Pilot (Part 2)

Cameron and Penny look at their mother with worry in their eyes as she stares at the floor below her, whilst still on the phone.

"You are NOT okay, Q! ....You're right, I need to calm down...I'm sorry, I'm just worried...Okay...see you in a few minutes..."

"What's up?" Cameron asks concerned.

"Your father is coming home early....apparently there was an explosion at their base (specifically in the area your father was working in), No one knows what caused it, just that it was large enough to get 1/3 of their tech to shut down...and your father got hurt helping Kenneth out of the wreckage..."

"Oh no!" Penny says worried. "Is he alright?"

"Oh, he's going to be okay, he just needs to rest and get his arm patched up....he's going to be alright..." Gileani reassures Penny.

"Promise Mommy?"

"I promise Penny...Now let's get this house straightened up, and I'm going to prepare the bedroom so your father can rest once he gets home."

"Okay mom!" Cameron and Penny shout in Unison.

Gileani, Cameron, and Penny spend a good amount of time making sure their home was straightened up and Gileani prepared the bed for Q's arrival. Soon enough, they hear a knock at the door.

"That must be him..." Gileani says as she hurriedly rushes to the door and swings it open. She opens the door to see Kenneth assisting an Injured Q into the house. He sits Q in a nearby chair and approaches Gileani.

"Sorry for the call at such short notice, I told him he needed to come home and not work on such an injury! Though he insisted he stayed and continued working, and he didn't want to go to the hospital. So I offered to drive him here, and he said no....but I still drove him here anyway....He'll still get his pay, so don't worry yourself." Kenneth says.

"Oh thank you for bringing him home, I know Q can be stubborn as a bull, especially when it comes to his job..." Gileani responds.

"I'm RIGHT here, you know..." Q says as he holds his injured arm. The sleeve to his trench coat was completely burned off, leaving the sleeve to his shirt ruined and his arm covered in blood.

"I know..." Gileani responds. "Thanks again, Kenneth...Is Q going to be out of work for some time?"

"Knowing Q...I'd say give him a week or two..." Kenneth says, much to Q's dismay.

"A WEEK?" Q said loudly. "Oh for pete's sake!!!"

"You'll still get paid Q, consider this a.....uhm....staycation!" Kenneth said as he put Q's car keys onto Q's lap. "See you in a week Q, take care!" Kenneth said as he opened the front door. "We're going to try to find the psycho who caused the explosion, we'll let you know if we do find anything, okay Q? Take care!" He said before leaving out the door.

Q sighs as the door shuts, and Gileani locks it.

"It's okay hon....it's better to work when you're at 100%. Besides you'll still get your pay...." Gileani says, patting Q's not injured shoulder.

"But it'll be an unearned pay babe..." Q says standing to his feet.

"I disagree, Kenneth would've been hurt a lot worse if you didn't save him....maybe worse than just being injured. He's lucky YOU were there to get him out in one piece. I think you've earned this pay, now stop your fussing and come with me to the room. You need to rest after this event...come on..." Gileani says before grabbing Q's hat and hanging on the coat rack.

Q reluctantly follows his wife to the bedroom and sits on the side of the bed. Gileani leaves the room to grab the first aid kit from the kitchen.

Cameron and Penny poke their heads around the doorway. Q sees them and sighs deeply.

"Hey kids...." Q says quietly.

"Daddy....are you okay?" Penny says as she slowly approaches Q.

"Yes, I'm fine sweetie..."

"You don't look like it..." Cameron says worriedly.

"I promise I am....just need to lay off this arm for a bit." Q says as,, still holding his injured arm. Gileani quickly rushes inside the bedroom, holding the first aid kit. She pulls out bandages, cotton swabs, and alcohol. "Okay Q, try and ignore the burning..." she says as she pours alcohol onto the cotton swab and dabs it onto Q's wounds. Q remains silent and doesn't move whilst Gileani bandages him. Cameron and Penny look in awe.

"Wow.....dad didn't even flinch..." Cameron whispers.

"Yeah...because he's superdad...." Penny whispers back.

Gileani removes Q's trench coat and observes it. "I can repair this" Gileani says confidently. "However, it'd take time...In the meantime...you'd have to wear a different colored trench coat...okay?"

"Yeah....I don't mind waiting. Thanks hon." Q says before looking at Cameron and Penny. "So...what have my little bundles of energy been up to today? You guys were good for your mother?" Q says softly, lightening the mood.

"They were splendid, Q. Tell your father about how good you guys did with your grammar!" Gileani says happily.

"I was able to make a sentence using a noun a verb, and and an adjective!" Penny says proudly.

"Me too!" Cameron said after Penny.

"That's good...that's good....I'm proud of you two." Q says happily. "Such smart you guys are..."

"Maybe YOU could give us lessons daddy!" Penny says as she hugs Q's leg.

"Yeah, that would be nice, after all...he's going to be here for the rest of the week, so..." Gileani says as she gives Q a 'say yes' look. Q sighs quietly, reading his wife's face.

"Wait....you're going to be here ALL WEEK?" Cameron says with a shocked expression. "You should totally give us lessons, you'd probably teach us something cool...like uhm...how to hunt down bad guys."

Q chuckles a bit at those words, and looks back to Gileani, whose still giving him the 'say yes' look.

"Well I suppose I could, since I won't be doing much else this week...." Q says quietly. "For now though, I'd like to catch up on the novel I was reading...now, where did I sit it- Oh here it is!" Q said as he grabbed his book off of the bed.

"I sat your book there for you so you could rest easy when you got home darling." Gileani says as Q opens the book. "I know how you are with a good story."

"Thanks honey..." Q says as he lays back onto the bed. "I really do appreciate it..."

"No problem Q, now rest your weary body...and me and the kids will be downstairs. Okay?.." Gileani says as she ushers the children out of the room. "Rest easy, you got me?"

"Okay..." Q says hesitantly, "....if you need ANYTHING, just call me downstairs, okay?"

" 'Kay, rest well now." Gileani says as she walks up to the door, before stopping suddenly. "Oh, I almost forgot!" She says as she rushes to Q's side and kisses his cheek. "Forgot to give you that 'welcome back home' kiss!" She says chuckling.

Q chuckles quietly as Gileani leaves the room and closes the door behind her. "Gosh...what am I going to do with her?..." Q asks himself as he continues to read.

Later that evening, Q is now sleeping peacefully in the bedroom. Cameron and Penny are playing with a puzzle whilst Gileani showers in the bathroom.

"I'm so glad Dad's gonna be here all week with us!" Penny says as she struggles to find the right spot for a puzzle piece. "We're going to do so many fun things, like play catch or soccer or something like that...."

"Yeah, I'm excited too..." says young Cameron.

"I bet dad and mom could complete this puzzle with their eyes closed!" Penny said as she finally finds the correct spot for the puzzle piece.

"Yeah...hey....I have an idea..." Cameron says deviously.

"What?"

"We...PRANK...dad..."

"What do you mean?"

"Mom's busy in the shower....Dad is sound asleep....We can use whipped cream....and a feather to the nose...and make Dad slap himself! GENIUS PLAN! Is it not, Penny?"

"That sounds like a bad Idea, Cameron..."

"Oh shut up....follow me to the kitchen..." Cameron says as he quickly goes to the kitchen to grab the whipped cream, he then makes his way into their bedroom and pulls a feather out of his pillow whilst giggling quietly. Penny followed behind her brother with a look of skepticism. The two slowly made their way into their parents room where Q was still sleeping soundly, his hand was open next to his face. Cameron grinned widely as he tiptoed over to his sleeping father, and shook the whip cream. Penny was trembling, afraid of what would happen if Cameron succeeded.

Cameron pointed the whipped cream to Q's hand, and had the feather to his face. It seemed as if Cameron was going to succeed, until Q jolted awake and looked dead in Cameron's face.

Cameron panicked and fell on his rear whilst Penny ran out of the room entirely. Q got out of the bed and stood to his feet, laughing all the while.

"You really are bad at talking about your ideas in private, Cameron...." Q said as he helped his son to his feet. "Did you really think I DIDN'T hear you from downstairs?"

"Darn! It would've been a good prank too!" Cameron said as he huffed in frustration.

"Oh well...." Q says as he turns his head towards the bathroom, noticing the noise of the shower ceased. "That's your mother, she must be out of the shower." Q says as he walks into the hallway. "I'm going to go see if she needs anything....you go play with your sister, okay?"

"Okay..." Cameron says before hugging Q. Cameron runs into the bedroom where Penny was waiting, laughing her rear end off.

"You got caught!" Penny said mockingly.

"Shut up..." Cameron said, embarrassed.

"You're just mad because your prank stunk....anyway wanna play with me and teddy?"

"No..."

"PLEASE? It's boring with just me..."

"Nope."

"PLEEEEEASE?"

"Augh fine!"

"YAY!" Penny shouts as she pulls up a chair to her small table.

Now, at this time, Gileani was downstairs in the kitchen cooking dinner. Q was helping as much as Gilenai allowed. Gileani didn't want Q using his arm so much, so she mostly declined his assistance. When Q wasn't helping, he was reading his book. Gileani was carrying heavy pots and pans and seemed to have trouble sitting them down.

"Are you SURE you don't need my help?" Q said as he tried to grab the pans.

"No, no....you need to give that arm a break...!" Gileani responds. Q sighs as he watches his wife struggle. Gileani walks over to the cabinet to put the pans away, she loses her balance and nearly drops them, until Q catches the pans with his good arm.

"T-thanks..." Gileani said. "That was a good save."

"I didn't use my injured arm, like you asked me not to." Q says back. "See, I can still help you..."

"Yeah...I see that. Thanks hon..." Gileani says as she puts the rest of the pots and pans away and begins to make dinner. Q sits on the couch in the living room and continues reading his book, he stops when he sees Cameron and Penny rush down the stairs and fling open the front door.

"Where are you two going?" Q asks in a calm, but stern manner.

"We found a frog in our room, so we're releasing him!" Penny says quickly as she and Cameron proceed to run outside, only to be stopped by Q once more.

"It's chilly out there, go put on a sweater or something, you might catch a cold!" Q says as he turns and grabs 2 jackets from the hallway closet. "Here, take these jackets..."

"Oh brother..." Gileani says as she watches whilst cooking. " You really ARE a father, aren't you Q?"

"What? I don't want them getting sick...." Q says calmly as he sits back down on the couch and opens his book. "That would make things harder for my Little lady here."

"Aww, you..." Gileani says, blushing slightly as the kids make their way back inside. Penny looking sadder than when she first ran downstairs.

"What's wrong?" Q asks.

"Well, we released the frog....then a cat got it..." Cameron said, slightly disappointed.

"That's just the circle of life..." Q says flatly. "The frog's in heaven now, Penny. Nothing to worry about." After Q said those words, Penny was happy and chipper again.

"Okay gang...dinner's ready! It's your favorite...spaghetti!" Gileani says, to the joy of Cameron and Penny. "You two go wash up, and I'll prepare the table...off you go!"

Q stands up and grabs plates out of the cabinet. "Let me at least help you with this..." He said as he placed the plates around the table. Gileani didn't say anything as Q assisted her in setting the table, she made three plates and sat them at the table. Gileani takes a seat first, then Q sits in a chair across from Gileani, book in the good hand and his injured arm in his lap. Soon, Cameron and Penny join their parents at the table. Q leads the family in a quick prayer before they start eating. Cameron looked at Penny in disgust as she was making a mess all over herself, whilst he eats neatly. Gileani chuckled at the children's antics, whilst Q was quiet and immersed in the book he was reading.

"Mommy, Daddy! Cameron played dollies with me today! We had so much fun!" Penny said happily.

"Really? That doesn't sound very 'Cameron' of your brother." Gileani says as she elbows Cameron.

"Look to you, a little gentleman. Playing with your little sister...you two are really getting along..." Q says, still looking at his book.

"Don't speak too much on it Dad....it was a horrible, humiliating, utterly gut-wrenching experience..." Cameron said as he continued eating. "But, Penny let me play ninjas, so it wasn't ALL too bad."

"That's the spirit, always show some form of optimism!" Gileani says, patting her son's shoulder.

"That wasn't all we did today either Mommy and Daddy, we talked about how excited we were that daddy was staying with us this week!" Penny said as she smiled widely at Q.

"Yeah, now you both can do lessons with us and stuff!" Cameron says to Gileani. "and MAYBE teach us how to fight bad guys?..." He said as he looked at Q with large, cheerful eyes.

"I'll think about the 'teaching you how to fight bad guys' part...." Q says quietly, followed by a chuckle. "You still got some years to age before you can learn that properly..."

"Aww man!" Cameron says angrily.

"I can assist in giving you MATH lessons." Q says jokingly.

"No! Not math!"

"Y'know this reminds me of something..." Gileani says with a smile.

"What does?" Q asks.

"Cameron complaining about math....Reminds me of the time we went to that restaurant together, when Cameron was just 4 years old...He was misbehaving and you threatened to give him math homework if he didn't behave. He called your bluff and threw a piece of corn at you, so you pulled out banking paperwork and told him it was math....poor Cameron was in tears." Gileani said as she, Q, and Penny began to laugh. Cameron blushed slightly.

"The sad part is, I explained to Cameron that it wasn't math homework and just a joke, and he was still grumpy at me for about an hour!" Q said as he reached over to pat his head.

"It's not MY fault...you tricked me!" Cameron says as he finishes his food.

"Haha, take that Penny..." Cameron says smiling widely. "I'm the first to finish with dinner!"

"No fair! I was laughing!" Penny said as she rushed o finish eating.

"Okay dear, You know what to do...put the plate in the sink and go get ready for bed." Gileani says as Cameron leaves the table. Penny finishes her food soon after and exits the table as well. Leaving Gileani and Q at the table alone. Q looked at his wife noticing her look of discomfort.

"Everything okay?" Q said concerned.

"Oh...every thing's fine, Q. It's just....I was so worried about you earlier, really. I know I might sound pushy and you're not hurting that badly bu-" Gileani says before she's interrupted by Q.

"Gileani, it's okay...you're just doing what you're supposed to do as a wife, and as a mother...don't worry about it." Q says as he grabs his wife's hand and squeezes it tightly.

"Thanks honey, okay...head upstairs to the bedroom, I need to clean the kitchen."

"Do you need help?"

"No...It's okay...just make sure the bed is set up for me to join you when I finish, okay?"

"Okay.." Q says before getting up from the table.

Later that night (yes it's night now.) the house is quiet, the lights are out, and Cameron and Penny are fast asleep in their room. Q and Gileani are in their own bedroom as well, but they haven't fallen asleep yet. Gileani was snuggled next to Q, as Q was still reading his book. He would look at the page for about a minute or two, and then flip to the next.

"How do you read so fast?" Gileani asks as she yawns. "We've been married for 15 years, and I still have questions about the things you do..."

"How I can read so quickly is a secret I'm taking to my grave..." Q says as he wraps his bandaged arm around Gileani. Gileani caresses his arm lovingly, before turning to her side.

"I'm going to sleep Q, could you turn off the lights when you're finished reading?" Gileani asks.

"No need..." Q says as he turns the light off, leaving his yellow eyes glowing in the dark. "I'll just use my eyes...."

Gileani chuckles before yawning and closing her eyes. "Remind me to finish fixing your coat in the morning okay? Goodnight, babe..."

"Mm-hm...Good night hon."