Chapter Text
Jealous Q - Act 1
Scene 1
Captain Janeway opened her eyes, to find herself lying on a cold, hard surface. She was definitely not in her own quarters, she could see a red ceiling, not a regulation grey one above her. The Captain had been dreaming about walking across the fields near her Grandfather’s farm in Indiana. She could still feel the sunlight on her face and smell the corn ripening. She felt drowsy again so she tried to roll over and slip back into her dream. When she banged her face on the cold floor, it was a forceful reminder that she was not in her own bed on Voyager.
She sat up slowly, feeling groggy and looked around. About one and a half metres away, Tom Paris was lying sprawled on the floor, still in his Starfleet uniform. Janeway shuffled over to check his pulse, it was weak but steady. She sat next to Tom waiting for him to wake up. The only thing she knew for certain was that they were not on the ship.
The Captain tried to focus on the last thing she remembered before she woke up here. She had been talking to Tuvok about his idea to schedule training exercises for his security staff on the holodeck; then there was a flash of blinding light and she woke up in this room.
Captain Janeway stood up cautiously, still feeling a little disorientated, to survey the room. The first thing she noticed was the absence of a door or windows. The walls, floors and ceilings were made from the same smooth material, with no seams or edges. She was really glad when she heard Tom beginning to wake up, maybe he knew why they’d been abducted.
“Good morning sleepy head, I’m afraid I can’t bring you breakfast or coffee because we’ve been abducted and transported to this red room and that’s all I know, for the moment.”
Captain Janeway moved away deliberately, to allow him to wake up and collect his thoughts, in private.
“Good morning Captain, did you say we’ve been abducted. Where the hell are we and who did it?”
Janeway explained that she had only just regained consciousness and had no idea where they were or more importantly, who had abducted them but she could make an educated guess based on the flash of light, that preceded her disappearance.
“ Q ” they both said in unison.
They sat down together and tried to work out what Q wanted.
Tom Paris was confused, “I thought he was supposed to be a family man now with Lady Q and a baby.”
The Captain hadn’t told the crew that Q had tried unsuccessfully to blackmail her into sleeping with him. She knew that he was furious that Lady Q had helped her and he swore to punish both of them.
“I thought he only tormented Captain Picard and the Enterprise crew, I didn’t realise that we were the focus of his attentions now.” Tom was worried about the Captain, he knew Q was infatuated with her and he was certain that he hadn’t experienced rejection before.
“Well Tom, it’s no good sitting around doing nothing. Starfleet regulations state that we have to try to escape.” said the Captain trying to raise Tom’s spirits and her own.
“Q never misses a chance to prove how stupid and inferior we are, why hasn’t he shown up to gloat.”
“Ignore him, we have an intriguing puzzle, I’ve examined the walls and the floor and I can’t find any openings. If you check the walls, I’ll examine the floor.” Janeway always felt better when she took some control of a situation.
Tom was furious, “When he turns up, I’ll follow Chakotay’s example and knock him out, he shouldn’t play games with other people’s lives.”
“I don’t think Lady Q is very happy with him as well, she’s has been trying to encourage Q to behave more responsibly now he has a son.”
Paris had a few fantasies involving Lady Q, before he started his relationship with B’Elanna, of course!
“The Q can’t all be like him or the Universe would have perished centuries ago.” joked Tom.
Janeway was anxious to escape quickly, “We need to inspect every centimetre of this room to find the way out Tom.”
She started to check the floor, after roughly thirty minutes she had to straighten up because she had a back spasm. While she had been working, she couldn’t stop thinking about Tom. He was attractive but she had never thought about him like that before. She must have banged her head really hard during transport.
The Captain was starting to get angry, “We haven’t got time to play Q’s games, we have to return to Voyager. I promised to get the crew home and It’s an oath that I intend to keep.”
Paris respected the Captain’s grit and determination. All of the crew were far away from home and the Federation but she carried the additional burden of the crew’s reliance on her to get them home. He understood how lonely it could be, even when you are surrounded by people.
They sat together quietly for a few moments, Tom was very aware of how close they were sitting. He could feel her warmth and his nose filled with the scent of her perfume. He felt an urgent desire to kiss her and make love to her on the floor. He shook his head vigorously to clear the image out of his head. What was he thinking, she was the Captain and he was in love with B’Elanna.
“Well Captain we can’t just sit here, we must find the hidden door.” Tom needed to move away from the Captain and keep his mind busy working on an escape plan and not on his growing attraction to her.
He was pretty sure that Chakotay would not approve of their liaison. He had been a boxing champion at the Academy, with a tough reputation. If Chakotay didn’t kill him, Tom was certain that B’Elanna would decapitate him with her bat’leth and mount his head on the wall in her quarters if he was unfaithful.
Janeway hoped that Q would grow tired of this game quickly. She didn’t know if it was the unique situation they were in; or her emotions were being manipulated but she was unusually attracted to Tom Paris. At this point she wanted him so badly, it felt like a physical ache and the need was growing. After all they had mated before and produced a litter but that was another story!
Scene 2
Commander Chakotay and B’Elanna Torres vanished from Voyager at the same time as Tom Paris and Captain Janeway.
B’Elanna woke up with a brain-splitting headache. She sat up clutching her head and opened her eyes tentatively. Looking around slowly, it appeared that she was sitting in a barn. She shut her eyes and vowed never to touch Neelix’s mushroom soup again. B’Elanna pinched herself to make sure this wasn’t a dream.
“I tried that but it didn’t work, I’m still here.”
B’Elanna was startled by the sound of Chakotay’s voice. He was leaning against the wall, on the opposite side of the barn. They must have both been taken while they were on duty because they were wearing their uniforms.
“Where the hell are we and who abducted us, when I find them, I’m going to rip their heads off, disembowel them and turn them inside out - for fun.” She stood up and paced around the stall like a wild animal in a zoo.
Chakotay tried to calm her down, “B’Elanna, nothing will be gained from losing your temper. We have to apply logic and reason to this situation”
“You sound like Tuvok, you’ve obviously been spending too much time together,” Chakotay looked downward and smiled. B’Elanna knew that he deliberately used that smile to disarm women. It shouldn’t still work on her but it was so damn sexy. She felt disloyal to Tom even thinking about it.
“Do you have any theories about where we are; who abducted us and why?” asked B’Elanna, hoping he knew one of the answers.
Chakotay disappointed her, “I don’t know yet but when I find out, the culprit will be very sorry.”
B’Elanna couldn’t stop staring at his sensual lips, all she could think about was how beautifully shaped they were and how they would feel on her lips and skin. She remembered the dream she had, when the an alien attacked the ship. She remembered the feel of his lips on hers and his strong hands caressing her. She started to feel warm but the temperature in the room hadn’t changed. If she couldn’t get control of her hormones, things were going to get a lot hotter in the barn! How would she explain it to Tom?
******************************************************************************
Scene 3
Q was monitoring the action in both rooms from his quarters in the Continuum. His plans were progressing nicely; Paris was beginning to notice that Kathy was an attractive, desirable woman and Torres was beginning to get the hots for Chuckles. He clicked his fingers and doubled the amount of pheromones in both rooms and increased the temperature, that should help things heat up a little faster. He had to allow their passions to smoulder for a while longer, then the fun could begin! Kathy would regret plotting against him, with Lady Q. This puny inferior primate female rejected his proposal; she should have felt honoured to be the mother of his child. Despite that he still wanted her; Q was a God, why shouldn’t he get what he desired?
He was still angry about his punishment for the last game he played with the Voyager crew and Captain Janeway. The Q had sentenced him to house arrest, he hadn’t been able to leave the Continuum for months; now he was going to enjoy his revenge. When he showed Janeway and Paris how their loved ones had behaved in the barn, they would be devastated. He might even be able to catch Kathy on the rebound. Just to make sure there would be no reconciliations, he would show Chakotay and Torres how close Kathy and Tom Paris had become. This could possibly turn out to be his favourite game. It was vitally important that he keep the barn and red room hidden from the other Q. He didn’t want them to end the game prematurely, that would be a catastrophe!
Scene 4
Outside the Red Room, a rectangle of light appeared shaped like a door. Two figures emerged through the opening, a man and a woman. The woman waved her hand and the doorway disappeared. She turned to the man,
“It seems you were right old friend, Loki, God of Lies, is misbehaving again,” agreed Guinan, bartender and listener from the Enterprise.
“I told you, a leopard never changes his spots, what are we going to do?” asked Boothby, former Groundskeeper of Starfleet Academy and also a listener.
He had been friends with Guinan for many centuries. Their race had nearly died out, after a Borg attack. The survivors left the planet and spread far and wide, too far in both of their opinions!
Guinan thought carefully about her answer, “We’ll let him carry on for now. As long as we monitor the game, we can ensure the humans are not harmed. It might be good for them to lose their inhibitions, they’re all under a lot of stress trapped in the Delta quadrant.”
“We’ll visit the other room to check on their well being, if everything is fine, we need to find a comfortable place to watch. It’s your turn to bring the popcorn, I bought it last time.” Boothby opened a door while they continued to argue good naturedly about popcorn as they walked back through it.
******************************************************************************
Scene 5
Captain Janeway was busy tapping a section of the wall when she heard her stomach rumble loudly and insistently. Tom Paris turned around when he heard the noise.
"Hungry Captain?"
"My stomach seems to think so Mr Paris, I wonder if Q will remember that he has to feed his pets?"
"I'm famished, I could just eat a cheeseburger and fries or a hotdog with all the trimmings." said Tom hungrily.
"If he doesn't supply me with coffee, I will strangle him with my bare hands, if we ever get out of this infernal room." replied the Captain with a dangerous gleam in her eyes. It wasn’t a good idea to deprive the Captain of her black coffee!
Q smiled when he heard Janeway's last threat, he loved her spirit and feistiness. He had already planned a special meal for his lab rats. He clicked his fingers and a romantic dinner for two, complete with table, chairs and candles for intimate lighting, appeared in the middle of the red room. He even included an enormous pot of coffee made from a special blend, just for his Captain.
Tom and the Captain didn’t move and stared suspiciously at the table for a few minutes. After nothing else happened, they walked over to examine it as though it might explode in their faces.
"I wonder what he's up to?" asked Janeway suspiciously.
"I don't care, let's tuck in, I'm starving," Tom said sensibly as he sat down at the table, ready to eat.
Captain Janeway was more cautious, things were never straightforward where Q was concerned. Tom, being a gentleman, waited until she sat down. He lifted the cover off the first dish to reveal a plate of fresh oysters.
"Not what I expected but it will do, we can't escape if we're too weak with hunger." Tom said practically.
The Captain was curious, she lifted off the lids of the other dishes. There were strawberries and cream, chocolate sauce, even champagne on ice. Q was trying to set the mood for seduction and subtlety wasn’t his strong point. Captain Janeway was confused, why did he abduct Tom if he planned to repeat his efforts to seduce her? Then she saw the coffee, thank God he wasn't vindictive. She poured herself a huge cup and sat there for five minutes letting the coffee work its magic. Even though the food wasn't filling, it was sensible to eat something, Tom was right they couldn't escape if they were half starved.
Q was getting impatient, things weren't moving as quickly as he wanted. He’d provided the romantic dinner, what more did they need? Then he noticed their boring shapeless Starfleet uniforms, He clicked his fingers again, then stood back to admire his work. These clothes were much more becoming. Finally he made the room even hotter, that should do the trick!
Janeway and Tom had just finished their oysters when there was another flash of light. They both jumped out of their chairs in shock. Tom looked down to discover his uniform had been replaced with tight blue jeans, a white t-shirt and a black leather jacket, an outfit straight from the 1950's Earth's history. Captain Janeway was wearing a black evening dress which clung to all the right places and had an extremely low neckline. She had never worn anything this sexy before. She turned around and the look on Tom's face was priceless, his jaw dropped and his eyes were out on stalks. Janeway was flattered by his reaction.
At the end of their meal Tom poured two glasses of champagne and discovered immediately that it wasn't syntherhol, when he drank it straight down. The dirty dishes disappeared after they had finished eating. Q thought of everything, even the coffee pot refilled itself. Captain Janeway wondered frivolously if Q would let her keep the pot when his game finished.
Tom and the Captain were drinking their coffee, trying to avoid making eye contact . Tom always appreciated that the Captain was an attractive woman but now he had to change that opinion to stunning. The low cut gown was distracting him, he couldn't stop thinking about unzipping the dress and letting it fall to the floor. He didn't know if his imagination was making him hot and bothered or the temperature of the room had risen considerably. He watched a small bead of sweat travel down the Captain’s neck, he imagined kissing her neck and following that bead down to her impressive cleavage.
He got up unsteadily, what was the matter with him? He respected Captain Janeway, she had been the only one willing to give him a second chance. Okay, on occasions he’d had a few lustful thoughts about her but he was in a serious relationship with B’Elanna now. He walked to the other side of the room to put some distance between them.
Janeway was relieved when Tom left the table, the atmosphere was becoming increasingly intimate and charged with sexual frustration. He looked sexy in his skin tight blue jeans and the tight white, t-shirt emphasised his toned upper body. As he turned round she admired the contours of his ass. The Captain flirted outrageously with all the male officers and occasionally with the females; it was a long journey home and a personal relationship with a member of the crew was out of the question. The only time she had been tempted was on the planet they named, 'New Earth' with Chakotay. Now she was experiencing an unreasonable level of sexual frustration. She wanted to throw Tom to the floor and take out all her frustration on him. He was boyishly handsome, with a ‘bad boy’ allure, however she normally prefered her men to be tall, dark and handsome with facial tattoos. She had to discover what game Q was playing before she did something she would regret.
The temperature in the room had reached tropical heat. The Captain considered her situation, her dress had a long skirt which was making her hotter and using the changing rooms at the Academy had cured her of any modesty.
“Tom could you help me to unzip my dress please?”
“Excuse me Captain could you repeat that again,” Tom asked, praying he hadn’t heard the question properly.
“Yes Mr Paris, I require your assistance to unzip my dress, it is extremely warm in here and this dress is not helping!” The Captain was confused by inability to understand.
“I thought that’s what you said.” Tom was panic-stricken, he would rather face the Borg than unzip the Captain’s dress.
He walked slowly across the room towards Captain Janeway. Was he getting the wrong signals? Most of the crew thought she was having a relationship with Chakotay. He tried to think about B’Elanna but all he could focus on was Janeway’s bare skin being revealed to him inch by inch. He started to undo her zip slowly, his hands were shaking because he was resisting the urge to push her against the wall and take what he so desperately wanted.
Q was watching, the erotic tension build between Kathy and Tom Paris. He was totally unprepared for the painful feeling of jealousy that hit him, when Paris leaned forward to kiss the back of Kathy’s neck. He forgot that he had engineered the whole experiment and had a monumental jealous tantrum. Tom shielded the Captain with his body as the table exploded in the red room. They both heard Q’s howls of rage and they weren’t the only ones!
Scene 6
Boothby and Guinan leaned forward in their chairs.
“I don’t believe it, Loki has fallen in love with someone other than himself” Guinan was ecstatic, she had waited for centuries to find his weakness. Now she had to figure out how she could use this knowledge to her own advantage?
“He’s infatuated with Kathryn Janeway, even though he doesn’t realise it. He is vulnerable, we can exploit his feelings for her.” Boothby didn’t like being malicious but this entity was responsible for the destruction of his homeworld - he deserved to suffer!
******************************************************************************
Scene 7
B’Elanna and Chakotay were having their own problems. The buildup of sexual tension added to the heat was making B’Elanna crazy and aggressive, a perfect mood if her potential mate was a Klingon male.
“B’Elanna, sit down please, all that pacing about is making me nervous, can’t you find something useful to do?”
“I can’t believe you’re so calm, we’ve been abducted from our ship and put in a cage and someone is messing with the temperature, it’s getting hotter in here.” she was shouting by the time she finished her complaint.
B’Elanna stripped off her turtleneck shirt and dropped it on top of the jacket she’d removed earlier. She turned around to face Chakotay wearing only her undershirt. Chakotay couldn’t take his eyes off her, the undershirt left nothing to the imagination. Then he started to notice how hot it was. He followed B’Elanna’s example and stripped down to his undershirt. While he was undressing, the hackles rose on his neck, he could feel B’elanna staring at him hungrily.
He turned around and smiled, “Let’s get back to work, there must be a way out of here, we just haven’t found it!” Chakotay said optimistically.
He was doing it again, trying to use his sexy smile on her, the problem was that it was working. B’Elanna kept getting flashbacks of her erotic dream involving Chakotay. She always thought that he was attractive but she had never lusted after him like this.
Scene 8
Q calmed down after his violent outburst. He realised now that he still had strong feelings for Kathy, he had never been in love before and he didn’t like it. He cleaned up the red room with a click of his finger and substituted a bed for the table and chairs. He decided to see what was happening in the barn to take his mind off his jealousy. He kept thinking about Tom Paris with his hands all over Kathy and it infuriated him.
Q was disgusted, nothing was happening in the barn either, he’d added extra pheromones, kept the temperature nice and hot and given them all that straw to mate on, what else could he do? Then he remembered the mating rituals that were important to Commander Woof and his brothers in arms. He needed to make her angry with Commander Chuckles, then she would be ready to fight or mate. He didn’t care which option she chose. Now back to his favourite woman!
******************************************************************************
Scene 9
Captain Janeway was exhausted, she was emotionally and physically drained. She sat down on the edge of the bed and put her head in her hands. Tom had never seen the Captain look so defeated.
“Come on Captain, Q has the attention span of a goldfish, he’ll get tired of this game soon, then he’ll torture some other unfortunates.”
“I know, Mr Paris, sometimes I wish my life was a little more boring and uneventful and the only thing I'd have to worry about is what culinary delights Mr Neelix has in store for me.”
Paris sat down on the bed next to the Captain and put his arm around her - she seemed so vulnerable at this moment. He forgot how little clothing she had on.
He started to hold her a little tighter, resisting the impulse, to start kissing her.
Janeway hadn’t been held like this for a long time, it was comforting, then she felt Tom pull her closer. It would be relatively easy to surrender and make love to him. Her bed had been empty for a long time! She pulled away reluctantly,
“Thank you Tom, I needed a shoulder to lean on, what are we going to do about the sleeping arrangements?”
Tom looked at the bed, “I was brought up to be a gentleman, Captain, you take the bed and I’ll sleep on the floor.” he said gallantly.
“Tom I never knew you were such a gentleman, however let’s be practical, it’s a big bed so it would be sensible to share.”
With those words, Janeway pulled back the covers and lay down on one side of the bed. Tom looked at the ceiling, he couldn’t believe Q was this cruel. His restraint was getting weaker, it would take very little to make him forget about B’Elanna and take advantage of this opportunity - he had endured a lot of provocation.
Janeway turned onto her side, away from Tom. She didn’t know whether she wanted him to get in the bed and ignore her or hold her tightly again and make mad passionate love until they were both spent. She definitely knew which option would be the most fun, she put her head into the pillow and started to laugh.
Tom thought he could easily fall in love, he’d seen a whole new side to the Captain that he really liked. He could see her shoulders shaking as she tried to hide her laughter. He smiled as he got into bed, after all they were adults with ‘impeccable impulse control’. Although, he played it safe like Captain Janeway by moving right to the edge of the bed. There was a chasm between them, with just enough room for an adult sized Q!
“Well isn’t this cosy children.”
Janeway and Paris jumped out of bed shouting in unison.
“You’re a parent now, you have to set your son a good example. You can’t abandon him every time you feel bored and want to play with the inferior life forms you’re meant to be protecting,” shouted Captain Janeway
"Nonsense I grew bored with fatherhood when the little tyke started to get into trouble all the time. The other Q were always demanding that I chastise him. Imagine that, a Q reduced to the role of nanny," moaned Q.
"What about doing something useful, you could even do some work." suggested Paris ironically.
Q looked shocked that he'd even suggested the possibility of real work.
"Since your limited intellects can't comprehend the difference between conducting a serious experiment and playing games, I will show you the difference."
He disappeared leaving Tom Paris and the Captain to worry about what he had in store for them next.
Scene 10
Q’s attention now switched to the barn. Chakotay was getting annoyed with B'Elanna's constant pacing up and down, all the time.
"Will you sit down, we're not going to escape by wearing a hole in the floor, he remarked tetchily.
"How can you stand there so calmly? I'm not used to feeling helpless. Someone is moving us around like chess pieces and we can’t do a damn thing about it."
B'Elanna slumped to the floor sullenly right next to Chakotay.
“I bet you’d prefer the Captain to be here instead of me; I’ve seen the way you look at her when nobody’s watching.” B’Elanna sneered.
Chakotay was shocked, “The Captain and I are friends, nothing more, you shouldn’t listen to idle gossip.”
“What really happened when both of you were trapped on that planet?” she asked trying to find out all the salacious details.
“Nothing! the Captain conducted experiments trying to find a cure for our illness and I made furniture trying to improve our living conditions.”
B’Elanna looked at him incredulously, “Neither of you thought about mating in all the time you were trapped there?”
Chakotay was starting to get annoyed with her, he didn’t mind people talking about him but the Captain was a different matter.
“B’Elanna it’s none of your business and I don’t think it’s appropriate for one of the senior officers to indulge in idle gossip.”
“Sorry, when did you start to slavishly follow the rules. Janeway has really got to you, hasn’t she.”
“B’Elanna, shut your mouth, you have no idea what you’re talking about!”
“Well at least I’m not Janeway’s puppet. Does she pull the strings when she wants you to speak?” B’Elanna was trying to get a reaction out of him.
Chakotay was striving not to lose his temper.
“Well at least she’s a lady and not an undisciplined slut, who has issues with authority figures.”
B’Elanna pulled back her arm to punch him. Chakotay caught the offending arm and held it, waiting for her to back down. They were both breathless and boiling with anger. Suddenly the mood changed. They were at an impasse, both staring at each other waiting for someone to make a move. Chakotay dropped her arm and pushed her back against the wall. He leaned forward and crushed her lips in a lust filled, passionate, savage kiss.
They broke apart and B’Elanna wiped her lips on the back of her hand.
“Is that all you’ve got?”
She traded places, kissing him until their only thought was how to get rid of their clothes, so there was no barriers between them.
“Tut, tut, tut, Chakotay what would Kathy say about you getting hot and horny with our Klingon friend here?”
They broke apart, on hearing his voice, looking guilty and horrified at Q finding them in a compromising position.
“I knew you were to blame, where are we and why have you abducted us?” shouted Chakotay trying to hide his guilt.
“You will be privy to everything I know soon. By the way, Kathy and Tom send their love, they’re getting to know each other in another room. You’ll be pleased to know they’re getting on famously as well!”
Chakotay was even more worried knowing that he had Kathryn in his clutches, “You’ve abducted Tom and the Captain as well! Why have you done this?”
“It’s simple Chuckles, I asked your Captain to be the mother of my child. She ruined my brilliant idea to combine the D.N.A of Q and humans to produce a saviour for the Continuum. Can you appreciate what an honour I was trying to bestow on her and she rejected me. It hurt like the blazes, I’ve never been rejected before!”
“You abducted us from our ship because you couldn’t cope with the Captain’s rejection of you. Have you considered why she refused your offer?” B’elanna felt her temper beginning to boil over.
Chakotay reached out to her, “He’s not worth it, he is a vain, selfish, egotistical entity who thinks the people in the Universe were put there for his sole amusement.”
Q got down on his knees and bowed his head, in mock contrition.
“Oh Chuckles, I’m really hurt by your low opinion of me. For an inferior, bipedal species you sure have a lot to say for yourselves.”
“What have you done with the Captain?” Chakotay was worried what Q might have done to her..
Q was getting cross, “None of your business, she’s safe and unharmed, that’s all you need to know.”