So this hit me recently when I was writing a fanfic, but, uh, has anyone else realised that when Julian Bashir arrived on DS9 he was somewhat newly single?
In Armageddon Game, he mentions he was previously engaged to a woman, and that he chose Starfleet over her.
DS9 was his first posting out of the Academy. He got his Doctor License in Starfleet.
If he’d taken her father’s offer, it would have been after he graduated, and therefore, he’d have had to leave Starfleet after graduation, but before his posting on DS9.
We can then infer that he was newly single when he arrived on DS9.
Which… means that him pursuing Jadzia, was quite possibly him on the rebound.
It kinda explains a lot (to me anyway).