The man gazed out over the Promenade, watching the evening "rush hour" start to pick up as Gamma shift ended, and the officers began to filter out into the Promenade for dinner. Two Bajoran medical aides entered the temple. A small group of Starfleet officers with mustard uniforms brought trays of food to a table outside a restaraunt. A Bajoran, hanging on the arm of a Human, nudges a passing Andorian roughly. The Human, not wishing a fight, gently steers the Bajoran away. A Ferengi male exits Quark's bar, a Dabo girl on his arm. A loud laugh cuts through the chatter on the Promenade as a young couple, a Betazoid and a Human, exit Garak's tailor shop, the Cardassian tailor at the doorway replying to the boy's evidently humorous statement. A tall, dark haired Starfleet female stepped out of the turbolift and headed straight towards Quark's.
The man hurries down from the upper level and pursues this woman.
Quark's is very busy this time of day. The man has to fight his way towards the bar, where the woman has taken a seat beside Morn, the huge... something who is always seated at a barstool. But the man makes it to the woman's side, yet he does not sit down. Instead, he stands near her shoulder, close enough to touch her, but not close enough for her to feel his breath on her long neck.Finally she notices him. Actually, the man doubts she had just noticed his presence, knowing the woman, she was just waiting to see how long she could make him stand there. She asks him what he is doing, hovering nearby.
The man attempts to be casual, claiming he was waiting for a barstool to open up. He says he did not notice the empty stool ten feet away, or the table across the room. May I join you, he asks, even though there is no empty stool nearby.
I am waiting for someone, she replies, and turns back to her drink.The man seats himself at the barstool ten feet away, watching the woman. She knows she is being watched, and who is watching her, but she is tired and doesn't say anything, even to the woman beside her.
Soon, a tall, dark man joins the duo. The officer who was sitting beside the woman leaves, allowing the man to sit down. He orders them raktajinos, and she leans against him as she drinks her coffee. Smoothly, the other woman excuses herself from the bar.
Seated a great distance from the couple in this crowded bar, the man hangs his head dejectedly.