The Maitre d' turned over the wineglasses on the table and poured the pale blue springwine. "Are you ready to order?"

Kira's eyes tilted when she smiled. Odo nodded to her silent request. She said, "Odo and I will have the shrimp and klavaatu sauté."

"Ah, a nice choice." He reached for their menus. "Your meals will be out shortly."

Odo gestured his thanks. Kira sipped her wine.

Off to the side, a small orchestra played tasteful classical music.

"So," she set the glass down. "You look like you saw a ghost."

The subject made Odo shift in his seat. He folded his hands around his wineglass. "The building over my right shoulder is the Bajoran Institute of Science. Where I...began, and something I hoped to never see again."

Sympathy crossed her features. She reached across the table and touched his hand. "I don't mind going somewhere else if it bothers y-- "

"No, no, Nerys, it's all right." Odo managed a small smile and rubbed her knuckles. "I didn't realize it was right across the river. Don't let my past demons spoil your evening. It's been three decades since we had a night like this, and I wouldn't trade it for anything."

At that, Kira lifted her glass. "Then let's toast to the here and now. I don't want to be anywhere else."

Smiling, Odo raised his glass and tapped it against hers. "To here and now."

Together, they sipped. Their food arrived moments later. Ten large shrimp arranged in a circle around a bowl with chopped klavaatu and some sort of lettuce decorating the center.

Odo didn't have the faintest clue how to begin eating such a meal. He awkwardly took one of the shrimp off Kira's plate and held it up to her lips. She giggled, guided his hand to dip it in the juice and took a bite.

"Mm!" Her eyes closed in delight. "It's sweet and a little tangy. Do you remember the margaritas you tried while you were a humanoid?"

"Oh...yes. Doctor Bashir's birthday party. Sisko hosted, and I remember I liked his homemade margaritas so much I was too drunk to walk. Then I woke up in my quarters with no idea of how I got there."

"Someone helped you." She smiled and sipped her wine. "Me."

"It was you?"

Her expression sobered. "You were mumbling and upset. I couldn't leave you alone like that. I wish I'd known you were talking about me."

Gulping, Odo fiddled with the stem of his wineglass. "What did I say?"

"You mentioned loving a woman who loved someone else. That you wished you had the courage to come out and tell her. Um..." She bit into a slice of fruit. "I'm sorry for not telling you. I figured being that drunk was embarrassing enough. Alcohol does things to people."

Now Odo longed to ooze under the table. "I didn't try anything on you, did I?"

She shook her head. "I held you until you fell asleep. You needed someone, and I was there. Friends take care of friends."

Odo dipped a piece of shrimp and stuck it in his mouth. It felt wet and spongy when he chewed it up. Not his favorite texture, but not awful either.

"Before I was humanoid, I spent a lot of time wondering why people purposely intoxicated themselves in Quark's bar. Then I got drunk, and it all made sense. Liquor took away my ability to care about how miserable I felt, but it was still there, waiting for me after I sobered up. It wasn't worth it. Hangovers are awful things." He set his shrimp down and smiled ruefully. "I know this is late, but...thank you for being there, Nerys."

Kira's grin reached all the way to the corners of her eyes. Odo loved it when she made that face.

She finished her food. Odo asked to have his boxed. He consumed enough to be polite, but he figured someone with taste buds might appreciate the leftovers more. Nobody noticed him discretely dangling his foot over the side of the wooden platform. Everything he ate went right into the water below.

"I heard Kejal sing today." Kira tilted her head. "It was beautiful. The tram driver liked it so much he waived the fee."

That made Odo shake his head in amusement. "Kejal has always been musically inclined. I don't know where he got it. Certainly not from my genes."

"Really? He mentioned Pol having a good voice."

Odo shrugged. "I've never heard Doctor Mora sing anything. My first exposure to music was someone at the lab singing a lullaby every night during lights-out. I wish I knew who it was, because he did it nicely. I looked forward to hearing it."

Kira finished her wine. "Could have been a Prophet watching over you."

He made a face, which won a snicker out of her.

The musicians started a slow Bajoran waltz. Kira's favorite classical piece, simply titled Into The Light.

Odo stood, offering Kira his hand. "Nerys, may I have this dance?"

Kira set her napkin on the tabletop and accepted his invitation. He pulled her close. They swayed together amid the twinkling lights and candles.

And nothing else mattered.

"Odo?"

"Yes, Nerys?"

"If you love something, let it go. If it comes back, it's meant to be yours." She gazed into his eyes. "You came back to me."

"Mm...I did. Because of Doctor Mora."

"The point is you're here with me. Even if it's because of him, here we are."

Odo smiled, twirled her and led her into a chaste kiss. "I certainly have no complaints."

She mirrored his expression. Then her face grew serious.

"Odo, we're still as much in love now as we were when we said goodbye."

Truer words had never been spoken.

"I really believe we're meant for each other," she went on. "I've thought about this since you left, and I regretted that we never did it while we were together. It's time. Let's get married, Odo."

Odo's mind did a wipe-rewind. He missed a step in the waltz and barely avoided tripping over Kira's feet.

"Married?" He blinked. "Nerys, I'm still making peace within the Dominion. I want this. Oh, you have no idea how much I dreamed of it. But we may be apart for years at a time. Perhaps even decades. How can a marriage work that way?"

"Nobody said it's going to be easy. And didn't you tell Laas once that the fact that it isn't easy is what makes it worthwhile?"

She took his hands. Her eyes held only tenderness.

"I have no intention of falling in love with anyone else. I want to be yours, and I want you to be mine. Knowing we have that bond-- even if we have to wait decades to see each other-- that's enough for me. I love you, Odo."

Odo nearly forgot how to mimic breathing. This moment made him more nervous than any other of his lifetime.

They both knew the time they had together was short at best. She had duties aboard Deep Space Nine, and he still had a lot of work to do with the Dominion to undo the damage it caused. Neither occupation allowed much time away. And there was the matter of her short lifespan compared to his biological immortality. One day, she would be gone from him.

Somehow, we will make this work. Just like she said. We always make it work. Don't worry about the future...just live now!

Odo looked up at the elaborate chandelier above the dance floor and prepared himself. Then he sank slowly to one knee, gazing up at Kira with promises shining in his clear blue eyes, and asked the question he only voiced in his dreams.

"Kira Nerys..." He squeezed her hand. "Will you marry me?"

Kira's lips quivered. She answered without hesitation. "Yes, Odo."

Odo rose up, wrapped his arms about her waist and spun her around once. Afterward, they shared a breathless kiss under the stars.