Mithrais Takes a Q
     (July 10, 1994)
     A. Rex

     Anna Mithrais sat in deep contentment underneath the
towering spruce trees that ran down the simulated hillside of
this, the holodeck re-creation of her home on Earth. Since her
time on Menos Two, and her discovery of Q, she had taken to
coming here to think and to be alone.  
     She could hardly believe that it had been six weeks since
they had left the beleagered planet of Menos Two, and left it in
a lot better condition for having been there.  Mithrais would be
eternally grateful to Q for his help--even though the conditions
of her meeting him were less than perfect.
     She wondered where he had gone--ever since that day when he
had joined her on the holodeck--all of six weeks ago--she had
neither seen nor heard from him.  Perhaps he didn't find her as
appealing as she had initially thought, despite that mind-
blowing, knee-melting, heart-stopping kiss they'd shared here in
this very spot.  Oh, well....she might as well enjoy the sunset,
and be glad of it.
     "Mind if I interrupt?"  A quiet voice interrupted Mithrais's
reverie, and she looked up, hoping to see Q.  Instead, she saw
Deanna Troi.
     "Oh! Counselor--forgive me, I didn't hear you come in." 
Mithrais grinned. "Please, have a seat--if you can find an
available rock!"
     "I don't mind if I do."  Troi gathered her voluminous skirts
under her and took a seat on the mossy ground beside Mithrais. 
She gazed out over the sea, watching the simulated sun sinking
slowly into the dark, choppy waters.  Today, Mithrais had
programmed the simulation for autumn, because she loved the
island's cruel beauty when the weather got colder. "This is very
lovely--I can see why you come here."  Her dark, pretty eyes were
kindly as she smiled at Mithrais. "You've been spending a lot of
time here--I'm curious."
     "Oh--it's nothing--I mean, I'm alright, I'm not having
flashbacks or anything like that."  Mithrais was stumbling over
her tongue, trying to reassure the counselor.
     "Does this have something to do with Q?"  Troi gave her an
opening.
     Mithrais chuckled. "I can't fool you at all, can I?"  She
picked at the hem of her denim shirt, looked out over the sea. 
"Deanna, you and I have been friends since...well, since that
incident with the Cardassians.  Sometimes, you know me too well--
better in fact, than I know myself."  Mithrais pleated the hem of
the shirt as she spoke, concentrating on making each pleat the
same size as the others.  "You're right--it does have something
to do with Q.  I'm just not sure what!" And she cast a
supplicating gaze in Troi's direction.
     The other woman thought for a moment, shifting her legs
under her until she was sitting cross-legged under her long
skirt.  She leaned forward and with slender, delicate fingers
picked a small flower from the mossy ground.  "You're in love
with him."
     Mithrais opened her mouth to protest, but Troi was still
talking. 
     "I should have immediately suspected this, when you started
visiting the holodeck so much.  And Beverley told me that he was
instrumental in helping you on Menos Two--it all fits, it really
does."
     Mithrais laughed.  "And now you're going to tell me that
nobody in her right mind would fall in love with Q, because he's
arrogant, and quixotic, and often dangerous.  That he wields an
enormous amount of power, and could destroy me utterly on a whim. 
That he's incapable of love, thinks of us humans as insects."
Mithrais wanted Troi to disapprove of her choice so that the
counselor could offer some sane, rational explanation for why
Mithrais felt the way she did, and then Anna could forget all
about Q and go on with her life aboard the Enterprise.
     "I think..." Troi spoke slowly, choosing her words
carefully. "...that under the circumstances, it was inevitable
that you would fall in love with Q."  When Mithrais raised a
questioning eyebrow, Troi continued, ticking the reasons off on
her fingers.  "For starters: Q is very attractive--tall, well-
built, handsome, very confident.  He's powerful.  He's
intelligent.  He's witty.  He has much to offer, Anna.  As well,
he offered a tremendous amount of help to you when you especially
needed it."
     Mithrais knew that Troi was referring to the situation on
Menos Two, but her statement could also apply to the help that Q
had offered Mithrais when her memories of the Cardassian attact
threatened to overwhelm her.  But Troi couldn't know that.
     "I also know that you've been reliving your memories of
Cardassia, and that Q really gave you a shoulder to lean on."  
     "You have to stop doing that!"  Mithrais said, half-
seriously.
     "Doing what?"  Troi stuck the flower behind her ear where it
poked out into midair. 
     "Reading my mind!"  Mithrais swatted Troi lightly on the
arm.  "Damn, Deanna!  How did you know?"
     "Q isn't all bad--he's very complex, very difficult to get
to know." Troi nodded, setting the flower to bobbing up and down. 
"You have to realise that what you're feeling for him right now
is what anybody would feel in your situation."  Troi laid a
comforting hand on Mithrais's shoulder. "So stop feeling so bad
about it." Troi brightened. "Hey, at least Q's omnipotent--try
skating around Klingon ideals of Honor and Justice and see where
you get."  Troi was referring to her own relationship with Worf.
     Mithrais nodded, laughing. "I can see where that would be a
challenge!"  She stuck out her hand, and Troi yanked her to her
feet.  Standing, Mithrais's taller, stockier figure nearly
dwarfed petite Troi.  'Maybe that's why I'd rather talk to Dee
sitting down,' Mithrais mused.  'At least then I don't feel like
a goddamn building next to her!'
     "You don't look like a building."
     "Deanna!"


     "Sorry!"  The pretty counselor colored in embarrassment. 
"I'd better go--I have a batch of afternoon appointments--you
know where to find me if you need me."  She patted Mithrais
gently on the arm and exited the holodeck.
     Mithrais watched her go, savoring the warm feeling that
talking with Troi always gave her.  Troi was so good to talk to--
especially for Anna Mithrais, who didn't have many female
friends. Some things, you just needed another woman's
perspective.
     Mithrais mentally shook herself, and started down the hill. 
She could have ordered the computer to discontinue the
simulation, and just walk out of the holodeck, but she wanted the
physical challenge of negotiating the steep hillside before
returning to the pristine world of the Enterprise.

     "Attach docking clamps."  Commander William Riker watched
the docking on the main viewscreen, his bottom lip caught between
his teeth.  No matter how many successful manual dockings he
witnessed, he could never relax fully when one was in progress. 
There was always that moment of tension, before the massive
clamps locked into place, when anything--he was certain--could go
wrong.
     "Docking clamps locking....now!"  Data's long fingers danced
over his board at Ops, correcting the minute details of manual
docking.  
     "Re-engage life support and computer control to saucer
section."  Riker stood behind Data's chair, his foot propped up
against the partition.  "Computer, record manual docking
successful, authorisation Riker Omega Three."  
     "Manual docking complete."  The female voice of the computer
dutifully recorded the event without emotion.
     "Sir."  Data swiveled his chair around to speak to Riker,
his big, golden eyes utterly guileless.  Riker had known Data
long enough now to know that look.
     "Yes, Mister Data?"
     "I am presenting a scene from Shakespeare's The Tempest this
evening on Holodeck Three.  I would appreciate it if you could
attend."
     Riker mentally groaned--to be subjected to yet another of
Data's forays into classical theatre!  God bless him, he tried,
but his efforts were not always rewarded with a convincing
realism.  Riker tried to muster up some enthusiasm.
     "Of course, Data!  I would be honored!  What time is the
blessed event?" Ouch!  That probably sounded sarcastic!
     "Sir..."  Data's pale brow furrowed. "Am I to understand
that you do not wish to attend?"
     Damn! "Of course, I'd love to be there!"  Riker wheeled
away, coming face-to-face with Worf, towering over the bridge
from his station at Tactical.  Worf looked like something that
had been carved from granite and left to weather in the sun.
"Love to--wouldn't miss it."
     Worf grunted. "Indeed."
     "Then I can count on your attendance as well, Mister Worf?" 
Data's face brightened in that little-boy look they all knew so
well.  
     Worf grunted.  To Riker, it sounded as if he'd gotten hold
of some bad Rokeg Blood Pie and was having trouble keeping it
down....

     Anna Mithrais stepped off the turbolift, reporting for her
duty shift in Sickbay.  She had watched the manual docking of the
saucer section, heard the great clamps locking into place.  A
ship such as the Enterprise was required to perform regular
manual docking drills.  In the event of an actual "incident" the
saucer section of the ship could be removed and reattached with a
minimum of fuss.  And, she knew, Picard preferred all operations
aboard ship to be that way.
     "Good morning, Doctor Crusher."  Mithrais went to her duty
station and started reviewing the morning's O.R. lists: Two
tissue repair series, a bone-knit, (Ensign Botenedes diving off
the cliffs of Heaven on the holodeck again) a couple of
exploratories, and a routine physical for Commander Riker. 
Mithrais grinned--that Beverly!  How in space had she ever
managed to get Riker into Sickbay?  The handsome Alaskan's
distaste for anything medical was nearly legendary aboard ship.
     "Morning, Mithrais--want a coffee?"  Alyssa Ogawa, a pretty
Asian nurse tapped Mithrais's shoulder lightly as she passed. 
Alyssa was pregnant, and glowing.
     "Oh, sure--thanks, Alyssa.  How's Junior?"  She patted
Ogawa's tummy as the two women stood talking.
     "Just fine--except for playing Parisi Squares on my ribs,
everything's looking great."  Ogawa's dark eyes regarded Mithrais
over the rim of the cup.  "I hear you've got a hot new romance on
the table."
     Mithrais's eyebrows nearly disappeared into her bangs. "Who
told you that?!"  She shook her head.  "God!  Talk about a ship's
grapevine."
     Ogawa laughed.  "So--who is he?"
     Mithrais blinked, sighed in derision. "Nobody--what have you
heard?"
     "Only that you were seen in Ten-Forward with some tall, dark
handsome so on and so forth...."
     "That was Q."
     Ogawa stared.  "Q?  You can't be serious!"
     Mithrais shook her head, a little impatiently.  Alyssa was
sweet, and a fabulous nurse, but she could be a notorious gossip.
"No, you don't understand.  Q was the one who helped me get that
epidemic under control on Menos Two.  I was just having a cup of
tea with him--I wanted to thank him, on behalf of everyone, for
his help.  Really, we couldn't have gotten nearly as much done,
if he hadn't shown up when he did."
     Ogawa nodded.  "Ahhh.  So you and Q don't have a thing
going?"
     "How can anybody have a 'thing' for Q?  He's not human--
oops, here comes the boss!"  Mithrais gave Ogawa a little push to
send her on her way.  Crusher was crossing the floor of Sickbay.
"Doctor--I want to ask you about this regen series on gerh-Goki-
Tnan.  The medical files say he's in for some regeneration of the
fourth intercostal membranes, lying anteriorly to the peritoneum. 
I'm concerned about going that close to the peritoneum in a
Theskian--won't that increase the internal fluidic pressure in
the abdominal cavity?"
     Crusher scanned the padd briefly, her lips pursed in an
expression of concentration.  "You might want to do a scan series
first--see how the flow rate of the internal fluids are routed
around the peritoneum--they're all different, these Theskians." 
Crusher peered at Mithrais for a moment.
     "Is there something else, Doctor?"  Mithrais could feel that
Crusher was hesitating over saying what was so obviously on her
mind.
     "This may seem...petty, especially coming from your superior
officer, but--"  Crusher chewed her lower lip, her lovely green
eyes distracted. "How in space did you end up in the ready room
like that?"
     Mithrais felt a hot flush creeping up her neck.  "It was Q--
"
     Crusher nodded, a smile playing around the edges of her
lips. "I'm so embarrassed...."  She ducked her head and giggled,
seeming for a moment to be a charming schoolgirl.
     MIthrais laid a hand on Crusher's arm. "Please, Doctor
Crusher--don't be embarrassed on my account."  She paused,
wondering how to frame the next statement. "I mean--everybody
here really likes you, and wants you to be happy.  And I've
suspected for awhile now that you and the Captain were more than
merely friends."  Mithrais squeezed the older woman's arm
lightly.  "So let's say no more about it--I, for one, am very
happy that you've found someone you can love as much as you loved
your husband.  And I know that the Captain--although he may be
somewhat reticent about his feelings, cares for you just as
much."
     Crusher grinned.  "You know, Anna--you might just toss Troi
out of a job one of these days."
     Mithrais laughed. "Oh,no!  I wouldn't dare come between Dee
and her work--she might come after me, strangle me with her
pantyhose or something!"
     Crusher laughed heartily at that.  Then, sobering, leaned
closer to Mithrais and in a confidential tone, asked, "Are
you...er...'involved' with Q, by any chance?"
     Mithrais felt her brows knit in the center.  "You're the
second person to ask me that today, and I've only been on duty
for half an hour!"  She sighed, took a deep breath to calm
herself.  "This is getting way out of hand.  I'd love to know
who's been spreading that story--I just had tea with him in Ten-
Forward, to thank him for all his help on Menos Two."
     Crusher frowned. "Hmm," she mused, "that's odd."
     Mithrais looked up from the padd in her hand. "Hmm?"  She
had momentarily been distracted, ordering a scan series for her
Theskian patient. 
     "Q told the Captain that he found you very intriguing."
     Mithrais snorted. "Q says that about everything--it's one of
his favorite phrases--that and how much everybody "wounds" him." 
She put down the padd.  "Look--don't tell anyone, but he kissed
me in the Holodeck.  That's all.  Then he disappeared."
     Crusher's eyes twinkled. She's so beautiful, Mithrais
thought wistfully, I'd love to look like Beverly does. 
     "He kissed you? Mithrais, I'm discovering a whole new side
of you that I never knew before.  It's...refreshing!"  With that,
Crusher tapped Anna lightly on the shoulder and said, "Get that
Theskian down here and run those scans--if the fluidic pressure
is allright, go ahead with the procedure.  Alyssa will help you
with prep."  The doors to Sickbay swished open, and Crusher's
tall, elegant frame disappeared into the corridor.
     Mithrais sighed and set about whittling the day's workload
down to a manageable level.


     That evening, there was a reception on Holodeck Five for a
visiting Tholian ambassador.  Mithrais wasn't too enthusiastic
about going, but at the last minute recanted her decision, and
hopped in the shower.  She gave herself a perfunctory washing,
spending the minimum amount of time required to be presentable. 
     When she got out of the shower, wrapped in a towel, Q was
waiting for her in the other room. Mithrais walked the perimeter
of the room, her gaze never leaving him.  He was lying across her
bed, leaning up on one elbow, wearing a Starfleet dress uniform--
admiral's rank.  Leave it to Q....
     "What are you doing here?" She sat on the edge of the bed
nearest him and began brushing out her hair. 
     Q leaned forward, one long-fingered hand coming up to touch
her bare shoulder.  He traced a trickle of water that was running
down out of her hair, caught it on his fingertip. Mithrais felt
the pit of her stomach quiver, felt a moist heat begin, low in
her belly.  "Did you miss me?"  Q's dark eyes were playful,
twinkling, their expression masking a deadly earnestness.
     "I've been busy."
     "Don't toy with me, my dear."  His hands were on her arms,
pulling her down on the bed beside him. He rolled onto his back,
his momentum taking her with him until she way lying full-length
against his body.
     "I'm getting you all wet--"  Her protest was cut off mid-
sentence as Q tangled his hands in her wet hair and pulled her
closer, covering her mouth with his. 
     "You are getting me a lot more than all wet," he murmured,
and Mithrais felt something in the centre of her chest burst with
a small, hot pop. She slid her hands up his red-clad arms and
around his neck, kissing him deeply, feeling the delicious heat
rising up from her abdomen, encasing all her limbs in a hazy
glow. She couldn't quite believe this: here she was, wrapped in a
towel--
     --make that, not wrapped in a towel--
     --naked--
     and clinging to a very desirable, exciting, and sensual
individual who was, merely by the strength of his kisses, making
her feel something that she thought she would never feel again. 
     "You are quite a piece of work."  Anna Mithrais murmured,
against his neck.  He was warm, and smelled...sexy, exciting.
     "I am the ultimate piece of work."  Q rolled her gently off
him, so that she was lying beside him on the bed.  He bent his
head and caught a stray trickle of water with his tongue as his
hands cupped her full breasts.  "I missed you, you know.  All
this darting to and fro in the universe really takes it out of
me."

     "I have something important to tell you, Q."  Mithrais
raised herself up on her elbow to look into his dark eyes.
     Q's expression changed. "Please don't tell me you are going
to have a child--I will not go through that willingly again with
another woman, I swear--"
     Mithrais stopped the flood of words with her palm against
his lips. "I'm falling in love with you."
     He relaxed. "Oh."  He peered more closely at her. "Oh!"  He
snapped his fingers, and the uniform he was wearing disappeared
into the ethers.  
     Mithrais moaned softly as she felt his strong, lean body
sliding over her own.  She pressed herself close to him and
wrapped one smooth leg around him. "I do love you."
     Q smiled, looking for all the world (from Mithrais's vantage
point) like a mischevous little boy. "I know you do."  He
captured her mouth in a long, fiery kiss, his artful tongue
tracing the edges of her lips. When he drew away, his visage had
changed:  he looked very vulnerable, a vulnerability that verged
on sadness. "I was in love once--a long time ago, admittedly--and
out of that union there was born a child, a son."  Q felt the
old, vicious grief welling up from that place in his chest and
bit down on his bottom lip. "When her--my--son by his actions
endangered the existence of the Universe, I had to destroy him."
     Mithrais felt a sharp jab in her chest.
     "I do not give my affections lightly, Anna--I want you to
realise what this means.  When you turn your affections to one of
the Q, it is much more than a mere fling with some...wet-behind-
the-ears ensign under one of the warp nacelles!"
     Mithrais laughed. "I've never had an assignation under a
warp nacelle with anybody!"  She ran her fingers through Q's dark
hair. "I know how difficult it is for you to give your love--but
I know you love me. You loved me from the very beginning."
     Q nodded. "Yes.  I do love you--and I want to give me
everything, you heart's desire."  His expression changed to a
wicked grin.  "And I would very much love to attend that
illustrious gathering this evening, but first--"  He drew a hand
down her side, bent his head to place a line of soft, gentle
kisses along the outside curve of her breast and up her inner
arm. "I would very much like to make love with you."  And then
there was nothing more to say, for his skilful hands were drawing
caresses along her skin, and Anna Mithrais was gently-but-
blissfully wrapping her body around him, and soon there was
silence in her quarters as she made love with Q.


     Troi picked another shrimp puff from the tray as the Bolian
waiter went by.  She really shouldn't, but they were so good--
lightly battered, crispy. "Here, Worf, try one of these."
     The tall Klingon beside her grunted.  Worf was in his dress
uniform, as were all the bridge officers, and he looked very
nice. "That is food for a child!"
     Troi poked him in the stomach. "Oh, don't be ridiculous." 
She stepped forward as an anti-grav went by, covered in desserts
of all types and persuasions. "Oh, look! Chocolate!"  And she
went off to indulge.  What the hell, she reasoned.  So it would
be another ten laps in the pool, another hour on that damned step
machine....
     Beverly Crusher, standing near the salad bar with the
Captain, turned as the doors of the Holodeck swished open.  She
grinned at Alyssa and her husband, turned back to the Captain.
     "Oh my God!"  Beverly gasped.  She nearly spilled her drink.
"Can you believe it?"
     Picard was looking at her with the expression of a man in
the presence of someone possessed. "What on earth...? Doctor?"
     Then he saw it. "Q!"
     Beverly followed that with, "and Anna Mithrais!"
     And it was true: standing in the corner of the room,
underneath an arrangement of Tholian pines, were Q and Commander
Mithrais.  Q, as was his wont, was dressed in the uniform of a
Starfleet Admiral.  Mithrais wore a deep jade off-the-shoulder
gown.  
     They were kissing.
     Not openly, or vulgarly, or in a way that could be construed
as public display:  Mithrais was standing in front of Q, he had
his arms around her waist, and they were kissing gently, but with
(from the looks of it) great enjoyment.
     Picard turned back to Crusher, who had a certain look in her
eyes. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Jean-Luc, but is that not my
nurse and your..."
     "Correct, Doctor."  Picard was flabbergasted.  Not that Q
had chosen Mithrais, she was a lovely young woman.  But to think
that Q was actually capable of affection...
     "Looks like he's pretty good at it, I might add."  Crusher's
voice held a hint of ill-concealed amusement at Picard's
discomfort.
     "Doctor!" 
     "You know, Jean-Luc, I'm only a physician, and not
especially skilled in matters of the psyche--that's Deanna's
job."  Crusher's voice was carefully level. "But I would have to
say that Anna Mithrais and Q definitely have the appearence of
two people who have recently become--"
     It hit Picard like a phaser blast. "Intimate," he croaked,
feeling a trickle of cold sweat between his shoulder blades.
"With a member of my crew!"  He turned to Crusher in panic.
"He'll be on the ship forever--getting in the way, getting in my
hair--"
     Crusher snickered. "Might I point out--"
     "You may not!"  Picard yanked on the front of his uniform.
"I'll never get rid of him, he'll always be around, he'll never
leave!"
     Picard and Crusher turned as the Tholian ambassador, a
cheerful-looking humanoid, and his entourage, came up to greet
them.  The Tholian, well over two metres in height, thumped
Picard on the shoulder in a jocular fashion. "I say, Pick-ard!
That admiral of yours--he got some female, eh?"  The ambassador
laughed heartily, his great girth shaking. "What a sly devil,
eh?"
     Picard grimaced, at the fearful thumping he was getting, if
nothing else. "Devil--that's exactly what he is!"
     And from inside his head, a familiar voice was echoing:
     Now, Now, Jean-Luc! Don't be jealous!

			 THE END!