The Q and the Grey with a Different Ending
She started feeling tired that morning from staying up with the baby, and on the bridge when Q showed up. Another star started going supernova, causing the ship to shake. Q was standing there all innocently, and Janeway reluctantly asked "Q, you have the power to get us out of here. Please do something?" He agreed and in a microsecond the two of them were gone.
They rematerialized in the southern manor, and she was wearing a southern belle dress. Q was nowhere to be seen, until she turned around. She got dizzy and nearly fell to the ground, but Q caught her and helped her down onto the couch. He cried out "Kathy? Are you alright?" She nodded and asked "Where are we?" He explained that she is in the continuum and that they were in a civil war. "I'll show you." He stood and held out his hand. She wouldn't have taken it but she knew she didn't have the strength to hold herself up. He led her to the window and opened the blinds, as she leaned against the wall. When she looked out and saw the explosions that were sprawling across the terrain. "Oh the supernovas, right?" she asked. He nodded and told her "Think of them as galactic crossfire." Suddenly gunshots started flying through the window.
Q quickly tackled Janeway to the ground to cover her from harm. She hit her head hard on the ground and groaned in pain. He sat up a bit and said "Oh Kathy, I'm so sorry." She nodded her head. She moaned in pain, and told him "Q...I'm fine..." He smiled but then a bullet grazed his shoulder and he fell off her grasping his upper arm. She pulled herself up and saw he was bleeding. "Q...you're bleeding!" he couldn't believe it. She then pulled herself up onto her knees and turned toward the window, when suddenly a bullet pushed its way through her side. She gasped and quickly moved her left arm to her side. Q noticed and pulled himself up slightly and saw she was trying to breathe. He took her head in his hands and asked "Kathy? Come on, talk to me. Please?" He then looked down and saw blood was pooling from her side. "Oh God! Kathy! You're hit." She started falling toward the ground, and he helped her gently to the ground. He tried to snap his fingers to heal her, but nothing was working. "Damn! Nothing's working." he yelled out as she tried to sit up but the pain stopped her. He swiftly laid her down in his arms and told her "Come on Kathy! Stay down! I can't heal you, and you are losing a lot of blood. You've got to stay awake, okay?" She nodded.
The bullets continued to penetrate the window, and they were still in a potential line of fire. Q got the courage to look down at her and say "I'm going to bring us behind the couch, okay? It might hurt..." Kathy was trying to stay awake but managed to say "it's okay...I'll be fine..." He stood up and grabbed her under her shoulders, dragging her behind the couch. She was in excruciating pain, but knew she had to fight it for Chakotay, her baby Bella, and voyager. When there was a break in the firing he quickly reached over and grabbed the two throw pillows that were still intact. He placed them on top of each other, then proceeded to lift Kathy up, and turn her so she could lean on the pillows. The pain was interminable and Q could see it on her face. Her nose was scrunched up and she was biting her lip so she wouldn't cry out in pain. He gently moved down to the end of her dress and ripped the material, she yelled out and threw herself up as far as she could go. An extensively pained sound roared through Kathy's pale face. Q quickly pushed her back against the pillow and told her "Don't move!!" She nodded and asked "What the hell...were you doing...down at my feet?" He looked back and said "I was trying to rip a piece of the under layers so that I can put pressure on your side, so we could try and control the bleeding." She nodded and told him that he may continue.
He did as she told him, and ripped different parts of her dress. Once he had enough, he made his way back up and told her "brace yourself. This is going to hurt." She nodded her head slightly and closed her eyes. He pressed the cloth on her side, causing her to reach up, grip his shoulder and throw her head back. Q yelped in pain, as Kathy was squeezing his injured shoulder. She noticed and quickly let go and cried out "Oh Q!..I'm sorry." He shook it off and lifted her chin to look her in the eyes. "I can take a little bit of pain..." She nodded and suddenly a voice echoed through the room saying "Q? Surrender now and we'll be merciful." Janeway pulled herself slightly and groaned "Q, try and talk to them...Discuss a cease fire...Please...Ouch!" He quickly helped her back down onto the pillows and saw her getting weaker and weaker with each passing second. He grabbed his gun out of his belt and walked over to the window. She managed to pull herself up onto her knees, and kept her left hand pressing down on the piece of cloth. Her head popped up from behind the couch, but Q didn't notice. "I'll never surrender. You know that." With that said he started to fire his pistol out one of the cracks of the window. Kathy just moaned and fell back down with her back against the couch. She made the decision to go to him and convince him to talk about a cease fire.
Suddenly she began to crawl towards the fireplace. With the little strength she had left, she pulled herself to her feet and grabbed the wall. Each step she took brought more and more pain to her knowledge. Q saw her out of the corner of his eyes and spun around to address her "Kathy! You shouldn't be up." She held up her hand to stop him. She leaned against the wall and said "Q, You need to stop this...Try and talk to them about a...cease fire...Please?" He shook his head and continued firing, and left her no other choice. As fast as she could, she ran around him to look at his face. Within a second an explosion occurred right outside the window. She flew back and hit a table that broke on impact. She landed on her stomach, and tried to pull herself up but didn't have the strength. Q ran over to her and grabbed her waist, lifting her up and saying "Come on Kathy!" He pulled her tighter as she was going back down. "COME ON!" He yelled out grabbing her right arm and pulling it over his shoulder.
Finally they had made it out of the mansion, but he knew she was losing strength. He found a bush that was hidden from patrols and rushed towards it. When he arrived, he was quick to sit her down against the wall of the mansion. He took her face in his hands again and said "Listen to me! You need to stay strong for me. I need you to stay awake! Can you do that?" She smiled slightly and let her head fall back. He kissed her forehead and she yelped in pain. He pulled back and noticed the newly found cut inching its way from her hairline to the middle of her forehead. "I'm sorry." She brought her free hand up to the cut and felt the blood. Q told her again to stay strong, and ran to help his troops. She could tell she was losing consciousness, and slowly started falling forward. Her head hit the ground and her hand fell away from her side landing just to the right of her face. After being held to her side for an hour, it completely changed from white to crimson red.
Q had told his soldiers to retreat back to the camp, but went to get Kathy. When he pushed his way through the bush, he saw the blood stained piece of cloth laying in her porcelain hands. He walked a little further to see her laying on her stomach with her eyes closed. As fast as a cheetah, he ran to her side tapping her cheeks and yelling out "Kathy? Kathy, can you hear me?" She gave no response, and he could only find a weak pulse. With his shoulder still sore, he pushed the pain aside and lifted her into his arms, and took off running towards his remaining troop members. Once they were safe at one of his camps, he finally set her down against a rock. He knew the only thing he could do was try and clean up the wounds as best he could, and hope she would make it til he could bring her back to voyager. As soon as he placed the cold cloth on her forehead, she slowly woke up. "Chakotay?...Bella?" Her eyes shot open "...Q?..What happened?" She asked, looking around at the camp. "I carried you out of the mansion, and brought you to one of my faction's encampments." He had told her, as she returned to her normal self and tried to stand up. "Kathy? Please rest?" Her head fell back against the rock. Sighing she said "Q? Why won't you talk about a...nonviolent way to end this conflict?..Surely the Q...have evolved beyond this point." He lowered his head. "I have to think about it, but you need to rest." He told her in a calming voice, and proceeded to wipe the dirt off her face.
A little later, she pulled herself up to see Q had fallen asleep. Janeway took this opportunity to pull herself up to her feet, dismissing the wave of dizziness and nausea that overpowered her. Before she left, she ripped a piece of dress to use as a "white flag" but she turned to Q and whispered "I know you mean well...but you need someone to help...ensure that you consider something...that's non-violent." With that said she started walking through the woods towards the enemy camp. Having to stop a couple times to regain her balance, and rest to let the pain in her side to diminish, she didn't reach the camp for two hours. What she didn't know was that someone was following her, and he was hoping she was just going for a walk. When he saw her walk into the enemy camp, he hid behind a bush and watched someone harshly pull her to the "leader's" tent. His fists tightened at the sound of her yelp.
She walked into the tent still using her left hand to put pressure on her side. "Captain Janeway, I presume?" She nodded and he began to tell her that the continuum is not a safe place for a human female right now. "I've come to inform you...that Q has come up with a non-violent way...to end this war." He chuckled, noticing her almost fall forward, and quickly steadied her, asking "Would you care to sit down?" Regaining her balance she held up her hand and shook her head. "I agree that this war has gone on long enough." She let out a sigh but asked "So you agree...that the fighting has to stop?" He nodded and she said "that's a relief." The pain in her side made its way up to the surface, so she stumbled to the chair and fell into it. "Madam? Are you hurt?" She shook her head dismissing the topic, and told him "Q has a non-violent way...and I implore you to hear it." He continued to watch her thoroughly, but responded "I'm afraid the time for diplomacy has passed madam. The war will end soon though. We would be in your eternal debt if you told us where he was." She shook her head as much she could, after feeling the cut move the last time. "I didn't think you would. Well we don't need that anymore." he turned and suddenly Q was pushed through the tent opening. "Q? Ohhh!...What are you doing here?" He ran to her and pressed harder on her side telling her "I heard you leave, and decided to follow you to make sure you were okay." She reached her right hand to cup his face letting him kiss her palm.
He quickly pushed himself to his feet and pleaded "Please let her go! She's innocent, and was hit by one of our weapons. I will happily die for a cause I believe in, but all I ask is that you send her back to Voyager. Please?" The leader just looked down before saying "No. Private? Take them both to the chains. Execution will commence in the morning." the private nodded and yanked them both out of where they were sitting. "Wait! What are you charging me with?" She asked as she stood in the tent entrance. "Collaborating with the enemy, which is a crime punishable by death." With one nod the private pushed her out into the camp, causing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground. "Kathy!" Q yelled out picking her up off the ground and easily followed the soldier.
Once they were in the prison tent, Q laid Kathy down on one of the cots seeing that she was so pale and that her dress was stained red. "I'm sorry. I really hoped that they would send you back to voyager." She cut him off and told him "I miss my fam.." He placed his finger on her mouth, silencing her. "I will get you back to them. That's a promise my dear Kathy." She smiled and fought to stay awake, knowing if she fell asleep that she may never wake up again. After only a couple of hours, the sun penetrated the tent and they knew it was only a matter of time before they would be killed. Q looked to see that Kathryn had drifted off to sleep, and quickly ran to her side crying out "Kathy? Kathy? Come on, wake up. Please?" She stirred and suddenly jolted up in pain. "Q..Ohh...It can't be morning already...Can it?" He shrugged his shoulders, when two soldiers pushed their way into the tent. One of the guards violently pulled Kathy up off the cot and onto her feet, Q tried to beg them to be gentle but they didn't listen. In only a short time they were in visual view of two wooden poles that stood in the center of the camp. One of the soldiers pulled Q's hand behind him. The other soldier pushed Kathy's back against the pole, which caused her to let out a slight groan. She no longer could put more pressure on her side since her hands were tied behind her. "Do you have any last words Q?" He looked over to Kathy, only to see that she was struggling to stay conscious. "I have one thing to say and that is that this woman is innocent. She was just trying to save us from ourselves, and she certainly doesn't deserve to die. Her family needs her...Especially her adorable little baby girl." The man just nodded and replied "Well that was very nice." He let out a sigh, before the Captain proceeded to say "Take your places men."
Q's eyes immediately flew to Kathy's, only to see her face scrunched up in pain and the red stain spreading. "Ready! Aim!.." He abruptly ended when shots rang out from across the camp. One of the soldiers yelled out "It's the Union soldiers!!" The captain was enraged and suddenly pulled out his pistol and shot Kathryn directly in the chest. She gasped in pain, as Q fought against the ropes in hope that he could pull himself free and get to her. Harry Kim and B'elanna were running away from the battle, in hopes of finding their Captain. Q saw them and yelled out "Harry! We're over here. Please, Kathy's hurt!" The two crew members ran towards him, and saw that they were tied to the poles. Harry went straight to the Captain and saw all the blood. "Captain?" She just nodded and said "I'm fine...Harry.." Q interrupted saying "She was shot in the side yesterday, and then the Captain shot her in the chest today. She hit her head on a table too." B'elanna untied Q and he darted over to Kathy, and took her face in his hands saying "Hang on Captain. Please?" She nodded as B'elanna moved to untie her wrists, while Q and Kim got ready to support Kathy.
As soon as her wrists were free, she started falling towards the ground. "Captain?" Harry asked and she just gripped his shoulders and tried to pull herself up. They reluctantly agreed and ran to hide behind a tree until the battle died down a bit. Janeway knew that she was losing a lot of blood and was getting weaker, but she had to hold on. Paris and Tuvok were walking the Captain over to them, so she had Kim help her out from behind their hiding spot. Tom saw his Captain so pale and weak. "Captain? Are you alright?" She nodded and said "Call a cease fire...and I'll call off my men...Ouch!" She tried to press down on her chest more, while Harry tried to control the bleeding to her side. The captain sighed and said "Oh all right. CEASEFIRE!!" The fighting stopped, and Chakotay ran straight to Kathryn, and took her face in his hands as he pressed a kiss to her lips. She shuddered and fell into his arms, causing him to ease her down to the dirt ground.
Everyone took a spot, trying to stop the bleeding while Paris scanned her. He was not happy with what he saw. The gunshots penetrated vital organs, and she had a severe concussion. Paris didn't know if she was going to make it. "We need to get her back to Voyager NOW!" He yelled out. Chakotay quickly lifted Janeway into his arms and ran towards the transport location. After getting her back to the Doctor, everyone was ushered out to change into uniforms. They all hadn't heard anything yet, so they went back to the bridge to wait. 4 hours passed before the Doctor's voice came through the bridge "I am happy to report that the Captain is currently stable, and should make a complete recovery. She'll be asleep for another hour or two, but until then I know of one crew member that should come down right away..." Paris interrupted and started standing up joking "Well I guess that means me!" The whole bridge crew burst out laughing, including Chakotay. The Doctor continued "Mr. Paris I didn't know you secretly married the Captain. Have you told Commander Chakotay? I think you might not make it to sickbay without some form of black eye." Chakotay patted him on the back before walking towards the turbolift. "I'm on my way Doc, I'm just going to pick up Isabella. Tuvok you have the bridge, and Mr. Paris this is not over. I'm due some holodeck time coming up and think you have just earned yourself the title of sparring partner." They shared a glance before the doors finally closed.
The End