Garak wished that there was a way that he could correct that, a way that he could get his dear doctor to see just how important he was to the people around him, how much they wanted and needed him to care for himself, to place some of the concern and consideration that he showed to others on his own well-being. He wished that there was a way to truly convey to him just how badly he needed to at the very least attend to the basic necessities of life. "Three hours a day for meals and eight hours a night for sleep is the bare-minimum, my dear. And I don't think you even managed that some days," Garak said, a fondness in the words even as it was mingled with the sadness of their current preoccupation.
"She would," Garak said, a soft laugh passing his lips. "If she could see us now, two sad sacks lamenting the things that we can hardly change, the lecture that we would get would be catastrophic. You two are bringing me down," Garak said, putting on his best imitation even if it was a poor replica, "don't you have anything better to do than sit around and mope about the past? If you're going to do it, at least get drunk while you do. Then it's less of a waste of time."
Garak shook the persona off, a sadness seeping into him at Julian's confession of jealousy. He's so wanted the two of them to get along, had thought that they were when it had been that thing instead, that they were developing a polite and sociable associating that didn't seem to have room for him in it. And then.... Well, that was the thing, wasn't it? The reality had changed a lot of things and yet... changed very little at all. Especially for the better. "I did love her," Garak said, the words carefully stated before he continued. "I did. But not, perhaps, in the way she wanted me to. And I was too much of a coward to tell her so." And then she was dead, and there wasn't a chance.
"Whatever it might have seemed to be, my dear, you had nothing to be jealous of. I loved her in the way a father might care for a daughter... Or an uncle for a particularly close niece. She wanted something from me which... I simply couldn't give. And I had no idea how to dissuade her from the notion," Garak said, sighing as he moved his hand from where it had been resting on the side of Julian's face, clasping one hand with both of his as he lowered his gaze. "I never meant to hurt you, Julian. Never. I was all but dead before you arrived, my dear. Desperate, lonely, abandoned, and hated by so many I surrounded myself with. You gave me hope again. And I fear that I have unintentionally stolen what was left of yours."