Chapter Text
Stepping out of the airlock, still in a purple dress that she'd never have voluntarily chosen to wear, Kira felt incredibly self-conscious. She’d taken care, in the nearly eighteen months she’d worked on DS9, to portray a very specific image. This outfit couldn’t be more of a departure from that carefully crafted persona.
The rest of the senior staff were present, allegedly to check she and Julian were unharmed - but Kira suspected it was more abject curiosity than anything else. She couldn’t really blame them – if it had been one of the others she knew she'd have been down there like a shot after seeing that viewscreen image broadcast through to Ops from the runabout. Their going missing then showing back up with Julian plastered in dirt and her dolled up like a common tart had to raise a lot of questions as well as eyebrows.
There they all were as the door rolled back - eyes boring into her, and she felt herself squirm under the attention. Why did it have to be her that was wearing the ludicrous outfit and not Julian? She exchanged a few words with the Commander, all the while her head bowed and eyes fixed on her far from sensible shoes. She continued to avoid eye contact with the rest of them as she performed what felt oddly like a walk of shame, acknowledging each of them but saying no more than she had to.
She’d almost escaped the corridor when something made her look up as she glanced over Jadzia's boots. She couldn’t put her finger on what compelled her, but it was a strong urge and when she did so the look that greeted her there was not what she had expected. There was the predictable amusement at the ludicrousness of the situation, but also something else - appreciation? Desire even!?
She was unable to process that though, before she was even more surprised by her own reaction to it. She... liked it, so much so that she felt the flutter of butterflies in her stomach. Something in her seemed to *want* Jadzia to look at her in that way. She quickly looked away again before she did anything to betray herself, and hurried on past.
She had no idea what to make of what had just happened. Dismissing it with a shake of the head as merely a symptom of how unsettled she was by their strange experience, she suddenly felt very glad she'd asked Sisko for permission to change before the debrief...
==^==
The crew had assembled in the conference room and hour or so after the runabout’s return to discuss what had transpired. Jadzia couldn’t help watching Kira as she and Julian talked through their experiences.
She’d heard of this ‘other universe’ that had been visited by various members of Starfleet over the past 200 years, but this was the first time she’d been privy to a firsthand account of it, so everything about it should have been utterly fascinating and yet she found herself becoming increasingly distracted. Kira had changed out of the extremely flattering dress she’d been wearing on her return – Jadzia thought this was a shame and hoped Kira had decided to keep it, although she doubted this going on past experience. Kira had never been thrilled about dressing up for the various holosuite adventures Jadzia had managed to persuade her into and on this occasion the Bajoran had worn the same put upon expression Jadzia had become so accustomed to.
She was back in uniform now, but there was an air of discomposure around her that was in jarring contrast to her usual self-assured demeanour. Something about her experiences over there had unsettled her – but then that was hardly surprising really given what Jadzia had heard about it. Dax, having lived numerous lives already, was not in the least perturbed about the prospect of meeting an alternative version of herself, but she could understand how unnerving that must have been for Kira.
Having said that, there was something more to this than just an odd experience. When Kira spoke about The Intendant, as this other Kira described herself, there was a very definite discomfort there as if Kira was struggling to reconcile something. Struggling, she supposed to figure out how similar or otherwise she and this woman actually were.
The other thing that Jadzia found somewhat strange was the fact that Kira seemed just as unable to stop glancing over at her as Jadzia did at Kira. There had been a moment, as Kira had stepped out of the airlock, where they’d made eye contact and, in that moment, something had passed between them that Jadzia was having a hard time defining. She’d probably looked quite appreciatively at Kira – as she’d noted earlier the dress was very flattering – but this was not unusual for Jadzia who was fascinated by aesthetics and the contrasts in how people could appear in different attire and circumstances.
The look she had received in return, however, she'd been unable to entirely interpret. She’d never got the impression, previously, that Kira had an interest in women but in that moment it very much seemed that Kira enjoyed her attention – although there’d been something else there also; Kira had looked away quickly, apparently very keen to hide what she was feeling from Jadzia. This, coupled with the fact that Kira kept glancing over at her then continuing to look away sharply each time, had her intrigued.
For the remainder of the debrief she kept her eyes fixed on anyone else in the room but Kira, whilst surreptitiously peeking at her out of the corner of her eye. Kira continued to look over at her frequently- allowing her gaze to rest longer as she realised Jadzia was no longer looking in her direction. It was an odd feeling – there was a fascination in Kira’s gaze and Jadzia found herself enjoying the attention, but also struggling to keep herself from looking back. She had no idea what to make of it, but as they filed out of the briefing room she resolved to keep an eye on this interesting new development.
==^==
Kira felt incredibly hot and was itching to get out of the conference room once the debrief was finished. She'd hung back, however, allowing Jadzia to leave the room before her because she couldn't face the idea of having to walk past her again and keep her face turned away.
Why couldn't she stop staring at her? What the hell was this about? There was just something captivating about the way her hair fell, brushing against the edges of her face and the delicate spots that framed it so beautifully. She'd never noticed just how beautiful Jadzia was before - of course she'd known, it was obvious for all to see really - but she'd never truly seen her in that way. How perfect her figure was, and the way your eye just rode along one long perfect line of curves all the way to her feet. She was something else.
Kira caught herself just as she was about to walk straight into the owner of those curves as Jadzia paused in the doorway. Seriously!? What was this? She shook her head and turned left away toward the turbolift as Jadzia took a couple more steps forward allowing her to escape from the room. She had fortunately avoided making the dreaded eye contact, and hoped she'd managed to look busy and efficient rather than flustered. She could feel the heat rising in her face and could just imagine that she was almost a colour matching her uniform by this point.
Riding the lift down from Ops always came with a pleasant rush of cooler air, and she hoped this would have served to restore some way toward her usual collected self by the time she hit the Promenade. As it was, the effect was minimal, but at least she’d been able to escape Ops without further incident. Knowing the only place that could restore her mind to some semblance of order, she set off purposefully towards it.
Unfortunately, her journey was not destined to be as simple as she would have liked – she was forced to weave in and out of various knots and throngs of people; it was more crowded than on an average day down here, which was just typical when she was in such a hurry to get somewhere. It seemed like every way she turned there was someone blocking her path or stepping forward into the space she'd just managed to create for herself. Several times she almost managed to walk into people - inevitably each of them women and each time she found herself having a similar, if not quite so strong reaction, as the one she'd had towards Jadzia. It seemed like gorgeous women with pearlescent skin and cherry lips had mounted an invasion on the station, and Kira found herself growing more and more flustered to the point where she had to slip out of the crowd and get some air - back pressed up against the side wall of a shop as she struggled to regain her breath.
Everything seemed just a little too bright and too loud. The people around her were an assault on her usually robust sensibilities and she felt herself slowly sinking down the wall to the floor; overwhelmed by it all. She closed her eyes, trying a few moments of meditation in an attempt to re-centre herself. It worked up until the point where she opened her eyes again, and found herself face to face with a blonde human woman with eyes like sapphires and the softest of voices which asked,
"Are you all right?" Kira stumbled over her reply a little but managed to stutter out,
"Y...yes I just got a little hot in the crowd is all. Would you mind helping me up? I'm trying to get to get to the Bajoran shrine". She gestured vaguely in the right direction and was relieved when she looked up to see that she was almost there.
"Of course - I'll help you over there". The woman hooked an arm under Kira's armpit and pulled her up, taking some of Kira's weight as she did so to allow the Bajoran to recover her balance. The tingling sensation Kira experienced at the contact travelled all the way down to her toes and almost threatened to send her into another tailspin. Only a supreme act of willpower kept her upright and she allowed the woman to lead her forward through the crowd and into the entrance of the shrine.
"Thank you". The woman smiled at Kira, her face lighting up with the expression, and Kira was forced to swallow deeply as she replied,
"Not at all - it was my pleasure". The word pleasure sounded emphasised to Kira, but she couldn’t be sure if it actually was, or the impression was just a further symptom of her state of mind – either way it once again threatened her fragile control. The woman smiled again, a little awkwardly as if unsure whether to say anything more, then turned and left.
After watching her go, a little mournful of not even finding out her name, Kira stepped into the main part of the shrine and instantly felt more centred. She had come to her oasis of calm and was certain that with a good long meditation session she'd be feeling more like herself again. She took out a taper and matches from the cupboard and began to light the candles, humming softly to reassure herself as she did so.