Sitting on the sofa with Maya in his arms, Tony reflected that he had rarely been so happy in his whole life. He did have vague recollections of similar joy in the past -- on some rare occasions when a woman he loved had returned the feeling, or when his parents would admire something he did without immediately telling him his brother Guido did it better. But nothing could really compare to knowing, after four years of doubt, that Maya loved him.

He hadn't seriously imagined this would happen. He thought, when he came to see Maya, that she would rant and rave and make him go away; which indeed, she had tried to do. But Tony had never imagined that she would come after him, jump into his arms and tell him she loved him so quickly. He had expected to do a longer penance for his sins.

"You look very thoughtful," said Maya, observing him with her chin on his shoulder.

Tony leaned down to kiss her. "I'm thinking about us."

"Together at last," she said with a bright smile. "I'm sure everyone will be very relieved."

"Everyone?" In spite of himself, Tony tensed at the idea of 'everyone' knowing about their reconciliation. He could accept Maya's rapid forgiveness -- goodness knows he wouldn't have wanted it any other way -- but he wasn't sure his colleagues would be so understanding. "Maya... I think it might be a good idea if we didn't tell anyone about all this. You know, us getting together again. Not for the moment, anyway."

Maya shifted her position so that she could look at Tony's face. "Why? I should think people would be happy for us."

"Hmm." Tony didn't believe that for one minute. "To be quite honest, I'm afraid people will say some nasty things about you if they know we've made up this quickly."

"Why, because I was drunk last night?"

Tony grinned at the thought. "I'm really sorry I missed that. You know it's been my ambition for the past four years to see what you're like when you're drunk."

"You wouldn't have enjoyed it," said Maya, tapping Tony's chin with her finger, "because if you had seen me last night, I would probably have killed you. I was crazy with jealousy." She kissed his neck.

"That's our problem -- I mean, what happened between me and Kira." Tony let his smile fade. "Everyone knows about it. And if they find out about you and me, everyone will... they'll say you're weak, or stupid, or something, because you've forgiven me so quickly." As he spoke, Tony realised he was just giving Maya rope to hang him with.

Maya straightened up and crossed her arms angrily. "Why would they say that? I'm not being weak, I'm being sensible. I don't see why we should torture ourselves just because I'm supposed to hate you for what you did. I love you, and I understand what happened, so there's no reason not to forgive you right now! I don't care what people think."

"That's a very laudable attitude, Maya. But trust me on this; even if it's none of their business, people are not going to be happy when they find out."

"Then we won't tell anyone," she promised. "It'll be just you and me."

Maya knelt on the sofa and placed her lips on the mole Tony hated so much on his left cheek. Sighing contentedly, Tony buried his face in her hair and kissed the corner of her jaw. After a moment's hesitation, he let his lips trail further down, to the collar of her bathrobe. Her hair smelled faintly of cigarette smoke and the distinctive odour of Quark's, mingled with Maya's own Psychon scent. Eyes closed, Tony nuzzled the soft skin at the base of her neck, his mind reeling with the thought that he was finally allowed to hold her again. The last two days had been agony. Short-lived agony, admittedly, but agony nonetheless.

Tony let go of her as Maya leaned back on the sofa. Her face was flushed and her eyes half-closed, usually the signs that any further advances from him would be met with rejection. Although he wasn't in the mood for passion, Tony did want to kiss Maya, too elated to forgo this simple expression of his love. He placed his hand on her knee to stabilise himself as he leaned towards her, but he was surprised to find bare skin where the bathrobe had fallen away from her legs. He almost immediately felt Maya's hand on his chest, pushing him away.

Trying not to look too disappointed, Tony obeyed; he had been naive to think that admitting her love for him would change whatever difficulty Maya had with physical contact. The habits of four years kicked in, and he started to think of some joke to defuse the situation.

"Oh boy. You're not wearing anything under that, are you!" he exclaimed, looking at the bathrobe as if it were some kind of animal about to bite him.

Maya smiled, but shook her head sadly. "I don't know what's the matter with me," she said. "I'm really sorry, Tony. I feel so stupid. I thought that realising how I felt would sort this out. I don't know why I keep pushing you away. But I -- I don't want you to leave me again." She sounded as if she was on the verge of tears.

"Hey..." Tony embraced her; he was quite amazed how mature and sensible he felt right then. "Whatever it is, it's okay. That's not the be-all and end-all of a relationship. Just tell me what's wrong. If you don't like it when I kiss you..."

"No, I think it's rather the reverse. I... It actually gets too much. I feel as though I'm going to change into a monster or something."

Tony didn't trust himself to say anything about that. Evidently puzzled, Maya pulled back to look at his face.

"Tony! It's not funny!" she exclaimed.

"No, but it's very flattering," he said, trying -- and failing -- to keep a straight face. "I know it's not funny, and I'm not making fun of you. But I somehow doubt you'd change into a monster, carina. That's not usually what happens when I kiss a girl."

Maya smiled reluctantly. "Oh? And what usually happens when you kiss a girl?"

"Um, a slap in the face?"

"That can be arranged," she said petulantly.

Maya glanced at Tony; he admired the subtle change in her large eyes as her expression softened. God, she was beautiful.

"I..." she started. "I asked Dr. Bashir about it yesterday and he said --"

"You asked Julian about... about this?" Tony wasn't sure he liked the idea of Maya discussing their problems with outsiders. It made him feel inadequate, as if he should have been able to solve the problem himself a long time ago. But this was no time to be worrying about his pride. "What did he say?"

"Lots of things. He went on about stimuli and pheromones and all the things that can go wrong when people from different species try to... get involved."

"Stimuli and pheromones?" repeated Tony dubiously. "What does he think we are, moths?"

"Oh, I'm sure you'd make a very good moth, Tony," she said teasingly. "Anyway, Dr. Bashir thought I might be subconsciously misinterpreting your kisses as some kind of, um, attack..." Maya lowered her eyes demurely; Tony could tell she was as embarrassed by this whole conversation as he was.

He stared at her for a moment, unsure what he should say or, indeed, what Maya wanted him to say. "Right," he started. "Well, that's interesting... but you shouldn't worry about that sort of thing. It's not really that important, you know, sweetheart."

Maya broke away and sat back on the sofa, modestly wrapping her bathrobe around her. Tony realised he had said the wrong thing.

"It obviously is important," she said petulantly. "You wouldn't have... slept with Kira if it wasn't."

Tony groaned involuntarily and rubbed his face with his hands. He should have seen this coming. "Okay, let's just get some things straight," he said, realising that the explanation he had prepared on his way here would come in handy after all. "Two nights ago, you told me you didn't want me around. That was... I don't want to make you feel bad, but you were pretty hard on me. If you'd left me any hope, I would have waited for you, you know I would. But since you seemed so sure you didn't want me, I thought I might as well, um..." He couldn't think how to put it without making things worse.

"I do want you," said Maya in a little voice.

"And that's all I need to know." Tony felt a surge of emotion as Maya turned to look at him. "That was why I went after Kira -- because I thought you didn't love me, not because we've never slept together. I'm not an animal, Maya. I can live without sex, but I can't live without love."

That sounded a lot more corny and melodramatic than he had intended, but Maya didn't seem to mind. Moving closer, she took Tony's hand and, to his amazement, kissed it. "Hopefully, we won't have to do without either."

Tony wondered if he had understood that correctly. Was his sweet, innocent Maya propositioning him? He pulled her towards him, guiding her so that she was leaning with her back against him and he could hug her comfortably.

"I'll take you up on that promise later," he said gently.

"Later?" She actually sounded disappointed.

"We're wanted in the Koenigs' quarters, remember?" He chuckled and whispered in her ear, "Though you're pretty desirable right here."

Nerys stared at the door through eyes swollen with crying, but she didn't answer the ringing chime. The guilt she had started to feel the previous night had hit her like a phaser blast when she woke up and she was in no mood to see anyone. Tony's alcohol had left her with a strong headache and a heavy heart. She had ruined her relationship with Odo for nothing, just for the sake of her attraction to a passing human being.

*Nerys, it's Jadzia.*

Nerys still didn't answer. She was so ashamed of what she had done, of the way she had not only been unfaithful to Odo, but so publicly as well. There could be no doubt that the Alphans who had been in the holosuite would tell everyone what they had seen. She hadn't just made a blatant pass at Tony, she had downright undressed him, even though she knew everyone present -- including Jake and Nog -- could see them. This made Nerys cry even harder.

*Nerys! Are you okay? I heard you called in sick, I came to see how you are.*

Hearing her friend's concerned voice made Nerys feel a little better. Jadzia, with three hundred years of experience in her belly, would know what to do; the Dax symbiont had been through many relationships, after all. Nerys blew her nose and rubbed her eyes, before finally announcing, "Come."

The door unlocked and Jadzia came to sit beside Nerys on the sofa. The Trill looked sincerely worried. "Oh, Nerys, I... I heard what happened. Do you want to talk about it?"

"I was really stupid," said Nerys, working to regain her composure. "I had too much to drink and I... acted on impulse."

As she spoke, she realised she wasn't telling the truth; she had acted on an impulse which had nothing to do with drink. That was probably the worst part of the whole situation. Nerys knew she hadn't slept with Tony because she had had too much of his alcohol last night, but because she had been longing to have him ever since she first set eyes on him a week earlier. She could have stopped this at any moment; the Prophets knew she had never had any trouble getting rid of unwanted suitors in the past. She could have arranged to have lunch with Tony in the company of her other colleagues, or even helped him by telling that dreary woman he was so enamoured of to pay more attention to him. And no one had forced her to go to the disco. She had brought the whole situation on herself.

"So it's true?" said Jadzia.

"Oh yes. It's true all right." Nerys looked apprehensively at her friend. "What... what are people saying?"

She knew she could trust Jadzia to be honest. "They're saying that you spent the night with Verdeschi. Morn said he saw you leaving Quark's together."

"Great," huffed Nerys, her intense guilt somewhat abated by a more familiar sensation of anger. "Glad to know even the resident barfly is taking an interest in my private life!"

She got up and went over to order a raktajino from the replicator. The sight of the mug sparkling into existence brought back a sudden memory. The last time she had ordered a raktajino from this replicator, Tony had been standing behind her, his bare skin pressed against hers, his mouth on her neck, his hands... Nerys seized the mug and took a large sip from it, unwilling to turn back to Jadzia with that image still in her mind.

"Are you all right?" asked Jadzia. Out of the corner of her eye, Nerys could tell her friend was leaning over to try and see her face.

Nerys walked back to the sofa and shook her head. "Oh, Jadzia," she breathed, unable to express her feelings out loud. "I've made such a mistake. Odo will never forgive me."

"What happened, anyway?" asked Jadzia. "Did you have an argument with Odo?"

Tears welled in her eyes as Nerys felt a pang of guilt stab at her heart. Poor Odo had done absolutely nothing to deserve this. He had argued with Nerys and treated Tony unfairly, but it was all because he had known, he had felt that things would eventually come to this, that Nerys was so attracted to Tony she would eventually be unfaithful to him. I guess that serves him right for loving a hopeless woman like me, thought Nerys listlessly.

She felt Jadzia put her arm around her and leaned gratefully on the coarse material of her friend's Starfleet uniform.

"I -- I don't know what happened," she said with a hiccup. "I just wanted --" She couldn't bring herself to admit exactly what she had wanted: Tony Verdeschi. "Oh, I don't know what to do, Jadzia. How can I ever face Odo again?"

"It's not going to be easy," admitted Jadzia, although her calm voice was reassuring. "And how you handle it depends on what you want."

"I wish I knew."

"Do you love Tony Verdeschi?"

"No."

"Do you love Odo?"

Nerys lowered her eyes and pulled away. She didn't want to admit to her friend how selfish she had been, accepting a relationship with Odo when she knew she didn't love him. Jadzia had been so delighted when Nerys had told her she and Odo were together; it seemed unfair to tell her now that it had all been a sham, brought about only by Nerys' loneliness and need for love. Nerys started to cry again.

"Oh Nerys." She could hear the disappointment in Jadzia's voice. "You have to tell him if you don't love him. It's not fair to let him think there might be more."

"He already knows." Nerys had realised that from the start. She knew Odo was in no doubt as to her feelings for him: friendship, affection, but not love.

There was a pause while Jadzia no doubt pondered this situation. "Either way, he's the one you need to talk to," she said finally. "Everyone else will forget about it almost as soon as the Alphans are gone. But you will have to clear things up with Odo."

Looking around her assembled colleagues, Helena could see why John was worried things were falling apart. Aside from the Koenigs themselves, Alan was the only one who had bothered to wear his uniform. Sandra was smartly dressed in a green trouser suit and a cream blouse, while Tony was wearing jeans, sneakers and a sweater. In fact, he looked most uncharacteristically scruffy, but given the circumstances, Helena wasn't surprised.

It was Maya's attire which particularly caught Helena's attention; the only remnant of her uniform were her beige knee-high boots. Her hair was loose -- something Helena had only ever seen when Maya was ill -- and she was wearing a short navy blue jumper dress over a white top. She was studiously ignoring Tony; Helena assumed Maya had heard the rumours about his behaviour the previous night. She hoped to catch the Psychon after the meeting to discuss this with her.

As could be expected, John was looking daggers at Alan, Maya and Tony. "I don't suppose any of you will be surprised to hear I'm not very proud of you today," said John sternly. "I was under the mistaken impression that you were all mature adults capable of behaving yourselves in a public place. Instead, I find myself fielding complaints about my senior staff being drunk and disorderly in Quark's! I never imagined the day would come when I would be so ashamed of you. Do you know what Constable Odo's security report on us said this morning? It described the Alphans as violent, offensive and promiscuous."

"I guess he's getting his revenge at last," said Maya primly.

John spun around to look at the Psychon. "What do you mean?"

Maya crossed her legs and met his eye unwaveringly. "I don't think Odo has ever liked us, Commander," she said with a shrug. "He's been cordial enough to me, but he's resented our presence on the station ever since we arrived. And I'm sure we can all guess why."

As if on cue, everyone turned to look at Tony; he lowered his eyes, though he looked amused rather than ashamed. Helena wondered if this was just bravado or if he sincerely thought cheating on Maya was a joke; if the latter, then she was very disappointed in him. That he should sleep with Kira was bad enough, but she had hoped he would at least show some remorse.

Maya glanced at him and stifled a grin, like a naughty schoolgirl exchanging a private joke with one of her mates. This surprised Helena even more than Tony's reaction; surely Maya shouldn't be laughing with Tony after what he had done. Helena was all the more determined to waylay Maya after the meeting.

"Odo's personal feelings aren't the issue," said John, raising his voice with visible irritation. "Quark has logged a complaint against us, Odo has filed a negative report, and our relationship with our Starfleet hosts has soured considerably. Our position in this universe has been drastically weakened as a consequence. Starfleet won't be so willing to listen to our demands when they've seen so many of us misbehave like this. I feel as though my senior staff is made up of a bunch of students!"

John had evidently forgotten Helena's earlier advice to not be too hard on the culprits. The commander glared at Maya, Tony and Alan; they all kept their eyes lowered and shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Tony and Maya were no longer smiling.

"All that won't matter once we've returned to our universe," said Alan ruefully.

"That's something else I wanted to tell you," growled John. "The ship we were supposed to purchase has been damaged, and following what happened last night, Quark isn't planning to help us any further. In other words, we're staying here."

Sandra was the only one who looked pleased. "So we will be going to Earth after all?"

"We'll be going to Starbase 571 first," explained John, his voice now tired and resigned. "As I said yesterday, we just don't know what effects living in this universe might have, and Starfleet's aim is still to eventually send us back to our own reality. I realise some of you are hoping to visit Earth, but we'll just have to abide by Starfleet's plans, whatever they are." Knowing how much John hated this situation, Helena thought he was doing a good job of presenting the facts impartially. "We're being driven back by the war with the Dominion, but once that's over, we'll be returning to our reality."

"And what if the Dominion wins?" asked Alan.

John looked pointedly at Maya, but the Psychon was too busy studiously smoothing her short dress to notice. "We'll just have to hope the Dominion won't win. Speaking of which: Maya, I believe our friend Constable Odo has some questions about that. He wants you to go to his office, or he'll be arresting you for colluding with the enemy." This time, Maya did look up. "He would like to know what you were planning to do with Weyoun on Cardassia."

"Nothing naughty, I promise," she said with an innocent smile. Tony guffawed, but no one else was amused. "All right, I'll go and see Odo after the meeting."

"Good. Make sure you do: I'd rather he didn't have to arrest you." Maya nodded and John continued. "You also need to know that Captain Sisko has organised a farewell reception for us this evening. I expect everyone to be on their best behaviour this time. It will be an opportunity to meet the crew of the Addis-Ababa. The senior staff of Deep Space Nine will be there as well."

Helena noticed Tony and Maya exchanging another glance; the Italian shook his head incredulously. "That should be interesting!"

Only another day, and the Alphans would be gone. Odo was looking forward to seeing the back of them.

Sitting in his office, he was still seething over what had happened the previous night. Odo had tried not to think about Nerys' indiscretion all morning, concentrating instead on his work, but in vain. He had been tempted to go and see her, once or twice even rising from his chair, ready to head for her quarters. But he had decided against this -- it wasn't up to him to make the first move. If she came to see him, he'd no doubt forgive her as soon as she entered the office. If she didn't come to see him, then it was all over and there was no point making himself miserable. He had done himself quite enough harm just listening to the rumours on the Promenade.

Odo firmly turned his mind back onto the Alphans and how much he had grown to dislike them. Though the truth be told, he had disliked them from the very first -- the only difference was that he now had several good reasons.

There was also the question of Maya's involvement with the Dominion. Odo was hoping this point would be clarified as soon as Koenig had finished his meeting with his senior staff. The Alphan commander had promised to send the Psychon to Odo's office, and the Constable was confident that he would get the truth out of her this time. The mere revelation that she had been planning to work with Weyoun on Cardassia was enough to send her to a Federation jail -- perhaps the menace of separating her from her Alphan friends would encourage her to talk.

Odo expected to see her at 1300 or 1400; if she hadn't arrived by that time, he would go and arrest her. In the meantime, the computer was tracking her movements and would warn him if Maya attempted to leave the station. With DS9's shields up, there was no way she could beam out without authorisation, and she would only have to set foot on a shuttle launch pad for the security alarm to go off.

Provided Koenig managed to hector his subordinates back in line, the day promised to be peaceful for Odo. A Bolian cargo ship was supposed to deliver some supplies at 1330, not that this had anything to do with the constable, and then the next major event would be the arrival of the Addis-Ababa that evening. Nothing for Odo to do until Maya turned up, and what he did afterwards would depend on what she told him.

Odo was in the midst of these satisfying thoughts when he heard the door to his office open. He looked up, saw who was standing there, and wasn't particularly surprised.

"Odo," she started.

She lowered her dark eyes, a frown creasing the skin above her nose ridges. She was in uniform, her short hair neatly combed, but her face was tired, her eyes puffed under their habitual makeup. Careful to hide the delight he felt at her coming to see him, Odo stayed silent and waited to hear what she would say.

"I... I know this won't change anything," said Nerys. "But I'm really sorry."

Odo couldn't trust himself to say anything about this. He was afraid he would instinctively tell her she was forgiven, because as he watched her, standing so miserable in the middle of the room, all he could think about was how much he loved her. But she didn't deserve forgiveness; there was no excuse for her infidelity, no mitigating circumstances that could explain her night with Verdeschi.

Nerys looked at Odo. "I guess I have no excuse."

"No, you don't," agreed Odo. This time, he was the one who lowered his eyes. "You don't love me, Nerys. There's no point continuing like this. Even if you begged me to forgive you, even if I did, we both know the day would come when you would meet someone else and leave me."

He caught movement in the corner of his eye and turned towards Nerys as she sat down opposite him. She was crying.

"You're wrong to say I don't love you," she said gently. "I'm not in love with you, but I do care. What happened last night doesn't mean I don't want us to stay together."

"You sleep with someone else and expect us to stay together?" exclaimed Odo.

"It was just sex. I know... that's no excuse. But it didn't mean anything to me. Not in the long term, not compared to what we had." Nerys ran her hand through her hair and then wiped her eyes, carefully running her fingers on her lower lids to avoid smudging her makeup. "You're the best man I've ever met, Odo. No one has ever loved me the way you do. I knew I didn't deserve it, and I did hope I could work to earn that love, because I knew I would lose it... and now I have..."

Odo knew she hadn't lost his love; nothing she did would ever stop him from loving her. She was a murderer, a liar, an adulteress, but he would always love her. But his feelings notwithstanding, Odo realised he couldn't afford to be involved with her under these circumstances. She would betray him again; there was no way this would remain an isolated incident, and although he couldn't avoid feeling hurt when she did such a thing, he could avoid being publicly humiliated. If they were no longer officially involved, then he could nurse his broken heart in the privacy he required, without the added complication of everyone laughing behind his back.

"My... feelings for you won't change," he said finally, unwilling to meet her eye. "But I think we should take the time to reconsider our relationship."

"It won't happen again," she assured him. The desperate tone of her voice tugged at Odo's tormented insides, but he had already been expecting that lie.

"It will," he retorted simply, his gruff voice sounding a lot more calm to his auditory senses than he actually felt. "And that's why I want to release you from any obligation toward me. It isn't fair to expect you to remain faithful to me when you don't love me."

"But Odo--"

Steeling himself, Odo looked up and met her eye. She was still crying, now oblivious to the makeup that traced black marks on her pale pink cheeks.

"Maybe we can pick up where we left off later," he started. Unable to keep his eyes on her sorrowful expression, he lowered his eyes and looked at his terminal. A brand new communication caught his eye and, he quickly realised, offered him a way out of this uncomfortable scene with Nerys.

"We've just received a communication from that Bolian freighter which is due to dock at 1330," he informed her. "It seems they've had an accident and will need to beam several crewmembers to the Infirmary when they arrive."

"I guess I should go and arrange for their arrival," said Nerys listlessly, a hint of disdain in her voice. Maybe she realised he was just looking for an excuse to get her to leave. Either way, she took the hint; after quickly wiping the ruined makeup off her cheeks, she turned on her heels and walked out.

Odo wished he could revert to his liquid form. Unwilling to do so in his office, where someone might gawk at him from the Promenade, he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes instead, his face studied impassivity while his insides boiled with emotion.

John had dismissed the meeting; the senior staff of the defunct Moonbase Alpha left the Koenigs' quarters one after the other. Helena overheard Alan and Sandra discussing what they would do if they went to Earth as they went out. John explained that he had to see Sisko about the arrangements for the Alphans' evacuation to the Addis-Ababa. Tony and Maya were pretending to leave separately, but as she stopped the Psychon and asked to speak to her, it was obvious to Helena that Tony was waiting. He followed the others when he realised Helena had noticed him. The two women were left alone.

"You seem to be getting on well with Tony," remarked Helena as she picked up John's half-finished cup of coffee and went to put it in the replicator. The device dissolved its creation in a blur of particles and Helena turned back towards Maya.

The young woman was now sitting on the arm of the sofa; she was fiddling with the hem of her dress, probably unsure what to say. Helena wondered if her outfit was a suggestion of Tony's or just something Maya thought would please him.

"You know Tony and I always get along well," said Maya with a shrug.

Helena remembered saying something similar to Maya the previous day. Things had definitely changed. She sat down at the dining table and glanced back at the replicator. "Have you had lunch? We could replicate something..."

Maya shook her head. "Actually, I was going to..."

"...Have lunch with Tony?"

The look that flashed on Maya's face made it clear Helena had guessed right. The Psychon lowered her eyes and smiled like a schoolgirl admitting to a crush. "I suppose it's obvious," she admitted, coming over to sit at the dining table with Helena. She seized her friend's hands, her large eyes bright with joy. "Oh, Helena, you have no idea how happy I am! I was so miserable without him."

Helena couldn't work up any enthusiasm for this revelation. "You were only without him for one night."

"Strictly speaking, it's been hundreds of nights," said Maya. "I should have told him I loved him years ago."

"You told him you loved him... this morning?" Maya nodded and Helena was horrified. "After what happened last night? That was a bit quick wasn't it?"

Maya let go of Helena's hands and sat back in her chair, apparently mystified. "Quick? Why? Is there a time limit on how soon I can forgive my own... boyfriend?"

"No, but I can certainly say I wouldn't forgive John so quickly if he behaved like that. I mean, what I've heard of Tony's behaviour last night is outrageous!"

"Maybe it was," said Maya, though she didn't sound the least bit concerned. "But that's in the past now."

"The past? It was only last night!" exclaimed Helena. "You really should take some time to think about this. I think you're being far too hasty, forgiving him so soon."

Perhaps troubled by what Helena was saying, Maya frowned and shook her head. "Why? I love Tony and I want to be with him; I see no point in making us both miserable by sulking for days!"

"But he slept with another woman," Helena reminded her. "Not even 24 hours ago! It doesn't matter how much you love him; it certainly doesn't look as if he has the same devotion and loyalty to you. It's very noble of you to forgive him so easily, but from what I gather, he really doesn't deserve it."

"You obviously don't know Tony like I do," said Maya stubbornly. "His devotion to me has been faultless for four years, and until now, he's been getting very little in exchange. I've been cruel to him, Helena. I didn't realise at the time, but now I know how much he suffered because of me. He loves me; there's no doubt about that."

"He has a strange way of showing it."

"Helena, you don't know everything. He only went with Kira because of me. I told him... he asked me if I loved him the other day. I told him I didn't know, and I said I didn't want him to stay in this universe with me if the Alphans could go back to our reality. It's not surprising that he thought we were no longer together. So you see, if I'm upset by what he did last night, I've only got myself to blame."

"Maya, you most certainly shouldn't blame yourself for what he did! Tony is a grown man: he made his own decision -- no one forced him to sleep with Kira. What I see is that he's had his fun and now you're letting him get away with it."

"What am I supposed to do -- punish him?" exclaimed Maya, standing up. "Tony said you'd react like this. I don't care if the whole universe is whispering behind our backs and saying he's a bastard and I'm an idiot. I am not being stupid, Helena, in fact, I think last night has made my mind clearer than it has ever been. I've been hiding from the truth for four whole years, but now I know how close I came to losing him I realise I love Tony. And whatever you might think, he definitely deserves that love. Now, I have a lunch date with him..."

Helena followed her as she stalked off. "Maya..." she called gently, placing her hand on the young woman's arm. If Maya was in love, Helena knew from personal experience that arguing would only make her more determined. "Be careful, Maya. Don't let him hurt you -- he's not necessarily worth it."

Maya seemed relieved at Helena's gesture of peace; she immediately embraced her with a grateful sigh.

"Oh, don't worry, Helena, I know he is."

The Bolian freighter Urdal reached Deep Space Nine at 1347, seventeen minutes past schedule. Its captain had already warned the station staff that several crewmembers had been injured in a fire on board. The medical facilities on the freighter were too limited to cope with the situation and the injured Bolians needed to be immediately beamed into DS9's Infirmary. Accordingly, the shields on Deep Space Nine were lowered for 2.4 minutes. Just long enough for the station's transporters to lock on and beam out the casualties.

Maya's heart was beating wildly as she rang the chime of Tony's quarters. Bolstered by Helena's --admittedly half-hearted -- blessing, she was impatient to be with her love again. Maya was about to jump into Tony's arms as soon as he opened the door, but she paused when he leaned against the door frame and looked her over critically. She knew she needed to give him time to tell whatever joke was coming before smothering him in kisses.

"No thanks, I don't buy cookies," he said.

"Cookies?" asked Maya as she stepped in, sure of her welcome.

"Wrong reference, of course. You're dressed as a schoolgirl, not a Girl Scout."

He had made a similar comment about her costume when she had come out of her bedroom that morning. Maya had chosen the clothes because the replicator said they were from the late 20th century and because the short skirt would show off her legs. Her four years on Alpha had taught her that, as she was rather flat-chested, her legs were her best attribute.

Tony grinned and shook his head, his eyes following Maya as she went to sit on the sofa. "Besides which, they don't have Girl Scouts in my country. British invention."

"I thought Girl Scouts were called Girl Guides," said Maya, sitting down on his sofa. This topic was one of many useless subjects she had read all about in Alpha's computer.

Tony hooked his thumbs in the pockets of his jeans and shook his head. "Sorry I mentioned it. Trust you to be an expert on Girl Guides -- you'd probably have been one if you'd grown up on Earth." He walked over to the replicator. "Now, what would you like for your instant lunch?"

"Pizza. Actually come to think of it, I think the book I read said they were called Guides in Britain, but Scouts in the United States. So we're both right."

"That's nice to know. I have a feeling it'll be a rare occurrence," he said with a grin. "You really want pizza for lunch?"

"Yes, a Meat Feast. Talking about different names for things, do you know what the replicator called this?" She indicated her dress. "A jumper. But I thought this was a jumper." She plucked at the collar of the garment she was wearing under the dress.