Chapter 9
Kassidy shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "You've decided definitely on going to Pirovania?" She and Kira were having tea in Kassidy's quarters.
Kira smiled pleasantly at her companion. "Yes. I want to see his life, how he really lives. We'll be back long before the baby comes."
"But I thought you didn't want to take so much time off from the station?"
"I didn't want to, originally," the Bajoran explained. "But it's important to Rathaus that we spend some time together. It's been very stressful on him to live just on the station."
Kassidy grimaced; this was not the Kira she had grown to know. "I'm a little more worried about you. You've had too much change in your life recently. Rathaus has it easy by comparison."
Kira picked up on her friend's disgust and hastened to explain it away. "I know you have reservations about him, but he's really a good person. He has taken excellent care of me."
"Since when do you need taking care of?" Kassidy exclaimed. "This isn't like you, Nerys. You're too strong and independent to need any man."
"I didn't mean it that way. He's very kind and considerate."
"I'm sure he is," Kassidy still made little effort to hide her dislike. "I don't like the idea of your going so far away. You need your friends around you."
"I'll be fine. You said yourself that I'm independent. Besides, I'll be living in absolute luxury. Rathaus wouldn't let anything happen to his child. I'll probably be safer there than here at the mouth of the wormhole."
Kassidy did not agree with her friend and still harbored strong reservations about the proposed trip. She relented, however, knowing Kira's stubbornness and seeing that she was set on the matter. A few days later, Rathaus and Kira left for Pirovania.