Chapter Text
It was a trick.
They gave him one hour.
The continuum gave him back his powers for an hour. Just long enough for his joy to mellow out and for him to get settled back into his corner of the continuum. Before tossing Q back into that ship with a definitive promise to leave him powerless for good.
Q fell hard at the feet of Jean Luc, back in his ugly human wear. The captain looked down at him, pity underneath the blatant displeasure. The lines on the human forehead were clearer whenever he made that face. Q was sure that look was going to be a constant in his future.
The crew didn't believe him. The Klingon gave him a speech about how only fools fall for the same trick twice.
"I wasn't lying before, I'm not lying now. I saved that planet and your precious ship. Where is my thank you?" Q huffed, gazing at the disapproving faces around him.
"Why would your people give you your powers just to take them away again?" Riker huffs. Getting in Q's face and poking his chest.
Q rolls his eyes and smacks away the simpliton's hand.
"Because if I died, they wouldn't have gotten to enjoy my suffering. Bastards. " Q spat bitterly. Swallowing this odd lump in his neck, it was hard to get down, but he managed.
"From what we have learned about Qs as a species, they could be so cruel as to save Q's life for the reason to purely prolong his suffering," Data chimed in. "Also, thank you as well, Q. Being able to experience laughter even for a few moments was quite a fascinating experience."
"Don't thank me, android, but glad to see someone is grateful. Why do I even try with you people? Again, where is my thank you for putting that moon back?!" Q grumbled, staring at Picard.
The captain stands and looks Q in the eye.
"Thank you. But do not mistake Q. You still need to learn a lot if you're going to be staying here." "Sir!" "You can't actually-" "Enough!" Picard says firmly to his mouthy crew.
They all shut up like good little minions. Q doesn't even hide his grin. But then that tone is directed at him.
"And Q. You will learn how to be a member of this crew, you will listen to Data, and you will not bother me. Take him to quarters, but confine him there until morning." Picard says, waving his hand at Worf.
As Q is pulled from the bridge, he hears number one jerk attempt to sway his captain further. Q knows Picard won't budge; he can't. He saw the look in his eyes when Q fixed the moon. He has to help him. To keep him safe. He promised he would.
"If I find out you are lying to us, I will-" The brute tries to threaten as he shoves Q into a small dark room. "Don't waste your vile breath, there is nothing worse that can be done to me."
The brute growls but stomps off. "Do not tempt me to find one!"
As the door slides shut, Q is plunged into total darkness. He doesn't understand for a moment. He thought his eye coverings had fallen again, or maybe he had fallen asleep, but no. This isn't right. He has lost so much already, and his sight, as limited as it was in this body, can't be taken away, either.
"Computer, I need light?" He asks the darkness.
A soft chirp and glow filled the room, but he needed more.
"More light?"
A brighter glow. Q finally gets a look at his new home. It's somehow sadder than the brig.
It's just a colorless room, a single person's mattress against the wall between two tiny tables, and a couch against the other with a small table in front of it, a pad resting on it. A replacator to the right of him near the door. That's it.
It feels tight. He goes for the door and finds it locked. He was stuck here till morning. Q couldn't breathe properly. He inhaled, exhaled. Why wasn't it going into his chest? What was he doing wrong?
Q's body started to feel heavy. He thinks sleep is trying to take him again. How often must he shut down just to keep this pathetic body working?
He sits down on the firm gray couch, and he keeps trying to breathe and failing miserably. Q ends up passing out in the bright room.
Picard went to his room early for the night. They were on their way to the Nagali Space station, 14 hours till they arrived. He needed every moment of it.
Of course, he couldn't be rid of Q so easily. Nor would the continuum let him off with a coward's death.
"Eral gray, hot."
The captain sipped his tea and leaned into his chair.
Q tried to die.
Not just to free himself from his mortal punishment but to save the ship. He couldn't ignore that fact. Even saved the planet and gifted Data laughter. An evil being wouldn't do those things. As much as Q annoyed Picard, he was an imp as most, not a demon. But now he was just a man. With the emotional regularity and awareness of a toddler, yet the knowledge of a god. He could be helpful if he learned how to function as a human.
Picard reinstates his original plan. Keep Q working in engineering, have Data continue assisting him, and manage the amount of padd work that always seems to follow Q. The Frenchman tries to ignore the weight in his chest that had settled when he learned of Q's plan. As much as Q was a bother, he didn't deserve to die. Picard holds a pillow to his face and stews on the fact that he might be the only being in the universe who believes that.
Q awakes when Data opens his door. Suddenly, a pain shoots through his spine and neck. He had the doctor fix this, did he? Why was it back?
"Ahh, owie ah." Q groans, unable to sit up.
"What is the matter, Q?" Data inquires, looking down at the whimpering man.
"My back, my neck, my hip? It's all stuck." Q attempts to move, and more pains start.
"I believe you, as humans put 'have a kink in the neck'. For most, this passes after a short period of time. You simply must have slept in a way your body did not respond well to."
"I can damage this pathetic body in my sleep?" Q looks up at the android and hopes the being before him has somehow learned how to joke.
"Yes. Perhaps you should opt for sleeping on your bed in a lumbar supporting position as opposed to the couch." The android replies dully.
Q sighs deeply, and Data helps him to his feet.
Q turns his head and yelps when there is an extremely loud crack.
"Do not worry, crepitus, cracking, popping, and grinding sounds in your joints are quite common among humanoids. Oftentimes, it can relieve pain and pressure." Data explains.
Q is unconvinced that such a loud noise coming from his body was normal. But the stiffness seemed to have mostly gone.
"How horrifying, how will I know if it's a good crack or a bad one?" Q huffs following Data down the corridor.
"One will be followed by intense pain."
Q sighs deeply.
"Where are we going?" he mumbles.
"The ready room. The captain wishes to discuss your being here for a longer period and what that will entail." Data answers, keeping a steady straight pace while Q keeps bumping into him.
Q was about to complain when they entered the room, and he locked eyes with Jean Luc. There was a softness that wasn't there before.
"I hear I'm staying forever!" Q announces hopefully.
Jean Luc stares at the dopey smile on the former god before him and groans.
"No. But as for the next while, it seems you are." He says calmly. Despite the glares from his crew. minus data and tori, of course.
"Well, why am I here? I already know what my task is. And don't worry, Mister La Forge, I know that you humans struggle with beings of superior intellect, so I will try my best to step back and let you make your own mistakes." Q promised the engineer.
Gerodi looked at Q in a way that he knew there was a glare behind that visor.
"You will be assigned tasks and you will do them, Q. That is it," Gerodi replied firmly.
"How dreadfully boring, but so is my punishment. So glad to endure it among my new crewmates," Q held that word. It felt odd on his tongue. He could see it must have felt just as strange to the ears of those in the room as well.
But oh well, a human body only lasted what? 120 years at most? Q knew his body wasn't exactly young. How long could another 80 years be compared to the eons he's already experienced?