========
Newsgroups: alt.fan.q
Subject: Miss Q
From: karmin.stjean@busilink.com (Karmin Stjean)
Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 07:44:27 GMT

"Miss Q" is another alternate universe story based
on "Deja Q", with the obvious twist.
 
                              "MISS Q"
 
    Picard spun around, reacting to the reflection of
light on the wall of the bridge. He opened his mouth to say
something to the being he knew had just appeared... which
was fortunate since it meant his jaw had less of a distance
to drop.
    Q lie on the floor of the Enterprise bridge, totally naked.
But that wasn't what Picard was gaping at. What had attracted
Picard's attention was that, far from appearing in the normal
form he usually appeared in, that of a middle-aged Starfleet
Captain, dark hair tinged with grey, Q had appeared in the
form of a thirty five year old woman, her blonde hair
cascading down to the small of her back. She had a slim figure,
the curve of her face was perfect, her neck elegant, her
shoulders slim and supple, her breasts were medium to small,
the aureolas a pale pinkish color, the coolness of the bridge's
air making the nipples erect, her hips were narrow, her thighs
slim and slightly tanned and her... well, she was a natural
blonde.
    "What are you staring at?" Q demanded, irritably. Something
about the question, perhaps the voice it was asked in, prompted
Q to look down at himself...scratch that, Q thought, herself.
She couldn't believe they had made her a female. She sat up and
curled her legs up in front of her.
    Picard found his voice. "Q," he said, his voice tinged with
anger. "What's the meaning of showing up like... like that?"
    Q shrugged. "Sure beats the hell out of me." She told
Picard. "I only asked them to make me human. I didn't say I
wanted to be a female."
    "Human?" Picard demanded. "Hah! That's a laugh! You're as
human as an Aldebaran serpent."
    "Perhaps," Q retorted, feeling moody for some reason she
couldn't quite grasp, "I should have become one. Then I
could've bitten you."
    Picard glared but decided not to reply. It wasn't worth it.
"Get some clothes." He told her.
    "Mind if I take a shower?" She asked. "I feel a little
warm."
    "Whatever, just hurry up." Picard was in no mood for games
and just wanted to get the charade over with.
    "Computer," he said, after she had gone, "keep track of Q,
relay anything she says to the bridge."
    A few seconds later, he heard her muttering and cursing
about the other members of the Continuum. There was silence for
a while, presumably Q was in the shower, then a sudden scream
of terror.
    Picard, Worf, and Doctor Crusher arrived at Picard's cabin,
where he had sent Q to take her shower, at roughly the same
time. They went inside and saw Q curled up in the shower, with
a look of utter terror on her face.
    Doctor Crusher scanned her, then, convinced that Q was not
hurt, she sent Picard and Worf outside.
    Doctor Crusher looked at Q and saw how scared she looked.
"Q," she asked, "you're fine."
    "I'm bleeding to death." Q whispered, her voice full of
absolute terror, looking down at the junction of her thighs.
    Doctor Crusher smiled. "You're not bleeding to death," She
told her. "You just got your period."
    Q blushed. She felt a sense of relief that she was not
going to die. At least, not then. She stood up and Doctor
Crusher handed her a tampon from her medikit. She tried to
insert it, but her efforts were blocked by a thick and
unyielding piece of skin about half an inch inside her. "I
can't get it in." She told Doctor Crusher. Was she going to
have to remain naked until this thing passed?
    Doctor Crusher sighed. "Get on the bed." She told her.
    Q stared at her in utter shock.
    "I just want to do a quick pelvic exam." Doctor Crusher
explained to her.
    Q sighed and slid her slender form onto the bed, drawing
herself into a position that she found to be rather degrading
at Doctor Crusher's order. She wondered if the other Q were
enjoying this debauchery and glared at any unseen Q that might
have been hanging around watching.
    Doctor Crusher spread the folds of the young woman's labia,
in order to give her a full examination, and saw what was
hampering her efforts to insert the tampon. She removed her hand
and told her to sit up.
    "You're intact." She explained.
    "What?" Q asked. "What are you talking about?"
    "You're a virgin." Doctor Crusher explained. "Your hymen is
still intact. That's why you're having so much trouble. I can
surgically remove..."
    "No." Q told her. She explained: "I don't want it
surgically removed. I'm saving myself for..." she lowered her
voice to a whisper "..for Jean-Luc."
    Doctor Crusher showed her how to use a small transporter
type device to insert a tampon and remove it without breaking
her hymen. She thanked the doctor and got dressed.
    "She likes you," Doctor Crusher kidded Picard as she left
his cabin.
    Picard glowered.
    Captain Picard walked into his ready room.
    "You'll stay in cabin number 386." He told her. "And do not
harrass me or my crew."
    "What would I want with your damned crew?" Q shot back. Her
hormones were getting on her nerves and they were worn to a
frazzle. "I'm a virgin, not a goddamned whore!" She stormed out
of the cabin.
    "This is going to be a fun day." Picard told himself.
    Q stepped into the turbolift. "Thanks a bundle, Q." She
told the member of the Continuum she was certain was
responsible for her current form. "Thanks to you, not only do I
have to worry about the rest of humanities little aches and
pains, but I have cramps."
    The turbolift stopped at her floor and Q got out. She went
into the cabin she'd been assigned and flopped down onto the
bed, holding her stomach and sobbing, unable to make the pain
diminish. The pain gripped her and she submitted to it, unable
to do anything else.
    "She's going to be fine..." She heard, suddenly, as the pain
receded and her vision cleared. "...severe menstrual cramps..." She
heard Doctor Crusher telling someone. That was a bit personal,
wasn't it? "...heavy flow but her vagina's very tight and she's
still intact so its backing up and causing her uterus to retain
more than normal. I've given her something to thin out her
menstrual flow so it will stop the cramps in another hour or
so."
    "When I heard her crying like that, I thought it might be
her appendix." Deanna replied. "Picard sent me to check on her.
He said she would probably need to talk to me about her
feelings about being tossed out of the Continuum the way she
was."
    "I'm more concerned about her feelings for the Captain."
Doctor Crusher told Deanna. "When I offered to remove her
hymen, she told me she wanted Captain Picard to be the one to
do it."
    Deanna made a mental note of this. "She's awake." She told
Doctor Crusher.
    "I've been awake for some time now." Q told her with a tone
of exasperation. "And what is wrong with my feelings for
Jean-Luc? Is it wrong for a woman to want a man the way I want
him?"
    "No." Deanna replied.
    Doctor Crusher diplomatically exited to give them more
privacy.
    "Q," Deanna replied, "before you give yourself up to
Picard, you should make sure its what you really want. Ask
yourself 'Do I want to make love to the Captain or am I seeking
physical comfort to replace whatever closeness I had with the
other Q.'"
    "I never had anything with the other Q." Q told Deanna.
"Even before..." her voice trailed off as if she were unwilling
or unable to say any more.
    Deanna didn't press her. There would be plenty of time for
her to talk with this woman later.
    "Why don't you come by tomorrow at sixteen hundred hours
for an appointment?" Deanna suggested.
    Q nodded in agreement then watched as Deanna strode out of
the room.
    A moment later, Doctor Crusher returned. She examined Q
with the tricorder and nodded with satisfaction. "You may
return to your cabin." She told Q.
    Q carefully lowered herself off the examining table as if
she didn't trust her own sense of balance and took a moment to
steady herself, then she headed back to the cabin she'd been
assigned during her stay.
 
    Captain Picard found it impossible to concentrate on
reading that evening, as he settled in for the night. His mind
kept drifting back to Q, no matter how hard he tried not think
about him... her... appearing on the bridge as usual... not as
usual... totally naked, her eyes alluring, her form sensuous,
her breasts perfect, nipples erect and... STOP IT! He told
himself. "Whatever form Q's using, it's still Q!" It didn't
help. If anything, it increased the already unbearable desire
he was feeling to an almost painful level. Was it possible he
had always wanted Q? No, that was utterly ridiculous, even if
he had wanted a same sex relationship now (he'd had such in his
past, but it had been over two decades since the last one), to
have one with Q would have been out of the question, it put him
at too much risk; what if Q wanted to expose their affair to
the crew, surely it would ruin Picard's career. And now,
tonight, he was lying in bed with a straining erection, trying
not to think about a young woman in one of the guest cabins, a
young woman who, until she appeared naked on his bridge, had
been Q; a woman who still was Q.
    Deanna sensed the Captain's confusion as she settled in for
the evening. Pushing it aside for the moment, she meditated
quietly, to push out all bad experiences she'd had through Q's
interference. Every frustration, anger, fear, rage that had
been present on the ship during one of Q's escapades, Deanna
had been privvy to. If she were going to be an effective
therapist to this young woman, Deanna couldn't allow herself to
be swayed by past events. She took in a long deep breath and
let it out slowly, pushing her anger into a basket in the
corner of her mind and covering it with an ornate lid. Opening
her eyes, she saw it was nearly twenty three hundred hours.
Finishing the last (and cold) bit of her hot chocolate, Deanna
got into bed and slept for the rest of the night.
 
    "Have you always felt like this?" Deanna asked Q as the
woman dabbed her lip with a napkin.
    "No," Q replied, "up until now, I've never burned my lower
lip on a cup of hot chocolate."
    "I meant your feelings for the Captain." Deanna replied.
    "What do you think?" Q shot back. "You tell me, you're the
damned shrink. Why are you acting like there's something wrong
with me because I happen to care about Jean-Luc? Is it because
I was a male in the past."
    "I don't think there's something wrong with you, Q." Deanna
replied. "I just don't want you to do anything you'll regret
later. And your gender isn't the issue. I have nothing against
same-sex relationships, providing that both partners are
willing and that one isn't coerced either by force or by
momentary depression."
    Q examined the now empty cup of hot chocolate, which had
tasted rather good once it was at a manageable temperature, and
placed it on the table in front of her. She sat back and
crossed her legs. Her eyes seemed contemplative. "I have had
some sort of feeling for Jean-Luc ever since the trial during
your Farpoint mission, but I think the first time I began to
think of him in a manner you would consider sexual was in the
shuttlecraft when he and I were alone just prior to my
introducing you to the Borg."
    Deanna pondered this. It put Q's actions into a different
light. Rather than an act of cruelty for no reason, the
deliberate confrontation with the Borg now seemed the vengeful
act of a jilted lover. Had Q, in a moment of anger over his
rejection, wanted Picard to be made a Borg so that no one would
want Picard either? It seemed the classic dog-in-the manger
ploy when she thought about it in that new context.
 
    Q, for her part, seemed annoyed that anyone would even
bring up anything as personal as her feelings, especially the
ones she had for Jean-Luc. They were so *primal*, she shuddered
to herself, 'you're actually thinking of *mating* with him" she
chided herself. But her womanhood dampened at the thought,
despite her misgivings on the subject.
 
    Picard felt uncertain about his feelings for Q. When Q had
been a male, he'd been able to keep his feelings down (he
winced inwardly at the unintentional mental pun), but now, with
Q a stunningly beautiful woman, Picard's feelings were slowly
being brought to ahead (another one, he groaned, suddenly glad
Q could not, in her current form, read his mind since this was
not the thoughts that he wanted her to hear...)
 
    ...they weren't the thoughts he wanted to share with
Lwaxana Troi either. He winced and came out of his daydream.
Why had he thought of Mrs. Troi of all people?
    "Jean-Luc, really, where are your manners? I thought the
Captain of the ship was supposed to personally greet all
visitting dignitaries." Came the voice of Lwaxana in his mind.
    Picard bolted toward the door, composing himself when he
was in the turbolift en route to the transporter room where
Mrs. Troi was waiting.
 
    "Mrs. Troi, forgive my tardiness." Picard apologized, as he
walked into the transporter room.
    Lwaxana smiled, sensing immediately what the problem was.
"Under the circumstances, I think we can let it pass."
    'Circumstances?' Picard wondered. 'Did she know about...'
    'Of course I know,' Lwaxana's voice echoed in his mind, 'I
always suspected that you were capable of feeling desire for
other men as well as women.'
    Picard wished that Mrs. Troi wasn't such an adept
mindreader, especially if she planned to try to play matchmaker
for Q and himself.
    "Mind if I sit here?" Lwaxana asked as she and Mr. Homm
approached the table where Q sat sipping a glass of synthehol.
    Q looked up at her. "Not at all. It's refreshing to have
company. Most of the people around here thing I'm pulling the
wool over the Captain's eyes. That this is some kind of game."
    "I know better." Lwaxana replied. "I know because you're
powerless and I can read your mind."
    "So can your daughter, but she hasn't told anyone." Q
replied.
    "Perhaps she feels you should earn the crew's trust rather
than have it handed over because of some statement she makes
on your behalf." Lwaxana suggested. "And she's probably still
upset about when I got hurt during our little tryst."
    "You were as much at fault as me in that one, Lwaxana." Q
pointed out.
    "Yes, I was." Lwaxana replied. "I allowed myself to be
swept up into a whirlwind romance without getting to know the
person I was getting involved with first. I loved you, Q, and
you broke my heart, but at least I did have those few precious
days."
    "To be honest," Q told Lwaxana, "it wasn't you I was going
after. It was..."
    "Picard." Lwaxana guessed correctly. "Even back then you
were attracted to him. I've got a surprise for you, if you can
be surprised. I read his mind earlier and..."
 
    "Why didn't you tell me?"
    Picard looked up and saw Q standing in the door to his
ready room. He went to the replicator and got a couple of cups
of tea and handed her one.
    "Thank you." She said, sipping slowly.
    "Q," Picard said, "even if I wanted to have an affair with
you, I couldn't. I have to consider my reputation with my crew
and what they'd think if we... slept together."
    "Even now?" Q asked, looking down at herself appraisingly.
    Picard nodded.
    Q took another sip of her tea and stood up.
    "I wish I could change things from the past." She said as
she headed toward the door. "But I can't." She said as the
door closed behind her.
    Picard took a long deep breath and returned to his work.
 
    "Mother," Deanna said, as they stood in the turbolift
together, "you can't go around interfering with other people's
lives."
    "Oh posh, Little One." Lwaxana replied. "If the Captain
can't see it when someone is in love with him, then what's so
wrong about me wanting to help move matters along."
    "You have to let matters move along at their own speed."
Deanna replied.
    "And what if they truly love each other and never find
out because of something Q did in the past?" Lwaxana replied.
    Deanna sighed.
 
    "The usual?" Guinan asked as she leaned over the bar at
Picard.
    "No, thank you." Picard replied. "I just came to think a
while."
    "Sounds to me like you could use some advice." Guinan
guessed.
    "No, really," Picard insisted, "I just need to think for a
while."
    "People don't normally come into a noisy lounge to think."
Guinan smiled. "Unless its a member of the opposite sex they're
thinking about."
 
    Picard took a deep breath.
    "I know what you're thinking." He said, knowing Guinan's
past relationship with Q. "You're thinking that I must be
crazy if I'm in love with Q, that I've completely lost my
mind. Maybe I have, I don't know. I just wish I knew what to
do about it."
    "What's so crazy about being in love with someone who's
in love with you?" Guinan asked. "Whatever Q was like in the
past, and whatever she's like now, you have to face the fact,
and the fact is that you and Q have an unresolved relationship
with the potential to either continue being friendly rivals,
or moving on and becoming good friends or even lovers."
    "If Q has always been so interested in me on a sexual
level, why didn't he just take what he wanted?" Picard asked.
    "Rape just isn't his style." Guinan replied. "Oh, I'm not
saying that Q wouldn't goad a person and tease them until they
had sex just to prove him wrong or to make a point, but
actually forcing a person to submit just isn't the way he did
things. She won't rape you now, either, though she no doubt
will use her feminine charms to win you over."
    "And you're saying I should let her?" Picard asked.
    "How you respond to her is entirely up to you." Guinan replied.