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1.
Bashir was late.
Garak was not given to self-doubt, but he now questioned why he’d invited the bright and beautiful man into this intrigue.
Suddenly, the chattering fool was in the doorway, and Garak had only moments to herd him into the dressing room.
What if the Klingons saw him? They would kill Bashir before Garak could subdue them, which would leave a frightful mess. Ending this flirtation before it had even begun.
For the sake of his sanity on this station, he needed to be more careful with Bashir’s life.
Guls knew the doctor couldn’t take care of himself.
2.
In a powered-down runabout, Garak realised that Bashir could hold him there indefinitely - and wasn’t that a thrill?
Yet in the makeshift Federaji court room, where he should feel triumph and pride, that same quiver of excitement, he felt only dread.
He had drawn Bashir into this intrigue, into the direct line of sight of Gul Dukat, his familial enemy.
For weeks, he carefully redirected commissions for scouts and assassins, until Dukat gave up the hunt - for now.
The cut was made, the fabric permanently altered. Garak had to live with the consequences - and make sure that Bashir lived too.
3.
When he woke in the Infirmary, Garak felt much better - and immediately realised why. Tain.
He tried to sit up, to find Bashir - but the doctor came to him, hollow-eyed and exhausted, guiding him gently back onto the bed.
“Doctor…” he rasped, wild-eyed and terrified. This was much worse than Dukat. Enabran Tain had seen Bashir and knew of his connection to Garak. He could not protect him from that.
Did he imagine Bashir’s fingers on his forehead? His hand in Garak’s?
“Sleep. We’ll talk later,” and the command was irresistible, from the man who had almost died for him.
4.
When making his meticulous plans for exploding his shop, Garak had not factored in Julian Bashir. An unforgivable oversight, borne of desperation.
With Bashir leaning over him, haloed by flames, Garak started making frantic calculations about the support beam strain, fire suppression system, and security response time.
His life was expendable. Julian’s wasn't.
When Julian lectured him on lying, when Garak felt tempted to tell the truth, he knew he was in too deep - and that his fascination with Julian was yet another way to endanger him.
He had to deal with the threat. And he was bred to sacrifice.
5.
Garak materialised aboard the Defiant - and Julian was there. He scanned his injuries and, as the ship shuddered, steadied him with a firm hand on his shoulder.
The touch penetrated his shock. Julian was here, in the Gamma Quadrant, under Dominion fire - because of Garak.
Tain was dead. It had all been for nothing. Garak had risked Julian’s life for nothing.
He found himself tucked into bed on a lower bunk, but before the walls collapsed, Julian was there, sitting beside him, his hand on Garak’s arm.
He kept coming back, even if it would kill him in the end.
1.
Garak was tired of this game - it was time to end it.
He knew how to set the perfect lure for Bashir, to draw him out and further his own cause.
So, as he faced down Bashir with a phaser, as Odo entered the scene, Garak stepped forward, seized Bashir, and snapped his neck.
Bashir's body fell to the floor, unmoving.
For one horrifying moment, Garak thought he had been wrong.
The Changeling twitched and reformed his neck, sitting up and glaring at Garak in a way that Julian was incapable of doing.
Time to find him. Time to live.