Chapter Text
Polly checks them into a motel and waits until Garak and Julius are both safely inside before saying, “I will confirm that this location is secure,” and leaving the room.
Julius suspects she’s trying to give them a moment of privacy, which is strangely sensitive for Polly. But he can’t bring himself to care, not when he’s helping Garak carefully to the bed. Garak squints at the bright light of the bedside lamp, but when Julius goes to turn it off, he grabs Julius’s wrist. “Don’t,” he croaks. “Leave it on.” His eyes dart to the door, to the window, and he takes in a long, shaky breath. “I was in the dark for—a long time.”
“Do you want some water?” When he makes as if to stand, Garak’s hand tightens on his wrist.
“Just—stay here.” Garak runs his thumb over Julius’s pulse point. His pupils are too large for the light. “It really did seem likeliest that you were—”
“I’m a little insulted,” Julius says softly. He settles onto the bed next to Garak so that they’re sitting side by side. “I woke up from one of my dreams and went for a walk. At first, I thought you had left on purpose.” He feels Garak stiffen. “Your luggage was gone, the car was gone.”
“My dear Julius, I wouldn’t have—”
“Yes,” Julius says. “It did seem like it would be—rather an odd choice. And then I saw that the typewriter wasn’t in the proper place.”
He feels Garak laugh a little. “I did hope you would notice that. It was the only thing I had the opportunity to do that they wouldn’t fix.”
“I suppose you tucked that number in when Mr. Tucker was repairing the typewriter?”
“I ensured that Mr. Tucker and Mr. Reed purchased a typewriter that would require repair.” Garak exhales. “I knew that you were exceptional, but I couldn’t—allow myself to hope that you were exceptional enough to notice such tiny imperfections.”
Julius presses his shoulder firmly against Garak’s. “What happened to you?”
“I was—captured. Rapidly and very thoroughly sedated. When I woke up, I was in the dark, in a very small—” He breaks off. “I am not fond of small spaces.”
“You’re out now,” Julius says. “You’re safe.”
Garak laughs a little and pats his cheek. “My dear Julius. I am never safe. But I’m temporarily out of danger, which I suppose is as close as I can come.” He runs his thumb over Julius’s cheekbone, then pulls Julius in for another kiss. But he lets out a tiny involuntary noise of pain even as he holds Julius close, and Julius pulls back enough to look him in the eyes. Eye, really. The other eye is swollen almost closed.
“You should rest,” Julius tells him. Garak’s pupils are still so dilated that there’s only a thin rim of crystal blue visible. The light must be excruciating. “Here, lie down.” He stands and tries to encourage Garak to stretch out. Garak grabs his wrist again. “I’ll lie down with you, I promise,” Julius says. When he’s finally wrestled Garak into place, Julius slides onto the bed next to him. “Do you still want the light on?”
“Yes.” Garak pulls Julius against him, aligns his body with Julius’s and wraps one arm around Julius’s chest, hips fitted flush together. Julius lets Garak hold him like that, tries to relax into the embrace, even as he can feel Garak’s heartbeat rabbiting against his back. Garak’s breath is warm against the back of his neck, and Garak’s hand is far hotter than normal where it’s pressed to Julius’s chest.
They lie together like that until Garak’s heartbeat has started to slow back to normal. Julius is sweating from the heat, but he’s unwilling to pull away. It’s only when he hears Polly’s steps outside the door that he says, “Garak. Polly is back.”
Garak releases him, swiftly enough that Julius manages to be standing on the other side of the bed, rummaging through the nightstand drawer, by the time that Polly walks into the room. He retrieves a Gideon’s Bible from the drawer.
Polly raises an eyebrow, but says nothing about what they might have been doing before she walked in. “I have secured the location and contacted your—associates,” she says, and Julius wonders a little at the hesitation. It must be the first time that he’s heard a hint of emotion in her voice. “They will be here within an hour. Sir.”
That answers one question. “Thank you, Polly,” Garak says, sitting up. His stomach growls audibly.
“I also purchased food.” Polly sets two pizza boxes on the table. “You should eat carefully if you haven’t eaten recently,” she tells Garak.
Garak has already opened one of the boxes and is halfway through the first piece of pizza. He swallows and says, “I’ll do my best.”
Julius is very aware of the dinner special that he ordered hours ago and never got to eat. The pizza is pepperoni, orange grease dripping everywhere, and even eating carefully, he manages to finish a slice in under a minute. “Did you eat?” he asks Polly.
“Yes,” she says. “I’m vegetarian.”
Julius and Garak have made it through a pizza and a half by the time that Reed and Tucker walk into the room. Julius sees the lingering look between Polly and Tucker, hears the strangled way that she says, “Mr. Tucker,” and Tucker’s face is a little lost at the sight of her, as he murmurs “Pol.” It all happens in a matter of seconds, and then he would never know there was anything different between the two of them than anyone else in the room. Julius's throat tightens at the idea that he and Garak might ever be like that.
Garak swallows the remains of his last piece of pizza and wipes his mouth on a towel from the bathroom that he’s using as a napkin. “Well, now that we’re all here—I suppose I should give you some idea of our mission.”