Intervention
by Astra <astraplain@yahoo.com 

Note: this was my answer to a challenge to use as 
many quotes from TNG episodes as possible. The quotes 
are in parentheses.


Alone, and surrounded by silence, he sat.  He was in 
a clad in standard cranberry and red, a Starfleet 
duty uniform, and sitting cross-legged on the hard 
ground.  Above him were the wonders of the heavens.  
He didn't notice.  The omnipotent Q was bored.

With a flash of light, a marionette appeared.  It 
hung suspended before him and he frowned at it.  
("Jean-Luc, there are some things I want to tell 
you.")  He tugged the strings and the replica of his 
favorite starship captain nodded its head.  "Well 
first, your tailor..."

("Do you do this all the time?")  A voice demanded 
from over his left shoulder.

"Go away, Amanda.  Find your own asteroid to play 
on."  He said it without turning to look at his 
protégé.

"Not a chance Q."  She replied, materializing a 
cushion before sitting beside him.  "I know what 
you're up to even if you don't realize it yet."  He 
frowned and she put up a hand to stop his retort.  
"And don't look at me like that, Q. (You know exactly 
what I mean.)  Your precious Jean-Luc Picard has gone 
and completely, and I do mean completely, fouled up 
your plans and now you're sulking."  

"I am not sulking.  I'm just considering the 
alternatives." Q huffed at the marionette before him.  
"I mean really, mon capitaine.  I give you 
everything.  A new ship, a new uniform, I even 
reassemble that pitiful group you call a bridge crew.  
Then," He shook the marionette's strings for 
emphasis, "I even give you that obnoxious red-head.  
And what do you do?  You ruin it all by running off 
on some fool's mission."

Amanda placed her hand on Q's arm. ("I didn't know 
you felt this way.")

Q laughed. "Neither did he.  For years I was a 
constant thorn in his side.  There wasn't a day he 
didn't think of me."  Leaning close to Amanda, he 
whispered, ("It was very intimate.")

Just then the marionette dropped into his lap, it's 
strings gone.  It's tiny mouth opened, and the rich 
tones of Jean-Luc Picard emerged, "Why, Q.  (Why 
didn't you ever tell me you were in love with me?")

Q studied the puppet a moment them turned, slowly and 
warningly towards Amanda.  She was shaking with 
laughter, but managed to sputter a rather 
unconvincing, ("I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just couldn't 
resist.")

Q turned away in disgust.  "You're as bad as he is.  
Must be that inferior human upbringing.  Well, I've 
had enough of you.  And him.  There's a much worthier 
human for me to lavish my attentions on now."  He 
left in a flash of light, the marionette laying 
forgotten in a heap on the ground.  His parting words 
drifted back to her, ("I should have done this a long 
time ago.") 

*****

("Captain, can I see you in your ready room?  It's a 
private matter.  No, actually, it's an urgent one.")

Captain William Riker looked at his CMO in surprise.  
She'd barreled off the  turbolift as if being chased 
and now waited impatiently at the entrance to his 
private sanctuary.  He motioned for Data to take 
Command and preceded the Doctor into the Ready Room.

As soon as the doors were closed he turned to her. 
("Okay, Bev.)  What's wrong?"

"This!"  She pulled a padd from the pocket of her lab 
coat and shoved it towards him.

Scanning it quickly, Riker felt his legs go rubbery.  
This can't be right.  Sitting on the nearest chair, 
he read the whole message over, twice.  At last he 
set the padd aside and looked up into the eyes of 
Beverly Picard.  The tears he saw were no surprise.

"When did you get this?"

"Today.  A few hours ago.  Will, I had no idea.  No 
idea." She turned away. In a much softer voice she 
said, "I told him: (Jean-Luc, crossing into Klingon 
territory is absurd, but then I never could say no to 
you.  It made him angry Will.  More angry than I'd 
ever seen him.  He said, ('Oh, so that's why you 
married me.')  And he stormed out.  I haven't seen 
him or talked to him since."  She turned and snatched 
up the padd.  "And now this."

She made a motion, as if to hurl the offending item 
across the room, but caught herself.  Riker was 
beside her, folding her into and embrace and gently 
rocking her.  "I'm sure there's some reasonable 
explanation, Beverly.  Jean-Luc was very concerned 
about this mission.  Perhaps he hasn't been thinking 
clearly."

Beverly pulled away and stalked to the window.  
"You're wrong Will.  The only time Picard wasn't 
thinking clearly was when he asked me to marry him.  
This damned Klingon mess comes up and off he goes 
without a thought to me or my needs.  It's all (He's 
Jean- Luc Picard, and if he wants to go on one more 
mission, that's what we're going to do.)  Well not 
any more.  He's apparently tired of 'we'.  I'm just 
sorry I didn't serve him with divorce papers first!"

Whirling, Beverly looked Riker directly in the eyes.  
"With you permission, sir.  I'd like to request a few 
days personal time."

"Of course, Beverly."  He took her hand.  "And 
please, tell me if there's anything I can do."

She managed a small smile.  "Thank you Will, but 
right now I need to get out of here before I throw 
something."  And she turned on her heel and strode 
out of his ready room, and into the nearest 
turbolift.

Riker waited for her to go, counted to ten in several 
languages, then called Data into the ready room.  The 
android read the divorce action and promptly returned 
to his console where he began making discrete 
inquiries into the Jean-Luc Picard's current 
location.

*****

Three days later Will Riker arrived at Beverly 
Picard's quarters with bad news and a sense of dread.  
There were lots of times in the past months when he 
desperately wished for Deanna's presence, but this 
was the worst.  Taking a deep breath, he rang the 
door chime and waited.

On the fifth ring, Beverly opened the door.  She was 
clad only in a shirt and panties and seemed 
definitely the worse for wear. Brushing past her, 
Riker entered the cabin and tried to count the empty 
bottles of wine.  It seemed Madame Picard had been 
depleting the family stock.  Rather clumsily it would 
appear, from the number of stains on the walls and 
carpet.

"Will, how nice of you to stop by.  Care to indulge 
in some of the famous Picard '51 with me?"  She flung 
a glassful at the nearest wall.  "It makes marvelous 
paint."

"Beverly, stop that."  Riker took the bottle out of 
her hands. "Look at you.  You're a mess.  This place 
is a mess."  Riker gripped her shoulders and looked 
directly into her eyes.  "He's not worth it, Bev."

She immediately sobered.  "You found something?"

"I had Data run a check on the divorce papers.  
Beverly, Jean- Luc filed them a week before he left 
Earth with instructions that they not be delivered 
until he was long gone."  He heard the breath catch 
in her throat and saw her go pale.  "That's not all. 
Beverly, he and Deanna are engaged."

"What!"

"It's true."

"Will, I don't believe this.  Even if something 
changed between Jean-Luc and I, Deanna would never 
betray us like this."

Riker nodded struggling to fight back his sense of 
anger and betrayal for the sake of his friend.  "I 
know, Beverly, I know.  I don't pretend to understand 
it either."  

Suddenly he was unable to take any more.  Looking 
down, he realized he was still holding the bottle of 
wine.  Lifting it, he took a long drink.  Beverly 
reached over the side of the couch to where the last 
unopened bottles sat.  She selected a nice white, 
opened it with practiced ease, and took a drink 
herself.  Turning to Will she held up her bottle and 
they made a toast.  "To Jean-Luc and Deanna, our 
*best* friends."

And that was the last thing that either one of them 
remembered.

*****

"Ow."

It was a small sound, but amplified by his pounding 
head, it was enough to wake Will Riker up.  Opening 
his eyes, it took him several long seconds to realize 
that his eyes were, indeed, focused.  He didn't 
recognize anything because he wasn't in his quarters.

"Ow."

His head screamed in protest as he turned it towards 
that annoying noise.  He realized who was making that 
noise at the same time that he realized where he was.  
Beverly's quarters.  Beverly's couch, to be precise.  
And it wasn't exactly designed to be slept on.

Looking down, he saw her head in his lap, eyes 
closed, one hand pressed against her forehead.

"Ow."

"You said that."  He responded, but quietly.

"And I meant it every time.  Help me up, so I can 
find my medikit."

He finally succeeded in rolling her off his lap onto 
the floor.  She didn't find this particularly funny, 
but also didn't have any desire to try and stand with 
the ship doing loops like it was.  Instead she 
crawled across the cabin to her medikit, then sat on 
the floor and prepared a hypo.

Administering a dose to herself, she sighed in 
relief. Climbing to her feet she was glad to discover 
the ship had stopped doing loops.  A moment later, 
she was back on the couch, sitting beside Will and 
pressing the hypo to his neck.

"Better?" she asked.

He nodded.

She laughed. "Good, then let me suggest that the next 
time you come to offer comfort, you put the wine away 
instead of joining in."

"Oh, so now I'm your guardian, protecting you from 
yourself." He smiled back.

"And a lousy job you're doing, I might add." Beverly 
started gathering up wine bottles and stuffing them 
into the recycler as if she couldn't get rid of them 
fast enough.

Riker helped until all of the trash was gone.  Then 
he took her hand and led her to the couch again.  
Sitting beside her, he looked into her eyes.

"Beverly, may I take off the uniform for a moment?"

"Captain?"  She pretended to look startled.

"No, not captain, just Will."  He took her hand to 
give him courage.  "I had a dream last night.  It 
wasn't the first time I've had this dream."

Beverly suddenly understood.  "Oh, one of those."

"Now stop that, Beverly. (A man can not be held 
responsible for what his mind does while's he's 
asleep.)"

"Yes he can, Will.  Because he wouldn't have those 
dreams if some little part of him didn't want what 
he's dreaming of."

Will nodded.  "Perhaps that's true.  (You're a very 
attractive woman.)"

Beverly looked away.  "(And you're a very attractive 
man.)"

("Now that we know how each of us feels, perhaps we 
should not be afraid to explore those feelings.")

"Oh, Will. (I guess I always knew that there was an 
attraction between us right from the start, but I 
never knew how strongly you felt."

"Of course you didn't, Beverly.  You only had eyes 
for the great Jean-Luc Picard."  Riker gently stroked 
her face.  "Even when I was host for your beloved 
Odan, I knew you'd never leave Jean- Luc."

("How well you know me.")

("After all this time I ought to.")

Beverly stood, suddenly vividly aware of her memories 
of the night they spent together when he was Odan's 
host.  (The sensations were real, and extremely 
arousing.)  She turned back to him prepared to do 
something reckless, only to see that dreaded, ("And 
now we're friends.") look in his eyes. She felt like 
screaming in frustration.

Will surprised her by pulling her down onto his lap 
and kissing her.    

"Beverly, there's something I've wanted to tell you 
for a long time.  Something I would never say if I 
felt you and Jean-Luc had a chance of being together.  
Beverly, I..."

And then, as usual, the lights went off.

**********

("Damn it, damn it.  Captain, my dear captain.  You 
are royally messing this up."

With a flash, the lights went up and Q stood before 
them looking annoyed.

Riker pushed Beverly aside and leapt to his feet "Q!  
What are you doing here?"

"Why saving you, of course.  What is it with you 
Starfleet types and Red here?  You fall all over 
yourself pining for her, and then as soon as she's 
available you play the noble martyr."

"Now just a minute."  Beverly interrupted.  She was 
steaming mad.  

Q gave her a curious look.  "Really red, such 
thoughts.  (I'm beginning to realize that you always 
have some acerbic remark on the tip of your tongue.")

Beverly replied, ("Well at least I've trained myself 
not to say it anymore.  But in your case, I'll make 
an exception")

Q had turned away from her, back to Riker and was 
unprepared for Beverly's next words.

"You're responsible for this whole mess with Jean-
Luc, aren't you?  You put him up to it."  She 
muttered to herself.  "I should have known."  Tapping 
Q on the shoulder, she said, ("Right now I find you 
extremely, extremely.  Of course we haven't time for 
that sort of thing.")

Q was confused.  The woman was positively raving. 
("What sort of thing?")

("Oh, God, would I love to show you. You owe me 
something. You do realize that don't you?  I'm a 
woman...")  

Q was getting annoyed and cut her off.  He came here 
to talk to Riker, not Red.  ("Not, now, Doctor, 
please.)  And what does being a woman have to do with 
it?"

"Nothing, except that you keep waltzing into my life 
and messing it up.  I've had it."

And with that, Beverly attained near legendary status 
by executing what Riker later dubbed the Beverly 
Picard maneuver. With a graceful turn, she gripped 
the back of a chair and planted her foot firmly into 
Q's midsection.  The astonished cosmic pain- in-the-
ass landed none too gracefully on his backside and 
stayed there.

Beverly's foot came up again, and Riker had to pull 
her away. 

"All right, all right.  Calm down, Beverly."

"Just one more, Will.  He deserves it."

"I know he does, but that's enough.  No more 
violence.  It doesn't suit you, Beverly."

She looked down at the being sprawled on her floor.  

"No, you're right Will.  And he's not worth it."  She 
watched Q struggle to his feet.  She saw his hand 
come up and was prepared for his retaliation, when 
another flash of light lit the room.

Amanda Rogers appeared, and she was laughing.  Now Q 
was really mad.  

"Stop that."

Amanda laughed harder, struggling to get herself 
under control.  At last she managed to say. 

"I think you owe the lady an apology, Q."

Beverly waved her hand, "Forget it.  It wouldn't mean 
anything, anyway."

Amanda nodded, "You're right.  But I've got something 
that might make amends."  And she waved her hands.  
And the lights went out.  Again.

*****

Jean-Luc Picard stood in the center of a large empty 
room.  It looked very much like a holodeck without 
the gridwork.  Beside him was a rather flustered 
Deanna Troi.  They'd been here, in this place for 
what seemed like days.

It had started when Picard had arrived at her 
quarters in the middle of the night.  His agitation 
had been so great that his thoughts had woken her 
long before he pressed the door chime.  He entered 
her quarters dressed only in a short robe and shorts. 

"What can I do for you captain?"

Picard looked at her, eyes filled with anguish, 
unable to express his thoughts.  Deanna tried to 
lighted the mood.

("Personally, I think you just enjoy waking everybody 
up in the middle of the night.")

Picard had to laugh.  ("Actually I really like 
running around the ship in my barefeet.")  Then he 
sobered, "Deanna, I've tried going over everything I 
can think of.  I just don't know what to do about the 
Klingons.  This madness has to stop.  (No more 
killing.")

She touched his arm, wanting to offer comfort, and 
found her self pulled into his tight embrace.  Just 
as quickly he let her go.

("Jean-Luc, I heard you.  Don't push it away.")

"Counselor.  Deanna, I think, I need someone to..."

She frowned at him.  "Is that what you want, Jean-
Luc, to get closer?"

"No, no.  Maybe.  I don't know."

Deanna urged him gently, ("Out with it, Jean-Luc.")

He took a deep breath and spoke.  "It's been weeks 
since I've heard from Beverly.  And then, three days 
ago I get that damned divorce notice."  He clenched 
his fists at his sides.  "Why?"

Deanna knew the man standing before her was 
vulnerable.  But she also knew that she had to be 
honest with him.  He'd been so wrapped up in the 
Klingon matters lately that he'd neglected his wife.  
After so many years of denying their feelings for 
each other, Deanna was sure this denial was the last 
straw for Beverly. Picard had to be told.

("Jean-Luc, there are some things I want to tell 
you.")

And then, of course, the lights went out.

And they woke up here.  They'd scoured the dull gray 
room for any possible exit and found nothing.  
Finally admitting defeat they sat down in the center 
of the room.

("Well, it seems as if we're stuck with each other.")  
Picard said.

They remained that way, half dozing, until a flash of 
light roused them.

"Q!"

"Oh spare me the joy at our reunion, Picard.  I'm fed 
up with you and your little 
trained minions today.  Here's the deal."  And with a 
wave of his hand, Picard 
found himself at a table with Riker, Q and Data.  
Data had a deck of cards in his hands and his poker 
visor on.

("So, five card stud, nothing wild and the sky's the 
limit.") The android announced, dealing the cards.

Picard and Riker started to talk at the same time and 
Q silenced them.  "Before you both start babbling, 
here's the situation.  One round, winner takes Red.  
Oh, and gentlemen, anyone who refuses to play is an 
automatic forfeit.  Trust me, you don't want me to 
win her.  I like her better as a dog."

And for the next few minutes the scene took on a very 
surreal feeling as Picard and Riker tried to argue 
with Q while concentrating on their game.  They knew 
better than to completely ignore his warning.

Picard put in his bet and Q frowned, ("Jean-Luc, if I 
didn't know better I would thing you were playing 
games with me.")

"Of course I'm playing games with you, Q!  You 
insisted."

Q smirked.  "Oh, well, so I did."

"Stop talking and bet."  Riker growled.

Q laughed and took his turn.  At last, Q called 
Picard's bet, laying his hand down before the two 
officers with a smirk.  "I wonder how Red would look 
as a pit bull."

"Not so fast, Q."  And Picard displayed his hand.  
They both had identical hands.  The Riker showed his 
hand.  It was same too.

Q sputtered, "How?"

And they all heard laughter.

Amanda appeared behind Data, fanning herself with a 
deck of cards.  "I provided the means, but your Mr. 
Data here dealt the hands."

Picard smiled. ("Mr. Data, you're a clever man in any 
time period.")

Data tilted his head, "Thank you, Captain, but..." 

*****

And then they were all in Beverly Picard's quarters.  
Will, and Jean-Luc, Deanna and Beverly, Q and Amanda.  

"Oh don't worry about Data."  Amanda said, noting 
Jean-Luc's look.  "I sent him back to his quarters.  
He's going to think that this was a mildly 
interesting dream."

"Thank you Amanda."  Picard said, then he turned to 
Q.  Before he could say anything, Q spoke.

"I have to leave now.  I realize you will miss me 
terribly, mon capitaines but..."  He smiled, ("I 
wouldn't worry about it. Something tells me that 
you're going to have to put up with me for a long 
time to come.")

Jean-Luc, who had caught sight of Beverly and hadn't 
heard a word that Q had said, muttered, ("Well, it 
won't be easy but I'll manage.") without even 
realizing what he was saying.

Q was not happy at being so completely ignored.  
("Don't get me wrong, Jean-Luc, but I'm glad we're 
not joined at the hip any longer.")  Then he flung 
his arms around Riker and gave him a big kiss.  "Now 
Riker's my best friend.  Aren't you mon capitiane?"

Riker was still sputtering when Q left.  

Deanna noted the tension between Beverly and Jean-
Luc, and tried to get Will out of the room.  She was 
nearly to the door when she realized, ("Where the 
hell was I headed?)  I'm on the wrong ship."

Amanda smiled.  "Not anymore.  While the boys were 
playing poker, I took care of the Klingons.  It's 
probably only temporary, but the treaty I negotiated 
should last for a while.  Then I brought your ship 
back here.  It's right next to the Enterprise now, 
transferring personnel and supplies.  Oh, and no one 
knows you and the captain were absent."

She laughed.  "Now I'd better go see what Q is up to.  
Beverly gave him a good solid kick a while ago, and 
he's probably off nursing his bruised ego and 
planning his next visit.  Bye."

And the final flash of light lit Beverly's quarters 
and then was gone.

Jean-Luc and Beverly had been listening to Amanda, 
but were now facing each other again.  Deanna and 
Will decided a hasty retreat was in order, and nearly 
fell over each other on the way out the door. Alone 
at last Jean-Luc finally spoke.

("Beverly.")

("Yes, Jean-Luc?")  It came out rather bitter.

Then he remembered he was angry with her.  ("You will 
address me as captain.")

That was a mistake, now Beverly's natural temper 
started to flare.  ("Captain?  Well then, my dear 
Captain, you will address me as Chief Medical 
Officer, or Doctor.")

"Oh I will, will I?  Then you will have the good 
grace to explain to me what the hell you think you're 
doing."

"Exactly what you want me to do, Captain."

("Not good enough, damn it!  Not good enough!)"  He 
took her by the shoulders and stared into those blue 
eyes.  "Why do you want to divorce me, Beverly?  I 
thought we were happy."

"We were.  Until I find out you filed for divorce a 
full week before you left on this Klingon mission.  A 
full week of making passionate love to me while 
planning to get rid of me."  She tore herself from 
his grasp and walked away.

Jean-Luc caught up to her and turned her around.  
"What are you talking about.  I never filed for..."

And it hit them both at the same time.

"Q!"

And their anger, white hot in it's fury, quickly 
turned to passion as they held each other.   They had 
been manipulated, used once again by that cosmic 
pest.  But this time they didn't waste any energy 
thinking about him.  They were too glad to be 
together, their relief at still being in love too 
consuming to allow any distractions.

They didn't even hear his parting comment, "Oh 
really, mon capitaine.  How disgusting."
*************

:::end:::