Disclaimer: While Paramount may have stopped playing, I never will. The
own DS9 and their characters, but this is mostly my stuff and my stuff
it shall stay.

ObInfo: This story takes place shortly after _Fighting the Pit Within_.

                           Outlaw In-laws
Catherine Allan.

  Odo tried to relax as he lay on the biobed, staring at the ceiling.
He'd heard that stress was bad for infants in utero, and had cut down
his duties accordingly, hiring a secretary he could trust. Ironically,
it was Mora, who took to being a potential grandfather like a duck to
water.
  The scientist had already altered the environmental controls of both
Odo's quarters and his office in order to make him more comfortable, and
had installed a null-g bubble for Odo to relax in, in both areas. Today,
he had started on suppliments, and recommendations about the optimum
levels of exposure to this or that form of radiation.
  Now he was getting the same from Bashir.
  It wouldn't be so bad if Nerys hadn't joined in.
  "He *is* right, Odo." She patted his hand as she sat beside him. "You
do need to look after yourself, now. We have the baby to think of."
  "It's growing healthily, by the way," Bashir supplied, "but as far as
I can tell, it's just a ball. There aren't any defining characteristics
yet."
  "That's probably normal." Odo announced. "Considering one of the
parents."
  "'Probably'?" Nerys looked him in the eye. "Haven't they sent back any
information *yet*?"
  "Maybe they don't believe it's possible," he suggested. "Perhaps
they're sending experts. Who knows?"
  Bashir was typing information on a datapadd. "I'm prescribing a
chemical cocktail for Odo which should improve his general condition, and
he *must* spend at least four hours in the equivalent of Bajoran
sunlight. A holosuite should suffice for that."
  "I know just the holoprogram." Nerys smiled.
  Odo gasped, revelling in a sensation from the little ball within.
  Bashir's tricorder was out in a nanosecond, and Nerys gripped his hand
tightly.
  "What is it? Is something wrong?"
  Odo's smile said it all. "It's moving." He took his Ale'al's hand and
moved it inside his stomach. "You won't feel it on the outside. It's
very small movements."
  Nerys kept her hand relatively still. "Such tiny little ripples..."
  Bashir was murmuring. "Did you know you're sampling Nerys' DNA every
time you touch?"
  "No."
  "This is fascinating. Apparently, your body is using Kira's DNA as a
baseline for the adjustments you're undergoing. There's an analog to a
humanoid placenta forming as I speak."
  Odo's irritation at Bashir was interrupted by a commcall.
  >Ops to Colonel Kira.<
  Kira, forced to withdraw, hit her commbadge. "This is Kira. Go."
  >Two Dominion vessels have just come through the wormhole, and the
Starfleet Medical vessel Ontario is approaching at warp nine. Colonel,
they want to arrange an audience with Ambassador Odo.<
  Odo groaned under his breath and thought hard about hiding somewhere.
  "Any other ships approaching?"
  >Yes. I believe it's the Enterprise.<
  "At this rate, it'll be a flakking press conference. Tell them all
they can dock. Give quarters to the people who request them *only*, then
tell them they have to wait until Odo has completed his first round
of medical treatment. In the meantime, Doctors Bashir and Mora are ready
to answer *all* their questions."
  "Hey..." said Bashir.
  She didn't listen, but seized Odo's hand. "Come on. It's high time we
had a picnic in the mountains of Dakhur."

  "Come on, you could at least try it."
  Odo sighed, and allowed some of the sample to permeate his matter. His
system absorbed it and demanded more. He downed the rest of the canister
in instants. He was left gasping and feeling hungry. "More?"
  Kira tapped her badge. "Kira to Quark. We're going to need a second
basket - this one full of that stuff Bashir precribed for Odo."
  >I'll put it on your tab.<
  She turned back to her lover to discover he'd stretched himeslf out on
a sun-warmed rock. "Enjoying yourself, Ale'al?"
  "I never knew that it'd feel this good," he managed, revelling in the
sunshine.
  "If anything's going to teach you to look after your health, this
aught to. Naughty Changeling."
  "You're right. I've been too used to pain for far too long..." He
sighed, stretching in the sunshine. "I don't suppose we could - Link?"
  "*After* the hamper comes up. We don't want to shock some poor Ferengi
out of his sensibilities." Nerys ran her fingertips over his supine
form, and was surprised to hear Odo laugh.
  "That tickles."
  "It does?" She grinned, running her fingertips along the area again.
"You're telling me *this* tickles?"
  Then the Colonel found out why it wasn't a good idea to get into a
tickle-fight with a shapeshifter. She threw off her boots so she could
at least try to gain an advantage with her toes, and found that that was
also a mistake. As they wrestled for dominance, Odo kept 'loosing his
grip' on the writhing Nerys so that all was fair in this loving little
war.
  Then someone cleared his throat.
  "I thought I'd take this up," announced a stranger in medical uniform.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Doctor Lieutenant-Commander Thomas
Webb."
  "Hello." Said Odo with absolutely no politeness whatsoever.
  "Goodbye." Said Nerys with even less.
  Webb placed the basket beside the one already on their picnic blanket,
and refused to take the hint. "I'd like to ask a few medical questions,
Ambassador, If I may."
  "Ask away," said Odo, "but you won't get any answers until I've
finished my first round of medication. Go bother Bashir with it."
  "I've already covered the available information, Ambassador, that's
why I'm here. I'd like to know how you knew this was at all possible,
for a start."
  Odo disentangled himself from Nerys, sat cross-legged and cross-armed
on the grass, and stared back at Webb. As if to drive his point home, he
made a minor adjustment to his face. It no longer had a mouth.
  Nerys followed suit as much as she was able.
  It took the man a further minute to say, "I see. I'll have you know
I'm not used to being treated like the others. I *am* a highly respected
medical practitioner. I know more about cross-species medicine than any
other Doctor currently serving in Starfleet."
  "You're also rude, arrogant, annoying and unwelcome." Kira Nerys was
on her feet and striding towards Webb. She had no weapon close to hand,
but every atom of her posture indicated that this was not something to
be confident about. "Any doctor who has the audacity to interrupt a
patient's treatment to ask flakking stupid questions isn't worth the
paper his certificate's written on!"
  Webb, forced to back away from the irate Bajoran, began to stammer.
  "Exit!" Kira barked, and allowed herself a smile as Webb backed
himself out of their private domain. "Close exit." She sighed, dusted
her hands and returned to her lover's side.
  Odo was smiling at her. "Bravo."
  "Now," Nerys settled herself into his arms. "Where were we?"

  "All scans made have been non-invasive in order to comply with Domion
requests about the matter. In order to further protect the infant -
which is a high priority in this case; I haven't been scanning with a
tricorder closer than one point seven meters." Julian sighed as the
babble of objections - all from Starfleet cross-species scientists;
arose. "If I did anything different, distinguished colleagues, it would
cause friction between the Dominion and the Federation." 
  The objecters went quiet, their gazes drawn to the party of Dominion
representatives. Two Founders sat ramrod straight in their appointed
seats, attended on either side by two standing Vorta each. Behind the
Vorta, three scowling Jem'Hadar glared right back at them.
  "There has never been a child formed in this way," stated the first
Founder. "It is rare that a Changeling carries an infant alone, but it
has been done."
  "The Dominion wishes the child to be protected," announced the other.
"Not for our sake, but for Odo's. His happiness matters, and if we must
war over it, we will."
  "All of you have copies of the specific information regarding this
case. Now I'm sure that if the Dominion asks us to restrict our
investigations *further*, that there will be no objections?"
  All were quiet, yet they all nodded.
  "Good." If there was one thing Julian couldn't stand, it was being
criticised for acting in the best interests of his patient's safety.
"Now, shall we move on to the foetal development so far?"
  No objections arose. Julian smiled, bringing up the results from his
first scan. "This is the first recording we have of the infant's
development. I've assumed that this has been taken roughly twelve days
after conception. As you can see, Odo's matter is concentrated around
the area, forming a sort of armour to protect the infant."
  The Founders were conferring in hushed whispers.
  "And this is the biobed scan three hours later. The infant is
significantly larger, and already the support environment has changed.
Now we know rapid adaption to a hybrid foetus isn't possible amongst
humanoids, and varying degrees of medical assistance in order to bring
the child safely to term." He added another scan record to the display.
"The next day, we see even more changes in the support environment. All
this development has been occurring without additional supplements to
Odo's - diet; for want of a better word. At this point I felt it was
necessary to improve his physical condition. I had noted that he was
getting a bit poor."
  "It is regrettable that we were not able to help him during his time
in the Link," said Founder#2. "He was more than 'poor' even then."
  "We've been alleviating the situation this morning. As we speak, Odo
is currently improving his physical condition with a regime of solar
radiation filtered by an atmosphere, and this," A complex chemical
formula appeared on the screen. "This is the Changeling equivalent of an
electrolyte/nutrient solution. It's easily absobed into the system,
without being rich enough to cause trouble. Each canister replicated for
Odo gradually increases the nutrient solution by one percent. In this
case, we *have* to let the patient decide which is the best
concentration."

  "Why do these things have numbers on them?" Nerys lined them up on
their blanket, which she'd dragged closer to Odo's rock.
  "Bashir will answer *all* questions..." Odo smiled, leaning over to
supervise her work. "Just hand me number 2."
  "But how do you know that's the one?"
  "My previous - 'empty'; was number 1."
  "How logical of you," she passed up the canister, and enjoyed watching
her Ale'al eat.

  He'd felt sated by the time he finished canister 20, yet he held on to
the twenty-first just in case he needed it later. Nerys held the basket
full of the rest - numbers 22 through to thirty; as she walked beside
her lover.
  She smiled to herself as she ran the words through her mind. _Odo, my
Ale'al. My lover._ It sounded so right and so natural to her. _Mine._
  Now they were on their way to help Bashir field yet more questions in
the conference room. It was another session of being scanned, but Nerys
could feel Odo's trepidation.
  _Old wounds,_ Odo explained telepathically, follwed by a vivid, if
brief memory of standing on a stage while Mora explained readings with a
pointer.
  The doors opened just as Nerys managed a telepathic, _It'll be fine,
Ale'al. This time, *I'm* with you._
  _That makes all the difference._ He nodded at all of them as he
entered. "Doctors, Founders." He stopped short of addressing the Vorta,
having taken in their awe-struck faces. "Some of you may be wondering if
this could possibly be faked. Mora, why don't you show all these people
the tricorder. For the rest of this session, Bashir will scan me, and
you get to see *exactly* what's going on. Satisfied?"
  They waited for the tricorder to go around. The Founders were the ones
who were the most suspicious, but they let it pass back to Bashir.
  Odo seated himself in full view of everyone, Nerys at his side. "You
may go on, now, doctor."
  Bashir paced back until he was at a safe distance, and set the
tricorder to scan, and transmit the results to the screen. Murmurs broke
out around the table. Odo risked a peek. His child was almost twice the
size it had been this morning. The Founders were still nervous, although
they appeared relieved about something. It was such a pity he couldn't
tune in to his people as easily as he 'heard' Nerys.
  _Are you sure you want their bigoted thoughts running through your
head all day?_
  _Ale'al..._ he chided, _without them, we wouldn't be together._
  _We nearly weren't, *because* of them._
  "Now this *is* interesting. Odo's lack of physical condition must of
inhibited foetal growth somehow. While I can't tell yet if this has
damaged the child, I can only assume that we should have time to correct
any damage done."
  _So *that's* what you feel when it moves._ Nerys smiled at her lover.
_It's wonderful._
  "Over here, we see the placental analog. Note the absence of an
umbilical analog. Like a humanoid placenta, it transforms nutrients, and
anything else the infant requires, from a form suitable to the parent to
a form suitable to the child."
  Both Founders were barely paying attention, whispering agitatedly
amongst themselves.
  Odo snorted at an ironic thought. _Not even born yet, and our baby's
already doing shows._
  _It's lucky, all it has to do is sit there and grow,_ quipped Nerys.
_*I* had to recite 'You Are Old, Vedek Prassa'. *All* of it._
  "No, I can *not*." The second Founder stood, much to the surprise of
everyone in the room. "The infant is far too small, and is growing too
slowly. Were it not for its movements in utero, it could be dead."
  _Ale'al._ They clung to each other at the news.
  "A fully Changeling infant would be a third again as large as this one
by this stage in its development," informed the first. "The truth is,
there has never been a Solid/Changeling hybrid infant. We don't know if
this child's development has been retarded by the Solid's genes."
Founder#1 turned to Odo. "I would Link with you, when you're ready, and
see if the infant is well."
  "You won't do anything else?"
  "Merely impart all the information you need. Your happiness is
important to us. You must believe that."
  He looked to Nerys. Her thoughts ran clearly into his mind, _We have
to *know*, Ale'al._
  "Very well," he said to both of them. "After this meeting is over."
  Before Bashir could launch into more technobabble, Kira got a
commcall.
  >Ops to Colonel Kira. We have an urgent call for you from an incoming
private vessel.<
  She sighed. "Pipe it through."
  First Minister Shakaar's voice floated through the air. >You know I
had to come as soon as I heard about this. But - I have some bad news.<
  "How bad is 'bad', Edon?"
  >There's a centuries-old law forbidding you and Odo to even *have* a
relationship, and it's never been rescinded.<
  "What nut dug that up?"
  >Your clan elder.<
  _I didn't know you *had* a clan elder._
  _Neither did I._
  >Can she hear me on this thing?< A second male voice came through.
>Kira Nerys, this is your elder Kirantana Ebu. I formally forbid you to
have anything to do with that alien slime.<
  _He could have phrased *that* better._
  _Odo, he's a Cragger. They call a spade a spade._
  _Cragger?_
  _They live way up in the mountains, too high for the Cardies to have
reached during the occupation, and nothing to steal if any got there._
  _I thought *you* lived way up in the mountains._
  _They never came as far down the mountain as we did._
  "Kirantana Ebu, you are aware that as a far distant link to the
ancient Kir family, that I can choose to ignore your advice."
  >*Advice*? Girly, I am twice your age and your nearest living male
relitive. That makes me your elder by law. And that makes my word law.
Don't you worry your pretty little head, now, 'cause you can legally
shelter in my house, *far* away from that pond scum sucker.<
  _*This* guy's winning no points._
  "Are you aware, Mr. Kirantana, that your actions could start an
interplanetary war?" _Not to mention your choice of words..._
  >Get your filthy hands off that unsullied Bajoran woman *now*, scum-
sucker. I claim my right to protect my clan-daughter, and I have a Vedek
to back me up.<
  >He does, Nerys,< sighed Shakaar, >and he plans to have you married
off to *me* instead.<

To be continued :)

Ain't I a stinker?

===============================

Kir
Kira
Kire
Kiru
Kiraba
Kirasa
Kiran
Kiranta
Kirantana Ebu -- redneck technical elder of the tribe

Vedek Drell - Ebu's back-up
Vedek Tonsa - cannon station Vedek :)

Cherka == goat.

Matriarch Kiran Alita

Dr. LtCmdr Thomas Webb