AN: This is a little one shot. It can be read with my other Lwaxodo stories, or it can stand alone. I'm not going to lie, I just want to play with these characters some, so that's what I'm doing. I do hope, though, that someone else can find some enjoyment in them, too.
If you're interested, my others, in order, are "A Shared Peace" and "Whatever Is Needed."
I own nothing from Star Trek.
I hope you enjoy! If you do enjoy, please do let me know!
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Lwaxana had warned Odo that Betazoid births were long, drawn-out, and sometimes quite difficult. She hadn't lied to him about any of that.
Odo never imagined himself becoming anyone's husband and, yet, he found himself the husband of Lwaxana Troi, Daughter of the Fifth House, Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rixx, Heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed, and Ambassador of Betazed.
At first, their marriage had been one of convenience—one of assistance, even. Odo had married Lwaxana to free her from her marriage to the Tavnian, Jeyal, and, in the process, to save the son she was expecting from being taken from her to be raised by his biological father. Odo had won her as his beloved wife by professing his love to her with enough feeling that nobody present could deny his sincerity—except, of course, Lwaxana, when all was said and done.
Odo had been sincere, though. He did love Lwaxana. He loved her with everything he was, and she loved him. She'd worried, at first, that that might not be enough—but it seemed that it was quite enough for both of them.
Odo had never imagined himself becoming a father, either. He knew very little of his own species, but he didn't imagine that they procreated—at least not in the same way that many other species procreated. He had never felt the mating drive that he knew was common to other species. He felt the need to love and to be loved. He felt the need to have someone who belonged to him and to belong to someone. He'd never felt the need to mate, exactly, though, in a purely physical sense of the term. Therefore, some part of him always assumed that he either didn't understand the procreation practices of his species, having never had someone to teach him, or else his species simply didn't procreate.
Tavnian law, though, had made Odo the father of Lwaxana's son in every way, and he was embracing his impending fatherhood—his very impending fatherhood.
"Is there anything else I can do? What else can I do?" Odo asked. He was beginning to feel desperate to offer help—some kind of truly substantial help.
Doctor Beverly Crusher was doing as much as she could, he supposed, to help Lwaxana with the birth. Betazoid births, until now, had been primarily a private thing handled on Betazed. Lwaxana had wanted to return to her planet for the birth, but their son had different ideas. The farthest they'd made it was to the Enterprise—the Flagship of the Federation—in the hopes that they could be transported to Betazed for the birth, and also in the hope that Lwaxana could tell her daughter, Deanna, about the arrival of her future half-sibling.
To further complicate things, no birth of a half-Tavnian and half-Betazoid had ever been recorded, so there was a great deal of this birth that was simply left to chance and observation.
"Offer encouragement, Odo," Doctor Crusher said softly. She'd been using the same tone for some time, both to soothe Lwaxana and, now, it seemed to soothe Odo. "You're doing fine. You're both doing wonderfully—all three of you, even. The baby's vitals look good. Lwaxana's vitals are good. I know things are taking a while, but they're going well. Lwaxana just needs to keep pushing."
At least the doctor had finally stopped referring to Lwaxana as "Ambassador Troi," which was something she'd protested during what had seemed like the first twenty or so hours of her labor.
Lwaxana's daughter, Deanna, had stayed with her mother off and on during the times when Odo had to retreat because he could no longer hold his shape. She could only stay in short shifts, though, because her mother's pain quickly and overwhelmingly became her own thanks to their telepathic and empathic connection.
"You are doing exceptionally well, my beloved," Odo offered.
"Oh—Odo," Lwaxana said.
If she meant to say more, she didn't. She was tired. Odo could see it. She was exhausted. He was tired, and twice he'd retreated to his bucket to rest as much as he could so that he could return and be with her. She hadn't had a chance to retreat. She hadn't had a chance to run away from any of this for even a moment.
"I understand," Odo said. "I don't know how I do, but—I understand. You have to keep going, Lwaxana. For him. For me. Push again, please. Just a little while longer."
"Just a few more, Lwaxana," Doctor Crusher offered, her soothing tone taking on something of a forced uplifting quality. "He's almost here."
"Is he really?" Lwaxana asked. Odo thought he could sense a renewal of energy and strength. He felt his whole being buzz with the happiness she brought him.
"Very soon," he said. "Sooner, even, if you'll push, Lwaxana. For me?"
She made eye contact with him and squeezed his hand. It was hard to hold his form against the force of her squeezing. She didn't realize her own strength, he was sure. She laid into pushing again with renewed vigor. Odo looked to Doctor Crusher for guidance, but she was occupied with her work, so he simply returned to what she'd told him before. He continued a repetition of praise and encouragement.
When he was invited to see the baby come fully into the world, he moved enough to do so, and he was immediately even more overwhelmed than he had been with anything to this point.
He cut the cord, when offered that option, and was thankful that Doctor Crusher didn't point out that he was unable to maintain himself well enough to keep a slight tremor from entering into his hand.
"You can relax, Lwaxana," Doctor Crusher announced. "He's here."
"Is he OK?" Lwaxana asked.
"He's perfect," Odo answered, without waiting for the doctor to respond, especially since she was busy wiping at the baby and clearing airways. Odo moved toward Lwaxana, feeling the need to reassure himself that she was fine, too. She'd warned him that she'd be tired, and tired he could handle, but he needed to know that she was, otherwise, well.
"He is perfect," Doctor Crusher confirmed with a smile. "Here he is…why don't you hold him…Mother?"
"Mommy," Lwaxana said with a smile. "Oh—come here, my Little Man, Mommy's got you."
Odo watched the transfer as the little red-faced and crying baby was placed in Lwaxana's arms. He was still messy, but the doctor was placing most of her attention on caring for Lwaxana at the moment, and Odo supported that, since the baby seemed to be fine despite his overall messy appearance.
"Oh—Odo—would you look at him?" Lwaxana said, looking at the baby boy with tears in her eyes and every bit of motherly affection that Odo imagined any mother could ever manage to feel over their child. "Isn't he so very handsome?"
"He is a perfect specimen," Odo said, laughing at his own lack of words.
The baby would clearly carry the ridges of his biological Tavnian father across the bridge of his nose, and he clearly had his mother's black eyes. Beyond that, it was difficult to say which features belonged to which parent. It didn't matter, though—in their household, looks mattered very little.
"Can I see him a moment?" The nurse asked. Lwaxana was clearly reluctant to relinquish the little one, but she allowed the nurse to take the baby and disappear with him some steps away from them. Odo might have imagined that all was done and the whole thing was over, but Doctor Crusher was quick to let him know what Lwaxana already knew—they weren't quite done. At least, Odo decided, the doctor was able to distract Lwaxana with the final steps of birth and preparing to start her recovery, so that she wasn't too worried about their son as he was cleaned and taken care of by the nurse.
"Tell me that you're well," Odo implored, when they were finally left alone for a moment and Doctor Crusher went for the baby.
Lwaxana smiled at Odo and touched his face affectionately.
"I'll be much better when we can rest in private," she said. "I just know you'll take good care of me. Of us. But—I'm fine, Odo. Really. I feel…wonderful."
"Are you very tired, my beloved?" Odo asked.
"I'm tired," she ceded, choosing not to lie to him.
"Too tired?" He asked, concern swelling up in him and feeling as though it filled him like it had several times before during the long labor and delivery.
"My sweet Odo," Lwaxana said. "You do worry. I'm not too tired at all. Ask me tomorrow—I'll probably feel like dancing."
Odo doubted that to be the truth. Deanna had mentioned in passing that it wasn't unusual to expect at least a few weeks of dedicated recovery time after a Betazoid birth. The physical part was draining, but there was a certain exhaustion that accompanied the mental side of things and the empathetic connection that the mother felt to the baby during their transition outside of the womb.
"Here he is," Doctor Crusher said, approaching with the baby. "He's very strong. He measures at 3.2 kg., and he's 49.2 cm. He should be hungry soon."
The baby was placed into Lwaxana's arms, and she nuzzled the face of the baby boy with her eyes closed for a moment. Doctor Crusher stood by, smiling, and didn't interrupt the moment. Odo didn't interrupt it, either. They both waited for Lwaxana to speak.
"How soon can I be helped to my quarters?" Lwaxana asked. "I'd like to recover in private."
"Of course," Doctor Crusher said.
"If everything is as it should be," Odo interrupted quickly. "Is Lwaxana as well as she should be?"
Doctor Crusher smiled at him and then back at Lwaxana.
"You don't need to worry, Odo. Lwaxana is every bit as healthy as I could hope for any new mother in my sickbay to be," Doctor Crusher offered. "If only every mother that came through here was so fit, honestly, we'd see a lot fewer complications. I'd like to keep mother and baby for observation for another hour or so, but I think everyone will be ready to move to your quarters then, provided you promise to rest some, Lwaxana."
"You won't hear any complaint from me," Lwaxana said, shaking her head gently. She looked just as happy as she proclaimed to be, but Odo could tell that she was ready for some rest. She would sleep, he imagined, if allowed to do so. "Deanna has promised to help me with the baby."
"I'm sure she will," Doctor Crusher said.
"As will I," Odo added quickly.
"Of course, you will," Lwaxana said. "Why—you're his father. Oh—you haven't held him yet. Beverly, dear—do be a dear and help Odo take the baby? He needs to meet his father properly."
If Doctor Crusher disliked being ordered around by Lwaxana at all, she hid it entirely. She looked amused more than annoyed, and she gently took the infant out of Lwaxana's arms again. Odo felt cold panic run through him as she neared him with the bundle.
"What if I am not suited to holding the child?" He protested.
"You'll do wonderfully, Odo," Lwaxana assured him, reaching a hand out and patting him. "You're his father. He's going to know his papa right away. You'll see."
Odo didn't know if he believed Lwaxana, but he did feel soothed at least. He accepted the bundle. He marveled over the weight of the little thing—not much at all and, yet, still so significant: a whole life—his son. He hugged the baby against him and focused on being just what the baby needed him to be.
He held his son, and his son looked at him, at least for as much as babies of so little time in the world could see, because Odo knew very little about the way they functioned, and he didn't recoil. He didn't fuss. He closed his eyes and Odo felt the same peace from him that he'd felt when the little one was still warm and safe in his mother's womb.
"I'm a father," Odo mused.
"A very good one," Lwaxana offered, patting Odo again. "He knows that already."
"Does he have a name?" Doctor Crusher asked.
"Odo was supposed to come up with his name," Lwaxana said. "Odo?"
Odo felt so many overwhelming feelings as they swirled about inside of him. He'd considered the baby boy's name for some time, but he'd never found anything that made him happy. He'd never found anything that he thought would please Lwaxana. Still, he felt he knew the perfect name now.
"I was given the name Odo from the word Odo'ital. It means 'nothing' in the Cardassian language. For much of my life, it felt like a self-fulfilling prophecy and a perfect description of who I was. What I was. In finding Lwaxana, however, and in building the life that we are building, I no longer feel like nothing at all. I no longer feel sadness, when I hear my name, to think of myself as nothing. In fact, I find great happiness in hearing my name, because, now, every time I hear it, I hear it the way that Lwaxana says it. I would like to call him Veta, from Veta'itol. It means 'everything,' and that's what I feel like I have now."
"Veta Odo Troi?" Lwaxana said. Odo simply looked at her. She smiled. "I like it," she said. "It's the name I want him to have."
"I'll enter it into his file," Doctor Crusher said. "It's a perfectly wonderful name."
The baby in Odo's arms—Veta—started to fuss. Odo looked at Lwaxana and then at the doctor.
"I don't know if he agrees with your assessment of his name," he said.
"He's probably just hungry," Lwaxana said. "Poor dear—he's had a very trying time being born and now he's tired and starving."
If the doctor disagreed with her assessment, she didn't say so.
"Do you need help feeding him?" Doctor Crusher asked.
Lwaxana laughed.
"Beverly, dear, I've been feeding babies since you were practically a baby yourself," she said. "Go. See to your other patients or—do whatever it is that you do when you're not hovering. We'll be fine, here. And—when you have a moment, please do find my daughter and let her know that her brother has arrived safely?"
Doctor Crusher agreed to do just that, and she disappeared, leaving Odo and Lwaxana alone, for the first time, really, to learn what it was to be new parents together. Lwaxana reached for the baby, and Odo passed him over, half-terrified that he would drop the child.
"I have the irrational fear that I will suddenly lose my shape and he will fall," Odo admitted.
"And if you did," Lwaxana offered, finding their little one just what he needed to be satisfied at the moment, "then you would immediately become something wonderful—a basket, a blanket, or maybe even a hammock—and you would catch him, and cradle him, and keep him safe."
Odo looked on for a moment, allowing himself to really start to process the overwhelming wonder of his reality.
"You say that as though you believe it entirely," Odo said.
Lwaxana smiled at him.
"I do, my darling," she said. "You'll never let Veta down, just like you never let me down. I believe that entirely, Odo." She frowned, but he could tell that it wasn't at him as much as it was at something in her environment, or something she was feeling.
"What's wrong, Lwaxana?" He asked.
"My neck is killing me," she said, laughing to herself. "You'd think they'd make these beds more comfortable if you're going to be trapped in them for so long…"
Lwaxana smiled. It was something that he could do for her, no matter how minor—and something inside of him told him that she knew that he needed to do something for her as much as she needed him to do something. Honestly, maybe he needed it more, but that was simply Lwaxana's way. Odo slipped his hand behind Lwaxana's head and shaped it into a pillow. She sighed happily and relaxed back, still cradling their son as he showed off his already-formed prowess at feeding.
"Better?" Odo asked.
"Wonderful," Lwaxana assured him. She winked at him and smiled. "See? You always take care of me—and, now, you'll take care of both of us."