When Julian Bashir entered the small tailor's shop, he nearly backtracked to see
if he'd walked into the right store. Indeed, it looked more like a floral shop than
a clothier's domain. Julian paused, looking at Elim Garak with a faint puzzled
look. The scent of roses hit him with overwhelming force.

"Ah, Doctor. How nice of you to come," Garak said, tiptoeing around a nicely
intricate arrangement. He walked up to his friend, and stared back at the wide-
eyed look on his friend's features. "Something wrong, Doctor?" he asked
politely.

"Garak!" Julian stuttered. He waved helplessly at the whole of the Cardassian's
shop. "What is all this?"

"Ah. A friend. A *secret* friend," Garak added with his knowing smile.
"Apparently, she ... or he ... thought it would be ... ah, *nice* to send me a
Valentine's gift.  Or several, as I saw this morning."

"Valentine's?" Julian echoed with a faint curl in his lips. "It's today?"

"Why yes Doctor," the tailor answered lightly. "I would have thought you would
be happy at such an occasion. I certainly am."

"You have a *reason* to be happy," Julian grumbled. He strode to a bouquet,
and pinched the card with half-hearted enthusiasm, reading the note. {Dear
Elim, for you, just for being the mouth-watering Cardassian you are}

Julian stared at the hand-writing, his eyes darkening. There was something
oddly familiar about it ... "I wonder who sent all of this ..."

"Does it matter?" the Cardassian called as he went about closing his shop for
lunch. Bashir nodded, looking back at him.

"YES, it matters! Garak, you have a secret admirer, who's spent a small fortune
on these beautiful flowers for you, and you don't even want to find out from who
they are?"

"But I already know from whom they're from Doctor," Garak said cheerfully as
he grabbed a jacket and threw it over his shoulders. He took something from his
pocket and placed it carefully over his desk before strolling over to Julian. On
the table, one single card which had been attached to the entire shipment read
simply: {I love you, Elim. Happy Valentine’s Day. ~Julian}

As they exited the store, Garak circled his arm over his friend's shoulders,
whispering to a bewildered Bashir, "and I intend to repay him *very*
generously." He smiled wickedly, and steered the good doctor toward his
quarters.

"So?" Kira whispered, tapping Dax's shoulder. The Trill giggled, then turned to
her friend.

"Garak had his arm over his shoulders ..."

"That's good right?"

"That's very good," she whispered, a laugh in her voice.

"So you think Garak will ever guess *you* sent him those flowers?"

Dax shrugged. "In his mind, he's convinced Julian sent them. At least, he
*wants* to believe Julian sent them. Why would he go to the trouble of
disproving it?"

"Because JULIAN will want to find out who sent those flowers!!"

"He'll find that all the cards have HIS hand-writing," she laughed.

The Bajoran widened her eyes. "Jadzia! That's illegal!"

"Ah so what? Someone need to kick Julian in the ass. And I, for one, have no
remorse whatsoever playing Cupid," she said with smug pride, brushing past
Kira.

She caught up with her friend, laughing. "Cupid?"

"Let's go to Quark's. I'll tell you AAAALL about it," Dax said enigmatically.

END