Kathryn was angry with herself for most of the morning. She was angry when she got into the sonic shower, she was angry when she got out of the sonic shower. She was angry as she pulled on a fresh uniform, she was angry when she got her first cup of coffee from Neelix, and like any person who was good and angry, Kathryn inadvertently took her anger out on people around her.

Quarterly crew evaluations from the Senior Staff were due on her desk by 1200 hours, and while Kathryn was exempt from the dreary job of writing said reports, it was her job as the Captain to look over and approve the recommendations made by the Senior Officers regarding each crewmember.

Tom Paris had his report to her by 09:00, which impressed the Captain until she discovered at 09:15 that it was incomplete. She summoned him to her Ready Room at 09:16.

"Mister Paris," she practically growled from behind her desk, slapping the back of PADD containing the unfinished report meaningfully into her left hand over and over again. "Care to explain to me to me why your crew evaluations are incomplete?"

"I'm sorry Captain, I'm afraid I got a bit side-tracked with some work the Doc had me doing in Sickbay…I'll have it to you tomorrow by 0800."

"Unacceptable," she snapped. "You'll have it to me tonight by 0800, is that clear? Dismissed."

"But Captain, I…"

"Dismissed!"

Tom closed his mouth and left her Ready Room in a huff. Kathryn rolled her eyes testily and tossed the PADD onto the top of her desk, where it landed with a clattering sound.

Left to her own devices, Kathryn started to mentally curse Q.

Stupid, stupid! She hissed to herself. Why on Earth did you let him touch you like that? Kathryn had never been that intimate with a man she didn't love. She felt used and uncomfortable in her own skin. At the same time, images and memories of sensations from that morning slid in and out of her mind at random, and they left her feeling aroused and wanting, which only made her angrier with herself and Q. Stupid Q! Stupid Continuum! Stupid Man-Q sneaking into my quarters! Stupid me for LETTING him.

Her door chirruped.

"Come!" she barked, not bothering hide the irritation in her voice. Chakotay entered with a slight look of apprehension on his face.

"Good morning," he said with a touch of irony.

"That remains to be seen," she muttered, punching the pads on her computer station with unnecessary ferocity. "What do you need, Commander?"

"Just here to deliver my Quarterly Evaluations and ask if you have any updates on our omnipotent guest."

Kathryn rolled her eyes at the mention of Q.

"He arrived last night. I sent him to his quarters and haven't seen or heard from him since," she fibbed, wishing desperately that it were the truth.

"Do you think it's wise to let him wander the ship unguarded?" Chakotay's tone implied that he didn't think it was.

"I've been assured that he'll be on his best behavior…and if not, there's always the brig," Kathryn smiled viciously at the thought of locking a human Q up in the brig and forgetting he was there for the next 3 weeks. She looked up at Chakotay and saw that he was smirking as well. A knowing glance passed between them and suddenly Kathryn felt friendlier towards him than she had in days.

"So," she said, breaking eye contact briefly to pick up Chakotay's report and give it a quick look. "Anything in here I should pay special attention to?"

"Not really," Chakotay replied, moving to sit on the edge of her desk. He hadn't done that in awhile, and Kathryn smiled at him over the top of the PADD as she scrolled through it.

"I agree. Approved," she added her authorization code to the report and handed it back to him.

"And to think," Chakotay quipped. "I spent all that time writing this because I thought you were going to read it."

"Nope," she grinned. In the old days, signing off on Chakotay's work had always been just a formality. It felt good to display that kind of trust in her first officer again.

"Tom Paris warned me not to come in here just a few seconds ago. Something about you being completely unreasonable this morning?"

Kathryn scowled.

"Put him in the brig too," she said.

"Aye-aye, Captain," Chakotay chuckled. He turned and walked to the door, turning back to flash her a good-humored grin as he left.

After that, reports came flying in at her from all sides, and the Captain was ever so grateful for a working distraction from her personal thoughts. At 1400 hours her stomach growled, and Kathryn put down Ensign Kim's report, realizing she'd been running on nothing but coffee for the entire day. Thoughts of a lunch that contained actual food crossed her mind, but then her door chirruped.

"Come!" she called, standing and stacking PADDs into neat piles on her desktop as the door whooshed open.

"Hard at work, ma capitaine?"

Kathryn jumped and knocked over a stack of PADDs. She swore and bent down to pick them up. When she reappeared, PADDs filing her arms, she found Q sitting at on the edge of her desk, and a large, silver serving tray, complete with a dome cover, sitting in the middle of it.

"Get out!" she snarled, pushing the tray to the side and trying to restack her PADDs. Q merely smirked at her.

"Rough day?"

"Get out," she hissed again. "And take whatever that is with you," she nodded towards the serving tray.

"My, my, somebody's grumpy," Q said in a singsong voice, making a clucking sound with his tongue.

"I'm not kidding, Q!"

"I didn't say you were, dearest."

"Go away!"

"Oh, you're so angry with me!" he crowed, moving around the desk and trying to catch hold of her. Kathryn ducked out of his embrace just in time and scooted away. "Don't hold a grudge, sweetheart! Let's kiss and make up!" Q cried, trying to catch her again and obviously enjoying himself in the process. Kathryn ducked out of the way once more, making sure to keep the desk between her and Q.

"Janeway to security!" she managed to squeak. Q raised an amused eyebrow at her. There was no response.

"COM system malfunction, oh dear!" Q cried with mock seriousness. "Don't worry Kathy, I'm sure it's just a minor glitch…"

"I'll bet you are!" she snapped back. "What did you do, Q?"

"Moi?"

"Yes you!"

"Nothing," he was grinning.

"Define 'nothing'!" she hissed.

"Kathy! Are you implying that I did something?"

"Ugh! This is pointless!" Kathryn growled. She pushed past Q and charged through the door onto the bridge. Chakotay and the other bridge officers looked startled at her sudden appearance.

"Kathryn, is something wro…" Chakotay looked past her to the door of her Ready Room suspiciously.

"The COM system is down. Do we know why?" she interrupted him, making a beeline for her Captain's Chair and tapping at the display. She glanced behind her briefly and was surprised to see that Q hadn't followed her.

"Captain, Lieutenant Torres is currently running a routine level 3 diagnostic on all COM system functions. She is scheduled to finish at 1300 hours. Until that time, the COM system will be inoperable," Tuvok said in his usual unperturbed manner.

"Why wasn't I informed of this?" Kathryn said, looking at Chakotay accusingly. Her First Officer winced slightly.

"It was in the report I gave you this morning, Captain…"

Aw hell, thought Janeway.

"I must have overlooked it," she said, a touch of irony in her tone. "My apologies. You have the bridge, Commander." Kathryn rose and returned to her Ready Room as quickly as possible, leaving the bridge crew to sit and ponder their Captain's bizarre behavior.

Q was standing up by the windows when she returned. He turned to smirk at her knowingly.

"Told you!" he gloated.

"I despise you," she growled, stalking back to her desk.

"I despise you too," he smiled teasingly.

"What do you want?" she muttered, sitting back behind her desk, too tired to argue any more.

Q moved towards the desk and pulled the domed cover to the serving tray off with a flourish, and the heavenly scent of something delicious filled the air.

"I thought you might be hungry."

"What is that?" she frowned, looking at the tray.

"I made you lunch, Kathy: Chicken Cordon Bleu with steamed asparagus…or at least the closest thing I could find to asparagus in your Talaxian's kitchen. The chicken for that matter is not actually chicken either…but I'm sure it will taste lovely all the same…"

On the silver tray was a place setting covered with delicious looking food, along with a glass of wine. How Q had managed to carry the tray without spilling the wine was beyond her…and how had he cooked all this?

"Q…"

"Now, now," he cut her off. "All work and no food makes for a cranky Captain! And as I'm sure you're aware, a cranky Captain has a quite a negative impact on the morale of her crew…"

"Q…" she tried again, but he continued,

"See Kathy? Now that I'm a human aboard this ship, I too am invested in its well-being and safety…" he said this with a great deal of arrogant enthusiasm as he pulled a cloth napkin from the tray.

"I see," she muttered as he crossed around the desk to place the napkin gently into her lap. Kathryn looked up into his face and was surprised by the tender expression she saw there.

"Enjoy," he whispered in her ear, and dropped the briefest and lightest of kisses on her cheekbone. Kathryn couldn't help herself, and a shiver passed through her. Q gave her a knowing smile as he backed away. Kathryn rolled her eyes and adjusted the napkin in her lap.

"Thank you, Q," she said stiffly. He nodded at her and exited graciously without another word.