The Trouble With Five Year Olds

She woke up in her bed. It was large and very uncomfortable. The pillow was an odd shape too. "Tri-angle," she said at the pillow. She poked one of the edges with her index finger. It was sharp, but it wasn't soft either.

Her pajamas were large. The shirt itself covered her up entirely. The sleeved were much to long. She stood up on the bed and took her legs out of the pants. With the shirt wiping the area behind her, she walked to the edge of the bed.

There was a mirror there and she looked at herself in the mirror. She had long reddish hair that came half way down her back. "Pretty," she said as she started to play with it. Her dark brown eyes flashed with happiness as she played with the locks of hair. Soon though, she grew tired of her hair and jumped off the bed.

"Oof," she said as she landed on her bottom. It was a good thing that the shirt was soft. She stood up and walked over to the door. The shirt was trailing behind her, almost like a queen's robe. "I am Princess Nerys," she said to herself as she walked out of the door. She had always wanted to be a Princess.

As she walked down the long hallway she stopped in front of a door. It was a gray door and the lights next to it were flashing. She jumped up to it one of the lights just as the door opened. She tripped over the robe when landed and the person in the doorway caught her.

"Tank you," she said. "What is your name?" She knew she wasn't supposed to talk to strangers, but he seemed nice. Plus, by her standards, he had saved her life.

"I could ask you the same question," he said. But realizing that she was only a little girl he said, "I'm Odo. Who would you be?"

"I'm Princess Nerys, ruler of this Kingdom. I tank you for saving me life." She saw his eyes get wide at what she had said.

"Nerys?" he asked her.

"Princess Nerys," she corrected. Was she in trouble? She hoped not, she *hated* sitting on the corner.

"Odo to Major Kira," he said, receiving no answer.

"Hey! Kira is my name too!" She was excited now. "Odo," she said. "Can you take me to 'Major Kira'?"

"I can take you to Dr. Bashir," he said, grabbing her arm.

"You can't grab me like tat! I'm a *Princess*! I need a carriage." The little girl seemed very stubborn about this. She planted her bottom on the ground and refused to move.

Odo sighed and bent over. "How about I just carry you?" He picked her up and went back into the turbo lift. *Princess* Nerys was screaming at him the entire way down.

"Let go! You can't do this! I'm a Princess!" She was screaming this all the way to Dr. Bashir. The people on the Promenade were staring as he carried the little girl into to Infirmary.

"What have we got here?" asked Dr. Bashir. *Princess* Nerys saw the item in his hand and she stopped yelling. She buried her face into Odo's shoulder and held onto him tight.

"Funny," he said. "She was screaming at me just a minute ago." He tried to hand her over to Dr. Bashir, but she refused to leave Odo's arms. "Can you examine her Dr.? I believe this is Major Kira."

Bashir gave him a strange look and said, "You think that this little girl is the Major? I'll check."

He examined her with different tools for a while before saying, "I don't believe it! It *is* Major Kira! How did this happen?"

"I was exiting the turbo lift when she fell and I just caught her. She told me that she was 'Princess Nerys'," Odo said. Bashir laughed at that one.

"I have to get a recording of that." Odo managed to get Nerys to say many different things into the recording object. Bashir nearly died of laughter at half the things she said.

"She seems perfectly fine. You'll just have to take care of her until I figure out what is going on." Bashir gave him some information and replicated some clothes for her.

Odo sent her into the back room to get changed. When she came out she was dressed in a blue t-shirt with khaki shorts and sandals. She had two blue hair bows that tied her hair back in two long pigtails.

She ran over to Odo and grabbed his leg. "Mine," she said as Bashir tried to hand Odo something. "Mine," she said a little bit louder when he tried again.

Odo said something to Bashir and Julian handed the PADD over to Nerys. "Would you give this to Odo?"

She tugged on Odo's pant leg and said, "Mine, Dr., said to give to you." Julian laughed at the way the little Major called him 'Mine'. Odo took the PADD and read it. "Mine," she said. "I'm hungry."

"Ok, I'll take you to eat something." If it had been the grown-up Nerys calling him mine he would have melted right there, but this was a five year old Nerys. It wasn't the same.

He picked Nerys up and took her back onto the Promenade. He sat down her down and ordered her some food. "Do you like hasperit?" Nerys nodded her head up and down really fast.

"Odo!" said someone across the restaurant. It was a Bajoran woman with long blonde hair and three ridges across her nose. She ran over to him and saw the girl. "Who is this cutie?" She sat down next to Odo.

Odo mentally sighed. For some reason he didn't understand this woman liked him and he *really* wanted to avoid her. "Mine," said Nerys as she jumped off her chair and ran to grab Odo's leg again.

Odo picked up the girl and set her in his lap. Nerys didn't like it when other people got around 'Mine'. It made her jealous. 'Mine' was all hers and she didn't want to share him.

"She's so cute!" examined the girl as she brought her hand forward to shake hers. "I'm Lydia."

It only took Nerys a split second to decide what to do. She bit Lydia's hand. Lydia screamed as the little girl's teeth sank into her flesh. Nerys brought her arm up and swung it around, hitting Lydia in the jaw in the process.

"Ow! You little brat! Get off of me!" she screamed as Nerys jumped onto her lap.

"Don't," she said as she punched Lydia in the gut. "Touch," she screamed. "MINE!"

Odo picked up Nerys and carried her to the Security Office. The restaurant staff helped Lydia as she was screaming curse words in Bajoran. "You'll pay for this!"

Odo walked into the Security Office and put Nerys in one of the holding cells. "You're not coming out until you've learned how to behave."

Nerys crossed her arms and sat on the floor. An hour went by and she stood up and looked at Odo. "Mine," she said, "I'm sorry I hurt her. Can I come out?" Nerys really did look like she meant it.

"Alright, as long as you promise not to hurt anyone else," he said. He unlocked the field as Nerys nodded her head solemnly. She ran to him and grabbed onto his leg. He picked her up and set her in his lap. She took the pigtails out her hair and let him stoke it.

Slowly, Nerys grew into a full sized person. Her hair grew shorted and her clothes grew bigger until she was regular sized again. "Odo," she said as she stood up.

He looked at her and realized that she wasn't a little girl anymore. "Yes Nerys?"

"You're *Mine*," she said as she planted a kiss on his lips. Slowly he kissed back and they sat there for a while, not really seeming to do much of anything. It didn't matter what size she was anymore, he loved it when she called him…'Mine'.