Chapter Text
“First Officer’s log, stardate 48521.5. We're on a relatively routine transport mission in the Beta Zeta system, and are currently within shuttle range of the planet Betazed. Counselor Troi seems to not be interested in acknowledging this fact and has taken extra bridge duty shifts since our arrival.”
Will stared at his computer console, sitting at his desk in his quarters and wondering if Deanna and her mother got into a fight recently.
Normally, he would already know. But his and Deanna’s relationship was in a sort of awkward stage at the moment - she and Worf broke up over a month ago and even though Will knew that he was a significant catalyst for it, neither he nor Deanna had made any moves to get back together. They didn't even seem to be as close of friends as they once were.
It caused him real, physical pain sometimes, to think about how they used to be. They used to spend all their free time together, they used to hold hands and hug and kiss and tell each other everything.
And he hadn't even realized how good he had it. The Will of a year ago, who had Deanna by his side every day, was dreaming of their relationship on Betazed. He never could've imagined losing her, even if she and Worf only dated for a few months.
A few agonizing, torturous months.
Will laid his head down on his desk and sighed. He'd been doing a good job lately of avoiding wallowing in thoughts of Deanna, but being so close to her home made it more difficult. He wanted to take her hand and whisk her down to the surface. But she clearly had no interest in being on Betazed at all.
It was weird to be awkward around her. It was almost like they were back to their first year on the Enterprise, when they were trying to find a balance between being professional and being heartbroken and it was so difficult.
He knew the first step to fixing things. Will needed to be as honest as possible - sit her down, explain exactly how he felt when she dated Worf, and then apologize for not being honest from the beginning. And if Worf walked by and happened to overhear, then that was just fine. It wasn't like Will’s friendship with Worf would ever fully recover.
Worf was honest and honorable and he'd given Will multiple opportunities to object to his and Deanna’s relationship. Will took none of them, knowing that he'd had his chance with Deanna and had no say over her life and her choices.
But it was obvious that Will wanted to object, and that strained his and Worf’s friendship more than fighting over Deanna would've. Will knew that. But he still couldn't bring himself to say anything.
Will stood up from his desk and walked to his replicator, staring at the screen and trying to decide what he wanted. He almost instinctively asked for hot chocolate, and then got immediately annoyed with himself. He replicated a coffee - an Earth coffee, specifically - and sipped at it slowly.
Deanna was probably bored on the bridge. There wasn't much going on. Maybe Will could relieve her and give her some time to relax. Or would she be annoyed by that? It was hard to tell these days. He didn’t want to make things worse by overstepping.
He almost jumped as the ship shook, and then the sound of a yellow alert quickly followed.
“Captain Picard, Commander Riker, please report to the bridge immediately.”
Will put the coffee down and rushed out the door. He supposed he deserved this for even thinking that the day might be boring.
Deanna was in a strange place in her life.
She didn't want to visit Betazed. She didn't even want them to be near the planet, knowing that her mother could probably sense her presence from such a minimal distance. Deanna had no interest in dealing with her mother at the moment, and so she'd taken extra shifts to ensure that she wouldn't have any time to even consider it.
They hadn't spoken in almost two months - since before Deanna and Worf had broken up. And Deanna didn't want to have a conversation about that with her mother any more than she wanted to talk about it with Will or Beverly.
Another failed relationship on her path to 40. It wasn't a big deal. Deanna had a successful career and lots of friends and overall she was happy.
But Lwaxana didn't like her daughter being unmarried at 30, so she certainly wasn't going to hold her tongue about it at 35. And it would get more and more annoying as time went on. So Deanna decided to take preventative measures and avoid the conversation entirely.
And so - she was on bridge duty. Again.
And that was fine, because she'd asked for it. And it was a boring day with very little going on. They were in a very familiar and safe area. No one had any concerns that something bad might happen.
Until it did, of course.
The ship suddenly shook violently, as if they'd been hit by a weapon that no one saw coming. Deanna gathered her bearings and stood up. “What was that?!”
“I-... I'm not sure. No anomalies or other ships showing up on our scans!” the ensign at the helm responded.
“Damage report?” Deanna asked, turning to look at Worf behind her.
He shook his head. “No damage reported.”
“Oh.” Suddenly she wasn't sure what to do. No damage was good, obviously, but what they'd just experienced was undeniable and concerning. “Let's go to yellow alert for the moment until we figure this out.” She pressed her comm badge. “Captain Picard, Commander Riker, please report to the bridge immediately.”
She stayed standing, not really comfortable with sitting down again on the off-chance their ship was about to come under attack.
Captain Picard came onto the bridge first, adjusting his tunic like he'd just put it on. “What's going on?”
“Not sure. We haven't found an explanation for the shaking and no damage was reported, but it certainly felt like an attack.”
He glanced out the viewscreen and nodded. “Any reports from Betazed?”
Deanna hadn't even considered that. She moved towards her usual seat and turned her console towards her just as Commander Riker exited the turbolift. “Nothing from Betazed, either. It doesn't seem like they experienced anything unusual.”
“Well, it had to have been caused by something. Keep scanning,” Picard ordered, taking his seat.
Deanna looked up as Will walked past her towards his own seat - he gave her a brief, small smile as a form of greeting, then sat down and quickly shifted into commander-mode. No time for pleasantries during a potential crisis, of course. She could barely even sense any feelings from him, though that wasn’t unusual these days. Their telepathic connection could never fully disappear, but while she was dating Worf, they’d silently come to an understanding that it wasn’t appropriate to use it.
Having looked at her console, Deanna was able to see that she had three messages from her mother waiting for her. She sighed and turned the console away. It wasn't like her mother’s gossip about the other Houses was going to be relevant to the Enterprise’s current situation.
The ship suddenly started to shake again and Captain Picard called for a red alert. “Damage or not, something is happening to my ship and I want an explanation immediate-”
The familiar sparkle of bright light on the bridge was not entirely unexpected. Whenever something unexplainable was happening, there was always a possibility…
…that Q would appear.
He showed up in his faux-uniform, as he often did, and stood proud and tall just a few feet in front of the captain's chair. Q had a bright smile on his face and posed with his hands on his hips, like he was imitating someone.
Picard, Will, and Deanna all stood up in surprise.
“Q! Is this your doing?” The captain asked aggressively, looking like he already had a headache.
“The shaking? Yes, probably, definitely. I was just on a planet where they have groundquakes every eight point six seconds. Perhaps some of the aftershocks followed me here!” Q chuckled quietly. “Ah, wouldn't that be interesting?”
“What do you want, Q?” Will asked, taking a step closer. “We don't have time for your nonsense.”
“Is that so? I was under the impression that things were slow today and you all needed a boost!” Q answered with a laugh.
“I’d like to remain on my ship, if you don't mind,” Picard added, undoubtedly referencing his forced time displacement experience from last year.
“Well you'll be happy to learn that I'm not here for you this time, Jean-Luc. I'm actually going to borrow one of your officers,” Q announced, holding his pointer finger up in the air. He then disappeared into his usual spark of light…
…and then reappeared right behind Deanna. She felt her hands suddenly grabbed and realized after a moment that he was holding her in some sort of dancer’s pose - one arm outstretched and the other bent in front of her chest. She blinked rapidly in confusion. Since when was Q interested in her?
“I promise to bring her back.” He paused, then added, “Eventually!”
As Q used his powers to teleport the both of them away, Deanna heard Will, Worf, and Captain Picard shout her name in fear.