I don't own Star Trek.
Picard's POV
It's been seven days.
Seven days since my Hugh disappeared. Seven days of trying to calm my little boy enough that he could sleep. And seven days of searching. And still we had nothing.
My last words to Hugh had been a promise to protect him. A promise I had failed to keep. Tears stung my eyes as I looked down at the photo of us from our wedding. Hugh smiling ear to ear, my arms wrapped around him, holding him close, and my own smile matching his.
"I'm so sorry, Hugh." I whispered. I felt something brush my leg and looked down to find Orion hugging it, his little face pressed into my pant leg. I set the photo aside and lifted him into my lap, where he immediately hugged my neck. I heard a soft sniffling sound from him.
"I miss Daddy Hugh." he said softly.
"I know, Orion. So do I." I tried not to let him see me crying, "But we're going to find him and we're going to bring him back home."
"Pwomise?" I brushed tears away from his little brown eye.
"I promise." I said, hugging him close. That seemed to satisfy him as he burrowed into my shoulder.
"Wuv you, Daddy Picker." I couldn't help but smile at the sound of his little voice and the sweet innocent way he said everything.
"I love you, too, little one." I said softly and kissed the top of his head, "I love you, too."
"Aaaaawwwwwww, isn't that sweet?" I instantly held Orion closer when I heard that grating voice.
"Q." I growled.
"Keeyoo." Orion mimicked.
"Ohhhhh, that's adorable!" Q smirked, leaning in, even as I held Orion away from him.
"Leave my son alone, Q." I warned.
"What, I was just playing with the little guy."
"Your style of 'playing' would get him killed, Q." I snarled. But before Q could say anything else, a tiny voice piped up from the floor.
"Can you pwease find my other daddy, Mister Q? I wuv him and I miss him lots. Pwease, Mister Q?" My god, he was pulling the sad face routine. But more shocking than that, judging by Q's face, it was WORKING. Orion even hugged his teddy bear for added effect, and I could see tears forming in his little eye. I had to hand it to him, the kid was a master of persuasion.
"Ugh, fine, just stop looking at me like that!" Q exclaimed before promptly disappearing. I had to laugh when Orion turned to me with a smile on his face, very pleased with himself. Now if only I could believe Q was actually going to find Hugh.
Hugh's POV
I don't think there is anything else they can do to me. It feels like an eternity I've been here. I can't remember the last time I regenerated or had a meal. I am too weak to even stand on my own, the chains on my wrists now the only thing holding me up. It was all I could do to remain conscious. I was afraid of what I would find when I came to if I let myself pass out, though. One time I had awakened to find myself strapped to a lab table and all sorts of wires attached to me. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I kept getting hit with fresh bouts of pain that I thought would surely destroy me. It continued until I blacked out, but not before I saw them walking around me, apparently taking measurements of different parts of my body. When I came to, I was back in my cell, lying on the cold, dirty, wet stone floor. I shivered, but was too weak to hug myself for warmth.
Now I was back in what I came to know as the torture chamber, the room where I was hung by my wrists and tormented for information I didn't have. Whoever these people were, they had just finished another session, and I hung there, bruised and bloody, too weak to lift my head. I heard some of them leave and only one was left. The one whose voice I thought I should know.
"Really, Hugh, I thought Borg were more resilient than this." he said, "But then, you're kind of a runt, aren't you."
"H-How...d-do you...know...my name..." I gasped.
"You don't remember me? After you yelled at me for 'toying with Picard and the crew'? I'm hurt." No. It couldn't be.
"cuh...Q..." I rasped.
"Good boy! See, you remember me."
"What...d-do you want?" I coughed. And here I thought my torture couldn't get any worse.
"Oh, nothing, just thought I'd drop in for a visit, seeing as you're in no position to scream at me this time." Q smirked. He was mocking me!
"Please leave...I just...w-want to go...h-home..." A few more tears slipped from my eye.
"Your son wants you home too." Q said with an exasperated sigh, "Very well, I'll have Picard come and get you...but only because I can't stand tragic love stories!" And he walked out, leaving me alone. Just as well, because I fell unconscious a few seconds later.
Picard's POV
"Mister Q gonna find Daddy Hugh. It okay, Picker." Orion seemed so sure of that, and that delusion let him smile and laugh again, so I didn't have the heart to educate him on how untrustworthy Q was. How, if anything, Q was lying to us for his own amusement. How Q could care less if we lived or died. I hated lying to Orion, but I just couldn't bring myself to tell him the truth. I knew he'd be crushed if I did.
I tried to keep his mind off the Hugh situation, sending him on outings with other crew members or sending him on playdates or having Wesley babysit him. Which was no problem, Wesley thought of Orion as the little brother he never had. Orion was too little to fully understand that concept yet.
I was alone in my ready room when Q appeared again.
"What." I said flatly.
"I have a little assignment for you." Q grinned.
"Do it yourself." I said.
"Now now, Jean-Luc, I did something for you, so it's only fair that you do something for me. Of course, if you still refuse, I can just leave poor, helpless little Hugh where he is and not tell you anything. Tell him you didn't love him enough to find out where he was and save him."
bSomething inside me snapped, and I leapt at Q, grabbing him by his collar.
"Tell me what you know." I snarled. But my desperation crept through then.
"Please," I added, "if you have any kind of heart at all, please, for Orion's sake."
Q merely rolled his eyes.
"I REALLY hate tragic love stories." he muttered and disappeared.
"QQQQQQQQQQ!" I screamed.
"Captain, we need you on the bridge!" Wesley exclaimed through my combadge, "The helm's plotted a new course and the ship's following it!" I jumped up and ran out onto the bridge.
"Have you tried to get us back on course?" I said.
"I've tried everything, sir. She won't respond." Even as Wesley spoke, I could see his hands flying over the controls and having no effect on the Enterprise. We were headed...right back the way we came.
"Q." I whispered. It had to be.
"Should I cut the engines, sir?" Wesley asked.
"Negative." I said, "In fact, stay that course and go to maximum warp."
"Uh, that's the other thing." came Geordi's voice from the other side, "We're already at maximum warp."
"Well, then just keep going."
"Yes sir." the engineer answered.
Hang on, folks, we're almost there! Why have they been sent here? Was it really Q messing with the ship?