/I shall have pined away by the then/ thought the unhappy tailor. Had he really heard Julian say those words 'I love you' just the other night? Those three most precious words, doubly valued for the one saying them.

Bah, impossible. And yet, he did say them. But did he mean them the way Garak needed them to be meant? He had to be sure, but now Julian was gone to Bajor. If it weren't such an obvious death sentence, Garak would have gone down there after him. Ah, but they could hold a grudge, those Bajorans. Most Cardassian of them. So, no following his runaway love planet side.

Well, that was okay. He was a spy after all, a member of the Obsidian Order. He'd soon find out which way Julian's feelings lay. There were his friends to interrogate. Well, maybe not Kira Nerys, Odo or the Klingon, but Jadzia, Captain Sisko and the O'Briens...yes, they'd know what was going on. Hmm, now how to proceed....

O0o0o0O

Sometime later...

As usual his inquiries began with Jadzia, she after all had some small compassion for his plight, a good lever for extracting the information he needed...

"No," Jadzia claimed, "I still haven't heard from him. His help is required planet wide and he must travel to where he is needed most. Now if you don't mind, I have work to do."

It was a conspiracy. No one had anything to tell him. They were all being so secretive he was becoming alarmed.

"There isn't anything I should know, is there? Some kind of station wide emergency." He caught her shoulder as she went to move off. "It's just that suddenly everyone seems so busy. No one has time to just stop and talk." With a horrified look he gasped, "There isn't something serious happening on Bajour!?"

The thought of Julian caught in one of the Bajourans many upheavals had the Cardassian's heart beating double time. Carefully Jadzia reached up and removed his hand, patting it reassuringly before letting it go.

"Everything is fine. Sisko would never have let him go down if it wasn't safe." (This was not true, of course, but the Cardassian looked particularly pinched today. He was not handling the enforced separation well.) "Nothing has changed since yesterday, or they day before. So relax. Now, I really should be getting on."

"As you say, Jadzia. You will tell me the minute you hear anything, wont you?"

"Of course."

"Well then, thank you. Goodbye." And the tailor hurried over to the stairway, headed down to the Promenade. If he was lucky he could still catch Odo before the shape shifter began his rounds.

"Is he gone?" came O'Briens voice from a wall.

"Yes." Replied the Trill.

"I'll be glad when Julian's back, and no mistake," sighed the engineer, emerging from a conduit. "That man is driving me insane. You know he all but accused me of trying to steal Julian away. Very sly he was about it too, never just came out and said it, but the meaning was there. I mean, Julian! And what's that laugh for?" he followed the Trill to look down over the rail at the Promenade below.

"Well, you've never really warmed to Garak. And the picture of you and Julian in each others arms is sooo cute!"

"Oh, hush. And what would Keiko have to say if any of this were true? She's not a tolerant woman, is Mrs O'Brien... Oh lord, look - he's cornered Jake." They could see the young human shrugging helplessly as the Cardassian pressed him for answers.

"Are you going to rescue him?"

"Lord no, look now - he's seen Morn. Ran man, run!" he mock yelled, then chuckled as the large alien did just that, with Garak in pursuit. "He's being a right pain."

"Not really." Jadzia leaned against the railing, her blue eyes thoughtful. "Garak is good at what he does. If he wanted us to talk, he could make us. He's doing this to keep himself busy. Well, this and shopping."

"What?"

"Garak's been on a shopping spree. Kira told me he's brought up an entire bedroom suit, complete with double bed and matching linen."

"Oh damn, poor Julian. He won't be needing a rescue, do you suppose?"

"Ha, poor Julian indeed." A glow of respect shone in her blue eyes. "Relax, he knows just what he's doing. Our doctor can look out for himself sometimes."

"But he has such a tender heart, so vulnerable to the likes of..."

"Miles, let it go! And besides, you won't have to worry about Julian's heart being broken any more. Garak will be so devoted the doctor will never be alone again."

"That's what I'm afraid of." The engineer grumped.

"You can still be friends." Dax reassured him.

"Will I? Will Garak let us be friends? He doesn't like me."

"He'll let Julian do whatever Julian wants, the man is in Love. You worry far to much Chief."

"Ha. It's in my job description."

O0o0o0O

Insufferable. The man was insufferable. A whole week without one word. Well, he'd show him a thing or two about not contacting concerned friends when he got home.

'When he got home.' Yes. Well.

He'd managed to keep himself busy while Julian was off station. When not running down the doctor's friends (who basically said; we don't know, he's gone to Bajor. I think he likes you. Sure he likes you. We don't know.), he had spent his time redecorating.

There was a lot to buy. New larger wardrobe, new bathroom fittings, new human friendly replemat, new...bed. Garak felt just like one of those small lizards, a Krotha, building a nest to attract a mate. Ridiculous. He wondered if the walls were a friendly enough shade of green? Ah, but he had to leave some decorating decisions to be made...together....

*Sigh*

That had been happening all week. His thoughts just scattered to the winds. And when his mind wasn't doing that it was chasing itself in circles. His own fault, of course. He was the one that wanted Julian to consider things carefully.

Garak had been the one so overcome with the need for all or nothing that he'd been unable to work the matter out reasonably. Given time they would have come to an understanding. But no, he had faced Julian with an ultimatum. All or nothing.

What if he chose nothing? What if this prolonged silence was because Julian couldn't find the words to let his friend down gently? What if...what if. His head hurt, and so did his heart.

Maybe he had time to run down to the Promenade and buy some of those large Sunflowers for the corner there. No, a bit too much. Garak paced the room nervously, thoughts skipping from subject to subject.

The door chime sounded, and he keyed open the door. Julian stood there, bags slung at his feet, clothes and hair rumpled from the flight, big brown eyes shinning. With a wordless cry Garak reached out and pulled him in. Several minutes later the door reopened and he grabbed the bags. Then they closed again.

O0o0o0O

"It was mean of you to leave him for a week." Said Jadzia as they leaned against the rail overlooking the Promenade. "It was mean to us, too." Her mouth quirked in it's little grin.

"Yes, well...but I had to Dax. I had to make him think I'd gone off to really think about things. I couldn't remain here, I just could not trust myself to stay away." He flicked back a lock of hair from his eyes and gave her his best 'forgive me' look.

"You already knew you wanted to be with him."

"Ha, I'll say. But he needed to believe it. And I did do some serious thinking. However, the trip was for him. He saw our commitment as teetering on the edge of some terrible abyss. Poor man was afraid to drag me down into it with him. He was desperately afraid of what might happen should we fall."

"And when you fell?"

"Ah, that is easily answered." Julian replied softly, as he felt his lover come up and fit himself comfortably to his side. "When we fell, we found we could fly."