“-and then, if you can believe it, she turned to me and said … Garak, am I boring you with my work talk?” Julian asked, smiling with a mouth that was slightly twisted with disappointment

“Not at all, my dear,” Garak replied, smoothing the pattern in the green silk under his hands, careful not to catch any loose threads and pull a snag in the fragile fabric. “I was just imaging you in a robe made of this and – why, Doctor, are we in a hurry to get somewhere?”