"Oh you are, Garak," Julian says with another laugh. "That's my official diagnosis as a medical professional, but this, this is an amazing stroke of luck in fact. You see I actually taught this to Nog. Well, Nog and Jake, actually. It's a silly child's game. Xs and Os. You see you make a grid of nine squares and each player takes turns marking an "x" or an "o", the object being to be first to make a row of three and Nog," Julian declares triumphantly, "is always the "o" and so you see, the "x" triggered the door to close."

Garak feels a tightness in his smile but really, it's a terribly petty thing to begrudge Julian. He lets it go studying the grid more carefully this time.

"So this is a game then."

"Yes, and it's a game that Nog almost always wins. An incredible feat considering the simplicity of the game and the seeming chance but Nog always has had a good head for numbers. Now see, the total number of terminal board positions is one hundred thirty eight. But with Nog always playing "o" that narrows it to forty four. And now here, with the x in this position this is an amateur move but I'd wager anything..." He carelessly pushes the center door open to reveal an "o" and Garak thinks that he's never come closer to a heart attack in his life. Julian grins at him and that answering smile is frozen on Garak's face. "You know," Julian continues with frightening aplomb as he looks at the wall. "I used to read a lot when I was a child. I think one of my favorite authors that my father handed down to me, a good old British author, Mr. Roald Dahl.

"Matilda was a fantastic book but you know what always stuck with me?" Julian examines the squares again.

"Do tell," Garak encourages, equal parts mystified and horrified. He feels as if he's watching the entire macabre display from outside his body entirely. Julian pauses before making a careful selection of the bottom right corner revealing another "o".

"The Trunchbull... that the em... well I suppose it doesn't matter who she was in this context but she had this device she would lock the students in called the "chokey". Awful thing really this narrow cupboard with broken glass on the walls and nails on the door. This rather reminds me of that you know."

"Does it now..." Garak murmurs absently thinking that it's a blessing that Tain had never thought to add any accouterments to that damned closet. "You know, Julian," he says when he sees Julian going for another corner box. "I would hate to think that the somewhat dull matter of our good health might put a damper on this exciting adventure but-"

"I know what I'm doing, Garak," Julian answers him with a serious turn to his face. He puts a hand on Garak's shoulder, looking him in the eyes. Garak sees him make a quick flick of his sight away, as if that gesture makes him uneasy but after a moment he maintains that expression and leans in slowly. It's painfully slowly, really, but Garak finds that his heart starts to calm strangely even with Julian's face coming nearer. Perhaps that is because the tilt of Julian's head is not the sideways passionate twist but rather a tip of his forehead, pressing that smooth human forehead against his own. That heat to the sensitive pit almost fires off into a sensory overload but it is that very overload that draws him back from the terror that's gripped him. "I've got this," Julian whispers with a close of his eyes that prompts Garak to follow suit. He really almost believes that and lets the warmth travel between them, letting that receptor perceive the warmth to the rest of his body calming him.

"The odds are good of my selecting the proper door," Julian whispers. "And if I choose wrong I can quickly chose right and you have my word that I will get us through this." Your word? Oh my dear Julian, you have no idea, how little weight such words, such silly lying things hold for anyone. And yet I almost think that you believe that. Games, games, Elim. Was he really trying to kill you after all? Ah these noble humans, these Federation do gooders. Unless of course this is a trick to get your guard down and until you can properly assess the dosage of that syringe... But you can be sure of one thing at this moment and that is mutually assured survival. Either you both live or you both die. Of course the truth doesn't matter, you know that better than anyone. The lie is what will let you survive and if he cares enough for your life to risk his own... Then naturally he would go beyond even that moral duty to save Garak's life, wouldn't he? That strong, fast, smart augment...

Garak takes a deep breath, that warmth still flowing through him, that closeness adding some much needed clarity and calm. He reaches up, taking Julian's wrist carefully, removing his hand and carefully threading his fingers between until their hands touch, palm to palm.

"This is a kiss, you know. So if there is one thing that you might remember, amidst the stories it is the honesty of the body, I believe it's called. Is that something you're familiar with? I thought you humans had that saying after all. That is the only way that I can offer my most heartfelt apology." And as he speaks he feels the tremble faintly from the tips of Julian's fingers. That feels rather nice, actually. "If that is acceptable... Julian." He makes careful use of that name, of that inflection and feels a short little nod.

"Yes... yes, of course," Julian agrees eagerly as he takes a quick step to the board. He doesn't quite continue though, at least not before letting a soft laugh escape.

"This fucking lizard," Garak thinks he hears him mutter and draws himself up just a bit proudly as Julian goes for the upper left to complete the line. "Two questions," Julian announces as he turns his head to Garak with a flick of that door. "You owe me two questions, you know."

And that is when Garak sees the "x" revealed beneath that door, and the wall start to move.