The BLTS Archive - Kiss and Tell by C.Zdroj(czb@comcast.net) --- DISCLAIMER: Paramount owns the DS9 universe and characters. No copyright infringement is intended here. Please ask before reposting or republishing. ARCHIVING: ASC, BLTS. Others please ask. AUTHOR'S NOTES: This bit of fluff was written partly as a follow-up to "His Way," and partly out of my own vexation at the number of O/K stories that featured "matchmaker Dax" back when O/K fandom was at its peak. (There is such a dearth of new O/K right now that I doubt I'd be irritated by that cliche at the moment ...) The story is, I think, a bit disjointed and perhaps not as long as it should be: that is, I suspect there is more to be told here--but by the time I realized that, I had moved on to other stories. I hope this one is still worth a chuckle, though. An earlier edit of "Kiss and Tell" appears in Love and Justice issue six (2001). --- "You may not want to discuss your relationship with everyone right away, especially in it's early stages. This is a perfectly normal way to feel, especially if your partner is of another species. Be especially careful in discussing intimate details with friends who are known to gossip." -- from Finding and Winning Your Perfect Mate, Bajoran Fifth Edition --- The steam was rising like fine mist from the still blue surface of the water. Cautiously, Kira allowed first one foot and then the other to break the surface, sighing as the heat eased up to her knees. After another moment she lowered herself all the way into the pool up to her neck. She leaned back in the water and closed her eyes, letting the heat and steam envelope her senses, an act of complete and pleasurable surrender. "You look relaxed," observed Jadzia Dax, gracefully dangling both feet into the hot-tub as she perched on its edge. There was a teasing note in her voice. Kira allowed her eyes to slit open a fraction and saw the Trill gazing down at her with a tolerantly amused look. This was one of Jadzia's "provoking" glances -- and she'd been known to brag about its efficacy on both Kira and on her hapless Klingon husband. Kira opted to ignore her this time. "I am relaxed," she sighed, feeling rather smug for once. Jadzia quite regularly teased Kira about her inability to leave behind the pressures of her harried life as first officer. When Kira offered no further remark, Dax prompted her again. "You must have had an interesting night," she offered. Kira smiled inwardly, but did not let the smile reach her lips. She knew this game. Jadzia was dying to know every last detail about her and Odo -- and last night. Hmmmm .... Not just yet, she decided. Let her suffer first. Kira sighed luxuriously and sank deeper into the water. She loved torturing Dax by withholding personal information. "What makes you say that?" she asked with feigned innocence. "Oh, come on, Nerys -- you should see yourself. You have never, ever looked that content in your life." "Could be. You know, I feel as though I can sense every molecule of this water ..." Kira mused. She permitted herself the tiniest of self-satisfied smiles as she went on soaking. Dax pouted at her in frustration. "Oh, come on, Nerys. You know perfectly well what I'm talking about -- the whole station is dying to find out." "Dying to find out what?" asked Kira lazily, deliberately prolonging the torture. It was long past payback time for all the indignities Dax had subjected her to over the years, friendly and well-intentioned though they might have been. "Nerys -- half the station saw the way that Odo was kissing you on the Promenade the other day!" "So?" retorted Kira. "So? Can you honestly expect me not to ask what happened next? After catching the two of you in my closet all those months ago? You're lucky I didn't grill you about that. Come on, Nerys, what's going on? Are you and Odo --" "Having sex?" prompted Kira, opening her eyes to gaze straight at Dax. The usually unflappable Trill suddenly flushed. "What else would I be asking?" she snapped. Kira closed her eyes once again and returned to contemplating the water that ensconced her. "Did anyone ever tell you that you're a nosy busybody, Jadzia Dax? I mean, I've never asked what you and Worf get up to in Quark's holosuites." "You are, then," said Dax, definitively. "Are what?" asked Kira, perversely playing ignorant. "You and Odo are having sex!" Jadzia stated triumphantly, all but shouting in her exuberance. "So if you know all about it, why are you asking?" returned Kira, still calmly soaking. "Oh, come on -- Nerys," begged the Trill, "I need a few details here. I can only imagine what it must be like ... making love to a changeling. You know you're dying to tell me." There was a silence as Kira pondered her options. There was Odo to consider, after all -- and he was far more intensely private than Kira herself. Dax abruptly changed tactics. "Don't think I didn't notice the look you two gave each other in Sisko's office the other day. You looked like you were ready to devour each other right there." Kira's eyelids lifted at this. "We did?" It was Jadzia's turn to be smug. "You did," she confirmed. "And I've never seen either of you so ... un-uptight about things. Especially Odo. Quark swears that he was actually friendly in the bar the other day." "You two don't know Odo as well as you think you do," Kira grumbled. "But you know him very well -- don't you, Nerys? Especially now." "We've known each other a long time," smirked Kira, not even bothering to cover her evasiveness. A thought struck her and she became suddenly serious. "A very long time --" she paused. "Did you know he was in love with me, Jadzia?" "Quark and I had some very strong suspicions," Dax hedged. "But I asked my question first -- so spill it, Nerys. What's the story? What's he like in bed?" There was a wicked look on her face. Kira tried to look indignant, but failed. "Beyond wonderful," she confessed. Dax was obviously impressed. "So -- you're in love with him?" she asked hopefully. "This isn't just some fling like that business with Shakaar." The bald truth of Dax's assessment of Kira's last love interest was too obvious to merit dispute -- or taking offense. "Afraid not." Dax reached into the water and impulsively splashed some of it in Kira's face. "But that's wonderful, Nerys. You two are perfect for each other. I've always known it." Her voice, though still teasing, was warm and sincere. "I wish I had --" Kira paused, feeling a sudden need to unburden herself. She drew a long breath. "I have to admit -- before Odo, I had no idea that -- that sex could be so ..." She flailed about for an appropriate word. "... so intimate." Dax gave her an odd look. "Gee, Nerys -- don't the Vedeks tell you these things?" she quipped. Kira felt herself flushing brilliant red. "That's not what I meant." "Then what did you mean?" The Trill's eyes shone provocatively. Kira looked down at the water around her, closed a fist below the surface, and tried to consciously feel the water as it slipped through her fingers. "I don't know exactly how to explain -- I'm hardly new to sex, Dax -- but with Odo it's ... beyond that. It's like a whole other universe of touch." She looked up at her friend's suddenly serious features. "He memorizes the smallest details, Jadzia -- the shape of my wrist, my fingers. It's like he knows every inch of me." "He is a changeling," Dax reminded her. Kira shook her head. "It's not that -- it's just that I've never been loved with that kind of ... intensity before. It can be a little bit scary. Overwhelming, sometimes." Her voice had gone very low, as if she were afraid of someone overhearing. She paused for a breath, "And you should see the way he reacts to being touched himself. Like he can't have enough of it. I've never had such a responsive lover in my whole life. He loves being touched, anywhere -- everywhere. I feel like I'm taking his soul in my hands every time we make love." "This sounds serious," said Dax. "Afraid so," replied Kira. "So when's the wedding?" Kira smacked a handful of spray at her, but Jadzia only grinned smugly back at her. --- In the half-light, in the glimmer of the starlight coming through the viewport, Kira Nerys watched her lover's face as she ran gentle, careful hands over his body, delighting in his reactions. Odo, in the semblance of a naked humanoid male, lay stretched full length beneath her on the bed, every line of his minimalist face and form responding to the subtleties of her touch. His eyes were closed, his mouth a carefully sculpted slit framed by thin lips that twitched every so often, or softly parted to let sound escape when Kira's touch became especially provocative. Her fingertips, at the moment, were tracing the outline of his lower rib-cage, moving slowly down into the well of his belly, one minute feather-light, the next minute pressing insistently into his skin. Odo exhaled in pleasure and Kira allowed a smile to creep over her lips as she knelt over him, working his velvet-soft skin with loving precision. She never tired of watching his face -- the subtle changes of expression that stole across it in such rapid succession when they were together this way. It never failed to amaze her that such simple features could be so mobile and expressive -- so beautiful. She loved looking at him almost as much as she loved letting her fingers play across his smooth, warm skin. It had become a kind of ritual with the two of them -- no shapeshifting was permitted until Odo had reached the limit of his endurance. His shapeshifter's touch receptors were naturally sensitive to the slightest variations in warmth and pressure. As her hands came up to stroke the area over his breastbone, he caught both of her wrists and held her hands still, gazing up at her with a suddenly quizzical and wondering look in those incredibly expressive blue eyes. Kira's smile grew wider. "What?" she asked playfully, "Is my technique off tonight?" Odo shook his head. "No -- I was just wondering if you noticed the look that Commander Worf was giving us in the replimat this afternoon. Do you suppose he's heard something?" "I can't imagine who from," Kira teased. But under Odo's sternly querying look, her resolve broke and she burst out laughing, "I'm sorry, Odo -- I swear I didn't mean to say a word to anyone -- but you know how Dax gets ... besides, it isn't as if she didn't see us kissing out on the Promenade that day -- along with about half the station." She flushed with pleasure at the memory of a kiss that had almost driven her to her knees with its startling passion. A shy smile flitted across Odo's face. He gathered Kira's hands between his own and kissed them. "I was only going to say that -- since, ah -- so many people have already figured it out -- there's no point in trying to hide it, is there?" The question was posed almost shyly. Kira leaned down to him, kissing his face, "I don't suppose there is," she whispered. --- The End