When Odo returned from Bajor, Iliana and Nerys were waiting for him at the terminal. It felt good to have two beautiful women greet him: his daughter and his lover. Iliana clutched him so tightly around the neck he had to adjust so it wouldn't be painful. She weighed nothing to him as a Changeling. It was her grip that was surprising.
"Taban's answer to the question was an enthusiastic 'yes'," Odo whispered and winked at Nerys.
"Very good!" she winked back.
Iliana assumed they were discussing things children preferred not to overhear about their parents and asked, "Are you going to cook us lunch, daddy?"
"It's late for lunch and yet I can hear your stomach growling like a neglected pet!"
"I wanted to wait for you!"
"You do know I never get hungry?"
"I know mother said you could usually tell what she was craving. Can you guess what I'm thinking of eating?"
"I can try to guess but I don't know you as well as your mother yet. I want to change that."
Iliana giggled, "Guess then!"
"Hasperat?"
"Nope."
"Tuwaly pie?"
"Nope!"
"Is it Bajoran food you are craving? Am I even close?
"Mother told me about Creole food."
"Captain Sisko was much better at making that," Odo looked at Nerys. "Has the Emissary joined me on the station, perchance?"
"Not recently," she shook her head sadly. "If we could have him back, our DS9 tribe would be complete again."
"Well, this young woman has requested Creole! How does jambalaya sound?"
"Odd but intriguing!"
"Oh, you'll like that!" the Commander's eyes lit up.
"We should invite Pohl and Molly over!"
"Will do, Constable. Might as well have Yoshi along for the ride!"
It was the first time really seeing the O'Brien children again. They weren't children anymore. Odo had already known that but laying eyes on them after twenty years was something else! Nerys had informed him before that Molly had joined the science officers and Yoshi was in engineering. Molly gave him a warm hug much gentler than Iliana's. Yoshi bowed and then hugged him for good measure.
"You're practically my surrogate father!" he said. "And Molly might be your daughter-in-law someday!"
"I do love when my future is discussed by my elders as though they wrote it in stone themselves!" Pohl's voice dripped with sarcasm.
"He's such a teddy bear!" Molly luckily had developed a dry sense of wit.
"Golly, Molly, I remember when you were clutching stuffed animals!" Odo unintentionally rhymed.
"If only we could stop aging like Changelings, eh?" Molly replied. "Right at, say, twenty something years old?"
"Then everyone would be baby faced forever and that would get so old!" Yoshi rolled his eyes.
"But we'd never have our strength sapped," Iliana spoke up. "And maybe no one would have to die or leave somewhere."
That comment was far gloomier than she had meant it to be. Nerys drew Molly into some conversation about scientific work as Odo began to cook. He tried to contribute to the small party socially but he found himself thinking about his daughter.
She looked so much like her mother it nearly broke his heart. At her age, though, Nerys was a child soldier trying to survive a vicious military occupation spread across her entire planet. She must have been lean and hungry, cold and alone. Iliana was well fed and by all accounts sporty and competitive. Her fiery hair was almost always up. If she let it loose it would inevitably tangle with all of her activity. But her eyes were undeniably his and that was amazing.
There is something of me in there, he thought to himself. She is no carbon copy of her mother just as Pohl isn't one of me. I never thought I'd have children at all and I never imagined any of them would be a girl!
Sometimes women seemed like magical beings to him.
"Iliana," he said her name without thinking.
"Yes, daddy?" her eyes sparkled as she gave him her full attention.
For a moment he was breathless and didn't realize he had spoken then finished his thought, "What would you like to do tomorrow with me?"
"So much!" she seemed overwhelmed with choices. "Can we spar?"
"Spar?" he chuckled.
"It's not going to be much of a contest, but I want to do it anyway. Teach me some Changeling moves!"
"Iliana, there's no way he can teach you 'Changeling' moves," Pohl shook his head.
"Oh yeah?" she bristled at him. "You want to spar instead? I'll break your arm again!"
"You did that totally by accident and because I wasn't paying attention. Plus that was years and years ago!"
The whole household was soon belly up with laughter at Iliana's angry faces. Odo saw she was more adorable than Nerys could be angry. She was more adorable because she was smaller at the moment. They all seemed to relish making her mad.
When the party died down and the guests left and the family prepared for bed, Iliana crept to her father and shyly asked for a kiss goodnight. She must have been afraid he wouldn't baby her. He was so happy she was seeking him out for affection he could burst. He kissed her and held her until she finally broke away, yawning.
"Oh, Nerys," he told her when they were alone. "I missed the best years with them, didn't I?"
"Odo," she knitted her brows and wrinkled her nose in distress, "I can't lie. Their childhood years are special and irreplaceable. I tried to take lots of footage of them as they were growing in case you returned."
"That's not the same!" he said in utter frustration. "I wish I could have held my precious little girl when she was a tiny infant! I wish I could have played spring ball with Pohl! I wish I could have taught Taban all about trees and flowers! Right now, I wish I could go back into time and hear Iliana call me 'Daddy' for the first time!"
"I did get that recorded!" Nerys said triumphantly. "Computer…"
Odo drank in the sight of his children gathered around a framed photo of Odo and Nerys. Pohl repeated 'Mamma' and 'Dadda' as he pointed. Nerys let him know that at the time of the recroding, Iliana was only about four months old and had not said a single word yet.
"Mother, I'm afraid she'll never learn!" Pohl said to the optic device that she had been holding.
"Maybe 'Dadda' doesn't sound appealing to her," Nerys' voice boomed from the optic's point of view. "Try different syllables? She's quite young for talking already."
"Say 'Mamma'!" Taban could barely pronounce the words himself and pointed to the actual woman.
Iliana looked at her mother with a big smile but said nothing.
"Fine!" Pohl said doubtfully. "How about 'Daddy'?"
Iliana slapped her hand on the frame and began to make syllables to the shocked surprise of her family, "Daddy!"
The entire room erupted in cries of elation!
Odo was shaking and breathing erratically despite witnessing the happy memory second hand. Nerys shook his shoulders, a bit alarmed.
"Odo, don't scare me! Are you alright?"
"I should have been there as it was happening!" he cried. "Nerys, I am so sorry! It's not fair!"
She had never seen him in quite this state before. He was experiencing true regret and loss. He realized he had not robbed only his family. That was unforgivable of course. He was forced to see he had cheated himself out of being a father.
"If only my people were gods and they could fix this!" he said and a tear trickled down his cheek.
Nerys almost stopped breathing, "You can cry now?"
She had seen him cry before but only once. He had been human and she had known merely half the reason why he broke down and became so vulnerable. He was loving her without hope then and couldn't say it. He had settled with being a friend as usual.
"I told you my abilities were improved," he whispered. "I am as talented as the Female Founder was."
Nerys swallowed hard at that but held herself together, "This is not your fault, Odo!"
"How can you forgive me and love me after all this time?" he said pathetically.
"It's impossible for me not to! I always loved you, Odo! You were dear to me in every possible way!"
"How can she love me?"
"Because she's a saint. She can be a very angry and feisty saint, but she is!" Nerys said with fierce pride. "You'll see that in the sparing ring with her tomorrow. Get some rest, my Changeling!"
The next day he made his daughter an omelet with extra Bajoran spices. She liked her food the way she was: Fiery. He wasn't sure how her system could digest the stuff so easily, but she did. Was there anything she couldn't do?
When she showed off her martial arts skills, he became more proud of her. She had studied jujitsu and other exotic fighting styles thanks to Yoshi's influence. Her mother had taught her military combat skills too and she told him she planned to use them.
"I'm entering the military academy as soon as I turn sixteen, daddy," she announced to him impulsively. "I haven't even told mother my application was accepted."
"You want to do what?" Odo's voice alerted the computer of distress and their program fizzled away.
"I want to be a soldier," Iliana said as though it was nothing. "Let's keep playing! Show me what I should do if some bad Changeling were to attack me!"
"Iliana, does your mother know you applied to the Bajoran Academy in the first place?"
"Well," she began to scratch the back of her neck, "I didn't mention it. Pohl doesn't know either. If I told him he would conveniently lose it or instruct me to fill it out wrong on purpose. He wants me to stay on the station and be safe and all that. I trusted Taban and he helped me with it."
Odo didn't like being informed of dubious secrets like this! His daughter was pitting him against some of the others of the family unit by keeping such things in the dark and expecting him not to say anything! He froze in befuddlement and a bit of panic.
"Aren't you young for such a thing?" he began to talk too fast. "The military is strict! So strict! If you think having Pohl look over your shoulder or that your mother nagging you is too much, how are you going to survive the academy? What if another war rages? What if you face some obstacles as a female? What if you get hurt during training or get homesick? What if-"
"Daddy!" she looked hurt. "Daddy, don't you trust me? Do you think I can't be a soldier? Do you think I'm too stupid or too weak or something? Mother was a soldier!"
"Not by choice!"
"Of course she was! She ran away from home to join the Resistance-"
"During an OCCUPATION!" Odo roared. "And her only other choice was probably sexual slavery or starvation! You have a good home here, don't you?"
Iliana trembled at the violent spike in his inflection and volume, "Well, I didn't expect you to react like this!"
Odo took a deep breath to calm himself and asked, "Is it also true that you have a Cardassian boyfriend?"
"Ugh!" she made a face. "You listen too much to Pohl! Computer, play my latest message from Jivan!"
"Who is this Jivan?" Odo growled.
"Jivan Damar!"
"Did you just say DAMAR?"
Odo knew he was acting wildly out of character but he just couldn't help himself. He felt an urge to protect his little girl from everything and everyone and especially from things like combat and Cardassians!
He saw Legate Damar's son appear within the holosuite. He had to admit that he was handsome and proper but he looked too old for his liking. He appeared to be a Cardassian youth that had just hit his second decade and so what was he doing exchanging messages with his fourteen year old daughter? He wanted to start shouting again, but he listened carefully to the message instead. Thank goodness he did. Odo felt himself calming as Iliana paced in a fury about the suite.
The message was merely a friendly conversation. Jivan was talking about his half-sister and about his grueling testing in the higher academies on Cardassia. He hinted that he was considering a career in politics but the peaceful kind. Then he asked Iliana if she had already applied to her own military academy. He wished her luck and farewell. There was nothing indicating a romantic or sexual relationship at all. It seemed completely innocent.
When Jivan faded away, his message over, she said, "Well, father, do you want to watch every single recording we have ever exchanged over the years? I met Jivan when I was six and he was twelve. His family and Garak's visited the station. We decided we liked talking. We're pen pals and nothing more! Pohl was pulling your leg! Or do you not trust me? Do you hate Cardassians? Is that the reason you jumped down my throat?"
Odo's anger and passion began to ebb a bit and he felt a bit sheepish, "Iliana, I overreacted. I am sorry. Cardassians have a history of abusing Bajoran women-"
"I know about the history of the comfort woman system. Jivan was born after that awful practice was over. His father had nothing to do with it either."
"I was there! I saw those abuses with my own eyes same as your mother."
"Yes she doesn't mind me talking to Jivan."
"I remember working with Legate Damar to liberate Cardassia too. Once again, I am sorry. It shouldn't matter to me whether you were in a relationship with a Cardassian or not. You should be allowed to love Klingons, Trill, or even Ferengi!"
"Naw!" she waved a hand and smirked. "I'm not interested in relationships of that sort. I told you I want to start a military career."
"You do seem determined. However, you need to tell your mother about your ambition to be a soldier. Running away without saying anything is a terrible disservice to her."
"I don't know. The parent I hoped would be happy reacted very poorly instead!" she snapped. "Maybe I should just join and not tell anyone until after I'm gone!"
"Iliana, I had hoped to spend as much time with you as I can. You are turning fifteen in a matter of weeks. That means I only get one year with you before you slip away from me!"
"A year," Iliana said softly. "A year just like you had a solitary year of being my mother's lover."
"Iliana, I don't want to lose you."
"I don't want to lose you either, daddy," she softened quite a bit. "You won't lose me. I was the one that lost you. I never had you really!"
"Actually I will lose you. I will lose all of you," Odo said. "Because I am a Changeling and will outlive you all."
That fact had not quite sunken into his simulated skull until now.
"Daddy, I will always be your little girl. I'll be out of the academy in no time."
"It's four years of drills, tests, and trials, isn't it?"
"The program could change," Iliana told him. "Military organizations in general are something quite new to Bajor. Before the Occupation there was nothing quite like a unified army. I will specialize in the physics and logistics of war in space, of course. If I work hard, I will likely graduate and be assigned right back here. That's what I'm hoping for anyhow."
"I'll give you my blessing if you tell your mother about this now. I'll let her know that I support you."
"Really, daddy?"
He nodded, "Your brothers have chosen challenging paths of their own. You are no different and deserve to be treated the same as them. I love all three of you. As my only girl, you have a special place in my heart, Iliana."
"Hopefully mother doesn't flip out! Pohl is probably more likely to do that, though."
Odo and Iliana marched back to their family quarters. Pohl was still working at the security office so they only had to face Nerys. Odo nudged his daughter to speak.
"Commander," she cleared her throat. "I didn't tell you but I applied to the Bajoran military academy."
"Did you now?" Nerys narrowed her eyes.
Iliana didn't balk, "I was accepted and I plan to attend as soon as I am of age."
Nerys cracked a smile, "Did you really think I didn't already know?"
Odo laughed and Iliana said, "Pohl sniffed me out, didn't he?"
"The academy informed me before you. Besides, who do you think wrote your letter of recommendation?"
"Mamma?" Iliana's eyes watered.
"You're clever which is good. You'll need brains as well as brawn, soldier girl!"
"Thank you!" Iliana sprang for a hug.
Nerys accepted the hug, "I have something to tell you."
"What?" Iliana was nervous.
"Your father and I have made arrangements to get properly married. Do we have your blessing or do we have to run away and elope?"
Iliana burst into laughter, "If the universe couldn't stop you two before, I can't possibly hope to stop you now. Just one thing, daddy: If you ever leave me and my mother again, I'll hunt you down even into the Great Link! You can't escape from me especially once I've graduated from the academy!"
"I'll hold you to that," he responded.