Pilot (Part 1)

A grunt is heard as a man sits up next to his sleeping wife in bed and looks out the window at a still dark sky. This....is Q. Q is a strange case, no one knows where he comes from, or even what his actual name is. We just know that this, is Q and apparently he's an early bird (as well as a family man.)

Q gets out of bed and stretches, only to reveal that he's wearing a long beige trench coat, with a white shirt, and a red tie. That's another weird thing about Q. Q never really changes his outfits, always sleeping in his trench coat rather than a blanket. (As weird as it is to us...it's normal to him.) The lady next to him who's still sleeping is his wife, Gileani. Q rises out of bed and picks up his Fedora hat, placing it atop his head. He approaches his sleeping wife and strokes her cheek softly in a loving manner.

"I'm going to work, dear." Q says, only to receive a soft 'mm-hm' in response. Q chuckles quietly. (I know as a reader, you're not going to see his physical appearance....but Q doesn't really SHOW any expression on his face. Why? He's wearing a mask...an Iron, expressionless mask. So any emotion Q shows, he shows through his vocal tone as well as actions.)

"I'll see you in a few hours." He says softly before he leaves the bedroom and walks down the hall into another room. On the bunk bed to the right of the doorway, lies one slumbering boy on the top bunk, and a wide awake little girl staring at the ceiling on the bottom bunk. These two are the children of Q and Gileani. Cameron (The boy) and Penisula/penny (The girl, who at first glance looked very alien.)

Penny gasps excitedly and jumps out of her bed to hug Q's leg. Q waits for her to release him before kneeling in front of her and patting her head. "I'm going to work sweetheart, don't you and your brother cause your mother too much trouble...Okay?"

"Okay daddy...." Penny says, before pouting.

"What's wrong, dear?" Q says concerned.

"I just wish I could come with you..." says little Penny. "I miss you when you're not home..."

"I know honey...but you're much too young to go where I'm going, y'know?...."

"Yeah...I love you daddy, have a good day at work..."

"I love you too darling, thank you....bye, go back to sleep, okay?" Q says as he hugs Penny close. Penny holds on for a little longer before letting go.

"I had to give you an EXTRA long hug, for Cameron!" Penny whispers happily.

Q chuckles and exits the kids bedroom. Q then quietly makes his way to the front door before leaving the house.

Q walks into the driveway, and gets into his car. He sighs quietly, whilst eyeing a picture of his family. He looks to see his neighbor, Bryan outside cleaning his cars' mirrors.

"Hey, earlybird!" Bryan says to Q.

"Same could be said to you...." Q says as he pulls out of his driveway "Hey can you do mine next?" He says jokingly. The two men laugh before Q drives away.

Soon, the sun rises completely, and a slumbering Gileani awakes to see her husband, Q gone. She sighs and gets out of bed, walking into the kitchen and pulling food out of the fridge.

Whilst Gileani is cooking, Penny is poking her brother's nose trying to wake him up. Cameron tries to smack Penny's hand away to no avail, he then sits up and grunts.

"Penny....why are you up???" Cameron says whilst yawning. "It's not even time to get up yet..."

"Well, I can't go back to sleep, and I didn't want to be awake all by myself....."

"Ugh....okay, okay...I'm up."

"YAY!!!" Penny whispers happily before pulling out two of her dolls. "Wanna play with me?"

"Uhhm..." Cameron says hesitantly, not wanting to play with dolls but not wanting to hurt Penny's feelings. "I-I guess..."

"YAY!!"

"Where's dad? Work?"

"Yeah....I got to give him a hug before he left! You didn't!" Penny says before laughing mockingly.

"Awww man! No fair, you should've woke me up!"

"Nope! Now, you be Miss Mackley, and I'll be Miss Carmine!"

Cameron and Penny played quietly upstairs, while Gileani was making pancakes in the kitchen. She hummed a tune as she flipped the pancakes, making sure to top them with blueberries, because that's how the kids like them. Gileani looks at her wedding ring and smiles wider.

Meanwhile, Q is at the warehouse in which the C.I.A operates from. He walks inside to be approached by his good friend Kenneth. Kenneth was a short, chubby man, in his early 50s, with the center of his head being bald with brown hair circling the sides. He also had a bushy mustache, and a toothy friendly smile to complete the look.

"Q, my man! What's up." Kenneth says as the two men shake hands. "You workin' hard or hardly workin'?"

"Very funny, Kenneth..." Q says quietly. "People really can't drive at 5 a.m can they? I was just in traffic and some bozo sat at a GREEN light, so I shouted. "Hey, what shade of green are you waiting on?" Q says, making Kenneth bust out in laughter.

"That's crazy man! Anyway, sorry about the early shift, but we need your intelligence right now!"

"It's fine, Kenneth really. Anything to keep the world safe and provide for my family."

"It's all about the wife and kids, eh?"

"Of course....it always is."

"I wish I had what you had, man!...it seems every time I find a woman for myself though, she's always insane."

"You'll find the one, Kenneth. Trust me...besides even if you don't, you're still a great friend...and sometimes that's plenty."

"Look at you, Q. You know just what to say...I knew I did the right thing helping you out all those years ago..."

"Hehe...thanks...Now, what do you need me to do?"

"We need you to hack into some systems for us....if you can, of course."

"I'll see what I can do..."

"Good! I'll show you what we've done so far...." Kenneth says as he and Q walk farther into the building.

Apart from that, Gileani finished cooking breakfast and called Cameron and Penny down to the dining room. The three sit at the table, say a prayer together, and start digging in. Cameron plays with his food, imitating a war of some sort, whilst Penny happily hums whilst reading the novel Sherlock Holmes. Gileani looks at the book with curiosity.

"Hey darling, where did you get that?" Gileani asks.

"From dad's study, he said I could read it after he finished it, It's a good story..." Penny responds. "I still prefer Milkweed though....or Shakespeare."

Gileani chuckles. "I've read a part of Sherlock...but I've never actually read Milkweed though."

Penny scoffs. "You're missing out mom!"

"I don't get how you can read such big books in such a short time...." Cameron asks, whilst shoving a pancake in his mouth.

"You could say she learned from her father....he does the exact same thing." Gileani says as she pats Penny's head.

Penny didn't relate to Q much, but she was a bookworm just like he was. Cameron and Gileani still don't understand how they could finish long novels like Shakespeare's works, in a week or less. Q only liked the classics as he finds them more entertaining, and one could say his views on the classics rubbed off on Penny as well.

The three finish their food and Cameron and Penny place their dishes in the sink and go into their room to change their clothing into....well not PJs that's for sure. Gileani changes her clothes and begins to clean the kitchen, whilst humming a tune.

Later, at the HQ of the C.I.A, Q was working hard trying to hack the systems of some unknown base. Hacking is much harder than it looks, and Q found himself getting frustrated with the security of this unknown base. His friend, Kenneth walks inside whilst carrying a cup of coffee.

"You need one?" Kenneth asks, holding out a cup. "It's espresso..."

"No, I'm good. I don't need any of that....just these systems are better protected than I first thought...." Q responds.

"I ain't complaining, these things take time...and patience."

"At least you understand, Kenneth..."

"Of course I do, I've been in your shoes in my younger years...that tech-y stuff is complicated..."

Q sighs quietly before becoming alert. He stares longingly at the screen and points, grabbing Kenneth's attention.

"I...I got something....I think I managed to breakthrough...." Q says, in a slightly more jovial tone.

"I knew you could do it! That's why I asked you...always rely on the best, I say! You're just as good a hacker as you are as a family man!" Kenneth responds happily, getting a slight chuckle from Q.

"What do I do from here, Kenneth?"

"I think we should start digging into these computers....see what evidence we can find on her-." Kenneth says before a ringing phone interrupts him.

"Oh...sorry, that's mine." Q says as he stands up from the chair. "Mind if I answer this?"

"Not at all...." Kenneth says. "I'll get someone to handle things from here..."

"Thanks..."

Q enters the hallway and answers the phone, it's Gileani.

"What's up hon?" Q asks softly.

"Cameron was sort of upset that he wasn't able to say goodbye before you left, so he asked me to call you so you could speak to him." Gileani says. "That's only if you're not too busy..."

"Not at all...put him on the phone."

Gileani calls out for Cameron, who takes the phone and answers happily.

"Dad?" Cameron says.

"Hey son....wanted a word with your old man?" Q answers.

"Yeah...you could've woken me up and said goodbye to me, Dad!"

"hehe...sorry champ, It's just that I know how you are when you're grumpy..."

"Well...that's a fair point...but still....did Penny at least get a hug for me?"

"Of course she did..."

"Okay.... I guess that works then...I'll give the phone back to mom now....bye Dad!"

"Bye...I love you champ...."

"I love you too!"

Cameron happily hands the phone back to his mother, Gileani. Gileani sighs and rolls her eyes at the hilarity of her child.

"Kids, amirite?" Gileani says.

"Yeah, no kidding....still...they're the light of my day..." Q responds.

"Mine too, babe...Mine too."

"Alright, I gotta go...bye, I love you.."

"Love you too..." Gileani says before hanging up the phone.

Q sighs and puts his phone back into his pocket before re-entering the room, where Kenneth was still digging into the files of the mysterious system.

"Any luck?" Q asks quietly.

"No...not yet....but I'm gonna always stay positive and think of the better outcome!" Kenneth responded happily.

"Hey, Kenneth...you have children, right?"

"Yep, five of them. I wouldn't trade them for anything either..."

"Do you ever find it difficult to leave them when you have to work? I do all the time....it's even harder when they tell me how much they miss me..."

"Well.....how old are your kids?"

"One's seven...the other's five..."

"That's why....they're young...and they're not used to the system of life yet...It takes time, y'know?"

"I....guess I understand. It's still difficult though...."

"Didn't say it wasn't, friend...shoot, I STILL have a hard time leaving my kids...and they're teenagers!"

Q and Kenneth both chuckles at that remark as they continue working, both being oblivious to the small flame sparking in the vent behind them.

Later that day, in the afternoon, Gileani was at the house helping the kids learn about adjectives.

"Okay kids, give me ONE example of an adjective in a sentence...." Gileani instructs.

"Dad is very TALL." Cameron says confidently.

"Very good! Also a true fact, wonderful!"

"Uhm...That cat I saw in a tree outside an hour ago was quite FAT...." Penny says giggling.

"Yes...good job Penny! Wow you kids are smart, I might have to up the ante! Challenge you a tad....give me a sentence with an adjective, a verb, and a noun!"

"Oh, I have one...Uhm...The pretty turtle is writing a book!" Penny says.

"Good one Penny! and you Cameron?" Gileani says.

"Rachel climbed the rocky mountains." Cameron shouts with full confidence.

"Goodness, you guys are intelligent....your father would be proud of you two..." Gileani says.

"You really think so?" Penny asks happily.

"Of cour-" Gileani says before being interrupted by her phone's ringtone. "Speak of the devil, it's your dad." She says before answering the phone. "Hello? Everything okay, Q?....You're coming home early?....What for?....Oh-...Oh dear...Are you alright?" She said in a panicked tone.

Cameron and Penny look at their mother with worry in their eyes as she stares at the floor below her.

(Part 2 coming out soon!)