Work Text:
Quark's bar
Dr Scott Grant was a handsome man. At least he flattered himself so. Tall and strong, he cut an impressive figure. He was also a brilliant doctor. He wouldn't have been able to land this posting on DS9 otherwise: he was only in his late twenties.
Currently, the young man was sitting on a bar stool at Quark's, moping into the cocktail that the Ferengi owner had sold him as the latest fashion on Cardassia.
"Come on, Doctor," Quark snarled, "don't look that glum, you'll scare my customers away".
"Why are you all so giddy to begin with? I've never seen so much activity around here since the Gratitude Festival!" the doctor groaned, pushing a strand of blond hair away from his green eyes.
"Garak and Bashir are coming back! We haven't seen them in years! Don't tell me you're not even a little curious about your predecessor?"
"Ah, the famous war hero, Starfleet Medical expert in all things Dominion, an Augment and the Castellan's Consort?" The doctor shook his head. "No thanks! That's all I can hear from my staff these days... Even Kira seems to be looking forward to the ceremony and nothing usually gets her to even smile, at least since I've known her."
The Ferengi poured him another drink and sighed longingly. "Bashir was such a good customer! Always paying his tabs on time, booking a holosuite at least twice a week and you should have seen the amount of real alcohol him and Chief O'Brien were able to down in a night!"
"I'm more interested in the Castellan actually. What was he doing on the station to begin with?"
"Garak had a tailor shop on the Promenade but some said oliwerth oiwethhéwéegrhé wehrha eiorihow alkwejr"
"I'm sorry what did you say?"
"etihsleuigh oweirth woierho." Quark shrugged and left for the storeroom.
"That damn translator is malfunctioning again." Grant took his head in his hands, elbows on the bar.
Why why why why was he still here? Nothing worked, he still hadn't grasped the meanings of many of the Infirmary's computer commands since they were a mix of Kardasi and Standard and above all things, despite his best efforts, nobody seemed to really like him.
And now he had to be all smile to an old Starfleet legend, probably full of himself and who would bore him to death with the tales of his exploits during the war.
The doctor downed his cocktail in one go and was about to leave when a human sat beside him on the next bar stool.
"Quark!" He yelled "oeirhwoéh krutsiuh oioiuoi!"
The Ferengi was there in a second showing his pointy teeth with a large smile.
The two shook hands and Quark poured him a drink from a bottle hidden under the counter Grant had never seen before.
The human patted his shoulder and smiled back before sipping his drink.
Grant had a hard time not staring. The human was simply beautiful. Tall and lean, wrapped in a tight fitting emerald ensemble with golden embroidery. His golden skin was visibly glowing from real sun exposure and together with his greying beard contrasted with his luminous youthful hazel eyes who curiously turned to him.
"The UT is off again I see?" the man asked with a soft accented voice.
Grant had to shake himself to blurt out an answer.
"It's been happening more and more often. I really should start learning some of the local languages," he sighed.
The other man laughed and Grant had to kick himself mentally.
Great first impression you idiot, now he'll think you're both ignorant and lazy.
"Bajoran is not that hard, I'm sure you'll manage. Ferengi and Kardasi are much more difficult for our human physiology," the man replied sweetly.
"Do you speak all these languages fluently? With the UT fewer people bother to nowadays."
"Ah, but it comes handy from time to time, don't you think?" the other man winked before turning back to his drink.
In the far corner of his bar, Quark was observing the scene with wonder. Did Doctor Grant have a death wish, flirting with Bashir in front of Garak?
The Cardassian was seated at a table not far away, talking amiably with Kira in a mix of Bajoran and Kardasi, from what his lobes could pick up. Every now and then, his icy blue eyes turned to the two Doctors and stared a little before going back to his Bajoran companion.
Kira, who hadn't missed a thing, snorted. "It's nice to see some things never change."
"Yes," the Cardassian replied with a smile. “The good doctor is as oblivious as ever. But it's part of his charms after all. He is really well loved on Cardassia did you know?"
"Is that why you finally made your move after all these years? Afraid somebody else would?"
"That's part of it of course, I won't deny it."
"For what it's worth, I've never seen him this happy," Kira said, looking at Bashir at the bar with a fond smile.
"Thank you. To tell you the truth, I've never been this happy either," Garak replied in a rare display of openness.
Behind the bar, Quark was calculating the profits he would make from opening a pool on the survival chances of the current CMO vs the loss of profit if a fight cleared his bar when he saw Doctor Grant put a hand on Bashir's elbow and softly press to regain his attention.
The room, filled with the usual crowd and the Cardassian delegation, suddenly stilled.
Morn moved to a stool further away with an unprecedent speed, prompting other patrons to take their glasses and rush for the tables upstairs.
Quark, seeing Garak starting to stand up and Kira trying to pull him down, threw his hands in the air and joined the pair of doctors.
"I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself," Grant was saying, leaning towards the other man. "I'm the CMO of DS9, Dr Scott Grant, but please call me Scott".
"Nice to meet you Scott" Bashir answered, diplomatically freeing his arm. "I'm Julian."
"Do you come to the station often, Julian?"
Scott internally screamed, couldn't he find anything better than the lamest pick up line he'd ever heard in Standard?
Bashir laughed indulgently and was about to answer when Quark interrupted them.
"eoiésoihgt soieroi soisoeihr," Quark animately whispered, pointing at the table where Kira was having a drink with a Cardassian from the delegation.
"owierowrih weoiroioew hewhew," Julian frowned and glanced at the man, who was smiling back.
Strange, the minute Julian turned his gaze away, the smile wasn't so friendly anymore.
"Do you know the Cardassians from the Castellan's suite, Julian?"
"Yes, I came with them actually."
"Oh? Do you work on Cardassia? Are you a civilian volunteer for the relief effort?"
Oh that was good! That was his chance: if Julian was with the medical team, they would have so much to discuss!
"Sort of," Julian whispered in his ear while standing up.
Scott tried not to look too disappointed. "Are you leaving already?"
"Yes he is," a stern alien voice replied right behind him.
Utterly surprised, Scott jumped to his feet and turned to see the Cardassian who was having a drink with Kira just a few seconds ago looming over him.
Julian rolled his eyes and spoke a few words in Kardasi.
"woeir qr gwtwl werwr." The Cardassian sounded annoyed.
"Be nice Elim," Julian teased. "Please let me introduce you to Doctor Scott Grant, he's DS9’s CMO."
"Really?" the Cardassian assessed the fidgeting Doctor with one up and down look. "I guess the station must not be so important anymore since the war is over.”
Now wait a minute! Was he... was he being insulted?
"Your Standard is really good for a Cardassian," Grant snarled back. "It's really surprising. Cardassians are known for not being very opened to other worlds' cultures."
"Are we now? I'm curious, Doctor. What are you suggesting? That I am, I don't know, some sort of spy?"
The two men stared at each others for a few seconds until a red head Bajoran came between them.
Kira?
The woman spoke in Bajoran but all Grant could do was cluelessly raise his eyebrows.
His commanding officer sighed loudly then pointed to the Caradassian.
"Castellan Garak" she said with a heavy accent. She turned around and pointed to Julian. "Doctor Bashir.” She grabbed his left hand and pointed to a wedding band on one of his fingers Grant hadn't noticed before.
"Oh!"
Idiot
Bashir laughed, Garak rolled his eyes in a very human fashion and Kira shrugged and left.
A few hours later - Quark's bar
"Don't look so glum! I've told you it's bad for business." The Ferengi snarled reproachfully. The UT was working again. Thankfully.
"I have every right to! I made a fool of myself! Couldn't you have said anything?"
"I tried! Believe me, you got away easily!"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean Garak could have you dead in 5 seconds. I would suggest you check your door is securely locked when you go back to your quarters tonight."
"Don't be silly, it was just innocent flirting and the Castellan can't be that dangerous, he's a politician".
"That's what I was about to tell you when the UT broke. Have you ever heard of the Obsidian Order?"