Chapter Text
"Sorry, Major. We'll be back for you during the next window in the ion storm."
"When will that be?" Dax asked.
"Approximately eight hours. Stay warm, Old Man. And good luck, both of you. Sisko out."
Kira let out a long sigh through her nose as the commlink cut off. "All right, Dax, give me your blanket."
"Uh, sure." Dax blinked but pulled the thermal blanket from her shoulders, taking care not to brush the pile of rocks they'd heated with their phasers. Between that and the shelter provided by the cave that had been their beam-down site, they weren't exactly toasty, but they wouldn't freeze to death either.
Kira spread the blanket on the cave floor in front of their "campfire," then sat on it. "Come on."
"Ground cover—good idea." Dax complied.
"Don't tell me they didn't teach you about that at Starfleet Academy."
"They did. You were just faster off the mark."
Kira smiled, her lips thin. Before Dax could work out what was going on, though, she added, "If you're going to sit all the way over there, you'll have a pretty miserable night."
Dax looked from Kira's blanket-draped, outstretched arm to her impatient expression. "You don't mind?"
"All I mind is letting the heat escape."
Dax scooted over. At first, she tried to leave some space between them, but Kira shifted until their bodies were pressed against one another. She even went so far as to wrap an arm around Dax's shoulders until Dax took the blanket edge from her and pulled it the rest of the way around. Finally, Kira pulled the top of the blanket over their heads, making a warm two-person cocoon.
"Hey, this is actually pretty cosy," Dax remarked.
She could feel Kira shrug against her. "If you say so."
"What are we going to do about sleep tonight?"
"You still have the perimetre alarms in your pack, don't you?"
"Mmhmm."
"Then we'll set them up and sleep right here."
Dax bumped her with her shoulder. "Sounds fun."
As dim as their emergency lights were, she still caught Kira's look. "It's practical. It's how my brothers and I stayed warm growing up during the Occupation."
". . . Right."
She could hit herself, if it wouldn't mean dragging the blanket from both of them. She really should have known better.
"It was the same after I joined Shakaar's resistance cell. Most of the time, it was only Lupaza and me, and maybe Furel, but on the coldest mountain nights, we'd all pile in together."
Dax stayed silent, thinking about that—thinking about a slight teenager shielded from the cold and the Cardassians alike by no more than a blanket and the bodies of her new family.
Then she said, "You know, even after eight different hosts, you're never too old to learn about life."
Kira glanced at her, then focused straight ahead. "Glad to hear it."
But, when Dax circled an arm around her, she leaned her head on Dax's shoulder.