When Jim Kirk woke up for the second time, he was alone in the medic room. All was quiet, save for the soft humming and beeping of the medical equipment that surrounded him. The lights had been dimmed considerably and although he had no idea what time it was, he ventured to guess it was nighttime... or maybe really early in the morning.

He sighed and slowly brought his arms up to stretch them out. Damn, that felt amazing. He then proceeded to stretch out every muscle in his entire body, hearing his bones cracking and popping in the process. For some strange reason a picture of a stretching cat popped into his head and he had to mentally agree with the cat that yes, stretching was pure ecstasy.

After loosening up his muscles, which made him feel a lot better, Kirk decided to just lay there and let his mind wonder a bit.

He wondered about how his friends were doing and if they had all survived… well, at least he knew Spock and Bones were still alive, thank god. Hopefully, Sulu, Uhura, Scotty, and the rest of the gang were still breathing and kicking, as well. He didn't know what he would do if he lost any of them. They were the closest thing he had ever had to a family.

He wondered about how his ship was doing. If it was going to be a long while before she was repaired and back to her normal self. Would he ever get to fly her again, after all that had taken place? God, he really hoped so. He couldn't see himself going back to normal civilian life after everything he had experienced. If having to give up Starfleet and be a normal person was what was in store for his life, he honestly would have rather remained dead.

Wait, shit… that's right! He had died. Holy shit, he had actually died! The magnitude of that realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

He had always been the type who enjoyed flirting with the edge… ever since he could remember. The rush, the adrenaline, the not knowing whether he was going to make it or not. It was intoxicating to him, better than any drug he could think of. But up until now, he had always managed to avoid falling off. He couldn't say that anymore, though. No, he had definitely taken the plunge head first into darkness. Trouble was he was having difficulty recalling what it was like to be dead. And he didn't know why.

What he could remember was being in a town, a town that had been lit up with yellow lights. And he could remember talking to people… maybe over a pint of beer. Had he been at a bar? Was heaven a bar? How awesome would that be!? Wait, no, that didn't make sense.

He could vaguely bring to mind having a conversation with a man who hadn't been much older than himself, and who he thought might have resemble himself a bit. There was always the possibility that the man could've been his father, but he had no way of knowing for sure. It seemed like the more he struggled to remember anything, the quicker the memories seemed to fade away. Almost as if his whole death experience had been a dream.

Kirk rubbed his eyes, yawned, and stretched his arms again. He entertained the thought of going back to sleep, but his mind was now charged up and running on full power, so he doubted sleep would come easy to him. He sat up in the bed and took a good look around. Was he still on the ship? Did the ship have private medic rooms? Yeah, he would probably need to start paying more attention to details from now on.

He threw off his covers and then turned his body so that he could hang his legs off the side of the bed. Humming a random tune that he'd just made up on the spot, he swung his legs back and forth and sat there thinking.

It only took a few minutes of sitting there in the quiet stillness of that room for him to realize just how tired he was of simply sitting there and thinking. What else could he do, though?

"Ugh, I'm so bored!" he complained to the machine with all the blinking numbers and lights against the wall.

He wanted answers, but there was nobody around to give him any. Hell, he didn't even really need answers as much as he just wanted someone to talk to. Boredom was almost a fate worse than death for Kirk. Maybe if he got up and started moving around, Bones would detect a disturbance and come find him. Or maybe he could go for a walk and find someone to talk to along the way? That was a good idea. He was sure his legs could use some exercise after two weeks of being in that damned bed.

Okay, he had definitely made up his mind. So he scooted up to the edge of the mattress and placed his feet on the ground. Oh dear god, that was cold. Pushing himself off of the bed, he promptly took one step and fell over.

"Owww," he groaned from the floor.

Maybe walking wasn't such a good idea after all. Shit, his medic gown had come open and his ass was being attacked by a terrible draft.

"Son of a bitch," he muttered, as he tried to lift himself back up.

After a few minutes of embarrassing awkwardness, Kirk was finally able to maintain his balance and stand up straight. He quickly re-tied his gown in the back, so that the freezing cold air was no longer invading his cheeks. Damn, he was glad no one had been around to see that.

Carefully, he took a step forward, holding onto to a countertop for support. Then, he took another step, and another, feeling stronger and stronger with each leg movement. Finally, he felt sturdy enough to let go of the counter and venture forth on his own. Sheesh, he felt like a toddler learning how to walk, this was ridiculous.

"Remind me never to die again," he told himself.

He opened the door and peered out into the ship's massive Medic Bay. Yep, he was still on the ship. And all was relatively quiet out there, also. Was anyone onboard awake right now? Ah well, he figured he would find out soon enough. Bones would probably be pissed, but hey, a guy needs his freedom every once in a while. Can't just coop a man up and not expect him to try and escape.

xxx

Khan was lying down on a small bed, his feet hanging off the edge. They weren't very keen on coddling their prisoners here, apparently. A food tray with some sort of white mushy concoction lay untouched over in the floor across from him. It was quite convenient that he didn't need to eat to survive.

For two weeks he had been holed up in the brig, waiting… thinking… plotting… and pondering. At his request, they had given him a deck of cards and some old Earth history books. These novelties had kept him fairly occupied while he had been waiting, and he also had known that it would make the security guards feel more at ease seeing him busy with something, instead of him just sitting there staring off into space.

The whole time he had been there, his behavior had remained perfectly cooperative and acceptable, which he knew was extremely frustrating to Kirk's people. A definite bonus, that. Of course, it had helped that he was a patient man and that he didn't seem to be affected by the restlessness that most humans usually succumbed to after being confined in a cell for so long.

And since he had been behaving so well, he had noticed that the security had begun to slack off a bit, and that less and less of the crew were coming by to check on him each day. If he wanted to, he could just escape right now and no one would be the wiser.

The night watchman had gone out to get some coffee… or so he had said… but Khan had no problem deducing what getting coffee had actually meant. He had seen that young nurse visiting the guard on several occasions. Ugh, humans were so predictable.

Yes, it was true that he could leave whenever he wanted, but luckily for them, he wasn't wanting to just yet. A certain strong curiosity had gripped his being with an immeasurable force, and he knew there was only one way for it to be quelled.

Suddenly, he heard a hatch open up nearby. Well, that hadn't taken long. Poor girl... he almost felt sorry for her.

Khan sat up to confirm his suspicions about the security guard, and instead he found himself staring directly into the royal blue eyes of the Captain of the Enterprise himself.

"Kirk, how lovely to see you again," Khan said without hesitation, bringing his mouth up into a wry grin. What a delightful turn of events this was.

Kirk was temporarily thrown off as he walked into the brig and came face to face with his sworn enemy. And him in his hospital gown, no less. Yeah, this was just great.

"Okay, you are the last person I expected to see tonight," Kirk said, trying to maintain his composure, which was proving to be a slightly difficult task, seeing as how the only thing he had on was a dress fashioned from the thinnest fabric known to man. Plus, there was no way that Khan had missed the shocked expression on his face when they had locked eyes.

Khan stood up and walked over to the large transparent window that was separating them, eyes never leaving Kirk's. He had also been stunned to see the Captain walking into the room, but he was much better at hiding his surprise than Kirk was.

"What are you doing out of bed at this hour, Captain?" Khan said, almost teasingly.

Damn. Maybe if Kirk had a voice like that, he wouldn't feel as intimidated right now. Wait, what the hell? He wasn't going to let this poncy bastard intimidate him. He was James Tiberius Kirk, Captain of the goddamn Enterprise, for god sakes!

"Well, what are you doing out of your popsicle tube?" Kirk retaliated.

Okay, maybe he was on some kind of strong medication he wasn't aware of. It probably wasn't the best idea for him to continue talking right now.

Khan almost had to laugh at this. Obviously Kirk was not in his proper form at the moment.

"You are welcome," Khan stated.

Kirk's eyebrows rose in confusion, "What are you talking about? I didn't thank you for anything."

"You don't have to. I know you are grateful," Khan said, a knowing look on his face. Oh, this was too much fun. Well worth the wait.

"Listen, I will never… you hear me… NEVER be grateful to you for anything! Got it?" Kirk could feel his face growing hot. Who did this arrogant son of a bitch think he was? If anything, Khan should be thanking him for not killing his ass!

"Tell me, Captain, if I were to slice you open right now, whose blood would come pouring out of the wound?"

Shit, too late. Kirk had fallen right into his trap. So instead of giving him the satisfaction of an answer, he just stood there, staring steadily into Khan's penetrating gaze, refusing to play his game. So what if it was Khan's blood that had brought him back to life? He wasn't required to thank him for it. Hell, Khan probably hadn't even been given a choice… Bones had most likely just held him down and forced it out of him.

Khan could see the wheels churning in the Captain's mind. This was one of the things that Khan had found so intriguing about Kirk. Sure, he was still just a human… prone to bouts of stupidity and short-sightedness like the rest of them… but he could tell there was definitely a strong intelligence and depth behind those eyes. And that intelligence is what had kept him so fascinated with Kirk. He had noticed it the first time he'd seen him… outside of Starfleet headquarters, when he had been trying to kill Admiral Marcus and Kirk had devised a way to destroy his ship. That had been a brilliant move on his part, and Khan had to respect him for it.

"What is it?" Kirk asked, noticing that Khan was grinning to himself about something.

Deciding not to reveal his true thoughts, Khan instead replied, "Is that the new standard issue uniform? I must say, it compliments your eyes quite nicely." He grinned, narrowing his eyes to achieve a more intense focus.

Kirk couldn't help it. He blushed. He. Fucking. Blushed. If he could just go back to being dead, right about now, that would be wonderful.

"I'm leaving," Kirk said, turning around and retreating back to the door he had entered through.

Khan had noticed the blush… and for whatever reason, it had caused a slight, hard jolt to his body. It was almost as if he had been stunned with a phaser. What an odd sensation, indeed.

"Feel free to visit me anytime, Captain," Khan called out to Kirk.

Kirk turned around and gave Khan one last glare. Then, opening the hatch, he walked out of the brig and away from the strangest encounter he had ever had.