John and Marlena (Finally) Get a Q!

Chapter 31 - All in a Night's Work

John awoke with a start as the shadow passed across him. He opened his eyes to find Q standing in front of him, his expression seemingly somewhere between disapproval and annoyance. He pulled himself upright in the chair and rubbed his face, trying to rid himself of the vestiges of sleep which clung to his mind.

Q crossed his arms in front of him. Part of him pitied John and what he was going through. He had lost so much, and he was very obviously suffering for his sins. The other part of him recognized a certain satisfaction that he took in John's pain. The man deserved to hurt for what he had done to Marlena, and he deserved to hurt bad. Still, he had to put his feelings aside and focus on what was happening here and now. And Q2's warning rung in his ears like a consistently grim reminder of impending doom. *Don't* forget Q. Screwing with the Continuum isn't a particularly good idea.

"I heard a nasty rumor that you were down here," he said quietly. "Supposing you fill me in."

John was sullen, like a schoolboy caught red-handed, but refusing to hand over the note to the teacher. Since when had Eugene Bradford become his self-appointed keeper?

"Suppose I tell you it's none of your business," he scowled at Q.

"Suppose you develop a little insight in that unused brain of yours and realize that I am only trying to help you," Q shot back with sarcasm. "Although *why* I should bother..."

"That's right. Why bother?" John clenched his fist, vying for his self-control. "Because I think I've had just about *enough* of your kind of help."

"Well, *there's* gratitude for you!" Q rolled his eyes slightly.

"In fact, how do I know you didn't plan it this way all along?" John demanded angrily. "How do I know that this wasn't some sort of plot for you to get Marlena all to yourself."

Q laughed at the irony.

"Nice thought Black, but do you really think I would have left her alone at the penthouse in front of an open fire to come down here and sort out *your* problems if that was the case? And I certainly wouldn't have locked you in the same room for eighteen hours if that was my intention." John didn't answer but looked at him suspiciously. Q frowned. How the hell could he help John if the man wasn't willing to help himself? He was tempted to go back to the penthouse and Marlena and let John wallow in his own misery, but he knew that there were more important things at stake here than whether John was through sulking or not. "How about John, instead of blaming everyone else for your problems, you pull yourself together and do something about them."

"Since when have you been the moral majority?" John snapped uncharacteristically. Bradford had rubbed him up the wrong way ever since he had come back to town and things were getting worse rather than better.

"Perhaps since I had to watch Marlena cry herself to sleep last night over *you*." Q retorted angrily. He'd had enough of this pathetic, self-pitying version of John Black and it was time to do something about it.

"How... how is she?" John asked the question quietly, the shame written clearly on his face. "I tried to call her earlier but there was no answer." It was a pitiful excuse to justify his lack of contact he knew, but he was too raw now to cope with seeing the pain in Marlena's eyes again, so soon.

"She hasn't picked up the phone all day." Q's tone was flat as he watched John's eyes, the silent plea unequivocal. He wasn't sure that he could hand John what he so desperately wanted.

He sighed and looked away towards the window and the night sky that lay inkily behind it.

"You want to know how Marlena is? She's devastated. She just lost her whole world. It fell apart," he turned back to John and exaggerated his words, "because of *you*. How do you expect that she is?"