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The doors to Julian’s quarters chimed.
“Enter,” he said, crossing his arms. Garak stepped through the doors as they opened, smiling politely.
“Good evening, Doctor,” he said. “What a surprising invitation! I hope you’ve been settling in comfortably after our return from the Gamma Quadrant? ”
“I’ve been settling, but I have some questions for you.” Julian gestured to the couch, and Garak sat, looking at Julian inquisitively.
“By all means, ask away.”
“Odo and I ran a time-delayed security overview of my quarters, and after combining DNA scans and turbolift footage from the time I was replaced, we were able to get a rough idea of who entered my quarters, and when.”
“How interesting,” said Garak.
“Mm, it’s not very, thankfully. The Changeling didn’t seem to have too many guests over, and all of them were expected - Miles, Jadzia - except for one.”
“One interesting guest? Do tell.”
“One very interesting Cardassian guest, Garak. And don’t start with any theories about Gul Dukat making his way in here - “
“Oh, but I have several - “
“ - because we corroborated the scans with times you were seen in the turbolift down the corridor. Care to tell me why you were in my quarters? Did you break in again?”
“Is it so hard to believe I came by for a meal? You and I do tend to tire of the Replimat after a while. The Changeling, as you, wasn’t out of place suggesting a change of scenery, and I agreed.”
“It’d be unprecedented, so yes, it is hard to believe. And, the time frame we narrowed it down to was closer to 21:00, not lunchtime.”
“It was dinner, not lunch. I’m not seeing why this requires some sort of interrogation. We are friends, after all, Doctor, are we not?”
Julian crossed his arms, scowling.
“Of course we are, but it’s unusual for my friends to join me in my bedroom after dinner, and that’s where you and the Changeling seemed to spend most of your time here, if our scans can be believed.”
“Faulty technology seems a much more likely culprit than whatever you’re implying here. Have you had the Chief look over Odo’s computer?”
“Oh, yes, we did! Furthermore, both he and Jadzia were able to confirm their presence in my quarters corresponded to our readings.”
"I'm still not sure what-"
“Did you have sex with the Changeling?”
Garak blinked, startled by the interruption. After a moment, he settled into himself with a shake of the shoulders, and looked down his nose at Julian.
“I responded to what seemed like genuine interest, from someone who I’ve always found...interesting. Believe me, Doctor, I was acting in good faith at the time."
Even having anticipated the answer, Julian sat down hard in the armchair facing the couch.
“With what I know now, I think the Changeling assumed we had a relationship of that nature already,” Garak continued. “Afterwards, he started to pull away, and I just assumed that you - that he regretted what had happened. Looking back now, I believe he figured out that we had not, in fact, been together prior to then, and was hoping to avoid detection.”
Julian exhaled and rubbed his hands over his face.
"How they started off with that idea," said Garak, folding his hands on his lap. "I couldn't say."
Julian groaned. His response was slightly muffled from behind his palms.
“When a Changeling takes over, at least from my experience, they’re able to create such a plausible imitation by combining two methods - they observe the subject for weeks, maybe months, and if the subject can be captured, they’re able to scan them to extract memories.”
“But if they scan a person’s memories, it’s strange that they would make such a mistake,” said Garak. “It’s not as if they were able to pull any memories of us together.”
“Ah - well. That’s not strictly true.” Julian dropped his head back and stared up at the ceiling. “Do you recall I was trapped in a Dominion simulation a couple years ago?”
“I believe you mentioned it in passing, but you weren’t very forthcoming with the details. Wasn’t it classified?”
“Some of the tactical specifics were, yes, but not this part. I told you that you were there, in the simulation.”
Garak nodded. “Yes, and met an unpleasant end, if I recall.”
“Yes. And I was devastated by it, when I believed it to be real - but for more reasons than just having lost a friend.” Julian’s hands, folded over his chest, tensed. “In the simulation, on the day we got back - or, believed we got back - you found me on the Promenade, and told me you missed me. We got lunch together, and that led to dinner-”
“Doctor, that hardly seems indicative of a relationship. If that's all the Dominion could come up with-”
“-which led to us sleeping together.”
The room was silent for a moment. Julian finally looked back at Garak, who appeared surprised, but not displeased.
“They would have recognized the original as a false memory, of course, but their methods for pulling a person’s memories aren’t perfect - they sometimes struggle distinguishing real memories from false ones. And if a person had a good enough memory, and had replayed even a false memory in their head over and over, and had imagined new additions, or scenarios, or fantasies to play off of it...it might be very hard, if not impossible, for them to distinguish the two.”
“My dear doctor,” said Garak, rising from the couch. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Why didn’t you?!” Julian shot back, standing to meet him.
"It didn't seem like an appropriate topic for prison camp! 'Oh, dear Doctor, so good, although surprising, to see you here. By the way, as it turns out, I slept with your doppelganger!' Do tell me how that would have gone!"
"We've been back for over a week, Garak, you could have said something!"
"And you've been back from that Dominion simulation for over two years, Doctor, and we still, apparently, haven't had that conversation either!"
"Well, it never felt like the appropriate time for that either! How was I supposed to explain that I want you so badly that my brain set us up in a Dominion simulation, of all places?"
Garak huffed and started to undo the fastenings on the side of his tunic.
“I can think of several appropriate occasions for a conversation like that, Doctor. You just need to use your imagination - which clearly hasn’t been a problem for you until now!”
Julian, shoulders halfway up to his ears in frustration, started to wrestle out of his black and grey jacket.
“You’re one to talk - how long have you been lusting over me from across the lunch table? Are all those literary discussions more than what they seem?”
Garak, immediately offended by the teal turtleneck, pulled it off Julian, and Julian responded by pushing his hands under Garak's tunic, shoving it off and to the floor.
“Don’t be obtuse, my dear, you know exactly how Cardassians make their interest known.”
Julian started to walk Garak back to the couch, using every millimeter of his height to his advantage. Garak's legs - with scales rapidly turning darker grey - hit the couch, and he sank back into the cool leather as Julian crawled into his lap.
"Perhaps I was being polite, Garak, did you ever think of that?" He paused to bite down on a neck ridge. "Some of us have manners, you know. Maybe I didn't want to assume!"
Garak brought his scaled hand to the back of Julian's head and gripped his hair, pulled his face in, close enough to smell the raktajino on his breath and the product in his hair.
"Don't humans have some inane saying about what happens when you assume?"
"You are absolutely-"
"You are absolutely-"
Their mouths met, furiously, joyfully, and they both proceeded to make their first time - their real first time - one to remember.