Just note that there is definite angst in this chapter, without giving any spoilers as usual. You've been warned before.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Descent

Weyoun's heartbeat was at an erratic, unnatural pace as he felt the terrible agony of the dagger cutting the skin beneath his pubic hair. If he were another being, he would have asked why his tormentor was doing this to him, but Damar made clear his hatred of him because he knew he was better than Damar, because the latter was merely a figurehead for their plans in this war - and because he knew about his love affair with the enemy captain's daughter. But Weyoun would not give him the satisfaction of knowing that he and the woman he loved were having a baby. He was willing to protect them both even if the Cardassian leader knew of his relationship.

Unfortunately, through the pain, his link to Mia's mind had broken and opened the portal to hers and showed what he was enduring, not just feeling the tear in the symbol they shared in their flesh. Oh, God, Weyoun, what is he DOING to you?!

He squeezed his eyes tightly shut, feeling the blood seep from his groin and trail down his legs. I'm so sorry, was all he could manage before the knife found itself straight on his limp, vulnerable member...

~o~

Her body was in convulsions with the unspeakable torture she felt her lover undergo at the hands of the man who had been Gul Dukat's lackey. Her heart was breaking like glass and shattering into millions to trillions - countless - little shards of pieces than you could count. The fire of despair engulfed that place where her heart had been and surged through her veins, arteries and all important nerves...consuming her like an inferno and destroying every fiber of her being...

Weyoun...Weyoun, no...! You can't leave me - you can't leave US! She clutched at her swollen belly without crushing it and hurting the baby, still howling. You son of a bitch, Damar, I'll KILL YOU! She mentally screamed at the Cardassian - that murderer - who took the man she loved all to satisfy his personal vendetta against him and the Dominion. He was covering his tracks to save his own neck; he was as low as his former master was, but none of her hatred for him would bring her Weyoun back.

Weyoun was gone...gone...

That horrible word played in her head over and over, and no matter how hard she tried to shove it down - she tried to tell herself in her suffering that he would be cloned again, and she would feel as well as see him again, but who knew when THAT would be...but would he be the same one she remembered? His next incarnation would carry his predecessor's memories, but it wasn't the one who loved her and fathered their child...

Heartbreak, agony and grief overtook all reason for the rest of the night until morning. It was like she died along with Weyoun and never came back, but she tried to assure herself - and their child, who was her responsibility - that everything would return to normal once he awoke. But in the meantime, she was a complete wreck that when she went to work, Quark and Leeta noticed.

"Why, Mia, what's the matter?" Leeta rushed over to her after her dabo table was over for some time before more customers showed up. "You look like you're going to die!" she gasped.

"Let her breathe, Leeta," Quark scolded as he came to join, eyes narrowing as he looked at his other favorite dabo girl, currently two months short of due date. "Don't tell me you got a broken heart."

She stiffened; he didn't read through her, did he? "Just a nightmare I had last night. Can't remember what it was, but I remember for sure it was...terrible," she lied smoothly, though her voice shook enough that she prayed it worked. "I feel really slow, and I'm sorry, Quark."

He scoffed. "Normally, I would -"

"Mia, Leeta!" All three looked up to see Ziyal bouncing in like an excited schoolgirl with Garak on her arm, grinning like that young girl again, and for only a moment, Mia's mood was light as it could be before she would sink behind closed doors as soon as her shift ended so she would weep for her dead lover. No one - not even Odo, Kira and Dr. Bashir - should ever know. The Vorta were clones, but that wasn't the only reason for her refusal to tell, especially with what she saw happen to him. It was because they had other concerns dealing with the war and deaths to even worry about her heartache.

"Well, Mr. Garak, what's the occasion?" Quark said as he greeted him like all his customers. "Did you decide to pop it or something? Because I can get you both a holosuite for more -" The couple gaped at his boldness at hinting their "private life", and Mia stepped in. She knew her boss well, but today was not the day for insulting anyone.

"Quark, really, you shouldn't be so inappropriate like that." She turned her attention back to the pair and managed a smile the best she could. "Well, go on, you two. The occasion?" Ziyal held out her left hand, and Mia gasped at the literal answer when she saw the gold band set with a small moonstone-like gem. Simple yet enchanting. "You two are...?"

"We're getting married!" Ziyal squealed excitedly, jumping up and back into Garak's arms, making him laugh nervously as he returned the embrace. "We're getting married, everyone!" she called out for the whole bar to hear, and applause roared up for the happy couple. Leeta was jumping up and down herself for them, and Quark managed his own response in his own way. Everyone was truly happy for them - except one, whose heart ached for the latest loss that hurt more than the first incarnation she met, and suddenly she felt like she needed to see Dr. Bashir now, for she stood up and walked away from the attention on the newly engaged pair for the nearest comm system she could find in the bar.

~o~

Julian Bashir had to admit he was shocked to know that a simple nightmare had sent the seven-month pregnant Mia into the state of distress she was in. He was no counselor, but he would do the best he could to ease her depression - mild was the wrong word of choice, because he sensed something much deeper, but to bombard her about it would make her worse than she was now. "Would it be wrong to assume that I've been under a lot of stress because I'm having a baby by myself?"

Her question took him by surprise. Part of him thought so, but Mia was a strong woman who could survive anything. He took her in, wearing that light blue dress with the darker blue bodice, and cradling her stomach. Bashir knelt down with the tricorder when he gestured for her to move her hands away. He ran it over to check the signs of the child; it was perfectly healthy and would arrive on time in two more months, perhaps one if it made its own decision to lose its patience. He laughed to himself, which got the mother's attention.

"What's so funny, Doctor?" Mia joked.

"Nothing, really. Only the fact that this little one could make it out sooner than expected."

She snorted. "I hope not. I'm not ready yet even though Dad, Jake and Kasidy helped me get my quarters prepped with a room for her." Julian looked at her in surprise; he had expected her to think she was having a girl, but it could always be a boy. She seemed so sure it was a female.

"Do you wish the...father was here?" Julian asked carefully. He had a slight suspicion as to who the father was, and was positive Odo knew the truth, but friends never betrayed the other. And Mia couldn't tell her father for her own reasons, not that he blamed her.

She didn't answer him, and he looked into her eyes to see a wave of immense sadness coming over them. Now he knew that her nightmare had to do with his question regarding the child's father. She was in a depression because he wasn't here, and Julian knew he had to do something to change this. "I'm sorry, Mia," he apologized, putting the tricorder down and using that hand to cup her chin, raising her face to see the irises glazing. "I'm going to give you something to keep you from experiencing negative emotions, something that won't even clash with those makara herbs I give you. And speaking of which..." He cracked a mischievous grin. "...you stopped taking them when you're supposed to."

Mia laughed and swatted his hand away, her mood lifted by his change of topic. "Yeah, because I feel what Major Kira did while she was pregnant. Like they're from somewhere on a Ferengi's body, and she said from Quark's ear." Their shared laughter had her rocking back in her chair and shrieking herself.

~o~

Bashir's meds each time she suffered a depression fit helped, but the pain was still there. He even managed to convince Quark to keep her off work until the baby was born, but even though he was generous enough, it didn't feel right to be off her feet for two more months. Mia felt useless, but Jake visited her as often as he could, as well as Bashir on each appointment she had with him. Quark even offered her the holosuite he gave her, to pamper her without having her get up and add more problems to physical fitness.

There would be no way she would tell anyone the true depth of her condition, as much as it wasn't good for her baby. Pregnant human women were known to have high levels of stress and temperament, but this wasn't normal, and she wasn't even a doctor. On the outside, she was the same to everyone else - smiling and happy despite the war going on - but on the inside, she was another story because of her severed connection with the father of her child.

Every day for the next three days was the same: she woke up and ate as usual, then spent the day with Jake or just reading and spending time in the holosuite, but at night she would cry herself to sleep after taking what was a form of the antidepressant on Earth; this version was safe for her and the baby, if anyone ever wondered, so no overdosage or risk to the blood and such. Everything kept her stable and from going into a full depression, but it did nothing to erase the void in her heart. Even though she tried assuring herself that the new Weyoun would find her again...IF he would remember her and their baby.

Speaking of children, Odo and Kira were talking about having children of all things during this time of danger.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to bring a child in the middle of a war?" Mia asked her on the fourth day when the major had some time from the bridge with her father. "Not that you shouldn't," she added hastily, "because I am -" She motioned for her bulge with both hands. "- but how are you going to have a child if Odo can't give you one? And you're a fighter constantly on the field when I'm not."

Nerys laughed and waved her hand dismissively, after taking a sip of sweet berry juice from the replicator. "We talked about a...sperm donor as you humans call it, and Odo has no objections, but we don't know who is up for it yet. And I know the risks; I was pregnant once, remember?"

"How could I forget?" Mia answered before calling to the computer to replicate another glass of juice. "But this is against the Dominion, so there's more than vengeful Cardassian individuals and petty disputes." And losses of loved ones and friends every day. "And chances of Odo returning to his people in the end once the fighting was over, as much as I hate him for wanting to do so."

Kira nodded somberly, looking down at the table. "You're right, as much as I hate to think of that, too. I don't want to lose him, since he's the one who has always been there, the first man to ever be beside me this long and this far. I feel like I can't let him go back to those things called his people, especially after everything they've done."

Mia wished he wouldn't have to do that, but she tried not to think about it too much, either. There was only one solution she could think of, but even that wouldn't be easy to do than spoken. She might be struggling with her own issues, but even losses and distance never prevented her from anything. "What if you and him were...married? I know that's between you guys, but take it from me. Binding two individuals together and therefore bringing their families together."

Nerys looked shocked at the suggestion, but before she could answer, Dr. Bashir's voice sounded through her comm badge. "Dr. Bashir to Major Kira."

"Go ahead."

"I have just gotten a possible donor for you and Odo, ready whenever you are."

She felt like gasping with the major. There was possible hope for her dear friend in these bleak times, but before she could answer, a light turned on inside her heart and soul - and coursed throughout her whole body. She felt her whole body go light and lean forward slightly, ignoring Kira's exclamation of concern altogether as she felt her being reawaken as she felt him return to life.

~o~

When he opened his eyes, the first thing his poor eyesight registered upon clearing as far as it would go was the cold, steel environment and the bubbling glass chambers as well as their gaseous counterparts. He heard the voices and assumed they were of great importance - he was in the cloning chamber, now that his memory was slowly coming to.

Weyoun six blinked and slowly sat up from the long table under the great light fixture, spotting immediately that he was naked and shivering in his newly activated stage. He suddenly felt vulnerable, being exposed at birth - correction, rebirth - and wrapped his arms around himself, one arm over his chest and the other between his legs to cover his crotch. And then a soft yet firm voice reached his ears.

"Welcome back, my friend."

He looked up and saw the familiar face of Borath, his oldest friend from all five previous lifetimes, overseeing all methods of cloning. Weyoun smiled slightly but wasn't sure how to begin a new conversation. "Indeed." He looked around himself, wondering if he would see the Female Changeling anytime soon - or worse, Damar. The last thing he remembered through his predecessor's eyes was pain and torture that was too horrific to repeat aloud, and be disbelieved based on what transpired next. "What happened to the last...Weyoun?" he asked Borath hesitantly, the latter sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I'm afraid he...killed himself. At least, that's what it looks like, and the investigation is still underway. Damar was on that transporter from Deep Space 9 back to Cardassia with him when it took place." The Vorta scientist shook his head. "Vorta don't even commit suicide unless they are taken prisoner, activate their termination implants. This doesn't make sense, my friend, if you ask me. It begs the question about Damar himself, but he's been questioned and searched, no evidence found."

Of course there wouldn't be. Damar had made a promise and followed through on it. He sighed and lowered his arms, choosing to bring his legs up and against his chest, wrapping his arms around his knees, no longer caring about his exposed nudity, oblivious to the thermal blanket wrapped around his body. "Rest assured, the Founder is expecting to see her most loyal 'solid'," Borath said in a mild joking manner, but he couldn't laugh - he didn't have it in him - and slid to his feet without a word, "back in action. And if Damar really did kill Weyoun 5, he will think twice before trying to off you, my friend."

Borath seemed to believe more than what everyone else thought as a "suicide", and how right he was. Weyoun 6 currently recalled his predecessor's depridation at the mercy of Damar's blade - and he wasn't the only one who shared it. It had been someone else who had been linked not only in mind, but body and soul, to the last Weyoun. Someone who was the daughter of the enemy but also meant near and dear to him...

He had a lover. A distant one but nevertheless an important link to the chain of his life. And her name was Mia.

"Weyoun, I suggest you better get dressed and cover...this up." Borath reached behind him and touched the back of his left shoulder - where Damar had pierced the skin as part of his sadistic game - and made Weyoun wince at the contact. He twisted his head as far as it could go and saw something dark and ornate imprinted into his flesh. "So the Founder doesn't see this."

If his memory was correct...oh, this was part of the mythos and tradition of his people. Very rarely when members of his species mated with another bearing a work of art on their bodies - notably humans - the Vorta would receive that marking onto their own bodies, binding them with their lover for eternity. The soul mate link.

He remembered everything then, about him and Mia:

My progenitor's fourth incarnation meeting her...eye to eye contact...first conversation in the mess hall...her family history of being adopted by Captain Benjamin Sisko following the death of her family...asking if he longed to be free from slavery under the Founders, and his reluctance to leave the Dominion for her...first kiss before his mission to the death...

Fifth incarnation...reunion and more of her pressing him to join her so they could be together...blissful consummation, bodies joining as one...conception...

He paused right there, even while he was in the middle of getting dressed in front of his scientist friend and longtime colleague. A child...there is a child. And she is alone in raising it, without ME.

And he saw the reasons why they were separated: the Dominion-Cardassian alliance forced the Federation to evacuate, overtaking her home, keeping them apart...he accused her reporter brother, the enemy captain's son, of bias against the Dominion...she distanced from him, chose her family and friends of the adversaries to the Dominion over him...he aided in the destruction of the minefield before the wormhole between the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants...ordered the imprisonments of her friends and family only for their freedom granted in time for her father's fleet to return and send the Dominion into retreat...

"Weyoun?"

He looked up at Borath and managed a little smile. "I'm sorry. I'll be going now," he said, bowing his head forward and leaving the lab to meet with the Founder and Damar. However, he couldn't stop the growing fear, not only of them both - but the fear that he was in fact defecting from his people and his gods who created them. All because of the memories from his predecessor and the knowledge that he was the father of the child carried by a woman who belonged to the Federation, the Dominion's greatest rival in the galaxy.

~o~

"Mia, what happened?" Kira was looking her over as she moved around the table to help her stand, but Mia smiled reassuringly and put her hand over the major's.

"I'm fine. Just...excited for you and Odo. I was overwhelmed at the news for you both. Should I wish you both good luck with acquiring this donor?"

Nerys looked her over for a second, not believing her for a second before she put on a similar smile. "In a month or two. Odo and I aren't in a hurry, but we want it eventually...to make up for both our losses before," she said softly. "Even if that baby Changeling and Kirayoshi are irreplaceable." Although the pain stopped and the good memories settled in, the loneliness never left your being, and Mia knew all of that from memory.

"I know exactly what you mean."

"Ziyal asked us to be there and pick out a wedding dress with Garak; actually," Nerys added with a slight laugh, "he's MAKING her dress, but she wants you and I to help pick out material, silhouette and so on ahead of time so he can put her favorites all in one. I still can't believe she's marrying him." She burst out into louder laughter, but not to make a joke about this. She was as much happy for the girl she regarded a daughter as much as she did Mia. "She made the right decision, better than choosing her father."

"Certainly did," Mia agreed, wanting to do something fun and active for a change, but only if Bashir gave her permission. She escorted the major out of her quarters before turning around and pressing her back against the door, looking up at the ceiling as she felt Weyoun's presence. "Weyoun..." she whispered aloud, and in the link, "...do you remember me?"

~o~

He barely saw the information on the PADD concerning the latest loss of Dominion and Federation vessels - civilians included - and an immense wave of emotion overcame him as he thought of those lives lost. That voice at the back of his head whispered all of this was wrong, this continual war over the wormhole and growing to losing supplies of white for the Jem'Hadar, as well as the Founders' clear loathing of the solids themselves. But there was no way he could go to the Female Changeling because he was...feeling sympathy and grief for the lost lives. She would simply state that it was a "necessary sacrifice". It was his first day as a new man, and everything settled in so fast.

And it began not long after he was handed the first reports of today that he HEARD her voice in the air, and no one was in his quarters but himself: Weyoun, do you remember me?

The PADD report forgotten for the moment, he lowered it and leaned back in the chair behind his desk, responding back through the telepathic connection. Yes...Mia. I'm here.

Oh, God! Her response took him aback altogether even though he knew how she was feeling - she had been with his predecessor, and he remembered mentally and not been with her physically. Weyoun 5 loved her as much as he loved his gods, but this wasn't just the devoted loyalty to serve and protect; it ran much deeper than that. One person to love was like loving the universe as a whole, and if one thing went wrong, everything was ripped asunder. Like a chain broken in half because of one little link. He remembered how much pain and grief his predecessor caused her while his people and their allies occupied DS9, and those of her brother and their friends. He also recalled how Jake Sisko liked him when they first met only for that petty but unforgiveable disagreement over his censored news reports on the occupation, and how Mia struck him down and voiced her heartbreak, threatening to keep him away from their child. Mia was forced to choose the life she had over the one Weyoun 5 lived, and that was what made their love difficult. Their warring factions would continue to fight, and there was nothing they could do about that.

But that never stopped their everlasting devotion, now did it?

Weyoun felt his heart beat faster than before. Mia, I'm afraid I am still trying to adjust to my new life. I am recalling all my predecessor's memories, but I am not the same man. I feel...heartbroken about what you and he endured, from your distressing, different sides and separation - and bringing the child into the universe alone as long as this war rages. He stopped himself there; he was thinking of this, as he found himself looking at the PADD once more, as though he was actually defecting. But if he was, then he would be no longer considering himself a leader of the Dominion...

Mia spoke, interrupting his train of thought. You're not like the Weyoun I knew, she repeated. You...regret everything that happened, and you've been alive for barely a day. She was disbelieved as much as he was. It seemed they needed a lot more time to get to know each other; it would be wrong to use the word "again" in the sentence, because he was a different man, and felt like one, too.

I have, and I do not know why I feel so different, he responded as he read the report over again, and soon he felt like he was going to melt in his chair, into something soft and liquid-formed. The memories with Mia were softening him, making him see everything different than the last one did. She wanted him more than anything else in the world, wanted him there to help her raise their child - a daughter, his predecessor sensed the last time they were together before Damar took him away from her - and see how precious life was if he sacrificed his service to the Dominion all for them. These death tolls were an addition, even though he didn't personally know these soldiers and civilians whose lives were cost.

He heard AND felt her crying again. She'd been broken apart when she felt and saw his predecessor die - and he loathed both that man as well as the murderer himself, Damar, for thinking he could break him when he found out about the passionate affair and the unborn conceived as his own senseless act of personal revenge. Weyoun felt his body quiver as he leaned forward in his seat and his legs gave way beneath him. He wished he was over there, with her, to hold her as he sobbed with her through their link as they rejoiced at reuniting but grieving over everything that transpired.

My beloved...I'm so sorry. You did not deserve the pain my predecessor, the Dominion, and Damar caused you. I wish I could...change everything. Make it better and end this war if I had the power.

After reading "Original sin" by littlegreenGul, my heart broke into millions of pieces at its perfection of exploring the "defective" Weyoun 6. I felt what Odo had called him as - a human, although that isn't what he is - he is a feeling being who could have made it alive and became a real man who answers to no one. :) That was the purpose for him in this story from the very beginning.