AN: Here we are, the next piece to this one. We have a few more to come as everything plays out.
I hope you enjoy! If you do, please do let me know!
111
"I thought you were dead," Jean-Luc said.
Q gave him a smile that was a little more familiar and friendly than what Q usually employed when he was simply being difficult.
"You mortals and your limited understanding of things," he said, as though that explained everything. Of course, Jean-Luc was willing to accept that maybe it did. At this moment, Q's being alive or dead was the least of his concerns.
"You did this?" Jean-Luc asked, still cradling the baby boy while Beverly held the newly born girl against her chest. "You tampered with the program?"
"I simply made a few changes," Q said. "Something to make it more satisfactory."
"You could have killed her!" Jean-Luc barked at Q, anger suddenly bubbling up in him from a place he hadn't fully realized he'd been incubating it all this time. "She is seventy-four years old, Q! This was entirely unexpected. There was no preparation for this…and now you've…what have you done with the Emergency Medical Training Representative? Beverly needs help, Q…she needs medical attention after this completely irresponsible…"
"Oh—relax, Jean-Luc," Q said. "It wasn't as if I was ever going to let your precious Beverly die…really…" He snapped his fingers.
Jean-Luc looked at Beverly. She looked at Jean-Luc.
"She's in no medical danger. You can relax."
"How are you feeling?" Jean-Luc asked Beverly.
"Like I just gave birth," she said with a laugh. "But…better."
"Of course, you were both so concerned with the whole messy process that I didn't want to take everything away," Q said. "I could have simply given you the little tykes, but I thought that might defeat the purpose. You were so adorable, after all, in your attempts to recapture lost experiences and the like. I just thought you might benefit from some new experiences. This way, you get all those things back, Jean-Luc, that you've been fretting about tirelessly…though goodness knows why you would want them. The sleepless nights, the dirty diapers…human babies require that you take care of their every need. The whole thing sounds exhausting, really…but you seem so attached to the notion…"
"Wait…" Beverly said. "Are you saying that…this is real? Our babies are real?"
"For a human who's considered to be one of the brightest of your species, you're awfully slow in catching on today, dear doctor. Maybe it's owing to the fog of bliss they say surrounds new motherhood. These are your babies. One girl and one boy. Compliments of the Q. Although, I assure you that they're genetically yours in every way."
Jean-Luc's heart pounded in his chest.
"These are our babies? Real babies? You took it upon yourself to…to impregnate Beverly with actual babies and force her to deliver them without her knowledge or consent?"
Q frowned at him. It was clear that he'd expected things to go differently. Though, for an omniscient being of sorts, Jean-Luc thought he ought to have had the ability to know exactly how his plan would play out.
"I thought you'd like my little gift," Q said. He sighed. "But—I can get rid of them." As he raised his hand to snap, Beverly nearly came out of the chair that she hadn't yet left.
"No!" She yelled, upsetting both babies with the loudness of her voice and its somewhat echoing quality in the holographic sickbay. "Don't you touch them!"
Q stopped and smiled.
"So—you do want the little Picards," Q said.
"Of course, we want them," Beverly said. "It's just…"
"We weren't expecting this," Jean-Luc said.
"That's called a surprise, Jean-Luc. A gift. A solution to all the dreaming, and wanting, and wishing. Something for that family you're always talking about around that quaint little table where you're so fond of eating and having coffee."
"Thank you," Beverly said quickly. She gave Jean-Luc a look and then something of a smile. A gentle, silent nudge to thank the being for what he'd done, instead of ridiculing the manner in which he'd gone about it.
"Yes…thank you…" Jean-Luc said. "But…Beverly's health…"
"I can restore everything to being as good as new," Q said. "Better than you were before, even, if that's what you want. Why, I can even stop your body from producing milk, as you mammals always seem determined to do in these situations."
Beverly softened toward Q. She nuzzled the tiny baby in her arms.
"Please—Q—I would like to be in good health for my babies," Beverly said. "But—I would like to…keep the milk production. I want to feed them. It's part of the bonding process that we humans enjoy, when it's possible. And—if it's not too much, I'd like to keep the feeling I have right now, without any medical concern."
"You want to feel…" Jean-Luc said.
"Euphoric," Beverly said with almost a dreamy smile. "Tired, yes…but a good kind of tired, Jean-Luc. A well-earned tired. One that will be better with a little rest. Aware of what we've been through. Happy to have my babies. My healthy babies…right, Q?"
Q snapped his fingers.
"As you wish," he said. And, then, without another word, he simply vanished.
"Is he gone?" Beverly asked.
"I'm not certain that Q is ever truly gone," Jean-Luc offered.
"Jean-Luc…" Beverly said after a second of silence fell between them, in which they both worked to digest all that had happened.
"Yes, Beverly?" He asked, coming toward her again. He leaned to kiss her, and she returned the kiss softly, yet a touch hungrily.
"We have babies," she said.
"It would appear that we do," Jean-Luc said. "How do you feel?"
"Exactly like I hoped I would," Beverly said. "How do you feel?"
"I have never been happier," Jean-Luc assured her. "Excited for this opportunity. I love you, Beverly."
"I love you," she assured him. "Now—let me see my son…and I think you should meet your daughter."
111
"Something is wrong! I'm telling you!" Laris said.
"Just—calm down," Deanna offered, reaching out like she might touch Laris's shoulder. Something in Laris's demeanor or emotions, perhaps, seemed to make her think better of it, because she pulled back. "I'm sure that there's a perfect explanation for all of this…and Geordi's looking for it, now."
They had noticed the time ticking on. At first, they'd all remained engaged in conversation, table games, and other time-killing activities. They'd excused the long absence of Beverly and Jean-Luc by saying that they'd merely gotten caught up in their date and were enjoying themselves too much to stop. Finally, when Deanna had sensed a true restlessness and concern growing in Laris—which she communicated to Will—they'd taken Laris on a long, detailed tour of every inch of the Enterprise, excluding Jefferies tubes, but absolutely including even the most remote cargo bays and storage spaces. Finally, when they'd reached the holodeck, Laris had decided to go inside, arguing that the people inside were her spouses—her bondmates, and she wasn't worried about walking in on anything that she hadn't seen before.
She needed to know, for herself, that all was well.
And that was when the holodeck controls had proved unresponsive. Now, pacing in an almost panther-like quality, after trying every simple trick to get them to work, Will could tell that Laris's anxiety was growing—even without Deanna's empathic abilities to help him read the moment.
Deanna, for her part, was trying to use some of her ability of emotional projection—a Betazoid ability that she'd come into after she'd started the Phase—to try to soothe Laris and calm her. It was, perhaps, the only thing standing between them and a full Romulan meltdown.
"Geordi," Will said, activating their communication line again. "How's that solution coming?"
"I don't know what's going on," Geordi admitted. "Everything appears to be working fine, yet we have no control over everything. There's also something confusing about the temporal readings coming from inside."
"Confusing how?" Will asked.
"They aren't running parallel to our time, and they aren't part of any running program. I'm not sure, but this could be the effect of some sort of anomaly or outside influence…"
Those words were enough for Laris. Without any further discussion of the matter, she walked over to the holodeck doors and wedged her fingers as far into the seal between the doors as she could. She did her best to pull them apart and, when her strength proved not to be enough, she changed her grip and put more effort into it.
"What is she doing?" Geordi asked over communications, clearly watching things from Engineering.
"If nobody else is going to do anything, I am!" Laris growled. "That's my family in there, and who knows what the hell is happening to them!"
"I think she's attempting to open the doors," Will offered.
"The doors won't open," Geordi said. "That's part of what makes this so strange. They're sealed beyond our control. They appear not to even be allowing for manual release."
Laris let out what Will could only describe as a primal growl as she jerked and tugged at the doors. Will looked at Deanna. She was wide-eyed. She shook her head gently.
"I think we're going to try to get them open," Will offered, trying not to set Laris off more than she was.
"Stop her from bending the doors, Will! We'll figure out how to get the doors to open, but she's just damaging them this way."
"I don't think I can do that right now, Geordi," Will said, laughing to himself. "Not without stunning her, and I'm not prepared to shoot Jean-Luc and Beverly's wife just yet. Not without a bit more information."
"Stop talking and help me!" Laris yelled at him, pausing only a moment in her exertions. She hadn't been able to break the seal of the doors entirely, probably only because it seemed there were some outside forces at work, but he could see that she'd certainly started to bend and damage the panels. He had no doubt that, if brute strength allowed it, she would start disassembling the area, piece-by-piece, to reassure herself that Jean-Luc and Beverly were OK.
"Deanna—can you sense anything?" Will asked, stepping closer to Laris, but still trying to decide if he was going to help or try to decide how to restrain her and keep her from getting hurt. Jean-Luc and Beverly, after all, would want him to protect her while they figured out what was going on—not that she appeared to need much of his protection at the moment.
"If I didn't know any better," Deanna said, "I would say…I sense Q."
"Q's dead," Will said.
"We don't know much about the Q," Deanna said, "all things considered."
"Q?" Laris asked. "That…that Puck? What's he doing to them?"
"I can't sense that," Deanna said.
"But you know they're in there?" He asked.
Deanna nodded.
"And…they're not alone. I can't tell who is with them, though. I don't know them…"
Laris leaped back toward the door and started working, again, diligently trying to simply rip the doors off, if nothing else could be done.
"This isn't getting us anywhere," Will said, "and you're only going to hurt yourself…especially if it's Q."
He wrapped his arms around her, dragging her backward, and hoping to at least stop her long enough for her to cool down and for them to be able to find a solution to this. She started to fight him as soon as he began moving her backward, and he realized this was going to be a lot like trying to bathe a cat—a very strong cat.
He was just about to let her go, just as she clearly wished he would, when the doors opened.
Laris stopped fighting, and Will hugged her against him, holding her close with ease this time. All of them froze for the moment.
Beverly walked out of the holodeck with Jean-Luc seeming to support her most of the way. Both of them were smiling. Neither looked distressed, in the least, by what had happened—whatever that might have been.
They weren't alone, though, just as Deanna had said.
In each of Beverly's arms, she held a small bundle—each appeared to be a newborn baby. None of them spoke. Will wasn't sure that any of them could. He imagined that Deanna and Laris both felt as stunned as he did.
"We could use a hand here," Jean-Luc said, breaking the silence, the smile not fading from his face. "If someone would take the babies…I'll help Beverly back to our quarters, and then I think we can explain…"