Bravo. Destiny left for the little boy you will be in the future to find.
[Jean-Luc enters the observatory to find Q, sitting in a chair; he joins Q]
You considered destroying it, didn't you? Well, let me ask: if that key is not there for the boy to find, does he grow up with his mother? Does the shame instantly lift? But you accepted your fate. You accepted you. You chose the Jean-Luc you are. You absolved yourself. And because you choose him, perhaps now he will be worthy enough for someone else to choose. And maybe this time, he will even give him the chance to be loved. I told you this was about forgiveness, Jean-Luc. Yours.
Why?
Well, isn't that the eternal question? Know thyself.
There's been so much loss. So much death.
But you fixed all that.
Elnor! Tallinn!
Well, maybe not all of it. But Tallinn always dies in every timeline. This is the only one in which she meets Renée.
I ask you once again: why?
Finish the sentence.
...me? From the very beginning, for over thirty years, why me?
I am moving on. In your parlance, I am dying.
Yes, I know.
Alone. I am dying alone. I do not want that for you. Humans, your griefs, your pains fix you to moments in the past long gone. You're like butterflies with your wings pinned. My old friend, forever the boy who, with an errant turn of a skeleton key, broke the universe and his own heart. No more. You are now unshackled from the past. As I leave, I leave you free.
But... why does all this matter? Is something going to happen, for which I will be required?
Must it always have galactic import? Universal stakes? Celestial upheaval? Isn't one life enough? You ask me why it matters. It matters to me. [Q gets out of his chair and approaches Jean-Luc] You matter to me. Even Gods have favorites, Jean-Luc, and you've always been one of mine.
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