Here we go! This is the very last chapter of this story EVER! I know, you're probably relieved. :) Just kidding. Then again, you probably have most everything figured out by now because you're SO SMART! Without further adieu...

Chapter Twenty: Full Circle

Odo

"It was by chance that I found the alien frieghter," Odo said, his story coming to a close. "They had dropped out of warp to make a quick repair, and I slipped in undetected. When I discovered the name of the ship, I remembered seeing it on a list of incoming ships in my office. So I became myself again and introduced myself. Unfortunately, they didn't quite trust me, so I was able to ride in their brig all the way here. I explained my status on Deep Space Nine, and my desire to return there. They required that I prove I was a Changeling, but even then, they left me in the brig." Odo shrugged. "Then I arrived at DS9."

Sisko looked at Odo. "So, how do you think the Cardassians developed such weapons as to incapacitate Changelings?"

"I am unsure, Commander," Odo said, "but they were surely created to keep the Changeling who is here under control."

"Constable," Sisko said, "would you Link with that Changeling and fill in some of the details of this mystery?"

"Yes, I could do that," Odo answered.

"Excellent," Sisko said. "Are you ready now?"

Odo nodded. The two of them left the room and walked in silence to the place where the Changeling was being held. The sight was sad to Odo, and he sympathized with the creature before him, encaged almost exactly the same way that he had been on the Cardassian ship. Did it not matter where he went? Would Changelings be treated the same everywhere?

He pushed these unpleasant thoughts aside. The force field was lowered and Odo quickly stepped inside before it was raised again. Then the caged Changeling was released from its little prison. But it did not come out of the little glass box. It seemed to cower in its container, inching as far away as it could get from Odo.

This made Odo feel terrible for this little being, who had been abused by the Cardassians probably most of its life, and who knew how long that had been? Odo came toward the scared little Changeling slowly, unmenacingly. Then he slowly lowered his hand into the container...

The Changeling offered no resistance. It had given up. But when Odo touched it, the Changeling seemed startled... then intrigued, and finally it started to become a part of Odo.

Sisko

Watching these events unfold from the other side of the force field, Sisko waited semi-patiently for a solid half hour as Odo and the other Changeling were Linked together. Then the two of them became separate beings once again, and Odo signaled for the security officer to lower the field. When he did, the other changeling made no attempt at escape, just transformed into its humanoid form and stood by Odo.

"Constable?" Sisko prompted.

"It's all right, sir," Odo said. "This is Riiv. She is one of the hundred."

"The hundred Changelings that the Founders sent to explore the universe?" Sisko asked.

"Yes," Odo answered. "Cardassians intercepted her when she was on her way to her original destination. They exposed her to awful, abusive treatments. She has been a slave to them her whole life, forced to carry out secret missions for them. It's all she's ever known."

Riiv was staring at the floor, cowering behind Odo. "It's all right," Sisko assured her. "You are not in danger anymore."

Riiv glanced up and briefly made eye contact with Sisko, just long enough to nod and look quickly away. It was clear she was not ready for any questions, so Sisko adressed Odo again. "How was she able to-"

"Please, sir," Odo said. "Not right now."

Sisko looked at Riiv, seeming so small and afraid. "Of course," he said. "Another time."

After a brief tour of the station and showing Riiv to her newly assigned quarters, Sisko began asking the questions on his mind. "Just how long has she been on the station?" he asked.

"Since the day Kira was shot," Odo answered as they walked down a corridor. "Riiv came here in the luggage of a young girl who was once a Dabo girl on Deep Space Nine and boarded the station unnoticed. After incapacitating and hiding this Dabo girl, she took on her facade. Then she went straight to the Promenade and located the Major in Garak's shop, just as she had been instructed to do."

"But how did she get a weapon on the Promenade without your knowing?" Sisko wondered.

"Well, that's just it," Odo said. "She didn't. The Cardassians were merciless when they trained Riiv to be their ultimate surveillance weapon. They tortured her into becoming anything they needed. And that is all-inclusive. Anything and everything they needed, they forced her to be. She had no choice; the pain they would inflict on her otherwise was too overwhelming. They trained her to become impossible things, like a phaser."

Sisko was taken aback. "How is that possible?"

"It isn't - at least, it shouldn't be," Odo told him. "But she had to make it possible because of her fear of the Cardassian's torture methods. So, Riiv transformed her hand into a phaser and used it to shoot Kira. Luckily, it was literally impossible for her to replicate the blast of a phaser, but she used a convincing substitute. As practice, she had punched a hole through many Cardassian soldiers, and putting a hole through Kira's abdomine was no different." As he spoke of this horrific occurence, his voice was tight and controlled and sad. "She then did the same to Garak, who was trying to stop her unsuccessfully. She didn't hit Garak as hard because it was not part of her mission to kill him. Then she turned herself into Gul Dukat's blood, spraying herself around the room as she had been instructed to do."

"How did she become blood?" Sisko asked. "I didn't think that was possible either."

"Again, she had no choice but to make it so," Odo explained. "We collected the blood and took it to be examined. The young officer who was doing the tests got the shock of his life when the blood incapacitated him and shoved him into a compartment on the station which also contained the Dabo girl whom Riiv was impersonating. That was when Riiv's plan slowed down because creating fake reports was always her weak point. But, after a while, she finished it. Then she transformed back to the Dabo girl and went sneaking around at night, searching for a way out. She was forced to take out a security officer when he tried to stop her and store him in the same place as she stored the officer who was to examine the blood and the Dabo girl."

"How did she keep them quiet?" Sisko inquired.

"She would enter the computer in the Medical Bay and replicate very heavy sleep medication," Odo said. "She didn't want to kill any more than she needed to. It is a miracle that, after so much time with the Cardassians, she has any morals at all, but somehow, her conscience has remained intact. Anyway, she couldn't get off the station because we were starting to catch on to what was happening. She panicked when the security officers came after her and fought them as they captured her. The rest we know."

"But," Sisko said, "if Garak knew there was a Changeling on the station, why didn't he just tell us instead of lying and saying he knew nothing?"

"Riiv made sure that he would remember nothing by applying a skillful blow to Garak's head," Odo explained. "She was instructed to do so to any witnesses, so that she could make a clean escape. Garak truly couldn't remember what happened, but eventually, his memories should come back."

"I see," Sisko said. "But why would the Cardassians go through all this trouble? What was the point?"

"It seems to me," Odo began, "that they wanted a war with the Federation. They wanted an excuse to fight, so they made one up. They tried to assassinate Kira and frame Dukat. Then they came to get Riiv back rather belligerantly, openly admitting that they were the ones who tried to kill the Major."

"Then why didn't they fight us after we gave you to them?" Sisko asked. "They supposedly had Riiv back. What held them back from opening fire on Deep Space Nine?"

"Dukat probably suspected that you had tricked him somehow," Odo guessed. "You did give up rather easily, giving me up without a fight. But he didn't know exactly what you had done, so he didn't know whether you had really given him his special agent back or not. And he would have no way of finding out until he got back to Cardassia for some tests. If he didn't get Riiv back safely, that would have been a great loss for the Cardassians, as she was their most important operative."

Sisko nodded. It all made sense now. "Well, I don't know if Riiv can be forgiven of her crimes, but I will be sure to fight for her forgiveness on the grounds that she had no choice."

Odo nodded. "Thank you, Commander. She really is kind inside, just broken. She just needs a little help."

Kira

"Shh, shh!" Dax urged. "He's on his way! Hurry!"

Everyone positioned themselves for the attack. There was electricity in the air as they anticipated their long-awaited and planned out ambush. The doors slid open revealing Sisko and Odo entering the room...

"SURPRISE!" everyone jumped up and yelled at once. Odo looked as if he was ready to karate chop someone. "WELCOME HOME!" Then Odo just looked confused.

Kira smiled and walked over to Odo. "Don't worry," she told him. "It's just a party for you. We put it together to tell you how much we missed you and how great we think you are."

Odo relaxed a bit but looked uncomfortable. "Oh," he said gruffly. "Well. Thank you."

Kira smiled and everyone else in the room laughed. The party started and everyone began talking to each other. "I'm glad you're all right," Kira told Odo. "I was worried about you when I woke up."

"You?" Odo said. "Worried about me? I've been worried for you since this whole situation began! Are you feeling all right?"

"Sure," Kira said bravely. "Julian fixed me up; I'm fine. But you, out of my reach, on a Cardassian ship somewhere... That's a real cause for alarm."

"You know I can take care of myself," Odo pointed out.

Kira smiled. "Yes," she said, "I know, but I still prayed for you."

Odo had a flashback of the last surge of energy he had received on the floor of the Cardassian cargo bay. It had been so sudden and unexpected, and also exactly what he needed. He started to wonder if perhaps this miracle had come to pass because of Kira's prayer to the prophets. But... the Prophets were not really all-powerful, as the Bajorans believed... were they?

Sisko

The party was a welcome relief for Sisko after the past few stressful weeks. He spent time talking to friends and relaxing for the first time in too long. He spotted Jake in the room with the girl he'd gone on a date with. Sisko smiled at him encouragingly.

"Sir?" said a voice. Sisko turned around and smiled as he saw Major Kira standing there.

"Major," he said warmly. "Have I told you yet how wonderful it is to have you back?"

Kira smiled back. "No, in fact, you haven't."

"Hmm... I thought I had," Sisko said. "Ah, well, I suppose it ought to be said more than once, considering how very true it is."

"Thank you," Kira said, touched.

"I've been thinking, lately," Sisko began, "that we all ought to say things like that more often. We can never know when a person might be taken from us, suddenly, without warning. What if my last words to you had been, 'report back to me in an hour'? What if I hadn't gotten to give Odo a proper goodbye?"

"But you will," Kira assured him. "We're both fine. You don't need to worry about us."

"Thank you, Nerys," Sisko said, giving her a small grin, "but that's part of my job."

O'Brien

"You know, this was all my idea," Miles told Odo.

Odo looked surprised. "Chief?" he asked.

Miles grinned. "Yeah, I was thinking about you one day, about how much you do for the station and how little you ask for in return. I thought that you deserved a proper thank-you. Then you gave yourself up to the Cardassians, and I figured that there wouldn't be a better time than now to throw this little bash."

Odo was stunned silent, so Miles continued speaking. "Dax jumped all over the idea and hit the ground running with all the party planning. It's just as well; I'm sure that if I'd planned this party, it wouldn't have been nearly as fun."

The silence on Odo's end persisted, so Miles said, "Of course, it wouldn't have been any fun at all if you hadn't returned. I was getting worried that you might not ever come back, that we should have just given up that other Changeling. The whole mess got me thinking that we shouldn't take the people in our lives for granted. We should make sure they get the thanks they deserve before they're taken away from us.

"So, I guess I've come in a full circle," Miles concluded, "and what I'm really trying to say is... Thank you, Odo. The station couldn't run without you."

Odo tried his best to give a smile. "Thank you, Chief," he said quietly, "but the people on this station do just as much for me as I do for them."

I am SO SO sorry that it took forever to get this up! But now that color guard season is over, I had time to finish it! I really hope you enjoyed this story. Thanks for reading! You guys are the best! :D