"No, but now I know why you've been avoiding me these past few days."

"I haven't been avoiding you! I've been...helping you to avoid me."

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Because...you don't want us to be together anymore?"

The light dawned. Sweet Prophets, he's so insecure. "Is that what you've been thinking?" She came around the desk. "Odo, we had an argument. People have them all the time! Look at Dax and Worf, they love each other but they fight all the time!"

"Are you saying that you love me?"

"Don't change the subject."

"I'm not changing the subject!" His voice betrayed more urgency than usual. Kira sighed and crouched next to his chair, her hands on his knees.

"Don't you know how I feel?" she said softly, looking up into his worried face. "Isn't is obvious?"

"I...I don't know. I don't really trust my observational skills in this matter."

She smiled, understanding. "I'm sorry, Odo. It's just...you've always known me better than I knew myself." She grasped his hand, interlacing her fingers with his. "I can be pretty thick-headed about these things, you know. Look how long it took for me to figure out that I love you."

His nonexistent lips curled into a small, sweet smile. "You do?"

She nodded. "Yes. And I want to spend my last night on the station with you, okay?"

"That's a wonderful idea."

"Then I will see you...

************

...in Mining Compartment B. Don't forget to use the rear hatch, that's the one with the security shunt," Kira whispered to her two companions. "I have to go in the front and deactivate the force fields."

"You're sure those codes are accurate?"

"They ought to be, he's been security chief here for nine years. Don't you trust him yet?"

Akrim shuddered. "I've never quite trusted that shapeshifter."

Kira grabbed him by the collar. "Listen up. We'd be dead a dozen times over if it weren't for him. I've known him ten years, he's never let me down. You better watch your mouth, because what you say about him you say about me. Got it?"

Akrim slunk away, chastised. Kira made her way through Ore Processing to Mining Compartment B where the rest of the group would already be gathered. She quietly punched in the security codes and the force fields securing the bulkheads snapped off. She slipped inside, closing the door quickly behind her.

"Is everyone here?" Shakaar murmured. They looked around...everyone seemed to be. He cast a glance at Nerys. "Is Odo coming?"

She shook her head. "I don't think so. He says Dukat's been watching him."

"Well, we better make sure he's not found out, for our sakes as well as his. Now, let's hear the plan."

The briefing took ten minutes. Since they'd targeted Terok Nor specifically, the Shakaar had become masters at the quick and easy mission briefing, in and out before anyone noticed them. The group broke up and slipped away into the shadows. Kira hung back to reactivate the force fields...and jumped when a hand fell on her shoulder. She almost cried out but the hand clamped over her mouth.

"Shh! It's only me."

"Odo! Prophets, you scared me." She turned and pushed him into the shadows. They kissed each other hungrily for a few seconds, which was all they ever got. "I thought you weren't coming."

"I was down here anyway, one of the overseers was robbed." He ran his fingertips over her face. "Are you all right?" It was always one of his first questions. Nerys knew that during the days and sometimes weeks that passed between their painfully short meetings he worried about her constantly.

"I'm fine. I think I sprained my ankle last week but it's okay now." The adrenaline rush fell away from her and she leaned against him with a weary sigh. "But I'm so tired."

"You need a good night's sleep is all," he murmured into her hair, holding her protectively while he had the chance.

"No, you don't get it. I'm tired of this, all of it. This constant running, the missions, the near-misses, I'm tired of seeing you for five minutes once a month and I'm tired of this damned Occupation!" She made a fist and struck it against his shoulder in frustration. "Dammit, we were so close! We almost drove them away, why didn't it happen?"

"I don't know, Nerys. I've never understood any of it."

"We're all losing hope. Since Kai Opaka died it's just gotten worse...and Kai Bareil would rather putter in his garden than do anything about it." She looked up at him, tears glimmering in her eyes. "I hate to say this but I'm starting to think this'll never end. It'll just go on and on until it crushes all of us."

He grasped her face in his hands. "Don't ever say that!" he said vehemently. "That's not you talking, it's fatigue and pain and frustration. It will end, someday, because you'll make it happen. Bajor will be free, you won't have to hide any more...and we can be together."

She smiled. "Now those are things worth fighting for." She pulled back reluctantly. "I better go, they'll be waiting for me."

"Please be careful," he said. He always said that when she left.

"I will." She walked a few steps away, then hurried back to kiss him again. "I love you." He sighed and sagged against the wall. "What?" she said, puzzled at his reaction.

"Nothing. It's just...you've never said that before."

"I must have."

"No. Trust me, you haven't."

She looked stricken. "Oh, Odo, I'm sorry. Prophets, if I'd known that you...

************

...were unconscious for almost a day," Julian explained. Kira stared incredulously up at his sad face. Odo was sitting by her bedside, holding her hand. She was more grateful for his presence than she could have verbalized at that moment.

"What's wrong?" she croaked, propping herself up on her elbows. Her entire abdomen was sore. "You're not telling me something...what's happened?"

"Nerys...Jake and the Captain are dead," Odo said sadly.

She fell back against the biobed, numb horror flooding her. "Oh no," she murmured. "Oh no..." She squeezed Odo's hand so hard her knuckles turned white. "The Reckoning...what happened? I don't remember much." She looked around. "Wh...where am I? This isn't the infirmary."

"We're on the Yorktown," Julian said. "They managed to beam the two of you out just as..." He trailed off.

"As what?"

Julian glanced at Odo, who leaned forward and put a cool hand on her forehead. "Nerys, the station is gone. Incinerated in the battle...but you won."

"What are you talking about?" she managed hoarsely.

"The Prophet that possessed you won the Reckoning. Koss'tomogen was destroyed."

"Along with Jake and Benjamin and the station." She grabbed Julian's arm hard enough to make him wince. "Was anyone else hurt?"

"No. Everyone else made it off the station safely."

She sat up gingerly, rubbing her hands over her face, hard. "Nerys...the Rebirth has begun," Odo said gently. "Amazing things are happening on Bajor. The wormhole stays open constantly...the Prophets are speaking to the people. The prophecies are coming true."

Kira just stared at him for a moment, then began to shake. Unbearable happiness and bitter grief were warring for control of her pagh as well as her features. She jumped to the floor and began pacing jerkily. "Bajor is...Benjamin and Jake...the station...but the Prophets..." The ability to speak left her. Her hands reached out convulsively, clutching at the air. "Oh gods, Odo oh no..." He rushed over and caught her just as her knees gave out and she fell, sobbing, against his chest. Julian raised a hypospray, the question in his eyes. Odo shook his head...she didn't need sedation right now, she needed some time to absorb this. He held her tightly, rocking her back and forth.

She calmed herself in a few moments and looked up at him. "They beamed you out with me? But everyone was ordered to..."

"You really think I could leave you there?" he said. "That I could get on a transport while your life was in danger?"

"I love you," she said in a tear-choked voice. His eyes fell shut and a grateful sigh escaped his lips. "Tell me I'll never lose you like this," she whispered.

"No, never," he whispered back, hugging her. He could feel her shaking as a strange warmth suffused him. Was this what it felt like to be loved and needed? It was new to him. Julian, feeling more than a little extraneous, looked...

************

...down from the second level and watched the reception-goers dancing and talking beneath their feet. Kira's eyes fastened on the guests of honor and her entire body stiffened. "You know," she said through clenched teeth, "this would be a lot easier if she weren't so...so..."

"Nice?"

"Yes! I can't help hating her...but then I hate myself for hating her and that just makes it worse. I just wish she were...what's the word? A bitch!"

Jadzia swallowed a chuckle. "Do you think Odo would marry a 'bitch'?"

"No, I guess not." Kira turned away from the railing, crossing her arms over her chest. "I've been so stupid, Jadzia...which I can't say is unusual. I kept telling myself I wasn't ready, that the time wasn't right, thinking he'd always be there and would always love only me." She swiped one hand across her eyes. "I never thought he'd find someone else." She met Jadzia's understanding eyes for a moment, then turned abruptly and hurried down the stairs. She wanted nothing more than to escape this room and its horrific happiness that she could not bring herself to share...but she should have known it wouldn't be that easy.

"Nerys!" She stopped and pulled herself together and turned as Odo approached, the picture of nuptual bliss. "Leaving so soon?"

"Um, yes...I'm not really feeling very well, I need to get some sleep."

"Oh...are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she said, bracing herself as Lt. Kate Courier...Odo's new wife (her mind gave a sickening lurch at the word)...approached, a smile on her pleasant human features. Kira summoned all her willpower and returned the smile. "I'm so happy for you both," she managed through numb lips.

Kate slipped her arm through Odo's, her new ring flashing in the lights from the Promenade. "Thank you, Kira. I guess this means you're my...best-friend-in-law?" she said with a sincere grin.

Kira nodded. "Yes, I suppose it does," she said. Maintaining her composure was now becoming a superhuman effort. "Well...good night."

"Good night, Nerys," Odo said, touching her shoulder as the couple turned back to the reception.

Kira stood rooted to the spot watching his back as they vanished into the crowd of well-wishers. "Oh, Odo...I love you," she whispered, the never-uttered words sounding strange to her own ears, then turned and hurried towards the...

************

...table at the rear of the Replimat. "Blecchh!" Miles exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" Kira said, smiling around a mouthful of plummok soup.

"Ugh, there's nothing more disgusting than cold raktajino." He pushed the mug away. "Teach me to try and read technical journals and eat lunch at the same time." He watched as Kira craned her neck towards the Promenade for the tenth time. "I saw him talking with Vikar a few minutes ago," he said with a knowing smile. Kira jumped a little guiltily.

"What?"

"Come on, Nerys. I remember when Keiko and I first got together I couldn't wait to see her every day. I'd arrive half an hour early for every date and sit around bouncing my knees until she got there. Fun, isn't it?" he said with a merry grin.

"You're in a good mood."

"What's wrong with that? Everyone's in a good mood these days. I'm publishing an article about our little deflector-shield maneuver against those orbital platforms, Julian's having a medical field day with Jadzia's pregnancy, Worf goes around singing little gung-gung-gung songs, the Captain's a galactic hero and you and Odo are walking around with stars in your eyes."

"Stars?" Odo said, coming up to the table. Kira smiled up at him.

"You're late," she said as he bent and planted a quick kiss on her upturned lips...what Miles thought of as a "hi-honey" kiss. He sat down.

"Sorry, I was detained." He was carrying a small package which he set on the table.

"What's that?" she said, pointing her spoon at it.

"Oh, nothing...." he said with an intentionally phony air of nonchalance, lacing his hands together on the table and casting his eyes about the room like he hadn't a care in the world. The Chief chuckled.

Kira put her spoon down and eyed the Changeling, a smile flirting about her curlicue lips. "Is that for me?" He cast a brief glance at the Chief, then shrugged and slid the box towards her with a smile. She grinned as she opened it and drew out a slender chain bearing a thumb-sized teardrop pendant intricately carved out of beautiful crystalline stone, marbled red and purple. Kira fingered it silently...but the Chief recognized that I'm-melting-into-my-shoes look on her face. It was a look she'd been wearing a lot these past two months. "Oh, Odo," she breathed. "It's beautiful." She examined the stone more closely. "But...this stone..." She didn't finish the sentence, just looked up at him, amazed. "I can't believe you did this," she said. She stared at him in wonder for a moment, then noticed the Chief's puzzled face. "A few weeks ago we took a day trip to the Sea of G'staal in the Rikantha province," she explained. "It's one of the most breathtaking spots on Bajor, no exaggeration. We took a walk on the beach and I noticed these unusual stones all over the sand. I thought they were so beautiful...and now I find out that this man, who everyone thought had no romance in his soul, picked up one of the stones without my noticing and had it made into a pendant for me," Kira said, her eyes on his face.

"Wow," the Chief said, impressed. "I've gotta say, Odo...that's really romantic." He might as well not have spoken for all they noticed.

"I love you," Kira said softly. "Oh, but not just for this," she added quickly with a grin. The way Odo drew back and his whole face creased into an amazed, wonderstruck expression made the Chief think that was the first time she'd said The Words. He stared uneasily into his cold mug of raktajino, suddenly feeling like the worst kind of interloper.

"I know," Odo said with a soft smile. He kissed her hand and then the moment was over as Kira carefully replaced the pendant in its bed of glass wool and closed up the box.

"I feel like a peeping Tom," the Chief said, embarrassed.

"Think nothing of it, Miles," Odo said, startling the Chief with the casual use of his first name, the previous utterances of which he could count on one hand. "After all, we're the ones who had our first kiss in the middle of the Promenade."

"And you've seen me hugely pregnant first thing in the morning before my first raktajino," Kira said. "We have no secrets."

"I suppose not," the Chief said with a smile. "I just wish I hadn't...

************

...screamed as the bridge gave out with a sickening wet crunch. Her hands clutched at the disintegrating boards and the rock walls as they began to speed by, then her fingers closed around something firm and strong but slippery, halting her fall. Her other hand came up and grabbed at it...she looked up into Odo's panicked face. He was a good twenty meters above her on the cliff, but it was his hand to which she was clinging.

"Hang on!" he called down to her. His face contorted with effort as he began to pull his arm back up. Kira tried to help, bracing her feet against the rocks so he wouldn't bear all her weight, but the canyon wall was sheer and slick with damp lichens. She could not get an adequate foothold.

"Odo!" came a faint voice. Dax.

"Here!" he shouted over his shoulder. After a moment she and Worf appeared beside him.

"Can you pull her back up?" Worf asked.

"I'm trying," Odo grunted, his de-solidified arm pulsing and rippling with the effort. He vented a cry of frustration. "I can't, I'm stretched too far!"

Kira ground her teeth together, concentrating on hanging on to him. It was difficult, his semi-solid Changeling flesh wanted to slide from between her fingers. It was no use...she couldn't hang on, and he had not the strength to pull her up from this distance. A strange peace stole over her as this realization struck home. The Prophets were calling her. She welcomed the thought, but for one regret: she didn't want to leave him, not so soon. If the Prophets only gave us a few weeks together here, she told herself, they will give us eternity together later.

"Nerys! Hold on!" he shouted down, panic now clear in his voice as he felt her slipping away. She turned her face upwards and met his eyes. "I love you," she said calmly for the first and the last time, just as her fingers lost their grip on him. Gravity seized her and she plummeted towards the distant rocky floor of the canyon.

"NOOOOOOO!" Odo screamed, reaching futilely down into the chasm's black depths. Dax gasped and turned away, her hands to her face, leaving Worf to restrain the Changeling from flinging himself after her. He struggled against the...

************

...sound of a violin floating across the riverbank. They walked hand in hand along the Thames, enjoying the perfectly computer-generated breezes and moonlight. Inspired by the music that seemed to simply drift through the air with no visible source, he gently guided her into his arms and into a slow, leisurely dance.

Kira smiled contentedly. "I can't believe you went to all this trouble for our one-month anniversary," she said, still amazed at what a romantic he was turning out to be.

"Does the result meet with your approval, Major?"

"I love it," she said, slipping her arms comfortably around his neck. "I love the setting, I love the time period, I love how you look in that tuxedo and I love you," she said, her eyes sparkling. He lifted her off the ground and spun her around as she laughed in delight.

They resumed their walk along the riverbank, content to be silent for a few moments. She looked up at his face. "I meant that," she said quietly.

He met her gaze. "I know you did, or you would not have said it."

She shook her head. "I've taken you for granted, Odo, and I'm sorry."

"You haven't..."

"I have! No, don't say anything, I've been thinking about this a lot. I took your friendship for granted, then I took your love for granted. I fell into this pattern of just assuming you'd always be there and you'd always love me and I'd never have to do anything. Even now, since we've been together, I'm still doing it. You're always there for me, you listen to me when I'm troubled, you comfort me when I'm upset, you tell me you love me and always will. What have I done for you?"

"Nerys, you've given me everything I've ever wanted!"

"Not everything," she whispered...but that was too close to a topic that was still painful and not discussed between them. She looked up into his blue eyes. "I don't want us to be that one-sided, Odo. I want you to know that I love you, and that I am here for you, too."

He laid a hand on her cheek. "Thank you," he murmured, running his thumb across...

************

...the stack of PADDs on his desk. It seemed to have grown taller in just the last few minutes. He cursed under his breath as he scowled at it...Prophets, he knew she had a lot on her mind, but this was getting ridiculous.

The doors slid open and he beheld the love of his life, but at the moment he didn't feel terribly tender and by the look on her face, neither did she. "Odo, I need those new security protocols by 1300 hours," she said, rubbing two fingers against her temple.

He gaped at her. "You can't be serious! I'm still working on the computer encryptions, the new personnel rotations, and the docking resequencing!" He hated the annoyance he heard in his own voice, but this was merely the latest continuation of an ongoing argument.

"I know, I needed those yesterday!"

"Perhaps I could finish these tasks if you would stop sending me new ones!"

"Odo...Starfleet is on my back every time I turn around. If they're going to believe that things are under control while Sisko is on leave, then we have to be doubly sure all these new orders are carried out in full! The attack on Jadzia has raised some very serious security questions, and they don't react well when one of their officers is injured!"

"I understand the situation, Major," he said tightly, "I'm telling you that if you want these orders implemented properly I need more time!"

"You don't have it!" she shouted. "This is my ass on the line, Constable!"

"Don't give me that, you can handle it."

"So you're saying you can't? If this is too much for you, just say so!"

"Well, perhaps it is! Starfleet's never really trusted me. Now they're reshuffling our personnel, ordering me to completely overhaul our security procedures...which, I might add, have worked perfectly well for six years...and demanding that I restructure my entire operation! I think their implication is clear! They want me out and we both know it!"

"You've never cared what Starfleet thought of you!"

"I care that they're trying to force me out and they're making you help them do it! You know, perhaps it is time for me to accept that position on Bajor."

"Don't you dare," she hissed, leaning over the desk, her face furious. "You don't know what you're saying, you're just angry! Well, so am I! Dammit, you're not gonna leave me here alone!"

"Maybe you'd be better off without me here, did you ever think of that? It would certainly make your dealings with Starfleet a lot easier if they weren't pressuring you to get rid of me!" They were really shouting now. People were pausing as they walked by on the Promenade to glance into the security office to seewhat all the racket was about.

"They can pressure me all they want, you're staying! If you want to turn in your resignation go ahead and try, I won't accept it!"

"What!?"

"I won't let you quit, I need you! I happen to love you!" she screamed at him, her face purple.

"That's wonderful, I love you too!"

"I still need those protocols!"

"You'll have them!"

"Fine!"

"Good!"

She turned and stormed out of the office, leaving him fuming. She stood outside for a moment, fists clenched and chest heaving, then the absurdity of the entire conversation struck her. Her shoulders sagged and she had to laugh. What a way to finally say the words, she thought wryly. She turned and looked into the office. He was standing behind his desk leaning on his chair, chuckling to himself and shaking his head. He must have seen her out of the corner of...

************

...the sofa, propped comfortably on mounds of pillows. Her shins were across his lap and he was massaging her perpetually sore feet. She didn't know where he'd picked up the skill but it had been an unexpected bonus. His hands were no longer solid, the warm, soft liquid flesh easing the strain out of her mistreated arches.

It was an ordinary evening, one of the few she could remember in some time. She and Odo had reached the point where they didn't have to speak...in fact, it sometimes seemed as though they communicated more when they were silent. As if to prove the point, he got up and went to the replicator unsolicited, asking for a cup of ginger tea. Kira smiled as he handed it to her and resumed his place.

"How did you know I wanted a cup of tea?" she murmured.

"Deductive reasoning," he said. "The ally of any good investigator. Your skin feels cooler than usual and breaks into gooseflesh periodically, which means you're feeling a bit cold. You've been licking your lips, which means you're thirsty. And ginger tea is your favorite. Simple."

She smiled. "Of course." How wonderful it was to just be understood without having to explain anything. She let her head fall back with a contented sigh. "Have you heard anything about Miles?" she asked a few minutes later.

"I think he may be suspended for a few weeks, but he doesn't seem too concerned. Molly is back where she'll be safe and the portal is gone, that was all he cared about."

Kira said nothing, sorrow welling up inside her over the misfortune that had befallen her friends and the loss of a little girl she herself had loved. She set her teacup on the floor and slid down the sofa into his embrace. "I love you," she said simply. The words, held back for too long, felt so natural to say that she wondered what had stopped her from telling him before this.

He kissed her forehead. "And I you...

************

...Nerys. I'm so sorry, I can't do anything for him." Julian was pale and drawn as he delivered this, the worst possible news.

Kira stood in the doorway to the isolation room, more tired than she had ever been. She'd never imagined labor would last that long or be that draining, and the extent of her sorrow at relinquishing Kirayoshi to his parents took her by surprise. Now, what she had always thought impossible was happening. She was losing him...the one she thought would always be there for her no matter what. She hugged herself miserably, despair flooding her pagh.

The figure standing beside Odo's biobed came to the doorway, his face sad. "Major," he said.

"Dr. Mora...what happened?"

He and Julian exchanged a glance. "I suspect that the baby changeling was infected with some sort of destructive virus," he said. "When it was absorbed into his body he became infected as well."

"It is consuming him," Julian said. "No antiviral therapy I try slows the advance."

"The Founders," she said through clenched teeth. "I'll bet that they sent that baby to him, rigged with some kind of...booby trap. Their final twisted punishment. They used his compassion to destroy him." She heaved a rattling sigh and moved to his side, marginally aware that the other senior officers were hurrying into the infirmary as the news of Odo's condition reached them. His head turned slowly towards her as she sank to a stool and grasped his hand.

"Major," he said weakly. "How are you feeling? I understand you've...had a busy day."

She choked back a sob. "How am I feeling? Odo...you're dying," she said, her voice tripping over the verb. I can't lose him, I can't lose him...the phrase repeated itself again and again in her tired mind.

He managed a small smile. "I'm...sorry...to let you down...like this..."

"No, no," she said, tears running freely down her face. "I'm sorry I couldn't have been there while you were going through this."

"You were...otherwise occupied..."

She smiled. "Yes, I suppose I was." She swiped her free hand across her eyes. "Oh, Prophets," she breathed, her head dropping to his hand. "What am I going to do without you?"

He stiffened. "You'll be fine, Major. You're strong...and you have Shakaar."

She raised her head and looked into his eyes, and it hit her like a plasma burst. He'd said "Shakaar"...and it meant nothing to her. At that moment she didn't care if she never saw Edon again, if only Odo could live. It was a moment of pure clarity, come to her far too late...and it was horrible. Her lower lip began to tremble. Prophets, what have I done? she thought. Why didn't I see? "I don't care about Shakaar," she heard herself say, and gods help her but she meant it. Odo's eyes widened and his hand squeezed hers. "He'll never be what you are to me."

Odo's face contorted in pain and his breathing became suddenly labored. Nerys could feel his pulse fluttering under her fingers. Panic shot through her...not yet, please not yet. "Nerys..." he whispered. "You need to know...before it's too late..." His eyes fastened on hers, nothing withheld, no disguises...and in that moment she understood everything, about him and about herself. She laced her fingers through his and laid her other hand on his fevered brow, a gentle smile curling her lips. Relieved comprehension swept over his strained features and two tears slipped from the corners of his eyes and trickled down his temples. She rose and sat on the head of the biobed so she could pull his upper body onto her lap. His tremors vibrated through her as she wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly.

"I love you, Odo...so much," she said, pressing her cheek to his. He exhaled a rattling breath and sagged in her embrace. "I'll never know how I didn't see it sooner." Her voice was clogged with tears.

"Should have...told you...years ago," he said haltingly. Nerys could feel his heart skittering under her hands and she clutched him tighter, as if she could transmit some of her own vitality to him and keep him alive. He turned his head with what looked like a great effort so he could look up into her face. One hand rose, shaking, and his fingertips touched her cheek. A smile passed across his lips, then he stiffened, his heartbeat stuttered erratically...and he went limp and lifeless in her arms.

Kira sat frozen for a moment, grief dousing her from head to toe in a freezing wave, then her face crumpled and she broke into sobs, her head falling to his shoulder. Julian and Dr. Mora approached cautiously, their faces...

************

...furious and flushed red with anger. "For his own good? Oh, that's rich! You've given him nothing but pain and misery! You have no idea what he's been through because of you!" Kira broke off and took a deep breath. When she continued, her voice was low and deadly. "Now. You listen to me. I will not allow you to hurt him any more!"

"Hurt him?" the Foundress said, her voice calmly inquisitive. "We have no wish to hurt him. It is you who hurt him, by keeping him from his home." Kira shook her head. "It isn't me who keeps him from you...you do that yourselves! Don't you understand? He can never be what you are! It isn't in him!"

"You are the one who does not understand, Major Kira," the changeling replied, the first traces of anger creeping into her voice. "His place is with us, in the Link. Nothing else matters. He will return there, eventually...no matter what you think."

Kira stood her ground, hoping the Foundress could not see her innermost fear...that the Changeling's words were true. "He'll never go back," she spat.

"You will find...as will he...that he is more like us than he believes."

"You're wrong." Kira barked frustrated laughter. "But why should that surprise me? You've been wrong about so many things! You thought he would stay with you when he first found you, but he didn't. You thought that I was his only link to the solids, but I'm not. You told him he would never be accepted, but he is." She paused for impact. "And then you told him I could never love him," she said, walking forward to stand almost nose to nose with the Foundress. "Well, I do love him." Kira's eyes swung, of their own accord, to the security surveillance sensors beyond which she knew Odo was observing them in his office, just as he'd been observing the Foundress almost nonstop since her arrival. "I love you," she whispered toward the sensor, hoping he could see her sincerity through the monitor.

The Foundress just shook her head, a pitying look on her face. "Oh, Major. You think you can compete with the Link? You think you can give him what we can? That your affection means anything next to that of the Link?"

Kira fell back a step. "No," she said quietly. "I don't think that. I'm not a fool." She faced the Changeling, thoughtful. "Let me tell you a story, though perhaps you won't be able to understand it. There's an old Bajoran fable about a rich man and a poor man. The rich man gave ten litas a week to the prylars at the temple and boasted loudly that he would surely meet the Prophets...until the Vedek took him aside and showed him another man, who gave only a single lita each week. This man will meet the Prophets, the Vedek said, but you have yet to earn that privilege. The rich man was puzzled...how can that be? I give ten litas a week and he gives only one. Ah, said the Vedek...but that man is poor, he gives all that he has. You have many thousands but you are stingy." Kira paused, seeing the puzzlement on the Foundress' face. She spoke softly, as if to a small child. "You see, I may not be able to love him as the Link could...but I love him with my whole heart. I know I can't offer him what the Link can, but I offer him everything I have. Can you say the same? He is but one small part of the Link to you, just a changeling that defies your authority, but to me he's the most important person in my life. Can you give him that?"

The Foundress stood there speechless, almost seeming chastised, as Kira left the room. In the DS9 security office, Odo watched on the monitor as she reverted to her liquid state, wishing for the hundredth time that he had the ability to weep. The reality of Nerys' love and the truth behind her words made him want to liquefy in sheer joy. His gaze hardened as he looked at the pool of golden Changeling in the guest quarters. She still wants to take me back with her, he thought. Well, she is welcome to...

************

...come through the doors into what had been Sisko's office. "Major, I have those reports you..." He stopped. She wasn't at her desk. He frowned and looked around...there she was, in the corner leaning against the wall, staring out at the stars.

"Nerys?" he said, approaching her. "Are you all right?"

Her head turned slowly to look at him. "No, not particularly," she said. She faced the viewport again. "I'm being pulled in a dozen directions at once, Odo. You don't know the half of what's been happening. The Prophets have abandoned us, and it seems every Bajoran is determined to blame someone else. Riots are breaking out all over the planet, the Kai has been forced into hiding, and there have been three assassination attempts on Shakaar since the wormhole closed. Benjamin's been gone for a month and I'm beginning to think he's not coming back at all! I've lost my gods, the Celestial Temple, two close friends, my commanding officer and my Emissary." She sighed and crossed her arms. Odo knew that this had been simmering inside her for a long time, but she the face she showed to the world was never anything but composed and confident. He realized that he was probably the only one she would allow to see her distress. "I miss Jadzia every day," she said softly. "I never really realized how much I relied on her, she was such an...an island of tranquility no matter how rough things got. My strategic operations officer is half-insane with grief, my chief of operations is nervous and may transfer at any time, my new science officer will never hope to approach Jadzia's level of excellence and my chief medical officer is neck-deep in depression. Every day contradictory demands are made of me by Starfleet, the Bajoran government, the Vedek assembly, and the Federation. Everyone expects me to be able to satisfy everyone's concerns, but it's impossible!" She pinched the bridge of her nose with two fingers as if she had the beginnngs of a headache.

"I know how difficult it's been," he said, stepping closer. "If it means anything, I think you're doing a marvelous job."

She exhaled wearily, her eyes still focused out into space. "I don't know what I'd do without you," she said, holding out her hand. He grasped it. "You know you're the only thing in my life right now that's stable?" she whispered. "The only times I ever feel secure and happy these days are when I'm with you." She turned and stepped in front of him, taking his other hand and looking up into his face. "We have a meeting in a few minutes." He nodded...the next in an apparently infinite series of Starfleet strategy briefings. "But I'm glad you dropped by. I was thinking about you."

He smiled. "You were?"

She looked down at their joined fingers and ran her thumbs over his knuckles. "Our world is a lot more dangerous than it once was, Odo. If I learned anything from Jadzia's death it's that there isn't all the time in the world. It could have been me, or you. It wasn't, not this time, but what about next time?" She raised her gaze to his, her expression serious. "Before we leave this office and go back into that universe that seems to want nothing more than destroy all of us, I want..." She hesitated. "I need you to know...how much I love you," she finished with a bittersweet smile. "How much you mean to me."

Odo sighed, his heart loosening upon hearing those long-anticipated words. He dropped her hands and gently cupped the sides of her head in his long fingers, resting his forehead against hers. Her hands drifted up to his forearms. "I love you too, Nerys...and we will get through this. Together."

"I know we will." She smiled again, but this time it was the brash Kira smile he knew so well. "We make a pretty good team, after all." He nodded and returned her smile. She squeezed his wrists and stepped towards the door, but was stopped halfway to the desk by his hand, which held her back. She looked back with a questioning expression on her face. He pulled her back to him and kissed her firmly, glad to feel her arms go around him at once.

When they parted after a few moments the worry lines had gone from her brow. She ran a fingertip down the bridge of his nose. "Thanks," she whispered. "I needed that."

"We'd better get over to the conference room," he said, sounding like he'd rather face a few platoon of Jem'Hadar.

"Admirals, accusations, and arguments," she said. Her voice was weary, but her eyes were lively. "Ah, such predicaments, we must forge ahead." She slipped her arm through his and they headed for the door. "Just promise me one thing."

"What's that?"

She stood on tiptoe to whisper in his ear. "Promise that after this endless day is over we'll go back to my quarters, lock the door, shut off the comm circuits, have a leisurely dinner, lie around doing absolutely nothing all evening and then make love all night," she said, a wicked little grin curling her lips. Odo smiled.

"I think that can be arranged, Major." They left the office together.

************

"Odo?"

"Hmmm?"

"I love you."

"You said that already."

"Oh, that's right. Just making sure."

************