She was sleeping, and Odo gently tugged the blanket up to cover her better. Gazing at the Bajoran face, a smile wrinkling the pert nose, he felt his love swell up inside.
This was a part of him, a part of his love. He ran a finger lightly down her cheek, smiling as her smile widened a little, adding another wrinkle to her nose. Sitting down nearby, he looked at her with a tenderness that a year ago, he'd never have believed he'd possessed.
Glancing out the window, he thought back over the last year ever since the lady beside him had come into his life. He'd never believed he could feel the way he did towards her, to watch her go from strength to strength. It was as if she'd been waiting to come in to his life, chosen especially for him. Her smile was the sun and her tears the storms in this new-found life of his. He relished every new challenge she faced, every discovery they made about their relationship together.
He remembered that first night, the time they spent with each other. He'd been so afraid she would break that he'd barely been able to bring himself to touch her. But eventually, with a little coaxing, he'd taken those first, unsteady steps towards a permanent relationship.
Now, he couldn't imgaine how he'd survived without her, how he'd ever managed to live without her smile every morning and her kiss every night. She was his life, and nothing, no-one, would ever take her away from him.
A noise disturbed him, and he glanced back to see Kira Nerys smiling at him. "Come to bed."
"I'll be right there." Odo whispered the words gently, reaching out to tuck a final blanket around the lady in his life -- his daughter.