By: Carolann C. Potee

        "She's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen!"
        "Yeah," remarked Chief O'Brien. "And she has the biggest chest of any 
human woman in the whole quadrant. Look at those arms! She could probably 
pick you up and break you in two!"
        Julian scowled at his friend. "You're no fun," he said. 
        "I'm married," O'Brien said and smiled. "I'm not supposed to have any
fun unless it's with Keiko."
        Julian laughed at that, then turned back to their game of darts. He 
was standing twice as far away from the board as the chief, where he'd been 
put, and was still winning. Chief O'Brien stepped up to his line and threw 
his darts, and not one came close to the bulls-eye.
        "Just isn't your game, eh Miles?" Julian said sympathetically. "Or 
should I say `games?' You haven't won a game in almost half an hour."
        "And it's all your doing, too," O'Brien shot back playfully.
        "Me??" Julian asked innocently. "What did I do?"
        "First, I think that woman is giving some kind of inspiration or 
something, because you haven't been this good even since you started playing 
back there a few weeks ago," O'Brien explained. "And second, I think I need 
another Synth-ale."
        Julian smiled again and looked back at the woman who had just come 
into the bar. She was quite big for a human woman, but not really husky or 
muscularly overloaded, she just seemed to have a really big frame. Well, 
maybe she was a little muscular, no woman's arms or chest got that broad 
without some amount of muscular strength. I wonder what she could do in bed? 
he found himself wondering, then flinched as Miles O'Brien waved his hand 
past his eyes.
        "You're staring," he said, grinning widely.
        "I can't help it," Julian said, then sighed. "She's so beautiful..."
        "Well, then, why don't you go over and talk to her?"
        "Me?" he said, surprised. "I'd be way too thin for her even if she 
did talk to me."
        Miles laughed. "That's not what you used to be like."
        "Well, I've changed," Julian pointed out. "I'm a bit more careful 
what women I go out with now."
        O'Brien pushed him out of the alcove and started dragging him over 
to the bar where she was sitting. He just looked at her for a moment, 
noticing how tall she was, not quite as tall as he was, perhaps about 
fifteen centimeters shorter. He was staring again, and he didn't realize it 
until she'd turned around and began staring back at him. She smiled and gave 
him a slightly confused look, and he blushed furiously. Miles left him, 
giving him a grin as he left the bar to get another Synth-ale. Julian looked 
back up at her, but could not find the words to greet her.
        "You're cute," she said as she stood up.
        Julian blushed even two shades more red than before; every last drop 
of blood went to his face. "I'm Dr. Julian Bashir," he managed to squeak out.
        "My name is Joanne," she said.
        "That's a very pretty name..."
        "Thank you," Joanne said. "Your name means `man with soft-colored 
hair,' you know."
        "Really?" he said, impressed. "Did you read that somewhere?"
        She nodded and smiled again. "Perhaps you'd like to join me for 
lunch?"
        "Uh, sure," Julian said, unable to find any other words. He sat down 
next to her and the talked for a while. As it turned out, she was a 
pediatrician. Julian began to feel more comfortable with her as time passed 
now that he had found something in common with her.
        "I have some holosuite time reserved in less than half an hour," she 
said. "Please, join me?"
        "I'd love to, Joanne," Julian replied, then offered her his arm. 
"Shall we go?"
        "Gladly," she said, taking his arm in hers.
        "What program did you have in mind?" Julian asked out of curiosity.
        "Well, I was going to run an alpine environment program and go 
bicycle riding, but maybe I can run a beach program so we can go swimming 
instead," Joanne explained. "Or maybe I'll choose something a bit more.. 
romantic?"
        "A beach would be just fine," Julian said. "What else could be that 
much more romantic?"
        "I could think of a few things," she said as she brought her arms up 
around his neck. "Shall I take the liberty of programming something of my 
choice? Or perhaps you have something more... exciting in mind?"
        "It's your time," he smiled. "You choose anything you like."
        "Anything?" she asked playfully.
        "Well," Julian bent his head to kiss her, "as long as I have the 
freedom of kissing you like this..."
        His hands found their way to her hips as his lips found hers. They 
kissed passionately while standing just outside the holosuite and they stayed 
that way for several minutes. The two finally parted their lips, then entered 
the holosuite after Joanne keyed in the sequence of the program she wanted.
        Once inside, Julian looked around to see he was in a light forest, 
and there was a castle a short distance away. Joanne had come up next to him 
and he noticed that the computer had somehow provided her with a beautiful 
dress. He looked down at himself, and noticed he was wearing different 
clothing as well. He barely had enough time to gape at his new attire, a 
shining silver suit of medieval armor, before a black knight on horseback 
scooped Joanne off her feet and tossed her onto his saddle.
        "Julian!" she cried with a broad smile crossing her lips. "Save me!"
        He stared as the horse galloped towards the castle at full speed. 
With her strength, she could have pulled him off of his saddle! he thought. 
Then, it hit him. She wants Julian to `save' her. He smiled, Why not? If she 
wants to be rescued, he'd be more than happy to oblige. He found his own pure 
white steed tied on a nearby tree, jumped on it's back, and proceeded to 
chase the villain to the castle.
        Not even half way there, he wished he'd taken those riding lessons 
his parent had offered him when he was a child. His rump was smacking 
unceremoniously onto the saddle with each pounding of his horse's feet. By 
the time he got to the drawbridge, he thought he may never walk right again. 
When Julian heard her scream though, his attention was brought back to his 
foremost task, forgetting completely about his aching rear. He charged up the 
steps to the third floor, two at a time, and was surprised to see that the 
computer allowed the wooden door, that was between him and Joanne, fall to 
pieces as he pounded against it. It made him feel strong and when he came 
face to face with the black knight who had kidnapped her, he felt ready for 
anything. He drew the sword that was hanging on his belt and watched as the 
other knight drew his as well.
        It was a pitifully easy task to dispatch the black knight, a few 
parries and a well-placed lunge were all that was necessary to bring him to 
his knees, then dead on his back.
        Joanne ran up to him and kissed him deeply. "My hero..."
        Julian laughed and kissed her back.