Chapter 7
Beth sat on the floor in her mother's living room, staring at the two toddlers playing on the fur rug in front of her. Learning she was a mother had shocked her more than anything the previous night, but it was also the easiest thing for her to accept. She loved these two children and they loved her. They were hers, it was an undeniable fact that she felt deep in her flesh. Her body knew them - knew how to hold them and soothe them, even if it had taken her a minute to learn their names.
She looked up as her mother came into the room.
"Is he still out there?" Beth asked.
Deanna nodded. "I told him he's making you nervous, but he won't leave until he talks to you."
Beth felt butterflies at the thought of talking to Khan - the strange, intense man that had stood vigil outside her mother's door all night. Deanna had told her as much as she could about him and tried to explain what Augments were and how they were not as uncontrolled as other men, but there also seemed to be a lot she didn't know.
Beth was curious to learn more about the man she'd married. How had she met him? What had made her fall in love with him? But she was also scared to meet someone for the first time who knew her so intimately and might be expecting more from her than she could give.
"I'd like to talk to Commander Spock first," Beth said. "I want to know what happened with him in the mind meld."
Deanna shook her head. "Khan doesn't think that's a good idea yet."
"Why is it up to him?" Beth asked, raising an eyebrow. It was not like her mother to yield to any man's will.
"And neither do I."
Beth didn't think it was her mother's decision either, but she knew she was outnumbered and didn't want to start a fight with Deanna after just finding her again. She picked up the PADD beside her and continued scanning through an album of pictures.
"Why aren't there any of Khan?" she asked. There were mostly images and recordings of the children: the children with Beth, the children with Deanna, the children with the large white dogs that followed them everywhere.
"He doesn't like to have his picture taken. He always deletes them or crops himself out."
"Why?"
Deanna sighed with frustration. "Maybe you should be asking him these questions."
Beth jumped as she felt a small, strong hand push down on her leg. She watched as her daughter, Taren, crawled into her lap.
"Where baba?" she asked Beth.
"Baba means father…" Deanna started to explain.
"In Turkish, I know," Beth said, stroking Taren's soft curls. It was overwhelming how happy that simple touch made her.
"You do?"
Beth opened her mouth and closed it again. Somehow she did know that, just like she knew the word sevda was Turkish for love and sicak meant warm and canim meant sweetheart. She shivered as she suddenly imagined a deep, irresistible voice murmuring the words into her ear.
"Khan is Turkish," she realized, feeling herself blush.
"I didn't tell you that," Deanna said. "Did you remember something?"
"Almost." Beth closed her eyes and felt something pressing against her consciousness as though trying to break through. She winced in pain as her mind seemed to fight it.
"Are you alright?" Deanna asked. "One of the Augments is a doctor. Maybe you should see him."
"Mama?" Now Allister was trying to climb into her lap, his face even more serious than usual, his eyes full of concern as he looked at her face.
"Maybe you're right," Beth said, hating the idea of her child worrying about her.
"I'll get him," Deanna said, and left the room.
Beth leaned forward and held her children, feeling herself relax as she breathed in their warmth and love. "It's okay, I'm still your mother."
It must have been several minutes, but it felt like an instant before she heard Deanna return. She looked up, but it was not her mother standing in the doorway.
"Khan."
She felt nervous and excited and a bit scared to be in the same room as him and she held her children between them like a buffer.
"No," he said, giving her an easy smile. "Matthew. Your mother is outside talking to Khan."
"Oh." Beth felt herself relax, but there was also a slight disappointment.
"I can get her if you'd be more comfortable," Matthew suggested, mistaking her frown for apprehension.
"No, I'm fine." Beth put her children down on the rug and sat on the couch. "I don't know if I need a doctor, I've just had a couple of headaches this morning."
He approached, sitting on the couch beside her. "After what you've been through, that would be expected, but I should take a look."
Matthew set a leather case on his lap and opened it. He pulled out a cranial scanner and held it to Beth's temple.
Beth stared forward but could feel his intensity as he observed her.
"What were you doing when you got the headaches?" he finally asked.
"I think it's when I remember something or almost remember something," she said.
"What did you remember?" he asked and something in his tone made Beth turn to him. He quickly looked down, taking her right hand. "What is this?"
He touched a gold band around her wrist. Beth had noticed it earlier. "I don't know," she said. "It's pretty."
"I think it's a medical alert bracelet," he said and looked at her with deep concern. "Are you sick?"
Beth tried to concentrate on how she was feeling. She noticed Allister watching her again and realized he'd understood Matthew's question. "I feel fine," she assured him.
"May I?" Matthew asked, taking the bracelet off Beth's wrist. He turned it over in his hands and started pressing the digits embedded in the metal band. "I've seen these before. I'm entering the number for my communicator," he explained. "If you feel sick, or need me for anything, just push this." He pointed to a bell-shaped indentation Beth had not noticed before. "And I'll come."
"Thank you," Beth said as he slipped it back on her wrist. He continued holding her hand, his fingers still wrapped around her wrist.
"I'd like to monitor your pulse as we talk," he said when she tried to pull her hand back. He pushed her sleeve up her arm. "Tell me what you remembered."
Beth nodded. "The last thing was just a few Turkish words; something Khan would have said or taught me."
"I'm from Turkey as well," Matthew said. "What were the words?"
But Beth didn't want to tell him. She was embarrassed that the first thing she'd remembered was so intimate.
"Something romantic?" he finally guessed, smiling. She nodded, looking away, wondering if he'd got that idea from the increase in her pulse.
"Do you know what Khan means in Turkish?" Matthew asked her, sliding his fingers up her wrist.
Beth knew Augments were brilliant, but she didn't know how he could count her heartbeats while he asked her so many questions. "It's some kind of ruler, isn't it? Something Mongolian?"
"That was the meaning he ended up taking, but he chose the name when he sixteen, and he didn't have such grand ambitions then."
"Really," Beth said, fascinated to be learning more about her husband from someone who really knew him. "What meaning did it have for him when he chose it?"
"Kan is Turkish for blood," Matthew said, and he paused to let that thought settle in Beth's mind. "He liked to say that spilling blood aroused him."
Beth looked at Matthew to see if he was teasing her. He was still smiling, but not joking. "You mean aroused him in a… sexual way?"
Matthew laughed. "He was a teenage boy. What other way could he mean?"
Deanna's voice startled Beth from the other side of the room. "Are you alright?"
For some reason Beth snatched her hand back from Matthew and pulled her sleeve down. "Yes," she said. "He says the headaches are normal."
"Good," Deanna said. "Khan is asking to see the little ones. Do you want me to take them out to him?"
"No," Beth said quickly. She didn't want to let them out of her sight just yet, even if they were just going to the front door with their grandmother. "He can come in." She turned to Matthew when her mother was gone. "Could you please stay?"
"Of course," he said, putting his scanner away and giving her a pleased smile. "I'll stay as long as you like."
Another chapter right away in the spirit of shorter, more frequent updates :) Hope you liked this one!
