In summary, this fic is just purely an excuse for a lot of fluff involving tribbles. Enjoy the cuteness! 3

I do not own Star Trek. All rights belong to their respected owners.

'Awwww, so cute!' Kayleigh Cyra squealed. The tiny kitten that she cradled in her arms looked at her with big wide eyes and gave a small squeaky meow.

Kayleigh couldn't help but smile widely as she tickled its soft tummy. The kitten purred with contentment. All around her were a huge variety of small and cute-looking animals, safely enclosed in small pens.

The Enterprise had stopped off at a small forest moon for shore leave and many crew members decided to look around the local area. Amongst the area was a small but interesting section that was a little bit like a petting zoo. Kayleigh decided to check it out as she was curious and loved cute animals, just like other people.

There were so many different species to look at; Kayleigh didn't know which ones to look at first. In the end, she decided to look at a kitten as she loved kittens and they reminded her a little of home. God only knew how far away it was.

The kitten stood up in her arms and pointed its little nose in her face, curiously smelling and nuzzling her affectionately. Kayleigh giggled as its whiskers tickled against her cheek. She turned her head to look at the other pens to decide which animal to look at next. It was very hard as Kayleigh was fond of the kitten and its cuteness was impossible to resist. She could feel the wetness of its nose prodding gently against her neck.

As Kayleigh scanned the pens, she suddenly saw him. A huge grin broke across her face; she waved her arm to get his attention (being careful not to drop the kitten) and delightfully called out, 'Khan!' Khan turned, responding to her call, a look of relief on his face as he jogged towards Kayleigh.

She had been part of the Enterprise for almost a month and fitted in quite nicely with the crew, but no one other than Khan had such a strong relationship with her. Over the course of a month, they both met frequently, strengthening the bond between them. Khan would often go to meet Kayleigh in the science room while she was busy at work, always curious about what she was up to.

Kayleigh told him in great detail and enthusiasm about her work and Khan always looked interested and fascinated. He would help by sharing his scientific knowledge to solve any difficult problems she had. Kayleigh particularly enjoyed it when he helped with a practical experiment which always went down well as they both made such a good team. He would join her for an hour or two before he left which she always felt sad about.

Afterwards, Bones and Carol came back as they always made excuses to leave whenever Khan came around to give them both some privacy. Bones and Carol always gave her funny looks when Khan left, but Kayleigh turned her back to them to hide her blushes.

The visits also helped by getting them to know each other better. Kayleigh told Khan about her life, her family and about her ambitions in the field of Biology.

Khan didn't talk much about his past until quite recently when he felt that he trusted her enough. He told Kayleigh everything, his genetic engineering, his time in the war that he was modified for, how he was locked in a cryotube for 300 years with the rest of his crew, how Admiral Marcus woke him up to use him as part of his plan and his experiences with the Enterprise when they had been ordered to hunt him down.

Khan told Kayleigh that his crew (still locked in their cryotubes) had been moved to a top secret location and that the Enterprise had committed themselves to a secret mission to find a recover his crew.

Khan was just telling her how much he missed them as they are his family when he broke down completely. He was sobbing softly, tears dripping from his eyes and rolling down his cheeks. Kayleigh also felt tears welling up as she was very moved by his tragic story and felt incredibly sorry for him. She gave him a comforting hug and told him that he will get his crew back as the Enterprise crew were the best in Starfleet and they were led by a fantastic captain. Khan thanked Kayleigh for showing so much care and compassion and hugged her back. They remained in that passionate embrace for a long time.

Khan joined her by the kitten pen, 'There you are! I've been searching for you for about ten minutes!' 'It's great to see you Khan.' Kayleigh greeted, petting the kitten, 'This little area is just so cute and fluffy!' 'It certainly is.' Khan replied, bending down to get a closer look at the kitten.

The kitten leaned forward to get a closer look, taking a curious sniff. 'Hello little kitty.' said Khan in a very soft and gentle voice. Using a slender finger, he tickled the kitten under its chin. The kitten purred loudly and it closed its eyes to show its enjoyment.

'Such a small and delicate thing…' Khan muttered to himself. 'What did you want to see me for?' Kayleigh asked. Khan straightened up, still petting the kitten. 'I think I might have found something that you will love a lot.'

She immediately became interested. 'What is it?' she asked eagerly. 'I'm not telling.' Khan teased with a tiny smirk. 'Awww, please tell me!' Kayleigh pleaded, trying to make her eyes look like the kittens. 'No. It will spoil the surprise.' said Khan playfully. She sighed, 'Ok. You win.'

Kayleigh held the kitten and looked directly into its eyes. 'I'm sorry little kitty, I have to go now.' she said gently. The kitten meowed in protest. 'Aww, I know, I don't want to leave you too but I think you'll be fine with you brothers and sisters.' Kayleigh assured the kitten as she carefully placed it back in its pen.

She turned back to Khan. 'So, what have you got in store for me Mr Singh?' Kayleigh asked playfully. Khan held out his hand, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes which were an icy blue today. 'Take my hand.' She immediately did so. 'Close your eyes.' She snapped them shut. 'And let me guide you.'

Kayleigh could feel him walking off and kept close to him. She wondered what Khan wanted to show her. Kayleigh was excited to see his 'surprise' but she also felt a little nervous. If there was one thing that she knew about Khan was that he can be very unpredictable. Kayleigh literally had no idea what he was going to show her.

After a few minutes of walking, Khan stopped and let go of her hand. 'Khan?' Kayleigh then felt his gentle hands on her shoulders and realised that he was behind her. She felt him lean close to her ear. 'Ok. You can open your eyes up now.' he whispered in his rich voice. Kayleigh slowly opened her eyes. The sight that greeted her eyes made Kayleigh scream with excitement and stamp her feet repeatedly.

There was a very big pen, large enough for several people to fit into. The pen was filled with small creatures that looked like balls of fur with little chirping sounds coming from them. The pen was full of… 'Tribbles!' Kayleigh exclaimed in delight. 'I told you that you'll love It.' said Khan, sounding pleased that she had reacted so well to his gift. 'Awww, they're sooo cute!' Kayleigh squealed.

She couldn't help it. Of all the alien species known by mankind so far, Kayleigh found none cuter than a tribble. Khan moved towards the pen, climbing over the fence easily, being careful not to step on any tribbles. 'Come over and pet them.' Khan invited. 'I could never refuse that offer!' Kayleigh assured as she tried to climb over the fence.

She struggled a bit but Khan helped her up. As he pulled Kayleigh over, she could just feel a bit of his amazing strength and it seemed to him that pulling her over didn't take that much effort at all.

Kayleigh walked to the centre of the pen and looked at the different tribbles. There were tiny babies to small adults and different coloured ones, brown, white, black, just to name a few colours.

There was one tribble that caught her eye. Its fur was auburn and it was bigger than the babies but smaller than the adults. Kayleigh thought that it could be a teenage tribble.

She moved slowly and carefully towards the tribble. The tribble cooed with curiosity at the strange creature examining it. Kayleigh slowly moved your hand and gently patted it to show that she didn't mean to hurt it. It let out a long loud purr of satisfaction.

Kayleigh carefully picked the tribble up and placed it in her arms, still purring away happily. 'So sweet aren't they?' said Khan, purring just like the tribbles. Kayleigh saw that he also had a tribble in his muscular arms. It was blond, just like her hair.

Khan moved to a shady spot under a tree and sat cross-legged under it, cradling his tribble. Kayleigh sat down next to him, putting her tribble in her lap. She slowly ran her fingers along its soft, warm fur as she enjoyed listening to its purrs of pleasure.

All around her, tribbles were making cooing noises of curiosity about the huge limbed furless intruders in their presence. Kayleigh looked at Khan petting his tribble.

She instantly became a little bit jealous of it. Khan was using his slender fingers to gently caress the tribble, brushing its fur in delicate strokes, his thumbs rubbing its fur in small circles. It intrigued Kayleigh how gentle Khan could be. Here was a person who could use only his bare hands to crush a skull as easily as a peanut to a nutcracker and those same hands were handling this small and innocent creature in the most incredibly gentle way that she could imagine.

Oh, how Kayleigh wished that Khan handled her in that way. She imagined those gentle fingers brushing against her cheeks, those thumbs rubbing her lips… His fingers running through her hair in those delicate strokes… That tribble had no idea how lucky it was…

Kayleigh thought that it was getting a bit quiet so she decided to break the silence, 'You know, Uhura and Carol once told me this funny story a little while ago about tribbles taking over the Enterprise.' Khan smiled and gave a slight chuckle, 'I have heard about that. It's such a golden moment that everyone remembers it.'

Kayleigh had a faraway look in her eyes as you remembered the story, 'They told me that there were so many tribbles, that there wasn't a bit of the Enterprise that didn't have tribbles. There was this one part where Kirk opened a cargo hold door and a load of tribbles rained down on him. By the time it stopped, Kirk was chest high in a huge pile of tribbles. At that point, I felt a bit jealous of him as he was in the cutest, fluffiest ball pit in the entire galaxy.' She laughed as she imagined Kirk in a huge tribble pile. 'At first it seemed that the tribbles were huge pests but they saved the day as they helped to foil a Klingon plot.' Kayleigh smiled down at her tribble, 'Good for you, isn't it?' she asked it. The tribble purred in reply.

The others seemed to have got used to the intruders as they had moved closer. Kayleigh felt a tribble brushing up against her leg. About ten more tribbles were clustered around her. Kayleigh felt a great surge of happiness inside of her as she petted and stroked the other tribbles, the air filled with their purring.

Kayleigh knew that tribbles were an effective way to calm humans and that it lowered blood pressure and reduced the risk of heart attacks. She let the tribbles climb up on her legs and into her lap, joining the tribble that she had first picked up.

Words couldn't even describe the loving feeling towards these extra-terrestrial creatures that Kayleigh was having.

She picked up her teenage tribble in her hands and nuzzled it gently with her nose. So close to her ear, the purrs sounded louder and deeper. Kayleigh loved the sound of purring. It was so beautiful and relaxing. She loved it when it came from both cats and tribbles but the purr that she loved most of all came from Khan.

It made Kayleigh melt with pleasure every time she heard that wonderful sound like pure velvet. She turned around to see how the other tribbles were reacting to him. What Kayleigh saw was the cutest, fluffiest and adorable sight ever.

Khan had more tribbles around him, about fifteen more. Not only were they on his lap, but also in his arms and one was perched on his shoulder.

The tribbles were rubbing themselves against his body, purring as happily as ever. Khan had a tribble in both hands which he was using to pet vigorously but gently, ruffling the tribble's fur. He raised the tribble to his face and slowly brushed it against his cheekbone. That tribble purred a little louder.

In that scene, Khan was the cutest, even more than the tribbles. He slowly closed his eyes with pleasure, a beautiful smile spread across his lips and he whispered things like, 'Aww, so cute you little furball…' Just for one moment, Kayleigh wished that she was a tribble so she could join those around Khan. That he picked her up and brushed her against his face so that not only would he handle Kayleigh in the way that she longed for him to but to also give him so much pleasure to return her strong love for him.

As Kayleigh was caught up in the moment, she remembered a little song and sang it under her breath, closing her eyes as she did so. 'What was that?' Kayleigh heard Khan asking. She opened her eyes. 'Oh, just a little song that my Mum used to sing to me as a kid.' she explained, 'The tribbles reminded me of it.' Khan leaned towards her. 'Sing it to me. I would like to hear it.'

Kayleigh was more than happy to do so. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and began to sing:

'Soft tribble, warm tribble,

Little ball of fur.

Happy tribble, sleepy tribble,

Purr, purr, purr.'

Kayleigh opened her eyes as she finished singing. Khan remained silent, his eyes closed. 'That was beautiful. You have a wonderful singing voice.' he whispered softly. Kayleigh blushed slightly. 'Thank you.' she said quietly with shyness.

'I love that song already. It feels so calming and warm, just the same thing that these wonderful creatures give us.' observed Khan, petting the tribbles around him. 'It's really good as Mum always sang it to me whenever I was sick, scared or just sad. Always made me feel better every time.'

Khan held up a baby tribble close to his mouth and he seemed to say something to it. He was so quiet that Kayleigh couldn't hear him at all but by looking at his lips movements, she suspected that he was singing 'Soft Tribble' to it. She thought that it looked so adorable.

Kayleigh stood up, carefully removing the tribbles from her lap and cradling the teenage tribble in her arms. 'Aww, out of all of them I like you the best.' She told it, patting it affectionately, 'I'll miss you when we leave.' she said sadly to it.

'You don't have to.' came Khan's voice from near Kayleigh's ear. She faced him. 'Why?' Khan leaned so close that their noses were almost touching. He spoke in a soft voice, 'Because I had a word with the people who run this place and asked them to do something special for you.' She listened eagerly. 'What special thing?'

The corners of Khan's lips curved into a smile and a twinkle appeared in his eyes. 'That as you love them so much, I asked them for you to have one and they said yes.' A huge wave of happiness flooded over Kayleigh's body. She was so happy and grateful that Khan had done this amazing thing for her. It was so thoughtful and caring of him.

'Oh! Thank you so much!' she cried as she hugged him with one arm as the other was still holding her tribble. 'It was nothing.' said Khan modestly as he wrapped his arms around Kayleigh.

After giving him her thankful hug, Kayleigh held her tribble in her hands. 'Hear that! You're staying with me!' she delightfully told it and it purred to show its happiness.

Kayleigh planted a kiss on the tribble to show how much she loved it. The tribble snuggled in her hands. She grinned at Khan. 'This is the best thing you have ever done for me.' His eyes flashed. 'The best thing that I have ever done for you so far…' he purred seductively. 'Awwww, you tease…' Kayleigh countered back as they made their way to the fence.

The tribbles watched the creatures leave, taking one of their friends with them but they weren't worried. They knew perfectly well that it was in good, safe hands…

Making their way back through customs wasn't such a big problem as Kayleigh first thought. They were at first stopped by a redshirt as they entered on of the doors so he could have a closer look at the tribble.

At first, he was a bit reluctant to have a tribble on board as he was afraid that the tribble incident could be repeated again. Kayleigh tried to assure him by saying that she wasn't going to feed it too much as that was the cause of their fast breeding, but the redshirt still wasn't convinced.

At this point, Khan stepped forward and confronted the redshirt and told him that in Kayleigh's care, the tribble wouldn't be any trouble. He said this in a low, threatening growl and gave the redshirt a powerful, piercing look with his eyes. She nicknamed that his 'Death Glare' because of looks could kill, the redshirt would have been completely obliterated in less than a nanosecond.

It certainly had an effect on the poor redshirt as he was shaking from head to toe and had gone very pale. He stammered that Kayleigh could bring the tribble on board. Khan thanked him in a soft, gentle voice to stop the redshirt from becoming terrified of him.

As they walked along the corridors, Khan looked concerned. 'You don't think I was too harsh on him?' he asked uncertainly. Kayleigh gave him a sideways look. 'Well… I think you could have turned your Death Glare down a bit.' 'Death Glare?' Khan laughed. 'Just a nickname for it.' she added quickly.

Kayleigh decided to change the subject, 'Well I can't thank you enough for what you did for me today Khan Noonien Singh, you amazing human.' she gushed. 'Oh Kayleigh, it was my absolute pleasure.' he purred back.

He looked at the purring tribble in her arms. 'Thought of any names?' he asked, 'I hope it's not 'Tribble' because if you ask me, that's very uncreative.'

Kayleigh giggled. 'Don't worry,' she assured, ''Tribble' never came across my mind. I have a name but I'm not sure about it as I'm worried that it might sound too ancient.' she said uncertainly.

'Interesting.' said Khan thoughtfully, 'What have you thought up of?' 'Well… How about…' Rosencrantz?''

Khan paused in thought. 'Where did you get that from?' 'I'm not sure. I think it's from this really old play, something about two people being dead…' Kayleigh sighed in disbelief, 'I knew I should have gone for something more modern…'

Khan held her arm to stop her. 'Don't change it.' assured Khan in a gentle, uplifting voice, ''Rosencrantz' is such a creative a beautiful name.' Kayleigh sighed in relief, 'Oh, that's good.'

She smiled at Khan and then to the newly-named Rosencrantz. 'Well Rosencrantz, I'm your new owner Kayleigh, this is my friend Khan and this is the Enterprise, your new home.'

Rosencrantz looked around the long, bright corridor. This wasn't what he was expecting but he was sure he will get used to it. He really loved the female creature that was handling him. She was kind and gentle.

Rosencrantz also liked the male creature, her mate. He treated her so well and thoughtfully and he liked people who treated his owner kindly. Rosencrantz snuggled himself comfortably in his owner's arms.

He could hear the creatures communicating in their strange language but Rosencrantz didn't care. He purred contently as he started his new life in the huge metal box with his wonderful owner and her caring mate.

As some of you may have guessed, the 'soft tribble' song is a rewriting of 'soft kitty.' I just did it because the lyrics match the description of a tribble.

Also, I like to believe that Khan has a very soft spot for tribbles. Surely not even hard-core genetically engineered superhumans can resist their extreme cuteness! That and it's a very sweet image to imagine, Khan deserves a bit of love after all the angst he's been through. ;)