I still don't own Star Trek.

Hugh's POV

Admiral McCoy is back.

Apparently, he needs a ride to a starbase somewhere, and Enterprise is the closest ship. Picard didn't like it any more than I did, especially now that we had Orion. The little Borg was always curious, always running off to explore, sometimes getting himself lost in the Jefferies tubes or locked in a cargo hold until someone asked the ship's computer to locate him. I worried about him doing so with McCoy on board, knowing how McCoy felt about Borg. Though I hoped even he wouldn't stoop so low as to hurt a child, I didn't want to take a chance. So I was keeping him with me, and Picard took him when I couldn't. Now, I stood by Picard, holding Orion as we awaited the admiral's arrival. Jean-Luc had an arm around me and squeezed my shoulders in reassurance as the transporter came to life and the admiral began to appear on the pad.

The minute he saw me, he fired off again.

"YOU'RE still here!? And you're a BRIDGE OFFICER?"

"Yes, Admiral," I said calmly, "I am an engineering bridge officer."

"Is that a problem?" Picard challenged, "Because I felt, and Admiral Quinn agrees, that he's perfectly qualified for the job."

"Mechanical bastards." McCoy muttered. Then he spied our rings.

"YOU MARRIED IT, PICARD!?" As if I wasn't standing right there, hearing him call me "it" yet again. Orion hugged my neck gently.

"And where the hell did THAT monstrosity come from!" He stabbed a finger at Orion before rounding on Jean-Luc, "You still think these things are harmless? Look what they did to a child! An innocent baby!"

"The child is perfectly healthy. You can ask the medical staff yourself if you don't believe me," Picard growled, "But as long as you are aboard my ship, you WILL NOT harass my husband or my son."

"It's a BORG, Picard! A damn BORG!"

"Meaniehead!" a little voice called out. I looked down at Orion.

"What did you say?" I asked. Orion pointed at McCoy.

"He a big fat meaniehead." Several of the security officers tried hard to conceal laughter. McCoy's face went red.

"Why you little..." SMACK! Orion's head snapped to the side as he let out a loud yelp. A large red mark appeared on his cheek and his lower lip quivered. I was in complete shock. Had what I thought happened really just happen?

Had the admiral just struck my child?

The tears forming in his eye were all the answer I needed.

Picard's POV

My jaw dropped at what I'd just seen.

McCoy had hit a child. MY child. But my rage was nothing compared to the fire I saw in Hugh's eyes. I could only imagine what all he wanted to do to McCoy right now, and I envied him for having the strength to hold it in like he was doing.

"Security." I managed to spit out, "please escort the admiral to his quarters." The officers nodded and quickly showed him out. No sooner was he gone than Orion started to cry loudly. I swept him and Hugh off to our room as Hugh tried to comfort him. Once we were inside, I locked the door and fetched an ice pack, which I wrapped in cloth and gently pressed against Orion's cheek. He whimpered softly in my arms as Hugh dried his tears.

"He mean, Daddy Picker." Orion sniffed.

"I know, sweetie." I said, "But he's not going to hurt you again. I promise."

"Why don't we watch a movie?" Hugh suggested. Orion brightened up a little.

"Caws? Pwease?" he begged. He meant Cars, an ancient animated feature from the early 21st century. We'd randomly found it one day when we were searching for children's movies in the ship's databanks and Orion had fallen in love with it. Perhaps because the characters were all biomechanical lifeforms and so was he. Or maybe he was just like every three-year-old boy who loved racecars. Hugh laughed and retrieved it from the ship's files while I sat down with Orion in front of a large monitor. Hugh settled in beside us as the film started, and Orion became starry eyed like he always did. He perked up the most when the main character arrived in a small town filled with an unlikely array of oddball citizens. Orion's favorite character was a very old blue creature that served as the town's equivalent of a medical officer, as well as its judge and implied mayor. It turned out that said character also turned out to be a former racer who'd been forced to retire after a devastating incident that left him severely injured. Since then, he'd hated the racing world and shut it out of his life forever, that is, until the young racer at the center of the story arrived. As many times as I had seen the movie now, it still struck me how similar the doctor character was to me. While he'd suffered a near fatal crash, I had been abducted and assimilated by the Borg. He grew to loathe the racing world and considered it dead to him. I had grown to hate the Borg and wish they'd all die.

And then, for the Cars character, the young racer had arrived to change everything, and he ended up loving the racer as he did the other citizens. For me, Hugh had come along, and I had fallen in love and married him and now welcomed his Cooperative with open arms.

Maybe, somehow, Orion knew that about me, and that's why he loved the movie so much. Or maybe I was reading too much into him. He and Hugh laughed at something a rather dim-witted bucktoothed creature said about someone "pissed in cup" I chuckled. That pun was still amusing even now.

Orion grinned excitedly at a race scene.

"Go Limey Queen!" Orion cheered. Then his favorite appeared again.

"Look, Daddy, it's the Hutsin Honey!"

"Yes it is!" Hugh said, "See, he changed colors, though."

"He nice. Like you. An' he smart, like Daddy Picker. An' he don't got hair." I coughed to conceal a laugh. Hugh caught me and smiled.

"He like my daddies, so's I love him like my daddies." I smiled and hugged my little Borg close.

"I'm sure he'd love you, too." I said.

"Because we love you." Hugh said, "So much."

"Forever and ever." I said. "And beyond."