Thank you so much! I was scared that some of what I touched on could be taken as exploitative or gratuitous, and that definitely wasn't my intention. It was painful to have both of them go to that dark place, but it felt right. It's not going to be something completely resolved by an "I love you", for sure.

Coming up on Season Four, which sort of had something of a dearth of either Bashir or Garak stories. I'm going to have to really exercise the brain to see what I can come up with to fit in continuity. These guys...well, it's hard not to be inspired by them, isn't it? :-D I appreciate the review!