Jean-Luc took his seat between Beverly and Q, a cup of Earl Grey tea in his hand. They had just finished cleaning up from dinner and Worf had taken Alexander upstairs to his room. They had decided that Alexander would take Worf's bed and that Worf would take the couch.

"Alexander has finally fallen asleep." Worf stated as he came down the stairs. He took a seat between Will and Q.

Will nodded in response to his statement, his head turned to look at Worf. He turned his head back to the rest of the group, "So, poker?"

"I don't really like poker," Q replies, looking across to Will, "It's only fun if you play with the Continuum's rules and logic." Q explains, "No, I was promised a long story sometime ago."

"Hm?" Deanna asked.

"During the first few weeks while I was here I needed help with the oven. Jean-Luc so graciously helped me," Q explained giving Jean-Luc a near peculiar look, "I asked him how you all came to live together and he said 'That's a long story, but one for another time." Q deepened his voice in a perfect imitation of Jean-Luc.

"Ah, yes," Jean-Luc replies with a slight nod, "I do remember that."

"Do you understand inflation?" Will asked, figuring that was the best place to start this story.

"Of course I do!" Q says in an arrogant voice, "But, would you mind to… refresh the memory of others here?" He added, his voice didn't have the same strength as it did before.

Will gave a small skeptical look before opening his mouth, "When the demand is high for objects and goods, companies will increase their cost, making each dollar worth less and less. That is the basics of inflation, anyway."

"Right, so money was tight," Will added on, "So I was fresh out of college, just hired on the fire department, but other than that I had no money and no home. One night at the bar me and a Klingon got incredibly drunk. Well, long story short I thought I could take him so we got into a fight, next thing I knew I was running for my life. He ended up chasing me up five blocks and into the window of this house here."

"I had currently lived here with Beverly," Jean-Luc started, "Because we had been good friends for since college and Tasha because she started a great diner with my friend, Guinan," Q seemed to don a very skeptical look, having known 'Guinan' for some time, "So when Will crashed here I realized that one he needed a home and two there was no way he was going to crash through the living room window and get away it." Beverly and Will chuckled, seemingly reminiscing, "I invited him to live here and he ended paying for the window after some time."

"Well," Deanna added, deciding to jump into the story, "Me Worf, Data, Geordi and Will had been meeting up every Friday for a good poker game and one by one our apartment rents got too high and Will talked to Jean-Luc and they let us jump over right away." Deanna ended with a good nod.

"Yeah," Geordi smiles, "Jean-Luc, you used to hate poker nights."

"What are you talking about 'used to'?" Will asked, "I'm pretty sure he still does." He turned to look at Jean-Luc for confirmation.

"It's not that I hated poker nights it's just that I love silence and poker nights were not quiet at all." Jean-Luc defended, "And they still aren't quiet."

"Well you could always come over to my house," Q offered, catching Jean-Luc's glance and ignoring the curious glances of the others, "Next poker night, I mean."

"That certainly is an option," Beverly prompted with a look only Jean-Luc could entirely read.

"Definitely a viable one," Jean-Luc replied coolly, as if he didn't pick up the suggestion of romantic intent from Beverly.

"Why do you not join the game?" Data asked, seeing this as a much more logical answer, missing the point that everyone else was seeing from Q's offer.

"I prefer something more quiet, like a book."

"But would you not be socializing if you went over to Q's house?" Worf added in.

"I mean, there are other things for people to do other than socialize when alone in a house." Will replies, just testing the limits, "Like clean." He added after a beat and the intense look coming from Jean-Luc.

After the conversation flatlined Will started shuffling the cards. He figured he rather do something to relieve the awkwardness of the situation, the awkwardness that he made. He went on to play poker, a game which Jean-Luc politely declined.

"You know what's funny?" Will asked, after some time, "I this close," He held up his hands, fingers pinching until there was just a tiny sliver left between them, "To not becoming a firefighter. I wanted to go into Starfleet. If I hadn't chosen firefighter we'd never have met."

"Yeah," Jean-Luc says after some time, "Just a month before Tasha, Beverly and I met up to rent this place I was offered a chance to work as the Flight Controller for the USS Stargazer. The only reason I declined it was because Jack had just died and I needed to be here for Beverly." Jean-Luc's voice had grown solemn. His right hand held Q's under the table, their fingers were entwined. Q gave a light reassuring squeeze.

"I was also given the same opportunity," Beverly replied, "A year before Q got here they offered me a chance to go work as a nurse on a starship… I said no because of you guys."

"I almost became a starfleet engineer," Data explained.

"As did I." Geordi said in response to his husband, "What about you, Worf?"

"I did almost go into Starfleet, but I also wanted to be on the police force." Worf added.

"My mother almost forced me to go into starfleet." Deanna added, "In fact the only reason I didn't was to show her she didn't control me and to show her I am my own person, if she hadn't have been so forceful about it I probably would've went."

Everyone looked around the table, back and forth from each person. The strange coincidence of it all was rather large.

"What if…" Will said, trailing off.

"..we all ended up on the same starship?" Beverly finished, seeing exactly where he was going with it.

"I would've been ship's counselor," Deanna started, getting very wrapped up in this fantasy world, "Beverly would've been the doctor and Jean-Luc would've been captain, that much is obvious but-"

"Wait just a minute, who's to say I'm not that captain?" Will asked.

"Will, you are a good friend of mine," Worf assures, "However, Jean-Luc is the most honorable man I know, he would be captain."

Jean-Luc smiled lightly, "Thank you for such a high opinion, Worf." He looked over to Will, the faintest smile still ghosting over his face.

"As I was trying to say!" Deanna said after the bickering died down, "Who would Geordi, Data, Will and Worf be?"

"I would be chief security officer," Worf says without hesitation.

"What about tactical?" Deanna suggested.

"I could do two if needed," Word says very confidently.

"I imagine you would, but if you had to choose?" Will said, wanting to entertain the fantasy world.

"... Tactical." Worf said after some contemplation.

Deanna nodded in agreement, seeming to think over it all in her head, "What about you?" She turned to Will.

"Well, if I can't be captain," He threw a slightly sarcastic glance to Jean-Luc, "Then I would definitely be first officer."

"Only the second best for Will Riker," Beverly quipped. He turned his playful 'Try me' look towards her. She only smiled in response.

"So now the true test is here," Deanna said swiveling in her seat to face the two married ones, "Who gets chief engineer?"

"Geordi"/"Me." Data and Geordi replied in unison. Data was fully aware that Geordi loved him very much but engineering was a very close second. He was also fully aware that Geordi had always wanted to work on a starship. The only reason he didn't was because he and Data were together when he was offered the job.

"Well, it looks like we have an agreement there," Deanna replied, "Now… what would you be doing?" She asks, looking specifically at Data.

Data looked around, taking this hypothetical very literal, he thought about all the positions on the typical starship, trying to analyze which position would be best for him. After some time he opened his mouth,"You needed an operations officer, do you not?"

"You just want to be on the bridge, don't you?" Deanna asked.

"No. Operation officer is a very important senior staff position that would accommodate my skills while helping the team." Data replied.

"Logical." Q replied.

"We would've made one hell of a starfleet crew." Will says.

"The best in the fleet," Jean-Luc agrees.

"What about me?" Q asked, his hand left Jean-Luc's to cross his arms. Everyone seemed to contemplate this, how could Q join them? He would've been part of the continuum. Silence grew between the friends.

After time of thinking through it Jean-Luc took a deep breath, thinking he had an answer, "You'd end up on that ship, I'm sure of it. No matter if it were on a ship, as a different species or any other reality you could think of, all of us are going to be together in the end." His words were slow and meaningful.

Others chimed in with agreement, not sure exactly how he fit in, but they knew the he must've fit in somehow.

There was a flash of light behind them from the couch area and then an unfamiliar voice rang out, "Quite an interesting thought! No matter the universe you want to be together? Do you want to test that?" The group jumped to their feet, turning to face the sound of the unfamiliar voice.

"Who are you!" Worf says, he moved to between his family and the intruder.

"Oh…" Q tsked, "It's you! Go pester another species."

"Hmmm, so this is what you're doing with your exile?" The woman looked unusual, she was tall and had auburn hair.

"Who is this?" Jean-Luc asked, his eyes never strayed from the woman but his words were directed to Q.

"This is another Q from the Q Continuum."

"You can call me Lady Q." She said in response to Q.

"A friend?"

"No." There was contempt in Q's voice. Time seemed to pause as Q and Lady Q made eye contact. Everyone could easily tell there was a story there. The way her cold eyes locked with Q's. The way Q's jaw tensed, the only other time they had seen his so worked up was the day they had been shopping for interview clothes for Q. Even so, now was much worse.

Jean-Luc desperately wanted to hold his hand, to say in an endearing gesture to say that he was here for him, but he couldn't. His reasoning being that Lady Q would see it as a sign of vulnerability. He knew that Q despised that more than anything.

"Why are you here?" Q asked. How much time had passed was a mystery. It felt as if it took him years to ask but at the same time it felt as if no time had passed at all.

"Why should I tell you?" She smiled a wicked smile, her eyes showing malevolence. Without breaking eye contact with Q she snapped. The house disappeared. Consciousness fled each individual and they all blacked out.

Jean-Luc woke up to the feel of heat and yelling. Sweat poured down his face and all over him. His clothes didn't feel normal. They had a rougher texture to it, it wasn't a human product. He reached up and ran the back of his hand over his forehead and to his nose. His nose was ridged, it didn't have an indent.

"What…" He whispered, his voice low and hoarse.

"Was that you, Jean-Luc?" Q asked, his voice was low and hoarse as well. He was laying down, his eyes were still closed but he was still trying to cherish sleep.

"Yes." Jean-Luc was laying on the ground, his face connecting with hot metal. He moved his hands underneath him and used them to push himself into a sitting position. He looked out, to where he was. The room was metallic and steam and smog rose from nearly everything. Just above them was another level like a balcony. Behind the balcony, on the wall, was a large window. All over the first level were Bajorans. Somewhere chained to others and were told to march, others were walking about freely, some were strewn across on the ground near the wall or in corners. Those laying down were either dead or sleeping but it was hard to tell.

On the balcony you saw Cardassians in their pointed and silver uniform. They walked and talked as if they ruled the world. Their scaled faces bright with malevolence. They looked down upon the Bajorans as if they were ants.

Jean-Luc looked over to Q, who was still laying down. The first thing he noticed was Q's nose: they had the ridges of a Bajoran, not to mention the clothes that were also Bajoran.

"You're a Bajoran!" Jean-Luc exclaimed, pointing to his nose. Q opened his eyes, a highly skeptical look all over his face. He sat up slowly before he looked over at Jean-Luc and jumped.

"You might want to look in the mirror, Mon Amie." Q said, Jean-Luc had the Bajoran nose as well.

"What is going on?" Jean-Luc asked.

"Lady Q." Q added with enunciation the emotion in his voice was clear. Jean-Luc reached out and held Q's hand in his. They looked at each other, making eye contact. Anger, contempt and sadness in his chocolate eyes.

"Who is she?" Jean-Luc asked.

"She's an old flame. We were married and had a son before she was... instrumental in kicking me out of the continuum." Q said, shaking his head. He started out across the hallway.

Jean-Luc opened his mouth to reply but he his words couldn't begin to help the pain. Insead he wrapped his arm around him and pulled him closer so Q's head was resting on his shoulder.

"The hell?" Will asked. His head hurt and he was wearing some weird heavy material. He pushed himself into a sitting position, rubbing his head. His hand recoiled in shock. His face felt rough, there was a strange indent in it. He looked down to see the uniform typical of Cardassian on him.

"What?" He asked. He pushed himself to his feet, one hand rubbed his head because of the strong headache he felt. He was on a balcony, overlooking the promenade of Terok Nor. He walked up to the railing and looked down. Many Bajorans could be found down there.

"Oh no." He thought realizing where he was.

"Rakar!" A joyous voice welcomed and will felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Hm?" He asked, assuming that he was the one being addressed. He turned and came face to face with the most notorious war criminal, Gul Dukat.

"You ready for tonight?" Dukat asked, he had taken his hand off his shoulder and then leaned against the railing.

"Tonight?" Will asked, nervous to find out just what Dukat could be so happy about.

"Tonight? The execution, of course! How much Kanar did you have last night?" Dukat laughed.

"A little too much." Will nodded. His memories flooded back to him. Both from home and from this reality. He was an executioner. A Cardassian Executioner. To make matters even more… fun, the people he is supposed to execute are two Bajoran women. One of those women is a red head and the other has head of black curly hair.

"So you ready to execute some more Bajoran scum?" Dukat asked, with a sneer.

"Yeah," Will bit out the words, both excited and disgusted.

Beverly woke to bright lights, a cold metal bed and a headache.

"Where am I?" She murmured. She sat up and her hand reached up to her aching head. She stretched her neck, eyes still closed. She stood up and felt something warm on the floor. She opened her eyes: Deanna lying on the ground. The first thing that Beverly noticed was the Bajoran nose along with a Bajoran earring.

"What?" She murmured, "Bajoran?" Her thoughts were disjointed, but instinct kicked in. She dropped to her knees and checked for a pulse. She was too distracted by Beverly to notice they were in a holding cell.

Beverly felt a pulse, but it wasn't human. Relief and confusion filled her. The pulse was od≥d, slightly slower and it felt stronger.

"That's a…" The race she was thinking of was on the tip of her tongue but she just couldn't place it. She looked up to Deanna's face and it hit her, "Bajoran heartbeat." More relief flooded into her, she could tell the heart was stable.

"Wake up." She says while lightly shaking Deanna. Deanna shifted slightly, snored a little, but continued on sleeping.

"Deanna," Beverly said in a singsong voice.

"Hmm?" Deanna replied, stirring.

"You need to get up. I don't know where we are and…" Beverly looked up and finally took notice of her surroundings, realizing they were in a holding cell.

"Where are we?" She asked, her eyes were still closed.

"Well…" Beverly replies cynically, she mockingly sweeps her surroundings. "Do you want the truthful answer or the comforting one?"

"The comforting one." Deanna answered. She still had her eyes closed.

"Okay," Beverly said with a nod, "It looks like we booked a Cardassian hotel."

"The truth?"

"Hell." Deanna opened her eyes and catching sight of the Bajoran nose on her friend.

"Your nose…"

"Yours too."

Deanna looked around and realized just exactly where they were. A holding cell.

Data's system turned on the first thought to run his neural pathways was "This isn't Earth." He stood up and looked took in his surroundings. He was in a huge metallic room. Surrounded by large electrical systems. All over were bajoran workers, engineers. And, most prevalent to him, Geordi was unconsciousness next to him.

"Geordi!" He said, before getting back on the ground. He pulled the man into his arms. He studied his features and was easily taken aback by his Bajoran nose. His positronic net was suddenly flooded with memories. Memories that were both his but not his at the same time.

"Terok Nor." He murmured.

"Data?" Geordi asked, he regained consciousness, "Where are we?"

"Terok Nor."

"That's the Cardassian space station, right?" Geordi stirred and sat up.

"Yes." Geordi's head rushed, places, voices, things and memories filled up his head. They weren't his, but at the same time they were.

"Stop sleeping on the job!" Someone sneered at Worf.

Worf opened his eyes to a tall man with a smooth pale skin, hair drawn back and no real nose indent.

"Who are you?" Worf said. He tried to stand up, but felt too disorientated for that.

"You must be new." The man replied coldly.

"I was just assigned here two weeks ago." Worf heard himself say. He didn't know where the information came from, but the other man nodded.

"I can see that." He agreed, "I'm Odo. I'm the security chief of this station. And." Odo added, "I'm your boss."

Worf laid a hand across his forehead, expecting to feel his house crest. It wasn't there instead it was replaced with the spoon-like indent of a Cardassian. He quickly whisked his hand away and looked at it. It had the scales of a Cardassian.

"I'm a Cardassian!" He murmured, rage and confusion. Odo looked at him with a skeptical look. Before seemingly putting the puzzle pieces together.

"You aren't to be drinking alcohol on duty." Odo lectured. Worf felt the rage build up inside, he felt the need to scream at Odo.

"Yes, sir." Worf bit out, deciding that was more wise than getting mad in this present situation. Shakily, Worf pushed himself up and instinctively brushed off his uniform.

"I presume you know where you are to patrol." Odo replied, obviously fed up with him.

"Yes, sir." Worf replied. He didn't consciously know where he was to patrol, but his feet led him as if by a mind of their own, and when Odo didn't correct him he figured that they were headed in the right direction.

Jean-Luc and Q stood up, feeling woozy and tired. Minutes ago they had memories from this universe appear. That's when they realized where they were and what was going on.

"What are we going to do?" Q asked, as they started to make their way through the promenade.

"I can… remember Beverly, Geordi, Deanna and Data from this universe, except-"

"They all have different names," Q finished his sentence.

"Right. We need to find them." Jean-Luc.

"I take it Worf and Will are…"

"Cardassians." They gave each other a solemn look before continuing their promenade on the Promenade.

They had nearly reached a bar when they ran into two familiar faces. Geordi and Data.

"Data! Geordi!" Jean-Luc exclaimed delighted to see others.

"Oh god," Geordi said relieved, "I was starting to worry that we were alone."

Will sighed, staring out of the window into space. He'd seen many people die as a firefighter, he'd saved many people but he wasn't to ever take lives. He didn't know how he felt about a counterpart of his being a Cardassian executioner. Not that he could control it or anything. But who knows the repercussions if he didn't go through with it. What if they traveled back in time and they completely wrecked the the future. What if Dukat executed him for not executing others.

"What am I going to do?"

Beverly and Deanna sat in the holding cell. There was a silence when their memories of this world returned to them. They were part of the Bajoran underground in this universe. Rebels who were trusted with bombing of a war ship that had docked here. They were successful, but they were caught.

"You don't think that we'll actually…" Beverly started the question out bravely, but her confidence faded, she couldn't say the word.

"I don't know." Deanna says, her gaze met the ground, "I mean we're talking about someone who's a Q. I don't much about the Q but if they're anything like Q then I'd hope it's just a game."

"Yeah," Beverly agreed. Silence fell over the two as Beverly's mind worked fast, "If these new memory serves to be true," She starts with hope, "Then Jean-Luc, Q, Geordi and Data are still out there. And if they're fine and in the same situation we are in they'll try to rescue us…"

"Let's hope so."

"Warak!" Odo calls, summoning Worf by his counterparts name.

"Yes?" Worf said as he marched to up to Odo.

"Gul Dukat has orders for you." Odo sneers, "You are to bring the Bajoran woman named Daleeta from the holding cell to him."

"Yes, sir." Worf replies. He sets off on a march to the holding cells.