He hadn't known what to expect, maybe opening his eyes surrounded by Borg, on earth, it would have been best if he had shown up in sickbay. Instead he opened his eyes looking up at the ceiling of one of the cargo bays. This was both annoying and confusing. Quickly he looked around trying to find Kathy who wasn't too far from his own position. Reaching over to her he grabbed her hand happy to see she was at least alive. it didn't seem like the ship was under attack anymore. "Are you alright Kathy?" They had both taken quite the spill in the turbo lift. Nearly knocked the wind out of Q. Pressing his com badge he tried telling the doctor he would be right there but the com wasn't working. "Great." Pushing himself up he walked over to the door. "Yup, great luck. It's fried. Must have taken damage during the attack." Turning back to Kathy he tried brushing off his jacket. "I guess we are stuck here until someone comes and gets us out. Once they figure out where we are." Janeway stood up holding her side and nearly falling against one of the crates. She had looked better than this, then again she had looked worse. Q moved quickly to be at her side and help her stand. She kept curling over in pain and holding her side, clenching her teeth through it. "Are you alright?"
"No, it really..." She paused grabbing his hand and letting out a pained groan. "Ah, this isn't really how I expected today to g..." She growled holding his hand tighter.
"How long have you been in pain?" He asked a little concerned.
"Since the turbo..." She tried standing only to curl over in pain again. Q gently helped her back down to the ground leaning her against one of the cargo crates. He grip was so tight on his arm now that he was in pain.
"Since the cargo lift? How bad is the pain, what sort of pain are you feeling?" His questions were a little too specific for her as she nearly dug her nails into him and twisted his arm a little crying out in pain again. The look on her face fully expressing the misery she was in. "Kathy, let go, you are starting to hurt me." Q cried out trying to pull his arm away from her.
"I don't care it makes me feel better." She moaned between clenched teeth before taking in a deep breath. For a short second Kathryn had a look on her face between surprise and shock. Either she was going to pass out or jump up and start singing a song. He really hoped it was the later. "I don't know how to say this." She looked back at him trying to grasp the situation she was in right now and put it into words. From the look on her face early her the way she had grabbed his arm she seemed to have been in serious pain but now she looked a little like she had transcended it for a brief moment. A moment of clarity coming to her eyes. "Either I just wet my pants or..." That wasn't something he had expected her to say and he might have been able to live a long happy and fulfilled life never having heard her said it but that look on her face that followed made him feel like he wished she did wet her pants. His knee slowly getting wet from where he crouched beside her.
"Kathryn please tell me you DID wet your pants." He showed a hint of absolute terror on his face.
"I think I would know if I did, and I don't think I did." She was able to remain calm for a few seconds more before her grip on his arm started to rival that of an earth serpent known as the boa.
"Oh wow, you have a really strong grip." Q commented as he felt her nails dig into him through his uniform. He pressed his com again knowing it didn't work before he reached forward and pressed hers ignoring the fact he had accidentally coped a feel at the same time. "Anyone anyone, this is an emergency. Someone please help." No response. "Are you sure Kathy?" Her grip only tightened answering the question for her. "Okay we have to stay calm, your due date was set around December 20th? That's currently a month an a half away, nope about two months away." Q was trying to take deep breaths now. "If I could get the doors open and get you to sickbay in time we might be able to stop the contractions I bet."
She squeezed his arm again making him break his concentration. "I think it's a little too late for that now, this is my first child but I think after your water breaks there is only one outcome left." She leaned forward again groaning in pain as another contraction near crippled her.
Grabbing her shoulders Q tried to keep himself calm. "Okay take deep breaths Kathy, I'm thinking of something. I'm getting us out of here." He got up trying to leave, maybe he could take a jefferies tube up to another floor and get help. As he went to go get help Kathy pulled him back down, he wasn't leaving her for even a second.
"Don't leave please." She was still in a lot of pain, he couldn't even imagine what she was going through, well some of it he could. He was near a panic attack himself.
"I have to, I have to get help, at least I have to find the doctor. We are not equipped to be delivering a baby in the cargo bay, especially not a premature one."
"I know." She gasped taking in a deep breath and looking up at the ceiling as if she could find some answer there. Her hand moving to the collar of his shirt as she bunched it up in a fist and pulled him closer to her. "But it would be worse if I was alone down here, you still have medical training." She let him go trying to cover her own mouth as she screamed into her arm. This was going from bad to very bad, to screwed. Q rested a hand against her back wishing someone would open the door about now. Someone had to find them. As she took in another breath fighting through everything like his wonderful brave warrior she was her eyes shifted back to him. "There is an emergency medical kit over there. It's the best we can hope for right now."
He took her hand in his wondering if she realized what she was asking him to do. "Kathy, I haven't ever delivered a baby. I know I said I have done extensive research on it so I could assist the doctor when the time came but..."
She pulled him closer to her again. "And we don't have another choice. You can't get the doors open, you can't contact anyone and tell them where we are, and." She cringed closing her eyes a second and fighting through whatever pain she was in. "And you can't leave me now because that would be an even greater risk. Even if you did find someone, if something went wrong while you were away we could both be in trouble before you came back. Trust me, this isn't how I wanted it to be either but this is the situation we are left with." Her grip tightened again, taking in another deep breath. "But I trust you to get us through this." She pressed her lips against his hoping that would be enough to make him calm down enough to do what he had to.
Nodding his head Q took off his jacket and balled it up so he could rest it behind her back. "Okay." He agreed getting back up to grab the emergency medical kit. At least it would have a medical tricorder and a hypospray with something for the pain. That was the best they could hope for right now. "Keep breathing Kathy, slow deep breaths." Running to where the medical kit was kept he pulled it out dragging it back towards her. If only they had spare blankets or anything else useful. "Easy." He smiled at her pulling out the medical tricorder with shaking hands. "The good thing is sometimes labor can take several hours. They might be able to get to us before we are resorted to delivering this baby in the cargo bay." He tried looking on the bright side as he scanned her. "So far so good. Your vital signs look good for someone in labor, I think. Baby is a little stressed but nothing dangerous yet."
"So how did we end up here?"
"Seven months ago I asked you to have a baby with me and I mistook your desire to sleep with me as a yes." Q joked only to have her roll her eyes. Rolling her eyes, at a time like this, how very Kathryn of her.
"I meant cargo bay."
Q looked around a little baffled by that himself. "I can only assume it was the baby, she must have been distressed in the turbo lift, might have known you were going to go into labor and tried getting us to sickbay when the turbo lift stalled. She just didn't bring us to the right place. I'm sure she's as stressed out as we are right now."
"I'll accept that explanation only because it's the only thing that makes sense right now." She grabbed his hand again feeling another contraction and nearly crushing his fingers and she fought through it. "If I kept my legs closed it's not guaranteed to help is it."
"Only if you can go back in time and take that approach seven months ago." Q smiled. She tried laughing at his jokes, he just wanted to keep up her spirits but it wasn't long before she was in pain again. Leaning forward again Janeway cried out wishing like hell she was anywhere doing anything other than being here doing this. "I know how prude you are and that you have been really adamant about me getting you out of your pants these days but hear me out when I say, we need to take off your pants so I can monitor your cervix."
"I hate you so much right now." She groaned holding his hand tighter again. "I know that's not a joke but I could still kill you."
Q smiled knowing she was just lashing out right now, when she was wounded she disliked showing weakness. Instead she was the sort to strike back, since their was no enemy to attack at current he was the only thing to lash out at. "That's okay, kill me afterwards if you feel the need to but you know what?" She looked up at him feeling a strange combination of love and hate. "Don't worry though, I don't hate you Kathy. In fact I don't think I could love you any more than I do right now." He tried pulling her pants down when she stopped him.
"No, if they do come to rescue us I really don't want to..."
"Be caught with your pants down?" He laughed reaching over to her shoulder and squeezing it lightly. "Take off your jacket, it's longer than mine, I can use it to cover you up. Then if they come in for the big rescue they won't have to see a thing." She was so shy it was amazing. Quickly he helped her take off her jacket and covered her from the hips down so she wouldn't blush when someone broke the doors down to save them. "Do you have any of those spare starfleet issued blankets in here by chance? As much as I would hate to throw our newborn against that horrid fabric that might be our only option."
"No." She breathed in again, her face contorting a little as she fought back more pain and tried to focus on what was in this cargo bay. "There's the emergency rations, a few spare parts for engineering, some..." She leaned forward again clenching her jaw shut so she didn't yell again. Breathing in deeply Janeway fought it until the pain passed again. It was starting to last longer and show up more often. "Thermal sheeting, it's used for when a fire breaks out."
"That doesn't sound very comfortable." He frowned, but if that was all they had that was all they had.
"It's not suppose to be comfortable, it's suppose to keep you from dying in a fire." There she was being sassy again. They were spending too much time together.
Q pulled his jacket from behind her and set it down at her side. "Okay, be right back." It took him a while to get everything together, what little he could. Time seemed to pass by quickly as he laid the thermal sheeting beneath her and made her as comfortable as possible. His attention moving between her and the door in hopes any minute they would come running in to help them. They were given a short moment where she was completely free of pain but it had been short lived and before long she was laying back against the crate near tears. Q scanned her again and felt his heart racing as he peeked to see where she was. His face when ghostly white realizing their situation was desperate now, help wasn't going to arrive in time. "Well good news and bad news Kathy which do you want first?" She was laid back breathing heavily now, groaning through he teeth as her only real answer. "Alright, well you are just about ready to give birth, that's the good and bad news."
As if she had been holding her breath for hours she let out a deep sigh shifting a little. "I thought you said it could take several hours."
"Well it can." Q rubbed his forehead nervously. "And then it can also happen quickly. It depends. It's not always the same you know but think of it this way. You are being spared several hours of enduring painful contractions and..." He paused when she let out another cry in pain, a lot louder than she had before, her hand reaching out for his. "Breath Kathryn." He coached her along. "Not much longer now, just hold on a little longer." It felt like one hell of a ride, he hadn't known how much time had passed or how much longer they would have to wait until someone came to get them but he did know this baby was less than ten minutes from meeting them both in person. He felt a sort of excitement and fear over it. Seven months ago when he had gotten her pregnant he had never really imagined what this day was going to be like. Now he was living today and he felt as ill prepared to be a father as he was the day he asked Kathryn to have a baby with him. In seven months he hadn't learned anything to help him be a perfect father. Kathryn had another contraction pulling him away from his thoughts and bringing him back to reality. "I don't know how you feel right now but I think it's about time Kathy."
"I feel like getting this over with, in other words that is the best news you have told me all day." She sounded a little short of breath but he couldn't do anything about that right now. She had to deal with it, with all of it. Q looked up at her a little amazed by her appearance. her long auburn locks had half fallen down, some clinging to her face, blood still streaked down a portion of her forehead. She was an absolute mess, a disaster and yet she had never seemed more beautiful to him than she was right now. As frightened as he was he couldn't help but smile and realize this brilliant captain was the mother of his child.
"Okay, whenever you feel a contraction coming up it would be ideal to start pushing." No sooner had he spoke she was hit with another one, her face contorting with more discomfort as she pushed. Before he felt as though time had been moving at a rapid pace and now it was slowed down to a painful crawl. He could have mistaken seconds for months, minutes for years. He was reliving every day one by one. From that fun night they had spent together on the sofa in her ready room to the first time Amelia had projected herself and practically begged him to meet her mother to be. Even that horrible day the Vidiian's had taken her all the way to the moment on the bridge before he had brought her into the turbo lift. Then that moment hit him where he finally saw her for the first time, time itself standing still. "Come on Kathy, a few more good pushes." He could tell she was tired but as stubborn as she was she kept it up. The baby nearly slipping into his arms after he freed her shoulders. For a minute he was completely speechless looking down at those big bright blue eyes staring up at him with about as much alarm as he had on his own face. He couldn't say a thing, couldn't even breath until he was surrounded by a warm sensation. Ready or not here she was, he was a daddy. "She's..." He paused not even certain their were words to describe her. Perfection didn't catch her just right. "She most certainly has her mothers eyes and I think she got my cheek bones." He smiled slowly letting it fade as her skin turned a strange shade of blue. "She's not breathing." Q panicked laying her down on his jacket and rubbing her chest to make her take a breath. "Come on Amelia." Opening her mouth he used a finger to clear out her air way. He had known this could be a risk, she was premature, her lungs weren't ready for a life outside the womb and without proper medical tools he didn't know if he could help her.
Rubbing her chest still he tried making her breath, panic sinking back into him. After all this time, after this long wait he wasn't going to see her for the first time just so he could let her die. "Dammit Amelia breath." He yelled at her knowing that wouldn't help. Knowing the basics of CPR Q tried his luck with that knowing he had to be careful. He had learned how to perform it on an infant but she was a little more fragile that that. Not much bigger than one of his hands he knew it wouldn't take much to break her bones and kill her but still he had to try. Time seemed to move slowly again as he worked to make Amelia breath. After what felt like minutes there was a sharp shriek in his ears as Amelia choked, her tiny hands shaking while she took in a breath, the color returning to her skin. No sooner had she taken her first breath she unleashed the full power of her little lungs testing them out with a high pitched cry much louder than he had expected a tiny person her size to create. Even if her lungs hadn't been ready to breath right out of the womb they were more than ready to scream and cry, and cry she did.
Her whole body was trembling against the cold now as Q cut the cord and wrapped his jacket around her in hopes he could keep her warm long enough for their rescue. Holding her close to his chest he looked over at Kathy, a big stupid grin on his face as he moved closer to her. "Amelia, I don't know if you remember anymore but I know about six months ago there was someone who you really wanted to meet. So much so you didn't listen to a word I said and showed up to meet her anyways. I think now she wants to meet you." Carefully he passed the trembling crying bundle to Janeway watching as her face light up the way he knew it would. He had told her that day when she had a change of heart over having a baby that this day would be coming. That day she would hold their baby for the first time and wouldn't want to remember her life without her. It didn't surprise Q that Amelia quieted down after Kathryn had her, her big blue eyes looking over the captain with a sort of recognition. For a second it even looked like she let out a tiny sigh of relief. "I think she remembers you Kathy."
She smiled looking down at her new daughter and nodding her head in agreement. "I think she does." Her voice was quiet and a little breathy, either because she was exhausted or really didn't want to startle Amelia. Wrapping an arm around Kathryn Q rested his chin on her shoulder.
It hadn't taken too much longer for their rescue and to have his family moved into sickbay. Kathryn was given a clean bill of health and Amelia given some drugs to help her adapt faster to breathing on her own and kick starting her digestive track. It had been a bit of a struggle to get her to nurse for the first time and even after that she continued to test out her lungs capabilities with ear splitting shrieks and cries before just passing out. Janeway was resting now, his little daughter bundled up in something less itchy and more comfortable with perfect climate control to keep her from getting cold. Standing next to the incubator she was sleeping in Q gently poked a finger down stroking her chest, her body much smaller than he had expect. A little smile came to his face when she let out a little whimper and curled her small fingers around his own. Glancing back at Kathryn he couldn't help but let another smile cross his face. His eyes shifting back down to Amelia with the little pink hat on her head to keep her warm. "Don't tell your mother this Amelia but." He paused getting a little closer to her so he could whisper. "I don't care if you ever change the continuum, I'm just happy you are here."