Chapter 9: Pregnancy
Khan sat across from his mate, Molly's nimble doctor's hands slicing steadily through the pile of produce she'd requested from the space station's market, the the brilliant quartz and rosewood kitchen island gleaming beneath bright pendant lights in their rented kitchen-The starship they'd call home would be ready the next morning.
A white plastic pill bottle sat between them, increasingly noticeable as the counter filled with washed and quartered greens. She still hadn't started taking the prenatal vitamins, she hadn't acknowledged their child in anyway.
They'd left Tokyo the same afternoon Molly's heat had broken, the wreckage of San Francisco still smoldering an ocean away. After ten days in the city, Khan had been anxious to leave. This planet was too small, he'd decided. Like the minds of it's inhabitants, Earth couldn't contain him. His mate and child deserved better than pointless squabbles over grains of sand. His sons would have entire star system as their playground, his daughters would wear dilithium crowns.
They left Tokyo as Erik and Magdelena Kelly, Molly's eyes dull when the stranger's name displayed at the shuttleports biometric check points.
"Kelly?" Molly asked, the first words she'd spoken since she'd said she didn't belong to him.
"Someone who loved me." He replied looking straight into her eyes. She met his gaze for a moment, her eyes flicking over his face before turning away, a wisp of hair curling against her neck just behind her ear. He traced the line with his fingertip, relishing the involuntary shiver it produced. By the time they reached Kabul, everyone on the shuttle was restless-the tension between the pair so thick it invaded every corner of the the craft.
A cab dropped them off on a nondescript, quiet street, identical rows of arches and columns lining the sidewalk. They walked into the hotel, Khan's hand resting just beneath Molly's shoulder blades. That's when he felt it, the first tentative curl of a pair bond forming, the loose strings of their souls unraveling to weave themselves into a new tapestry.
Their eyes met again, the strings pulled taunt with panic as Molly felt it too. He kissed her then, not caring that the hotel's manager could hear her soft exhalation. They break apart, the scent of her arousal and the new life she nurtured filling the air between them.
"Something with a balcony, and a fast data connection. When will we leave for Cairo?" Molly asked, her voice steady and firm.
"A few days, there won't be a shuttle off-planet until next week." Khan fingered the bite on her shoulder, remembering the mark he'd left, the skin still pink and shiny even after he'd administered his regenerative blood to heal it.
For a few days, they lived as Mr. and Mrs. Kelly before leaving the city behind them, traveling first to Cairo then to Mars Space Station. There Khan commissioned a small starship with an inheritance stolen from Admiral Marcus.
"What are you making, my heart?"
Molly's eyes flicked up to Khan's face, her knife still as she glared. She hated the endearment. "A mushroom and arugula lentil salad; citrus grilled salmon; warm, sweet, molasses figs for dessert." She replied, addressing the counter, "An old family recipe."
Khan started, time slipping away from him. He remembered having the same meal on Adolescents Compound two hundred years ago. He'd been sitting on a hard steel stool, Eleana standing with Mother Minna over her own gigantic pile of kale and the smell of orange zest lingering in the air. A meal rich in folic acid and iron.
"Perfect for growing babes." Dr. Kelly had crooned, her normally hard features softening as she cupped her hands around Eleana's round cheeks. "I teach it to all the girls."
"What shall we call him, since you're so sure it's a boy?" Molly's voice dragged him back to the present.
"I've always liked Edmund*." Khan replied cooly, "There was a brilliant english king of that name." It was also her father's name, Khan had found it in her mother's obituary. A loving wife, mother, and teacher, Matilda Hooper is survived by her husband, Edmund Hooper, and her daughter Molly.
Molly paused her chopping for a moment, a slight catch in the otherwise steady rhythm. "Tell me more about this king." She responded, dumping the arugula and kale into a large wooden salad bowl. They finish their meal amicably, the conversation flowing easily from kings to each other's lives and childhoods to small glimpses of secrets and long held desires.
They make love for the first time ever on the couch, dirty plates on still on the kitchen island. Afterward, Molly light on his chest, he felt the slow trickle of a tear sliding past his breast and ribs.
"What's wrong, Molly?" His hand touched her chin, tipping her face up.
"Nothing, my heart." She responded with a watery smile. "I'm just tired. Take me to bed."
He does, settling the crisp sheet around their bodies and pulling her into the safety of his arms.
He didn't understand right away what was happening, just that he and his mate were in danger. He bolted awake, reaching to pull Molly behind him. His hand caught only air.
"Molly!" He called out, his eyes still adjusting. Figures began to materialize in the darkness.
One stepped forward, "She's not here, Khan." Captain Kirk crossed the bedroom, magnetized restraints in hand "And you are under arrest."
I'm just going to put this right here:
watch?v=VhZ_4slI6xA
wgbh/nova/next/tech/biometrics-and-the-future-of-identification/
wiki/Edmund_Ironside
