Chapter Fifteen

"You're Q?" Mary stopped walking and swung around to face the being that had only seconds ago, been the bodyguard of the repulsive Mr Wickes.

"My reputation proceeds me." Q smiled as she approached him. "Has Jean Luc regaled with stories of my exploits? Do tell, please. I'm dying to know if I make good theatre."

"Good theatre!" Mary exclaimed in outrage. "After what you have put us through?"

"Mary," Chris broke through the crowd who seemed to have forgotten all about the murder of Mr Wickes and appeared to be content with simply observing the bizarre goings on taking place before them. While he shared her consternation at the entity who had finally deigned to show itself, he was under no illusions of just how dangerous Q could be. This was a being that could turn them all into amoebas should he so decide. "Let me do the talking." He said when he reached her.

"Yes," Q agreed with gusto. "Let the Captain do the talking. After all, you're merely the token love interest. Did you not know that Blondie?" He grinned at her with a truly triumphant smirk that almost made Mary forget herself because she really wanted to wipe that shit-eating grin off his face.

"Still," Q continued, enjoying the discomfiture and confusion of those around him immensely. "We do need to talk so let us dispense with the audience." With that, he snapped his fingers and the crowd disappeared around them, leaving Wickestown suddenly deserted with the senior staff of the Maverick, the only inhabitants of the infamous bordello town.

"Wow." JD could not help but exclaim as he saw everyone disappearing with a flash of light. This was the most amazing thing he had ever seen since coming on board the Maverick and despite the seriousness of the situation, could not hide his awe.

"Now, there's a lad who enjoys good theatre." Q appeared at his side in a blink of an eye. "I had no idea they recruited so young out of the Academy. Why compared to me, you're not even primordial ooze."

"Omnipotent and charming," Buck found himself coming to JD's rescue when he saw his young charge frown with annoyance at having his age pointed out so blatantly.

Q turned his attention to the first officer and vanished with just as much speed, appearing next to Buck but not as himself but in the rather curvaceous form of a blond siren, ample curves filling in a scanty dress as she puckered her red lips at him with suggestion. "Is this better, Buck?"

"Don't flatter yourself." Buck retorted with a scowl which only drew laughter from Q who reverted back to his original form.

"But we're not all here are we?" Q said returning his attention to the captain once more.

"You saw to that." Chris responded, feeling his anger bubble to the surface thinking of how they had discovered Julia and the anguish in Ezra's eyes the security chief had tried so hard to hide. "You brought us here. You want to tell us why?"

"Once again, I am blamed for everything." Q sighed. "I am not responsible for this you know."

"Oh really?" Mary glared at him, arms folded in distaste. "You know of someone else who could transplant us into this 'place'?"

"This place seemed to suit you when it was all fun and games, when the odds were stacked in your favour. Come on Chris," Q looked at the captain with challenge. "That's not what you're about. I was always impressed because unlike stodgy old Jean Luc and I do not exaggerate when I say that, you were fun. You knew how to let your hair down, something else that Jean Luc is truly incapable of doing."

Chris rolled his eyes, not liking his assessment of Jean Luc Picard who was something of a hero to Chris. "The fun in this whole affair bled away the minute we found that one of us was dead."

"Oh that," Q mused as if he had completely forgotten that Julia had been murdered. His obliviousness to it all infuriated Chris to no end. "That was unfortunate but your species dies all the time, one more in the here and now doesn't really matter all that much does it?"

"It matters to us." Vin declared. "You had no right to place her in that situation. No one deserved to die that way."

Q regarded the Vulcan for the first time. "Why you're rather hot blooded for a Vulcan aren't you?" He gave Vin a quick look before returning to Chris with a nasty smile. "Watch out when that Pon Farr hits, he's going to be a real charmer with the ladies."

"Knock it off!" Chris snapped, his patience finally reaching its limits. "You brought us here and you made us dance to your tune, what the hell do you really want?"

"Little ol' me?" Q stared at him, holding his breast as if wounded by the accusation. "I see that delightful banter is not your forte' Captain so I will get to the point."

"Please do," Chris sighed.

"I am not responsible for your little trip." Q answered.

"You said that already," Buck retorted. "You'll forgive us if we don't trip over ourselves believing you."

"Go on," Chris said abruptly, signaling Buck to be silent because he had a feeling that Q might be telling the truth. All the reports he read on the entity had told Chris one thing clearly enough, as annoying and dangerous as Q might be, while he sometimes did not tell the whole truth, he was not completely prone to lying either.

"You like me." Q suddenly realised and beamed brightly. "You do!"

Chris did not know why or how, but he did. If it were not for his dead chief engineer, the entire situation might have been somewhat amusing and Q, though annoying and irritating was one of those personalities that one could not help like even if he was to be taken in small doses. "I'm as a shocked as you, so get on with it."

"We're going to be life long pals," Q appeared at his side and threw an arm over his shoulder.

"Oh god." Mary groaned. "Please just get to the point!"

"Don't worry," Q grinned at her, "you'll still get to bring us pork rinds and beer during Monday night football."

"Monday night what?" JD asked.

"Alright!" Chris barked. "Everybody shut up!" Without giving anyone a chance to say anything else, Chris yanked Q's arm and demanded. "What the hell is going on?"

"Oh all right," Q sighed, exaggerating his distress that he was being called out. "Since you feel the need to be so antagonistic, I will put you out of your misery but only because we're friends."

"Thank you." Chris answered sarcastically.

"But first we all need to be here." Q declared again and snapped his fingers. Out of thin air, Ezra, Josiah, Nathan and Alex appeared on the scene. All four were understandably confused when they saw the captain and their fellow officers around them.

"What the hell..." Alex managed once she realised where they were in comparison to where they had been.

"For those tuning in." Buck said helpfully to the new arrivals. "That's Q." He pointed at the entity standing next to Chris.

"That's Q?" Nathan looked at the man taking centre stage and enjoying it. He certainly did not look like an alien entity that was capable of causing so much mischief.

Josiah on the other hand was more concerned with how Ezra was going to take this news. After what the Counselor had seen the security chief do to Poplar, it was a valid concern. Ezra for his part, turned sharply in the direction of Q as soon as Buck had made the introduction.

Ezra's eyes widened. "Q? You're Q?"

"I must be the subject of conversation everywhere," Q gushed, "Jean Luc is truly wasted as a starship captain, I should employ him as my press agent."

Without saying another word, Ezra launched himself at Q and would have reached the entity if Vin had not stepped in and bodily restrained him. Josiah had made the move but fortunately Vin was closer and more equal to the task of ensuring that Ezra did not get any further than he had already. "Ezra! Get a hold of yourself!" With his Vulcan strength, he was more than capable of preventing Ezra from doing anything that would get himself killed, which was more or less what would happen if he attempted to attack such a powerful creature like Q.

"Get a hold of yourself?" Ezra shouted staring at Vin incredulity. He stopped fighting to get through the Vulcan because Vin was more than capable of keeping him pinned if he got it into his mind to do so. However, that did not lessen the rage that Ezra felt towards the creature who had brought them to this place and put Julia in the hands of Silas Poplar. "That son of a bitch killed Julia!"

"Sticks and stones," Q shrugged as if the words were nothing before turning to Chris. "I see that I am to get nowhere with you people until I sort this little matter out." Without pausing to elaborate, Q snapped his finger once more.

And Julia was standing before them.

There was no evidence of the beating that had taken her life. She was clad not in the period costume of the day but rather in her chief engineer's uniform and she was most definitely alive as she stared at all of them, as if having woken up from a really bad dream.

"Julia." Mary gasped.

"What happened?" She asked when she blinked. "I remember Poplar hitting me." She started to speak, feeling as if her throat were terribly dry and was in severe need of a drink. "And everything went black."

"Julia." Ezra broke free from Vin's distracted hold and took a step towards her, his heart flooding with such a profound sense of joy and relief that he was not quite able to manage any more than that. He had not realised how much he had loved her until she was lost and never felt so grateful for anything than to see her before him.

"Ezra," Julia broke into a smile, remembering how frightened she had been when Poplar was doing his worst, in that final moment when she thought she was going to die and had understood that the enmity between them was foolishness, that nothing ought to matter if she truly loved him. And she did. She crossed the space between them before she was even aware of her legs were moving and felt lighter than air when Julia felt Ezra's arms around her body, pulling her close.

"I love you." He whispered as he held her in his embrace, almost terrified to let her go because the memory of that broken body in the street was still fresh in his mind. "Whatever has between us, I am sorry. I should have known and I swear I will never hurt you again."

"No," she shook her head as she looked into his face and saw tears of happiness running down his cheeks, not entirely understanding them but completely certain of the fact that he loved her. "It wasn't your fault, you couldn't have known it was not me. I shouldn't have behaved the way I did."

"Neither should I," Ezra replied, prepared to admit to anything because he was just so happy that she was back with him. "I am sorry for what I did."

"No I am..." Julia responded.

Neither cared at all that they had an audience until Q began making retching noises. "Oh you humans and your cheap sentimentality." He shook his head in disgust.

"Considering it was you who caused this sentimental reunion," Ezra pulled away from Julia long enough to retort. "I think you can endure it for a moment."

"I?" Q returned automatically. "Had nothing to do with this."

"So you said," Chris answered, returning to the matter at hand. However, he had to admit, he was not as angry as he had been after seeing Julia brought back to them and witnessing the warm reunion between her and Ezra had soften his disposition towards Q somewhat. Besides, he was starting to believe that Q really was telling the truth about not having anything to do with their being here, which only begged the question, who did? "Mind telling us who it is responsible for this if it wasn't you?"

"Since you asked so nicely," Q answered and glanced at Mary. "I do believe you know him, Blondie."

"Call me that one more time..." Mary started to warn when suddenly all speech left her throat at another flash of light which materialized Billy in front of her.

"Billy!" Mary exclaimed as her son appeared before all of them.

Billy immediately turned to his mother and started for her, bounding across the distance and more than happy to let her hug him when they finally reached each other.

"What is he doing here?" Chris demanded, starting to get angry again. What game did Q think he was playing by accusing Billy of this entire situation.

"Now, now Christopher." Q replied, completely aware of the rising anger inside the human before him. "Before you go get upset again, I must confess that young Master Billy was not exactly alone in his responsibility for bringing you all here. He had help."

Two more figures appeared amongst them and Chris was fast reaching the point where only a good stiff drink was going to kill the headache that was forming inside his head. The new arrivals this time, were a woman and another child. Both were clad in Starfleet uniforms, even the child whose clothes seemed to be tailored made to suit. The woman was tall, with a mane of fiery red hair and had the look of one of those old Celtic maidens from the Scottish highlands while the boy was a tow headed with inquisitive colored eyes and a rather somber expression.

"Q," the woman said folding her arms impatiently. "Will you please get on with this. Quinn has spent all together too much time in the company of these humans, its time for him to get to bed. As it is, he is learning too many bad habits from [i[ that child." She looked at Billy with clear disapproval, an action which offended her to no end.

"My son has no bad habits." Mary retorted defensively.

"Well Quinn certainly did not conjure up this entire fiasco on his own." Miss Q returned sharply.

"Wait a minute," Buck cut in. "Are you saying that kid is responsible for all this?"

"Partially responsible," Miss Q immediately pointed out. "Your protocol officer's son filled his head with silly notions about cowboys and the rest as they say is history."

"But you said I could find someone to play with." Quinn whined.

"Well you were certainly not playing when I found you," the boy's mother interrupted. "They were fighting."

"It was his fault!" Both boys pointed at each other in unison.

"Explain Billy." Mary made her son look at her.

Billy swallowed and looked at his audience nervously before regarding the bruises on his mother and deciding that he was just happy that she was not dead or injured any worse than she already was.

"We were playing, he asked me what I liked to do and I told him about Buck's program. He said that it was like a holodeck, that no one could get hurt really but when something bad happened to Julia, I tried to make him stop but he wouldn't." Billy explained.

"So that gave you leave to hit my son?" Miss Q asked sharply.

"Considering what he was doing," Mary came quickly to her son's defense. "Its something you ought to be doing to give him some discipline."

"My son is a member of the Q continuum. He is a special child!" Miss Q challenged with as much ferocity.

"I'm the only child!" Quinn shouted. "Its lonely!"

Everyone fell silent and looked at him as he went to Billy. "I thought you were my friend. I thought we were having a good time."

"We were having a good time," Billy replied, appreciating how Quinn felt all too well. "But I don't want to see anyone getting hurt. You killed Julia!"

"What?" Julia exclaimed.

"We'll explain later." Ezra said quietly and allowed the conversation between the two boys to continue.

"She would have been better," Quinn answered. "I would have made her better."

"I didn't know that!" Billy answered. "It's not the same for us. When we die, we don't come back."

Q approached his son and lifted the boy into his arms. "Quinn," the entity's voice became devoid of the sarcastic tone that was usual with all his speech. "Humans are very different from what we are. The little Vulcan is correct, when their life ceases, it simply does. It is not to be toyed with, by us most of all, but ought to be extinguished in its own time, as its destiny dictates. We are forever, that's what being omnipotent and immortal is all about. That's why we have to be very careful when dealing with humans."

"I didn't understand." Quinn said softly. "I only wanted a friend to play with."

"We can play," Billy quickly spoke up, finally realizing why it was Quinn had been so obtuse about what he had been trying to tell him. How does one explain death to a being who never has to fear it? He was a child himself and he had trouble understanding it let alone trying to impress it upon someone else. "We just gotta be a little more careful."

"I don't know Billy." Mary was dubious about this entire friendship. After all the damage that had been caused already, she did not know whether it was wise to let it continue.

"I agree." Miss Q responded, feeling Mary's doubt herself. "This human child is rather fragile and who knows what other bad habits you may pick up."

"Hey, my child isn't the one who can turn the universe upside down with a snap of his fingers." Mary said hotly.

"Which simply proves his inferiority..." Miss Q answered back in turn.

"Ladies!" Chris barked, silencing them both. "Let's get a grip here. Personally I can't tell either of you what to do but Mary, we can't always pick our kids' friends for them and Billy's smart enough to know what's right and wrong, don't you?" The captain glanced at the young boy with a little smile. At both young boys actually. As much of a mess as this whole situation had turned out to be, Chris could not deny that he was could understand loneliness and sometimes the best friendships came from the ones borne out of adversity.

Mary let out a sigh and looked at her son. "Is that what you want Billy?"

"Yes mother." He nodded, giving Chris and Quinn a smile as he did so. For his part, Quinn stared at his own mother with a pleasured grin which disarmed the Q female considerably.

"I am assuming of course," Chris looked at Q. "That your son will be schooled in some basic safety procedures when dealing with mortals?"

"My son is omnipotent," Miss Q said proudly. "I am certain that he will have no trouble keeping his playmate safe."

"Hell, this has been one seriously weird day." Buck exclaimed.

"No kidding." Vin agreed and several others who felt the same way joined in his response.

Chris took a step towards Quinn, feeling himself unable to be angry at the child who reminded him so much of another that it almost hurt. Dropping to his knees so that he could look Quinn in the eye, Chris took a deep breath and responded. "Next time you want to play cowboys? Ask first."

"Really?" Quinn's pleasure was obvious.

"Really." Chris nodded and then looked at Vin and the others. "I think we can accommodate the young man can't we?"

Ezra did not answer at first but upon examining his feelings, found that could not hold a grudge when Julia was returned to him and things between them had were right again. "I suppose so but with a little schooling in basic safety protocols." The security chief gave the boy a hard stare.

"Well it was sort of fun, when people weren't dying." JD agreed.

"Speak for yourself." Alex shook her head, deciding that she would never like this program.

"Alex it will grow on you." Vin tried to convince her otherwise and garnered a dark glare for his efforts.

"You hope." Nathan chuckled dubiously.

Chris noted that Q was staring at him. "You surprise me Captain." Unlike before, there was no trace of the impish smirk or mischief making persona but rather a more serious and thoughtful expression. Q appeared as if he were staring at Chris in a new light.

Chris' brow shot up. "How so?"

"You're surprisingly tolerant." Q remarked, impressed by the kindness shown by this human to his son. Jean Luc was normally so adversarial and poor Kathy trapped in the Delta Quadrant was always cautious but he could tell that Chris was not so close-minded.

"I had a son once." Chris revealed. "I wouldn't like him to be lonely any more than you like your own son being isolated."

"Your son," Q nodded. "I remember. The one who was murdered along with your wife."

Chris' eyes widened as he stared at Q. "What?" His voice was almost a strangled whisper. "What did you say?"

"Consider this revelation my gift of thanks," Q replied as he prepared to send all these humans back to their ship, now that matters had been righted as much as they could be. "Your wife and son were murdered. The shuttle accident was no accident, it was premeditated."

"By whom?" Chris forced himself to ask.

Unfortunately, Q was not about to answer and his only response to Chris' request was another snap of his fingers.

Chris blinked as the bright light dissipated out of his eyes and he found himself on the bridge of the Maverick. He was in his command chair, wearing his own uniform, with no trace of the black garments he had worn in the Magnificent Seven simulation that Quinn had created. At the helm control, Vin was seated at his station, staring at him with just as much bewilderment as Buck who was placed next to him and Mary who was also out of her red dress was displaying. JD too looked similarly confused at his station and Chris did not have to turn around to see Julia, Ezra and Alex at their usual positions on the bridge. Only Billy, Josiah and Nathan were standing up, having no specific place on the bridge since most of their duties were carried out in their respective offices.

"Vin," Chris found voice enough to speak once the shock of returning to his bridge had faded from his mind. "What's our heading?"

Vin blinked, shaking his own disorientation away as his eyes dropped to the console screen before him. His brows furrowed at the readings and when he looked at Chris, his confusion showed. "We're still on course for Antaria, at the exact position we were when we disappeared off the bridge."

"Captain!" Alex spoke up. "I've just checked in with a subspace beacon. We're at the same point in time as when we left. According to the ship's chronometers and computer bio readings, we never left the ship."

"How is that possible?" Mary exclaimed shocked. There was on traces of the bruises on her skin inflicted upon her by Mr Wickes prior to her killing him. That at least gave Chris some comfort. Nothing else did.

"Easy enough when we're dealing with an omnipotence who can bring the dead back from life and create an entire world from fiction." Josiah pointed out.

"Yeah," Chris nodded as Q's last words returned to haunt him. "Easy enough."