AUTHOR'S NOTE: There's been a bit of a break between this chapter and the last chapter, so my apologies for posting it a bit late. I wanted to make sure that it was well laid out and made sense.

I've tried to show some of Khan's emotion this time, like the Khan we saw imprisoned on the USS Enterprise. Forgive me if he seems a bit soppy but I think that Khan can get very emotional and upset regarding his crew.

Also, I had trouble trying to make Doctor Sheridan likeable and understandable. I hope that she isn't received very negatively- she's not out to hurt Khan or anything, she just wants her estranged little augment baby girl safe.

Please let me know what you think in a review- I welcome comments and criticism, if you have any.

Neither Khan nor Tarah had expected that response from Doctor Sheridan. They had anticipated that she either would have had an emotional outburst or act indifferently to their presence. Her fainting as soon as she opened the door took them completely by surprise.

Tarah had run inside and took Doctor Sheridan by the shoulders, shaking her. "Doctor! Doctor Sheridan, are you alright?"

She'd got no response so Khan effortlessly lifted her off of the hallway floor and carried her into the living room, setting her down on the longer of the two blue fabric sofas as they sat awkwardly on the free one.

"Oh…oh my…" the weakened woman quietly exclaimed after a minute, her eyes flickering open to stare up at the white plaster ceiling. She didn't move otherwise for another minute and, when she did, she could only turn her head to glance at the two visitors, though her attention was mostly focused on the younger one.

"Is that you, SH-47…?"

Tarah twitched at the use of her old reference number, images of her previous lifestyle flashing in her mind. She shifted uncomfortably and the woman seemed to notice this.

"No…no, that's not right. Tarah…yes, that's it…you didn't like to be called by the other before…" She lifted herself into a sitting position slowly, and a gleeful sob sounded. "Thank God, you're alright…!"

The woman was suddenly up in a flash- to another human it would have looked that way but it didn't seem as fast to the Augments- and she flung her arms about the girl and squeezed her into a hug.

For a moment, she tensed in alarm, not sure what to expect. As soon as she registered she was being hugged, it felt slightly awkward. She had been hugged by Doctor Sheridan before, when she was but an infant. Now that she was nearly as tall as Doctor Sheridan was, it felt odd. She was being hugged like a child, yet she wasn't one anymore.

However, she made no move against Doctor Sheridan's gesture and accepted it, leaning into the embrace.

Khan observed the two curiously from his space on the sofa, an eyebrow raised. He did now understand why the woman would be so emotional, thanks to Tarah's earlier admission of how the Doctor was technically her mother, though this seemed to affect the woman more than he thought it would.

"I-I heard about the order for your termination," the Doctor said after a while, her voice shaking. "And I thought…I thought—I'm so glad you got out of it."

The girl and she pulled away from each other and the younger one looked up at her. "I never arrived for the termination," she corrected. "The ship crashed."

She glanced back at Khan, not sure whether she had to introduce him or if he was going to introduce himself.

It seemed that he was going for the latter as he got to his feet and stood at full height, his size commanding attention to be drawn to him. "Doctor Sheridan," he said simply.

The woman turned to this stranger, looked at his face a moment, and then frowned, almost as if she knew him. Perhaps she did.

"You're John Harrison." The words were almost spat and there was a look of clear distrust and dislike on her face.

Tarah turned to the man herself? John Harrison?

"John Harrison is an alias," he replied icily. "My name is Khan."

"It doesn't matter what your name is. You slaughtered innocent civilians and stole lives."

A dark look flashed across his face, almost as if he was holding back a primal urge to do something violent. "Lives were stolen from me first," he snarled.

"Tarah, what is he doing with you?"

The girl looked between the two, almost dismayed, as they both turned to her expectantly. They were fighting. Why were they fighting?

And Khan had killed civilians? Had he? She had thought that his grudge was against Starfleet alone- why was he killing people that had nothing to do with them?

"He…he took me to Earth after the ship crashed," she answered timidly, the intense stares she was receiving intimidating her.

The Doctor turned to the Augment, her frown turning into a deep-set scowl. "And I assume you did this out of the goodness of your own heart?" she asked sarcastically.

"Our interests were aligned."

"Are they still aligned?" Doctor Sheridan challenged, standing up to her full height and marching up to him, looking him in the eyes. "The last time I saw Tarah, she didn't particularly want to kill innocent people—"

"The people I seek are far from innocent," Khan interrupted, glowering down at the small woman. "And I know you have not seen your daughter for eight years, eight years where anything could have happened to dramatically alter or otherwise shape her personality."

The woman stepped back, silent. For a moment, she glanced at the girl, who had backed away slightly to the corner of the room, like a frightened child.

Doctor Sheridan once more turned to the Augment. "What have you done to her?" she asked, though her voice had fallen in volume so that it was now like a whisper.

"Nothing. Not yet."

There was silence and the Doctor's eyes grew as wide as saucers, fearful. Again, she glanced at the girl, though Tarah could see that her expression had changed from one of anger to one of terror, but why?

She got the feeling that Khan was almost threatening her, and that it seemed to be working.

"W-what are you even doing here? What do you want?" the woman demanded.

"Shelter and security. That is all," Khan responded, his face set in its usual emotionless expression. "That is all we require."

"And…and if I refuse?"

Slowly, the man's gaze roved to the girl. However, when he spoke, his speech was aimed at Doctor Sheridan. "Take a guess."

The girl sprung towards the door like a tightly coiled spring that had just been released. The man noticed but she shoved past with force she was barely aware she possessed- she had been so lost in the moment- and she fled.

"Tarah!" the woman called after her but she continued out and the sound of a door opening and shutting in the next room could be heard.

The two adults remained frozen to the spot.

"Take a guess…" Doctor Sheridan swallowed before steeling her gaze and whipping around, back to Khan. "You're going to kill her if I don't comply! That's what you mean, isn't it?!"

Khan remained in stunned silence.

"Isn't it?!" she screeched, and the man almost jumped in response.

"I had no intentions of the sort," he said slowly, his expression now one of surprise. "If you do not comply, we will be found by Starfleet, one way or another, and she will be exterminated. If you call the authorities, take a guess at what her fate will be at their hands."

He could almost see the gears of her mind speed up as she now realised his meaning. She stepped back and looked at the door that her daughter had fled out of. "Y-you won't kill her…?"

"No."

"You won't harm her in any way…?" Doctor Sheridan pressed on in desperation.

"I won't," he stated firmly before heading to the door and opening it, going after the girl.

He found her tucked away in a corner of what appeared to be Doctor Sheridan's back-garden, in a small and shaded area secluded by a small group of trees. She was pressed against a fence, her head tucked into her knees as she sat on a patch of slightly overgrown grass. There was a small door-like gate a few feet away, presumably leading to a field, but she hadn't gone through it.

She probably didn't want to run into the unknown with so many people on the lookout for her now that she was associated with him.

After a minute, of heading out to find her, Khan was kneeling and peering through the greenery of a hedge at her hunched figure. He didn't try to go in and retrieve her- it was a relatively small space that she could fit into and he couldn't.

"Why did you run?" he asked firmly.

"Why did you threaten her?" her muffled voice came.

"I did not threaten her. My meaning was wrongly perceived."

She remained silent for a moment. "You tried to make out I'd changed," she said quietly.

He did not respond.

"Just because you two are on bad terms, for whatever reason, you tried to jeopardise one of the only bonds I have. I've not changed…you don't know what I was like, you weren't there…" Finally, she lifted her head, the eyes moist as they regarded him sorrowfully. "…were you?"

He met her saddened look calmly, though he felt something pang in his chest uncomfortably from the way she was looking at him. "I was not," he confirmed.

An awkward silence descended and none of them broke it for a while, the only noise present was that of the leaves rustling in the wind. A large cloud hung ominously overhead and the wind began to pick up- a prelude to an oncoming downpour

"I know you don't like her. I know she doesn't like you," Tarah said eventually. "But she's my family."

Khan felt that pang in his chest again as soon as that word left her lips. He listened and saw a tear roll down the cheek of her partially-obscured face.

"Please…please don't take that away from me," she requested, though it sounded more like she was begging him.

In an instant, Khan sat himself down against the fence, almost beside her with only a wall of leaves and branches separating them; he turned away, the sadness and grief growing. He had not intended to cause a rift- he had merely intended to point out the obvious.

He of all people knew just what it was like to lose the ones you care about the most. He had had a family- and now they were gone.

Khan had not intended for Tarah to end up like him.

After a minute of reflection and a slight struggle to hold back tears of his own- he dearly missed his crew so and he still could not believe that all seventy two of them were now dead when he had been so close to rescuing them- he spoke, though his voice was strained by his inner-despair. "That was not my intention. Don't cry."

He still averted his gaze from her, but he continued to speak, finding himself unable to stop himself. He wanted to speak with someone- someone of his mind-set and race who would understand.

"You are…fortunate, Tarah. More than you realise. You have very little family, but it is still present, and- despite their lesser status- you are loved by them. I…"

Khan swallowed and Tarah watched him as he stared into space and straight ahead of him as the raindrops began to cascade down from the sky and on to the foliage about them.

"…I no longer possess such a family. They are…gone."

He remained that way for a minute as the rain became heavier and a few drops landed on his coat and hair and face. He almost dismissed Tarah's hand as yet another water droplet, it was so light, but it remained rested on his arm so he turned. The fair-skinned limb reached through the shrubbery and held his arm in a comforting manner, and she met his gaze with one of sympathy.

They stayed like that for a moment- in a state of calm and understanding and forgiveness- as the rain poured down.

Then he nodded, to show that he appreciated the gesture. He did not thank her with words, but she seemed to understand, removing her arm and shifting out of her little haven of natural greenery and into the open grass of the garden, slowly standing.

Together, they walked back towards the house in a state of mutual understanding, perhaps camaraderie.

And, just for a minute, Khan felt as if he was walking with more than a fellow Augment, but someone whom he could consider a crewmember.