Odo tried to keep to his work and to his family for the most part, especially Iliana since he knew she would be separated from him soon. However, there were people outside the Kira clan that was happy to have him back. Julian Bashir and Ezri Dax were still living on the station. There was also Quark and Rom and his wife. He had been deliberately avoiding Quark's bar.

"Odo!" he heard a voice as he was patrolling the Promenade and groaned. "Odo, don't you walk away from me!"

"Leave me alone, Quark!" Odo growled.

He tried to avoid the man by getting lost in the crowds, but Quark was persistent. He jostled through the crowd, got dangerously close, and he made as though he was going to hug him then and there in front of multiple witnesses!

Quark clutched only thick fog as Odo shifted lightning quick. Quark was surprised. Odo never liked shifting unnecessarily and never in public unless he was chasing a criminal or protecting someone or something like that. He noticed that the fog didn't feel cold and clammy on contact but warm and dry more like smoke.

"Drat!" Quark said in frustration. "Don't be like that, Odo!"

"What are you even still doing here?" Odo's voice was disembodied but Quark could hear it clearly. "Still running your seedy little bar with its overpriced drinks? "

"Yes!"

"Why!"

"Because I love being a bartender! Now would you kindly change back so I can see your face?"

The fog swept away in answer. The crowds were a bit startled and confused as Odo squeezed through cracks between close bodies, making good his escape.

"Odo, stop avoiding me!" Quark shouted.

Odo chuckled when he shifted back before Julian's. He loved denying the Ferengi and he felt like he needed to speak with the station doctor first.

Ezri Dax opened the door for him. The Trill woman had let her hair grow a little longer and because it had been twenty years, she seemed much more confident and put together. Julian was quick to offer Odo tea out of sheer politeness. He knew Odo could absorb some liquids and figured green tea was mostly water anyway. Odo was touched but refused.

"Go ahead and make a pot of tea anyway, Julian," Ezri told him. "I'll drink some and we all know an Englishman likes his tea. You'll end up drinking a cup yourself."

"Very well."

Ezri and Odo sat together as Julian replicated the tea.

"So how has married life been?" Odo asked. "I heard the two of you married. I never thought our young doctor would ever settle down!"

Ezri grinned, "It's like living with a best friend with benefits!"

Julian laughed as he offered his wife tea, "It's been swell."

"Even with Ezri integrating her past lives and personalities? I imagine sometimes it feels like living a sort of polyandrous life!"

Julian's smile faded a little, "Most days it doesn't get too weird. I knew what I was signing up for when I agreed to marry a Trill."

"It helps that he likes at least one of those former people," Ezri didn't seem bothered.

"I know that they are all Dax."

"Sounds like you found domestic bliss," Odo nodded with approval.

"I suppose you could say that."

"And what about you?" Ezri asked boldly. "What's it like after the Great Link?"

Odo gazed at her for a moment wondering how to answer then said, "Are you asking as a counselor or as my friend?"

"Your choice, Constable."

"It has been quite an adjustment. I half expected to return and find Nerys settled with another man. I knew Shakaar Edon was sincere when he declared love for her all those years ago. I found it highly unlikely he wouldn't try to rekindle something as soon as he heard she was single and his time as Prime Minister was at an end. I honestly thought when I saw my children they belonged to him."

"Well," Julian reddened a bit, "about that…"

"Thank you, Julian!" Odo pierced him with his stark blue eyes. "Thank you for my children."

Julian and Ezri made no response for a while. Julian blinked and Ezri squeezed his hand under the table. Finally the doctor spoke.

"I wanted to do something for Kira," he explained. "She's a dear friend to both Dax and I."

"She's been my friend for more than one lifetime!" Ezri said quickly.

"Shakaar certainly did try to woo Nerys."

"He did?" Odo hadn't discussed other men with Nerys.

"Yes, but she wouldn't have anything to do with it. She knew there was good reason why the two of them didn't work out in the first place! It wasn't just the distance. Plenty of men approached her but Quark and we went out of our way to keep them away. If she had told us to back off and maybe she liked so and so, we would have encouraged it. She just never found anyone suitable for her."

"How did you chase them off?" Odo asked with amusement.

"Quark would give them stronger drinks at the bar so they'd show their true colors," Julian laughed. "And I would demand an examination so that I could inform her of anything physical they were trying to hide."

"And I would tell them about how her children could be terrors and they better be prepared for fatherhood!" Ezri added. "It's a shame that most men prefer single women."

"A lot of those same men still wanted to date Nerys!"

"Yes, but she has always wanted far more than one night stands. She always put her children first."

"Well then I suppose I should thank you for that too," Odo said. "You have been very good to my children as well."

"I absolutely love babysitting them!" Ezri gushed. "Did you know Pohl called Julian 'Dadda' once?"

"Did he now?"

"Ezri, you didn't need to tell him that!" Julian frowned. "He didn't know what he was saying."

Odo looked a bit troubled but he wasn't angry at Julian at all, "It's only natural. Children need to learn words and their connections somehow. The infant made a connection. There's nothing terribly wrong with that."

Julian sighed, "I really wish I could offer you tea or a cracker or something."

"No, Julian, you have done enough."

"Remember that I have a comfortable chair awaiting you if you ever feel the need for a therapist!" Ezri reminded him.

"And if you feel like you are getting thin and stretched or losing moisture or something, I'm still your primary doctor, right?"

"Of course," Odo got up but also announced, "Nerys and I are getting married. We would like you to attend."

"A wedding!" Ezri squealed.

"Congratulations!" Julian grinned like a school boy. "Where and when, chum? We will be there. Have you contacted Garak?"

"I have through transmission. He insisted that he would tailor a custom wedding dress for the bride. "

"He would be insulted if she wore anything else."

Quark was hard at work trying to maintain the replicator in his bar when Morn sat at the bar counter. He waited patiently and silently as the Ferengi cursed and scrubbed hard. Rom never worked in the bar anymore. He was Nagus and Leeta helped him run the Ferengi unions. They still technically lived on the station but they were away more often on the Ferengi home world than they were in space. His nephew was serving aboard some starship in Starfleet.

"What will it be, Morn?" he realized the weird alien was there.

Morn was silent.

"I said what do you want, Morn?" Quark repeated a little louder.

"I heard that you have been looking out for Nerys in my absence," Odo's voice came out of Morn's trap.

"What is going on here?" Quark cried.

"I hoped if I took this form you wouldn't try to hug me again!"

Quark clutched his heart it was beating so fast, "You can shift into other people now?"

"I can!" Morn's mouth moved but it was Odo in there after all. "So you better be on your toes and best behavior from now on!"

"By the Vault!" Quark was profoundly disturbed.

"I guess you aren't so happy I'm back after all!"

"Odo, I missed you!"

"So I've been told."

"I missed you more than I miss my idiot brother!"

"That idiot is now ruler of your planet."

"That doesn't change the fact that he is an idiot and his wife is a dunce! Now why don't you change back into your normal form?"

"My normal form is liquid."

"You know what I mean! I want to see the face I'm familiar with!"

"I don't want anyone to see me in this bar. That's why I chose Morn's form. Does he ever shut up and go somewhere else to buy drinks?"

"No and I'm glad. Do you have any idea about that man's background? You prided yourself on being such a great detective but I bet latinum that you'd be surprised!"

"I don't care, Quark."

"But-"

"I said I do not care. I came here to set the record straight."

"Oh?"

"You are not my friend."

"Odo!"

"You are not my friend but Nerys and I am getting married. I want you to be my best man."

"You what?" the Ferengi's eyes popped and his mouth gaped open.

"Close your mouth! Your breath is atrocious!" Odo ordered.

His mouth made an audible snapping sound as he shut his jaws, "You really mean it?"

"Yes now say yes or say no. There's no need to make a big fuss about this."

"Of course, Odo!"

"Good now promise me you will never try to hug me again or I'll arrest you for attempted assault!"

"I missed your threats!"

"Tell me, how hard has my son been on you since joining security?"

"He's a boy scout, you know. He can't shift and spy on me so I've never felt paranoid around him."

"Hm. Perhaps you should. You do realize that shifting is not necessary to spy on someone? There are surveillance devices, hacking tools, moles and good old fashioned eavesdropping and gossip?"

"Of course I know that. I run a bar."

"Didn't you acquire your own moon? Why don't you set up a bar or retire like you always talked about doing?"

"Because my friends are here, Odo. If they don't keep to the station they usually find their way here eventually. The wormhole is still right outside. I get customers from unexplored parts of the galaxy. Their first stop is usually right here. My brother might be Nagus, but I am the first contact between Ferengi commerce and new and gullible aliens."

"That's very devious."

"It's business and not entirely unethical."

"I refuse to discuss money grubbing with you."

"You were also thanking me."

"Yes. Nerys always did have an unexpected friend in you. You were there for her even when I wasn't. When I was under the sway of the Female Founder, you probably saved her life. I never properly thanked you for that either."

"I'm so glad we didn't lose you to the Founders then. Speaking of the Founders-"

"I'm not discussing my people with you either. Now give me a bubbly drink."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes. Give me samples of your different champagnes."

"Why?" Quark was suspicious.

"Because, Quark, I need it for my upcoming wedding. I don't drink, but it is traditional for the bride and groom to share a bowl and drink in Bajoran ceremonies. I can't eat so I will have to feed Nerys a smaller bowl of whatever the food is. She can offer me a drink though. I want it to be something fancy and bubbly. Is that so much to ask from a bartender?"

"You're not just asking me to be your best man? You want me to provide drinks at your wedding too?"

"Yes, Quark! I'm asking to be your customer! Can Bajoran wine be as bubbly as champagne?"

"Not usually, no. The thing about champagne is that it is also not really champagne unless it is from a particular place on Earth. I don't replicate the real stuff."

"Wait a minute, then what is the stuff you do replicate and sell to your customers?"

"A knock off version."

"But you still charge them nearly the same price!"

"It's a trade secret. It says on the menu in tiny print that it's not the real stuff. If the customer can't read that's not on me!"

"Damn you are sneaky!"

Quark reached down and grabbed several dozen bottles of champagne and a small glass for samples. He was nervous still. Odo had dumped some of his product on the ground before or splashed it right back in his face when he was a Changeling. He drank his stuff only when he was human.

"Shouldn't the Commander be here with you to taste this stuff?"

"Nerys told me this was entirely up to me."

"Well then how are you going to choose a favorite?"

"I care more about the texture. I like bubbles."

"Alright then, if that's the case, this brand is probably the most fizzy and bubbly."

Quark poured out a sample and Odo actually swished it in his mouth and swallowed. The bartender could barely believe his eyes.

"Not bad! Let me try the others just to be sure!"

He gave Quark a slip of latinum as he continued to sample the drinks and talked for hours with his frenemy.