Title: Gift of a Future 1/?
Author: Gileswench
Contact: gileswench@yahoo.com
Date: 5/22/02
Spoilers: Through The Gift on BtVS, general spoilers for the series Star Trek: The Next Generation
Summary: Can love and the crew of the Enterprise D help Buffy defeat Glory and create Starfleet?
Rating: R for sexual situations, violence, robotic love, Qness
Pairing: Buffy/Giles, Picard/Crusher, Riker/Troi, W/T, X/Anya, and a couple surprises of the non-slashy variety
Category: Crossover
Distribution: If you've had my permission in the past, you have it now. All others, ask and ye shall receive.
Feedback: Constructive criticism always welcome. Praise abjectly sought.
Disclaimer: It all belongs to Joss, Mutant Enemy, etc., etc., etc. I just let them have all the fun Joss won't. I own nothing except my twisted mind which you really don't want. Please don't sue.
Notes: This one comes to you courtesy of Melissa's challenge which reads as follows:At some point in the future, no rush (oh, and my b-day's in may, you could even have that much time. ;) you could do a Next Gen/Buffy crossover:
Must have Q in it, and often, tormenting both Giles and Picard
Data meets the Buffybot
Anya recognizes Riker from a vengeance wish she granted (time has no meaning when you're a vengeance demon)
Giles and Picard bond over the Bard
Buffy spars with Worf and wins
Wesley (Next Gen, not Angel, Wesley) screws everything up big-time and must be rescued himself for once, preferrably by a Scoobie member
Worf introduces Spike to the joys of blood wine
If you wanted to be really nice... you could let me have the guy. :) Riker, that is.
And need I even add: B/G?
Notes 2: The story begins immediately after the events of Intervention. Small bits of dialogue have been lifted from virtually every episode from that point to The Gift.
Dedication: To Melissa, happy birthday and thanks for waiting so patiently.

A portal ripped through the fabric of reality. Strange beings caught in its energy were flung into a space they had no business inhabiting. A tall man watched the chaos with a frown.

"Now that shouldn't be at all," he fussed.

He popped through the portal with a snap of his fingers and found himself on an unsteady platform at the top of a tall tower. He watched curiously as two girls spoke. One seemed about to jump when the other stopped her. He craned closer to hear what the blond girl had to say.

"Dawn, listen to me. Listen. I love you. I will *always* love you. But this is the work that I have to do. Tell Giles...tell Giles I figured it out. And, and I'm okay. And give my love to my friends. You have to take care of them now. You have to take care of each other. You have to be strong. Dawn, the hardest thing in this world...is to live in it. Be brave. Live. For me."

She turned and ran to the end of the platform. Without a moment's hesitation, she threw herself off into the crackling energy. By the time her broken body hit the earth with a sickening thud, the portal was gone. So was the girl.

The observer moved to the ground with another snap of his fingers. He watched as the girl's friends inched closer to her remains, disbelief and grief warring for supremecy on their faces. Grief won quickly with most. One man fell to his knees and wept like a child at the sight.

The one who caught Q's attention, however, was the tall man with the glasses. He didn't show his misery as openly as the rest, and yet, Q got the distinct impression that he was the one most affected by this girl's death. He wondered who this man was. The mystery was solved when the redheaded girl moved to his side and lightly touched his arm.

"Giles," she asked, "are you okay?"

Giles took a deep breath. He clenched his jaw slightly and blinked his eyes fiercely before he answered.

"We...we should go. It's almost sunrise. Has anyone seen to Dawn?"

"Yeah, Xander's got her," her face crumpled. "Giles what are we gonna do?"

"What we must," he replied.

With that, he knelt before the dead girl and closed her eyes. He lifted her as if she weighed nothing, and yet as though he bore the burden of the universe in his arms. A grim procession followed in his wake. Several were badly injured, and all looked as though their world had been destroyed.

Looking around, Q discovered several other interesting things, including a headless robot and a dead man wearing what looked like a woman's formal evening wear, complete with high heeled shoes.

"I wouldn't be caught dead wearing that," he quipped to the corpse. "Then again, you will...unless...you know something? Those two remind me of someone."

He snapped his fingers and was gone.

*****

Beverly Crusher set her wineglass down with a small sigh.

"It's late, Jean-Luc. I really should go."

"Are you sure you won't have just one more glass?"

"I'm on duty first thing in the morning."

She rose, and he did the same. At the door she turned to him again.

"I had a lovely time this evening."

"So did I. Breakfast tomorrow?"

"0700 hours. Yes sir."

She smiled a bit flirtatiously and kissed his cheek softly. She pulled back a little flustered at her own boldness. He also seemed slightly discomfitted by the gesture.

"Tomorrow morning, then," he said.

"Tomorrow."

He opened the door for her and watched her as she retreated down the corridor to her own quarters.

Picard turned and jumped when he found Q standing inches away from him.

"What the hell are you doing here, Q?" he fumed.

"Is that any way to greet an old friend? I'm here to do you a favor, you know."

"Favor? What sort of favor could you possibly do me? And why would I take it?"

"I already did you one. I didn't show up while you were flirting with the delectible doctor, did I?"

"We weren't...flirting. We were having a discussion. And a glass of wine."

"Call it what you want, Jean-Luc, it's still flirting. And honestly, you two have been at it so long it's a wonder little Wesley is still an only child."

"Q," Picard growled warningly.

Q raised his hands in front of his face in mock alarm.

"Now, now. Temper, Jean-Luc. I'm here to save you."

*****

Half an hour later, the bridge crew had assembled in the Ready Room.

"I don't get it," Riker said. "Some girl dies hundreds of years ago and stops the Federation from ever happening? Pardon me if I don't trust Q on this."

"And yet he has no reason to lie about it," Troi interjected.

"Oh he's got a reason, alright," Geordie said. "It's the same reason he always has: it'll make trouble."

"Records of the period indicate nothing resembling the events Q has described," Data informed them all. "If it did, indeed, happen, there is no way of predicting what the consequences would be. It might have a severe negative effect on history as we know it."

"Okay, say it's real; say that history is being changed because of some freak incident that wasn't supposed to happen. How would we even know where to start to fix it?" Riker asked. "This story of Q's sounds like something that took a long time to make happen in the first place. How do we stop it? And when?"

Picard looked up from his steepled fingers and spoke for the first time since he'd finished his tale of Q's visit.

"Oh, I think Q will probably take care of that. We won't be given a choice in the matter. We will go back in time and we will be interjected, if you will, into the life of this girl, this Buffy Summers. What we need to decide here and now is what we're going to do when we get there."

"Did Q say anything to indicate what he wanted of us?" Dr. Crusher asked.

"Not as such. He did seem to talk a great deal about...well, love. People in love who won't see or admit it even to themselves."

The captain seemed embarrassed at being forced to mention the subject. Riker and Troi looked pointedly away from one another.

"I do not understand," Data said. "What has love got to do with it?"

"That, Mr. Data, remains a mystery at present," Picard told him. "I want you all to be prepared to be removed from our time and placed in another without -"

*****

"...warning."

Picard looked around himself. He was no longer in the Ready Room of the Enterprise. He now appeared to be in a graveyard on Earth. A glance at the headstones in his vicinity indicated that he was in the early days of the twenty-first century. He was also alone.

"Q," he growled.

"At your service, Jean-Luc," the entity responded cheerfully. "Hmmm...not really the best look for you, tweed, is it? Maybe you can find something more flattering down at the local mall."

"Where am I?"

"Sunnydale, California in the year two thousand and one on the human calendar. It's late spring and you might be just in time to avert a disaster."

"What do you want me to do?"

Q tossed a pointed stick of wood at Picard.

"Aim for the heart."

A creature with yellow eyes and a deeply ridged forehead charged Picard. He dodged it and rolled to one side. It lunged again. This time it caught him and grabbed him by the throat. The captain recalled Q's words and plunged the stick into the creature's heart.

In an instant, he found himself on the ground half choked with dust. When he'd gotten himself under control, he opened his eyes to see a pair of high heeled shoes. As his eyes scanned upwards, he saw a short young woman with blond hair, and her arms crossed over her chest.

"Nice moves for a Masterpiece Theater junkie. Now you can go back to the land of tweed and tell Travers I'm not playing his games anymore. Like I told him the last time, if he has something to say, he can call. We do have telephones here in the New World."

Despite her strange words and obvious anger at the sight of him, the girl helped him to his feet.

"I don't know who Travers is. I don't work for him. What was that...that thing that attacked me?"

"Okay, I don't know who you are or where you're from, but I do know that tweed means Watcher, as does English person. Got one already. Not really in the market for another."

"I'm not English. I'm French. Jean-Luc Picard."

He extended his hand. The girl looked at him oddly and took his hand. Her grip made him wince.

"Buffy Summers. American. And you don't sound very French."

"Sorry to disappoint you."

He coughed some more vampdust. The girl turned and began to walk away. After a moment she turned back to him.

"Come on. We're going this way."

"Where are you taking me?"

"To see Giles. Can you walk by yourself or do I need to help you?"

Her words, kindly enough in sense, were made slightly threatening by her tone. Picard decided that he would avoid any 'help' Buffy might offer him in her current mood.

"Please, lead on."

NEXT