Chapter Four

"You kissed him!"

"I did," Vera answered tiredly as she sewed a traditional Bajoran wedding dress - not for Kira, but for one of the attending spirituals of the Shrine in a few months; she was only putting up the final touches before the first fitting in a month. Thank God her mother was sick today. But she would not go to see if she was alright; Norah could take care of herself.

As far as Vera was concerned, she no longer had a mother. Perhaps she was better off without her after all. Norah should have stayed married to Jonathan and remained on Earth had her daughter known it would come to this.

"That's great!" Ezri said cheerfully, sitting by while the redhead finished the dress before carefully placing it in its garment bag for preservation until its bride came. "About time; I think three months was long enough to build up the tension."

Vera sputtered, almost dropping the garment bag before pulling herself together. She had to get to taking the new measurements of the lieutenant's uniform, had more mending to do, and now they were discussing the kiss she had on the floor with Keevan! She couldn't even believe she opened her mouth about it. Yet again, she and Keevan had not spoken for a week; why were things always awkward between them?!

They were ADULTS, not awkward adolescents. Why did it have to be like this?

"Ezri, this is stupid," she said finally. "I admit, I enjoyed the kiss..."

"Did he?" the Trill interrupted gently, still smiling.

Vera shrugged. "You could say that. His actions spoke more than his words did. He was rather...heated."

"Heated?" Dax doubled over and laughed. "It reminds me of the first time Julian and I kissed on the elevator in Ops two years ago. Worf and Chief O'Brien had to push the button and send us back down to finish the business."

"More than I need to know!" Vera said, howling and holding her hand up, nearly doubling over herself. Ezri looked at her with mock-shock.

"Hey, it's not like we actually did anything in the elevator that day!"

They squealed with laughter for awhile before returning to the serious issues at hand. Vera got to work on picking up the tricorder and measuring tape to start at the shoulders. "What am I going to do, Ezri? We haven't spoken in a week now, and this is the second - maybe third - time in a row we make no contact. What are we, children who can't sort a matter out?"

Ezri shrugged. "No, you're not kids. The same happened with me and Julian. We avoided each other for days after Worf forced me to acknowledge that I loved him, when I never knew it myself. The longer it went on, the worse it got, you know? But being around Julian was all I could ever ask for," she said when both pairs of blue eyes - hers and Vera's - made contact. "Now we're married, and I love Julian very much."

Vera lowered her eyes regretfully.

"You love Keevan, don't you?"

She almost dropped the tricorder. L-l-love?! She was at a loss for words, her hands shaking so hard she wasn't sure if she would stop it. "E-Ezri!" she stammered, but the lieutenant held up a hand.

"Don't say anymore. You know I'm right when I say it. Everything you said about the kiss, how he makes you feel - it's obvious you want to be more than just friends. What happened with your first husband was because you guys were young, and he was basically the classic bad boy. But Keevan has always been there for you; yeah, he ran out on you the first time, but he's new to these feelings as you. He was thrown from home, but you made his life here worth it. Your mother didn't approve, but you threw it in her face and he defended you. You two have been so close the last three months that it finally led up to a kiss on the floor." Ezri stifled a giggle before pulling it together. "That's love, from a counselor's point of view. Don't you think it's time you two stopped running from it?"

~o~

Keevan despised running away from the problem, despised running away period. But how could LOVE be so easy as missions of all forms? He was always excited for adventure, always eager for a challenge...but love proved even greater than all of it.

Perhaps it was love, given he was no longer scared to admit it. He had been happier than ever over the last three months, but then a week ago, they kissed! That kiss was nothing he ever felt in his life, and it fueled him with the same impressive amount of heat that her body against his had done when she cried against him. He never thought he would say this, but he was a fool to run away from her like this. Enough had to be enough, but there was one thing that needed settling:

He needed to talk to Dr. Bashir, man to man.

The good doctor was in the infirmary when Keevan cleared his throat from the doorway. Bashir looked up from his PADD, clearly showing surprise on his face. "Keevan, what an unexpected surprise."

"Considering you and I are not exactly friends," Keevan stated, obviously, canting his head forward briefly. Again, how could you forget putting one against your own Jem'Hadar unit to save your own life?

"Who said we weren't friends?" Bashir asked, frowning and leaning back in his chair. Was the man that foolish to think they would fall under civility terms?

Keevan scoffed and clasped his hands behind his back. "Face it, Doctor, you haven't forgotten what I pulled off three years ago. Four months of residing on this very station belonging to my former enemies can never change the past." Now he regretted his decision ever coming here. "I'm sorry for bothering you, Doctor, but it seems I have made it pointless after all." He turned to leave before Bashir stopped him, and he swirled gracefully back around.

"Keevan, you're not leaving until you tell me the real reason why you came here. It can't be just to remind each other of the past."

He sighed and bowed his head again. "It's Vera," he said, flat out.

"Ah, yes. You two have been avoiding each other - again."

"Because we kissed, something friends never do, to my knowledge. I have, apparently, no one to preside over the matter."

Julian scoffed and motioned for him to come inside and sit before him. "You're speaking of this as though it is a wrongdoing you want to reevaluate. There is never anything foul about a first kiss. Look at me and Ezri; we began as friends..."

"But that's different! We were on opposite sides; you and Dax together for years. I spent years in service to shape-shifters who made my people slaves, cast me out for rebelling and speaking out - for my independence. Vera welcomed me, but it scares me that I feel something for her that my old masters called a weakness. How can I love her if -?"

Bashir interrupted him calmly. "Love does not make you weak, Keevan. It makes you stronger. It's not only brought out by a fear of loneliness, but because you cherish that person more than anything else in your life. And they say loving your best friend is the best way to go. Now Ezri and I are married and happier than we have ever been," he finished with a smile. "It's not something easy to explain, but how can you enjoy life without sharing it with someone else?"

Keevan's heart began to rut against his ribs once again as the words of wisdom soaked into it. It was then and there that he knew Dr. Bashir was right; he had gone to the young doctor because he was a man who had been in this area and done that. Keevan closed his eyes and tried to think of how to go to Vera and fix this mess before it got worse.

~o~

They also said when you want to fill your home with serenity, be it flowers or artwork, or anything particular, you get a certain sense of peace. Vera decided to follow that example and purchased some flowers from one of the floral arrangement shops that had come from Earth. She placed them in the middle of the glass coffee table, then sat back and looked at them, sighing at the sight of the exquisite, peaceful pink flowers from lilies to orchids and roses, combined with rich green willow branches and exotic leaves. All of them were in a square black dish you would find in Asian countries.

She inhaled through her nose and leaned back, relaxing as she tried to let her mind drift off to another place and forget, just for the moment, the troubles between her and the man who lived across the hall from her...

Damn the buzzer. "Come in!" she called, eyes snapping open and looking up to see who came in - and it was no surprise WHO it was. Keevan strolled in, face impassive but his eyes filled with everything she needed to know - and what he held in his hands surprised her altogether. It was something no man got her for a long time. "What's with the flowers?"

Her mind cursed her for asking that stupid question as she knew exactly what was with the flowers, but he answered her anyway as he walked further in until he stood a foot's length from the table and her, holding the bouquet out. "I've never done this before," he answered, a meek edge to his silky tone - a first for him, "but I was told giving a woman flowers is an expression of how much a man is sorry and still cares for her."

"How...thoughtful." The bouquet was very elegant, filled with white roses, lilies, and Queen Anne's lace, accented with minimal greenery. She wondered how he'd gotten this, and another week gone by, but it didn't matter. He was here now.

"What's with the...new addition?" he asked, tilting his chin in the direction of the arrangement of zen floral on her table.

Vera stood and took the bouquet from him. "To give this place more tranquility," she said, inhaling the sweet variety of aromas. "Thank you?" It was a question instead of a straight answer. She used to be moved by flowers and sweets from her first husband whenever they had their arguments, but right now with Keevan - it was sincere because it was his first time giving a girl florals after two weeks of more awkward distance. "But you realize we still have to talk about this?"

He nodded. "We already worked out that we can't be friends if we had just...kissed," he said quietly. "Vera, the reasons I agreed to just be friends is because of my lifetimes of being devoid of love, but it was not only because the Founders instilled it into me. It was because I was afraid of losing you and what we have. I really want you, Vera, if you are willing to have me in return - but as more than friends."

She felt her heart almost leap and her throat tighten as she tried to hold back the tears. She looked into his eyes and was unable to hold herself back any longer. She began to sob as she leaned against him, holding onto him but careful not to crush the flowers between them. In fact, she held onto them in her free left hand as she wrapped her other around and up to run through his silky black hair; this was the second time they kissed, and no more awkward moments from then on. Their fate was sealed.

Three more weeks to pass, they were happy as a couple, until Keevan surprised her one day by taking her outside her mother's tailor shop and cupping both of her hands in his, publicly asking her to marry him which she could not say no to.

~o~

He and Vera had been happily engaged to be married the last three months - they had known each other for almost eight months and it had happened so fast. They were getting married in one more month; it seemed like only yesterday they had just met, endured awkward moments and then worked out the tension...and now they were getting married.

He was supposed to move in with Vera months ago, after proposing to her but did not yet have a ring; all the savings he'd brought with him from the Gamma Quadrant he'd saved while he was here but never used. Quark offered him a position in being his accountant as Keevan was good with numbers, so that was what he had been following the engagement. It soothed him enough even if the Ferengi was obnoxious and insane about profit. He was keeping it up unlike his homeworld now run by his younger "idiot" brother, the current Nagus. The old Ferenginar as he knew it was dwindling and becoming more like Earth and its human's economic way of life was.

Quark's nephew, Nog, was lieutenant now, so Keevan had seen him around ever since he returned from temporary off-station assignment from Earth. He met the young Ferengi one day that he remembered as well as he remembered the rest of Captain Sisko's team.

"Keevan, working for my uncle," he stated, looking him over with a scrunching nose. "I'm not surprised the Dominion doesn't like you anymore."

"I anticipated that from you; nothing like a scandal ever truly goes away," Keevan stated as he sat beside the Ferengi on the bar. "But life's readjusted to being good for me. I'm getting married."

Nog looked rather surprised, jaw dropped slightly before it broke into a slight smile. "Well, congratulations, I suppose. The tailor's daughter, right?"

"Her name is Vera. How did you know that?"

"Uncle Quark."

Keevan snorted. "Of course. But her mother has protested this marriage, as usual. She despises me for obvious reasons, even though I never did anything to her. Would I be surprised if you still loathe me for the situation three years ago, when I had you and Mr. Garak held for bargaining chips?"

The Ferengi turned his body around to face him halfway. "I did, and sometimes I still do. Your last one's death hasn't changed my opinion," he said frostily, muddy eyes locked with Keevan's.

Well, it wasn't like time healed ALL "wounds", Keevan thought sarcastically as he coolly responded, "Of course not, but that was my predecessor, not me. I don't serve the Dominion anymore. I serve my penance here. Exile has proven peaceful thus far; I don't worry anymore about dirty combat and boring Jem'Hadar soldiers. Or even snide Changelings like the Female Founder herself notably."

"Well, it happened. Just so you know, while I am here, I won't be taking my eyes off you anytime I see you," Nog warned him, making him laugh.

"Lieutenant, you can watch me all you want, but rest assured, I'm not that man anymore. You'd be wasting your time. Now if you will excuse me, I best be getting back to work," Keevan said casually as he stood and walked through the doorway behind the bar. "But," he added, turning back around, "if you would love to be invited to my wedding, you're more than welcome."

His uncle's excellent ears caught on every word from outside. "Oh, that reminds me, I've had a few weddings in my bar," Quark said as he was counting down the latest numbers of latinum on his PADD. Keevan sat down across from him and picked up his own. "Would you and Vera be kind to change your minds...?"

Keevan glared at him. "Thank you, but we are not getting married in a bar, much less this one. She wants to have it back home, in a far more beautiful place familiar to comfort. Not Bajor, not Ferenginar, or anywhere else in this area. She misses home." He looked down at the PADD, seeing that there was a considerable amount to be owed to a couple of Tholians. He suppressed a snort at Quark's need for bad business; he and Colonel Kira still had their share of butting heads over his petty thievery which had once been between him and Odo, according to the Ferengi.

"How very sentimental," Quark said with some traces of sarcasm, the beeping of the PADD reaching Keevan's senses. "You know, I never thought I would hear you being the big man who puts his woman above everything else, because in the old Ferenginar, the woman was not allowed to dress, earn profit or leave the house."

"And treating my bride-to-be as property is nothing on my watch. Quark, you're welcome to finish the planning touches with us, but I won't have it here on Deep Space 9. Have the flower arrangements been finalized?"

"Everything is in order," Quark answered with a nod and that crafty business smile of his. "You and the fiancée won't be disappointed. That's never good for business, partner."

He'd better not, because if this didn't go well for Vera's day - it was his, too, but he could not appreciate much of the idyllic scenery the bride herself dreamed of - then it would be the worst day of her life. He might as well be married once, and this would be her second. Everything had to be perfect.

~o~

It was difficult to proceed with a wedding, knowing your own mother was not crazy about the man you were head over heels for. But Norah had grown to accept there was nothing she could do about it, and that still did not make it easier. Ezri and Julian had helped her with the planning, and so did Quark along with Kira Nerys, but her mother she had along out of the fear of regret for the rest of their lives. Norah had been there for her when she got married the first time, but this time felt more nauseous than ever because this was a man who swore he would never betray her or take her for granted, had nothing really to give her but undying devotion.

Undying devotion...those were words her first husband never said. Sure, he said unconditional love, but now they paled in comparison to Keevan's "love song".

"It's finished, but since your weight never changes really, you have nothing to worry about," Norah told her as she helped her daughter fit into her dress a week before the wedding. Since this was her second marriage, Vera wanted a new look that fit her personality altogether. She wanted a slimmer fit as she had matured a little, and a color that was not pure and virginal like her first was. This was romance at its finest with not only the blush color that you continued to find these days for a non-chaste human bride, but also in the fitted bodice embellished with crystals and flaring into a dramatic, breathtaking layered skirt resembling petals. What bride could ask for anything better than this?

"You sure you won't live to regret this?"

Vera frowned at her. "Mother, don't you start again. It's bad enough I carry enough emotional weight on me as it is. I had it from Father with the divorce and I don't need THIS from you."

"I'm only looking out for you; how can you not see this?"

"You hate him just for being Vorta! Face it, Mother, just because you've stopped trying to part us does not mean you changed your mind. I really wish I could say I love you for trying to help me, but I can't!" she burst, the tears pricking her eyes. "Keevan loves me for who I am and not for who he wants me to be, not like it was with Danny. He spoiled me with flowers and presents, but in the end he left me for someone else right after I chose to leave him. Father hated me for breaking the family up when it was Danny. I really thought I had my mother with me all this time, but now I see not anymore. I want so much," she ground out, "to say you're no longer invited, but I'll hate myself for the rest of our lives if my own mother does not go to her daughter's wedding."

Norah said nothing, her expression that of unbridled shock at her own daughter talking to her like this. The daughter herself could have sworn that she might be taking into reconsideration, but no more words were spoken between them on that day. Now she fitted Ezri's new dress for the wedding - it was short and coral-colored with straps and a subtle illusion neckline with some sparkle - in silence and found herself dreamily looking at the beautiful diamond ring from Keevan only a month ago after saving more than enough just for her. This was the second time he made her happy not spoiling her so much. Falling in love was supposed to feel like a fairytale, and this ring was a symbol of that happily ever after a young girl could only dream of - at twenty herself, she was still young but wasn't a girl anymore. The ring had an exquisite, intricate band work captured with a brilliant round diamond with more fire than her old one ever did - her old one had been enchanting, yes, had been his mother's before she died. What a broken promise that was. Still, the ornate gold band with the small rose-cut diamonds in a floral pattern had taken her breath away before it fell apart with her marriage.

When the day finally came, back home in Georgia, in this beautiful park near the town she grew up, Chattahoochee, she was in her beautiful dress, her red hair set with a gold metal flower headband with crystals on the petals, her favorite jewelry in place and holding freshly picked flowers in her hands from the fields as she stood before Keevan under a beautiful cherry blossom tree, its sweet pink blooms harmonizing with the lush greenery placed beneath and around it for more along with roses in colors of yellow, white and peach. Keevan was in a soft silvery shirt with a black jacket, pants and boots, handsome and ethereal, smiling down at her most sweetly and ready to spend his life with her; his eyes glittered and promised her he was ever true to his word that he would never hurt her.

"You may now kiss the bride."

She almost moaned against Keevan's mouth when they finally kissed in front of everyone watching them; while doing so, she tossed the bouquet behind her and decided seeing who caught it could wait until she and her new husband were done making out. When they finally broke free, they looked behind them and saw their guests of twenty people, choosing to keep the affair small and intimate - and it was Nog who caught the bouquet, making them all laugh. Julian and Ezri were cheering for them, Colonel Kira giving her blessings...and even Norah Coleman was smiling at her daughter's happiness.

They were on route back to Deep Space 9 by the time the wedding ended as well as the reception party in the field, set under a great tent hung with grand crystal chandeliers in circles made up to today's standards. Once they got back, Vera knew this was their first day and night as husband and wife. It wasn't the traditional consummation night, not for herself at least but for him. Keevan had never been with anyone, so she would be his first. He might be afraid of messing up, but she was eager to guide him through this. Her body thrummed with desire that hadn't been present since she was younger than she was now. As a grown woman, you tended to think about sexual contact ninety-eight percent of the time instead of a hundred and ten percent when you're a teenager.

She had changed out of her wedding dress and into a softer, flowing light pink dress of silk when they began to depart back into space. "This is it," she said once they were alone. Tomorrow he was moving in with her, the last final big step. "You want to do it?" She reached up and helped him out of his jacket, then unbuttoned the front of his shirt to expose his lightly muscled chest. He was beautiful, smooth like a god - sheer perfection. He sighed at her touch while she sighed at the silk of his flesh. He smiled down at her and kissed the bridge of her nose.

"Are you referring to intimacy?"

"Making love," she corrected, kissing him back. "I want to make love and not feel regret about it. I want to be forgotten about the bad times I had."

His eyes widened. "Your...last husband could not please you?" he asked incredulously, his expression making her laugh a little.

"He tried to, but somehow as our marriage went on, it wasn't as good as the first night, for some reason."

Keevan's handsome face immediately switched to that of devious and desire. "Well, in that case, I ought to get to it. You tell me what you want me to do, and I'll do it right."

He was determined to make her happy and not himself. She let him reach behind and untie her dress from there, letting it fall from her body to the floor. She looked down at the floor but away from her skin; her body was firm and curvaceous, but somehow she felt like she was a first-time bride again. Chuckling, Keevan brought his hand to her chin and made her look at him. "Don't be shy. You're beautiful, and I'll take great care of you." With that, he shed the rest of his clothes so he was as naked as she was. Vera gasped at the rest of his slim but lean body without a mark. He made her tingle even more; his slowly growing hardness was proof of his own sensation. Silently, he bade her over to the bed so he lay down on his side, then onto his back so she could crawl on top of him, her legs straddling him like their first heated kiss, his bare erection against her moist, itching folds. His length rubbed a little against the reddish-brown curls enough to drive them both crazy, and she slowly eased herself over him while busying them both with another kiss. He moaned so beautifully against her mouth, even higher when they broke apart; it was the mere pleasure of himself inside her for the first time, and his endowment filling her perfect - this was nothing compared to her first time. Vera gently grinded her hips back and forth over him, drawing another gasp from him even as she rubbed her bare breasts against his chest, their pubic regions and naked bodies becoming one in the dark as she called for lights off just so she felt Keevan and nothing else.

I'm intending to keep this story beneath ten chapters long - short and sweet, straight to the point, and deep at the same time. I'm really happy so far and have no regrets, as I have said numerous times with my previous fics. :D

Similarly, Annora O'Neal, an OC of mine and the leading lady of "Forged in the Desert Heat", the second in the Vorta Brides Trilogy, had a difficult first marriage herself which actually ended with her being widowed, and then Keevan changed it all by having a fabulous love life with her and devoting himself to her as she did to him.