I'm Just a Part of You

Fine Dining

When Rom returned, he was carrying a large tray, loaded with several covered dishes. He placed two of them in front of each of the pair, before ceremonially removing the cloches. Ezri took a very short time to place the foodstuff in front of her.

"Julian..." she said. "Who set this menu, exactly? Not that I don't like the choices, but it does feel like someone's reminding me of something."

"Captain Sisko, I believe."

Ezri didn't really know how to respond. Testing the escargot that had been placed in front of her, along with a small French salad, she discovered it almost certainly was not the product of a replicator. The salad, consisting of beetroot, salad leaves and potatoes with a hint of truffle and dressed with vinaigrette, tasted like the ingredients had been replicated, and it'd then been made by hand.

Across the table, Bashir was enjoying a plate laden with small squares of bread, clearly baked in an oven. She didn't need to make much of an effort to smell the rich cheese aroma wafting from them.

"Cheese on toast?" she demanded, wondering when she'd become so relaxed around the human. It was probably the wine working its lubricating magic on proceedings. Before her joining, she'd never had much of a head for alcohol. Now, she seemed to be able to function (and make sensible decisions) with a few glasses of Saurian Brandy inside her. Although, knowing Quark, it was probably more than slightly watered down.

"Posh cheese on toast." Bashir replied, grandly. "As served in the street cafes of Gay Paree itself for centuries."

"What about escargot?" she asked, curiously. "Have you ever tried it?"

"Once." Bashir replied. "And then I found out what it actually is."

"What?" Ezri asked, spearing another forkful and popping it into her mouth. "Emony never actually asked."

Bashir fished out his PADD, before handing her a picture of the living organism.

"Oh... um... yeah." Ezri sputtered slightly, looking at the eyestalks and grey skin. "I thought the shells were just there to make the dish interesting. Well, Emony did... once she'd discovered you couldn't eat them as well... Leonard gave her an odd look when she tried that. He was more curious about if she needed the minerals or something, though." She blushed, remembering Emony's embarrassment when she discovered that the shells weren't even slightly edible.

"Ezri, we're all tourists sometimes. Even if we do have three hundred years of experience. That's not exactly the most bizarre thing I've seen a human do when sampling the cooking of another planet. Or the most dangerous, for that matter."

Ezri gave him a beseeching look.

"Admittedly, the most dangerous thing I ever saw a human do was walk away without paying in Quark's." Both of them laughed at that. "Quark went after him, and it was only Odo who stopped him dragging him back into the bar and making him sign a contract in Ferengi."

As they were talking, both suddenly realised that their hands were slowly drifting closer together. Bashir made a 'Ummm..." noise, before taking far too close an interest in his remaining salad and single square of croque monsieur. Ezri didn't really look up and cleared her platter of creamy escargot. The salad went down rapidly alongside it.

"So... what is this in aid of?" she asked, curiously, once the food was gone and the embarrassment had receded slightly. "Other than helping me relax, of course."

"Well, Odo has a plan to catch the real killer." Bashir said. "All he needs you to do is stay in your cell for another night and a bit of the day while we set things in motion."