With thanks and apologies to Paramount, and proceeding under the assumption that forgiveness is easier to ask than permission:

This story takes place following "His Way" and "The Reckoning," and before events in the next new episode The Powers That Be see fit to serve us, whatever they may be --

GreenWoman, 5/1/98

Hello, can you hear me
Am I getting through to you
Hello, is it late there
There's laughter on the line
Are you sure you're there alone
Cause I'm trying to explain
Something's wrong
You just don't sound the same
Why don't you
Go outside
Kiss the rain ...

-- Kiss the Rain - Billie Myers --

Who knows how long it will last? Odo had told Vic Fontaine, the holographic mentor who had engineered the miracle. Kira Nerys loved him; an astounding thought that the changeling, who had scarcely dared hope for more beyond that euphoric moment on the Promenade, still found hard to grasp.

It had lasted, for several weeks now, in spite of his disbelief. Yet as Odo sat alone in his office after hours, waiting for a call from Bajor, the calm confidence that he had begun to assume in his outward demeanor still eluded his heart.

The comlink chirped. "Yes?"

"Odo, is that you?" Finally. Late, and a bad connection ... her voice was laced with the crackle of static. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes."

"Odo, I won't be back tomorrow." An inaudible remark to someone else ... she wasn't alone. "The reconstruction of the Prophets' tablet is taking longer than expected, and the presentation to the museum has been rescheduled."

"I see." Odo's heart fell.

There had been many awkward moments between them, of course. Quark had behaved outrageously the first time they had visited his bar as a couple. To Odo's amazement, Kira hadn't seemed to care; she had even engaged the Ferengi in a bawdy dialogue, giving as good as she got, laughter shining in her eyes. The rest of the command staff had joined in the teasing until Odo feared he would liquefy in embarrassment at the rowdy chivaree. But Nerys had turned her blinding smile on him and, before the eyes of everyone there, drew him close and kissed him. It should have been enough to reassure him ... it troubled Odo to admit that it was not.

"Edon has asked me to stay a few more days. I'm sorry."

"I understand." Edon. Not Shakaar … Edon. Worry shivered through him.

He had felt utter terror when the Prophets had seized her, using Kira as their warrior in a battle of good and evil that rendered the conflict with the Dominion insignificant in its scope. Odo had confidently declared his faith in her, and had been a firm defender of Sisko's refusal to interfere, but in truth he had been paralyzed with fear. Refusing to leave the station with the rest of the evacuees, the changeling who professed not to believe in the Prophets retreated to their Temple to wait helplessly for the outcome. When the Vedeks returned, they wondered who had lit the single prayer candle they found burning there. In desperation, Odo had pleaded with Kira's Prophets for her safety. He could not ... *would* not ... ask them for her heart.

"Odo?" More static. "This connection keeps fading out ... I can barely hear you."

"I'm here. Don't worry about anything. Stay as long as you need to." I'm here, Nerys, and I hate it that you're not ...

Odo thought of their lovemaking. The pleasure and comfort he'd hoped to find in that long-awaited intimacy had remained achingly out of reach. Instead, all the emotions ... joy, embarrassment, fear ... that had churned within him over the past weeks seemed to coalesce in his heart as he held her, trapping him in a turbulent whirlpool of wretched self-doubt. On that first frightening, wonderful night they had spent together, Odo had been far too nervous to make love to Nerys in his own form. Later, when his passion finally overwhelmed his self-consciousness and he loosed himself in her arms to caress her as he had always dreamed of doing, he had felt the sudden tension in her body as he changed, and the shiver of her nerves beneath his golden touch. Still, Kira had pretended she was not afraid ... and Odo had pretended not to notice that she was.

True, it had happened less and less. True, it had happened not at all in recent nights. But what if she was still pretending, as he was, that all was right between them? What if she had only been waiting for the right time to tell him that the Foundress had spoken the truth ... that she could never truly love a changeling?

"Odo?"

And now she was on Bajor, her home, and with Shakaar ... Edon ... who she had loved before. Who could make love to her as she had always known love to be ... with a familiar, solid, Bajoran body. The fear Odo had felt when the Prophets had possessed her was nothing compared to that which shuddered through him now.

"Odo? Hold on a moment ..." She spoke again to whoever was with her, in words too faint for Odo to hear. Was she asking her unknown companion to leave, or to stay?

"Odo, are you still there?"

"Yes, Nerys."

"Do you know what I did last night?" There was tension in her voice, clearly audible even through the static.

"No." Don't tell me you were with him ... don't tell me you've changed your mind ...

A nervous laugh. "Oh, this is going to seem so silly …"

"Tell me, Nerys."

"Well, last night ... it was raining. Hard." Another shower of electronic crackling … he strained to hear her voice.

"I walked outside and let the rain pour down on me until I was soaked through." Kira hesitated. Odo listened intently across the empty miles of space that lay between them.

"I stood out in the rain, Odo, for a long, long time." Her voice dropped, became low, husky. "Because … because it felt a little like you, touching me. Because I wanted to make love to you, and the rain on my skin was as close as I could get to feeling you touch me. I miss you so much ..."

Odo was wordless. His body quivered … it took all his concentration to hold his shape, to force a reply.

"I miss you, too, Nerys." "Odo? I'm losing this connection … I'll be home as soon as I can. I love you ..."

"I'll be waiting. I love you, too."

Kiss the rain
Whenever you need me
Kiss the rain
Whenever I'm gone too long
If your lips feel lonely and thirsty
Kiss the rain
And wait for the dawn
Keep in mind
We're under the same sky
And the night's
As empty for me as for you
If you feel
You can't wait till morning
Kiss the rain
Kiss the rain
Kiss the rain

-30-

If I wasn't crazy, I would go insane. - Jimmy Buffett

Be cool, but care. - Buckaroo Banzai

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