be still my sweaty little heart [ open ]

[jimeeena]

[ Today is a day for experiments and not exactly of the scientific kind. Not of the sexual kind either, but they wouldn't be rejected, Ena thinks to herself as she stands behind the bar at the Promenade. What seems to be hundreds of bottles and glasses are placed all over the bar, some still full, others more empty than anything, but with still a

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[kukalaka_n_me]

Good lord. What are you doing?

[jimeeena]

Mixing drinks and seeing if they're any good or not.

[ She holds out a glass from the "YES" bunch. ]

Want some?

[kukalaka_n_me]

I see.

[At first he waves his hands and shakes his head.]

Ah, no. I really shouldn't indulge.

[Then he remembers he has the whole day off.]

Well, alright. Just one, mind. I need to save up my binge points for later this week.

And what, may I ask is this in aid of? Or did you decide to do it just for the sheer enjoyment of expanding your repertoire of "good" drinks to try.

[jimeeena]

[ She grins and hands him the small glass of turquoise something or other. ]

Here. This one's pretty good.

Oh, all this? I'm making a list of good drinks for a drinking contest I managed to coerce the station's resident Cardassian ass into. It'll be interesting to say the least.

[kukalaka_n_me]

Gul Dukat?

[Julian's expression instantly becomes darker and more somber. He takes the drink from her and downs it in one go. Then wipes at his mouth with his sleeve. It's clear that he's now in quite a state of agitation.]

Be careful around him, Kirk.

[jimeeena]

I will be. I don't trust him as far as I could throw him.

[ She downs her own drink and shrugs. ]

He is kinda un to get riled up, though. Good stress reliever. So is punching him.

[ She notices Julian's dark mood, then, and tries to lighten up the conversation. ]

So what's happening later that you don't want to get smashed now?

[kukalaka_n_me]

That's good. I --

[He ran a hand through his hair and nodded, biting hard on his tongue not to say anything further which would violate the temporal prime directive.

Best to just drop the subject. He tried to shake off his dark thoughts.]

What? Oh. I have a date. And I'm told it's going to involve getting smashed to all blazes, so I don't want to ruin myself for it.

[He gave her a sheepish sort of smile.]

[jimeeena]

[ She gives him a sly, intrigued smile back. ]

And would this be a date with Gaila by any chance?

[kukalaka_n_me]

[That takes him back a bit.]

How did you know?

It's just an unofficial birthday celebration amongst friends, actually.

[He's getting flustered, and he knows it. Change the subject, quick!]

Perhaps I could have one more drink. It can't hurt, right?

[jimeeena]

It's Gaila. Alternate universe or not, I still consider her one of my best friends and when best girlfriends get together they gossip about love lives, sex, how much work sucks and whatever else they can.

[ She smiles and hands him another drink. ]

Just friends, huh?

So, Doctor Bashir... why exactly did you tell her you wanted to be "just friends" when you're so obviously attracted to her, and I'm pretty sure it's not just in the physical sense either.

[kukalaka_n_me]

[Julian takes the offered drink and sips at it experimentally. Not bad. But then he nearly chokes when Jimena just comes out with it.]

I did nothing of the sort. Well, not in so many words. And yes, I'm attracted to her, but who wouldn't be? I mean look at her. She's...

[Simply amazing? Maddening? Out of my league?]

...Orion.

Perhaps what she needs right now is someone to depend on who's not just out to get into her pants.

[God, this conversation was reaching an all time low.]

Besides, she clearly still has feelings for...the male version of you.

[jimeeena]

[ Ena rolls her eyes and gives Julian a Look™ ]

For someone so smart, you can really be an idiot, Bashir.

[ She puts down her drink and gives Julian a serious face. ]

I don't think you just want to get into her pants. If you did, you would've slept with her already. Multiple times.

And she's not in love with Jim, she has feelings for you. And they're so obvious, they're laughable.

You know how I know that? She told me that she had a thing, and then corrected herself and said not really, that you just wanted to be friends. But she told me after I told her that is was completely had over heels for this guy.

[ She smiles in a way that she hopes is encouraging. ]She may be in denial about it and you may not see it, but whatever it is that's making you not want to make your relationship romantic-- not necessarily sexual but she's amazing if you want to have sex with her, I know-- it hurts her and odds are it's hurting you to. Not only is it a blow to the pride, it's hard being close to someone and knowing you can never really have

[kukalaka_n_me]

[He couldn't help but bristle at her presumption. That she would know what was best for him or for Gaila. What did she know of his circumstances, or of Gaila's for that matter?]

I really don't know what sort of business this is of yours. But if you must know, I asked her last night, point blank, if she was interested, and she...

[He looked down at his drink and then his brow furrowed rather deeply. The took a long swallow of it before answering.]

I'd rather not make a fool of myself again, thank you very much.

I can be a friend, I know how to do that. I'm good at that, at least. If she wants more, then she'll tell me. But until then, I'd rather not get my bloody hopes up.

[jimeeena]

You know what... you're right. It's not my business that I don't like seeing someone I consider one of my best friends put herself through this.

[ She cuts herself off from saying anything more and shakes her head. ]

This isn't exactly how I planned this conversation going. It's just hard, having been close to her in the past... in a way, at least. From my perspective it just seems like you two are so obviously attracted to each other, but neither of you want to act on it. Kinda bewildering, to be honest.

[kukalaka_n_me]

You seem to really care about her. And for that...I'm glad.

[He sighs, in no mood to get into another row over it. And for some reason, her frankness spurs him on to be frank with her.]

Perhaps it's because we already slept together. During the Ion Storms. We...it wasn't us. It was dark, and twisted and...

It's not something you can just get over with a snap of your fingers.

Taking it slow seems to be the best course, really.

[jimeeena]

There's a difference between taking it slow and avoiding the issue. You can have a romantic relationship and abstain from sex for a while, shocking as it may sound, especially coming from me of all people.

[ Ena sighs and runs her finger in circles over the rim of her glass. ]

Back home, the two of us were friends before we ever hooked up. And we ended up hooking up a lot. Partially because we thought the other was hot but another, probably the bigger part was the two of us were lonely and neither of us thought we could ever sustain a real relationship so we took what we thought was the next best thing: friends with benefits.

And now that it seems like she's got a chance at something real, with someone she really likes? I want to see her at least try for it, you know? Who cares if an alternate version of you two had really kinky BDSM sex? That wasn't actually you two. If you really cared about each other, you'd get over your fears and just go for it.

[ She pauses and then snorts. ]You know what? Never mind that last bit about