A short little vignette set in the Peace On Earth universe, written and inspired by waking up early to a quiet house and the peaceful sound of rain falling outside my window.   I hope this redeems the POE series in my eyes after the joke that is commonly referred to as "Let Me Call You Sweetheart".

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    Julian Bashir-Garak woke early one morning to the sights and sounds of rain. The smell of it was in the air, and the light flooding through the large windows into the bedroom had a golden hue. He smiled and snuggled closer to the larger form lying beside him, tucking the heavy arm that was thrown about his waist tighter.

     His mind wandered to the days he had spent as a child playing in the rain when his parents had lived Gerada IV, the small colony that had rejected weather controlling technology. The warm air, the splash of water on your skin, squels of laughter, and jumping into puddles as deep as your ankles to splash your playmate.

     A thought occured to him. 'What am I doing in here?'

     He silently eased out from under Garak's arm and left his companion sleeping peacefully in the bed. Still clad in his boxer shorts he opened the sliding glass to step outside onto the pation, and let the rain pour over him. Arms lifted and head back, the doctor turned in a slow circle, feeling a cleansing process take over as his hair, skin and scant clothes were gradually soaked.

     The smell of the wet earth, the sounds of the raindrops striking the ground all around him and the morning birds chattering angrily away in the tree, and the chill pleasuable sensation of a large drop of water gathering and sliding down his spine seemed an almost religious experience. Then the heathen intruded.

     The glass door slid aside once more, and Garak's voice reached him in his revery. "Don't you dare come in here tracking mud and dripping dirty water on this floor." *Slam!*

     Julian stalked to the door, suddenly shivering and wanting very much to come inside. Another memory from his childhood. He never seemed cold till he was told he had to stay outside.

     He opened the door a crack so he could speak the his spouse who was busily making himseflf breakfast.

    "Elim, don't be ridiculous! I can't stay out here all day in my shorts! They're transparent now that they are wet."

    "Thank the deities for the privacy fence I insisted upon then."

    "Elim! I'm cold and hungry!" he snapped.

    "That, my dear, is unfortunate."

    "Damnit! This is my house too!"

    "Yes, darling, but who cleans it?"

    "I help!"

    "Oh, yes. You did put your clothes *in* the hamper after I 'harrassed' you."

    "Eliiiimmmmm!!!" Julian said winding up.

    "Oh, dear gul, Julian, don't start whining!"

    "B-b-but I'm cold, and miserable," he pouted, putting extra emphasis into the chattering of his teeth.

    Garak turned and faced the doctor for the first time since the exchange had begun, glaring mightily. His expression soften and he became even more irritated, but with himself now, for it.

     Julian looked absolutely childlike, despite the growth on his chin and the blatanly see through fabric of his boxers. He was leaning in the back door, feet still planted on the concrete outside, but dripping water from his chin and hair onto the tile of the kitchen floor. He was using his large, brown eyes to his best advantage, because Garak felt as if he were shooing a starving dog away from his door step.

    The Cardassian snorted resignedly and said, "Wait there. I'll go and get some towels. You'll just stand there all day and let the rain pour in the back door, I may as well let you come in."

    When he returned, Julian gave him a grateful look as he stepped inside on the towel Garak had put down top soak up the puddle already forming and then wrppaed himself tightly in the larger thicker towel Garak held out to him.

     "Thanks, Elim. Oh, this feels so good! You don't realize until you are wet and cold how wonderful a warm sry towel is."

     "Might I ask why you were out standing in the rain in the first place?"

     "For fun," Julian said as if he were stating the obvious.

     Garak paused in the middle of towel;ling his young love's hair. "Fun? You said you were miserable."

     The human discarded his boxers which hit the floor with a loud slap.      "Yes, fun. Didn't you ever play in the rain when you were a child, Garak?"

     "Might I remind you, Dearest, that I spent my childhood not only in the tender care of Enabran Tain, but on a planet that scarecly sees persipitation of any kind?"

     "Oh, I'm so sorry for you. I had forgotten," the doctor said as he stopped rubbing his bare skin briskly with a towel.

     He thought for a moment, then threw the towel over the back of a chair and began kissing Garak passionately as he reached for the tailor's own short sleeved pajamas and pulled them matter of factly from his body.

     The older man was slightly surprised but quickly recovered his wits and helped his beloved with the removal of his clothes. He wasn't quite sure what had spurred the doctor to this, but he wasn't going to ask any questions.

     Once he had stepped clear of his pants, he and Julian reached for each other at the exact same moment, but he was shocked when he found himself being hauled outside into the rain by his youthful lover.

     Protests formed and died quickly on his lips as Julian first pulled him by both hands into a joyful dirvish on the stone patio, shouting and whooping like a savage, then he let go of Garak's hands, and gripped his hips instead.

     As the Cardassian stood shivering in the down pour, certain that someone would see him naked, in the rain and believe him insane, his husband dropped to his knees before him and took him into his hot mouth.

     "Oh! Julian, guls that feels so good!" he nearly shouted as the warmth crept out from his groin to his entire body. The rain droplets continued to fall on him, but they suddenly felt like hundreds of tiny fingers carressing and massaging his flesh, or running over and between his lips like a lovers kiss.

     He slipped his fingers into Julian's hair, the strands tangled and heavy with the water, gripping his hands as if they were living beings. Julian's warm hands slid up and down his thighs, over the top,  the sides, and finally up to cup the buttocks and encourage him to thrust in an easy rythm as Julian avidly sucked him.

     Just when Garak felt the first waves of climax rippling in his stomach, Julian let him go. Garak growled a protest and reached to grab his lover, but Julian's slick skin and fast reflexes made it impossible for him to hold onto.

     The human trotted merrily away to the bedroom window, well aware of the fact that Garak would be doing well to walk wiithout discomfort. With an impish smile he slid the window open, and reached in to get a bottle from the nightstand. Garak recognized it as the warming massage oil.

     "Catch me and you can have me," Julian said in a playful voice before he darted off across the garden.

      Garak briefly considered going back inside. The thought of running about his backyard in the rain and mud after his odd spouse was unappealing to say the least. But the thought of catching him, the challenge of the hunt, and the conquest at the end were too much to walk away from.

     The predator instinct that was still in him took over, as he stalked off to where Julian had disappeared somewhere behind the azaleas.

     He caught a flash of golden skin darting from behind the Japanese magnolia Kieko O'Brien had given him, and Garak was in persuit. The two men chased about the back yard, tearing through the flower beds that Garak had so carefully planted, occasionally slipping in the mud or bursting through the wet clinging leaves of the bushes that had been planted as a divider between the upper garden and the lower. Garak didn't seem to notice or care about the damage being done to the garden he had been so avid about. 

     Finally, Julian's foot caught on a root and the doctor went down in a breathless heap with the sturdy body of his Cardassian lover close on top of him.

     Garak smiled wickedly and triumphantly, saying in a meancing tone, "You're mine!"

     Both men were winded, panting heavily, but Julian wriggled around and kissed Garak deeply before saying, "So I am. You've caught me, now what shall you do with me?"

     Garak thought for a split second of having Julian finish what he had started earlier, and waiting for his own completion as penance, but a far better image popped to Garak's mind.

     He pulled Julian up from the wet grass and led him to the patio where he pushed him down on the lounge.

     Then the tailor took the bottle that Julian still held clutched in his hand, and poured a generous amount into his hand.  He smoothed in over his beloveds lean, wet back, watching the water bead up in his wake and enjoying the deep throated moan that came from Julian.

      His strong fingers kneaded the muscles to a soft putty like texture, as he worked lower and lower, finally ending at the taut buttocks.Once more his hands reached for the bottle, and this time he traced his fingers along the crease of Julian's backside before he slipped one inside to prepare his doctor. 

      Julian gasped and arched his spine as oil heated inside him and the large digit brushed his prostate. Soon the doctor was panting again, and begging for more, which Garak was too glad to give. 

     As the two forms merged together, lightening flashed, throwing a surreal pattering of light and shadows over the straining muscles and making them look like an ancient marble statue, the work af a great master. 

    The rain came down harder, pelting their skin with almost painful force, blinding them as rivulets streamed from their tousled and soaked hair over their brow, forming pools inside the ridges of Garak's face.

     The oil and water mixture on Julian's back was slick, making it difficult for Garak to hold onto his hips, so he wrapped his arms about the thin waist and held him in a bruising grip. It heated both of thier skins, tingling at thier nerve ending, burning them inside and out, as the rain pouring over them offered the contrast of nearly uncomfortable cool.

     Now they were both on their knees on the wet cushion of the lounge, Garak's arms around Julian, and Julian holding onto the back of the lounge desperately with one hand and Garak's neck with the other. They were oblivious to the elements, the rain, the lightening, and even the rumble of thunder as they drove on.

     Finally Garak dropped one hand down to encircle Julian's shaft. It only took two or three more strokes to bring both men to an earth shattering climax that was appropriately accompanied by a loud crash of thunder that drowned out their howls.

     As the last grumbling of the thunder faded, the two were slumped and exhausted, still entwined together, and recovering their senses. After a few more minutes spent stroking each other's slickened skin and kissing, they reluctantly seperated as the cold began to creep in and invade their private little world. Finally they gathered their stregnth and ambled back to the back door. 

     Once they were inside, towelling each other off, Garak said in a tired voice, "I used to console myself with the thought that at least living on a space station, one need not worry about the weather."

     Julian smiled softly as he leaned in to kiss the Cardassian. "And now?"

     "And now... I can see what exactly it was that I was missing out on."

END

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