Chapter Text
He could have laughed and he almost did at the ferocious way she attacked the thick plating of the storage room door. Beautiful foolish Nerys...she never did know when to stop fighting.
“I’m afraid you’re stuck with me Major,” he drawled. He had long since sprawled across one of the crates of kanar and had pilfered a bottle which he now brought to his lips. The hot headed auburn Bajoran female hissed at him with a final kick to the door and pointed one of her dainty mammalian fingers at him for emphasis, “I hope you have the latinum, Dukat, because I am not going to pay your tab.”
He felt his lips curl into a grin at the barb, “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
Ah but he had dreamed plenty at her expense today hadn’t he? Hadn’t it been a particularly salacious daydream about the Major that had led to this mess? She had bent over a crate in just such a way that he had blanched and brainlessly triggered the ridiculously complicated anti-theft mechanism that the Ferengi brothers had melded seamlessly into the door. A door they were helpless to open with the brothers away on some errand to their dreary little home-world.
He pried his eyes away from the Major and shook his head. He really needed to stop this little obsession of his. It was getting dangerously close to an addiction. He glanced back at the Bajoran’s futile efforts to open the door, this time with her fists, then back down at the bottle of kanar in his hands and chuffed out an amused breath of air. In many ways the two were the same. Both a vice, a weakness. The kanar in his hand and Major Kira Nerys were both an intoxicating indulgence. Neither of which would bring him substance.
He took another long drag from the bottle anyway.
The Major made a tactical retreat from her battle with the door and slumped down on the floor. She slapped the comms-unit pinned to her chest, “Kira to O’Brien, any luck?”
The unit crackled with static as the chief engineer answered, “Not yet Major, Rom has updated the blasted thing since I last saw it. I can’t even rewire the the outside paneling. It’s going to be awhile.”
The Major slumped and a guttural growl of displeasure ripped itself out of her throat. Dukat tried and failed to ignore it. He felt the ridges on his back raise in response to her display. That was the one frustrating thing about being with the Bajoran. She had no idea how seductive she was being every time she lashed out at the world...or every time she lashed out at him. He took another burning sip of kanar and felt his lips curl again into a smirk. It was frustrating but even pain could be satisfying. Especially when it burned so good.
“You’re being awfully quiet Dukat,” he heard her quip. He let his eyes slide over her form before he met her own. He was rewarded for the effort by the indignation he found simmering in her brown eyes.
He feigned, “I believe I remember someone mentioning that you prefer me this way.” His eyes crinkled for emphasis as he rolled the bottle of kanar in his hands to keep from inadvertently saying more. The Major was a little too good at reading Cardassian body language and he was starting to feel a bit a-washed. He had somehow finished off half the bottle and he wasn’t sure he could keep his hands as silver as his tongue.
Major Kira rolled her eyes and sighed, “Suit yourself.” Her comm-badge chirped with an incoming message and she slapped it angrily, “Go ahead O’Brien.”
The chief engineer sounded more nervous than usual. Probably bad news. At least bad for Major Kira. “I’m afraid you might be in there until tomorrow Major, I’ve figured out a way to bypass the shields that are preventing the transporter signals but the rewiring, if I can do it, is going to take a few hours at best.”
“Thanks Chief,” Her shoulders slumped, “Just great a whole night stuck in this crummy little storage room...with you.” The last words were a barb delivered with a withered glare in his direction.
“What ever shall we do?” He dripped letting his legs sprawl a little too far until the tip of his boot was planted tantalizingly close to the Major’s thigh. She sneered in disgust and scooted out of reach, “At least pretend to be civilized,” she snapped.
He growled low in response. As much as he enjoyed their banter, sometimes she sunk her teeth in too far. He snapped back with a defiant stomp of his boot into her space, “Make me.”
And she did.
A shockingly feral sound ripped from her lips as she flung herself full force at him. The kanar crashed to the ground in a supernova of shards as they went tumbling over the crate and rolling further into the crawlspace of the unit. She tore a long clawed scratch across his face and bit both arms before he managed to pin her down immobile underneath him. His hair flopped indignantly over his brow as he hissed, “That was a very dangerous thing you just did Major.”
She caught him off guard for a second time as, rather than struggle, her eyes opened brimming with tears. He watched, mouth agape, as she cried bitterly and silent underneath him. Without a thought he traced circles over her pulse with his thumb until, with a hiccuping breath, her tears stopped flowing.
She sniffed, “I hate you.”
He stared down at her red rimmed eyes, “I am grieved to hear it,” he whispered, for once, meaning every word.
She swallowed a sob and let her head fall dejectedly to the side, “You make me so...angry.”
He tilted his chin, “Do I?” He released his grip on her wrists but made no other moves to get up. He took a moment to watch as her chest rose and fell with each breath. He licked his lips and sighed. She turned to look at him. Her face held an expression he had never seen before and instantly hated— defeat.
“You do,” she spat but remained still, “I hate it, I wish—“ she started before clamping her mouth shut into a tight line. She twisted and made to get away from him.
He caught her wrists once more, “Wish what Major?”
She struggled half heartedly and frowned, “It’s nothing, Dukat, forget it.”
A rueful grin curled reflexively over his teeth, “And waste the opportunity?” He purred. He leaned in just to see the way her eyes widened, “I think not.”
Stoked, the fire returned to her eyes. She wrenched her wrists out of his grip and pushed him off with a shove. He let her.
“I wish you could just be serious for once!”
His eyes widened at the admission and her cheeks flushed in return. She ran her hand through her short auburn hair and sighed, “I’m...I’m tired of the games Dukat.”
For once he didn’t know what to say. He sat still, his ridges raised anxiously, as he waited. She began to pace back and forth.
“Just once I would like to have a normal conversation. No insults, no pestering or posturing. Just one conversation where you’re not trying to get a rise out of me.”
He looked away to keep from flushing. He pasted on a recycled smirk and sneered, “Major I had no idea, I’m flattered—“
She cut him off with a huff, “Can it Dukat! That’s exactly what I’m talking about!”
This was going to be a long night. He needed to be eye level at least. He rose and deposited himself back on top of a crate. He let his legs sprawl out. Better...
Silence stretched between them as he sat. She watched him patiently. After a long pause, he relented with a sigh, “Candid conversations are not...as common on Cardassia as they are on Bajor,” He ran a hand through his hair to smooth it, “I’m a bit rusty.”
She moved to sit down on the crate opposite his and folded her arms over her chest, “You? Gul Dukat? Rusty? Somehow I doubt that.”
He settled his hands in his lap and let his legs relax further until his boots were pressed into the crate between the Major’s feet. This time she didn’t move away, “Sadly it’s true, but just this once I believe I could indulge you.”
She glanced down at his feet them back into his gaze, “You would do that?”
He nodded, thought for a moment before lifting a single finger in a signal of guarded submission, “Just for tonight.”
Major Kira eyes flashed as she absorbed the gesture. She sat silent for a long time. Waiting, thinking....She fidgeted, clearly uncomfortable, and readjusted her arms several times before she finally spoke, “What—what was my mother like?”
The question punched him in the gut. So like her to go for the jugular. He reeled for a moment before smiling wickedly, “Why Nerys. I’m surprised—at so personal a question...are you sure you wouldn’t rather have a state secret or two?”
She shook her head, “And waste my opportunity? I don’t need you to bring down Cardassia.”
He didn’t doubt that. He sat back and thought for a moment. A wave of memories crashed through him causing him to suck in a deep breath. He let it out slowly before he answered.
“Your mother...how should I put this...was like water. I don’t think I ever truly knew her.” He thought for a moment more before continuing, “She was always changing...too much. Always slipping out of my grasp. One minute she would be calm and tranquil, the next a raging current,” he paused on a warmer memory of the Bajoran comfort woman in one of her more...comforting moments and smiled softly, “but she had a way of quenching every thirst—so much so that it was easy to drown in her.”
He could see her turning his words over in her mind like Quark with a newly acquired precious stone. She blinked, “Did you love her?”
He shrugged and looked away, “In a way yes. Our time together had many barriers. As Prefect it was difficult. She would have been seen as a weakness...but I was grateful for her...to her. I tried to provide for her as much as I could.”
She filed this information away silently. It was fascinating watching her mind work. Her lips dipped into a frown as her thought snagged. On what he would no doubt soon find out. She stared at him for an excruciating moment before speaking. Her voice nearly a whisper, “Do I remind you of her?”
He blinked. Then the laugh bubbled up from his stomach. Her face flushed crimson as he chuckled, “It’s a serious question, Dukat!”
He wiped the moisture threatening to form from the corner of his eye and grinned, “My apologies, Major.” He shook his head, “If you’re worried that I’m looking to rekindle my past you may rest easy. You are nothing like your mother.”
Her shoulders sagged amusingly in relief, “I see...”
“I wouldn’t rest too easy though Nerys,” he purred. He leaned forward until the Bajoran was captured neatly between his arms. He closed the distance and placed a chaste kiss on her forehead, “I still want you.”
Her face was almost as red as her uniform. She said nothing but her eyes flashed with the question. Why would you-?
He brushed a stray strand of auburn hair back into place, “You may not be like your mother but you aren’t wholly without charm,” he let his hand fall and smiled, “You remind me of a flame Nerys, beautiful, unpredictable, sometimes painful—but despite the risk, like a Terran moth I find myself drawn...enthralled by you.”
He untangled himself and sat back. Her shoulders stiffened as she sat stunned. Her face slipped into a variety of expressions as her mind raced. She held up both hands defensively, “You?...like me?”
He laughed and nodded enthusiastically, “very much so.”