Chapter 11: USS Galileo, En Route to Takara Sector, Observation Lounge, 2400

"You two look awful," B'Elanna Torres commented as her husband and Harry Kim brought their food from the replicator to her table.

"Thanks, B'Elanna," Harry said dryly, rubbing his forehead.

"How late were you up?" she asked Tom, who was looking especially pale and bleary-eyed, though, she noted as he helped himself to a forkful of her breakfast, his appetite was as robust as ever.

"I think I went back to our quarters at…0400?"

B'Elanna looked across the table to Libby Kim, shaking her head. "I didn't even hear you. I must have been sound asleep."

"An evening of looking at transporters wear you out?" Tom teased.

"What were you doing up so late, anyway?" Libby asked.

Before either man could answer, L'Naan Paris came sauntering cheerily up to their table. "Good morning!" she declared, hovering at the end of the table.

"You're in a good mood," B'Elanna observed through a bite of her eggs.

Tom rose from his chair. "Do you want a raktajino, squirt? Or something to eat?"

L'Naan took a seat next to her mother, still smiling. "No, thanks. I'm not hungry." Tom sat back down.

"How was your night, L'Naan?" Libby asked. "Did you find something fun to do after the ceremony?"

L'Naan made a strange sound, and her face contorted slightly, but she tried to recover with some grace. "Well, I had quite a lovely evening," she told them carefully.

If she had any hope of not telling them what exactly she'd been up to the previous evening, it was shattered when her long-lost Q friend Charlie decided to materialize in the observation lounge in front of their table.

"Hi, everyone, I'm back!"

"Oh no," L'Naan said quietly, anticipating the chain of events that would follow. Across the room two security officers stood up, phasers in hand. One of them hit his com badge and called for an intruder alert. Her parents rose to their feet, stunned. Harry and Libby looked at each other in surprise. The doors to the lounge opened, and two more security officers entered with phasers drawn. Before she realized what she was doing, L'Naan slid her hand in front of her face, and everyone in the observation lounge froze.

"Nice work," Charlie said. "I thought it would take you a lot longer to figure out how to do that."

L'Naan looked around the room in horror. Charlie waved a hand in front of Tom's face and laughed, but L'Naan cringed. "I didn't mean to," she said. "It was just reflex. I knew those security officers thought you were an intruder." She put her hands on her hips. "Why did you just show up? Why didn't it occur to you to use the door?"

Charlie shrugged. "I'm not used to thinking like that."

"Well, now my sister is going to be in trouble with Captain Michaels."

"Why?" he asked, taking a sip from B'Elanna's mug. "It takes just like I remember."

"Stop drinking my mom's coffee!" She took the mug from his hands and set it back down on the table. Then she put her hands squarely on his shoulders, forcing him to be serious and pay attention to her. "Can I send us all back in time a few seconds?"

"Of course."

"Then you have to go! Let me tell them about you first, and then come through the doors." She frowned at the collar of his uniform. "And get rid of three of those pips. You'll call too much attention to yourself if you try to be a captain."

"Fine," he pouted, "but I'm not leaving until you give me a kiss." He puckered his lips melodramatically.

L'Naan rolled her eyes and planted a quick kiss on his lips. "Now go away."

Charlie flashed out of sight, and L'Naan thought carefully about what she wanted to happen. She then waved her hand, and, to her delight, the people in the room began to move again. The security officers who had entered with phasers were gone, and her parents were still sitting.

"Are you going somewhere?" B'Elanna asked. "Stay and eat breakfast with us."

Crisis averted, L'Naan sat down again. "Uh, Mom, Dad, Harry, Libby, I have something to tell you that you're not going to like. Something…big."


Earth, Indiana, Bloomington, Janeway Residence

"So you're just an old married guy now, huh?" L'Naan asked with a smirk as she took a sip of hot cocoa.

The smirk was Tom Paris's all the way, and it made Chakotay smile. "I guess so, kid. And what about you? Rumor has it you've been romancing a certain Q."

L'Naan tried to hide her grin as she blew on the steaming cocoa. "Come on, Chakotay. The Q don't have any need for romance. They're omnipotent." She let one leg dangle casually off the edge of the porch and stared across the expansive yard.

Chakotay's eyes followed hers, and he let himself admire the wilderness that surrounded his home. Even though winter was approaching, the weather was still tolerable at twilight, the perfect time for sitting on the porch and drinking hot cocoa, just as they were doing. For talking about this and that. He only hoped he'd be able to get a little more "that" out of L'Naan before she went home.

"The Q may not need romance," he said carefully, "but that doesn't explain why you – a human – blush every time I mention Charlie's name."

"Ah!" she groaned as she felt her face turn hot. "Why do you always have to tease me and pry into my life?"

"I'm your godfather. It's my job."

The door to the house opened, and Janeway stepped out. "Young Miss Paris, to what do we owe this honor?"

She lifted her mug. "Just here for the free refreshments, Admiral."

"I was about this close to getting her to confess her love for Q Junior," Chakotay said holding his index finger and thumb a mere centimeter apart.

Janeway lifted up her palm in apology. "In that case don't let me interrupt. I just wanted to see if our guest was staying for dinner."

Chakotay jumped to his feet in alarm. "You're not cooking?"

"No, no," she assured him. "We'll have that vegetable stew you made yesterday." At his concerned look, she put her hands on her hips. "Chakotay, I am capable of reheating food."

He sat back down beside L'Naan on the edge of the porch, letting his own feet swing over the side. "Dinner in thirty minutes?" he called over his shoulder. Janeway nodded and went back into the house.

"Hey, Chakotay, want to see what I can do?" L'Naan said excitedly. She remembered having said that to him as a small child, demonstrating a cartwheel or some other trick she'd learned, and it made her delighted to do it again with unbridled power at her fingertips. "See that tree over there? The one that still has leaves?" She waved her hand lackadaisically, and suddenly the red leaves turned brown and fell to the ground.

"How did you do that?"

L'Naan leaned her head on his shoulder. "Guess what happened on the Galileo? I became a Q!"


Paris, Place de la Concorde, Office of the Federation Liaison to the Klingon Empire

B'Elanna leaned down over her assistant's shoulder, pointing to the guest list on his computer screen. "Those two can't sit by each other," she said, shaking her head. "Their houses were once blood enemies. And the Federation ambassador is bringing his three children and their spouses, so we'll have to readjust the seating at his table."

Anel input the changes. "When you took this job, did you think it would involve party-planning?"

"No way," she answered honestly. She scrutinized the details on the computer screen. "The rest of it looks okay for now. Transfer it to a padd, will you? I want to take another look at it when I go home tonight."

The door to the office opened, and they both looked up. Chakotay entered, hands on hips, staring at B'Elanna.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he demanded.

"Anel, keep working on my remarks for the reception," she said calmly to her secretary. She nodded for Chakotay to follow her into her private office and pulled the door closed behind them. "Let's both resolve not to turn up at each other's offices unannounced from now on. Now what didn't I tell you?"

"L'Naan."

"Oh." B'Elanna took a breath, sizing Chakotay up. "Sit down, old man," she instructed. "You look like you sprinted here all the way from Indiana." She led him to the blue sofa by the window. "Did she come to see you?" Chakotay nodded. "I don't know what happened. Apparently, Charlie came to visit her on the Galileo and gave her Q powers. She showed them to you?"

"She seemed proud," he said with concern.

B'Elanna nodded in confirmation. "She thinks it's the greatest thing that's ever happened to her. It's completely changed her. But she swears she's going to finish school as planned."

"And you believe her?"

B'Elanna frowned. "No, but what am I supposed to do? She's an adult. Besides, she's more powerful than me."

"What do you think the Q have in store for her?"

"That's just it, Chakotay," she said seriously. "To her this is all a game, but I know – and you know – that there's always an ulterior motive with them. Always some kind of catch."


Space

"This is not fair!" L'Naan shouted through the lump in her throat. She felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"'Fair' is a concept that's only important to humans," Charlie explained patiently.

"I am a human!" she protested.

"No," he corrected, "you're a Q now. This is how it works. Every Q has to make this decision. It's too dangerous to live among mortals all the time."

"You didn't tell me on purpose!" she accused, her throat growing hoarse. "I didn't even ask to be made Q!" Charlie tried to soothe her by putting his hands on her, but she recoiled as well as she could in the vacuum of space. "Don't touch me!" she bellowed in her best angry Klingon voice.

Charlie sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Q?" he called. "I need a little help here."

Q Senior materialized next to them. "Well, Junior, look at what a mess you've made of this."

"I didn't make any mess, Dad," he argued. "She's just a little upset."

"I told you this was a bad idea."

"The Continuum disagrees," Charlie reminded him. "Besides, I was just completing the timeline."

"'Completing the timeline, completing the timeline,'" the older Q mimicked with a roll of his eyes and a stifled yawn. "I'm tired of that story, Junior."

"What am I supposed to do now?"

"Listen," Q said to L'Naan, whose rage was beginning to smolder, "I had to make this choice, Q had to make the choice, Q had to make the choice, Q –"

"Your examples don't really resonate when everyone has the same name," she interrupted, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Well, that's how it is. So you have to decide: give up your powers forever, or join the Continuum forever."

"I want to give up my powers," L'Naan answered immediately.

"You can't," Charlie explained with a groan. "We've been over this. The timeline. The continuation of the universe."

"Then I have no choice? Or I have the choice, and you're asking me – for the welfare of the Q – not to make it?" She didn't quite understand. When Charlie had first presented her with the idea of joining the Continuum, she thought it meant being made immortal and continuing on with her life as planned. Now she understood that she could not remain with her family, that she would only be allowed to visit them occasionally, and that she'd have to quit school. At first glance, if she had a choice, it was an easy choice to make: she wanted out of her deal with the Q.

But she couldn't ignore Charlie's pleas that she was needed to help him reinvigorate the Continuum. In that case, why was she even being given a choice? It seemed to her that if they were offering her the possibility of relinquishing powers and returning to an ordinary life on Earth, it couldn't possibly be to their own detriment. After all, as she'd been reminded on numerous occasions, the Q weren't known for their generosity – and certainly not altruism.

Watching her grapple with the moral dilemma was too much for the senior Q, and he began to laugh.

"Q, be nice," Charlie urged.

"Why are you laughing at me?" L'Naan cried wildly, as her rage once again flared.

"Because, my dear L'Naan, for all your grooming, all your intellect, all the power that's been bestowed upon you, you still don't understand." He shook his head in disappointment and amusement before he vanished.

"What did he mean by that?" L'Naan asked.

Charlie frowned. "Just think about it," he said with obvious disappointment. "You already know the answer."

"Qness," L'Naan realized with a sigh. "I have to demonstrate Qness."