The Last Temptation of Odo

By

Creek Johnson and Nance Hurt

Disclaimer: We are but fleas on the elephants' posterior that is Paramount.

No infringement on their rights is intended. We hope none is taken.

She sat at the crest of the hill and allowed her gaze to take in the valley below her. Spring was soon upon them. The updraft of the wind caught her, ruffling her hair, and she could feel the warmer currents swirl around her feet like playful kittens. The smell of spring blossoms reached her even in this high place.

She thought of the valley as it was long before the Outsiders came with their magic and their madness. Of a time when her people fought with real weapons and the valley was often littered with the dead. The Outsiders had changed all that and, though many thought it was time for them to leave, most were simply content to live their lives in peace.

She felt rather than heard his presence. She shifted her weight to allow her sword to rest more comfortably in the scabbard she had strapped across her back, but made no attempt to draw her weapon. "It is Spring, Old One," she remarked, without turning her head.

He shuffled beside her and perched awkwardly on one of the rocks. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He looked older than she remembered, but she knew better than to be deceived by appearances.

"So it is," he remarked, his voice as serene as the ages. "And time once more for the Festivals."

She knew how much he enjoyed the Spring Festivals, but she was not here to talk of his many amusements. "Do you think this year they will find him, Old One?"

"Oh yes." His head bobbed like a child's toy. "This year will see the arrival of the poDosai." His voice was certain, although she thought she detected a note of sadness as well.

"What will be, will be," she said, and was slightly surprised to detect a note of sadness in her voice also. "How will I know the poDosai?"

Receiving no answer, she turned to find him gone. A voice echoed up from the valley.

"You will know."

"Odo?"

No response.

He sat on the couch in their quarters lost in thought.

In the long two years of his absence, Kira often found herself thinking of what it would be like to see him again. If, after all that time, she would find him as cold and as withdrawn as he had been during his time with the Female Founder, while the Dominion occupied the Station. If, after all that time, his isolation had dropped a wall between them, a wall through which they would stare at each other without feeling – without love.

By some miracle, they had been spared that. Despite the turmoil of his return, she was secure in the knowledge that she was loved as she loved in return. However, over the last few weeks he had begun slowly to withdraw into himself and she would find him sitting, as he sat now, lost in a place so far removed from her, that she despaired for him. If only she could find something to take him out of himself, even if for only a little while.

"Hey you," she said, sitting next to him, curling herself into the crook of his arm, resting her head in the hollow of his shoulder. "Tough day?"

She was pleased he no longer would start at her touch, although she only received a small grunt by way of greeting. She sighed, content with the feel of his arm around her. How she had missed coming home to him. How she had managed the two years he was away, she could not now imagine.

"Finish you book?" she asked.

"In a manner of speaking."

"Too bad. I had hoped you would read a bit to me. Take my mind off the upcoming Conference on Future Economic Development. I'm not so sure that the Cardassian proposal is going to be well received on Bajor."

"Well," he said. "Cardassia could do a lot more potentially destructive things than going into the commercial ship building business."

She smiled softly to herself pleased he had not entirely lost interest in local politics. "True," she agreed. "But I'm afraid the Provisional Government will see it as an economic threat."

"I imagine they will until you remind them that a Cardassia that builds and repairs ships for others, especially the Federation, is a lot less likely to be building warships of their own. Their empire is in ruins. All their former colonies have declared independence. They have no natural resources of their own. One thing Cardassia has always lacked is a way of getting capital without having to conquer other worlds to sustain it."

"And this may be the way," she agreed.

She went on to talk of the routine of her day. He listened to her in silence, allowing his thoughts to concentrate on the points where her body rested against his. The feel of her hair against his cheek, the gentle pressure of her breast against his chest, anything to keep from thinking about the Founders.

It didn't work.

"Odo?"

He was startled out of his thoughts by her suddenly sitting up.

"Odo, what time is it?"

He blinked, not sure why she needed to know. "About 1930. Why?"

"Come on," she said, jumping to her feet. "We're late."

"Late for what?"

"Dinner. The Landis' remember?"

He reluctantly got to his feet. He had forgotten. "I fail to see why I was invited. I don't eat."

"They know that," she replied, giving him an amused grin. "I have a sneaking suspicion Vivian is going to try and get you involved in the Starfleet Spouses Auxiliary she's organized."

He suddenly longed for the days when his duties as Chief of Security provided a convenient excuse for not participating in the more social side of life on the Station.

"Odo," she said, reading his look. She took him gently by the arm and steered him towards the door. "Vivian Landis has proven to be invaluable to me since she arrived on the Station. She's taken over all of the social functions I no longer have time to deal with. She has even organized the Gratitude Festival for the last two years. I do not know what I would do without her."

"I'm really not comfortable with this." There was note of pleading in his voice.

"I know," she assured him. "You don't have to join anything if you don't want to. But the Auxiliary has done a wonderful job of organizing events for charity. They've raised quite a lot of money, they could use someone with your experience to help keep an eye on things, make sure the funds are being distributed properly."

"But I'm not Starfleet," he protested. And hardly a spouse, he thought, unable to resist stirring the pot of his own misery.

"Just hear her out, that's all I ask."

With little more than a nod, he reluctantly acquiesced.

"Oh, the Gratitude Festival practically runs itself," remarked Vivian Landis, as her husband busied himself with pouring the after dinner wine. "I do apologize Odo, Ripley usually treats guests as through they're going to steal the spoons. I've never seen him take to someone like this before."

"Ripley recognizes a fellow security officer when he sees one," replied Bryan, handing Kira a glass and giving the small black and white cat a playful tug on the ears.

Kira accepted her glass grateful the evening had progressed beyond her expectation. Odo actually seemed to be enjoying himself, despite the fact the Landis family cat spent the entire evening sitting at his feet and staring at him as though it expected him to suddenly grow a second head.

Quite frankly, she had not known what to expect when Starfleet had announced they were sending a married man with children to be her First Officer, thinking the job would be best filled by someone younger and more likely to take risks. Her doubts only grew when she first met the short, plump Bryan Landis (who had a tendency while on the job to look as though his shoes fit too tightly).

Little did she expect that underneath the unassuming exterior lurked a master at effortlessly getting people to do the most difficult of tasks. When, after she began to know him better, did she confess her earlier doubts, Bryan had merely laughed and explained that the only way he learned to manage a household made up of one spirited wife and twelve boisterous children while keeping his sanity was to quickly learn the fine art of negotiation.

She sat back and watched as Bryan perched on the arm of his wife's chair. Vivian Landis was as short and stout as her husband, at which Kira marveled once more that the Landis children, all now adults and living their own lives off the Station, managed to grow to be exceedingly tall and thin. Whereas Bryan was not what many would consider a handsome man, Vivian was still striking with her coal black eyes and shock of white hair. And while Kira had had her reservations about Bryan, she had taken to Vivian immediately.

"So," she asked. "How are the arrangements for Lieutenant Li's wedding going?"

"I had no idea how elaborate Bajoran weddings could be," remarked Vivian. "I don't know where they are going to find so many attendants…

"That's one thing I miss about not having the kids here," agreed her husband. "When they were little, there were always a dozen or two kids about we could coerce into doing just about anything."

"I thought you only had twelve children," remarked Odo, speaking for almost the first time that evening.

"That we did," replied Bryan. "At times."

"But our children," explained Vivian. "All of our children had a habit of attracting other children like some people attract stray animals. You would think they would have had enough company as it was."

"There were so many kids hanging around when we were on Starbase 57 that we practically had our own floor in the habitat section."

"My brothers were like that," said Kira. "We could barely feed ourselves and yet they were always dragging some other kid along for dinner."

"Where are they now?" asked Vivian.

"They didn't survive the Occupation." Kira said it as a statement of fact, she was long past crying for them, and yet she was aware of Odo moving a bit closer to her, as if to protect her from an emotional injury.

"I'm sorry to hear that," remarked Vivian. "Seeing Bajor as it is now, it's hard to remember the Occupation ended only a few years ago. No wonder there are so many young Bajorans getting married these days."

"But not all of them are going for the more formal weddings," said Kira. "So you won't have to worry about having a lot of children handy. Most weddings are quite small affairs."

"And what about you Odo?" asked Vivian. "Will you want a formal wedding?"

Odo stiffened in place, suddenly panicked. He truly could not remember if he and Kira had ever discussed a wedding. He couldn't even remember if either of them had proposed. Sensing his predicament, Kira calmly took his hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. "What with one thing or another we haven't exactly given it any thought," she said. Odo's relief was palpable.

"Okay Viv," remarked Bryan, sensing they had crossed into territory where he and his wife had no business. "Leave the poor fellow alone. Why don't you tell them the real reason you asked them to dinner."

She gave him a playful elbow to the ribs. "As you know," she said, leaning a bit forward in her chair. "The Intergalactic Red Cross in this Sector has had its hands full with continuing the War Relief effort as has Starfleet. A few weeks ago, an inquiry came in to the Red Cross office to see if anyone could be spared to run a little exploratory mission for them. It seems that First Contact was made with a small planet just outside Cardassian Space just before the War."

"KuruTame," said Kira. "I remember you mentioning this before."

"Exactly," continued Vivian. "Before any of the official steps could be taken, the War broke out and no one's heard from them since. We don't know if they were occupied by the Dominion or if they were integrated into the Empire or what. Being the closest outpost to them, we were asked if we'd go and see how they were doing and if they could use any assistance."

"But, I thought you had a team ready to go," replied Kira. "Dr. Bashir has been making arrangements…"

"Yes, but due to the Economic Development shindig coming up, Flato Rey has had to back out at the last minute and we're one short. So you see my problem. Li was our backup, but…"

"Li has her wedding in two weeks. I do see."

The room fell silent as Kira gave thought to whom among her staff could be spared to leave the Station. She could think of no one. Then a thought struck her. She purposefully kept her eyes locked on her wineglass. He wasn't going to be happy about this, she thought, but it just may be the answer she had been praying for. "I can only think of one person," she said. "Someone who has the experience you are looking for and who is not going to be tied up with other duties."

She glanced at Vivian, who smiled and trained her gaze on Odo. Kira turned to look at Odo, who at first looked at her with a puzzled expression on his face. Suspicion slowly dawning on him, his gaze slid from her to the Landis'. Bryan and his wife gazed upon him, expectant smiles on their faces.

He quickly glanced at the cat, which merely returned his gaze and purred.

"I honestly did not know that was what she was going to ask," said Kira.

They were back in their quarters. She had known he would not be happy, and he was clearly not.

"Look, it's only for a short while, hopefully by the time you get back, the Militia will have reinstated your commission and you will be back on the job. Think of it as a vacation."

My commission, he thought. She would have to bring that up now. All of the troubles of the last few weeks suddenly came crashing down around him. He uttered a short and bitter laugh and turned away from her to stare unseeing out of the view port.

"Odo," she pleaded. "Come on, it's not this trip that's bothering you is it? You can tell me."

"The Militia will not reinstate my commission," he said, flatly. "Why would they?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Of course they will. Everyone knows…"

"Do they?" he asked, his anger showing despite his efforts to keep it under control. "I know exactly what everyone thinks, I heard them loud and clear. I know they think I'm not really me. I know they suspect I just might be an operative. I know they think the Founders…" He choked on the word.

"And those people are stupid," said Kira, turning him to face her, "I know. And I know that Bajor owes you for all you've done for her. As a matter of fact I intend to speak to Shakaar about it when he comes to the Station tomorrow to go over the arrangements for the Conference."

Shakaar, he thought, of course. He felt his anger and frustration boil to the surface and before he could stop himself, he gave into an unworthy impulse.

"I don't' suppose," he said. "That you would like to tell me the real reason you want me off the Station?"

His words stung, he could see that.

"What?"

"That perhaps the real reason is that you don't want me underfoot while the Conference is in session? That perhaps you don't' want me around while you and…" He couldn't bring himself to say it.

"While I what?" she snapped back. "Judging by your recent behavior, can you blame me? How many fights do you think you can get into with all those Cardassians on the Station?" She caught herself before she could say more. Taking a deep breath, she placed her hands on his chest. "Look," she said more calmly. "I just got you back, believe me, the last thing I want to do is send you away."

He tried to pull away from her, but she would not allow him to.

"Odo," she said, lifting his chin. "Look at me. There's no place in all the Universe I would rather you be than right here. But maybe, just maybe, it would be best if you were somewhere else for a little while. You're miserable here, and you know it. You don't have to go to KuruTame if you don't want to, but yes, maybe it's for the best that you aren't here during the Conference. Anti Dominion feelings are going to be running a bit high. Fights in Quarks are one thing but this will be different and I would feel better knowing you were somewhere safe and not having to worry that some nut with a grudge may try to kill you. If you stayed, I'd have to assign you bodyguards and you'd hate that even more."

He did not hear her - all he heard was that, for whatever reason, she wanted him gone.

"You want me to leave," he said, as though he did not believe it.

"Odo. Did you hear what I said?"

"Fine," he replied, surprised how calm he felt. It was the calm of a man who had nothing left to lose. "You want me to go? Fine. I'll leave. I… I just don't know if I'll be coming back."

His words fell between them with an unimagined weight.

"What do you mean?" she asked, suddenly afraid.

"I mean that there's nothing for me to do here. All I have here anymore is you." He cupped her face with his hands and rested his forehead against hers. "All I have left in the Universe is you." Fear seized him for a moment and he fought a growing sense of panic. "And…what good am I to you? How can I be what you need me to be when I don't even know who I am anymore? You're right, it would be best for me to leave."

He smothered her protests with a kiss that, to Kira, was both wonderful and terrifying in its intensity. And before she could stop him, he was out the door.

Odo waited outside the shuttle bay doors.

He had spent the night in the shuttle. By morning, he realized how foolishly he had behaved and had gone back to their quarters to try and explain everything. Upon arriving, he had found her gone the computer confirming she was in her office. Not wishing to disturb her while she was on duty, he had returned to the shuttle.

"So," said an all too familiar voice behind him. "Want to place a bet to see how many fights you can pick on KuruTame?"

"Quark," growled Odo. "What are you doing here? Hoping to find an entire world to exploit?"

"If I'm lucky." Quark looked around. "Where's the Colonel?" he asked. "I thought she would have been here."

"She's meeting the First Minister's transport," said Vivian Landis, stepping out of the shuttle bay doors. "Odo, she said to tell you she's sorry to have missed you and to wish you good luck."

"So," said Quark. "First Minister Shakaar, now there's a coincidence." He was about to needle Odo a bit more, but reading the look on Odo's face, thought better of it.

"Can't say I would mind a visit from Shakaar myself," said Vivian. "Quite a good looking young fellow if you ask me."

Standing slightly behind and to the left of Odo, Quark attempted to get Vivian's attention. He passed his finger in front of this throat several times in a gesture he hoped would caution her to stop talking. She was blissfully unaware of his efforts.

"He and Kira were quite an item at one time," said Julian Bashir, stepping through the shuttle bay doors. "Everyone was certain they would mar…. oh, hello Odo," he added lamely as he caught sight of the Changeling. "I didn't know you were joining us." He had to good grace to blush.

"Yes, well," said Quark quickly. "Let's go shall we? No point wasting all that….ah…starlight."

"Almost," replied Julian. "But you might as well get settled in."

Following behind the group, Odo heard voices approaching and turned to see the security detail leading the First Minister's party. Walking next to Shakaar, laughing and talking animatedly, was Kira.

Kira waited outside the airlock.

She had spent the night trying vainly to get some sleep. By morning, she was hoping he would have returned to their quarters with some sort of explanation. She had waited for as long as she could before finally deciding to go to the shuttle bay in hopes of finding him before he left. He was not there and she could wait no longer.

The air lock doors rolled open and she stepped forward to meet the First Minister. After the formalities were over, she fell into place beside Shakaar as the group followed the security detachment out of the docking ring.

"Edon," she said, giving him a smile. "It's good to see you again."

"It's good to be seen," he replied. "You're looking good, Nerys. I don't suppose it has anything to do with a certain person recently returning to the Station?"

She gave him a nod.

"But," he continued. "There's something that's bothering you isn't there?"

"How can you tell?"

"I think I've known you long enough to know."

She laughed. "When you have a moment, I'd like to talk to you about Odo getting his commission back. Now, I know he's only officially on administrative leave, but the Militia has been dragging their heels about putting him back on active status." She grew more animated as she spoke, hardly noticing Shakaar's silence.

The detail turned onto the crosswalk that would lead them to the Promenade and she caught sight of a lone figure standing outside a shuttle bay door. Her heart skipped a beat as she realized it was Odo. She quickly excused herself and turned to go talk to him.

But when she reached the spot, he was gone.