This is an alternate story based on "Only Human" by Alara
Rogers (aleph@netcom.com), although it isn't in her continuity. 
I got sufficiently obsessed by the story "Only Human" that I
wrote an alternate set in this universe.  Alara's permission has
been secured for this.

All chapters of PropinQuity are available by FTP at
ftp.europa.com, in the directory /outgoing/mercutio/PropinQuity/. 
The index is also available by FTP at ftp.europa.com, as
/outgoing/mercutio/IndexToPropinQuity.txt.  They can also be
downloaded through the WWW.  The WWW address is: 
http://www.europa.com/~mercutio/PropinQuity.html.


PropinQuity by Mercutio (mercutio@europa.com); based on
"Only Human" by Alara Rogers


Naomi sat silently in her cell, unable to do anything else.  She'd
been accused of the attempted murder of Q, and left here to rot. 
Parkinson and Veloz had made it perfectly clear that no one from
Security cared what happened to her, and that she'd be here on
her own for as long as they wanted to keep her incommunicado. 
She'd tried getting someone, anyone to listen to her, but there
was no one there.  And if she were being observed by computer,
it was entirely in passive mode, monitoring her lifesigns and
recording only.

The idea that she'd want to kill Q was patently ridiculous, and
pinning it on her simply because the person who did it must have
been a computer expert even more so.  While she had the skills,
she was the last person who would ever want to harm Q.

But, despite all logic and reason, that was what had happened and
now she was here and there was nothing, absolutely *nothing*
she could do about it.

Not even when the real killer was still free, probably covering up
their tracks even now, making sure there was no evidence left to
find; or worse, planning a second, more successful try.

Not even when the deadly programming was still in effect.  The
killer had added Nausimal to the supplements Q got in his food, a
drug to which Q was violently allergic.  Q's life still in danger as
long as he remained unaware of how he'd been poisoned, and as
long as no one knew that she had left the tampering untouched
and in place.

Naomi stared out at the wall opposite her, the sick, raging
thoughts coursing through her.  There was nothing she could do. 
Nothing at all.

****

Veloz looked at Parkinson as they left the brig.  "Aren't you
going to stay there with her?  It's not proper procedure to leave a
prisoner on her own."

He shrugged.  "She can't get out."

Veloz looked sharply at him.  "Be that as it may, assuming Dr.
Allen isn't the killer, we'd be leaving her open for retaliation
from the actual assassin.  Surely even you can see that one."

Parkinson glared sullenly at her.  "It was just a joke."

Veloz was well able to believe that, given Parkinson's low or
even non-existent sense of humor.  "I suppose I'll stay then until
I can buck someone else into the task."  The Security guard
looked wistful for a moment.  "Damn.  And my shift was almost
over, too."

Parkinson looked at Veloz.  "Since you're going off-shift, why
don't I take care of arranging for a guard?  I'll have some time
while I'm on duty with Q to find someone to do it.  Q's
unconscious after all.  He won't be going anywhere."

"Thanks.  I appreciate that."

Parkinson smiled secretively.  He hadn't said exactly *when*
during his stint guarding Q that he'd arrange for a replacement,
had he?  And he'd be on duty there well into the evening. 
Nothing could possibly happen to Allen while she was in the brig,
and it'd give her a good taste of what it meant to mess with
someone in his position.  No permanent harm would be done, and
then she'd know better than to screw with Security.

****

Q woke up slowly, coming out of what seemed like a hazy fog. 
The disorientation alerted him that there was something wrong,
although he was too dazed to know what.  He didn't remember
what had happened the day before, although something in the
back of his mind was telling him that he didn't want to
remember, that whatever had happened was too horrible to
contemplate.

He opened his eyes to a very familiar sight, the ceiling of
Sickbay.  He'd know it anywhere; Q was more familiar with the
environs of Sickbay, particularly *this* view of Sickbay, than he
was with his own quarters.  He certainly spent enough time here. 
Q realized abruptly that he was being held down by something
over his chest.  Whatever had sent him here must have been
fairly serious if he were on full life support now.

But why was he here?  Q couldn't remember the reason.  The last
thing he recalled clearly of the day before was sitting down to
lunch with Harry.  And that was it.  Everything after that was
grey and he couldn't make sense of the images.   His memory
was horribly fuzzy and vague.

Where was Naomi?  Just when he most could have used her to
tell him what had happened, she wasn't there anymore.  He
couldn't believe it, had to believe it.  How very like her.

"So he's awake, is he?"  The voice was male, and obviously
talking to Q rather than anyone else.

Q tried to say something, but nothing came out.  He coughed
experimentally, to make sure he had a voice at all, and that Li
hadn't found an excuse to shut it off as he had shut off most of
Q's voluntary functions the last time Q was under Li's "care". 
He tried to speak again, and this time sound emerged, although
his voice was far more weak and shaky than he would have liked. 
"Who's there?"

Parkinson stepped into view.  Q didn't recognize him, wouldn't
have recognized any of the Security goons who followed him
around from time to time.  They all looked the same to him.

"Good morning, Q," Parkinson said, a smile playing around his
lips.  "I just thought you should know that your little lovebird has
finally bitten back."

An icy apprehension gripped Q.  He knew how callous and cruel
Security could be.  The way they'd stalked him after Ohmura's
death proved that, if nothing else.  And now they were going
after Naomi as well.

Parkinson didn't want for Q to speak.  "Naomi is in the brig. 
She tried to kill you.  Have a nice day."

And then he stepped out of Q's line of vision, effectively out of
reach, since Q was unable to tell whether he'd remained in the
room.  It didn't matter though.  All Q could think about was the
disturbing idea the guard had planted.

Naomi?  Had tried to kill him?  Q wrestled with his stubborn,
foggy memories, attempting to find any hint of a motive for such
an attack in there.  But he couldn't.  Try as he might, his
memories of the day started with getting up, having breakfast,
then working until just before lunch, when Naomi had left for an
appointment and Harry had showed up.  That was it.

Q couldn't believe it.  Naomi wouldn't have tried to kill him. 
Would she?

****

"Naomi?"

Naomi's head snapped up.  Someone had finally come to see her! 
She jumped up and hurried over to the force field holding her in. 
It was D'oritt.

"You don't know how glad I am to see you," Naomi said,
meaning it.  Despite the fact that D'oritt was on her list of
suspects, she was also one of Naomi's colleagues, and could
therefore be entrusted with niggling little tasks like telling
Anderson that Naomi wanted the hell out of there.

D'oritt's face was an expressionless mask.  "You shouldn't be."

"I shouldn't be?" Naomi asked curiously.  Then a grim suspicion
crossed her mind.  "D'oritt... you didn't... no, you wouldn't... 
You didn't even get Jinn back for what he did to you, you didn't
have any reason to go after Q."

"I wouldn't?" D'oritt asked wryly.  "Come now, Naomi.  You
know me better than that.  Jinn is even now suffering through
having all of his clothing transparent when viewed at a distance of
three meters or more.  All of you deserved far worse than that."

Naomi clenched her hands into fists and stared at the other
woman.  If there wasn't a force field between them...  She
disregarded the joke on Jinn.  She couldn't care less what had
happened to him, but D'oritt's casual attitude over Q was entirely
unforgivable.  "Then why did you come here?  To gloat?"

D'oritt shook her head.  "No."  She looked down at the floor for
a moment.  "It was supposed to be a prank, supposed to humiliate
Q.  When I found out he'd been taken to Sickbay, I knew
something had gone wrong.  None of the others know you've
been arrested.  I... I've been following the case..."

"I'll bet you have."

"...and when you stopped making hits on the computer, I knew
something had happened.  I thought you'd found out that I'd done
it and had alerted Security to come and get me."

"No," Naomi said slowly, her voice very cold.  "I suppose I'm
not that bright."

D'oritt didn't seem to notice.  "But they didn't come and they
didn't come.  It took me a long time to figure out why."  She
seemed ashamed of herself for not being faster.  "And then I
came here."

Naomi shrugged, her own helplessness to do anything at all about
this making her sarcastic and impatient.  "Great.  You got away
with it.  I'm sure you're very happy with yourself now.  Of
course, Q isn't dead, which I'm sure is very disappointing to
you."

"You think I tried to *kill* him?"

Naomi stared at D'oritt.  "Oh, sure, and now you're going to try
to tell me that this was all some kind of joke and that you think
it's immensely funny that Q's lying in Sickbay under full life
support."

D'oritt returned her stare.  "I didn't *mean* to kill him.  He was
just supposed to... well, it would have been quite embarrassing. 
Nausimal is a very strong purgative."

"Why should I believe you?  If it were some sort of prank, why
not go after me?  He never did anything to you, and I work with
you."

D'oritt looked slightly sheepish.  "I wanted to, but you're
pregnant, and I wasn't sure how Nausimal would affect the
baby."

Naomi went completely white with fury then.  Speaking very
slowly, with spaces between each of her words to keep her
message absolutely clear despite her rage, she said, "You were
even *considering* it?  Do you know how close you came to
doing just that?  I could easily have eaten something Q ordered
and... then..."  Naomi couldn't continue.  She wanted to dive
right through the force field and start choking D'oritt.

"It was worth the risk.  The records clearly show that you do
most of the ordering and that Q's usually in the physics lab when
he does any ordering at all."  Her face twisted.  "I miscalculated
the dose.  He was supposed to order just a snack, not a whole
meal."

"I'm sure that will sound very good when you're explaining it to
Commodore Anderson," Naomi said sarcastically.  "'Oh, I didn't
*mean* to kill Q.  He just ate too much of the poison.  How was
I supposed to know he'd be hungry?'  That'll sound real good."

"It's the truth!" D'oritt said, looking intently at Naomi.  "You've
got to believe me."

"Why?" Naomi asked.  "You're expecting understanding from
me?"

"If you believe me, then they will too.  And I never meant for
this to happen.  I'm not a killer."

"You look like one to me."

"Naomi, please," D'oritt said, almost begging.  "You've got to
listen to me."

"I don't seem to have any other choice, do I?" Naomi asked
flippantly.  "It's not like I'm going anywhere."

"If you don't believe me, then no one will.  This was a joke, only
now it's not funny.  And you don't know how upset Security is
over this.  I've read their logs.  They're going to seek the
maximum penalty they can."

"How comforting," Naomi murmured.

"Exactly," D'oritt said, expression harried.  "I can't turn myself
in to them.  They'd rip me apart.  Naomi, I don't want to give up
my career, my *life* over a joke."

"You should have thought of that first," Naomi said
unsympathetically.

"But you've got to help me.  If you don't, they'll tear me to
pieces."

"Help you?  I'll help them."

D'oritt stared at Naomi.  "You really don't care what happens to
me, do you?"

"You tried to humiliate Q and ended up almost killing him.  I'd
like to see you dead."

The conviction in Naomi's voice and posture could not be
misread.  D'oritt squared her shoulders.  "I suppose I deserve
that," she said softly.  "And if you feel that way, then so will
everyone else."  She looked over at Naomi.  "I really am sorry."

"I don't care."

She left, and Naomi stood there for a long time, staring out.  So
that was it.  D'oritt had taken her revenge at last.  And it was a
cruel and vindictive one.  That didn't overly surprise Naomi. 
D'oritt could be a cruel sort of person.  How scared and shattered
she seemed now only served to make Naomi happier.  D'oritt
*deserved* to suffer.  And if Naomi could make her suffer in
other ways, then mental anguish would have to do.

It was too bad that D'oritt had undoubtably instructed the
computer to erase the foregoing conversation, or ignore it
altogether.  A record of her confession would have made a nice
piece of evidence against D'oritt at her trial.

Naomi looked forward to collecting other evidence against her.  It
would be much easier now that she knew who the culprit was. 
She could work forward from their logs and extrapolate what they
had done by what was missing.  She should have thought of that
earlier, when she'd first made her short list.  With only five
people on it, she could have engaged in such a search then.  But
it would have been labor intensive, and would probably have been
interrupted by Security coming to take her to the brig before she
actually got anywhere.  However, when she got out of here,
Naomi looked forward to the hunt.  There would be evidence
against D'oritt.  The only problem was finding it.

But first she had to get out of here.

****

Q's despairing thoughts over Naomi's probable guilt or innocence
fled from his head as Sanaharrar set two enormous paws on the
side of Q's bed, raising her face to a level with his.

It was a frightening sight close up, but Q had seen much stranger
things.  "You know, you have horrible breath.  Can't they give
you something for that?"

Sanaharrar's face was utterly impassive.  "You can trrust
Naomi."

The words were utterly believable.  Sometimes Q took her for
granted, but with her this close to him, it was impossible not to
remember that Sanaharrar was a telepath and would *know*
whether Naomi had done it, assuming that Naomi's shielding was
worse than Sanaharrar's ability and that Sanaharrar would pry
into these things.

Q felt a wave of relief.  He hadn't believed that Naomi was
guilty; couldn't believe that of her.  She loved him, and while he
still didn't need any such weak emotion directed towards him, a
betrayal of that trust was unbearable to contemplate.  The sudden
bleak thought crossed his mind that if Naomi wanted to kill him
there wouldn't be much reason to resist.  If she truly hated him,
then there would be no one anywhere in the universe who cared
whether he lived or died, and without that, he didn't see much
point in pretending that he particularly cared either.

A warm tongue licked his ear and Q squirmed away, unable to
move more than a fraction of an inch.  "Stop that, you disgusting
beast."

Sanaharrar did not look apologetic for distracting him from his
depressing thoughts.  "You arre in danger."

"Danger?"  Q repeated the word, then felt like a fool for not
realizing it before.  If Naomi hadn't done this, which of course
was not even a possibility, then someone else had.  And he was
trapped here in Sickbay, pinned flat to a bed, at the mercy of any
passing psycho.

And Naomi was in the brig.  He had to talk to Anderson. 
Immediately.  

****

Li looked between them.  "Don't excite him, commodore.  He's
still very weak."

Anderson looked at Q.  "I'm not sure that's going to be possible
unless he's sedated."  Her tone was droll.

"I don't want to give him any more medication under the
circumstances," Li said.

Q and Anderson exchanged glances.  "That'll be all, Doctor. 
Thank you."

"How nice of you to come and see me in my extremity, Eleanor."

"Q... Tell me you didn't raise enough fuss to drag me from my
office down here over nothing at all."

"Nothing at all?" Q was indignant.  "Someone tried to kill me
and you call that nothing at all?"

Anderson's face was almost sympathetic.  "I'm sorry about
Naomi, Q.  I know you trusted her..."

"Of course I trust her," Q snapped.  "She didn't try to kill me!"

"Q, you have to accept the facts.  I can talk to Counselor
Medellin.  That could help you..."

"There's nothing wrong with me."  Q was completely frustrated. 
"Can't even a brainwashed moron such as yourself see that
Naomi would be the last person to try to kill me?  You've got the
wrong person."

"Q, we have evidence."

The word stopped him for a moment.  Evidence?  Actual proof
that Naomi had done this awful thing?  A brief flash of blackest
grief washed over him before it was ruthlessly shoved away. 
Sanaharrar had affirmed Naomi's innocence, and there was no
question in Q's mind that Naomi was incapable of lying to a
telepath.  Q considered telling Anderson about Sanaharrar and her
affirmation of Naomi's innocence, then discarded the idea.  He
didn't need such proofs when it should be obvious to the slowest
of fools that Naomi wouldn't do anything of the sort.  Q
disregarded the fact that he had temporarily believed Naomi to be
guilty.  It was irrelevant.  Naomi was innocent; he knew it.  How
could anyone believe otherwise?

"What kind of evidence?  Trumped up proofs by Security?  Elly,
the killer is still out there and you've dropped the ball again."

"Are rambling accusations against Security all you have to offer,
Q?" Anderson asked.  "Because if it is, I'm going to be going."

"You don't believe me?"

She stopped by his head for a moment, looking down at him, and
an expression of sympathy passed over her face.  "I feel very
sorry for you, Q.  This is a tragedy.  But there's nothing I can
do."

Before he could stop her, she had gone.

This was getting to be frustrating.

****

Li grudgingly removed the life support paraphernalia from Q.  "If
you hurt yourself, it's your own fault.  Try not to move around
too much.  We can't just restart your heart as if it were a
malfunctioning warp drive."

Q glared at him.  "Release me from Sickbay and I'll go die in
peace in my own quarters where you won't be bothered to wake
up from your nap."

"If I could only be so lucky," Li said.

He left Q alone, having better things to do than to serve as an
audience for Q's constant whining.  Li was sorry Naomi had been
taken away.  At least if she were here, Q might shut up once in a
while.  And if she wanted to kill him, well, that was hardly an
original thought on anyone's part.  At least then he'd be quiet.

Li dismissed the grim thought as unworthy of him.  It had been a
very long day, and it wasn't half over yet.  Q's complaining and
demands were slowly eroding Li's self-control.

Q tried to sit up as soon as Li left and found that he couldn't.  He
was sore all over, but most especially in his chest.  Q decided
that he must have hit something on his way to the floor.  Nothing
else could account for the way he felt.  How inconsiderate of
Harry not to catch him.  And how tiresome that Harry had not
been in to visit him yet.  There was the trivial matter of Harry
having to be at work right now, and Q having been asleep during
the time when Harry could reasonably have been expected to visit
this morning, but Q was bored and that made Harry's
transgression all the worse.

A flash of color caught his eye, and Q looked over at his ever-
present Security guard.  Trying to sit up had put him in a slightly
better position to see what was going on around him, and he
could now put a face with the voice.  Q mentally tagged him as
Idiot Number Three.

Idiot Number Three was apparently being chewed out, which was
always an event of considerable glee for Q.  Q would have
preferred to be doing the honors himself, but it was almost as
good to see someone else doing it.

Q could hear part of the one-sided conversation from where he
was.  The Security goon who had been watching over him for
most of the day was talking to someone else, apparently another
of the mentally challenged primates from his department.  It
wasn't much amusement, but it would do for the moment.

"No guard?  But sir... no, sir, I never said I'd take care of that. 
I assumed Veloz would...  yes, sir, I'll be down there right
away."

The idiot left, and Q sighed.  Now there was no one to taunt in
his immediate vicinity besides Sanaharrar, and she was absolutely
no sport at all, since her only response to being teased was to
show him her teeth in a display that he found particularly
unfunny.

****

The first sign of motion or sound since D'oritt had left was
Parkinson's entrance into the brig.  It had been several hours
since he first left her there.  Naomi thought that it must be early
afternoon by now, if not later.

Naomi looked up at him as he came in, schooling her face to
impassivity.  There were a lot of things she wanted to say, but
not to him.

He spared one, murderous glance for her before Webber followed
him in.  

"Care to explain this to me, Lieutenant?" Webber asked, looking
around the brig.  "I don't see anyone here safeguarding Dr.
Allen's security."

Parkinson looked sulky.  "I didn't know I was supposed to call
anyone, sir.  Veloz said..."

"Lieutenant Veloz informed me that you had agreed to set up a
watch list.  Do you deny this?"

"I don't know anything about a watch list, sir," Parkinson said
truthfully.

Webber eyed him carefully, then decided to let that particular
issue slide.  "I'm relieving you of standing watch over Q. Under
the circumstances... Q's own bodyguard will be sufficient, with
the murder suspect in the brig."

"Yes, sir."

Naomi couldn't hold herself back at that.  "You can't do that!"

Both men had almost forgotten about her.  "I can't?" Webber
asked his voice deceptively mild.  "I believe I am acting head of
Security at the moment."

"Where's Commander Azoth?" Naomi asked.

Webber weighed the risks of telling her, and decided that there
was no harm in it.  "Commander Azoth has taken bereavement
leave.  His brother committed suicide."

"Oh," Naomi said, backing down.  "I'm very sorry.  I didn't
know."

Webber shrugged, then turned back to Parkinson.  "You're
dismissed."

"Yes, sir."  Parkinson escaped while he could, casting a
malicious glance at Naomi over his shoulder before disappearing
entirely.

Webber didn't look at Naomi as he sat down at the computer
console and began scanning through the Security roster and
schedules with low-voiced commands.  The starbase didn't use its
brig much, and consequently, there wasn't a regular detail
scheduled here.

"Commander!  You have to listen to me!  You're doing the
wrong thing here.  You've got the wrong person and you have to
do something about that!  Q's life is in danger.  Hello!  Are you
even listening to me?  Q could die while he's still in Sickbay if
this person tries to kill him again.  Don't you even care?  Hello!" 
Naomi glowered at him, impatient and frustrated.  "Commander
Moron?  Do you even care about this?  Or are you hoping
someone kills Q off?"

Webber didn't move.  If it wasn't that no one could maintain such
ramrod stiff posture and still be alive, Naomi would never have
believed it.  He was most definitely dead to the world, or at least,
to her.

"You're ignoring the evidence that *I* gathered for you!  Doesn't
your own common sense tell you that I would hardly have gone
to all the trouble of getting evidence which incriminated me?  Or
is thinking one of the things they train out of you in Starfleet?" 
She raised her voice.  "If you had even part of a brain, you'd see
that I couldn't possibly have done this.  Haven't you had anyone
else *look* at the so-called evidence?  Anyone from the
programming department?  They'd be able to help you with this. 
Hello?  Hello?"

Without saying anything to her, Webber got up and left the room.

"Damn, Naomi said, settling back down on her bunk.

A lieutenant entered in company with an ensign, neither of which
she recognized, and Naomi's expression lightened.  Fresh meat.

****

Medellin sat down in a chair placed outside Naomi's cell for that
purpose.  "Why don't you tell me about it?"

"Tell you about what?" Naomi asked, completely frustrated.  All
that forty five minutes of determined arguing and screaming had
gotten here was a visit from the person on the base who she least
wanted to see.  How disgusting.

Medellin cocked her head.  This was going to be even more
difficult than she had imagined.  "From what I understand, it's
been alleged that you attempted to kill Q, and ever since a
Security guard was placed in here, you've been disrupting his
work by screaming demands and threats."

Naomi favored her with a long look.  "And instead of actually
doing anything about it, they sent you.  Brilliant.  Just brilliant." 
She was as upset over that as anything else.  She'd been left
alone in here for a very long time before anyone had shown up,
and when they had, she'd done everything she could to convince
the pair of guards placed on duty that she needed to talk to
someone in charge, like Anderson.  They'd ignored her, even
though she'd moved through pleading to outright demanding. 
Finally, Medellin had shown up.  Naomi almost preferred having
no one here at all.

Medellin tried to ignore the personal insult, but it was difficult. 
"Naomi, we need to discuss your anger.  Obviously you're very
upset about something..."

Naomi stalked over to stand in front of Medellin, who tried not to
recoil.  There was a wall of pure force keeping them apart, but
everything about Naomi's attitude and posture proclaimed her
desire to tear someone, anyone, apart.

"Someone has tried to kill Q," Naomi explained, not at all
patiently, ignoring her raw throat.  "I was tracking down the
killer when they throw me in here and forget about me.  No one
will listen to me, even though I'm the best chance they have of
locating the person who did this to him, *and* they still won't
tell me whether Q knows that the programming that almost killed
him was left in place.  So, for all I know, the killer is out there,
working on a second attempt, but Q could very well die from just
repeating what happened the first time, because he may have no
idea why it happened to him.  So yes, I'm upset!"

Medellin nodded.  "So you're saying you're afraid for Q's safety,
and frustrated that you can't do anything to protect him?"

Naomi looked at her.  "Are you just going to ask me stupid
questions like that?  Because if you are, you might as well leave. 
I don't need an investigation into my parents' sex life right now. 
There's far more important things to deal with than namby pamby
counseling doubletalk."

Medellin sighed.  "I didn't want to tell you this, because I
thought it might interfere with an effective patient-client
relationship and I really *do* want to help you, but one of the
conditions of your being allowed to speak to anyone else is to
cooperate with counselling."

"Excuse me?" Naomi asked incredulously.  "But I haven't even
been found guilty!  What kind of system is this?"

Medellin didn't flinch.  "Your behavior has been violent and
abusive.  While I'm sure you would receive a fair trial even if
you do not cooperate, I doubt that granting additional privileges
would be in order under the circumstances."

Naomi stared at Medellin.  "Violent and abusive?  They lock me
away like this and expect me to be *nice*?!"

"Naomi, will you cooperate?  It's for your own good."

She stood very still.  "Do you think I did it?"

"It's not my position to make judgments..."

Naomi shook her head.  "I don't care about that.  Do you think I
did it?"

Medellin looked at her, then reluctantly admitted, "I could
understand how someone might be driven to commit such a
violent act against Q."

"I see."  It didn't occur to Naomi that this might be a result of
Medellin's own personal convictions about Q rather than an
admission that the counselor thought Naomi was guilty, a
conclusion that Medellin would not have drawn under any
circumstances, regardless of who her patient was.  

"And your decision is?"

Naomi thought about it for a moment.  If she didn't cooperate
with Medellin, she wouldn't be able to speak to anyone for an
indefinite period of time, and Q would be at risk.  If she did
cooperate, then Medellin would get information about Q from
Naomi which would then be recorded permanently for anyone
with the curiosity to be able to read.  Oh, they'd be considered
private, but there were entirely too many people who could still
get access.  And she'd know that she'd betrayed Q to these
people, given them a permanent hold on him with personal
information that he'd have done anything not to have revealed.

It was a terrible dilemma, and she didn't know what to do about
it.  Either way she risked hurting him, and in any case, she didn't
have any assurance that Medellin's word meant anything.  Naomi
could spill everything, and still not have anyone take her
seriously over the threat to Q's life.  And yet, wasn't the chance
of saving him better than the certainty of failure if she did
nothing?

"Let me think about it."  Naomi turned around and went back to
the bunk, to sit down, putting her arms around her knees and
staring at the blank wall, her expression bleak.

****

The figure entered the darkened room.  Q couldn't sleep, had
indeed been thinking over this again ever since Li had decided he
was exerting himself too much and restricted him from having
visitors or making calls.

Q was upset over that; however, Li had cleared out his personnel
from this part of Sickbay, leaving him alone with no one to rage
at but Sanaharrar, who had promptly curled up to take a nap.  It
was profoundly unsatisfying to have a fit with no one to take it
out on, and so he was reduced to actually examining the situation
in a rational manner.

He didn't recognize the woman who entered.  She came to stand
a few feet from him, shifting nervously from foot to foot.

"She didn't believe me.  But you *have* to believe me."

Crazy people were not Q's forte, but any distraction was a good
thing.  "I stopped believing in fairies a long time ago."

D'oritt's expression was grim, earlier despair having settled into
unreadable lines.  "It was an accident."

Sanaharrar was lying on the floor, a dark shadow amidst
shadows.  She pricked her ears forward and watched.

Despite being hampered by the equivalent of having gotten kicked
in the chest by a horse, Q was able to pull the pieces together. 
There was only one accident this person could be referring to. 
"You did this?  But... I don't even *remember* you."

D'oritt paled.  "You don't know me?"

"Should I?"  Q asked, beginning to enjoy this.  How delightful
and typically stupid.  The murderer had come to confess. 
Security would be down there any minute to arrest this woman
and all would be well.  In the meantime, what a wonderful drama
to be witness to.  To think he'd been bored enough to consider
actually giving in and taking a nap before this.  "Was there
something about you that was engaging enough for me to have
taken an interest in you?  Because I don't actually recall having
done anything to you, much less anything worth killing me over."

Anger rose up in her, along with a sick sensation that she'd done
precisely the wrong thing.  He hadn't known who she was. 
There was no point in having tried to humiliate him; she wasn't
even memorable enough for him to recall having belittled her.  It
didn't occur to D'oritt that Q would have recognized her if she'd
been less clothed, that being the image that was indelibly stuck in
his mind.

However, she felt angry at him for not even caring how he'd hurt
her.  Angry on top of the harrowing desire to wipe all memory of
this incident from the people around her in the same way that
she'd erase a faulty program.  She'd never meant for this to
happen, it hadn't been her fault, and now she was guilty of a
crime whose depravity seemed unfathomable.

It didn't seem like much more of a step to go ahead and do it,
and be actually guilty of what she was accused of.

Relief, and a certain sort of rightness flooded through her as
D'oritt realized that this was what had driven her to come her in
the first place.  She'd told herself it was to convince Q that she'd
meant no wrong, but that was a lie.  It was to finish this, to put a
permanent end to the fears and the terrors that had been chasing
their way through her head ever since she'd first heard Q had
been taken to Sickbay.

Sanaharrar, who had slunk around quietly between D'oritt and the
door, now snarled and raised herself up.

D'oritt backed away, trying to escape from the menace which had
suddenly appeared, but Sanaharrar was quicker, toppling D'oritt
to the floor, and planting one massive paw in the middle of her
chest to hold her still.

Sanaharrar looked down at D'oritt, who gave every evidence of
being terrified.  To reinforce that impression, Sanaharrar yawned,
showing long, sharp teeth.

"Where's Security when you need them?" Q grumbled.  "Always
underfoot the rest of the time, but never here when anything
actually happens."

Sanaharrar glanced up at him, but didn't comment.

"Q to Security."  There was no response.  "Security?  Help?" 
Again, there was no response.  Q was beginning to be a little
alarmed.  "How dare they abandon me in the middle of a
computer failure?  Don't they realize how important I am?"

Sanaharrar leaned over D'oritt, putting more of her weight on the
slender programmer.  "Therre is no chance of escape.  You
should give in now."

D'oritt stared up at the teeth which were looming alarmingly
close to her face.  She didn't know whether Sanaharrar would
actually do anything to her, but there was no hope that she could
get away from the giant cat.  She should have given more thought
to that before coming here, should never have come here at all. 
She had known Q was heartless, but it hadn't occurred to her that
he'd be *this* heartless or this capable of defending himself.

"Computer, cancel program D'oritt seven eight five."

"Acknowledged."

Q looked down at her, a brief tremor of fear beginning to run
through him, as he realized what the drama taking place on the
floor was all about.  She'd deliberately shut off the computers? 
He'd actually been in danger the whole time?

His voice was weak as he spoke.  "Q to Security."

"Commander Webber here."

"The murderer just tried to kill me again.  My bodyguard has, in
the absence of any competence on the part of your department,
managed to capture her.  If you could spare any time in your
busy schedule, I'd appreciate it if you could come down and
collect her."

"But..." Webber seemed surprised.  "Dr. Allen is still in the
brig..."

"Don't be entirely dense.  The culprit is someone else."

"On my way.  Webber out."

****

The word came down even to the brig.  "They've got another
suspect for Q's attempted murder."

There was a low laugh from one of the guards.  "What's new? 
The suspects are everyone who's ever met him."

"True."

Naomi was almost desperate when she heard this.  "They've got
the real killer?"

Botelli came over to her.  The Security detail assigned to the brig
had found that Dr. Allen was less likely to start screaming if they
actually got within a reasonable speaking distance of her, and
answered her queries.  "Yes.  D'oritt, one of the programmers, I
think."

"Just like I told you three hours ago!"

"Coincidence."

"Coincidence?" Naomi asked, tone rising.  She abandoned the
justified anger in favor of a better topic.  "So, are you going to
let me out of here?"

"I haven't gotten any orders to that effect."

"So?"

"I can't let you out without direct orders."

Naomi fumed.  Orders, orders, orders.  Couldn't these people
think for themselves even a little?  "Then let me talk to someone
who can straighten this out."

"You're still a suspect, Doctor, and your privileges are restricted. 
I can't let you speak to anyone."

"Then *you* talk to someone about it."

"Doctor, if you really aren't guilty, the orders will come in. 
Otherwise, you stay here."

"But they just arrested D'oritt!  Doesn't that tell you something?" 
Naomi was almost apoplectic.  Even after all of this, they still
thought she was guilty.

Botelli stared blankly back at her, either deliberately or through
sheer stupidity not understanding the question.  "It tells me that
they have another suspect."

Naomi gave up on him, and went back to sit on her bunk.  This
was useless, hopeless, and the only comfort she had was that at
least D'oritt was not out there scheming a more effective revenge. 
On the other hand, there was still no reassurance that Q knew
about the damaged replicator programming, and knew not to eat
anything.  And she was still stuck here, unable to do anything
about it.

****

Security had taken D'oritt into custody without a trace of apology
for their unforgivable actions.

Q expected to see Naomi shortly after that.  Of course, it would
be only proper if she stopped to clean up and change into
something new.  However, she still hadn't shown up and it had
been almost an hour.  He was beginning to feel very miffed by
this.

"Computer, location of Dr. Allen."

"Dr. Allen is in the brig."

The simple sentence was enough to enrage Q.  What was going
on here?  How dare they keep her in the brig after all of this?

If he could have, he would have gotten up and gone there right
then.  But he was still horribly weak.  If the insane woman who
was supposedly bright enough to be a programmer had tried to
attack him directly, he wouldn't have been able to protect
himself.  He certainly didn't have the energy to take a stroll down
to the brig.

But something had to be done about this.  Q didn't bother calling
Security.  None of them were capable of thinking for themselves. 
He went straight to Anderson, comming her from where he lay.

"Your moronic bullyboys still have Naomi in custody," Q said,
tone not conveying even a hint of how tired he felt.  He was on
voice only.  He didn't want her to see how weak he was; it would
only undermine the impression he wanted to make.  "Yet another
example of the Starfleet Special Brainwashing Program for
Goons?"

Anderson tried not to rub her forehead.  She'd just gotten a
report from Commander Webber regarding the incident with
D'oritt.  Webber was still trying to talk to D'oritt.  The woman
had not confessed to anything yet, and there was some doubt that
she had done it.  The only actual evidence against D'oritt was
that she had gone to Sickbay to see Q, which was damning only
in a circumstantial sense.  There were no computer records
implicating her, nothing to convict her but the word of all three
people most closely involved, Q, Sanaharrar and Dr. Allen.

The commodore's own gut feeling was that a major mistake had
been made.  Dr. Allen was innocent and had been innocent all
along.  However, she could see why Security had made the
decision that they had.  Keeping both suspects in custody made
sense when there was no clear-cut evidence against either. 
Security would see it that way, although Anderson did not.

But holding Allen would only antagonize Q, as well as Dr. Allen
herself.

"Under the circumstances, I suppose I could justify releasing Dr.
Allen, if of course, she agrees to some elementary precautions."

"Precautions?" Q asked suspiciously.

"Safeguards to protect you.  There is still the chance that she was
involved and..."

"Don't you ever listen to me, Elly?  She didn't have anything to
do with this."

"Nonetheless, if Dr. Allen agrees, she'll be let go."

Q grumbled, but that was still a far better deal than had been
offered so far.  "I suppose, if that's the best you can do."

"Q, I'm only trying to protect you."

"Like you protected me against the original attack?  Like you
protected me against the follow-up attack from that crazed
female?  No, thank you.  I prefer to protect myself."  Q's tone
was acid, and Anderson reacted to that despite herself, then
suppressed the anger ruthlessly.

"I'll speak to Dr. Allen as soon as I can.  Anderson out."

Q laid there in the silence, staring in the ceiling in utter
frustration.  She'd do it as soon as she could?  The translation of
that was as soon as she had nothing else better to do, like
conducting a survey of all holodeck usage in the last six months
by people with names beginning with the letters L through R. 
He'd be lucky if he got to see Naomi tomorrow.

But he would get to see her.  She hadn't been permanently taken
away from him or harmed.  Everything would be all right.

For the first time since he'd been attacked, Q let himself relax. 
It wasn't much, just a letting go of the anxiety that was holding
him rigid, but it was enough to make the bed seem very soft and
inviting.  Q closed his eyes.  Everything would be all right.

****

"No computer access?" Naomi said angrily.  "How am I
supposed to prove that D'oritt did it if I don't even have access to
the one means of collecting evidence?"

Anderson didn't flinch.  "Until this is resolved, the fairest
solution is to bar you from accessing the base's computers. 
You're still a suspect..."

"That's ridiculous!  Why are you even bothering to let me out if
you think I did it?"

Anderson sighed.  "I don't believe you had anything to do with
this, Dr. Allen.  However, under the circumstances, it's only
prudent that certain precautionary measures be taken."

Naomi glared at her, before conceding the point.  The
commodore had a certain duty to fulfill, and Naomi understood
that even if she didn't like it.  At least Anderson was letting her
out of the brig.  That much was better than nothing.

"I agree," Naomi said sullenly.  "Not that I have much choice."

Anderson signalled to the lieutenant, who came over and let
Naomi out.

She stepped past the now banished barrier with the air of
someone who was expecting it to spring back into existence and
bite her.  When she was actually out, she looked at the
commodore, gaze steady.  "I won't forget any of this.  Believe
me, I won't forget."

"I never asked you to," Anderson said unflinchingly.

****

Naomi went straight from the brig to Sickbay, not stopping for
anything or anyone.

She came through the door without slowing down, and if it hadn't
opened at exactly the right moment, she wouldn't have been able
to stop herself from running into it.

The moment she caught sight of Q, she came to a halt, standing
there looking at him.  She'd only been gone a day, and only part
of it at that.  Security had come for her early this morning, and it
was now late evening.  If the commodore hadn't made a special
effort, Naomi would have most likely spent the night in the brig,
and then she'd have been even more angry when she was finally
released.  It had been less than a day, and even that was too
much, given the strain she'd been under, the pressure and the
anxiety that something might happen.

But none of that mattered now.  She was here, and Q was all
right.  She studied him as he lay there, apparently asleep. 
They'd taken away the special equipment which had been holding
him down; he must be out of danger then.  That was a good
thing.

She walked closer, standing very near to him.  His features were
lax, and she could tell he was asleep.  

Tenderly, she reached out, and stroked the line of his cheek,
unable to avoid touching him.  She needed to feel his aliveness
under her hands, reassure herself of his continuing presence.  His
safety had been all she'd thought about while she was confined,
and knowing he was unharmed was all the comfort in the world.

He stirred under her touch, and she withdrew her hand hastily,
not wanting to wake him up.

Q opened his eyes to see Naomi looking down at him.  For a
moment, it seemed like a dream, and he couldn't bear the cruelty
of that.  But then he heard her stomach growl and he knew it was
truly her.  Only the real Naomi would be hungry at a time like
this.

"How are you feeling?" Naomi asked softly, hand moving to
cover his.

His eyes moved hungrily over her face, and even though he
would never admit it, he was desperately glad to see her again. 
"Terrible.  Would you believe they're forcing me to wear these
tacky pajamas?"

Naomi looked at what Q was wearing, some sort of drab, unisex
patient uniform that hadn't made much of an impression on her,
and grinned.  "At least it doesn't have flowers on it."

"Flowers would be an improvement."

"Oh, no.  You'd have to see the flowers I'm thinking of.  You'd
hate them."  She smiled at him, and they held there like that for a
long moment, staring at each other, everything that couldn't be
said hanging in the air between them.

"I was scared, you know," Naomi admitted in a quiet voice, still
leaning over him, as close to him as her stomach and the bed
would allow.

Q felt honored and terrified all at once by her admission.  He
didn't know what to say to her about that, but that she chose to
confide in him was somehow gratifying to his ego.

"I didn't know what was going to happen," Naomi continued, not
quite looking at him, but her hand trembling where it rested on
his.  "I thought you might die or that D'oritt might try to kill you
again."

"She did."

A faint smile hovered on the edges of Naomi's mouth, quickly
washed away.  "Yes, I heard about that.  For some reason, I
didn't find it especially reassuring."  She held his hand more
tightly, seeking comfort in that grasp.  "I love you, and I was
afraid I'd lose you."

With horror, Q realized that the foolish woman was crying. 
Awkwardly, he touched the side of her face with her free hand,
trying to stop her.

Naomi leaned into his caress, wanting to throw herself in his
arms and cry it all out on his shoulder.  But she couldn't.  It just
wasn't possible in their current situation, and for some reason that
made her cry even harder.

Li stepped into the room, about to tell Naomi he was closing up
for the night and that she should get some rest, when he saw
them there.  He stopped in his tracks, not saying anything at all
as he watched Q, who shouldn't even be moving around yet,
painfully lever himself up so that he could hold Naomi.

In his sitting position, holding Naomi against him, her head
pressed into his shoulder, Q couldn't help but see Li, and his
gaze challenged Li to say anything at all about this.

Li said nothing, but silently backed out the door, leaving them to
their privacy.

****

Naomi slept in Sickbay, unable and unwilling to leave Q's side,
although she did take his thinly veiled suggestion and return to
their quarters to change into something he considered more
appropriate.  Naomi was tired, and under ordinary circumstances
would not have spent another night in a chair, but she couldn't
leave Q, even if there were nothing she could do there.

But in the morning, it was a different ball game.  As soon as Q
had woken, and been apprised of what she planned to do, Naomi
left for the programming lab and lair of the people who could
help her most at this point.

"Naomi!" Jinn said, calling out as he saw her pace into the lab
like a panther on the prowl.

She turned and headed his direction, taking a seat next to him and
Farish, who hadn't seemed to notice her entrance.  "Hello, Jinn. 
What's with..."

Jinn cut her off.  "He's been working on something for a while
now.  He'll be back."

Naomi nodded, too preoccupied with her own problems to care
about Farish.

Jinn didn't seem to notice, but went right to the next topic.  "You
missed a major prank.  Would you believe someone turned all my
clothes transparent?  They substituted one of those synthetic silks
for the fabric..."

Naomi waved her hand.  "I heard about it.  From D'oritt."

Jinn's face clouded as she mentioned D'oritt's name.  "Hey,
Naomi, I'm sorry about that.  We all heard about it just a little
while ago.  It... It was confusing trying to figure out what was
going on.  First there was a big fuss about Q committing suicide
again, and then you dropped out of sight, and the next I know, I
hear you'd been arrested for killing him but had been let go
because D'oritt was actually the one who'd planned it and you
were just an innocent dupe."

Naomi looked up at him, eyes flashing.  "Excuse me?" she said
dangerously.

Jinn held up his hands.  "I didn't say I *believed* that.  I just...
that's just what I heard."

She nodded slowly, accepting that.  "I suppose that's not far from
what Security believes either.  D'oritt did try to kill him,
although she claimed to me that it was just a joke."

"A joke?"  Even Jinn was appalled by the idea.

Naomi nodded.  "She gave him Nausimal, used the replicator to
give it to him."

"Nausimal?  I've used that on occasion for a joke or two myself." 
Jinn grinned, then recollected himself as he remembered that
Naomi was taking this seriously.  "It's very *effective* in public
situations."

Naomi glared at him.  "Et tu?  In any case, Q's allergic to it.  It
stopped his heart and almost killed him."

Jinn let off a low whistle.  "That's not good at all."

"No.  And she was considering giving it to me as well." 
Naomi's hands curved protectively around her stomach.  "I don't
think that would have been a good thing either."

Jinn shook his head.  "But it doesn't sound like any harm was
done.  Why all the fuss?"

Naomi stared at him.  "She tried to *kill* Q."

"You just said it was a joke.  That's not the same as trying to kill
him."  Jinn waved a hand in front of Naomi's face.  "Hello. 
Hello in there.  I know you're crazy about the guy, but it sounds
like an accident to me."

"Accident or no accident, Security's treating it as attempted
murder," Naomi said tightly.  "And if they can't pin it on her,
they're going to accuse me.  That's where I've been all this time. 
Sitting in the brig, trying to get someone to listen to me."

Jinn shook his head.  "I'm sorry, Naomi."

"Jinn, you and Farish have got to help me."

"To do *what*?" Jinn asked.

"I've been denied access to the computer system.  But I need to
find proof that D'oritt did it, or at least that no one else could
have."

Jinn tossed his head in a cocky manner.  "How soon do you want
it?"

"As soon as possible," Naomi said seriously.  "I think it'll be
easier to prove the negative -- that no one in this department
besides D'oritt could have done it, than it will be to prove the
positive, that she did do it, so I'd start there."

"Hey, don't tell your grandma how to count chickens."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Naomi said with a straight face.

Jinn glowered at her as a sudden thought crossed his mind about
something she'd said earlier.  "You *knew* about what she did to
my clothes?  And you didn't tell me?"

"Jinn, I *couldn't* tell you.  I was locked up in the brig.  They
weren't letting me talk to anyone," Naomi said with exasperation
in her voice.  "Besides, I figured someone would *tell* you about
it."

Jinn's face turned comically aghast.  "Would you believe no one
did?"

Naomi's face creased into a smile, the first real humor she'd felt
in days.  "They didn't?  Not even Farish or Trina?"

"Trina thought it was *funny*," Jinn said mournfully.

Naomi looked at Farish.  "What's your excuse, Bronson?"

"Eh?" Farish said, seemingly waking up from a deep thought.

"Jinn's amazing disappearing clothes trick," Naomi repeated
patiently.  "Didn't you notice?"

Farish looked between them, puzzled.  "Was there something I
missed?"

Jinn and Naomi both broke out laughing.

"There's your answer, Naomi," Jinn said.  "But seriously, we'll
find out for you."  His expression turned earnest, an
uncomfortable look for his features since he never wore it and
hadn't broken it in.  "You can count on us."

"Thank you, Jinn.  I never doubted it."  She patted him on the
shoulder.

****

Jinn was true to his word.  With significant help from Farish,
they had managed to clear Naomi relatively quickly.  They'd
managed to pin down a time when the tampering occurred, and
other checks proved that Naomi was otherwise occupied.  It
wasn't enough to completely clear her, since even that could be
faked by a skilled enough person, but in the professional opinion
of all three people involved in the hunt, anyone that skilled
wouldn't have gotten caught in the first place.

However, knowing that D'oritt was the culprit made it
considerably easier.  All traces of her personal logs for the time
in question had been erased, a move which had left both Jinn and
Naomi shaking their heads.  It was such a stupid thing to do,
given that back-ups had been made and that it was only a matter
of retrieving those.  But D'oritt had most likely been panicked at
that point, scared by the thought of being prosecuted for
something she regarded as a joke.

Jinn was more and more convinced that a joke was all it had ever
been intended to be.  The evidence, such as it was, that they were
finding, all pointed to that.  The brilliant programming, combined
with the clumsy cover-up almost shouted it.

But Naomi wasn't satisfied.

"What do you want?" Jinn asked her finally, tired of having her
hanging over his shoulder and making suggestions.  "A scanned-
in confession, signed in blood, swearing eternal hatred of Q and a
desire to kill him?"

"Did you find one?" Naomi asked eagerly.  "Let me see."

"No," Jinn said disgustedly.  "And I'm not going to either."

"Why not?" Naomi asked, narrowing her eyes.  "You don't
*believe* her, do you?"

"Of course I do."  Jinn hastily qualified that, not liking the look
in her eyes.  "Naomi, I'm a prankster myself.  I know how it's
done, and I know D'oritt better than you ever did.  If she had
actually wanted to kill him, it wouldn't be this crude.  Believe me
on that one."

Naomi grumbled, but sat down.  Her lower back hurt too much
to stand for very long, and she would much rather have been
back in her own quarters with her feet up.  But she couldn't.  Not
with this issue hanging unresolved over her head.

"Found something," Farish said laconically.  "This could be it."

Naomi and Jinn crowded around him.  Naomi's face fell
immediately as she realized Farish was only looking at something
she'd seen several hundred times already.  "How can you find
something in that?  We've been over the original block tampering
already.  There's nothing there."

Farish looked up, expression mild.  "There's not?"

"Don't listen to her," Jinn said.  "She's just upset because she's
pregnant.  Tell me what you found."

"Hey!"  

Naomi looked indignant, and Jinn grinned at her.  "It's true."

"So?"

"So, it is."

Farish ignored them.  "This here," he said, pointing at part of the
screen as both Jinn and Naomi leaned in to see what he was
looking at, "is identical to this."  He switched screens quickly,
and pointed again.

"And?" Naomi asked.

"And this," Farish pointed to the second screen, "is a program
D'oritt wrote.  What you were just looking at is an idiosyncracy
of hers, found in almost everything she does, and not found in
precisely that way in anyone else's work."

"That's wonderful!" Jinn pounded Farish on the back.  "You've
done it, Bronson!"

He nodded, accepting the accolade, but looking tired.

"Do you think that will be enough?" Naomi asked, looking
worried.

"If the judge is at all computer literate, yes," Jinn said.

Naomi was not reassured.  "Then she'll get off."

Jinn shook his head.  "Does it really matter?  Naomi, she didn't
do this on purpose."

"You can't know that."

"I do know it.  All you need by way of evidence is proof that you
didn't do it, and we've got enough here to show that you didn't."

Naomi's expression was grim.  "If Farish could find that
idiosyncracy, I could have as well.  And could have planted it in
the program to make D'oritt look guilty.  Believe me, there's
nothing here that can't be faked."

Jinn was exasperated.  "There's almost no record that can't be
faked.  But you didn't do it and you wouldn't do it.  That's what
matters."

"Tell that to the judge."

"If necessary."  Jinn sighed.  "We'll go through the back-ups if it
makes you happy.  It'll take longer, but maybe there is some
signed confession in those logs she erased."

"Good."  Naomi's expression was still vicious, and Jinn backed
away from it, moving away from her to get started.

****

Li released Q as soon as Q was well enough to walk, an action
which relieved Naomi no end, since she had been the one trotting
back and forth between their quarters, fetching Q all the little
things he was sure he couldn't do without and couldn't get from
Sickbay, like decent clothes.

"Remember, don't order anything to eat from the replicator.  You
could kill yourself."  Naomi looked up at him, worried.  "You
will remember, right?"

"I have no intention of forgetting," Q said, half-exasperated by
her endless mothering and half-enjoying the attention, which was
completely at the opposite end of the spectrum from the way the
Sickbay staff had been determinedly avoiding having anything to
do with him.

"I could have Jinn put a block on everything," Naomi mused. 
"Then you wouldn't be able to use it at all.  That wouldn't
interfere with the tampering..."

"No," Q said firmly, rather looking forward to being able to get
anything at all he wanted from the replicator without any of the
petty restrictions normally placed upon him.

"Are you sure?" Naomi asked dubiously.  "One slip and you're
back in Sickbay, and that's if you're lucky enough to get help in
time."

This time he did glare at her.  "You seem to think that I'm as
stupid as the imbeciles you customarily associate with."

Naomi shook her head.  "No, I don't.  I just thought you might
overlook it, since food isn't very important to you."

Q was slightly mollified by that.  It was true that food had never
been one of his priorities.  "Does this mean you'll be forcing
food down me at every opportunity, convinced that I'm starving
myself to death?"

"Probably," Naomi said, grinning up at him and slipping her
hand into the crook of his arm.

Q covered it with his own, hardly aware of the action.  "I think I
may be grateful when you finally spawn.  Then you can take your
primal maternal urges out on someone other than me."

"Well, I do need the practice," Naomi said mock-apologetically.

****

In the morning, the only thought between them was revenge.  Q
and Naomi were like-minded on the issue.  There had been no
question of sexuality the night before.  It had been enough to
simply have the other one there, to hold and reassure themselves
that the other person was not going to die or be taken away.

"Jinn believes that D'oritt didn't mean to kill you," Naomi said.

"Does Jinn also believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy?" Q
asked sarcastically.

"I don't know.  I've never asked.  But he could be right." 
Naomi buttered her toast again, too caught up in the discussion to
realize that she was doing this for the third time.  She debated
whether to tell Q, and decided it couldn't hurt.  "Her personal
logs, the ones we recovered, show someone who's gradually
deteriorating, losing control because of guilt over having her plan
go so badly wrong.  I think she needs help more than
prosecution."

Q felt miffed.  Whose side was she on?  He picked at his
breakfast, upset again that he couldn't order for himself.  Not a
single egg in sight on the table.  It was bad enough to have to eat
breakfast without having all the fun taken out of it as well.

"It could very well have all been a prank."

"A distinctly unfunny one," Q said disdainfully.  Someone's idea
of a prank almost killed him, and he would have preferred that to
the original intent of the joke.  It had been explained to him what
would have happened if he hadn't been allergic to the drug, and
of the choices, Q preferred ending up in Sickbay.

Naomi tried to reassure Q on the subject, but didn't quite
understand the point.  "It won't happen again.  I'm going to make
sure that there's safeguards in place and to check the logs over on
a regular basis.  You don't have anything to worry about."

"Oh, joy."

"And if Jinn is right about this," Naomi continued, "then maybe
it's well enough left alone.  If D'oritt's found guilty, then she is,
and if not, well, I suppose she'll get counseling, although
personally I can't see any benefit in talking to Medellin about
anything."

"How enlightened of you," Q murmured dryly.

"Thank you."  Naomi's eyes brightened with evil intent. 
"However, I'd like to tear Security apart cell by cell until there
isn't a single one of them left.  What they did to me was
unforgivable, and I want to make that point perfectly clear to
them.  They endangered me, and in turn, you, because they
refused to listen to me."

"Tell me all about it."

****

Anderson was not happy.  She couldn't remember the last time
she'd been happy, but she suspected it was while both Q and
Naomi had been gone from the base, or possibly even before that,
when she only knew Q as a letter of the alphabet and she'd been
a captain with captain's problems.

She had the four of them seated around a table; Q, Dr. Allen,
herself and Webber.  She wanted Azoth to be part of this, but
there was no telling when he would be back, and she couldn't
wait that long.

That she had to do this, Anderson had no doubts of.  There had
been a number of problems with the investigation into Q's
attempted murder, and although she chalked most of them up to
not having Azoth's experienced hand at the helm, there was
justification to Q's claim.

Only it was Dr. Allen who was causing the headache.  Anderson
thought about rubbing her forehead, and didn't as Naomi smiled
at Webber.  It was not a nice smile.

"You left a pregnant woman alone in a cell.  Suppose something
had happened?  Suppose I'd had a miscarriage or that D'oritt had
really wanted to kill me?  What kind of responsibility is that?"

"Parkinson bears full responsibility for that..."

"Fine, blame it on a couple of individuals in the department.  But
it was the policy of the entire starbase that caused this to
happen."  Naomi looked at Anderson first, then at Webber. 
"Azoth delegated the task to Webber who decided to have me
arrested based on evidence so thin you couldn't have made it
stand up in any court.  Webber sent Veloz and Parkinson to arrest
me, and Veloz allowed Parkinson to threaten Sanaharrar for doing
her duty, then allowed him to leave me there in the brig the entire
day during which time I was visited by the real murderer, D'oritt,
who was free as a bird."

"Now there's no evidence that D'oritt actually intended to *kill*
Q," Webber said weakly.

Naomi ran right over him.  "The road to hell is paved with good
intentions.  And her intentions weren't good.  You not only
refused to believe the truth when I presented it to you, you and
your department, and *yours*," she looked at Anderson,
"behaved in bad faith.  You refused to let me speak to Q or vice
versa, you refused to believe either of us, even though Sanaharrar
could have confirmed my innocence at any time."

There was a startled glance at the cat, lying curled up on the
floor between Q and Naomi, purring protectively.  It was difficult
to remember that Sanaharrar was in fact sentient, and telepathic
to boot, when her usual mode of behavior was to perform as
though she were a large house cat trailing her favorite human
around the starbase in order to be near him.

Webber cleared his throat, determined to have his say.  "I stand
by my earlier judgment.  You were the most likely suspect under
the circumstances, and removing you from where you could harm
Q was the only reasonable action I could take."

"Reasonable?"  Naomi's tone was shrill, and Anderson winced.

"It was reasonable," Webber said firmly.  "You had the best set
of motives and opportunity.  You were cleared in the end, but
you could easily have been guilty.  The important thing is that Q
is safe."

Naomi glared at him, reluctant to admit that he was right about
Q's safety being the priority.  "That is completely untrue.  I had
no motive to kill Q, and I never have.  And everyone in my
department could have done it."  Naomi took a deep breath and
continued.  "All in all, considering the level of mistrust,
harassment and suspicion we're facing, I don't see any reason
why we should even stay here."

Anderson sat forward quickly.  "Dr. Allen, you're overreacting." 
She glanced over to Q to see if he shared Allen's bizarre
sentiments, but his face was impassive.

"Am I?" Naomi asked bitterly.

Anderson chose not to answer that directly.  "If you had been
guilty, Dr. Allen, the best thing to do would have been to remove
you from Q's presence.  Surely you can recognize the wisdom of
that."

Naomi shook her head.  "Your evidence was the bigoted beliefs
of a computer-illiterate Security department which is biased
against Q.  And the actions which followed were inexcusable by
any standards.  Or are you saying that leaving Q at risk by not
informing him that the programming for the replicator had not
been fixed was a good thing?"

"You were the only one aware of that.  It was your
responsibility..." Webber said, defending his actions.

Naomi cut him off, utterly furious now.  "It was *not* my
responsibility.  The fact that the faulty programming had been left
intact was clear from my notes and to anyone examining the
computer system.  Anyone who was competent to examine the
evidence," her tone made it clear that they were not, "would have
also been competent to perform this simple check.  And I would
have been happy to inform Q of this, and anyone else who
wanted to listen to me.  *If* you had bothered to leave anyone
there to guard me or have given me any kind of communications
access.   Q could have died then, and it would have been your
fault."

Webber looked helplessly at Anderson, who was increasingly
wishing she'd gone into the diplomatic branch of the service
where at least training was provided for this sort of negotiation. 
"What do you want, Dr. Allen?"

"Excuse me?"

"What do you want?" Anderson repeated in a tired voice.  "Tell
me what will make you happy after this, and I'll see that it
happens.  If you want Mr. Webber's head on a platter, you'll get
it."

Webber glanced sharply at the commodore, only then realizing
exactly what kind of mess he was in.

Naomi looked suspiciously at Anderson.  "Why would you make
a bargain like that?"

"Mistakes were made," Anderson said, trying to hold onto her
calm.  "I want to avoid making them again."

Naomi nodded, hardly appeased by that.  "You'd do the same
thing all over again in the same situation.  I don't call that
avoiding mistakes."

"The decisions made were basically correct," Webber said
stoutly.  "Aside from the issue of leaving the brig unguarded,
everything was done strictly in accordance with..."

Naomi cut him off.  "Do you think I care about Starfleet
regulations and procedures?"

"What *do* you want, doctor?" Anderson repeated.

Q flicked his sleeves impatiently, and Naomi sat back, letting him
take control.  "Some small measure of credibility might not be
outside even your circumscribed powers."

"Credibility?  In what way?"

"Come now, Eleanor.  Don't be so dim.  You refused to believe
anything I told you.  You have always refused to believe me. 
I'm almost hurt by your lack of trust in me."

He didn't look hurt, but Anderson took him seriously nonetheless. 
"Q, in the past..."

"The past?  Please don't be a stick-in-the-mud," Q said, not
wanting his former transgressions thrown in his face.  "In any
case, I was right and you were wrong, and that alone should be
more than enough to prove my point."

"Which is?"

Naomi leaned forward, feeling a need to interpret for Q.  "You
didn't believe anything we told you.  You believed him," she
jabbed a thumb at Webber, "even though he doesn't know
anything about me or about computers."

Anderson nodded slowly.

"I'd like to think that Q at least is an honored VIP even if I'm
not."  Naomi grinned wryly as a thought came to her.  "You
could even consider him an ambassador for his race, which
certainly would place him in a higher status bracket.  In either
case, you wouldn't be treating us like five-year-olds who can't be
trusted to know the difference between right and wrong."

Naomi looked at Anderson, punctuating her words carefully.  "If
you can't do that, then maybe we need to be somewhere else,
where that basic courtesy could be granted to us."

Webber folded his arms.  He wanted to protest the sheer
outrageousness of this, but he didn't dare say anything.  That his
career hung in the balance here was enough to make him keep
quiet, even if he was silently fuming.

"You can count on that much, Dr. Allen," Anderson said,
relieved that they hadn't asked for anything difficult.  As an
additional olive branch, she said, "Disciplinary action will be
taken against Mr. Parkinson.  I agree that his behavior in this
case was inexcusable."

Anderson encompassed all of them with her steely gaze.  "I
expect that the performance of the Security department will be
vastly improved after this, and I will do my best to see the
incidents like this do not reoccur.  I hope that will suffice."

Naomi looked at Q, who spoke for them both.  "We'll let you
know."


-the end-