The doctor is in
If there was one thing Doctor Beverly Crusher hated, it was paperwork, and even the sickbay of the flagship of the Federation, the USS Enterprise-E, had more then its fair share of it. Medical supplies there, relief mission this and shipboard that. She was as busy as always.
"Doctor Crusher?" The senior nurse wasn't Alysa Ogaway anymore. She still had to adjust to the new one, Dawkins, or was it Jenkins, assisting her at the cases she worked. Only then did Beverly Crusher really realize that she hadn't had any patients to work on for a few days already. Was this new Sovereign class really that 'safe'?
"Yes Dawkins?" She answered and looked up from the PADD she was working on. Since there was no response, Crusher assumed she got the name right, this time.
"Ensign K'vel has been released mam. We seem to be clear for the night." K'vel had been one of those unfortunates who had taken his holodeck hobbies a little too far. The Andorian had to recover from a broken limb, again. She thanked him without looking up and concentrated on the PADD. And no matter how she wanted, Crusher couldn't remember ever dealing with this much bureaucracy, ever. And it pulled her down.
"It's almost too easy to forget what being a doctor is about." She sighed and got up. Maybe, just maybe a little something from the replicator would help. Beverly Crusher would never make it to the sickbay replicator though.
"I must say, finding a charming thought of such calibre within this sea of dreariness. I almost choked up when I saw it was you, doctor."
"Q!" The omnipotent pain in the posterior was the last thing Beverly Crusher wanted to see. "Please leave." subconsciously she pointed towards the door.
"Yes, moi, you seem surprised." Q almost feigned shock. "And here is poor little old me, just wanting to drop in for an unannounced visit. Making a 'social' call as you humans call it and I get this reception. Hmmphhhh." Q folded his arms akimbo across his chest and glanced upward at the ceiling.
Crusher ignored him and started at yet another PADD. She barely got two paragraphs in before she felt his gaze.
"Q. Would you please stop staring!" As she put the padd down, he was at her desk, right across from her. And ignored her just as completely as he used to ignore Jean-Luc and his protests.
"Tssk,Tssk, whatever happened to that being a doctor again thought?" Q pondered aloud.
"I hope it comes back, when you leave." Crusher answered as forcefully as she dared.
"Oh come now, just because of the past we shared together, you wouldn't hold out from me, would you."
Crusher now stared back "I fail to see what the misery you caused has anything to do with my thoughts about disliking paperwork." The question put a small, barely visible smile across Q's features.
" Ah yes, paper work, the only reason why you can't treat patients like any other real doctor would. Quite the excuse. Perhaps..." The faint smile that had first creased Q's lips now grew into a much bigger, bolder version. "Perhaps I just may have found the thing you're looking for."
"Q?" Crusher was beginning to worry. If the omnipotent being had a plan and it involved her...there was no telling what would happen.
" Let's go!" The last thing Beverly Crusher saw was Q, snapping his fingers.