When Q had entered the captains quarters he had expected the flawless perfection it was always kept in. True there was the odd dog toy strewn about now a days and sometimes Rowley had knocked something over but never had he seen it quite like this. The crew had told him that Janeway had left the bridge quickly. Ordinarily she would go to the ready room but this time she had even avoided her second sanctuary. Now he could understand why, at least in her private quarters the rest of the crew would never walk in on this mess. Stepping over a fallen vase of flowers Q furrowed his brow and looked over at another broken vase. Was something going on here? "Well I can't say I agree with your new tastes but this is nice. What inspired the redecorating?"

"I didn't do this, well, not intentionally." Q stepped over a bundle of blankets that laid in his path. This was interesting.

"What happened here?"

"Lets just say I'm getting better at predicting our babies powers thankfully. Imagined if she had 'tested' her abilities on my bridge." It looked like a small explosive had gone off in the room. Even her wall decorations had been blown down.

"Tested? I specifically told her not to push herself any further than she already has. Not that I can knock her down anymore. I'm mortal after all."

"I think ordinarily she would have listened but since the Vidiians and those two cups of coffee this morning she's been singing a different tune. She's afraid Q and we have a problem. I can't very well run my ship when at any moment this child might blow it up by accident. Like you said you are mortal now, you can't correct any damage she might do. I'll take the credit for those two cups of coffee, are you going to take credit for the vidiians?" She just had to go and bring that back up. It had been five days since that attack and everyone had come out of it alright, at least physically.

Glancing around the room something else hit him, "Where is Rowley?"

"Oh that." Janeway paused taking another sip of coffee. "She just discovered what a dog was, I think ordinarily a child would be excited to meet a dog for the first time but she's frightened, I blame the Vidiians for that, and jumpy, I blame myself and two cups of coffee on that. She thought the dog was going to eat her, I think it slipped her mind that her projected form isn't her physical body. She panicked and, well I'm not sure."

Q seemed a little panicked, his hand going over his mouth as he gasped. "She didn't, send him back from whence he came did she?"

"No, but she gave him quite the fright. He's been hiding in his crate for the past hour and a half. I don't blame him, just look what she did to the room." This situation was problematic and not something Q had considered. He should have, then again maybe not. His offspring seemed to think more along the lines of a mortal lifeforms. A fear of losing it's life and the natural instinct to survive. Q didn't have these problems. They couldn't die, not just from aging but they were impervious to all physical damage aside from their Q weapons. Normal Q couldn't even feel pain, he could be beaten and broken all day and not notice a thing. At least until now, being mortal had it's serious flaws.

"What do you expect me to do? Talk to her?"

"Well I tried talking to her but I think she is starting to grasp a few concepts. The first being that I don't have the powers the two of you have. You might not have your abilities now but you still understand them and how they work. Here is your first chance to prove yourself as a parent, parent her perhaps? You don't need to snap your fingers to fix every problem."

"And you expect an omnipotent being to give her a lecture on being fearful for your life and the proper precaution to take in defending it?"

"Well, you are mortal now." She had a point, he didn't like her point because he didn't like to admit he was a sad helpless little embodiment of a human but then again he had admired a few humans in his time. Perhaps being resigned to this state wouldn't be too horrible. Even little Q was half human. "By the way you did promise to tell me about why you became mortal." Oh now she was pushing it.

"One situation at a time Kathy." Crossing his arms over his chest he stood there trying to think about what to do. It wasn't as easy as snapping his fingers as Kathy had reminded him. So then how was he to proceed with this situation? Of course he was still superior with his intellect, perhaps little Q would understand reason and logic. "Q, show yourself." He spoke up hoping she would hear him and show up. "You are in big trouble missy."

Kathryn wasn't at all impressed by his attempt to parent right now. His tone was a bit harsh, she hadn't really thought of this becoming a lynching for the poor girl. She was already frightened enough as is. Still young Janeway had heard she was being called out and so she showed herself, despite being a little hesitant. "Hi." She managed to squeak out, standing beside her mother as if ready to take cover from her fathers rage. "Did I do something bad?"

"Yes." He snapped back looking at her with a stern expression as if to give her the verbal lashing of a lifetime. The younger Q had been startled earlier by Rowley but now she was completely terrified of her own father. It didn't take long for the girl to look over at her mother, seeking some form of reassurance from the woman who was a little more sensitive.

"No, no Janeway you didn't do anything wrong." Kathryn reassured her.

Q was a little confused now. Had she not just told him to punish little Q? "Kathryn, yes she has. You just told me you wanted me to parent her."

"Not to frighten her or just yell at her. That isn't parenting Q."

"Mommy." Young Janeway looked back to Kathryn as Q continued to shout.

"So you go from mother to mommy now. Trying to win sympathy Q?" His voice didn't change even a little as young Janeway cowered behind her mother even more, her eyes closed. In the corner of the room one of the picture frames that had fallen off the wall broke apart, the glass shattering is fragments of the frame flew across the room. His eyes shifted back to her, young Janeway clinging to Kathryn's arm. "You can't control that can you?" Q calmed down his tone of voice and glanced between the little girls projection and the broken frame. "You show fear and have a fear response like all humans. In most cases it's a scream, a cry, a tremor but for you it's an outburst of pure energy. A natural defense mechanism. You don't have a control of it. No more than other humans can keep from screaming." Carefully he walked over to her not wanting to make her feel frightened again. Despite the fact she was nothing more than a mental projection Q still gave her a comforting pat on the back. "You didn't let off these outbursts before because before you never felt fear. You didn't know what fear was until after the Vidiians took your mother from Voyager."

Young Janeway looked up at Q with watery eyes. "They hurt me, they made my arm hurt and my head hurt, I don't know why they just did. They wouldn't stop and they hurt mommy too. I couldn't stop them, I couldn't do anything." She was shaking again, clearly traumatized from the experience.

"That was a very scary situation to be in wasn't it. You felt helpless and alone but you weren't alone. You mother was there and we were doing everything in our power to come save the two of you. We would never let anything bad happen to you again." He tried to reassure her but her expression showed she wasn't comforted.

"But you didn't stop them that time, how do I know it won't happen again?" She had a point, without his powers he couldn't grantee her safety. This was what Janeway had spoken about, that fear of being helpless to protect her should something bad happen again. The worry and concern was something he was starting to understand now. Janeway had been correct, this feeling was very unpleasant. He couldn't insist he would be there to protect her. Without his powers that was not possible but he would try.

"You are right, I wasn't there this time and I might not be able to stop it a second time. But tell me this Q, who did save you and your mother? As far as I remember the person who did that was you. You hurt those men back who were hurting you. You saved yourself from being taken and later you saved your mother. You transported the two of you outside the lab, disabled the medical devices that would harm you. From the sound of it Q, you didn't need saving. Yes you were hurt, yes it wasn't pleasant, and yes it might have been worse but in the end you beat them. You beat some very scary monsters and you know what?"

She seemed comforted by his words now, the look of fear fading away as he spoke to her. "What?"

"You are only this big." He showed her how tiny he was with the space between his fingers. "You haven't even been born yet and yet you made those big scary monsters fear you."

"I did?"

"Of course, how else did you make that Vidiian send your mother back?" She was pondering it a moment before she got a renewed look on her face. "I bet that Vidiian didn't know what he had gotten himself into."

"He didn't like me shorting out his tools." She spoke in a quiet tone, still a little timid.

"And I bet he wouldn't have liked you shocking him like you did the others. I bet that hurt them as much as they had hurt you. So you see Q, you don't have to be afraid. I can't promise your mother and I will always be there to protect you but I'll do my best as will she. There may be days when we can't stop someone from trying to hurt you, but trust me when I say this Q. You won't be helpless on those days. You will be the one leaving behind the fear in others."

"But I don't want to be a monster."

Just when he got her to no longer fear the outside world he now made her fear herself. Q didn't know which was worse. Resting his hands on her shoulders he felt a little strange trying to physically comfort her when she wasn't really here to begin with. "You aren't a monster Q, you won't ever be a monster. You have a good heart, monsters don't have good hearts. If you were a monster you would have hurt that man who hurt you. Why didn't you?"

"Because, he said he had a little girl like me. She was very ill. All he wanted was to save her life. He told me he loved her a lot, just like you and mommy love me. I bet she loved him a lot too, I didn't want to hurt him because then she would have been sad."

"See." Q smiled at her. "That isn't something a monster would say." Rather awkwardly he pulled her into a little hug and patted her on her back. Hopefully this was what Janeway had expected when she asked him to parent. He was still new to this, it was a strange concept having to direct someone else without insulting their intellect. "Now, and just so there isn't another misunderstanding I want you to meet someone I think you will find very interesting." Looking back behind him he let out a little whistle. The shaking form of Rowley emerged from the safety of his crate. His brown eyes shifting over to the thing that had frightened him and instantly the pup tucked his tail. "Don't worry boy, I think we have her under control now." Slowly the pup crawled closer to the two humans and the girl who had hurt him earlier. "This young Q is what we call a dog. They are man's best friend so I am told and since you are part human I would assume he would be your best friend as well."

"Oh?" She looked back at the dog and furrowed her brow. "What does it do?"

"Well, it plays, barks, sometimes it piddles in front of the door if you don't let him out." Q joked trying to laugh it off until he saw the look on Kathy's face. She wasn't too amused with the fact Q had slacked in his duty to keep Rowley under control. "He's called Rowley."

The younger Q got down on her knees and reached her hand out to him trying to tempt the animal over to her. "Hi Rowley, you are a dog? I'm a person, I'm called Janeway." The pup was hesitant at first, his tail remained tucked until the young Q moved forward and pet his head. Tail happily wagging she got closer to the pup and giggled. "I like you Rowley, lets be friends." The pup looked up at her slobbering on her face though she didn't show much reaction to it. Mostly because like a hologram she couldn't feel her face being covered in dog drool. "I'm sorry I made you afraid Rowley. I know how scary that feels and I promise I'll make sure you don't feel it again. We can look after each other even. Okay?" The pup barked at her making the girl smile again. "Okay."

"You handled that, much better than I could have ever imagined. Maybe you are cut out for being a father after all." Kathryn smiled at him and helping him off the ground. Since becoming human he was learning the pain of point stiffness. Being billions of years old really got to a man after a while.

"Was that a compliment from you Kathy? Color me surprised." He nudged her lightly and grabbed her arm quickly not wanting to set off some random panic attack in their hyperactive caffeinated offspring. Resting a hand over her belly he mouthed a quiet apology to her before moving his finger to his lips to keep her quiet about the ordeal. "Like you said Kathy, it's not as easy as snapping your fingers but I think I have it covered. At least until she becomes a teenager. I hear you humans can be so rebellious after a certain age." Q rolled his eyes. "If you manage to get Voyager home by then I'll be applying locking mechanisms on her windows and door to keep her from those Romeo and Juliet runaways." Kathy started laughing making Q feel like she was mocking him. "Oh you laugh now Kathryn but so help me if is anything like you we will be in over our heads."

"I can imagine."