Lost in dreaming, Odo didn't notice the restraint that stealthily closed over his right wrist and was attached to the corner of his bed.  He only came drowsily awake as his other wrist was clasped in another set of twenty-fourth-century-style handcuffs, and realized his position a split second *after* his left arm was shackled to the bedframe along with the first.

Snapping instantly to full awareness, he snarled at the intruder, tugging angrily at the restraints.  "Dax!  What the *hell* do you think you're doing?!?"

Jadzia smiled saucily at the ex-changeling.  "Actually, that's *exactly* what I think I'm doing," she purred, reaching down to run a finger along one muscled arm.  "Face it, Constable, you need this.  And as long as you won't cooperate *willingly*, I guess I'll just have to make sure you finally unbend a little and get laid whether you like it or not."

He snarled wordlessly and turned his face away from her.  She smiled again and reached out a finger to trace the line under his jaw from his chin to his ear, and from there down his neck to his collarbone.  She rested her whole hand on his shoulder, pausing to admire the view.  Admittedly his face was still oddly half-formed, but the rest of his body was, as Julian had noted, perfectly human.  Perfectly human, and -- now that the constable had to actually work at keeping his body in condition for the demands of his job -- very nicely built.  Not bulky like Worf, but sort of a well-defined muscular trimness.  Very nice.

Dax resumed her wandering finger's course down Odo's body, sliding from his shoulder to the base of his throat and down the center of his chest.  Mmmm -- washboard stomach.  Excellent.  She continued her course, pulling the sheet out of the way as she went.  He frostily ignored both Jadzia and Jadzia's finger.

Oooh...  Jadzia hadn't realized that the constable slept naked.  *Well*...  That made things a great deal easier.

Odo continued to "ignore" Dax as she pulled the sheets down to his knees, scowling furiously at his elbow (since scowling at Dax would have meant acknowledging her presence).  She happily continued tracing her way down his stomach, reaching about where the navel would be on a standard human male, and continued her course --

-- only to find herself flat on the floor, the wind knocked out of her.  After a panicked moment, she managed to draw a breath, and after another moment she pulled herself up to a seated position.  Her back ached from hips to shoulders from the violent landing on the floor, and her chest hurt even more from where the constable had kicked her.  Odo glared at her from the bed, no longer ignoring the Trill, his knees drawn up defensively as he pulled himself as far up into a seated position as he could within the leeway the handcuffs gave him.

Dax drew a deep breath.  "All right.  I was afraid of this.  Luckily, I came prepared."  She slowly picked herself up off the floor and went to the bag she had left on the floor in the corner of the bedroom.  She removed something from the bag, taking care to keep the mysterious item -- or items -- hidden behind her body.  The constable eyed her warily, his body language an unspoken invitation to come within reach and get kicked again.  Jadzia approached the bed from the head end, out of Odo's reach.  He twisted around as far as the restraints would allow, trying to watch her, and she brought out one of the pairs of handcuffs she had been hiding behind her back and clapped it on his ankle before he realized her intentions.

After that came a brief but fierce battle.  Dax had a not inconsiderable advantage in wrestling with an opponent whose arms were cuffed, but Odo was not only stronger but very, very angry.  Eventually, though, Jadzia got one ankle cuffed to the foot of the bed, and after that the outcome was a foregone conclusion.

Odo snarled up at her from his helpless, spread-eagled position.  Somewhere in the preceding struggle, the sheets had hit the floor, leaving Dax with an unimpeded view of the flushed, panting, naked pseudo-human shackled to the bed.  The Trill sat on the edge of the bed, pausing to get her breath back and enjoy the view.  He tested the handcuffs on his wrists again, yanking furiously at them a few times, before growling and lying back against the pillow.

"Well now that you've *got* me, Commander, what do you intend to *do* with me?"  he snapped at her.  Good question.  What *did* she intend to do, next?  Well, let's see.  She wanted to get him in a position where he would have no choice but to relax and enjoy himself, but he certainly wasn't in a mood to relax right now.  Try to calm him down, or let him cool off for a little while before starting?

The soreness in her shoulder as she reached for his arm decided her.  Aside from the ache in her chest and back, she had assorted bruises gained in the struggle over Odo's feet.  Okay.  Go to the infirmary, get patched up, let the constable cool off and ponder his situation a little bit, come back, peel off her uniform, and start giving him some reasons to be grateful to be a solid now.  Right.  Sounded like a plan.

But to leave him with something to think about while she was gone...  She leaned forward and pulled his head around to face her (he had resumed glaring at his arm while she had been considering her options), and kissed him.  He managed to pull his mouth away from hers, so she shifted her attention to his neck and ear.  He tried to bite her on the shoulder.  She jerked back out of reach and sighed.  Then she managed to produce a coquettish smile for his benefit.  "We'll continue this discussion in a little while.  Right now I'm going to leave you here to consider... things, while I go take care of something I need to do first."  She reached down to run her hand through his hair.  He muttered something in Bajoran that she decided she should probably be grateful the Universal Translator had prudishly refused to render.  She smirked wickedly at a sudden thought and went back to her bag on the floor in the corner.

His face still turned away from her, he didn't see the blindfold until she abruptly tied it across his eyes.  As he stiffened in shock, she whispered, "Just to keep your imagination working until I get back."  She tousled his already-mussed hair, ran her hand down his chest and stomach again, and then picked up the sheet from the floor, draping it artistically over him, leaving him modestly covered from the waist down.  "So you don't get cold."  As she walked out his bedroom door, she delivered a parting shot, "Don't go anywhere before I get back."

"I hope you die a slow, painful death of radiation sickness and toenail rot.  I'm telling Commander Worf *and* the doctor.  Possibly the captain as well."

Dax paused for a moment at the threat, before deciding the odds of the constable actually telling *anyone* about this -- much less the three people mentioned -- were about on a par with the odds of Worf giving up his commission as a Starfleet officer to become an exotic dancer on Rigel VII.  (A moment's further reflection suggested that *perhaps* -- if things went *very well indeed* -- he *might* tell Major Kira about this evening.  *Might* being the operative word.)  She laughed and left Odo's quarters.

Odo was left alone in the dark (well, it wasn't really dark -- Dax left the lights on dimly in the bedroom -- but *he* couldn't see) to wonder whether he should hope someone would attempt to contact him and come to his quarters to find out why he wasn't answering his communicator.  Which was worse -- to remain chained to a bed awaiting whatever fate Dax had planned for him, or to have one of his friends or co-workers actually *see* him like this?

Tough call.

After a certain amount of thought, he concluded that, given he could see no way to contact a rescuer *or* evade discovery, the situation was out of his control.  If someone came looking for him, he would have to deal with them somehow.  If not... he would have to deal with Dax.

This led to thoughts of revenge that occupied a good twenty minutes with dark plots involving various implements of torture or discomfort, seven or eight hours free of interruptions, perhaps a good holocamera, and, of course, four sets of handcuffs.

This line of thought eventually petered out, leaving Odo to wonder at his fate when Dax returned.  He understood the basics of what Dax was planning to do with him, but was a little hazy on the details.  He started mentally reviewing what little he knew about the subject.

He was forced to conclude that the activity really didn't sound *that* unpleasant.  Could be quite interesting, really.  Even... fun?

The problem was, Jadzia wasn't the one he was interested in trying it out with.

He shifted uncomfortably in his handcuffs and wondered when that damned Trill was coming back.  Hadn't she been gone an awfully long time?  Where *was* she, anyway?

His anger having faded somewhat, he considered the matter a little more objectively.  Really, there was no logical point in his holding out for Major Kira.  She was involved in a semi-serious relationship, and not interested in him even if she *were* free.  Not that she even knew he was interested in *her*...  He sighed, remembering how Dax had pestered him for the past several months (since his "judgement" by the Dominion), encouraging him to say something to Kira, at least drop a few hints, *flirt a little*, for the Prophets' and Joined Gods' sakes.  He was no good at subtle hinting.  He could either tell the major everything, or nothing.  He chose to say nothing.

So, the odds were unfortunately favoring the continuation of the present situation -- Kira with some other lover and Odo by himself.  He sighed again.  Dax had been encouraging him to make a pass at Nerys, if he was so sure that she was the one he wanted -- but she had also been making passes at *him*, when he refused to take her advice.  Dax was bound and determined to get him into bed with *somebody*.  She kept saying it was one of the most important parts of humanoid life, and he couldn't judge the merits of the activity without experiencing it himself.  Dax was going to get him to try sex out if she had to chain him to a bed first.  Hence his present situation.

He shook his head irritably at the perfidies of Trills -- especially this one.  He couldn't help a little smile at the memories he still carried from Jadzia's zhian tara, when he became intimately, if briefly, associated with the most perfidious Trill of them all.  Curzon certainly had thrown himself into the practice of *this* particular activity *most* enthusiastically.  Odo wouldn't admit it to anyone, least of all Dax, but he privately treasured the memory of those hours he spent sharing his body with Curzon's memories.  If Curzon found this a worthwhile use of so much of his time...  Well, it couldn't be *too* unpleasant, then...  (He did have to admit -- at least privately, to himself -- if Kira was out of the running, Jadzia would very likely be his next choice.)

The sound of the door to his quarters startled him out of his thoughts.  Well, there she was, finally.  He swallowed, fighting down sudden nervousness.  At least she wouldn't be expecting anything too complicated from him in the way of participation -- not if he was handcuffed to the bed.  He hoped.

Footsteps came through his quarters to the door of his bedroom, and stopped just in the door.  *Enjoying the view, are we?* he thought sardonically.  "It certainly took you long enough.  I was beginning to think you were going to leave me here until someone came to see why I didn't show up for my next shift."

The footsteps slowly approached the bed, and then he felt her weight as she seated herself on the edge.  He hesitated, then spoke again when she didn't say anything, in a softer tone of voice.  "You know why I haven't been willing to do anything like this before, Dax -- you know why I kept refusing you, and Lwaxana, and that cafe owner, and all the others.  It isn't that I'm not interested... it's that none of you have been the one I'm interested *in*."  He sighed, as she remained silent, listening.  "But she doesn't want me, and I've just been wasting my time, and if you're going to make this big of a deal out of it..."  He shifted a little, nervously.  "Since you seem fairly insistent on this -- and since I don't really have the ability to refuse you at the moment..."  He paused again.  "I guess I'll go through with this if you still feel compelled to force me into it."  He waited for her to make the next move.

After a moment, she leaned over him and stroked his cheek, sliding her hand to the back of his head to hold him still while she kissed him.

He relaxed slightly.  Not an unpleasant sensation at all.  She had soft lips, and her hand in his hair was gentle.  After a moment, she moved her lips away from his and began softly kissing her way down his cheek toward his ear.  He sighed and rattled his cuffs a little, then realized that he was trying to free his arms so he could pull her closer.  He stilled his arms.  She might get the wrong idea from his tugging at the restraints, think he wanted to resist her;  better say something.  Not being very good at -- or interested in -- flowery talk, he settled for, "You could do that again, if you wanted to."  He could feel her smile when she kissed him on the mouth again.

This time he leaned into the kiss.  After a moment, she started making gentle chewing motions with her mouth against his.  He cautiously reciprocated.  Then she ran the tip of her tongue along his lower lip, paused, and then delicately licked between his lips.  She had a surprisingly pleasant scent and taste, and the contact was giving him strange chills running down his spine.  He was begining to see the point of this particular odd humanoid custom.

She stayed poised above him for an unmeasured length of time, resting her weight on her hands, still half-sitting on the bedside, only touching him at the lips.  After exploring each others' mouths for some time, she broke contact with a sigh that he echoed.  "I'm beginning to think I've wasted a great many years, Commander."  He noted with a faint objective part of his mind that he was panting, and beginning to show some defite signs of arousal.  Well, one *very* definite sign, at least.  He took a deep breath, and said, "I'm willing to agree to cooperate voluntarily if you'll take these restraints off me."  She ignored this statement, leaning in for another kiss.  He could hear her panting as well, when she finally pulled away again.  He sighed with frustration.  "All right, Dax.  I'd really appreciate having my hands free now -- but if you still think I'm going to throw you out...  Couldn't you at least take off the blindfold, though?"  Another kiss was his only response.

As she broke away from his mouth and started kissing her way down his throat, he sighed with pleasure.  She continued kissing her way -- very slowly -- down his body.  How far down did she intend to go?  The thought brought a new wave of desire, enough to make him moan.  He took a deep breath and murmured, "It *was* pretty stupid of me to hold out all this time for the major, wasn't it, when she doesn't even know I love her."  She paused.  He waited for her to continue.  When several seconds had passed and she still hadn't resumed her earlier activity, he asked, "Is something wrong?"

A moment's pause, and then a too-familiar voice said, "I don't know.  You tell me, Constable."  As he froze in shock, she pulled off his blindfold.

A small part of his mind noted that Kira seemed to have been enjoying herself as much as he had just been.  Another part of his mind -- the cop part, that made the deductions -- made him say, "Did Dax send you, or did you just happen to walk in and see me lying here like this?"

That observer part of his mind noted that she blushed slightly as she looked away and answered.  "Dax was called away on an emergency mission in one of the runabouts.  Before she left, she called me and told me to come to your quarters *immediately* -- and alone.  Said you were expecting her for an -- ah, appointment -- and she didn't want to leave you hanging."

"Ah.  That was considerate of her, considering the circumstances she left me in."  He managed to keep the panic from his voice and face, but it was a battle to do so.  "What -- just happened -- was that part of her instructions?"

Nerys blushed to her hairline.  "Ah... no."

"I... see."  Suddenly the whole farcical situation was displaying possibilities previously undreamed of.  "Were you planning on finding the key to these restraints immediately, or were you intending to -- take advantage of the situation?  More than you just did, I mean.  Not that I minded, you understand!" he added hastily, noting the guilty look on her face at the words, "take advantage of."

She sighed.  "At first I was going to -- find the key, I mean.  Well, at first I was going to leave, I thought you wouldn't want me to see you like that, and then I remembered why Dax sent me and realized that if I left you'd be stuck here and... and then...  Well, you just looked to me like you needed to be kissed, and then you said to do it again, and I did, and..."  She paused, realizing she was babbling, and waved a hand hopelessly in the air.  "I... don't know how far it would have gone, if you hadn't said --" she broke off helplessly.

"Yes -- I think I understand.  And since I *did* say -- what I said -- I hope you realize now that I -- don't really regret what just happened."  He took a deep breath.  "I have one more question.  After you find the key and get me out of these handcuffs... are you planning to stay, or to leave?"

"What?"

"Are you going to go back to your quarters after you unlock me, or are you going to stay and -- shall we say, take previous events to their logical conclusion?"  He frowned a little as a thought struck him.  "If you decide to stay, I suppose you could hold off on letting me out of these for a while, if you preferred it.  Personally, I would rather have my hands free, but if it's what you'd like..."

She blinked at him a couple of times, incredulously.  "Are you -- are you asking me if I want to -- if I want to sleep with you?"

He frowned again.  "I wasn't planning on *sleeping* anytime soon -- I'm not sure I'll be able to *get* to sleep for some time, at least -- " He involuntarily glanced downward at himself, and hastily looked away.  He tried to pull his knees upward for a little camoflage and failed (his ankles still being cuffed to the bedframe), then abruptly changed the subject.  "But if that's the way you want to phrase it, then yes, that is what I'm asking."

She took such a long time answering, studying her hands pensively while she considered his offer, that he felt compelled to add, "Take your time, Major.  I'm not going anywhere."

She glanced at him in surprise, then remembered abruptly that he was still chained to his bed.  She jumped up from her seat and asked, "Where are the keys?  I hope you know, because Dax certainly didn't tell *me*."

"I would assume they would be in the bag she got the handcuffs and blindfold out of."  He indicated the bag in the corner with a jerk of his head.  Nerys got it and brought it back to the bed.  She resumed her seat and began rooting through the bag.

"Hmmm... scented oil?  Chocolate syrup?  *Feathers*?  *Body paint*?  Clothespins?  Candles?  Black leather thigh-high boots?  I don't even want to know!"

Odo gave the mysterious bag an incredulous glance and wondered if he should regret that Dax had never had the opportunity to show him what the feathers and chocolate syrup were for...

After some more digging and muffled exclamations, Kira found a set of keys that proved to fit the handcuffs.  She freed his hands and then he took the keys from her and unlocked his ankles, tossing the key-ring onto a table afterwards without bothering to remove the restraints from his bed.  Nerys set Jadzia's bag of goodies on the floor gingerly, wondering just what heathenish rites the Trill had had in mind while packing for this evening -- and whether the constable should be relieved or disappointed that he had missed the opportunity to find out...

Odo settled into a cross-legged position in the center of the bed, the sheet more or less pulled into his lap, and waited for the major to make her decision while he rubbed at his chafed wrists and ankles absently.  After a few minutes had passed, he finally said, "Well, Major?  Should I just try to get back to sleep for the remainder of the evening?"

She gave him a surprised glance.  "Get *back* to sleep?"

He gave her a half-smile.  "You think I would have let Dax handcuff me to my bed if I were awake?"

She laughed a little, nervously.  "You know, I had been wondering about that..."

Answering her unasked question, "She came in here while I was asleep and did this.  I think her exact words were along the line of 'finally getting me laid whether I like it or not.'"

Kira gave that nervous laugh again.  "So -- this is the first time you two have ever done this..."

"It *would* have been the first time if it had happened, yes."

"Oh.  Right."  She gave him a cautious sidelong glance.  "Uhh -- what happens if I say no right now?  Go back to my quarters tonight?  Would I get a second chance if I changed my mind later, or could I at least have a few days to think it over before making a final decision?  Or is this a one-time-only offer?"

Odo sighed silently.  She was trying to back out gracefully;  obviously what had happened before was just an impulse on her part that she now regretted.  Well, at least she was being as gentle as she could about rejecting him.  He gave her an honest answer.  "I think it depends on what happens in the next few days.  Ordinarily, I would say that if you came to me and said you were willing, I would accept.  Gladly.  Gratefully.  But tonight...  I was genuinely ready to accept Dax -- Jadzia -- when I thought you were her -- and when she comes back from wherever it is she went, I strongly suspect she'll want to pick things up where we left them off tonight, or as close as she can get.  And... I don't think she'll need the restraints next time."  He paused to let her consider, then added, "I'm not planning on trying to deal with two relationships of this kind at once.  I'm barely ready to try having just one.  If you say you want to do this before Jadzia returns, I'll refuse her when she comes back -- but if you decide you're interested while I'm involved with someone else, I'm going to say no.  So that's your deadline."  He was trying to leave her a graceful out:  claim to be thinking the matter over, and keep postponing a "final decision" until Dax returned and made the discussion moot.

She considered his reply for a moment.  Then she smiled a little, surprising him.  "Sounds like I'd better not let this opportunity slip away, then."  She reached over and placed her hand on his shoulder, turning him toward her, and then leaned over and kissed him.  He froze in shock for a long second, then cautiously leaned into her kiss.

It was even better now that he knew it was her and not Dax.

They stayed in that position for several seconds before he slowly raised his arms and placed his hands on her shoulders.  She put her free hand on this other shoulder and pulled him in closer.  They edged closer todether until they were sitting facing one another, his legs still up on the bed and hers still draped over the edge.  She ran her hands through his hair and then stroked his bare back and shoulders.  He tentatively returned the caresses, his confidence increasing as she showed every evidence of enjoyment at his attentions.

They stayed pressed together for a few minutes, then Nerys decided enough was enough.  Still kissing, she managed to kick off her boots and peel off her socks.  The activity distracted the constable enough that he broke off the kiss to see what she was doing.  She calmly transferred her attention to her uniform top and pulled it off, tossing it aside, then matter-of-factly removed her shirt underneath and the bra underneath that.  Odo's expression was rather endearing, as he struggled between a sort of prudish embarrassment, a gentlemanly desire to let the lady have her privacy while undressing, and a boyish desire to gawk.  She was finding the combination rather endearing.  She pulled him into another kiss, this time with her bare skin pressed against his.

He was shy at first, a little nervous about the more intimate contact between their bodies, before relaxing and enjoying the sensation.  After letting him stroke her back for a while, she caught one of his hands and guided it to a breast.  He froze in startlement before responding to her tacit suggestion and beginning to caress, drawing circles around the areola while occasionally stroking her nipple with his thumb.  She pressed herself against his hand happily.

He cautiously began working on the other breast as well, pulling back a little ways to look at her.  He stroked his hands down her belly and then back around her sides to her back angain, pulling her back against him, before replacing his hand on her breast.

She finally decided this had gone on long enuogh when he began to duplicate her earlier trick -- starting a line of kisses at her mouth and slowly working down her body.  As his lips approached her breasts, she hastily pulled out of his arms -- he looked confused at that -- and got up off the bed and began removing her pants.  He gave her a startled look and forgot to look away as she shucked off her pants and underwear and then dove back onto the bed and under his sheet with him.  "Now," she whispered huskily.  "Where were you?"

"Here, I think," he replied, taking her question seriously, indicating a place halfway from her clavicle to her left nipple.  He pulled her to him and resumed kissing from that spot.  She moaned happily and pulled him down on the bed with her, so that they were now lying beside each other rather than sitting facing one another.  He adjusted to the change in position happily and contnued his path to her nipple whele she ran her fingers through his hair and stroked his back and shoulders.  Once he reached her breast, he diverted from the stright path and started playfully spiralling around and inward, prolonging the journey.  Nerys moaned and guided him directly to her nipple.  He responded well to the cue, kissing, then licking, the nipping gently, then sucking.  Then her reached for her other breast with a hand, and after a few moments switched breasts and left his hand to continue stroking her left breast while he transferred his attentions to the right one.  She gasped, then sighed happily.

She took one of his hands and moved it from a breast, guiding it down her side suggestively and leaving it to him to pick up the hint.  He picked it up.  Tentatively he stroked his hand down her side, but instead of heading right for her inner thighs he kept his hand on the outside of her hip and thigh as he continued all the way down to her knee.  Stroking the back of her knee meditatively with one finger, he paused in his nuzzling of her breasts and moved back up to kiss her on the lips again.  She responded enthusiastically, opening her mouth under his and and coaxing his lips apart with her tongue.  He cooperated gladly as she gave him a passionate kiss.  His hand absently slid back up her thigh to the hip, then back around and cautiously cupped a buttock.  He traced the round crease where her buttock met the top of her thigh, then softly traced his fingertips across the top of her thigh to -- but he shifted the position of his hand at the last minute, running it along the inside of her thigh instead of where she had thought he was going, touching her now with the backs of his fingers instad of with the tips.  He stroked the backs of his fingers down her inner thigh to her knee and then opened his hand, touching her leg now with the palm side of his hand as he slowly stroked back up her thigh.  He hesitated at the top, then shyly brushed one of her labia with the backs of his fingers.  She cried out happily, tensing that thigh against him involuntarily.  He hesitated, then stroked her again with the backs of his fingers, harder this time, feeling the fuzz and softness and dampness.    He moved his hand over slightly and stroked the other side softly, then more firmly.  Then he switched to fingertips, combing them through the thatch of hair on her mons and labia.  She gasped gripped his shoulders, her eyes closed, her face tensed and waiting.  Odo snuck a glance at Nerys' face.  She seemed to approve, so...  He stroked more firmly with his fingertips, up one side and then up the other.  When she opened her thighs farther, encouragingly, he dared reach a few fingers to push back her outer labia out of the way and let him have a closer look inside.  He traced carefully up and down, back and forth, exploring her gently with his fingers and eyes.  He found her clitoris when she cried out, and began paying special attention to that one area as he continued touching.

All this physical exploration was well and good, but he was beginning to feel rather desperately that it was time to move on to something else -- especially when Nerys began eagerly stroking her fingers down him from his shoulders to his knees...  He shifted position a little, uncertainly.  He had an idea of what was supposed to happen now, but there were all these trickly little positional details...  Kira, either sensing his difficulty or growing impatient, took matters into her own hands -- literally.  He gasped sharply as she grabbed him by the penis -- and then moaned as she pulled him into her insistently.

Things didn't take very long after that...

Then, before too long, they started up again...

This went on for quite a few hours.

The next day, O'Brien cast the security chief a suspicious glance across the crowd at Quark's and muttered to Worf, "Do you know if anything's happened to the constable recently?"

"Happened?  What do you mean?"  The Klingon eyed the ex-changeling uncertainly before returning his gaze to the man at the bar beside him.

"He's just been so -- I don't know -- *cheerful* today.  Almost *perky*.  It's not like him.  Do you think he could be sick?"

"Hmmm.  I had noticed him being uncharacteristically -- jovial -- this morning.  Perhaps he has some evidence against Quark," Worf added hopefully.

The pair studied the constable, who leaned against a wall at the far end of the bar and happily insulted Quark as the Ferengi prepared drinks for his multi-species clientele.

"No, Quark doesn't look nervous enough for Odo to have something on him."

"What's this about Quark?"  Bashir came up behind the two in time to hear O'Brien's last comment.

"It's not about Quark, it's about the constable.  Have you notice him behaving a little... well, *oddly* today?" O'Brien asked.

"Hmmm."  The doctor studied the *oddly*-behaving security chief.  Odo gave a short bark of laughter at something Morn said, then noticed Bashir watching him and nodded back at Julian affably.

"Nodded?  He just *nodded* at me?  He almost smiled!  Did someone dope his raktajino this morning?" Bashir asked incredulously.  Before the others could stop him, he moved over to the uncharacteristically amiable constable and asked him something the watching pair couldn't quite make out.  Odo blinked but replied to the doctor's question.  Bashir said something else and Odo shrugged and folded his arms in front of his chest.  Worf noticed Julian's eyes widen in startlement for an instant before he nodded and left the constable, returning to the waiting pair.

"Well?" O'Brien asked.  Worf remained silent but was keenly interested in the doctor's reply.

"I asked him if his appointment went well enough with Major Kira last night.  I had Dax in the infirmary last night to get some bruises taken care of -- she said she had gotten a bit careless in an exercise program on the holodeck -- and when the captain called her and told her he needed her for that emergency mission, she called Kira and asked her to go by the constable's quarters and take care of an appointment she had with him, since she was going to be gone."

"What kind of appointment?" O'Brien asked, sipping at his pint.

"I don't know.  All I know is, Dax told Kira to go by his quarters *immediately* and to go alone.  Whatever it was for, the major seems to have done whatever it was Dax was supposed to do."  Julian suppressed a giggle as his eyes returned wonderingly to the constable.

"What's so funny?" O'Brien wondered snappishly.

"Well, I don't *know* what that appointment business was all about, but I can make some interesting guesses..."

"Oh?"

"You seemed startled by something." Worf interjected abruptly.  "What was it?"

"Well...  It's probably nothing."  Julian paused and shook his head wonderingly, his gaze never leaving the constable.  Odo gave him a puzzled look and Bashir hastily returned his attention to the drink Quark had just brought him.

"But...?" O'Brien invited.

"It's probably something perfectly innocent..."

"But...?" Worf growled.

"I saw some marks on his wrists when he crossed his arms.  It's probably just me, but I could swear they were handcuff marks."

O'Brien inhaled on a swig of his drink and spent the next minute or two coughing violently.  Worf's eyes widened and he gave the ex-changeling a respectful glance.  "Sooo...  We see he is a man of hidden talents."

Julian, still supressing giggles, and O'Brien, still coughing, turned to look at Worf simultaneously.

"Obviously he is practicing the art of escaping one's enemies when captured.  A worthy skill.  Perhaps he would show me his technique for escaping restraints..."

Bashir and O'Brien exchanged a disbelieving glance.  Worf frowned at them, realizing that they disbelieved his explanation but unsure why they found it so implausible.  Surely they could not think the security chief would stoop to playing any of those weakling human *bondage games*...

Major Kira walked into Quark's at that point, scanned the crowd, and spotted the face she was looking for.  She happily sauntered up to the constable and put her arm around his waist.  He wrapped an arm around her shoulders while continuing to annoy Quark.

Bashir smirked, pleased at this evidence confirming his hypothesis.  O'Brien looked startled -- but after a moment's thought, accepting and even a little approving.  Worf couldn't have been more shocked had the major just been discovered to be a Romulan infiltrator in disguise.  Interestingly enough, Quark didn't seem to be at all surprised. (Soundproofing is all very well and good, but when you've got loud enough screams and Ferengi ears -- well, let's just point out that the *walls* of the constable's quarters hadn't been soundproofed, nor had the floors of his neighbors, nor had the walls of Quark's quarters.)

At that moment, of course, Dax walked in.  She scanned the bar and noticed Odo and Kira standing together -- and, more importantly, *how* they were standing together.  Julian, noticing the way her posture sagged briefly for a second when she saw the two together, felt an uncomfortable mingling of sympathy for Jadzia's disappointment and pleasure at having a potential rival removed from the playing field. (Now if he could just get rid of Worf somehow...) Dax sighed, straightened, and nodded at the couple who had just spotted her. (Odo looked faintly apologetic, but Nerys looked ready to pick a fight over the constable if Dax wasn't willing to accept defeat graciously.) She gave them a genuine, if slightly saddened, smile -- she *was* glad to see them together, even if she *had* missed out on what promised to have been an interesting sexual interlude. (Although not as interesting as it would have been had Odo still been a changeling -- now *that* would have been a unique sexual experience!  Not that she could have cuffed him before he had been solidified, but a Trill could fantasize, couldn't she?) Odo nodded back, and Kira (looking appeased) did so as well.  Dax came over to the trio at the other end of the bar and ordered a blood wine.

"I... take it you regret having missed your -- appointment -- with Odo last night?" Julian gave her his best sympathetic expression and tone.  The truth was, he genuinely commiserated with her disappointment, but mostly he was dying to know the details.

Dax gave him a suspicious look, evidently wondering how much the doctor knew or had deduced, before answering.  "A little -- but I think it probably worked out for the best -- for both of us."  She paused and glanced at the pair at the other end of the bar, then amended, "For all three of us."

Julian nodded, then couldn't resist adding, "By the way..."

"Hmm?"  Dax took a sip of her blood wine.

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about a few pairs of handcuffs, would you?"

The blood wine wound up sprayed halfway across the bar.  Worf gave Dax a suspicious look.  (Julian heartily approved of the wariness the Klingon was eyeing the Trill with now.  If he couldn't put Dax off Worf, putting Worf off Dax was an acceptable alternative.)  As Worf pulled Dax to one side to inquire about -- restraints -- and whether the Trill had ever used them for recreational purposes, O'Brien pulled Bashir close to mutter in his ear.  "By the by, Julian, how do you know so well what handcuff marks look like?"

"What?  Handcuff marks?  Oh, ah, well -- I'm a doctor, you know.  Amazing what all we see, really."

"Oh, really?"  O'Brien gave Julian a funny look but went back to his pint and let the matter drop.  But the next time he glanced at Bashir, he noticed a funny thing.

The doctor was rubbing his wrists thoughtfully -- and smiling nostalgically to himself.