Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek Voyager, or the characters, but I do own the story.

Author's note: this takes place sometime in the third season when there's that unexplained chunk of time that goes by. You know when Kes's hair is suddenly a foot? Janeway gets pregnant in "The Q and the Grey," and then has her baby sometime within the time when Kes's hair is growing. I also added some things to the episode "The Q and the Grey."

The Child of Two Worlds

When Q came to, he immediately sat up, but then fell right back down again after feeling a terrible pain in his arm. Memories of being shot came flooding back. He wondered where Kathy was; she had saved him, and she didn't know how to get out of the Continuum. Therefore, she had to be close by. He slowly opened his eyes.

He was in one of his troops' encampments. There was wounded everywhere, some without limbs and others looking as though they had already died. Died. Qs, Dead. Terminated. The terror of it struck him like lightening, it was a terror he had never before felt, because he was immortal, and never before had there been a war in the continuum. Death… something he hardly ever pondered, until this war. The fear of dying was a fear so empty, that Q had always been grateful he never had to face it. Now he sat, wounded, mortally probably, he thought, for the first time.

"I am lying on death's doorstep!" He thought dramatically, staring to panic. "This wound will be the end of me, I will perish! I must do something… something to end this war, so no one else has to die like I'm undoubtedly about to do!" Of course Q wasn't about to die, but he had never been injured before, and he was delusional because of his irrational panic.

He looked to his right. There lying next to him was Kathryn Janeway, sleeping beside the campfire she had probably made. For some reason, Q became a lot calmer at the sight of her. He thought she looked extremely worn out. Her hair was falling down, her heavy gown was ripped, and there was dirt on her face. He smiled to himself, because this wasn't the stern, angry Captain he knew, but just a woman with messed up hair.

"I shouldn't have thrown her into this," he thought. "This isn't her war… but how else will I ever end this without her?" He moved--painfully-- toward her, and studied her intently. "She'll never agree to mate with me, but I need to do it so no more will die in this war. I must do something." He thought, resolutely, suddenly feeling very heroic. "I must save my people!" He looked down at Kathryn, suddenly getting an idea. "Maybe she won't agree to mate with me her way, but she never said I couldn't try another way! She won't have to take any part in it! Well, it's worth a shot." He thought for quite a while, trying to compare her physiology with his own, although they were so different, he finally gave up and tried the first thing that came to his mind. "Like I said, it's worth a shot." He whispered to himself.

He gently picked up her hand and placed it in his. He focused all his energy and touched his right forefinger to hers. For a moment nothing happened, but then, a surge of light traveled from his finger to hers. She still hadn't stirred from her sleep, even though the energy probably felt like being engulfed in intense heat. That was how tired she was.

Q sat for almost a minute, waiting. He waited… and waited… and waited, until after about a half-hour he was fed up. He studied her for one minute more, until he was completely sure she wasn't about to do anything. She was still sound asleep.

"Why didn't it work?" he thought, frustrated. "Isn't it supposed to happen immediately?" He felt very disappointed that his attempt hadn't worked, and presumed that he'd have to try to talk her into doing it the way she was used to. "Well," he thought. "At least I tried." Now exhausted, Q dragged himself back over to where he was sleeping before and dozed off almost immediately.