Walking into Cal's private dining quarters his men were a little more respectful to Captain Janeway this time around. Rather than throw her into his quarters they simply let her go and nodded to Cal before backing out. Seemed they had a healthy respect for the man, or fear, something she didn't share in common with them. "Captain Janeway, please have a seat." Cal spoke up with a smile on his face.

"I'd prefer to stand."

Cal looked over at her, still seated in his chair. Folding his hands he nodded his head lightly and smiled back at her. "I hear your, mate Q, he needs medical attention. Perhaps if you took a seat and joined me I could send someone to look at him." His smile grew in size now. "It would be a shame for Amelia to grow up without a father." If it had been only her own life at risk she wouldn't have taken a seat but from the way he was talking he made it seem like he would let Q die unless she humored him. Knowing how sadistic and twisted Cal was from their last run in Janeway didn't need much of an educated guess to weather he was lying or not. Still holding a furious gaze on Cal took a seat at the table. "That's what I thought." Reaching over to a little panel on his side of the table he pressed a few keys. "Doctor, I am pleased to inform you that you appear to have a patient in our brig. Please give him some sedatives to ease his pain and make sure our guest gets the best treatment possible. I want to see him up and about by tomorrow." He slapped the table and laughed at some inside joke that only he seemed to understand. "There you have it Captain Janeway, I am not an unreasonable man. your Q will be well taken care of. Dr. Vitan is one of the best, now to business, why I brought you here." He waved a finger at her. "You know you are a hard woman to find but with patience and persistence even the delta quadrant isn't big enough for you to hide in."

The captain raised a brow not at all amused by any of his 'kind' gestures or reason. Cal was a monster, as simple as that. He enjoyed watching others suffer, he hadn't broken her the last time they had met and he wouldn't succeed now. "Who's hiding?" She taunted back to let him know she hadn't been hiding from him. In fact she had hoped he had been far behind them, clearly she had been mistaken.

"Your daughter Amelia for starters." He set his hands on the table and folded them nodding to the food and drink laid out. "Eat, drink, you must be hungry after your ordeal."

"I'll pass."

Cal seemed to get some sort of enjoyment from her defiance. "You love your crew Captain, every member of it, and you love your daughter, she's a remarkable creature. The last time we met I saw her as a perfect mark, untouchable prey, the finest hunt, but I also saw her as...impure. My eyes have been opened since then. As you may well know I am serving different masters than last we met." He nodded his head to the red banners that were spread along the walls. She had taken notice of them, the red banners displayed a large black symbol that didn't seem native to his planet. Something like a trident that was eerily shaped like an eye watching over you. "My new boss as I might call him, you could say he's taken great interest in your child as well. Where we got off on the wrong foot before was that I was ordered to kill Amelia, because she was too dangerous. Now my orders are quite different, I'm to..well capture her would be the wrong word, welcome." His tone took on a serene sort of air to it when he had said that. "You see, among this crew Amelia is less of a mistake and more of a messiah. A foretold coming of a child with unimaginable powers. My master, my boss, he's been waiting for her longer than you could ever imagine. He wants to meet her, to help guide her as she grows, to help her realize her full potential. I would say that's not as frightful as infanticide now is it?"

"I wouldn't help you capture her the last time, what makes you think I would help you now?"

"Because I'm not going to bleed you to catch her." He laughed. "I'm sorry about that by the way, I didn't want to do it but you left me no choice Captain Janeway, Kathryn. I am truly and deeply sorry for what I did to you but I knew you could take the pain. I wasn't going to let you die after all." He stopped himself before he forgot the purpose of bringing her here. "And you haven't heard my offer. You are trying to get your crew home, to Earth. With Amelia's help my master can send you to earth, send you home with the snap of his fingers." Cal snapped his fingers trying to invoke some sort of startled response from Janeway but got nothing.

"I won't trade my daughter for a faster way home."

Cal stood up holding a hand out to her. "But that is the beautiful thing, you won't have to trade Amelia. My master believes she needs to remain with you, as her mother. She's only a baby, she still needs you. Think of my offer a moment, I know you must have had some of these same concerns before you made the choice to have Amelia. The Q wanted her to end a war, it crossed your mind before, would the Continuum take her from you once she was born? And have they? Have they shown interest in taking her? No, just as my master has promised and you know why? Because the Q don't know how to care for a human child as my master is ill equipped to care for a human child, but he does wish to be by her side and guide her as he knows best. With you to look over her and his wisdom Kathryn the continuum can never take Amelia from you, she can be free from their expectations, free to be whoever she wishes to be. What my master is offering it to undo everything her father has damned her to. To serve the continuum as their puppet, their means to an end, to understand what they can not. Why ask a child to work for those who think themselves godlike? Why not let her, a true god be the one to rule."

There was something uncomfortable about this 'master' of his. How did Cal know the intimate details about her daughter, and why did his master feel he could guide a Q? "Just who is your master?" Janeway finally asked.

Cal shrugged his shoulders and flicked his hand carelessly. "He, has no real name." Cal paused walking closer to her. "And yet he has many names. Dagon and Cronus on your planet I think, Qualos on mine, Nexus to others..."

"Teth." Janeway whispered the name under her breath, Q had spoken to Teth when they had worked together to save Amelia's life. Q had told her about that being they had encountered, what it had done to Teth's son, that the being was forced to kill his own child to stop, Nexus. Janeway stood up quickly only to have Cal push her aggressively back into her seat.

Standing behind her he planted both hands on her shoulders and squeezed them hard. "So you know of him. I'm not at all surprised, he knows all about you Captain Kathryn Janeway of Bloomington Indianan Earth. Daughter of Vice Admiral Micheal Janeway and Emily Janeway, sister is Phoebe Janeway, an artist on Earth. Your dogs name is Mollie and Rowley if you count that Q construct as a dog. Your Fiance's name was Mark Johnson, before Voyager was stranded here. I suppose now that fiance is Q, you could do much better." It was unsettling how much he knew about her, a little like an obsessive stalker. Janeway tried to get out of her chair again only to be pushed back down, Cal leaning in closer to her and speaking directly into her ear with a softer voice, not quite a whisper. "I admire you Kathryn, I was never truly able to break you, it was no wonder Q picked you as his mate. All the best qualities of the Q bred into all the best qualities of the human species to make a remarkable little entity. Superior to both species." Shifting over to her other ear he smiled. "But do you really care that much for him?" This was a trick, he was trying to toy with her. "Do. You. Love. Him." His staccato tone was rather obnoxious but she wasn't going to say anything. If she said yes he would be able to use Q against her, if she said no, well she would hate to think what else he might do.

"Where I am standing as a Q he was an impressive force, egotistical but powerful. Started wars, ended wars, manipulated people." He looked at her long and hard when mentioning manipulation. "As a human well...not exactly my choice guardian for a future god is he." Kathryn let out a sigh, she was getting rather tired of this 'god' thing. "Kathy rethink my offer, you could be the mother of a far more impressive being, you could be the queen of the delta quadrant, no, of this galaxy, of the universe."

"You're right, I have given it some thought and I have decided." She looked up at him. "I'm going to have to deny your request, I'm not going to give you Amelia."

"Don't play hard to get Kathryn. It's in poor taste." He scoffed standing up and leaning against the table in front of her. "It took me so long to convince him to spare your life. Before he wanted both parents to die, felt I was well suited enough to look after Amelia as she grew into adulthood but I convinced him your life is vital to her well being. Don't make all that begging mean nothing Captain. I would hate to see you die. You see I view another possibility, you and I, raising Amelia together and ushering a new era for every species in this quadrant, in your quadrant even. A brave new world brought together, unity under one god, one master, one lord, immortal, eternal."

"On their own free will or by force?"

"Does it matter? You are starfleet, you want peace, so do we."

"Somehow I don't buy it." She growled back standing up from her chair and looking him in the eye. "Besides, I'd rather die than stand beside you."

"So you would stand beside Q?" She had that look on her face again, when ever he mentioned Q she got...afraid. "Ah, you do love him."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"He's spineless as a mortal, weak, selfish, arrogant, egotistical, he doesn't respect you like I do."

"That is where you are wrong." She snapped back, he could be all of those things true but he was more than that. Even when he acted like he didn't respect her he had shown nothing but respect for her. "He's proven to be brave more than once, he was selfish once but he's learned to put others before himself, he's even risked his life to protect people he can't stand. He's arrogant but he knows when he's failed, unlike you." That was a quick jab to Cal's ego. "He may be egotistical but he also has a good heart, something you lack. He's spirited and frustrating to deal with, he challenges my authority at times and is top of the list for insubordination, right under Tom Paris but he's a far better man than you could ever be." Q made her smile, he made her laugh, and he had strong feelings for him. He had stayed by her side in sickbay when she thought they were going to lose Amelia, holding her hand and promising her he was going to die before he let their baby die. He had stayed with her in the cargo bay even when he should have left her to go get help, and he hadn't just done it all because he was looking out for Amelia. He was looking out for her. Janeway took in a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh feeling a little bad now. Q was so happy to show his feelings to her but she had been so afraid to show her feelings for him. Maybe she feared him hurting her again or even worse, maybe she was afraid for how she felt about him. Her parents wouldn't approve, Starfleet certainly wouldn't.

"It's unfortunate Kathryn, because I wanted to get you through this and inflict as little pain as possible to you. I convinced my master to spare your life, but not his." Cal turned part way to walk over to his com system, most likely intending to give the order to kill Q. Janeway was quick, rushing forward to cal she punched him hard in the back of the neck at the base of the skull, a blow strong enough to knock him out cold. He dropped quickly, not even able to put his arms out and catch himself. There was a satisfying feeling taking him out with one swing. He was going to be feeling that for a while.

Crouching beside his body she pulled her phaser off his belt and growled. "No matter what you say, you and I were never going to be a thing." Setting her phaser to kill and hitting him a few times was tempting but the reality of it was Q was in danger. Plus she had an answer for him, he might just like to hear that. Walking out of his private quarters Janeway fired at the control panel so Cal couldn't get out and decide to come after her IF he even woke up in time. Two of his men had been posted outside waiting to escort her back but were taken by surprise when Janeway fired into the man standing to the right. He fell over, his friend firing back at Janeway and forcing her to press her back into the door. Stepping out from her position she fired back at him taking him down with a leg wound. He had dropped to his knees and reached for his weapon only to have Janeway kick it out of his reach and grabbing him by the back of his uniform. "I'm going to say this once so listen closely. You are going to bring me to your ships sickbay or I am going to shoot you, understood?" He nodded his head not really thinking of starting an argument with the woman who had a phaser aimed at his face. "Good."

Janeway forced him back to his feet and help her phaser up against his ribs. Even if it wasn't set to kill it would cause him a lot of pain fore he went down. "Now start walking." She ordered, the man silently leading her down one of the halls. They had to take a lift down a few floors, Janeway making a mental map of the place as he lead her to their destination. Once they were on the floor with sickbay she paused pulling him over again. "Where is it from here?"

"Down the hall, the third door to the left." He spoke without a hitch in his voice.

"If I walk into an ambush I'll shoot you, is it still down there?" He nodded his head yes. "Good." Striking him hard on the neck she watched him buckle over and fall to the floor out cold. Walking the hall it seemed fairly clear, not all together a good sign. Reaching the third door she stood back to the side while it slid open, the doctors on the other side looking at the empty doorway with confusion.

"The doors are malfunctioning again." One of the doctors groaned. Before the second could make a comment Janeway stepped into the doorway and fired off two shots hitting both of them and sending them falling into work stations. Moving inside the sickbay she looked over to one of the beds where Q was laid out.

"Q." She ran to his side looking around at the surgical tools around him. Some of their technology seemed more primitive than Voyagers while others were more advanced. Their med cabinets were certainly stocked with stolen supplies. Her eyes caught the hypospray from their emergency medical kit and before long Janeway had tracked down the rest of it. She used the tissue regeneration to seal up Q's chest and hit him with the hypospray having loaded it with something to get him back on his feet. Sitting back up he grabbed his chest again and groaned.

"Kathy?"

Resting a hand on his shoulder she helped him off the bed. "It's alright Q, we need to get back to the shuttle, can you make it?"

He stood up on his own feet again holding one of his arms close to his chest. "For now." He was still partially out, his body reacting slowly as she wrapped one of his arms over her shoulder and helped him walk out of the sickbay. The halls were still empty and with only her mental map she hoped they didn't start making a habit of filling up the halls now. Janeway traced her steps back to the floor the cells had been, from there she could back step to the shuttle bay where they had docked shuttle two. "Is the shuttle still down?" he asked opening his eyes again and looking over to her.

"We can make enough repairs to get impulse engines online, that's all we need." They reached the shuttle bay hanger, a few guards walking around but they were spread far enough apart Janeway was confident the two could sneak by. She bought her time waiting for the one closest to the shuttle to turn his back and with as much haste as she could muster partially drug Q to the shuttle. Setting him down on the back seat she handed him the phaser. "Here, you take this." She ordered and pulled out the repair kit in the back. "I'm going to work on getting power back online."

Q turned in his chair looking back at her, his breathing starting to slow down a little as he woke up more. "Sorry."

"It's okay you did a pretty good job I think." He looked down at his chest and put a hand over it. "At least I won't bleed to death."

"No, I mean about what I said earlier."

"Oh." Q turned back to look out the shuttle door. "We can talk about it back on Voyager, once Haris and I get to sickbay. Have a real serious conversation, without the yelling." Running the tricorder over one of the panels she nodded her head in agreement.

"We should be good to go, close the shuttle door Q." Janeway started walking back to the front. Standing up Q grimaced then forced a smile on his face, walking over to close the shuttles door. Just his luck, no sooner had he stepped out one of the guards had caught a glimpse of him.

"Kathy get this thing going." He called over to her firing at the guard and missing. He was going to blame that on the fact the man was a long distance from his position and not on his bad phaser skills. The guard ended up firing a few shots at him, the shots bouncing off the shuttle door as it closed. Once it was locked tight Q fell back down in his chair and dropped his phaser. "It's alright now." The shuttle shook as they attempted firing on them with heavier weaponry.

"Q I could use your help as co pilot right now." She called back to him. "Q?" Janeway finally shook her head flying the shuttle out of the hanger bay. Before she could turn around to call him again the shuttle was being hailed. Transferring the message to com she was more than happy to see Chakotay show up on screen. "Chakotay."

"We got your distress call Captain, can you hold a couple of minutes?" The shuttle shook as Cals' ship fired on them again.

"I can try." The shuttle shook again making Janeway grab the side of the con to stabilize herself. "When you get close we need three to beam out to sickbay. Haris and Q were injured in an attack."

"Will do Captain." Chakotay ended the transmission.

Turning in her seat she kept the shuttle on it's course away from Cal's ship. Q was leaning over in his seat, his head down with a hand fixed to his shoulder. "Q." Janeway jumped from her seat and rushed over to him lifting his head up so she could look at him.

"I think they hit me." He tried to laugh, blood seeping between his fingers. "I'll be fine." He was starting to go under again.

"You did this once to me already don't do it again, Voyager is on it's way."

"Would it be seen as cowardly if I said I don't want to do away missions anymore?" He forced a smile on his face.

"No, it's not cowardly of you." She paused a moment trying to smile back at him and hide her concern. Leaning closer Janeway placed a kiss on his lips, ordinarily Q would have been more than happy to kiss her back but right now he was too focused on keeping his eyes opened. Looking back at him she set him up in his chair a little more. "Q, Amelia needs you."

"I know."

"Emily needs you."

He smiled a little "I know."

"I need you." Q looked back at Kathryn with a smile on his face, unable to say anything. For once in his life Q was, quiet. "Yes." He raised a brow a little confused to her apparently random answer. "If you asked me to marry you again, now, today, my answer would still be yes." Q smiled at her, his eyes locked on her face for a moment before he fell back against his seat, his head lulled to the side.