"Dreaming"
Odo strode along the Promenade, arms crossed in his usual way, silently observing everything that was happening. Constable Odo watched as three Bajoran monks left the Temple, their hands carefully folded in front of them, their eyes holding none of the usual signs of tense apprehension that most criminals displayed when they were about to commit a crime. One glance and the experienced security chief could tell nothing was suspicious there; he could move along.
A Klingon woman stumbled out of Quark's, letting out a loud howling sound—her fists were clenched, her muscles tensed, but her mouth bore a large smile that showed she was simply pleased about something. A Klingon male followed after her, and she mock-punched him. The woman then spoke something to him in Klingon and they both howled and continued down the Promenade. Loud and annoying, but no trouble there. Odo was relieved. Klingons were not his favorite patrons of the station.
Out of the corner of his eye, Odo noticed a quick gesture and a shout coming from the level above him. He jerked his head up at the motion, heart pounding. He unfolded his arms and craned his neck to peer up at whatever was happening on the upper level. The constable would be up there as soon as his solid form would allow if he noticed even the slightest bit of trouble.
Instead, he just saw a young human girl waving to a man—most likely her father—eyes gleaming at the sight of him, barely able to contain her excitement. Odo noticed someone who seemed to be the girl's mother standing behind her, face lighting up. A Starfleet officer wearing command red came up to the two, his walk turning into a steady jog as he got closer. He collided with them in a loving hug. At the sight of this affectionate homecoming, Odo couldn't help but take a moment to wonder what it would be like to have a wife and child of his own someday. Would he be graced with a family who was as eager to see him, as eager to love him, as this one was? Or was it all just a fantasy, never left to be sated? Only time would tell.
Odo was jarred out of his musings as he heard a bloodcurdling yell coming from behind him. The sound resonated in Odo, sending chills over his body. This was the second time he had gotten that strange humanoid sensation since he had become a Solid. Odo decided he could do without it.
He spun around and ran off into the other direction, thrusting people to the side as he tried to make his way to the source of the cry. Someone was in great distress and, if the reason of the distress were because of some crime, damned if Odo would let the criminal get away.
As Odo neared on the source, he heard the scream again, this time coming from farther down the Promenade than he had first expected. He stopped a moment, allowing himself to zone in on the correct direction of the shout as well as take some much-needed breaths. He wasn't used to running around in a humanoid body. His lungs felt as if they would burst from a lack of oxygen.
He had to give it to humanoids. It was tougher to be a Solid than he had originally expected.
Odo began running again in the direction of the call. He lifted his left hand and tapped his combadge as he ran. "Odo to security team," he said to it, forcing the sentence out in one breath. He needed the breaths if he was going to make it there alive. For some reason, he felt as if there were a huge weight pressing on his lungs.
After a moment of waiting for a response, Odo heard nothing come from his security team. He summoned them again, but to no response.
That was strange. Odo hadn't trained his team to be sluggish responding to a call from their chief of security. The thought annoyed the constable.
Odo gave up on calling for his lost security team and continued barreling down the Promenade, ignoring the surprised looks he was getting from the frequenters around him, who had all turned into a blurry mass in his peripheral, anyway. He should get to the victim soon…
But, once he had arrived, no one was there. Odo looked around him in confusion. The usual mix of humans, Bajorans, and other strange species created the bustling activity of the Promenade, laughing, chatting, or buying items from the vendors. The civilians were unruffled; nothing seemed out of place.
Odo reached up and touched his head, wondering if he were feeling all right. Maybe he was experiencing some strange humanoid sickness and he should go see Dr. Bashir.
But, what about his team never responding to his hail? Surely he hadn't hallucinated that.
Right as Odo was about to try his combadge again, he heard that same terrifying scream pierce his eardrums. The sound was closer this time—in fact, right in front of him. The constable looked up, hoping that this time he would find what all the trouble was about.
What he saw was an Aldebaran bull crashing through the crowd. Not only that, but the beast was the size of an Earth dinosaur.
Odo's eyes widened at the sight. He hadn't expected anything like this.
The security chief felt the telltale fight-or-flight instincts flood through his veins when he looked at the bull. The creature's eyes seemed to be a flaming, crazed red as he hurtled down the Promenade, destroying kiosks, stepping on people, and breaking many of the bright, vibrant lights that filled the Promenade with its usual colorful atmosphere. The eyes of the bull glared at Odo, making the security chief feel as if he had completely lost control of the situation. Which he had.
Odo had to get away, and fast. He was just about to start running down the Promenade in the other direction, uncharacteristically leaving the frightened patrons of Deep Space Nine to survive on their own luck, when he saw Major Kira's pregnant form shuffling across a connecting bridge of the upper level, PADD in one hand, Jumja stick in the other.
If Kira kept heading in the direction she was going, she and the O'Brien baby that she held in her womb were going to be killed by the rampant, oversized bull.
What is she doing? Doesn't she realize what's going on? Odo thought, desperately trying to find a way to save her in time. He looked left and right, trying to find any way to keep her from being killed. Kira Nerys would not die like this. Not on his station. Not anywhere, if he could help it.
But, when he turned around to find the spiral stairs that would lead him to the upper level, Odo saw two forms cantering down the Promenade on two white Earth horses. Commander Jadzia Dax and…Kira?
They were both wearing the silly, ostentatious clothing of Earth's medieval period, their hats even more flamboyant than their clothing. Now that Odo noticed it, Kira's hat was about the size of Odo's desk.
Dax and Kira smiled at Odo as they reined in their steeds right before him.
"Care to join us, Odo?" Dax asked, her full lips curved up in a mischievous smile.
But Odo wasn't looking at Dax. He was looking at Kira. "I thought you were…" he pointed in the direction of where he had just seen the Bajoran major.
At Kira and Dax's exchanged glances, Odo continued.
"The Aldebaran bull…?" he added, hoping to prime their memories. He looked behind him to confirm his point, but saw nothing but an empty, perfectly sound Promenade.
"Odo, are you feeling all right?" Kira asked. Odo turned to look at her. She really looked ridiculous in that gigantic hat, which had seemed to grow to hit the ceiling way above them.
But, instead of feeling that Kira was the ridiculous one, for some reason, Odo felt quite absurd himself.
Suddenly, a booming sound filled his right ear. "If you are unable to perform your duty as constable, I will gladly take it." The voice belonged to Strategic Operations Officer Worf, and the large Klingon was standing no more than an inch away from Odo.
Odo jumped back in surprise. What was going on?
"Oh, Worf, look what you've done!" Odo heard Jadzia chastise him. "You've frightened Odo so much that he's melting!"
Odo looked down at his hands, noticing in embarrassment that he was, indeed, turning back into his liquid state. But embarrassment soon turned to panic as he watched rivulets of himself running down his form, pooling on the ground below him in a beige puddle.
Wait—wasn't Odo a Solid now?
"Worf, call Dr. Bashir! Quickly!" Odo heard Dax shout as he tried to pull his humanoid form back together. But, he soon noticed nothing was working as it was supposed to.
Right then, Odo heard a sound. A sound that had annoyed him since what felt like the beginning of time. A sound that he was afraid he would never forget.
The sound of Quark's voice.
Odo turned his half-melted face to look in the direction of the voice. "Get your tickets here!" Quark shouted to a growing crowd. "Only three slips of latinum to see the famous melting man!"
"Quark!" Odo tried to shout in anger, only to notice that his vocal cords had dissolved with the rest of him. He could do nothing but stare on in horrified shock.
Odo had no idea what was going on, but he wouldn't let this chaos get the best of him. He closed what little of his eyes he had left, trying to form the image in his mind as best he could.
And, surprisingly, with almost no effort, Odo found himself shifted into a bird—which type of bird, it didn't matter. All he knew was that he was flying now, above the chaos, above the confusion, above everything. He was flying again, and it felt so good…
But, before he could really enjoy his flight, another sound echoed through his consciousness. It repeated, again and again, coming from a place much more distant than the Promenade, or even the wormhole outside of the station.
Odo jerked awake, finding himself lying on his bed in his quarters, his PADD resting on his chest, a page of the seventh chapter of the book Finding and Winning Your Perfect Mate that he had been studying astutely before he fell asleep taking up the screen. He took a moment to orient himself before he pushed the PADD to the side and jumped out of bed and toward the comm unit on the wall across the room.
Despite the fact that his head was still swimming with vivid images from the night, his body filled with the emotions he had felt so intensely, he forced his sleep-stiff limbs across the dark room.
Forgetting that he had chosen to keep his large shapeshifting construction in the middle of his room despite the fact that he was a Solid now, therefore rendering the large structure moot, Odo found himself stubbing his toe on the edge of it in his mad dash to the comm unit. "Ow!" he yelled, stopping to hold his wounded foot with both hands. The pain shot through him in ways that his previous Changeling body had not allowed him to experience. The sensation was so strange to Odo that he couldn't help but grit his teeth and hope it went away soon. It seemed he would have to get rid of the shapeshifting contraption before he managed to stub any more toes. He would get on that right away.
But, for now, another urgent beep of the comm unit and the throbbing coming from his stubbed toe held all of his attention. Odo found himself angrily yelling "lights!" and hopping over to the device on the wall, right foot still firmly clutched in his hands.
The blaring glare of the lights burned his retinas, sending another wave of pain and frustration through him. He slammed his hand on the comm unit, pressing the button to open the link with the violent motion.
Barely able to open his eyes, toe still throbbing—not to mention images of crazed beasts and a distressing puddle of himself beneath his liquefying feet still consuming his thoughts—Odo felt that he had had enough.
"Dammit!" he growled. Being Solid was not what he had thought it would be. Oh, it had its advantages…he rather liked sleeping in a bed, for instance. There was something about it that was soothing, relaxing. Despite the fact that he still wasn't quite used to it, he liked it. But, these strange dreams that had begun to plague his nights had never really seemed to reach the enjoyable potential that they held.
"Good morning to you too, Odo," said a familiar voice from the wall. The comm unit! It was still on!
Odo's blue eyes widened as he realized what he had just done. Trying his best to compose himself, Odo spoke into the unit.
"Major Kira," he said, hoping he sounded like his usual self. Of course, he knew he didn't. "Is something wrong?"
"Very," she responded.
Panic flashed through him as he tried to get himself back to grips. But, before he could worry too much, he recognized the jesting tone to Kira's voice.
Kira continued. "It's 0830 and you still haven't shown up for work today."
Another type of worry hit Odo. This time, it consisted more of confusion, irritation at himself, and embarrassment. Constable Odo was never late.
"I…I must have overslept," he said. The words sounded foreign to him. "I'll be right there."
Seeming to sense Odo's distress, Kira asked, "Is everything all right, Odo?" The concern coming from her voice made Odo feel both cared for and irritated. It was a strange combination.
His next words came out soft. He had discovered that he could never stay aggravated for long when Kira was around. "I'm fine. I'll be there in ten minutes."
As he severed the link, he wondered how he was going to get used to this. Sleeping on a bed, turning off the lights at night, dreaming…not to mention his aching back. Knowing Odo's luck, he probably had a bad case of Alvanian spine mites. If it got any worse, he would see Dr. Bashir about it. Odo sighed. Would he ever get used to being a Solid, or was he doomed to live out the rest of his life as the confusing mass of bones and flesh he felt he had become?
~/~/~/~/~/~
"Sounds like quite the dream to me." Kira sat in front of Odo in his office, the sole of her red boot resting on the edge of his desk. With anyone else that single action would have annoyed Odo beyond belief, but with Kira Nerys he couldn't help but notice how he liked the casual attitude she wasn't afraid to display around him.
Odo made a sound of disdain at Kira's casual comment of the hell he had just been through that night. "How can you stand it?"
Kira laughed. "Welcome to Solidhood, Odo." Kira paused for a moment, as if thinking, then asked, "Changelings don't dream?"
Odo found himself scoffing again. "Oh, we…they…dream. Quite vividly, in fact. But mostly with memories, thoughts, or wishes. Changelings certainly don't dream the positively absurd dreams humanoids do."
"Well, now you're just getting some entertainment with your dreams," Kira said, trying to brighten his mood.
"I don't need this entertainment," Odo told her, his voice laced with cynical sarcasm. "It's…disturbing…strange…every time I look down the Promenade, I think of that horrid Aldebaran bull…"
"And me with a Jumja stick?" Kira asked, an amused smile on her face. "Oh, I meant to ask you about that…do you really think of me that way?"
"What?" Odo asked her, confused.
"Do you really think that I would just walk into harm's way, sucking on a Jumja stick? No other thoughts in the world?"
"Don't be absurd," Odo replied, arms crossed across his chest. "I wasn't thinking clearly. I was…dreaming."
"You bet you were, Odo." Kira laughed as she slowly sat up, holding her sore back as she awkwardly shifted her pregnant form. Odo noticed that she seemed to be growing bigger by the day. "Well, I need to get back to Ops. We have a huge schedule for Gamma Quadrant traffic today. Sounds like the wormhole's going to be working overtime for the next 6 hours. I hope the Prophets don't mind."
Odo watched as Kira slowly stood up from her chair, naturally finding that delicate balance that carrying a nearly full-grown fetus required. Odo thought she carried the weight well.
Just as Kira was about to leave Odo's office, she turned and said, "Oh, and Odo—maybe setting an alarm will help you get up on time."
Odo scowled at the idea. "I don't need to set an alarm." He said the word as if it were a revolting holosuite program.
Kira laughed at Odo's stubbornness and shook her head. She knew how it felt, all too well. "Alright, then it sounds like I'll see you at 0840 again tomorrow." With her point spoken, Kira turned and walked out the door. Odo sighed. Maybe she was right. Maybe it was about time he really started acting like the Solid he was.
But for now, he would focus on keeping the station rid of criminals.
~/~/~/~/~/~
That night, Odo lay on his bed, trying his best to get to sleep. He had quickly found out that the harder he tried, the harder it was to doze off. But it was still all so strange—he was cuddled up on his comforting bed, tired from a long day's work, but unable to actually fall into a good, healthy REM cycle to begin the next day alert and awake. Maybe it was all those fizzy, carbonated drinks he had been downing with impulsive glee in the Replimat throughout the day. Carbonated drinks tended to kept humanoids awake—Odo would need to remember that the next time he wanted to enjoy the soothing fizzing and popping of a beverage.
But, Odo found it so strange that when he had been a Changeling, he could just release his humanoid form and rest in the satisfaction of knowing that he was free to enjoy his liquid state—and how now, as a Solid, even exhausted he couldn't get himself to sleep. For the millionth time Odo reflected on just how unprepared he had been for this "solidification".
Of course, maybe tonight his dreams would be better…
As Odo's thoughts drifted from one memory of the day's events to the next, before he even knew it, he had fallen asleep. Now, he stood in Quark's, buying a fizzy drink from a man who looked mysteriously like Garak, but with hair the color of Kira's and a beard that looked like Captain Sisko's…
I hope you liked this piece! Please review! But, if you don't know me, I'm only in the middle of Season 5, so I don't know what's going to happen later on, so don't hint at anything, please! I want to find out for myself. Also, know that if there's anything about this story that contradicts with anything mentioned later on in the series, it's because I haven't finished watching the show yet. Yup, I originally wrote this piece saying that Odo didn't like sleeping on a bed, but then, in "In Purgatory's Shadow" he said he DID like it. Odo! Just when I think I know everything…Well, I just wanted you all to know. And the part where I said Odo was on the seventh chapter of Finding and Winning Your Perfect Mate when in "In Purgatory's Shadow" he said he had only read the first three chapters…yeah, I didn't believe him for a second. That mix-up was intentional, in other words. Thank you so much for reading! Please reviewwwww!